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$2.00/FEBRUARY 16 - 22, 2015
Cavaliers are taking beacon technology to creative levels with help of their new mobile app — P. 5 As Winking Lizards knows, Medical Mutual gives its employees incentives to support clients — P. 7
Activist investors are staking their claim By RACHEL ABBEY McCAFFERTY rmccafferty@crain.com
To the public, shareholder activism in recent years may best be represented by unseasoned pasta water. Starboard Value LP last year made headlines when it waged a public proxy campaign against Darden Restaurants Inc., the owner of restaurant chains including Olive Garden. Starboard succeeded in replacing Darden’s board after pointing out problems at Olive Garden, like a lack of salt in the water it uses to boil pasta. Such a detailed focus may still be rare, but shareholder activism, or when an investor tries to take a bigger role in how a company is run, is becoming increasingly common. A report from London-based Activist Insight found that 344 companies across the globe — with the vast majority located in the United States — faced public activist demands in 2014. That compares to 291 companies that faced such demands in 2013 and 136 companies in 2010. Driving the activity, experts say, is an increase in the amount of money funds have to spend, as well as a greater amount of influence activists hold over other investors. In recent years, a number of Northeast Ohio companies, including Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. and GrafTech International Ltd., have come under pressure from shareholders, some of which have lead to full-fledged proxy fights. Shareholder activism has increased every year throughout the past decade, said Derek
07
See INVESTORS, page 6
FLATS’ MOMENTUM BUILDS The Foundry, a $9 million project, will be a year-round home for rowers By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
Columbus Road in the Flats is about to gain another Cuyahoga River-oriented feature with “The Foundry,” a $9 million plan to recast a dozen old buildings as a collegiate and youth boathouse, fitness center and park. The project by MCPc Family Charities and Mike Trebilcock — the CEO of Clevelandbased MCPc, a seller of computer equipment and provider of tech services — and his wife, Gina, will provide additional facilities for young rowers and green space in the Flats. It’s near the new Rivergate Park and the existing home of the Cleveland Rowing Association. The plan is the latest form of support that MCPc Family Charities and the Trebilcocks have offered to the Cleveland Youth Rowing Association and the Midwest Scholastic Rowing Association in the Flats. The Foundry is scheduled to open this fall. It will convert a group of buildings at 1831 Columbus Road to a year-round training center for rowers with an indoor rowing tank, a fitness center, boathouse and banquet center. The plan calls for using about 500 feet of riverfront for docks for launching boats and See FOUNDRY, page 8
7
ALSO INSIDE: NEWSPAPER
74470 83781 0
SANDVICK ARCHITECTS
When The Foundry opens this fall, it is expected to be a popular gathering place for the Northeast Ohio rowing community.
MCPe FAMILY CHARITIES
Shareholders are playing an increasingly strong role in company actions
WHO TO WATCH We take a look at some of Northeast Ohio’s many standouts in the nonprofit sector ■ Pages 17-22 PLUS: HONOREE PROFILES ■ LEADERS IN NEW ROLES
Entire contents © 2015 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 36, No. 7
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Small Business Matters i Want more information and resources on this week's topics, ideas and events? Go to www.cose.org/smallbizmatters.
PRESENTED BY
52 TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS
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REMEMBERING BILL JONES Bill Jones was a great champion of small business in general, and COSE speciďŹ cally, for more than 40 years. The collaborative effort which resulted in the creation of COSE and what the organization was able to achieve over his lifetime is a powerful legacy. - Robert C. Smith, Spero-Smith Investment Advisors, Inc.
Founding fathers of COSE Bill Jones (l.) and Ed Richard, circa 1974
FOUNDING OF COSE
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Manufacturer Advocacy & Growth Network (MAGNET) ^^^ THU\MHJ[\YPUNZ\JJLZZ VYN
You can hear Bill Jones’ remarks on the founding of COSE and the work of the organization at www.cose.org/40years
Bill and I went through so much together in the founding of COSE; Bill, the consummate diplomat, and myself, the proverbial ‘bull in the china shop.’ Without Bill, COSE would not have had such a great start. An amazingly intelligent person with a great zest for life, the small business community, and Northeast Ohio in general, still beneďŹ ts greatly from his skilled touch! - Ed Richard, COSE Co-Founder
Council of Smaller Enterprises
JumpStart ^^^ Q\TWZ[HY[PUJ VYN LU[YLWYLUL\YZ\WWVY[
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Ohio Small Business Development Center ^^^ JSPLU[Z VOPVZIKJ VOPV NV] 7/6;6 )@ 96.,9 4(:;960(550
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By The Numbers
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William McFarlane Jones 6U 1HU\HY` [OL UVY[OLHZ[ 6OPV ZTHSS I\ZPULZZ JVTT\UP[` SVZ[ H YLTHYRHISL LU[YLWYLUL\Y PU]LU[VY HUK MYPLUK )PSS 1VULZ VUL VM [OL ¸MV\UKPUN MH[OLYZš VM [OL *V\UJPS VM :THSSLY ,U[LYWYPZLZ *6:, HUK P[Z ÄYZ[ L]LY JOHPYTHU ^HZ ZWLJPÄJHSS` YLZWVUZPISL MVY [OL LHYS` NYV^[O VM [OL VYNHUPaH[PVU ¸)PSS 1VULZ OHK LUVYTV\Z WHZZPVU HUK WYPKL MVY [OL ]HS\L HUK JVU[YPI\[PVU VM ZTHSS I\ZPULZZ V^ULYZ [V V\Y YLNPVU HUK V\Y UH[PVUHS LJVUVT` š ZHPK :[L]L 4PSSHYK 7YLZPKLU[ HUK ,_LJ\[P]L +PYLJ[VY VM *6:, ¸;OH[ MLY]LU[ LU[O\ZPHZT M\LSLK OPZ L VY[Z IHJR PU [V OLSW [V LZ[HISPZO *6:, HUK JVU[PU\LK [V PUZWPYL [OL VUNVPUN Z\WWVY[ OL WYV]PKLK [V *6:, V]LY [OL SHZ[ `LHYZ š
February 16
A memorial service and reception will be held at The Country Club in Pepper Pike Monday, Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. Bill Jones, a successful business person in his own right, was willing to take on the challenge of being the ďŹ rst chairman of COSE, the one who would try to build consensus and trust with these outspoken, cantankerous small business owners. Bill knew small business people felt no one was showing them respect, and he knew how to build them into a coalition that could speak with one voice. - Carol Rivchun, President, Youth Opportunities Unlimited
CONTENT PROVIDED AND PAID FOR BY THE COUNCIL OF SMALLER ENTERPRISES
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Connection Calendar R REGISTE ! Y TODA
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Quinn believes Step2 can build ‘a brand’ outside Buckeye State By RACHEL ABBEY McCAFFERTY rmccafferty@crain.com
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Chris Quinn wants Step2 Co. to become a recognizable brand name outside Ohio. The Streetsboro company has done a great job making a name for itself in its backyard, the toymaker’s new president and CEO says, but it’s going to have to expand beyond state borders if it wants to grow. Quinn took over at Step2 a little less than a month ago, joining the company from New Balance Athletic, where he was executive vice president of North American operations for the shoe and athletic products company. That retail business is “all about the product,” Quinn said, which will translate well to Step2, where he wants to implement a stronger focus on products. Quinn wants to see the rotational molding company become more “product-led,” as opposed to manufacturing-led. Putting a stronger focus on products could mean dedicating resources toward producing creative ideas, coming up with new concepts or developing design capabilities, Quinn said in an email. Looking at the ratings customers give the Step2 products, it’s clear the company makes world-class items for infants and toddlers, he said. “We just haven’t really built a brand,” Quinn said. Quinn’s familiar with what it takes to do that. He has worked on brand-building throughout his career at companies like Clorox Co., where he said Hidden Valley salad dressing was an underdeveloped brand when he was there in the mid-1990s. To build a brand, a company has to invest in “significant” product launches and use traditional and nontraditional marketing options to raise awareness, Quinn said in an email. He’s also looking to grow Step2’s footprint in areas where it’s already strong, like its play sets; stretch into adjacent categories; and expand its age portfolio beyond infant and toddler products. The international market also will be an important focus, as just under 90% of the business is in the domestic market now. Quinn said in an email that annual sales were about $170 million in 2014. And he wants to be more aggressive in developing products for the home and garden market. “The company has an opportunity to be more focused,” he said.
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
20150216-NEWS--4-NAT-CCI-CL_--
“We have an important responsibility and role in helping children develop outside of the realm of pure technology.” – Chris Quinn president and CEO, Step2 Co. Quinn is starting out his first 60 days at Step2 by going on a listening tour with employees. There’s been some executive-level turnover in recent years at the company, of which the majority owner is specialty finance company Ares Capital Corp. He wants to make sure to encourage “trust and collaboration” with the company’s 800 employees. He’s been impressed with the quality of the people he’s met, and he said he wants to help unlock their potential. Tom Doherty, senior managing director at Argus Management Corp. and former interim CEO at Step2, said in an email that he had been impressed with Quinn’s “intellect, enthusiasm and leadership” during the hiring process. “His knowledge of consumer products especially in area of sales, marketing, new product design, and leveraging branding will be vital in improving the step2 customer experience,” Doherty said. Overall, this move has been a
good fit for Quinn professionally, as well as personally. He remembers his children, Caila, 23, and Chris Jr., 20, loving Step2 toys. Especially in a technology-rich world, toys that help children use their imagination have an important place, he said. “We have an important responsibility and role in helping children develop outside of the realm of pure technology,” Quinn said. He and his wife of 24 years, Rosanna, are in the process of moving back to Ohio from the Boston area. Quinn attended Denison University for a bachelor’s degree in economics after growing up in Mexico and Minnesota, and he lived in Northeast Ohio when he worked at Procter & Gamble in the late ’80s and early ’90s. That’s when he met his wife, who had immigrated to Northeast Ohio from the Philippines as a child and went to the University of Akron for nursing. “For us, we’re coming home,” Quinn said.
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Volume 36, Number 7 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2015 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $2.00. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373. REPRINT INFORMATION: 212-210-0750
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FEBRUARY 16 - 22, 2015
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
5
CAVALIERS HAVE AN APP FOR THAT Beacon technology at The Q is giving team lots of options to keep in touch with mobile devices By KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com
The Cleveland Cavaliers have given fans plenty of reasons to watch them this season, beginning with the much-celebrated return of a certain four-time NBA MVP. But just in case you needed an extra push, the team’s mobile app has provided quite a few — from welcome messages to merchandise offers, exclusive content, giveaways and even alerts for anyone who is in proximity to sellers of 50/50 raffle tickets at Quicken Loans Arena. The latter step is a unique approach the Cavs are taking as they employ beacon technology, a proximity-based form of mobile engagement that is becoming a must for professional sports franchises that are waging a constant battle against the at-home viewing experience. Prior to the 2014-15 season, the Cavs partnered with Gimbal Inc. and See CAVALIERS, page 9
Retail vacancy rate reaches lowest point since ’07 By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
High-profile retail setbacks — from the ongoing closings of RadioShack locations to the shuttering of Macy’s Richmond Heights store and likely cuts if the recently announced Staples/Office Depot merger goes through — are roiling the industry, but they mask the essential strengthening of the market in Northeast Ohio. New statistics from CBRE Group Inc. show retail vacancy here declined to 9% as of Dec. 31, 2014, from 12.4% the year before. It also marks the first time since 2008 that vacancy has declined in two consecutive years. Retail vacancy in the region now is at its lowest since 2007, when it was 8.8%. David Browning, managing director of the CBRE brokerage’s Cleveland office, said it’s a case of market fundamentals. “We’ve had a lot of good leasing activity and not a lot of construction,” Browning said. “It’s the basic supply-demand scenario. There are still a lot of situations that have yet to unfold, such as Severance Shopping Center (which is in foreclosure after losing a Wal-Mart store), but there is also going to be new construction. It’s going to be very interesting.” Keith Hamulak, a CBRE vice president who focuses on retail brokerage, said renewed leasing activity and new tenants entering the market accounts for the dramatic drop in regional vacancy. “There is back-filling in the market again with new tenants,” Hamulak said. “We’ve got junior anchors active in the 12,000 to 35,000 square foot range that are taking space, such as Gordmans. We also have several fitness firms that are taking 20,000 square feet of space at a time.” New franchises, especially for food, are entering the region and others are adding new stores again. Both nibble at empty space,
Hamulak said. While there is bad news on the horizon that may deal the market some setbacks, few of the recent closings have hit the market. RadioShack’s cutbacks, for instance, will hit full force by late March and are not reflected in 2014’s year-end statistics. “In a market of 78 million square feet, the impact of RadioShack, Macy’s and other anticipated closings will be minimal. They won’t change the momentum,” Hamulak said. “It would take several large-scale announcements to do that.”
