Columbus CEO - March 2021 issue

Creating the future

Jeff Edwards is making his vision for a vibrant downtown Columbus a reality.

Page 18

Vaccine update

Development was rapid, but masks are not going away anytime soon.

Inspired, inspiring

Erika Clark Jones is a force for positive change, from infant mortality to ADAMH.

Page 48

Page 06

March 2021

Honoring the intrepid health commissioners for Columbus and Franklin County in a year like no other.

Page 21

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Contents

Dr. Joshua Joseph, Pathway to Population Health winner, grew up on the Near East Side

Departments 05 Editor’s Note The Future 50 are off and running on projects to advance the community.

53 Leaderboards Columbus region online degree programs.

56 Home Office Space Danis Construction’s new Grandview digs.

March 2021 Cover and this page photo by

Rob Hardin

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62 E. Broad St., P.O. Box 1289 Columbus, Ohio 43216 Phone: 614-540-8900 • Fax: 614-461-8746

16 Spotlight: Nonprofit

Insider

Move to Prosper helps low-income women with children find ways to deal with housing insecurity.

18

ColumbusCEO.com

18 Spotlight: Commercial Real Estate

VOLUME 30 / NUMBER 3 Columbus Site Manager

Alan D. Miller

Columbus’ urban core is all about opportunity for developer Jeff Edwards and his company.

Publisher/General Manager

Ray Paprocki E d ito r ia l

EDITOR

Katy Smith

The White-Haines building

associate eDITOR

Jess Deyo CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jeff Bell, Rebecca Walters D es i g n & P ro duct ion

PRODUCTION/DESIGN DIRECTOR

Craig Rusnak

Erika Clark Jones

ART DIRECTOR Digita l

EDITOR

Julanne Hohbach ASSISTANT DIGITAL EDITOR

Brittany Moseley Ph otog raphy

PHOTO EDITOR

Tim Johnson Associate photo editor

Rob Hardin A dvert ising

Vice President of Sales

Chris Pettograsso Sales Director

Holly Beardsley Senior Multimedia Sales Executive

Holly Gallucci Multimedia Sales Executives

Tia Hardman, Jackie Thiam CLASSIFIED SALES

Amy Vidrick Production designer

Rebecca Zimmer M arke t ing

06 Profile: Inspired and inspiring Raised watching her mother’s work in politics and civil rights, ADAMH’S Erika Clark Jones is building her own legacy through service to the community.

10 Tech Talk Software consulting firm Augustwenty has caught on fast with clients and tech industry pros.

12 Briefing Leadership Columbus is in good hands with Shannon Lee and Robbie Banks.

In-Depth 48

Interior designer Lannetta Knotts has found a niche by creating work-fromhome offices that make sense for families.

14

Lauren Reinhard PRESS RELEASES

Dr. Susan Koletar

48 Health Watch

pressreleases@columbusceo.com ADVERTISING

Experts say the speed of development of Covid-19 vaccines has been amazing, but it’s certainly not time yet for a return to normal.

advertise@columbusceo.com Columbus CEO (ISSN 1085-911X) is published monthly by Gannett. All contents of this magazine are copyrighted © Gannett Co., Inc. 2020, all rights reserved. Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited materials. Known address of publication is 62 E. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio 43215. Periodicals postage paid at Columbus, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Columbus CEO, 62 E. Broad St., P.O. Box 1289, Columbus, OH 43216.

50 Higher Education Small college sports programs are posting some wins as they try to salvage seasons for their student-athletes.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

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14 Spotlight: Small Business

MARKETING MANAGER

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Yogesh Chaudhary

Lannetta Knotts

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Please join me in thanking this extraordinary group of public health professionals who have worked tirelessly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joe Mazzola, MPA Health Commissioner Devon Abdon Layla Abraham Michael Adair Rebecca Ajibola Adrian Allen Lela Anthony Jonathon Aristide Elizabeth Austin Angela Barca Javonte Barnes Justine Barr Eve Behrens Tariku Beyene Anissa Bingman Gabriella Boehm Maria Bonfiglio Kim Booth Marsha Bowsher Amber Breedlove Scott Brewer Charles Broschart Mary Beth Brown Rachelle Brown Terry Bugg Alycia Burkitt Cassondra Burns Sandra Cameron Jalessa Caples Shawn Chapman

