C ONSUMER G O OD S
Michael Stagnaro
Mike Stuart
Robert Sumerel
PRESID ENT AND C EO Stagnaro Distributing
D I R ECTOR OF P EOP L E ST R AT EGY MadTree Brewing
C EO Bo b S u m e re l Tire
Stagnaro and his brother, Chris, who is Vice President, manage the business that their father, Arthur, started in 1975. It distributes more than 7 million cases of beverages annually to about 3,500 retail locations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana from facilities in Cincinnati and Erlanger. It signed a deal in 2019 with Queen City Hemp to distribute the Over-the-Rhine firm’s CBD Seltzer in Northern Kentucky.
Stuart is responsible for human resources at the company, founded in 2013 by Brady Duncan and Kenny McNutt. It partnered with coffee roasters in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton to create a unique “coffee beer” in each city and introduced 42 Mile, its first hard cider, in 2018. After moving to Oakley in 2017, MadTree is the second-largest local craft brewery with more than 25,000 barrels sold in 2019.
Sumerel runs the family-owned operation founded in 1962. The company merged its retail tire sales and repair business with AAA in 2009 and maintains care and auto wash operations under the AAA Bob Sumerel name. It provides commercial clients with manufacturing, distribution, and service at 19 locations in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, posting $115 million in revenue in 2019.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I
was fascinated by the blend of general business, economics, and psychology that play different yet connected parts of the employment relationship. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: You can’t be told “no” unless you ask first. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Stay safe, stay calm, and stay positive. We’re all rewriting the rules on the fly.
Jacob Sweeney
David Taylor
Bill Woeste
CEO Jake Swe e ney Auto m o ti ve
PR ES I DE NT A ND CEO Pro c t e r & G a m b le
P R ES I DE NT B e e c h m o nt A u t o m o t ive G ro u p
The Sweeney family celebrated its 100th year in the automobile business in 2017, a century after Jake Sweeney Chevrolet was founded. The group, which sells new and used cars at 11 locations, bought Bill DeLord Autocenter (a Buick, GMC, and Cadillac dealer in Lebanon) this year. It is the fifth-largest automotive dealer in Greater Cincinnati with almost 11,000 units sold and revenue of more than $405 million in 2019.
Taylor, who became CEO in 2015, navigated the 2017 proxy battle by activist investor Nelson Peltz by awarding him a seat on the board. Since that time, the company’s stock reached an all-time high of more than $130 this year. The second-largest company in the region posted more than $67 billion in revenue in 2019.
Woeste manages the dealer group that sold more than 6,300 vehicles in 2019 and posted more than $266 million in revenue. Since 1980, the company has grown to nine dealerships that sell and service Porsche, Maserati, Audi, Volvo, Toyota, Honda, and Alfa Romeo brands from locations throughout Greater Cincinnati and online at TheAutoMile.com.
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina Education: Duke University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Our top priority was and is to keep P&G people safe. We moved quickly and early based on learnings from our experience in China, putting robust safety measures in place for all employees working at a P&G location anywhere. What gives you hope for better days ahead? I’m a big believer in the power of the Greater Cincinnati community, which rallies together in tough times.
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