Opportunity knocks At Zeisler Morgan Properties Ltd., an Orange Village-based developer and owner of shopping centers in Northeast Ohio and North Carolina, Shannon Blackwell, president and chief operating officer, sees the gains and the setbacks first hand. “Compare the recovery to a baseball game. I say we’re in the third inning,” Blackwell said. “It’s early stage recovery. We have good news, then some bad news.” In the latter category: A RadioShack is targeted for closure later this year at its Ridge Park Square shopping center in Brooklyn. However, Blackwell said 2014 was “a very good year” for the 575,000-square-foot center
at the Ridge Road interchange with I-480. “We opened four new stores there, including an Ashley Furniture store in a big-box space,” Blackwell said. “We moved Famous Footwear into a bigger store.” Those and other changes, he said, trimmed vacancy to just 2%. That also means he genuinely can see losing Ridge Park Square’s RadioShack as an opportunity. “We are motivated to keep tenants rather than lose tenants,” Blackwell said. “This is an opportunity to upgrade tenants. We welcome the chance to add a today tenant in that space — and a today tenant is not RadioShack.” Things seem less healthy at Zeisler Morgan’s Westwood Town Center in Rocky River. However, Blackwell noted the Rocky River center is 90% occupied. He hopes to benefit from the revival of retail in other parts of Rocky River and for the last few years has focused on keeping Westwood’s mainstays in place, such as expanding the Marc’s store, renewing and upgrading the AMC Theatre in a new format, and retaining Home Depot.
cated, newer centers in well-heeled neighborhoods that can command — and get — rents in the high $20s and low $30s per square foot. “Owners of Class B and Class C properties are less fortunate,” Hamulak said. “They are not able to see rents like that and have to be more flexible with rent and other incentives.” Another development that may mix things up in the region stems from the looming entry of a new round of supercenter operators that have eschewed Northeast Ohio previously. Meijer’s, Menards and other superstores may repurpose some empty big-box stores — if there is room to substantially expand — but generally they’re so large that they require construction of new centers. Renewed building of shopping centers, in locations such as Cuyahoga Falls and Green, already has buoyed retail construction. And more are proposed. CBRE estimates 616,389 square feet of retail construction are underway in the region. That’s still below the 800,000 the market added on an average basis over the last 20 years, Hamulak said. But it looks swell next to the market’s nadir in 2011. Just 395,000 square feet went in that year, mostly in expansions of existing centers. Long haul, Blackwell is optimistic. “The retail industry trails recovery, because it is where people spend their discretionary income after they pay their necessary bills,” Blackwell said. “But I think the improvement is there.”
Head of the class
CORRECTION
The other measure of the market’s health is found in rents, and some are up. “The leverage is with the landlords in the A properties,” Hamulak said, referring to well-lo-
The apartment complex at 26600 George Zeiger Drive in Beachwood owned by Goldberg Cos. is the Four Seasons. The name was incorrect in a story appearing on Page 5 of the Feb. 9 issue.
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INVESTORS continued from page 1
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FEBRUARY 16 - 22, 2015
Bork, partner and chair of the takeovers and shareholder activism group at law firm Thompson Hine in Cleveland. He has seen that activity in both the companies and the funds that Thompson Hine represents. “So, it’s not surprising to see that activity in Cleveland, as well,” Bork said. The trend doesn’t seem to be slowing down. Josh Black, managing editor of the Activist Investing Annual Review, said he expected 2015’s rate of shareholder activism to be relatively steady compared to 2014. And some of the legal experts that spoke to Crain’s thought 2015 would be another big year. For example, Bork said he was already seeing “significant increases” in activity on both company and the activist sides across the United States in the first two months of 2015. While Bork didn’t address any local companies, there are plenty of examples to be had in Northeast Ohio, including the active demands at OM Group Inc., Omnova Solutions Inc. and GrafTech, the latter of which will potentially face proxy contests from the same shareholder group two years in a row.
Cliffhanger The “Save GrafTech” group, led by Nathan Milikowsky, last year succeeded in getting three board members elected. This year, the group has announced plans to nominate a full slate of candidates, citing disappointment in the company’s continued performance. Activist shareholders also were behind the split of Timken Co. and TimkenSteel Corp., a process that started back in 2012, and the installation of a new CEO at Cliffs Natural Resources in 2014. Lourenco Goncalves, now chairman, president and CEO at Cleveland-based Cliffs Natural Resources, set his sights on the company when he was gearing up to sell Metals USA Holdings Corp., where he had been president, chairman and CEO, and said he had reached out to a few investors before connecting with Casablanca Capital LP. “I realized the only way to get here would be through activism,” he said in a call with Crain’s, though he noted it was an approach he hadn’t taken before.
Goncalves said in a call with analysts on Feb. 3 that he is planning for the long term, not the short term. In the six months since Casablanca won its campaign and Goncalves joined the company, he has made changes, including shutting down the company’s Bloom Lake operation and selling its coal assets in Logan County, West Virginia. But there haven’t yet been drastic financial improvements. Indeed, the company has suspended its dividend payout to shareholders, instead focusing on paying down its debt. “I will be here until the job is completely and successfully done no matter how much time and effort it takes,” Goncalves said in the analyst call.
A serious approach The success seen by shareholder activists locally in recent years is representative of the global trend. According to the Activist Investing Annual Review 2015 — a report on shareholder activism trends from research company Activist Insight in association with Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLP — 74% of activist demands were at least partially successful in 2014, compared with 67% in 2013. Part of that success could be because activist shareholders have started to gain the trust of institutional investors. Shareholder groups no longer have to buy enough stock to influence a company on their own, and they’ve gotten more sophisticated as practices have matured, said Christopher Hewitt, a partner and chair of M&A and corporate governance practices at Tucker Ellis LLP in Cleveland. The practice of shareholder activism isn’t necessarily “maverick or rogue” anymore, he said. There’s also just more money to be spent. Bork of Thompson Hine pointed to a growth in hedge funds and to the money flowing into those hedge funds. And those activist-focused funds are producing high returns for their investors, which in turn gives them the chance to further increase their activity. Joe Weinstein, a partner at Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP’s Cleveland office who leads its securities and shareholder litigation practice, also highlighted the rise of the funds making these activist-related invest-
ments. But he also noted that the ease of communication in the modern age has contributed to the increase of shareholder activism, as it’s much less expensive to raise these issues when almost an entire campaign can be waged on the Internet. There can be doubts when it comes to the effectiveness of shareholder activists, Hewitt said, especially when it comes to those that target multiple companies, but there are examples of groups coming in and effecting positive change. Hewitt gave the example of Cleveland-based fast food franchisee owner Morgan’s Foods Inc., where, when JCP Investment Management LLC acquired a sizable stake, Morgan’s invited them to fill a soon-tobe-empty spot on the board, he said. The director who joined in 2012 had some ideas to help increase operational efficiency and right-size the balance sheet and, when the company was sold last year to Apex Restaurant Management Inc., it had greatly improved its share price, Hewitt said. Overall, while some shareholder activists can have a reputation of being difficult to work with, there is less of a hunker-down mentality and more engagement with the groups today, said Weinstein, who didn’t address any of the local contests. “Management has to approach this in a way where they take it seriously,” he said.
Staying ‘consistent’ Bork said Thompson Hine counsels its company and activist clients in favor of approaches that keep campaigns from getting hostile. It’s easy for these situations to get “out of control,” which can affect company performance or relationships with customers and vendors, he said. Some companies are even taking a proactive approach, said James Dougherty, administrative partner for the M&A practice at Jones Day in Cleveland and New York. He has seen a greater focus on preparation for the possibility of an activist campaign in the past year or two, noting that he’s even seen clients sit down with investment banks or financial advisers to look at the company from an activist’s perspective. It’s critical to have a “consistent” story your investors understand, Dougherty said.
PNC outlook is positive toward NEO economy By JEREMY NOBILE
Northeast Ohio’s economy will pick up some additional momentum this year, with manufacturing remaining the primary driver despite slightly slower growth within the industry itself, according to findings by PNC Bank’s first-quarter market outlook for the region. Health care, finance and professional services also will contribute to the economic recovery in 2015, notes economist Mekael Teshome. The report covers the Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown areas. You can read it here: tinyurl.com/med8sbm. Among other notable findings in the report: ✟ Activity with Utica shale production is leading to income gains
across eastern Ohio, while improving consumer finances are boosting auto sales consistent with an economic expansion. ✟ The area’s aging population is spurring demand for health care services. That industry employs an estimated 18% of Northeast Ohio’s workforce. Progress by manufacturing-led job gains has helped push median household incomes to roughly $47,500 — about a 1% increase over its pre-recession peak — but that’s still about 12% lower than the national figure. ✟ Average hourly wages are rising more quickly than the national average, suggesting that while the manufacturing and energy-production industries are not adding a lot of workers, they’re supporting the
economy by boosting work hours and production. ✟ A robust housing market is being supported by high affordability, low mortgage rates and easier access to credit, although housing prices are expected to rise in the next several years. Housing is very affordable in the region, the report says, but “the area will struggle to capitalize on this advantage without greater economic vitality.” ✟ Long-term, a projected continuation of population loss is expected to cause Northeast Ohio to be a “below-average” performer in terms of job growth, although natural gas extraction is expected to create new jobs, income and tax revenue.
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Medical Mutual puts cash behind its customers Insurer gives employees incentives to do business with clients By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
If you stop doing business with Medical Mutual, look out. Its employees may come drink lots of your beer. At least that’s what the insurer did with the Winking Lizard. In an effort to get the local pub chain’s business back, the Cleveland-based insurer organized a socalled “cash mob” of about 200 employees to smother — with fair warning to the restaurant — its downtown outpost with business. The Feb. 3 mob generated about $5,000 in business in a little over two hours. Medical Mutual even posted an 8-foot-large sign in its window facing the Lizard on Prospect Avenue, bluntly stating: “We want you back!” Dramatic? Perhaps, but it worked. As of March 1, Medical Mutual will once again be the Winking Lizard’s insurer — a deal that brings about 200 covered lives back into Medical Mutual’s portfolio. “We lost the Winking Lizard a while back, and we heard we had a shot to get them back,” Medical Mutual president and CEO Rick Chiricosta said. “They’re an iconic organization in Northeast Ohio like we are, and we needed to have them as a customer.” The Winking Lizard mob was an extension of Medical Mutual’s threeyear-old “Mutual Appreciation” initiative, which Chiricosta dreamed up. Basically, Medical Mutual encourages its employees to do business with Medical Mutual’s clients, or in this case, potential clients. Consider it an “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine” sort of thing. Medical Mutual then encourages its employees to log their purchases so they can earn points toward cash rewards. The company also boasts an interactive database, which can be accessed through a smart phone app, which allows employees to find Medical Mutual customers from 66 product and service categories around the state. So far, Medical Mutual’s employees have logged more than $40 million in purchases. That figure includes everything from a sandwich purchase at Winking Lizard to mortgages and college tuition. John Lane, co-owner of the Winking Lizard, said it wasn’t just the cash mob or the flurry of Medical Mutual employees visiting the Lizard outposts throughout the state and leaving cards indicating they wanted their business. A lot goes into determining what healthy insurer a company uses, but he said the mob certainly helped nudge his company’s decision. He wouldn’t say which insurer the Lizard previously did business with. “Today, you’re fighting for every guest that walks in your door and getting their loyalty,” Lane said. “When you’ve got a company with 2,000 workers downtown willing to come in, that speaks volumes. It played a part.” Despite logging $40 million in purchases, Chiricosta insists the program is still a work in progress.
He’d like to see more employees participate. Still, he said he believes the program has helped the insurer retain and bring in new business. “The real reason I’m so passionate about it is that no one else in our industry can do this because no one else has the bulk of people we have, at least in the Cleveland and Toledo areas,” Chiricosta said. “More importantly, it’s the kind of thing you really feel good about.” Chiricosta is so dedicated to building upon the Mutual Appreciation program that he recently
hired a staffer to manage it fulltime. She’s Laura Dunn, who previously worked as a public relations rep for HealthSpan, another regional insurer. When asked whether Medical Mutual planned to swarm anymore potential customers, Chiricosta said, “I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet, but we’ve got some good ideas.” He added, “What I think is most effective is the element of surprise. There’s more coming.”
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
A sign that was placed in a Medical Mutual office window, which faces Winking Lizard.
