JULY 15, 2024
Turnover for college presidents
SKYROCKETING GETTY IMAGES
In Ohio, more than half of the four-year public university presidents have been on the job for less than two years
By Joe Scalzo
At Ohio’s colleges and universities, there’s a growing segment of the campus population that sticks around for only a few semesters. Presidents. The average tenure of a college president has plummeted to 5.7 years — the shortest in history, according to the
2023 American College President report issued by the American Council on Education. That’s down from 6.5 years in 2016 and 8.5 years in 2008, with 55% of the 1,000 surveyed presidents saying they planned to step down from their position within five years. See PRESIDENTS on Page 18
Huntington looks to HOAs and property managers for growth New deposits business is designed to expand commercial offerings to the real estate sector By Jeremy Nobile
Huntington Bank’s focus on a budding new national deposits business reflects the challenges regional financial institutions have been facing to grow this low-cost funding source amid stiff competition and rising interest rates. In June, the regional bank announced plans to launch a deposits business designed to expand commercial offerings to the real estate sector. The vertical’s initial focus will be on homeowners associations plus property management, escrow and title companies. Huntington is starting there because that segment has the longest lead time to get to market, said Alex Tsarnas, the bank’s recently recruited group head of national deposits. “There is a bit of a build to
present that to the market,” Tsarnas said. “We will be working on that behind the scenes for a bit before we launch a little later this year.” Besides supplementing the broader deposit strategy, this focus complements the bank’s build-out of a specialized commercial banking team focused on cash and treasury management services for real estate businesses — which is one of many efforts to enhance the commercial bank and add specialty verticals within it. That plan was announced this spring. Tsarnas comes to Huntington from Bridge Bank, a division of Phoenix-based Western Alliance Bancorporation (approximately $77 billion in assets), which is less than half the size of Huntington (approximately $194 billion See HUNTINGTON on Page 17
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Ohio Bell’s corporate headquarters at 45 Erieview Plaza, built in 1983, has been converted to 367 apartments. | STAN BULLARD
Ohio Bell’s former HQ opens as The Bell after residential rehab By Stan Bullard
In a rare occurrence, it was the lender — rather than the real estate developers — behind the just-opened The Bell apartments in downtown Cleveland that declared the 16-story apartment building ready to welcome tenants. Marc Hirshman, president and a partner in Twain Financial Partners of St. Louis, Missouri, said he is excited about the way the project putting 367 apartments in the former Ohio
Bell headquarters has come together. He said he felt it his duty as “part of the team” with developers Ken Wolfe Investments and Bluelofts, both of Dallas, to talk about the realization of the vision even though some fiscal issues have clouded the picture. All told, The Bell’s opening consummates a more than $100 million project. “There’s no concern the building has not moved forward,” Hirshman said in a phone interview with Crain’s Cleveland
See inside the new downtown apartment building. PAGE 16 Business. “We’re ready to lease. And we just got our certificate of occupancy (June 18) from the city of Cleveland to open.” Hirshman said he is excited about the property because of its views of Lake Erie, an outdoor swimming pool on an upper level of the building, and the way the project has come together. See BELL on Page 16
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