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James Clark Christopher Copley Michael Cornell Kevin Craig Siobhan Curlis Vincent Darling Christina Davidson Matthew Demoulin Lisa Dent Tonia Dunson-Dillard Olabisi Eddy Alexander Evans Cindy Ewing Patricia Faas Terri Ferguson Susanne Figlik Sarah Fink David Fischer Marcus Fitzgerald Conor Flaherty Sidney Fournier Bonita Fraley Megan Freshkorn Michael Gaus Richard Gibbs Elizabeth Grier Alyssa Grodhaus Jeffery Grose Susan Hamilton

Samantha Harris Terry Haughn Amber Henderson John Hils Robin Holliman-Smith Amanda Honeycutt Brooke Hughes Denae Hunter Radhika Iyer Sarah Jensen Alexandria Jones Valerie Jones Karin Kasper Kara Keller Rebecca Keller Hannah Kemble Analiese Kerns Jennifer Kerr Michael Kieffer Nichole Lemin Julie Litteral William Longmore Michael Lopinsky Mary Madlener James May Jennie McAdams Paula Mieseler Tricia Minnard Taheera Nabors

Samuel Neill Milu Nguyen Patricia Nicholas David Norris Alfonso Nunez Tania Nur Heather Pennington Kristin Peters Thomas Pullins Portia Pulsifer Naveen Qureshi Nathan Ralph Jennifer Robinson Lindsey Rodenhauser Mary Russo Mitzi Sachs Sally Schnieders Tanisha Seagraves Theresa Seagraves Robert Sealock Pamela Seese Nicholas Singer Alison Sites Debra Smith James Smith Coralesha Stewart Karl Stichert Toni Stichert Nicole Stout

{

{

I am very proud and humbled to accept this recognition on behalf of our staff and board of health.

Nicholas Suhocki Miller Sullivan Mary Taylor Denise Tonn Kimberly Trainer Tara Tucker Judy Vaughn Sade Walton Daniel Ward Zachary Watson Robert Weber Monique Webster Brenda West Katrina Wierzbicki Ryan Wilkins Jessica Williams Priscilla Williams John Wolf Eva Wollerman Melissa Xidas BOARD OF HEALTH Roy Barnewall, DVM, PhD Latisha Chastang, MNML Arthur James , MD, FACOG Sally Morgan, MS, RN Thomas Rudge, Jr. , PhD

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Editor’s Notes * ksmith@ColumbusCEO.com

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Ideas for getting it right

he 2021 class of Future 50 has convened, and what a class it is. The annual Columbus CEO program bringing together 50 of the region’s most vibrant thinkers and doers held pitch sessions in February for their annual projects, and the class selected three fantastic ideas.

The first project comes from Anna Sanyal and Bridget Tharp, neighbors in Weinland Park who both happen to be committed to fighting hunger. Tharp’s day job is with the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, while Sanyal is an attorney with Vorys.

It’s been a tough 12 months of pandemic life for so many Ohio families who’ve lost jobs, struggled to collect unemployment and seen their income slashed. New families who have never before needed food assistance represented more than 30 percent of those served by the Mid-Ohio Food Collective during 2020—usually it’s 5 percent, Tharp says.

That’s nearly 200,000 households served across the organization’s 20-county footprint, with 50 percent of them in Franklin County. It took courage for those families to seek help despite the stigma. Unfair, incorrect assumptions about people who rely on food pantries abound.

Tharp and Sanyal envision a series of community refrigerators that are unstaffed and filled with fresh produce. They would be open 24/7, helping people whose work and child care schedules do not permit them to visit pantries. The program could draw from models successfully implemented in Houston, Los Angeles and New York City, and would be in collaboration with community partners like restaurants and, of course, the food collective.

The second project comes from Elon Simms, vice president of com-

munity impact at the Crane Group, and Tasha Booker, executive director and vice president with City Year Columbus.

In Columbus, in some neighborhoods, roughly 30 percent of households do not have internet, especially in Linden, Franklinton, South Side and the Eastland area, Simms and Booker said in their presentation to the Future 50. Many say it’s because they can’t afford it.

In the not-too-distant past, many of us saw home internet access as a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have.

But that’s changed. The internet is a utility. Today, lack of digital access means we can’t work or look for a job. We can’t go to school.

There are efforts to address this issue underway, including the city of Columbus, Partners Achieving Community Transformation, Smart Columbus, Columbus Foundation, Central Ohio Transit Authority and the Columbus Metropolitan Library.