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green space available for public use. Mike Trebilcock said the plan will provide competitive rowing and sailing environments for all of Cleveland’s youth. “Youth fitness is more important now than ever, and rowing and sailing happen to be amazing ways for kids to stay fit, learn discipline, and structure their lives,” Trebilcock said. “These kids need a place to develop, advance, and grow with the vehicles of rowing and sailing, and The Foundry is a purpose-built facility. It’s our responsibility to the young people of Cleveland to empower them to take up these amazing sports.” Andy Jones, MCPc’s president and chairman of MCPc Family Charities, said, “Part of our mission is to invest in our youth, and the inherent discipline, life skills, team-
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Shown are artist’s renderings of The Foundry, a $9 million project that will be built at 1831 Columbus Road in the Flats. A group of buildings will be converted to a year-round training center for rowers. work, mental toughness. All of these things allow them to see beyond their classroom, and may afford future opportunities in education. The elements taught in these sports should be made accessible as much as possible.” Matt Previts, director of rowing for the Cleveland Youth Rowing Association, said the boathouse and park will be “transformational” for the program. “This facility will enable young men and women from all backgrounds to experience the challenges, joys, and growth that are trademark outcomes of rowing,” Previts said. Cleveland Youth Rowing has partnered with CMSD Rows, a nonprofit that gives students in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District an opportunity to row. The program mixes students from within the city of Cleveland and its sur-
rounding suburbs on a daily basis. Through Columbus Foundry LLC, the MCPc-led nonprofit recently purchased the complex of buildings at 1831 Columbus Road from Pipeline Development Co. for $3 million, according to Cuyahoga County land records. The property is occupied by multiple tenants but also has substantial vacancy. The purchase included several buildings at 1776 Columbus Road that will serve as the group’s administrative headquarters, according to architectural drawings. Occupying part of the south end of the riverfront Columbus Peninsula, the Foundry property is on the east side of Columbus Road. It is opposite the entrance to Rivergate Park on the west side of Columbus. Rivergate Park includes the Cleveland Rowing Association’s boathouse and the Cleveland Metroparks Merwin’s Wharf restau-
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rant, which is an effort to provide public, active use of the river. Some 1,500 high school, collegiate and adult rowers already ply the Cuyahoga during the summer rowing season. Brian Zimmerman, CEO of Cleveland Metroparks, said the Foundry will be a catalyst for expanded green space and recreation activities in the Flats. It aligns with other initiatives adding recreation use to the Flats, he said. “It represents the exact kind of strong public/private partnerships that will continue to bolster redevel-
opment in the city’s urban core,” Zimmerman said. Moreover, the Foundry fits in with other efforts that are revitalizing Columbus Road with new housing, entertainment venues and the city’s new skate park. Gina Trebilcock said the recent activity in the Flats is a reflection of Cleveland’s potential. “There is an undercurrent of energy in this booming community that we are proud to be a part of – and that includes the fusion of longtime establishments and new neighbors,” she said.
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Yinzcam Inc. to install 60 Gimbal beacons, which are nearly 4 inches long and a little more than 3 inches wide, throughout The Q. The devices are equipped with Yinzcam’s iBeacon technology, allowing teams such as the Cavs to offer mobile experiences to fans as soon as they enter — and, as the technology develops, when they’re elsewhere. “We’re stressing that our beacon platform is really content awareness,” said Mike Conley, the Cavs’ vice president of digital.
‘Barrier for entry’ Before the beacons can produce a push notification or a fan can listen to a welcome message from Dan Gilbert, there is a four-step process that must take place. The first — downloading the Cavs’ new app, which, with Yinzcam’s help, launched Oct. 29 — is pretty simple. More than 220,000 people already have done so, Conley said. “It’s just been huge for us,” he said. After that, it gets more complicated, depending on how users feel about their mobile devices tracking their whereabouts and giving them a steady stream of updates. To benefit from the beacon technology, fans have to allow the Cavs’ app to access their location, give them push notifications and opt in to receive exclusive content. “There’s a barrier for entry to beaconing,” Conley said. “There are quite a few steps to make sure it works.” After rattling them off, he said, “That’s four things already standing in the way of our ability to educate the fan behavior.” The beaconing features only work for iOS devices, but Conley said Android users can still receive geo-targeted messaging that is powered via GPS, and Android’s software is soon expected to be compatible with Gimbal’s technology at The Q. A cool function the Cavs have implemented is having 10 to 15 workers wear Gimbal’s Series 10 beacons, which are a little larger than a quarter, on their aprons as they sell 50/50 tickets during a game. Anyone within proximity of the seller, assuming they’ve opted in, is alerted to a raffle being nearby. Conley said the Cavs have found that “the highest engagement of beacon messaging comes from the mobile beacons,” but the franchise hasn’t yet completed a case study that will give them a more definitive answer. Brian Dunphy, Gimbal’s senior vice president of business development and partner relations, said the proximity beacons that are worn by workers at The Q have produced an increase in 50/50 sales. “Given how much money the Cavs have invested in the fan experience, their investment in the mobile app is a key way of keeping that engagement with the fan and giving them surprise and delight moments in and outside the arena,” Dunphy said. Those opportunities include 1976 Miracle of Richfield video
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highlights for fans who are close to The Q’s display of the original hardwood court from the old coliseum, and amusing videos pushed to fans in the upper-level Loudville area reminding them to be just that.
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More to come Last spring, the Indians were the first Cleveland pro sports franchise to employ the technology when they implemented Gimbal’s iBeacons as part of the Tribe’s new WiFi network at Progressive Field. Indians communications coordinator Joel Hammond said the team in 2015 will have beacons that alert fans who have downloaded the MLB.com Ballpark app that certain perks are available as they walk past the new bar that is being built in right field, or as they approach such areas as the expanded Kids Clubhouse. The Browns followed suit last year, when they completed the first phase of a $120 million renovation of FirstEnergy Stadium. Browns communications coordinator Rob McBurnett said fans were notified of opportunities for faster stadium entry, and received welcome, merchandise and guest service messages. “Cleveland is definitely a progressive city when it comes to getting all of the sports teams deployed with beacon technology,” Gimbal’s Dunphy said. The Cavs, like their sports neighbors, are just getting started. Conley said an additional 50 beacons (Gimbal’s latest model, the Series 21) will soon “be rolled out in phases” at The Q. Once more fans are using the Cavs’ app at The Q, the team will start using Gimbal’s ingress and egress capabilities to give a headsup on shorter lines at certain gates, and even for those waiting at concession areas. Dunphy said Gimbal first experimented with a “line busting” feature during Miami Dolphins games last season, and it was “well received.” Another twist that some teams have tried: a “last call for alcohol” notification. “It’s not just the content,” Dunphy said. “It’s about getting useful information to the fans.” The Cavs also plan to use Gimbal’s beacons for out-of-arena experiences, such as scavenger hunts, sweepstakes and promotional opportunities that are aligned with corporate partners. Inside The Q, there’s been a lowkey, but potentially next-level, addition to the Cavs’ app. Via a partnership with Tap.in2, Inc., a Los Angeles startup, Conley said the franchise is in the “pilot” phase of a feature that allows fans to order food and drinks on their mobile devices, and have them delivered to their seats. One of the company’s founders is Mike Jacobs, a Bizdom graduate who is residing in Bay Village. The Cavs are testing the technology with a small group of seasonticket holders, and hope to expand the service to more fans in the coming months. The team, as Conley says, is using its app “as a fan remote control.”
9
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CRAIN’S BLOGS GET THE LATEST FROM OUR EDITORS AND REPORTERS, INCLUDING: EDITOR’S CHOICE: Managing editor Scott Suttell rounds up news and views about business, and stories of interest in Northeast Ohio. Weekdays SPORTS BIZ: Assistant editor Kevin Kleps writes about the Browns, Cavaliers, Indians and much more. Weekdays HEALTH CARE: Reporter Timothy Magaw breaks down news about the region’s hospitals. Tuesdays CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
The Cleveland Cavaliers have placed 60 Gimbal beacons throughout Quicken Loans Arena, giving them the ability to remind fans in Loudville to bring the noise.
CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM/ SECTION/BLOGS
Comments Requested Case Western Reserve University is seeking comments from the public about the university in preparation for its periodic evaluation by its regional accrediting agency. The university will host a visit April 13-14, 2015, with a team representing the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association. Case Western Reserve has been accredited by the Commission since 1967. The team will review the institution’s ongoing ability to meet the Commission’s Criteria for Accreditation. The public is invited to submit comments regarding the university: Public Comment on Case Western Reserve University The Higher Learning Commission 230 South LaSalle Street, Suite 7-500 Chicago, IL 60604-1411 The public also may submit comments on the Commission’s website at: http://www.ncahlc.org/HLC-Institutions/third-party-comment.html
Comments must address substantive matters related to the quality of the institution or its academic programs. Comments must be in writing. All comments must be received by March 13, 2015.
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PUBLISHER:
John Campanelli (jcampanelli@crain.com) EDITOR:
Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com) MANAGING EDITOR:
Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)
OPINION
Oh, Canada Due north of Cleveland, about 50 miles across Lake Erie, sits our state’s largest foreign trading partner. No other country comes close to competing with Canada as Ohio’s No. 1 customer. In fact, we sell more goods to Canada than to the state’s next 10 largest foreign markets combined. Ohio’s trade partnership with our neighbor up north is easy to overlook — and take for granted. We were recently reminded of the partnership’s economic benefits when Douglas George, Canada’s consul general for Ohio, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky, sat down with Crain’s staff at the end of Canada Week in Ohio, a 10-day trade visit with stops in Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland. “What’s good for Ohio is good for Canada, and vice versa,” George said. That’s an understatement. More than 300,000 jobs in Ohio depend on trade and investment with Canada. Ohio and Canada trade $37.3 billion in goods annually, with Ohio exporting $20 billion and Canada exporting $17.3 billion to us. Northeast Ohio gets its fair share in that trade bounty. According to the most recent information from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Cleveland-Elyria area exported more than $3 billion in goods to Canada in 2013. And the Buckeye State’s leading exports to Canada are right in Northeast Ohio’s manufacturing wheelhouse: vehicle parts, cars, engines, turbines and plastics. Canada sends us oil — lots of it, at $6.5 billion annually — trailed by car parts and plastics. “We trade the parts that go into other parts that go into the dashboards of cars being manufactured and sold,” George said. “We may trade parts back and forth seven times before it’s a finished product.” We’re encouraged by efforts to make the border crossing smoother, but still very secure, for cargo and travelers, especially considering that every minute of every day, an average of $1.4 million in goods and services cross between the U.S. and Canada. The creation of the Nexus card for frequent travelers and the FAST program for truckers and cargo carriers has helped ease some of the delays brought about in the aftermath of 9/11. The construction of a new modern international bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, also will help expedite the movement of goods and people between the two countries. Other efforts to better coordinate regulating systems between the United States and Canada already have begun and likely will be expanded next year. Often, businesses and government turn their attention to what isn’t working, then seek a fix. But the Canada-Ohio connection is an example of something that is working well, and still needs attention. Ohio, and Ohio businesses, have too much at stake to take the Great White North for granted. As with any business, it’s imperative to preserve market share while devising strategies to grow. Northeast Ohio businesses need to speak up about policy and practices that will keep the Canada connection strong. And policy makers must be ready to implement their ideas.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Creativity flourishes in diverse groups It’s not easy to become a venture capAccording to an NVCA survey, 89% of italist. VC investors are male and just 2% are You’ll likely need most, if not all, of the African-American or Hispanic. Those are following: access to fat stacks of cash; a self-reported numbers. Other studies degree from a top-shelf busishow that partner-level profesness school; a Rolodex of hunsionals in the industry may acdreds (if not thousands) of tually be more than 95% male. connections; decades of busiI am pretty sure there is no ness-leadership experience; a sinister, organized plot here to track record of smart funding exclude women and minoriand entrepreneurship; an enties from the VC world. There cyclopedic knowledge of the are many reasons why this has industry you are investing in happened, including our naand a brilliant partner or two. tion’s history of educational You also probably need to attainment, the access to and JOHN be white and male. evolution of wealth in AmeriThe venture capital industry CAMPANELLI ca, and the tendency of people is small. The number of VC to interact within homogeprofessionals — less than 6,000, accordneous networks. ing to the National Venture Capital AssoThe problem is that when this sort of ciation — couldn’t fill a third of Quicken sameness takes over, it becomes difficult Loans Arena. to maximize ideas, creativity, innovation Still, VC has an incredible impact on and, most of all, profits. our economy and employment. In 2014, “If you have six white guys from Harventure capitalists invested nearly $50 bilvard sitting around a table looking at a lion in U.S. companies. Much of that business opportunity to invest in, you money went into ventures on the cutting have a lot of groupthink going on comedge of innovation into technology, enerpared to a much more diverse group of gy and medicine. These are tomorrow’s people at the table who can look at the cancer cures and cheap energy solutions. opportunity with different perspectives,” The people in this sector are smart, JumpStart CEO Ray Leach told me a few and many of them realize they have a seweeks ago. rious problem. This is not conjecture. Research has
repeatedly shown that diverse groups make better decisions and are more creative and thoughtful than homogeneous groups. In business, studies — including a McKinsey & Co. report from a few months ago — show a simple correlation: More diversity in leadership equals a better bottom line. The McKinsey analysis showed that companies in the top quartile of minority/ethnic diversity were 30% more likely to financially outperform the median in their industry. “A more diverse set of people around a table can make better decisions,” Leach said. “Groups of white people don’t believe that. They just don’t.” That’s starting to change in the VC world. In December, the NVCA announced the creation of a diversity task force. Leach is serving on it, and last month he participated in a panel discussion at the Rainbow PUSH Economic Summit in New York on improving inclusion at VC firms and in the companies they back. He admits it’s a long game, that it will take time to change minds, improve educational attainment and fill the talent pipeline. But the first small steps in the right direction have been made. And Leach knows what that means. “Backtracking is not an option.”
TALK ON THE WEB Re: Gund, Haslam among nation’s top donors Too bad the people with the Cleveland connections gave the money away to other places and Cleveland didn’t get any. But we really do have some of the most generous people who live and give here. Clevelanders are very generous! — jamse shellenberger
Re: Manufacturing revival I wish there were more original, innovative and forward-looking recommendations in the Feb. 6 City Club presentation by Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, rather than the déjà vu litany of requests.
