The Ariel Foundation

Karen Buchwald was born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, lived in Springfield Ohio from age 4-12, and returned with her family to Mount Vernon in 1966, the same year Ariel Corporation was founded. Karen graduated from St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN with a degree in Ethology (wildlife research), and moved back to Mount Vernon in 1980 to begin her career at Ariel Corporation. From 1983 to 1997, she worked part-time while raising her four sons. She believes her experience juggling motherhood, part-time work in the family business and the general onslaughts of life, served as the best training possible for her job, as the chairman, president, and CEO of Ariel from 2001 to 2021. Today the company has transitioned to the third generation of leadership and Karen continues to serve as chairman of the board.

Because of Ariel Corporation’s success and Karen’s deep-seated belief in the necessity to give back, or “pay it forward,” she has always given both time and money toward those organizations which help others help themselves or which give a leg up to those life has knocked out of the saddle. Putting the Ariel Foundation in place was a natural extension of that lifelong inclination and a hope to leave the world a little better than it was before she passed this way. It also ensures the continuation of Karen’s aspiration and vision for her hometown for generations to come.

Recognized as the 2024 Oilfield Patriot Award recipient, this video provides an inside look at the significant impact Karen Buchwald Wright has made through her leadership of Ariel Corporation and on the quality of life in the City of Mount Vernon, Ohio.

Kurt Schisler was born in Youngtown, Ohio and moved to Mount Vernon in 1973.

After graduating from Mount Vernon High School, he attended The Ohio State University and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a Major in Accounting. In 1996 he became licensed as a Certified Public Accountant. After spending several years working and living in Columbus, Ohio, Kurt returned to Mount Vernon to marry his wife, Sandy, and raise their three children. After many rewarding and challenging years in the profession of public accounting, Kurt sold his practice to focus on investment, consulting, and planning work.

Kurt has been active in the community, and in addition to his work with The Ariel Foundation also serves as the Treasurer of The Knox County Foundation.

“Serving on the board of The Ariel Foundation allows me to utilize the skills I have learned as a CPA. It is rewarding seeing the positive outcomes and benefits that The Ariel Foundation provides to Mount Vernon residents.”

Tom Rastin was born in Iran. He visited the US for the first time, all by himself, when he was 9 years old. Tom’s father was head of the Iranian Swimming Federation, and at the time, in the late 1960’s, Iran and the US enjoyed a good relationship, a decade before the Iranian Revolution. A swim coach, who lived in Corpus Christi, TX and had coached in Iran, agreed to host Tom for the summer so that he could continue his intense swim training (with the Olympics in mind). Three years later, the coach moved to Lafayette, LA and Tom continued to visit in the summers and pursue his swimming training there, eventually finishing high school in Lafayette and going on to Louisiana State University to earn a doctorate in engineering science. He became a US citizen in his late 20’s, worked in Louisiana for an oil field service company and eventually came to Ariel Corporation in 1994 as an applications engineer.

Because of his experience as a first generation American, Tom is deeply grateful for the unique opportunities offered only in the USA. He believes it’s important to provide similar opportunities, through the foundation’s engineering scholarships, to young people wanting to pursue careers in engineering. Additionally, he supports programming for restoring mental health to traumatized children (in partnership with the county court system), with the intention of breaking the cycle of generational incarceration. He greatly respects the military, veterans, and first responders, and supports a variety of funding to provide equipment for the protection, health and well-being for local first responders, as well as his own personal support for numerous national military and veterans organizations.