Members of the Future 50, which

includes a hospital president, venture capitalists, the state’s health director, law firm leaders, people in nonprofits and more, could leverage their networks and their considerable energy and expertise to tie together and advance these existing efforts.

The final project comes from Chenelle Jones, assistant dean of community engagement for Franklin University and a researcher calling for racial equity in criminal justice. It’s a simple idea, and so powerful: What if each member of the Future 50 was paired with one Columbus City Schools student as their mentor for one year?

The benefits of mentoring are well established. Children who may not have stable home or school lives gain self-confidence and are exposed to different life experiences and viewpoints through their mentor. By interacting with someone who’s living in a situation of safety and stability, someone who is building or has built a career, children can imagine themselves doing the same.

The Future 50 are just the people to engage in such a mentoring project.

I wish I could go back in time and be one of their mentees—or maybe I don’t have to, maybe it’s not too late. I can absorb their positivity and power now.

Katy Smith, Editor March 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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profile

By Steve Wartenberg + Photos by rob hardin

Erika Clark Jones CEO

Alcohol Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County Age: 50 In position since: January 2020 Previous: Executive director of CelebrateOne (2017-20); director of community strategies, Columbus Public Health (2015–17), deputy director, Columbus Community Relations Commission (2012–15); director, Columbus Office of Homeless and Social Service Advocacy (2008–12); director of policy/senior policy advisor (2002–08), city of Columbus Education: Bachelor’s degree, public policy,

Capital University, 2012; currently enrolled in master’s degree program in public policy and administration, Northwestern University.

Resides: New Albany Family: Clark Jones and her husband Mark Jones have a blended family of five: Mark Jones Jr., 26; Elyas Ingram, 25; Celina Jones, 22; Redd Ingram, 21; and Jackson Jones, 15.

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o understand the passion and determination of Erika Clark Jones to bring people together and get things done, it’s essential to learn about her mother, Dannette “Danni” Palmore, who passed away on Jan. 15. “She was this amazing person,” says Clark Jones, the CEO of Franklin County’s Alcohol Drug and Mental Health Board (ADAMH).

Danni Palmore was a trailblazer, a political strategist who got her start in the 1970s, an era when Black women began to break through into national political discussions and campaigns.

Palmore worked in some capacity with, for, and as adviser to a long list of Ohio political heavyweights, including former Gov. Richard Celeste and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman. Palmore was the deputy national director of Jesse Jackson’s

historic run for president in 1988, and then worked for Paul Tsongas four years later in the Democratic primary the Massachusetts politician lost to Bill Clinton.

“I knew Danni for 40 years, she was one of my closest friends,” says Coleman. “She was involved in most of my campaigns over the years.”

Most?

“Actually, all of them,” Coleman says with a chuckle. “She was one of my closest confidantes for all my years [in politics]… I’ve known Erika since she was 10 or 11.”

Clark Jones calls her mother a “force for good. She thought there was value in bringing elected officials and the people they serve together, making sure the people we consider underrepresented or marginalized had a seat at the table.”

These words, this description of the purpose of public service and government, the “seat at the table” analogy, are key to understanding the legacy of Palmore and now, the growing influence and leadership of her daughter. The two are similar, fighting the same battles for the same underrepresented populations, with one major difference. “I’m more humble than my mom,” Clark Jones says, adding the times dictated Palmore be more vocal and out front in the midst of the ongoing fight for civil rights and the inclusion of women.

“I saw her on the front lines, fighting to be heard and to be seen, she had to fight, fight, fight for everything. My thing is, once we get everyone to the table, how can we be more effective, how can we implement change?”

The family tree Danni Palmore wasn’t the only influence on Clark Jones, who says “public service isn’t new in my family, it’s on both sides, and I’m proud of that.” Her father, Glenn Clark, who lives in Las Vegas, was the first African American comptroller at St. Anthony’s Hospital (now Ohio State University East Hospital). Clark Jones also has a grandfather who helped integrate the public swimming pools in Lorain County; other

Inspired and inspiring

Erika Clark Jones’ power to make chan springs from her trailblazing mother an deeply personal quest to help others.

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relatives who worked at the Defense Supply Center Columbus.