I am fully in favor of making our manufacturing capability the best in the world, and we can discuss at length what “best” means. The NAM requests seem to be: 1. Fair trade 2. Lower taxes, but with additional investment in infrastructure 3. Fewer regulations, but a new energy policy that incents innovation, while maintaining business-as-usual coal generation. Regulations were not created in a vacuum and in general are a response to grossly unfair, immoral, or simply greeddriven practices. We can all point to what some call “regulations run amok” and there are a lot of anecdotal examples of that, along with unintended consequences. On the
other hand, the history of our river and lake, the economic, social, and environmental effects of the Chinese industrial revolution, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, Rana Plaza in Bangladesh, and EPA Super Fund sites all demonstrate what happens when regulations go away, aren’t enacted, or simply ignored. — Robert E. Chalfant
Re: Future of Cleveland Hopkins I’m pretty sure the United dehubbing was well anticipated, which is a good part of the reason why the passenger traffic is only off by 17%. It could be much, much worse (see airports in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Memphis.) As much as I hate to admit it,
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TALK ON THE WEB (CONTINUED) PROUD TO SUPPORT Ivan Schwarz and the Greater Cleveland Film Commission
Join the GCFC as they celebrate the Oscars at
Roa
to the
e
arpet
A Hollywood-Inspired black-tie gala.
Sun ay, February 22 InterContinental Suites Hotel Cleveland REBECCA R. MARKOVITZ
The new downtown Heinen’s location will open Feb. 25. city leaders showed admirable restraint when Continental/United tried to get them to bite on a $1 billion improvement project that put the city largely on the hook (nearly 90%). Memphis put a whole heap of cash into its airport just to watch Delta drop 90% of its flights shortly afterwards. If it wasn’t for FedEx, that airport would have little traffic. Delta did the same to Cincinnati, USAir did the same to Pittsburgh, etc. Some say that the investment would have retained United, but I think both recent and past history prove otherwise. — ML
Re: Heinen’s preps downtown store I would love to see a Heinen’s come to the Medina/Brunswick area. My family does not shop at Giant Eagle, and Buehler’s is not on the same level as Heinen’s. We now have to drive 30 minutes to Strongsville to get our grocery
shopping done.
— 174700
Does every freaking story about anything that opens in Cleveland have to be filled with impending DOOM AND GLOOM? GOOD LORD you people are the most insecure idiots I have ever experienced! You make Cleveland come across as such a backwards city. Are there any publications that have a sense of strength and positive attitude that can be passed on to the people of Cleveland?? It’s truly amazing. How SAD! — Bob Mone
Re: The cost of MAC sports These preferences for athletes are absurd. If, as Crain’s Feb. 9, Page One article contends, only 23 athletic programs in the country are net revenue producers for their universities, why would the NCAA burden the rest of the programs
with yet another expense for the sole benefit of students who already enjoy free tuition, room and board, etc.? Here’s a thought: Since we all know this is really all about football and basketball, maybe the NFL and the NBA ought to either start their own farm systems like MLB has or cough up the dough for their current “farm systems” now being operated at the expense of millions of actual students by the NCAA? — Jim Dyer
Re: The dysfunctional Browns Whatever the cause, the Browns are in a bad situation, probably for years. I don’t understand why they drafted a quarterback whose drinking problems were publicly known for a long time. Maybe they should just fire everybody, take a year off and regroup. — Bob Fritz
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FEBRUARY 16 - 22, 2015
Supply chain industry trying to meet demand By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
Skilled choreographers are in high demand — not so much the kind that pieced together Katy Perry’s shark-filled Super Bowl glam fest, but those who coordinate the complex, yet under-the-radar, journey that bring goods to people’s doorsteps or store shelves. Local colleges and universities say their grads in supply chain management and logistics are in hot demand, and the enrollments in their programs have begun to reflect as much. Take the University of Akron’s 9year-old supply chain/operations management program, which has nearly doubled in size since 2012 to more than 100 students. These folks manage the entire life cycle of a product: sourcing raw materials, managing warehouses and making sure things end up where they’re supposed to. Smucker’s, Swagelok, Goodyear and AudioTechnica are just a few of the companies that have scooped up Akron’s grads. “People are recognizing that supply chain can be a strategic part of the business,” said Richard Sprungle, vice president of operations of Audio-Technica’s U.S. subsidiary, which is based in Stow. “In the past, we just had to ship our product,” he said. “Customers are becoming much more demanding. They want it shipped a certain way, labeled a certain way and have it on a certain date. We’re not just hiring someone to put it in a box and ship it out the door. There’s more thought put into it.” The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
GETTY IMAGES
projects 22% growth — much more than other categories — in supply chain-related jobs through 2022. Also, the median wage for all logisticians hovers at almost $72,800, and Akron’s recent grads reported earning, on average, $51,600 right out of school. Part of the reason for the field’s rapid growth, experts say, is that more companies are relying on other firms around the world to do business. The phrase “global economy” often is tossed around by academics and industry types when
discussing the need for supply chain grads. “As the economy’s come back, demand picks up, and there’s a need to move more product and source more materials,” says Mahesh Srinivasan, coordinator of UA’s supply chain program. “You can have good people, a great designed product and access to financing, but if you can’t figure out a good way to get materials to make the product and get it to the customer, the reason for your organization goes away.”
The need for supply chain professionals is so high that in 2013, Don Delaney, Goodyear’s vice president of global supply chain and logistics, reached out to the University of Akron for help in building a pipeline of workers for his division. The result was a University of Akron-centric internship program. In many cases, those internships have turned into full-time job offers, Delaney said. Nationally, the pool of qualified supply chain professionals isn’t keeping up with demand. Re-
searchers from Penn State’s Center for Supply Chain Research, for instance, said in a recent report that a “perfect storm could be in the offing” when it comes to talent pipeline. Other recent news events highlighted the importance of a welloiled supply chain. Take Target, which last month announced plans to shutter all 133 of its Canadian outposts because of supply chain gridlock. Goods were reportedly coming into the warehouses faster than they were being shipped out. The retail giant was unable to resolve the issues and opted to cut its losses. “Bad logistics can screw up good marketing,” said Paul Murphy, a professor of business logistics at John Carroll University, which boasts a small logistics program of about 20 students. “You can have a good price, good product and a wonderful promotion, but if it’s lost, damaged or doesn’t get there all that other stuff is for naught.” Over the last five years, Cleveland State’s supply chain management program, too, has grown to one with more than 200 students, according to Oya Tukel, who chairs the supply chain management department. It’s not just manufacturers like Parker Hannifin or Eaton hiring Cleveland State’s grads. She said Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth have even brought on supply chain grads to work in their operations departments. “You’re going to see more programs like ours,” Tukel said. “There’s been incredible growth in Northeast Ohio. Mine grew because of the demand, and we’re hoping for even more students.”
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FEBRUARY 16 - 22, 2015
CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
GOING PLACES
13
Send information for Going Places to dhillyer@crain.com
JOB CHANGES CONSTRUCTION GILBANE BUILDING CO.: Jason Ohlsson to project engineer.
ENGINEERING AUSTIN CO.: Jason Pastor to supervisory estimator; Ernie Mejia to project purchasing agent; Brendan Walsh to project accountant; Go Hemmi to international trainee, Kajima Corp.; Lee Hribar to supervisory architect; Vrajesh Chokshi to senior electrical engineer; Jonathan Stuart to senior mechanical engineer; Brandon Talbert to senior location consultant, Austin Consulting; Anca Amaiei to architect.
FINANCE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CLEVELAND: Doug Campbell to assistant vice president, executive communications; Seshu Dasari to assistant vice president, information technology services.
FINANCIAL SERVICE WELLS FARGO ADVISORS: Seth Barnes to managing director, market manager, Northeast Ohio market. WALTHALL CPAS: Susan Kornatowski to staff accountant; Cynthia M. Polovich to supervisor.
HEALTH CARE AKRON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL: Alicia Lowes, D.O., to pediatric endocrinologist. AKRON GENERAL PARTNERS PHYSICIAN GROUP: Kathryn Leininger, M.D., Jeffrey Neher, M.D. and Arvind Nehra, M.D. to medical staff.
Barnes
Kornatowski
Polovich
Leininger
Neher
Nehra
Kilbane
Hill
Boroff
Greiner
Jerin
Citrino
Gibbons
Reid
Saha
Grego
Dew
Delventhal
Wojno
O’Brien
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Megan Kilbane to assistant dean for oncology, strategic development and chief of staff for Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and the National Center for Regenerative Medicine.
Maia E. Jerin to associates.
HOSPITALITY
BETTCHER INDUSTRIES: Dennis M. Romer to director of sales, foodservice equipment.
technology.
NONPROFIT
MARINE SERVICES
CROSSROADS: Kathy Strancar to director of development.
G&S METAL PRODUCTS: Stacey Reid to director of business development.
GREAT LAKES TOWING CO.: Lindsay R. Dew to director of operations and compliance; Mark W. Delventhal to director of technical services and business development.
HILTON CLEVELAND DOWNTOWN: Teri Agosta to general manager.
INSURANCE BRITTON GALLAGHER: Barbara Kindel to personal insurance department manager.
LEGAL BUCKINGHAM, DOOLITTLE & BURROUGHS LLC: John Hill to chair, Litigation Practice Group. GALLAGHER SHARP: Robert D. Boroff, Abigail A. Greiner and
Nowacki Asset Management LLC
GIFFEN & KAMINSKI LLC: Diane Citrino to partner. ICE MILLER LLP: Colette Gibbons to office managing partner. JACKSON KELLY PLLC: Andrew N. Schock to associate.
MANUFACTURING
HORSBURGH & SCOTT: Pradeep Saha to president, CEO. LINCOLN ELECTRIC CO.: Steven Hedlund to president, global automation.
MARKETING AKHIA: Dana Wojno and Kelly O’Brien to account directors; Cindy Deng to assistant account executive; Caroline Bogart to content architect; Mary Flenner to senior copywriter; Jason Smith to art director.
NORDSON CORP.: Tony Grego to manager, corporate accounting. RAPID PROTOTYPE AND MANUFACTURING: Tracy Albers to vice president, innovation and
2014 Top Producers/Award Recipients
Period
Growth of $1 Million
S&P 500 Total Return
Growth of $1 Million
May 2011 - Year End
-7.46%
$925,400
-6.37%
$936,300
2012
29.99%
$1,202,927
16.00%
$1,086,108
2013
51.76%
$1,825,563
32.39%
$1,437,898
10/31/2014
21.59%
$2,219,459
10.99%
$1,595,988
REAL ESTATE ALLEGRO REALTY ADVISORS LTD: Kevin M. Yates to principal. RETIREE HOUSING MANAGEMENT INC.: Ginny Brickner to senior regional manager; Erica Thornton to controller.
HONOR ROLL CONGRATULATIONS!
Nowacki Asset Management (NET)
VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA OF GREATER OHIO: Kimberly A. Follett to executive vice president, operations; Brad Hutchison and Jay Bayhurst to program directors.
A+
#1 TOP PRODUCER
TOP PRODUCER
TOP PRODUCER
Thomas Gustafson, CCIM
Gary Cooper, CCIM
Russell Rogers, SIOR
TOP PRODUCER/ ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Senior Vice President | Principal
Senior Vice President | Principal
Senior Vice President | Principal
Katie Watts Senior Associate
Note: Returns are shown in U.S. dollars after fees. Date of inception for Nowacki Asset Management is May 2nd, 2011. Nowacki Asset Management (NAM) is a registered investment advisory firm specializing in value-oriented investment management. All client assets are included in one composite and invested using a value-oriented strategy. NAM claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®). The S&P 500 Total Return index is subject to volatility and the NAM composite may or may not be more volatile than the index. Past performance is not aguarantee of future performance. Investments carry risks and the potential for loss. Results as of 10/31/2014 are still subject to final verification by an independent third-party. NAM only uses short-term margin or leverage to buy securities after a client commits to deposit funds and the funds are in the process of being transferred, but the money has not yet completed the transfer process. To receive a list of composite descriptions of NAM and/or a presentation that complies with the GIPS standards, contact Michael T. Nowacki at (440) 488-6936 or write Nowacki Asset Management, 29525 Chagrin Blvd. Suite 301, Pepper Pike, Ohio 44122, or michael@nowackiassetmgmt.com.
TOP PRODUCER
CLEVELAND AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
REMS AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
SPIRIT AWARD
Ryan Fisher Vice President
Frank Pschirer, CPM, RPA
David Ostoich, RPA, FMA
Property Assistant
Senior Director | REMS
Senior Property Manager
Katie Eble
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FEBRUARY 16 - 22, 2015
TAX LIENS The Internal Revenue Service filed tax liens against the following businesses in the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office. The IRS files a tax lien to protect the interests of the federal government. The lien is a public notice to creditors that the government has a claim against a company’s property. Liens reported here are $5,000 and higher. Dates listed are the dates the documents were filed in the Recorder’s Office.