And yet, it was Palmore’s political connections, influence and impact that seem to have motivated Clark Jones toward a career in public service. “She was always off somewhere, especially when she was working on the campaigns of Jesse Jackson and Paul Tsongas,” Clark says. During her daughter’s senior year at Eastmoor High School (now Eastmoor Academy), Palmore helped run Jackson’s presidential bid and spent most of her time in Chicago or on the road. A rotating circle of relatives stayed at the family house with Clark Jones and her younger brother, Seth, who is now an investment banker in Florida.

“She said, I need you guys to stay focused and take care of each other,” Clark Jones recalls. “She told us to take care of first things first, to treat people with dignity and respect, and that everyone has value.”

Into public service

d piring

r to make change zing mother and a o help others.

Clark Jones got involved in political campaigns while still in high school, working—of course—on Jesse Jackson’s presidential campaign, registering voters in South Central Los Angeles. She was part of Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste’s ambitious Participation 2000 program that trained the next generation of campaign workers. In 1990, the program sent Clark Jones to Texas to register voters, recruit county coordinators and work for the campaign of Nikki Van Hightower, who lost in her bid for state treasurer.

“The discrimination and voter intimidation were eye opening,” Clark Jones says, adding that “a couple of times, in east Texas, we saw burning crosses along the freeway.” She believes this racist message was intended for the members of her “caravan” of campaign workers driving down the highway, who refused to be intimidated. “I felt I was rolling with angels, doing what’s right and moral, and we kept right on going.”

Clark Jones studied political science at Northwestern University from 1989

Service is what we give, the price for our rent here on Earth.

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Q&A

Erika Clark Jones had quite a first year as CEO of ADAMH in 2020.

Here’s some of what she experienced.

Soon after you were named executive director of ADAMH, the pandemic hit. How did that impact ADAMH? It was six or seven weeks after I started, and it intensified the opioid epidemic and mental-health disorders.

The first thing we had to do was open the lines of communication with all the agencies we work with. I think some of our agencies [ADAMH provides grants to 33 local organizations], the larger ones, felt like they had better access to us and some of the smaller ones, unless something was urgent, didn’t think they could reach out to us. We said, we want to know what everyone is going through and what you need from us to do your jobs better. What adjustments and tweaks do we have to make? How can we help?

The pandemic helped further expose some of the racial inequities that you’ve been dealing with in your career. How can the city and county move forward faster?

Here at ADAMH, we did adopt a resolution in June declaring racism a public health crisis, because it is. We have to have the courage to practice and model anti-racist policies, ones that don’t discriminate against anybody and level the playing field for everyone and are rooted in equity. So that others feel courageous to address these issues, and there’s pressure to come into the fold.

What would be an example of this type of modeling?

One of the first opportunities is with the city and the public safety department. The death of George Floyd and the social unrest we saw this summer brought to light the disparate treatment for some individuals when they encounter law enforcement and for folks who have behavioral challenges. Our challenge is, how do we establish protocols that bestow dignity on the individual and that doesn’t bring unnecessary force to a situation?

to 1991. After, she put her academic and professional careers on hold during her first marriage and the birth of her two children. She spent a few years living in New York City before returning home, enrolling at Capital University and jumping back into politics and public service.

The Coleman years Palmore and Clark Jones helped Coleman become Columbus’ first African American mayor. After he won the 1999 election, Clark Jones became a permanent and increasingly important fixture in his administration. She initially worked on constituent issues, then neighborhood issues, and led the city’s Office of Homeless and Social Service Advocacy.

“I gave her more and more challenging assignments over the years, and she excelled in every one of them,” Coleman says. “She got stuff done.”

One of the biggest things Clark Jones helped get done was the Reeb Avenue Center, a $12.5 million project, dubbed a “hub of hope” on the city’s South Side. The center opened in 2015 and works in collaboration with several nonprofit organizations to provide a wide range of services to South Side families.

“After the settlement house closed down [in 2011], Mayor Coleman said to me, ‘Erika go and bring together all the different interests, public and private, faith-based, everyone, and let’s rethink the notion of quality of life on the South Side and bring all these assets together and get this done,’ ” Clark Jones says.

Once everyone got together, and with the support of long-time South Side families the Cranes and Grotes, it was decided to convert the longempty Reeb Elementary School into a community center. “We could not have done it without her,” Coleman says of Clark Jones. “She took it and ran with it and became the focal point of the Reeb Center.”

CelebrateOne Mayor Andrew Ginther named Clark Jones executive director of CelebrateOne in 2017. Under her leadership, the African American infant mortality rate in certain local ZIP codes dropped by 23 percent, and Ginther calls her “a passionate advocate for the most vulnerable

Erika Clark Jones populations in Columbus.”