LIENS FILED Parma Pre-School Inc. 17974 Potomac Drive, Strongsville ID: 34-1573228 Date filed: Dec. 8, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $13,690 Pinpoint Learning LLC 2530 Superior Ave. E, Suite 303, Cleveland ID: 26-3972926 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment Amount: $13,473 Thomas G. Smith Funeral Home LLC 14601 Saint Clair Ave., Cleveland ID: 34-1863842 Date filed: Dec. 2, 2014 Type: Failure to file complete return Amount: $12,825 Upwright Industries LLC 24300 Solon Road, Suite E., Bedford Heights ID: 27-1386599 Date filed: Dec. 2, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $11,648 Hillcrest Ambulance Service Inc. 26420 Lakeland Blvd., Euclid
ID: 34-1202308 Date filed: Dec. 8, 2014 Type: Unemployment Amount: $11,138 Euclid Foreign Motors Inc. 20020 Saint Clair Ave., Cleveland ID: 34-1087596 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $10,700 Scoop Shops of University Heights Inc. 26721 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood ID: 34-1942935 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Failure to file complete return Amount: $10,665 Express Ground Cover LLC 1314 Washington Blvd., Mayfield Heights ID: 45-5106525 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $9,282 Hargur Inc. Turney Deli 4525 Turney Road, Cleveland ID: 20-1129797 Date filed: Dec. 8, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $9,085 Miega Inc. 3820 Superior Ave. E, Cleveland ID: 90-0676858 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Corporate income Amount: $8,753 Karl & Smith LLC 1100 W. Bagley Road, Suite 201, Berea ID: 20-4009737 Date filed: Dec. 3, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment Amount: $8,572 Search Circus Inc.
12181 State Road, North Royalton ID: 20-4197053 Date filed: Dec. 2, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $8,554
6517 Bessemer Ave., Cleveland ID: 34-0858987 Date filed: Dec. 3, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $5,481
Lake Land Employment Group of Cleveland LLC P.O. Box 93446, Cleveland ID: 34-1931042 Date filed: Dec. 3, 2014 Type: Unemployment Amount: $8,363
Anm Singh Inc. Euclid Convenient Express 15848 Euclid Ave., ID: 05-0593774 Date filed: Dec. 2, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $5,205
American Processing LLC 17001 Saranac Road, Cleveland ID: 30-0005996 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $7,053 First City Financial Group LLC 8555 Sweet Valley Drive, Valley View ID: 02-0732518 Date filed: Dec. 2, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment, corporate income Amount: $6,537 Majestic Technologies Inc. 18035 Rockside Road, Bedford ID: 34-1477823 Date filed: Dec. 2, 2014 Type: Failure to file complete return Amount: $5,925 T & N Beverage Inc. 831 E. 140 St., Cleveland ID: 34-1965879 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $5,703 5105 Quick Food 5105 Franklin Blvd., Cleveland ID: 46-0722230 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment Amount: $5,634 Imperial Glass & Door Co.
ACCESS BEGINS WITH A CAPITAL “G”. At Glenmede, we believe the best way to serve our clients is to give them direct access to our experts and best thinking — with no barriers or bureaucracy. Our low client-to-staff ratio means you’ll always have our full attention. Founded as an independent trust company by the Pew family in 1956, we’re free from conflicting, short-term interests. We take a long-term outlook and measure success solely by how we manage your wealth, from one generation to the next.
www.glenmede.com Glenmede’s services are best suited for those with $5 million or more to invest. To learn more, please contact Linda Olejko at 216-514-7876 or linda.olejko@glenmede.com CLEVELAND • MORRISTOWN • NEW YORK PHILADELPHIA • PRINCETON • WASHINGTON, DC • WILMINGTON
LIENS RELEASED
Etcetera Services Inc., Houswork Etc. and Unpacking Etc. P.O. Box 40041, Bay Village ID: 34-1816713 Date filed: April 20, 2010 Date released: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $14,905 Extreme Cabling Inc. 17216 Sedalie Ave., Cleveland ID: 25-1905442 Date filed: June 20, 2014 Date released: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Failure to file complete return, unemployment Amount: $41,025
Abar Foundation 7261 Engle Road, Cleveland ID: 33-0928475 Date filed: Oct. 16, 2014 Date released: Dec. 3, 2014 Type: Return of private foundation Amount: $68,889
ILead LLC 20376 Kelsey Lane, Strongsville ID: 20-2222246 Date filed: April 4, 2014 Date released: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $11,586
Cryothermic Systems Inc. 9100 S. Hills Blvd., Cleveland ID: 26-4206474 Date filed: June 20, 2014 Date released: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $6,125
K & B Construction & Mechanical 7550 James Drive, North Royalton ID: 34-1799897 Date filed: Nov. 10, 2011 Date released: Dec. 3, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $21,391
Eagle Fabricators & Erectors Inc. 901 Addison Ave., Cleveland ID: 34-1966785 Date filed: Nov. 27, 2006 Date released: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $12,381 East Bagley Inc. 18590 E. Bagley Road, Middleburg Heights ID: 03-0562116 Date filed: June 9, 2008 Date released: Dec. 3, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $78,352
Kall Bros Sunoco Inc. 13946 State Road, North Royalton ID: 34-1702252 Date filed: Sept. 14, 2007 Date released: Dec. 30, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $18,631 Legend Truck & Equipment Inc. 711 W. Bagley Road, Berea ID: 34-1741156 Date filed: Oct. 14, 2008 Date released: Dec. 3, 2014 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $46,171
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
Talan Products keeping local roots Company maintains Cleveland address while making room for 600-ton stamping press By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
Talan Products needs space to install a 600-ton stamping press, but it wants to keep its trendy address. You know, the one that says “Cleveland.” So the metal stamping company has negotiated terms with its new landlord, a partnership led by real estate investor Joseph Greenberg, and is preparing a site for the new press in its existing building, 18800 Cochran Ave. Once the press is in this spring, the company won’t be easily moved, either, since the massive machine needs its own foundation, which will be eight feet deep. “We had to figure out where we were going to go. … When you have a press like that, you don’t want to move it,” said Talan CEO and cofounder Steve Peplin.
The company turned down a chance to move to Euclid, which had a building Peplin said was available and “fantastic,” and will remain in the Collinwood neighborhood that has been its home since it began operations in 1986. The Euclid building was a little nicer, but a little more expensive, too. It had room to grow, but doing so would have required building it out, Peplin said. By staying put, Talan not only doesn’t have to move, but it can expand in the future simply by knocking down walls. It occupies about 150,000 square feet in a building that has total space of 750,000 square feet, more of which is available if Talan needs it. “Plus, we get to stay in Cleveland, where it’s really cool and things are growing,” Peplin added. The company, which ranked 45th in Crain’s Cleveland Business’ Fast 50 companies in 2014, has been
growing at about a 20% annual rate for the last couple of years, Peplin said. Its core business — stamping out brackets, braces, clamps and other hardware for the construction industry — has bounced back nicely from the recession. Meanwhile, its other core business of automotive parts has held steady, and its new business of stamping parts for solar power installations has taken off. Sales grew from $25 million in 2013 to $30 million in 2014, and Peplin thinks they’ll increase by another 20% this year. The company also hired 10 people last year, bringing its current payroll to 65 people, and it’s looking for more. “We’re hiring all kinds of people — press operators, die makers and supervisors,” Peplin said. The decision to stay put was not an easy one. So many people expected the company to move that
Peplin sent out an email to customers and other constituents at the end of January to let them know he was staying put. “For a little more money, I could have a lot nicer building,” Peplin said. “But the other building was more expensive, had longer-term commitments and it didn’t have easy expansion opportunities. Here, we can expand with very little costs and disruption.” But it was staying in Cleveland that was perhaps the most important part of the equation, Peplin said. Cleveland, he said, is developing a nice reputation with people from outside the region. So, it didn’t matter that city economic development officials had no money or real incentives to offer him. “We love being in Cleveland. Talan has always been in Cleveland, for 28 years,” Peplin said.
GET DAILY NEWS ALERTS FROM CRAIN’S REGISTER FOR FREE EMAIL ALERTS AND RECEIVE: THE MORNING ROUNDUP: The day’s business news from Ohio’s daily papers BREAKING NEWS ALERTS DAILY HEADLINES: News and blog items from the day REAL ESTATE REPORT: Published Monday. HEALTH CARE REPORT: A weekly guide to keep readers on top of changes in the health care industry. Published Tuesday. MANUFACTURING REPORT: A weekly guide to Northeast Ohio’s manufacturing sector. Published every other Wednesday. SMALL BUSINESS REPORT: Published Thursday. SHALE AND ENERGY REPORT: Published Friday. CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM/REGISTER
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FEBRUARY 16 - 22, 2015
Smithers Group has long recipe for success Akron company that caters to the tire business is bigger than ever as it celebrates its 90th anniversary By DON DETORE Rubber & Plastics News
As a young boy, Michael Hochschwender remembers his father teaching him how to tie his shoes while he sat on a step in his dad’s office. Nearly 50 years later, Hochschwender continues to tackle new challenges as well as look for other opportunities from an office within that same company. As president and CEO of the Smithers Group Inc., where his father, Herman, once served in a similar position, Hochschwender has overseen a flurry of diversification over the last 13 years. The company, celebrating its 90th year in business this year, has transformed into a global entity with a highly educated workforce that caters more to the tire industry than ever before. Through several acquisitions, Smithers has six business groups and facilities in England, Japan and China. “The global tire companies were always our clients,” Hochschwender said of the company, founded in 1925 as Smithers Laboratories. It eventually merged with Hochschwender & Associates Inc. in 1972 to create Smithers Scientific Services. “(Before the diversification), we did not have facilities in Europe,” he said. “We didn’t have a facility in China. So we served our global client base strictly from America. Today, we clearly serve our clients from facilities on three continents: from Europe, from North America and from China.” Smithers remains a global testing, consulting and information service
company that is committed to its customers, Hochschwender said. “We believe it’s our job to support our clients in their Hochschwender success, not so much to brandish our success,” he said. “We truly value the success of our clients. It’s what we’re all about. We don’t want to take the focus off of that. It’s not what we’re going to do.”
First major move in 2002 While the company established Smithers Quality Assessments in 1993 to address the fast-growing business of management system certification, Smithers’ first major move came in 2002 when it acquired Springborn Laboratories Inc., a contract research and regulatory compliance firm for the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and chemical industries. “That took us into the world called environmental risk or environmental toxicology,” Hochschwender said. Today, Smithers Viscient, formerly Smithers Springborn, works with the chemical companies and pharmaceutical industries to assess the environmental risks of a drug, household product or pesticide. He called that acquisition “a big diversification” for three reasons. “We believe we are in the business of science, and that there is an environment in which scientists can and will be very successful at business,”
he said. “Our belief is that approach is somewhat unique. At Smithers, the environment is more about the technology being an enabler for the scientist to do good business. That was philosophically why we felt the move into a new technology was an appropriate change in direction.” Secondly, the acquisition allowed Smithers to ride out the cyclical nature of the automotive industry. Hochschwender said it paid off during the recession in the early 2000s. “Diversification when done well provides stability. Through diversification, we wanted to be able to stay the course, even during challenging times,” he said. “We had other parts of the business that actually were doing very well. What that enabled us to do is, during that recession, is we did not exit one market. We did not exit one capability. We were able to stay the course as result of that diversity.” And thirdly, Hochschwender identified “critical mass” as a reason behind the move. “We felt that was important for our clients to expect us to be able to do things and make investments and take the initiative in critical mass and mobility,” he said. “One of the things we were very cautious of was the loss of focus.” In 2006, Smithers secured a foothold in the United Kingdom and Europe with its acquisition of Rapra Technology Ltd., which, like Smithers, provided analytical, research, testing and information services to both the rubber and plastics industries. “That was a significant acquisition for us,” Hochschwender said. “They
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were a very capable organization … with a wonderful staff.” Then, four years later, Smithers purchased England-based Pira International, a provider of knowledge-based information and testing services to firms in the packaging, paper and print industries, and their supply chains. The acquisition broadened Smithers’ reach in the U.S., as it included facilities on the West Coast and Michigan. “That brought with it packaging testing,” Hochschwender said. “The packaging space uses a lot of polymer materials, which was a natural tie to our Rapra business. If you are going to ship computers to the other side of the world, you want to make sure they get there in one piece.”
Looking to the future Smithers followed that with two acquisitions in 2012. First, it purchased Environmental Sciences Group from Covance Laboratories, an England-based risk assessment firm that services the agrochemical, pharmaceutical, industrial chemical and animal health industries. ESG became part of Smithers Viscient. Later that year, Smithers Group bought Avanza Laboratories and combined it with Smithers Pharma Services, creating Smithers Avanza to provide a broad range of pharmaceutical testing services. And in the last few years, Smithers Quality Assessments opened an office in Suzhou, China, and the company expanded its winter test center near Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. In mid-December, Smithers announced it was moving its North American Information business unit from Portland, Maine, to Akron as part of its strategic initiative. A dozen positions will move to Akron, and 10 jobs will be created over the following year. The Information business unit produces market reports, conferences and publications to clients in traditional markets as well as to companies and industries with emerging technologies. “Having this team co-located with our technical experts and scientists in Northeast Ohio allows the team to
work closely on new product and service offerings,” Hochschwender said. So what attracted Smithers to these acquisitions? “We looked for companies that have a good solid science, good technical capabilities, a reputation for quality, but they may have something that is holding them back,” he said. “That can be anything. It can be their size, limited resources to pursue new opportunities, or access to clients. It can be any number of things. What we like to do is we go in and liberate them from whatever constraints they have.” Hochschwender said no other acquisitions are imminent. “We digested a lot in the last five or six years,” he said. “We’re very happy with what we’ve done, and we want to make sure everything we’ve done is on real solid footing before we would venture into anything else. We’re a conservative company by nature. … We’re very careful about what we do. We don’t want to put anything we do or any of our clients at risk at any time.” That isn’t to say the company will stand pat. “We always have our eyes open,” he said. “We follow our clients. If our clients feel there’s a need for us somewhere, hopefully they give us a call, and we’ll look there. We know our role. Our role is to support our clients, and … we go where support is needed.” Hochschwender said he learned many life lessons — in addition to tying his shoes — from his father. Chief among them is the importance of recognition. “You can look at a financial statement, you can look at a balance sheet, you can look at all of those things, and many people use that as a measurement of success,” he said. “We measure those things, too. But I don’t think that’s our measure of success. “Our measure of success is how we’re viewed by clients. If we’re viewed well by them, and our reputation is as good as it can be, we can manage the rest of it.” Detore is managing editor of Rubber & Plastics News, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business.
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WHO TO WATCH IN NONPROFITS Northeast Ohio has no shortage of standouts in the nonprofit sector. That was pretty obvious when we received roughly 100 suggestions of people to profile for this section. Whether they’re spearheading new initiatives or serving as leaders within their individual nonprofits, these are just some of those who are ones to watch. ANTHONY ADKISSON Program manager, Pathways to Work Adult Reentry Program Towards Employment Admittedly, Anthony Adkisson is addicted to learning — “a self-proclaimed nerd and geek,” as he likes to characterize it. With two degrees already in tow, Adkisson is hard at work finishing up his doctorate at Cleveland State University. But while he’s afforded himself a thorough education, he knows others aren’t so lucky, particularly those with a checkered past. So much attention, too, is paid to K-12 education, which is why he’s devoted much of his career to adult learners. “A lot of people don’t get that opportunity to go to school, but I learned there are other ways of learning that aren’t formal education,” said Adkisson, a Youngstown native. He added, “Adult learners have this drive and want to learn and use their experiences to better themselves.” This year, Adkisson was chosen to manage a three-year, $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor at Towards Employment, a Cleveland-based nonprofit devoted to finding jobs for ex-offenders and the poor. Adkisson is developing a so-called pathways program that recruits participants from Oriana House and the Salvation Army’s Harbor Light program and offers them job training, particularly in the manufacturing, construction and hospitality industries. “The biggest misconception out there is that once an offender, always an offender,” Adkisson said. “Once somebody has done something, they See ADKISSON, page 22
LATOYIA JONES Founder, Alive on Purpose
DAVID ROTHSTEIN Director of resource development and public affairs; Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland At 34 years old, David Rothstein would likely be a junior member of most corporate executive teams. But with 12 years of experience and a list of accomplishments following him already, he’s a force to be reckoned with in the world of Northeast Ohio’s nonprofit organizations. Currently, Rothstein works on issues affecting Cleveland’s neighborhoods and their working-class residents for Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland, also known as NHS. That includes focusing on NHS’ core mission of helping area families to achieve, preserve and sustain home ownership. “We help people get into housing, we help them keep up and maintain their housing and then we help keep them from losing their housing to a foreclosure, a death in the family or something like that,” Rothstein said. That includes not just helping people to save and find ways to fund a down payment on a home, but also educating clients so that they know all the challenges and responsibilities that come with home ownership — from See ROTHSTEIN, page 19
Also worth mentioning ... Northeast Ohio has a number of seasoned nonprofit leaders in relatively new roles, including Kristin Warzocha at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank; William M. Griswold at the Cleveland Museum of Art; Anne Goodman at Saint Luke’s Foundation; Kelly FalconeHall at the Western Reserve Historical Society; and Clement Hamilton at the Holden Arboretum and Cleveland Botanical Garden, which are in the process of merging.
MICHAEL BYUN Executive director Asian Services in Action Michael Byun was only 14 or 15 when he started providing services to members of the Asian community. Two members: His parents. While cleaning a vent at the family’s Teriyaki restaurant, his father slipped and suffered a major back injury. Like many immigrants who own businesses, he was uninsured. And neither of Byun’s parents — who moved to Washington state from South Korea in 1975 — spoke English all that well. Thus, Byun had to figure out how to navigate the health care system and find a way to pay for his father’s medical care. And sometimes he played the role of translator. So let’s just say he can relate to the many immigrants that receive services from Asian Services In
LaToyia Jones grew up in a foster home. Her mother battled addiction. Her father was in jail. Yet despite the efforts of a loving family and caring counselors, she still grappled with depression and, on a couple occasions, contemplated suicide. Now, Jones, 31, helps provide the support she wishes she had as a youngster. Alive on Purpose is a Shaker Heights-based nonprofit founded by Jones that provides social support services to people of all ages, but with a focus on youth coming from disadvantaged economic, social and family circumstances. “A lot of this comes from my own personal experiences,” she said. “It’s being that child who, at a young age, didn’t understand some of the things that happened to and around me.” The name Alive on Purpose stems from the notion of overcoming thoughts of suicide. “I want to be that resource I needed so much when I was little,” said Jones, whose ultimate inspiration is the possibility that her story might help someone else. A Cleveland native and 2001 graduate of Cleveland Heights High School, Jones is a licensed grief counselor. See JONES, page 22
Action. As executive director of ASIA, Byun now manages a staff of more than 30 full-time employees and 20-or-so part-timers who provide a long list of services to the local Asian community. They run a multi-lingual health clinic. They provide translation services. They organize events designed to empower and educate Asians. And they advocate for state and federal policies that could help Asian Americans. Last year, for instance, Byun was appointed to the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. As a result, the city of Cleveland hosted a forum in January, where federal officials met with roughly 100 members of the local Asian community. Why do Asian Americans need someone to advocate on their behalf? Sure, on average, they tend to have higher incomes than most people in the United States, according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. But pockets of the Asian community have See BYUN, page 22
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BETHIA BURKE
MEGAN LYKINS REICH
Director of grants and emerging initiatives Fund for Our Economic Future
Deputy director of program, planning and engagement Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland
She was living in Washington., D.C., conducting cost and risk assessments for high-risk programs at Northrop Grumman Corp., a major defense and aerospace firm. But, in 2009, Bethia Burke started moving to the other — the nonprofit — side when she worked as a volunteer for the Clinton Foundation, analyzing the case for energy efficient transportation alternatives. “I really liked my job (at Northrup Grumman), the strategy and cost control part, it was really intellectually interesting,” she said. “But I wasn’t passionate about it.” She found her passion while at the Clinton Foundation.
“I was actively looking to apply the skill set I’d developed in my time with Northrop Grumman to work where the mission was more aligned with my core interests,” she said. “So I wanted to find something my whole heart was in, and I also had a strong desire to return to (Northeast Ohio).” So now she is director of grants and emerging initiatives at the Fund for Our Economic Future, a collaboration of philanthropies working to strengthen Northeast Ohio’s competitiveness in the global economy. She is the fund’s go-to person on training and workforce development programs, said fund president Brad Whitehead. She evaluates the effective-
Meet
ness of grants the fund makes to organizations that help people gain the know-how to find jobs. “I also get to be on the front end, shaping what we might be doing in workforce (in the future),” Burke said. Burke is a 1999 graduate of Shaker Heights High School and has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Case Western Reserve University. She started her professional career at the Newry Corp. as a consultant. She then earned a master’s degree in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University while working in Washington. Along the way, she took a year off to teach English to high school students in France. But teaching was only a stop along the way out of the corporate world. “The world of job preparation is a myriad world with a complex set of players, and I think Bethia has as good a grasp on all the players, how everyone connects and where it needs to go as anybody in Northeast Ohio right now,” Whitehead said. “It’s great to have someone who has the whole picture in mind and doesn’t have an agenda. “What’s fun about Bethia is she comes from a cost estimation background, so that woman has a wicked, sharp pencil but at the same time she has this kind of picture of what is going on; nothing gets past her on the analytic side of things,” he added. Raising two small children with her husband in University Heights, Burke hopes she can continue to work in the nonprofit arena. “I’d like to be in a place where I’m integrated with my community, integrated in my neighborhood and really being an active participant in the place where I live,” Burke said. “And I want to continue this work that I think is really important to strengthening our region where the places we live can be vibrant and sustainable.” — Jay Miller If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why? “I would open a bakery or restaurant, where everyone — including highly allergic kids (like my first born) — could relax and enjoy themselves while breaking (hypoallergenic) bread together.”
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Cleveland programs including “Art + Culture Enterprise,” in which Cleveland Metropolitan School District students participate in on-site activities at the museum, and “MOCA Thursdays,” a series of events that focuses on innovation and interactivity. MOCA Cleveland has no permanent collection, so creative programming is critical to maintaining and expanding the museum’s audience, which has doubled to 40,000 attendees annually since its striking building opened in fall 2012. Jill Snyder, MOCA Cleveland’s executive director, said Reich’s role at the museum requires “a combination of creativity and strategic analysis, and she bridges them beautifully.” “We definitely support experimentation, to see what works, what resonates with people, and (Reich) embraces that,” Snyder said. She said Reich also has helped strengthen MOCA Cleveland’s partnerships with University Circle institutions such as the Cleveland Institute of Art and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Reich and her husband, an elementary school teacher in Geauga County, have three children, ages 5, 3 and 8 months, so hobbies are focused these days on things that can be done in the home, like enjoying food or watching college football. (She’s a Penn State grad.) Even away from MOCA Cleveland, she has a creative side, having written a musical that her husband’s students recently performed. — Scott Suttell
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If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why? “I would be a writer for a cable-network television series. Recently, I have been drawn to “Getting On,” HBO’s show about the experiences and staff at an extended care department of a hospital. It is smart, funny, complex, sad — all the things that create real life. I think a job like this would give me the space to create while also connecting me to incredible people, ideas, audiences, and outcomes in ways similar to my role at MOCA.”
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ALLISON GREALIS
ROTHSTEIN
Executive director, founder, Women in Manufacturing; Vice president of membership and association services, Precision Metalforming Association
continued from page 17
Allison Grealis started getting leadership experience at a young age when she was a high school student at her small, all-girls school in Akron. Being able to get involved in programs like the social action committee at Our Lady of the Elms School was “hugely impactful,” Grealis said. She gained confidence in her ability to accomplish whatever she wanted, if she put the work in. Today, Grealis leads the national Women in Manufacturing group in Independence. She is the executive director and founder of the organization, and she plans to officially file for 501(c)6 status in late February or early March to become a nationally recognized trade association. She’s also the vice president of membership and association services of the nonprofit trade association Precision Metalforming Association in Independence, from which Women in Manufacturing developed. After graduating high school in 1993, Grealis went to Ohio University, where she earned a degree in English with a certificate in women’s studies. Grealis had been pursuing a pre-law track, but with so many of her peers planning to attend law school, she thought she wouldn’t be able to make a strong impact if she followed the same path. Instead, she took a job doing campus organizing for the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group, where she gained experience working with volunteers. After a year, she went back to school for a master’s degree in public administration at the University of Akron. After a short stint in marketing and development, Grealis came across a job posting for the Precision Metalforming
Association. She took the job working with volunteers at its chapters across the country about 14 years ago and has since been with the association in a variety of roles. In her current role of vice president of membership and association services, Grealis leads the organization’s various activities and works with local districts with a focus on growing membership. Meanwhile, at Women in Manufacturing, she oversees the entire organization, which has grown to nearly 550 members since it held its first program in 2011. That role has her both overseeing the group’s member and service development, as well as serving as something of
a spokesperson for women in the industry. Grealis said her job is rewarding, and she finds inspiration in the people with whom she works, as well as in the successful, self-made manufacturers and the women in the industry she represents. Grealis had the vision to know that the association should launch Women in Manufacturing, said Bill Gaskin, president of the Precision Metalforming Association. She’s thorough in how she looks at situations, and she’s a good communicator with “passion and grit,” he said. “She has a passion for working in organizations to accomplish a common good,” he said. Outside of work, Grealis stays involved in organizations at her children’s school, and she’s been increasingly involved at her alma mater, Our Lady of the Elms, where she is the president of its alumnae association. She also serves on the Greater Cleveland Society of Association Executives board. She said she feels it’s important to give back. Grealis, who has been married to her husband Brendan for 11 years, said she draws inspiration from her children, Amelia, 9, and John, 7. She wants to make the world a better place for them, she said, especially for her daughter. “I want to impact things to be different and more inclusive for women in years to come,” she said. — Rachel Abbey McCafferty If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why? “I’ve always had a great passion for government,” Grealis said.