This was the first time Clark Jones led a department and had a staff.

“Well, when I started, I only had half a staff person,” she says, adding it grew to 42 by the time she left.

CelebrateOne worked with about a dozen local agencies and was awarded a $4.5 million state grant to address “the disparity in successful birth outcomes experienced by African American women in Franklin County.”

Clark Jones quickly saw a link between her work with the homeless at the Reeb Center and the women she

Alcohol Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County 447 E. Broad St., Columbus 43215 Services: Collaborates with more than 30 local behavioral healthcare providers throughout the community to fund, plan and evaluate the community’s mental and behavioral health care services and respond to evolving community needs.

Employees: 53 Annual budget: $87 million

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room visits for overdoses, creating “stronger and better linkages to community-based care for outpatient treatment and ongoing counseling after a person presents with an episode,” Clark Jones says.

ADAMH owns a parcel of land in Franklinton that Clark Jones said is suitable for the new crisis center.

Construction could start by the end of the year.

“She’s going to take ADAMH to new heights,” the proud Coleman says of his mentee. “She’ll think outside the box and put ADAMH in a position to serve the public in some new, dynamic way.” Coleman adds that he believes Clark Jones will continue to be a leader and advocate.

“She learned from the best and witnessed history with her mother, and now she is so gifted. Whether it’s in the public sector or the private sector, I see her as a leader.”

Passing on the lessons and her CelebrateOne team served.

“It’s the convergence of social determinants,” she says. “They impact everything from an individual’s housing status to infant mortality, where you’ve got the lived experience and trauma from racism. You’ve also got economics in play and impacting the health of these moms and the outcome of their babies, and [I learned] how so many different systems have to all work together to be able to shore her up.”

Dr. Mysheika Roberts calls Clark Jones a “true servant leader.” And by this, the Columbus health commissioner means she is “someone who isn’t there for the title or the prestige, but rolls up her sleeves and gets to work and recognizes they’re there for the people.”

Roberts knew Danni Palmore and sees a lot of her in her daughter. “I see the same energy and spunk and willingness to help everyone. The apple did not fall far from the tree, and I think Erika will do tremendous things for our community going forward.”

The next step A determination to identify, address and reduce the social determinants in what she calls “the behavioral health space” led Clark Jones to accept the task of leading ADAMH in January

2020. The county organization, she says, was well managed “for the last two or three decades, but did things alone, in a silo, and not in as much collaboration with other systems.

That’s what brought me here, to take a signature organization and merge and partner with other collaborators and expand the impact.”

Clark Jones began the job with a long to-do list. It included: An assessment of the effectiveness of the community-based grants ADAMH awards to approximately 30 county organizations; implementing a needsassessment survey that will help guide the development of a 5-year strategic plan; and the passage of the Issue 24 tax levy in November 2020 that would renew and increase the organization’s five-year funding stream.

A “no” vote would be a disaster. And then, two months into the job, the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in full force and “intensified the opioid epidemic and mental-health disorders,” Clark Jones says.

The tax levy passed, with just over 70 percent of Franklin County voters ticking the yes box. The additional funds from the increased levy will fund a $10 million crisis center that is at the heart of ADAMH’s goal of reducing the number of emergency

Clark Jones married Mark Jones, an underground network engineer who works for the city’s Department of Public Utilities, in 2004. Together, they have a blended family of five children, who range in age from 15 to 26. And now, like her mother before her, it’s Clark Jones’s turn to pass on some wisdom.

“What I see in my kids is they’re super inclusive, and I love that about them,” she says. “And, I have some leaders in my crew and it’s nice to see that, too. I’m a little more humble in my approach, so I think maybe they got that from my mom … and she thought that, too!”

One of the potential leaders is her son, Elyas Ingram, 25, a contract manager for the Franklin County Department of Job and Family Services.

“The other night he came to me and said he was thinking of getting a public policy degree and who should he talk to about it, should he talk to Michael Coleman,” Clark Jones says.

“I said, you’re missing a resource right here, you can always talk to me. But he said he wants to talk to Michael Coleman … He said he wants to make an impact and a difference, and I think we’ve been able to plant the seed that service is what we give, the price for our rent here on Earth.”

Steve Wartenberg is a freelance writer.

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Tech talk

By Cynthia Bent Findlay

Software startup harnesses experience to drive growth Augustwenty launched mid-pandemic as a skilled jack-of-all-trades.