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maintaining the property to staying on top of local real estate taxes — and are prepared to handle them. It means helping clients develop the right mindset and financial skills, before home shopping begins. “We want to start doing financial education and help people save for a house earlier, before they even think they’re ready to do it,” Rothstein said. His work also involves making sure that the working-class folks that NHS serves have some of the same financial resources available to other residents, and that they aren’t taken advantage of because of their income. Toward that end, he said, NHS has developed a lending program it hopes will combat payday lenders and check-cashing businesses, which Rothstein said sometimes charge annual interest rates of 100%. NHS is working with an outside lender that would fund those same small loans at a rate of about 20%, or what many credit card companies charge, Rothstein said. He loves his work because it’s hands-on and because he gets to see the same programs he designs and implements making a difference in individual lives, said Rothstein. That’s also why his boss, NHS executive director Lou Tisler, likes him. “I call him ‘Wonk in Action,’” Tisler jokes, noting that Rothstein has a rare combination of passion, in-depth knowledge of nonprofits and also a deep understanding of personal finance and banking issues. Tisler said he knew Rothstein before hiring him to work at NHS two years ago, while Rothstein was still in a 10-year stint with Policy Matters Ohio, another nonprofit that works on housing and economic policy issues. “He knows what he’s talking about, he’s not just the hired gun who writes the grant.” When he’s not making a difference working to help other families, Rothstein is busy with his own. He lives in Solon with his wife, Nicole, and their daughters Aleah, Mayah and Jia. “When I’m not working, I’m 100% with my kids and whatever they’re into at the time, whether it’s swimming, coaching softball — whatever they’re interested in,” he said. — Dan Shingler If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why? “I think I would be a teacher, probably at the high school or college level,” Rothstein said, noting that was his original plan, while studying history and social science at John Carroll University. On the other hand, he says: “I also love to cook — that’s a third passion of mine. Maybe that’s a third career!”
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DAVID ROBINSON JR.
ROSLYN “ROZ” QUARTO
Strategic initiatives director, Plexus
Executive director Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People
When David Robinson Jr. was hired as the strategic partnership manager for Gay Games 9, he knew the eightday event in Cleveland only guaranteed that he would be employed for about a year. Robinson started his new job in August 2013, and by the time the prestigious event had competed its successful run in Cleveland 12 months later, the 25-year-old Akron resident had already landed his next gig — and earned a special appreciation for what it meant to work in the LGBT community. “I couldn’t have been more proud,” Robinson said of his tenure with the Gay Games. “We focused on community outreach. Nonprofits and other organizations were knocking at our door asking how they could help.” Robinson said the Gay Games “brought two groups to the table” in its quest to spread the word and develop relationships with Northeast Ohio businesses — the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland and Plexus, the local chamber of commerce for the LGBT community. The games later added Cleveland’s Neighborhood Progress and CANAPI, an Akron nonprofit dedicated to HIV support services and LGBT advocacy in Summit and Portage counties. Robinson said he modeled the Gay Games’ outreach approach after the Cleveland International Film Festival’s partnership programs. “It was a turnkey program,” Robinson said. “If you wanted to get involved with the nonprofit, here’s a packet of information and here’s how you can help. We assembled toolkits for nonprofits to engage with the games.” The end result was that Gay Games 9 had more than 120 community partners, and a study completed last December said the event had a total economic impact of $52.1 million. Robinson’s supervisor for the event, Ann M. Gynn, the games’ director of marketing and communications, said he has “understated confidence and insights to the topic at hand.” “Whatever he deals with,” Gynn added, “he gets it quickly and he responds in the appropriate manner, and far beyond his years. He’s a quiet
Q
force.” One of the organizations with which Robinson worked during his tenure with the Gay Games, Plexus, hired him as its first full-time employee at the conclusion of the event. The nonprofit — which encourages organizations to certify if they’re LGBT owned and helps them once they do — had previously had only part-time staff members since its formation in 2006, Robinson said. Thanks to a grant from the Greater Cleveland Partnership, Plexus was able to offer Robinson a full-time job. Robinson said his primary focus is outreach, particularly as it relates to getting LGBT-owned businesses to get certified by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. He is especially proud of the fact that Cleveland was one of the first cities in the country to launch an LGBT-owned business registry. “By becoming involved with the Gay Games and nonprofits in the area, and seeing the work they do in the community, it became clear a lot of work needed to be done,” Robinson said. “I felt drawn to that.”
Though he still lives in Akron, where he found his first job out of college, Robinson said, “Cleveland is capturing my heart little by little.” He said he enjoys biking, which is the “single most way I decompress.” Gynn, his former Gay Games colleague, said, “Cleveland is lucky to have him.” — Kevin Kleps If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why? “I’d most likely be doing something that involves people … Although a 9to-5 job seems very foreign to me, I’d likely end up in a field that requires interacting with the community — at whatever level that may be. Most corporate entities have a community affairs function that would easily fit my passion to serve. “Beyond that, I’ve always loved the atmosphere and unique challenges that are experienced at marketing and public relations firms. “During my time at the Gay Games, I got an opportunity to explore crisis communications, which undoubtedly piqued my curiosity.”
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Nominations are now open for all of Crain’s Cleveland Business’ 2015 programs. Deadlines for the following programs are: ■ Health Care Heroes — Nomination deadline: Feb. 27 ■ Women of Note — Nomination deadline: March 30 ■ Archer Awards — Nomination deadline: May 1 ■ Who to Watch in Technology — Nomination deadline: May 18 (noon) ■ Forty Under 40 — Nomination deadline: June 1 ■ Crain’s 52 — Nomination deadline: June 22 For more information on how to submit your recommendations for each of the programs, go to: www.crainscleveland.com/ nominations.
Roslyn “Roz” Quarto is a Clevelander by choice. The self-described “quintessential New Yorker” fell in love with Cleveland after visiting here on behalf of the site selection committee for Gay Games 9 and working on the contract between the games and the region that brought the festival here last year. When she and her then-future wife, Gail Palmer, who lived in Alaska, were looking to settle together, the Big Apple was a non-starter. Quarto suggested Cleveland as an alternative and the move was set. That chain of events led Quarto, who has a stunning resume, to move here in 2012 and then job hunt. An attorney who ran her own firm with a deep real estate background — she sat in on more than 10,000 home sale closings in New York where it’s typical for a lawyer to attend — Quarto also worked for the city of New York in roles ranging from deputy executive director of its sports commission to assistant commissioner for homeless housing development. She also served as operations director of the nonprofit that in 1994 organized the Gay Games IV in New York. With that background, it is easy to see how the Empowering and Strengthening Ohio’s People board after a national search selected her as executive director. The storied nonprofit, partly a community organizer, had gained national prominence first for fighting predatory lending, then helping save 30,000 homes from foreclosure and forcefully taking on lenders to protect low-income and moderate-income homeowners swept up in the foreclosure crisis. However, when Quarto landed, challenges inside the organization demanded immediate attention. Grants and other financial support were waning as the numbers of foreclosures dropped and funder attention shifted from the continuing problem. ESOP had a budget of $2.5 million due to operating eight offices, 35 staffers, $300,000 in debt and just $25,000
in the bank. The challenge also was spiritual. Inez Killingsworth, ESOP’s well-known and inspirational founder, died in January 2013. The same year long-term executive director Mark Seifert moved on. Quarto dove in, working with her staff and what became a largely new board, due to term limits, to put ESOP on a sound footing and reinvigorate it. Now its board even has two bankers, a no-no in days past. ESOP’s staff is 12, it has Cleveland and Warren offices, money in the bank and is a United Way agency. There is also a new vision, one that helps garner grant support. One ESOP focus is on financial empowerment and education for senior citizens, which Quarto sees as an unmet need, especially as seniors with underwater mortgages must age in place as they can’t sell their homes. ESOP also operates an affordable home ownership initiative which includes homebuyer education and counseling. “If you can afford a $70,000 house and buy one for $85,000,” Quarto said, “what do you do when the furnace breaks?” ESOP also launched ESOP Realty Inc., a not-for-profit brokerage that pays agents a salary instead of commissions. Angela Shuckahosee, who chairs ESOP’s board, said Quarto helped ESOP navigate its way through a major fork in the road thrust on it by changes in financial sources. “She has never hesitated to confront a difficult situation or make a difficult decision,” Shuckahosee said. — Stan Bullard If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why? Previously Quarto went back to law after stints in government or a nonprofit. Now, after having worked through ESOP’s redo, she’s intrigued by what makes groups tick and would pursue work in organizational development.
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TONY RICHARDSON Program officer, The Nord Family Foundation Tony Richardson’s past is helping shape his future as someone dedicated to the efforts of nonprofits. The 32-year-old Lorain native recently joined the staff of the Nord Family Foundation as a program officer. “I’ve always been committed to social justice,” Richardson said. “How can I help people … how can I move communities forward?” The Nord Family Foundation, which is located in Amherst, is a successor to the charitable trust originally established by Walter G. Nord in 1952. It has contributed more than $101 million to nonprofit organizations in northern Ohio and other geographic areas of family interest. A 2001 honors graduate of Lorain Admiral King High School, Richardson’s path to his new position started in one of the more impoverished parts of Lorain. But, he said, a lot of people helped him along the way, and those beginnings “had a huge impact … (creating) a commitment to want to pay it forward.” A first-generation college student, he earned a bachelor of arts degree from Oberlin College, where he double majored in politics and African-American studies with a concentration in education. He then enrolled in law school and graduated in 2009 from Ohio State University’s Michael E. Moritz College of Law. Most recently, he was serving as a councilman at-large in Lorain, originally elected to the position in 2011, when he became the youngest African-American in the city elected to an at-large council seat. Richardson resigned his seat on council to take the position with the Nord foundation. He also had been working as assistant director of admissions at Oberlin College. As for his role at the Nord foundation, in many ways Richardson sees it as a way to get some of the things done that weren’t necessarily possible to do while on city council. He also hopes in this position to focus on capacity building within nonprofits so they can be more effective. Richardson already has a record of service to nonprofits and community involvement, volunteering with the United Way’s capital campaign; the Boys & Girls Clubs of Lorain County’s capital campaign; and the Lorain City Schools levy committee (Civic and Political Chair); as well as with Sherrod Brown and Barack Obama. In fact, Richardson was one of 30 Ohioans chosen in 2012 to attend a meeting on the fiscal cliff at the White House. Back at home, Richardson sees as some of the greatest needs to be workforce development, transportation and achievement gaps. Working in the nonprofit sector offers up the opportunity to help empower people and work with those underserved so they can make a greater contribution, he said. “I could be a voice or an advocate for people who didn’t have a voice … How can I leverage my skill set to help people,” he said. John Mullaney, executive director of the Nord foundation, describes Richardson as someone with a great amount of potential. “It’s about identifying talent,” he said. “We can provide the training. … That’s the easy part.” Mullaney said he hopes to see Richardson eventually take his efforts to the next level, working not only to help people and nonprofits, but to work for and affect policy changes. Richardson lives in Lorain with his wife and 9-month-old daughter, Zuri. As
for outside involvements beyond work, Richardson stressed that right now he’s largely focused on his family. “That’s more important than any kind of contribution I can make publicly,” he said. — Amy Ann Stoessel If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why?: “If I weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, I would definitely be working in higher education and/or college access. I am particularly passionate about college access because attending college challenged me to re-think and expand my world view, which, in turn, has provided me with the necessary soft skills
and professional skill set to add value in my community and the workplace. “I also think education is the key to self-sufficiency. In my utopian world, all students, regardless of their socioeconomic background, would have the requisite educational foundation to compete and be admitted to the best colleges and universities across the country. I think a lot of work is being done at the elementary, middle and high school level to prepare students for college, but I think our colleges and universities can play a bigger role. We’re all stakeholders and have a vested interest in seeing young people thrive, as they are vital to our country’s long-term economic sustainability.”
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She earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Phoenix and went on to take a job as a corporate coach with PNC Bank. Today, she focuses exclusively on the nonprofit. While helping motivate corporate employees and considering her own past, Jones became increasingly cognizant of the importance of mental health services in the community. By 2012, the seeds for Alive on Purpose were beginning to sprout. “Through this, we’re able to connect the people in the community, grassroots and faith-based organizations with mental health resources,” she said. Today, volunteers with Alive on Purpose help identify possible mental health needs within an organization, school or community and then help make connections to the proper services. The programs also address suicide and depression, and discourage poor decisions and risky behavior while promoting positive coping skills and anger management. Some of the schools and groups with which Alive on Purpose works include Heritage Middle School and Shaw High School in East Cleveland, and Cuyahoga Community College’s Gateway to College program. Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Division Judge Michael Ryan, who delivered the keynote address at Alive on Purpose’s 2014 “Him and Me” father-daughter dance, said he was struck by the statistic that roughly 60% of young people who commit suicide come from fatherless homes. Ryan, who grew up with an abusive stepfather, said he witnessed himself how negative dynamics can affect a child’s confidence, self-esteem and overall mental health. An advocate for father involvement, Ryan said he was inspired to assist Jones’ event. “Her tenacity, her passion, especially for someone so young, it’s just usually unheard of,” Ryan said. “It’s clear she loves what she does and how she can help kids. This is really what her purpose is, and she’s putting all her energy and effort into making sure that goal is fulfilled.” Jones intends to continue expanding the reach of Alive on Purpose, including to groups outside Northeast Ohio. She’s also writing a novel based on her experiences and working on a children’s book whose main character — a “different” young girl with green skin and pink hair who eventually becomes a superhero — is inspired by a “mini-version” of Jones, she said. Ten years ago, Jones was battling her own demons. Today, she’s not only overcome those, but helping others fight for mental health as well. “I will always want to help relieve somebody else of that same — Jeremy Nobile pain I once felt,” she said.
seem to wear that scarlet letter. “People think they’ll always be looking to offend or go back on the streets. But sometimes, they go back to what’s easiest because no one has given them a second chance.” Between his schooling and his work at Towards Employment, Adkisson said he finds little time for hobbies. He likes camping and hiking, although he wishes he had more time for them both. It doesn’t seem to faze him, though, given that he’s so passionate about helping people better themselves. His coworkers say his commitment, collaborative spirit and sense of humor are inspirational to the entire Towards Employment team. “He is committed and has a passion for what we do,” said Robin Smalley, Towards Employment’s director of programs. “In this kind of work, you have to have that commitment and a passion. His is at a very high level and very evident in all that he does.” Adkisson has spent the bulk of his career in nonprofits. Before Towards Employment, he worked at the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio. And while he’s about to polish off his doctorate, he doesn’t plan to leave his work and pursue a career in higher education. At least not now, he said he has too much work to do. “I like helping these people achieve their dreams and goals,” he said. “When you go to school, get your degree and get an education, you always think about how you can use it. I’m applying here what I’ve learned.” — Timothy Magaw
high poverty rates. They need help learning English, hunting for jobs and becoming citizens, he said. Plus, many immigrants run into the same health care challenge his own family faced. Consider this: ASIA decided to open its own health clinic about six years ago — after discovering that local Asian immigrants were taking a midnight bus that regularly travels to New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood. They wanted to go to a hospital where they could talk to doctors and fill out forms written in their native tongue, Byun said. “The perception from policy makers is that we don’t have issues,” he said. Byun has done a lot to unite the many local organizations affiliated with the Asian community, according to Vi Huyh and Debbie Yue, both of whom are members of the Cleveland Asian Festival. Huyh said there are “so many more services” available to the Asian community today than there were when Byun joined ASIA in 2003. At the time, the organization only had 12 to 15 employees, and most worked part time, Byun said. Yue described Byun as caring, passionate and knowledgeable. “Few people can really match his breadth and depth of knowledge of the community,” she said. Byun enjoys science fiction movies — he thought Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” was much better than “Jupiter Ascending.” He also enjoys staying fit and traveling. Once his 9-year-old daughter is old enough, he’d like to take her on a cross-country bike ride. Maybe they could visit his parents in Aberdeen, Wash. They own a grocery store and are living “the American dream,” Byun said. — Chuck Soder
If you weren’t running a nonprofit, what would you be doing? Motivational speaker. “I want to motivate someone else to live a life full of possibility and great potential.”
If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why? “I would probably be working in higher education, which is just a larger nonprofit. I’d probably be teaching as an instructor or professor. I’ve had the experience of working in higher education as a graduate student, but the thing I feel most comfortable with is taking what I learn back into the community.”
If you weren’t working in the nonprofit sector, what would you be doing and why? He’d own a wind surf shop on the Columbia River, which empties into the Pacific Ocean at the border between Washington state and Oregon. He’s not into wind surfing. It just sounds cool.
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THE WEEK FEBRUARY 9 - 15 The big story:
Directors of DDR Corp. appointed as the company’s new CEO David J. Oakes, who previously served as principal executive officer. Oakes, 36, also was appointed to the Beachwood-based shopping center company’s board. Oakes Oakes succeeds Daniel B. Hurwitz as CEO. Securities analysts and insiders speculated that Oakes would be the natural successor due to his service to the company in numerous investment and financial roles. He also spoke frequently with analysts and investors on DDR conference calls.
Envision $2 billion: Envision Pharmaceutical Services of Twinsburg, a pharmacy benefits manager that is known by the name EnvisionRx, agreed to be acquired by Camp Hill, Pa.-based Rite Aid in a deal valued at about $2 billion. Rite Aid will pay about $1.8 billion in cash and $200 million in Rite Aid stock. The transaction is expected to close by September. EnvisionRx will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Rite Aid, and its headquarters will remain in Twinsburg. It will continue to be led by its CEO, Frank Sheehy, and current management. Crafty move: Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores picked a 25-year retail veteran to be its new CEO. The Hudson-based fabric and craft retailer named Jill Soltau as president, CEO and a member of the board of directors, effective March 2. Jim Kerr, the interim CEO since last summer, will continue as executive vice president and chief financial officer of Jo-Ann. Last August, CEO Travis Smith stepped down after about three years on the job. Soltau has worked in the retail industry for more than a quarter century, most recently as president of Shopko. She previously worked at retailers including Sears and Kohl’s.
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The next frontier: A former astronaut is the new second-in-command at NASA Glenn Research Center. Janet Kavandi was named deputy director at NASA Glenn. She’ll replace Gregory Robinson, who was named deputy associate administrator for programs for NASA’s science mission directorate. In addition to having flown on three shuttle missions and spent 33 days in space, Kavandi worked as a power systems engineer for Boeing and a senior manager at Johnson Space Center in Houston. She also served as deputy director of the health and human performance directorate at Johnson.
Natural instincts: Gas Natural Inc. of Cleveland is shaking up its board in the wake of a critical investigative state audit completed last month. The company named Michael Brooks Bender to its board of directors, while three directors — John R. Male, Thomas J. Smith and James E. Sprague — resigned from the board. Bender is a director, corporate secretary and corporate counsel of The InterTech Group Inc. of South Carolina. An affiliate of InterTech is the largest shareholder of Gas Natural. It owns 9% of the company’s common stock issued and outstanding.
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REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK BEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS
Sea-Land Chemical tests out new waters
now is in Indiana. — Rachel Abbey McCafferty
Sea-Land Chemical Co. of Westlake has created a new subsidiary for testing, SLC Testing Services, which acquired the assets of Valparaiso, Ind.-based Tribsys LLC for an undisclosed amount. The subsidiary eventually will be based in the Cleveland area and likely will employ two to three people, said president Joe Clayton. While small, the subsidiary marks a new area of service for the employee-owned specialty chemicals distributor. Sea-Land has 49 employees. This is the first time the company has offered testing services, Clayton said. SLC Testing Services will offer what it calls Twist Compression Tests, which can test a lubricant in a high-pressure environment in which those products tend to fail, said Ted McClure, group leader of technical resources. McClure, who had been at Tribsys before joining Sea-Land, said this test is commonly used in metalworking. If a company is taking a piece of sheet metal and forming it into a shape like a fender, it has to apply a thin film of lubricant on it before it can go into the press — and if that fails, the mold can become welded to the tool, causing damage to both, McClure said.The equipment will be able to be used by customers and suppliers, Clayton said. The goal is to develop more testing services or purchase more machines in the future. The company is currently looking for a new location in the Cleveland area for the equipment, which for
Credit union contest is on the money Eleven Northeast Ohio credit unions will team up this spring for the first time to promote financial education to local high school students through the “Mad City Money” scholarship competition on April 18 at Lakeland Community College. More than 300 students will compete in a family budgeting game for a chance to earn a $3,000 college scholarship. The game is designed to challenge students to manage a realistic family budget including student loan and credit card debt, medical insurance payments, clothing, transportation and childcare. The program, subsidized by a grant from the Ohio Credit Union Foundation, has been an annual affair for Cardinal Credit Union, but this marks the first year for the partnership with other institutions. Beyond the scholarship opportunity, the event is a chance to build more “high-profile awareness about the vital role credit unions play in people’s lives,” said Cardinal president and CEO Christine Blake. The credit unions are seeking to recruit 50 teams of six students each (high school juniors and seniors only). For details, email Marketing@CardinalCU.com. The other credit unions involved are L.E.O Credit Union; Eaton Family Credit Union; L.C.E Federal Credit Union; W.E.S Credit Union; Lake County Educational
WHAT’S NEW
On the money
COMPANY: Daylight Medical, Middleburg Heights PRODUCT: SKY 7Xi The company, a maker of medical imaging, disinfecting, infection control, disinfection, surgical and medical safety products and services, has expanded its mobile hand-held device disinfection product line with the new SKY 7Xi. Daylight Medical says the product used the same high-intensity UVC technology as the SKY 6Xi model and disinfects in less than 25 seconds. Its vertical design expands location capabilities for placement on a desktop, mobile cart or wall mount, according to the company. The design of the SKY 7Xi enables a mobile hand-held device “to be quickly and easily processed,” Daylight Medical says. It travels through Daylight’s patented articulating cartridge, “allowing the high-intensity (254 nanometer wavelength) ultraviolet light in the ‘C’ spectrum (UVC) to come within 60 thousands of an inch of the mobile device surface.” Rick Dayton, president of Daylight Medical, said in a statement that the company’s goal “is to make mobile device disinfection standardized, easy, convenient and effective. SKY is accessible, fast and intuitive, and that combination helps drive user acceptance. Making the disinfection process less cumbersome encourages compliance. Frequent disinfection of mobile devices is the ideal scenario to significantly reduce cross-contamination.” For information, visit: www.daylightmedical.com.
Federal Credit Union; Taleris Credit Union; Unity Catholic Federal Credit Union; Acme Federal Credit Union; Geauga Credit Union; and Painesville Credit Union. — Jeremy Nobile
They’re making a mark on manufacturing Northeast Ohio has another chance to make its mark on the country’s plan for manufacturing. The leaders of two Northeast Ohio companies have been reappointed to the national Manufacturing Council for the 2015-2016 term. The council, founded in 2004, offers advice related to manufacturing to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce. The representatives from Northeast Ohio are Hiroyuki Fujita, the founder, president and CEO of Quality Electrodynamics in Mayfield Village, and Albert Green, the CEO of Kent Displays Inc. in Kent. The 30 council members discuss and propose solutions to problems in the industry, according to a news release. The council is designed to represent the entire manufacturing sector and includes members from companies of all sizes from a variety of geographic areas. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker said in a news release, “I look forward to working together with the new and returning Manufacturing Council members, whose unique expertise and perspective will be integral to our efforts to boost the economy and create U.S. jobs.” — Rachel Abbey McCafferty
BEST OF THE BLOGS Excerpts from recent blog entries on CrainsCleveland.com.
Conventional wisdom: A longtime Republican operative, Jeff Larson, will be CEO for the Republican National Convention that’s coming to Cleveland in July 2016. Larson, who already is an RNC senior adviser, was executive director of the independent expenditure operation of the 2014 National Republican Senatorial Committee and previously was the party committee’s chief of staff. On the other side of the political divide, the Democratic Party announced it will hold its 2016 nominating convention in Philadelphia, which beat out Columbus and Brooklyn, N.Y. The Democrats’ event will take place the week following the GOP convention.
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The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s list of the 50 most generous donors in the United States in 2014 includes two wellknown Cleveland names. Collectively, the donors gave away $9.8 billion in 2014, up 28% from the year before. At No. 37 on the list are Gordon and Llura Liggett Gund, who donated $58.2 million to the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Gordon Gund — who by the 1970s was completely blind, the result of the genetic disease retinitis pigmentosa — cofounded the Foundation Fighting Blindness in 1971. The couple pledged $50 million to the foundation “to speed up basic, preclinical, translational and clinical research,” The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported. The couple also gave the nonprofit $8.2 million more for operating and other costs. Including their most recent commitment, the Gunds have given more than $100 million to the nonprofit over the years. The Chronicle of Philanthropy put the Haslam family, including Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, at No. 41 on the list for its $50 million donation to the University of Tennessee for its Haslam College of Business Administration. James Haslam II, 84, the father of the Browns’ owner, founded Pilot Flying J. He, his wife, Natalie, 83, and their children pledged the money, which will be used “to hire new faculty and support research, scholarships and other efforts,” according to the story.
Greening up TheHill.com reported that a prominent environmental advocacy organization has found an ally in former U.S. Rep. Steve LaTourette.
LaTourette is among a group of lobbyists at McDonald Hopkins Government Strategies working on behalf of the Environmental Defense Action Fund. A bipartisan team at the firm will work on “climate related issues and initiatives,” according to disclosure firms submitted to the Senate, TheHill.com reported. In Congress, LaTourette, a Republican, “earned a 25 percent approval rating from another environmental advocacy group, the League of Conservation Voters,” the website said. But “he appears to have taken up the climate change mantle,” The Hill.com added, noting that he told Bloomberg last year, “Climate change needs to be in the mix of all of our other discussions.”
See both of them There are a couple Northeast Ohio connections in a two-part list from TheDissolve.com of the 50 best films of the decade, so far. At No. 42 was “Only Lovers Left Alive,” a hipster, romantic vampire film directed by Akron native Jim Jarmusch and shot partly in Detroit. The site said Jarmusch “has crafted a cool ballad to love, drugs, music, and the Rust Belt (he grew up near Akron) that finds poetry among the Motor City’s crumbling infrastructure. He contrasts (lead character) Adam’s unspoken love for his home with his public disdain for the ‘zombies’ who built and then destroyed it—not the usual ruin-porn.” The Northeast Ohio-shot “Take Shelter” came in at No. 22. Jeff Nichols’ indie thriller “is a parable of sorts, a story that meditates seriously on the stigma of mental illness, the faltering state of America’s health-care system, the fixation with ‘traditional’ masculinity, and collective fears about the damage humanity has wrought on the planet,” TheDissolve.com said.
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