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Angela McManaway and DJ Daugherty

Augustwenty.com Business: Software consultancy Founders: Angela McManaway and DJ Daugherty Employees: 20 Investment to date: $600,000 from private investors

Courtesy Augustwenty

ome companies are named for their founders or their products. Augustwenty is a new software consultancy tagged by its founding date, in the midst of the pandemic summer of 2020.

Husband and wife founders Angela McManaway, CEO, and DJ Daugh-

erty, who serves as chief technology officer, spent years working together at Columbus software firm Pillar Technology, which was purchased by consulting giant Accenture in 2018.

The pair felt stifled in the enterprisescale environment and wanted to create their own smaller outfit that could be more nimble. “We lost that feeling of being able to make a difference and really be part of a family,” says McManaway.

“I thought for sure someone would say we have to guarantee three months’ salary or whatever [for employees willing to join], and it was amazing how people just wanted to be part of something,” she says.

Potential investors and developers showed enthusiasm for the idea, and

by August, the die was cast.

Augustwenty attracted a team of industry veterans with broad and deep experience, and it has found reception with clients quickly, offering what it says is the same quality work for a lower price. “We like gnarly problems, that’s where we really shine,” says Daugherty.

“The other thing is, we do not come in with the expectation that we only work in Ruby or C or Java or the automotive industry. The expectation is that we are working on what is a valuable thing that a client needs,” she says.

Projects run the gamut. “We have electrical, chemical, software engineers who have built everything from mobile apps to radar systems guiding military airplanes,” Daugherty says.

One current project involves auto-positioning forklifts. Another involves a project for an Iowa-based nonprofit—an advanced manufacturing training simulator and curriculum for non-traditional students.

Clients are all over the country, with one in central Ohio, and also Michigan, Chicago and New Bremen, Ohio. McManaway says while Au-

gustwenty’s corporate headquarters will stay in Columbus, the company’s remote work model allows for flexible talent recruitment and service.

Augustwenty also isn’t a place, at least not yet. McManaway says there are no plans for a physical office, though that may be an option at some point. The company has quickly grown to 20 full-time employees, and McManaway says that number is probably going to grow— but carefully.

“We don’t want to be a huge company. We have a culture we’re trying to keep,” she says. “The whole point is being a company where I as an employee feel like I can make a difference, make things happen quickly, where you’re a person, not a number.”

Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.

New year, same mission for Can’t Stop Columbus The Central Ohio tech community’s push to join hands and aid those in need just wrapped its first year and is still snowballing.

The effort was the brainchild of Jordan Davis of Smart Columbus and others musing on how to harness the power of the tech community to help Columbus make it through the pandemic. Over the year since its inception, Can’t Stop Columbus has worked with more than 1,700 volunteers.

Among other things, the collaborative shipped out more than 12,000 3D-printed face shields, helped provide more than 22,000 meals (which also helped local restaurants), set up a local “shop small” collective, and provided funds for public art and performances.

Can’t Stop Columbus is still looking for volunteers. A few on the wish list: Business analysts, front end developers, app beta testers, marketing strategists and hackathon judges. Interested people can find more information at: https://lnkd.in/e4FesrU

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briefing

By Jess Deyo and Cynthia Bent Findlay

Stepping into leadership The city’s executive training nonprofit has new leaders ready to advance it.

Shannon Lee

Robbie Banks says board Chair Laurie Aquilina in a release. “The collaboration between these outstanding leaders will keep us on mission to develop our community’s trustees and take Leadership Columbus to new heights.”

A priority for the organization is its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts emphasized by Banks during the past year. The first step is to challenge

Columbus startup wins Air Force grant Want to know where your kid is at Cedar Point, or where your cat’s gotten to on a 10-degree day? Ubihere, a 2016 Columbus startup, just won a $50,000 Air Force contract to develop affordable, wearable technology that can monitor movement on a fine-grained, up-to-theminute basis.

Ubitrax Wearable initially will be developed for use at Dyess Air Force Base in

Texas, but the grant will help fund its commercialization and development. Ubihere already is in talks with memory care providers to help keep dementia patients safe.

Ubihere specializes in geolocation even inside buildings, where GPS signals are blocked or degraded.

Ubitrax Wearable features GPS, Bluetooth, cellular and long range capabilities in one

bracelet. It’ll also archive location and movement data.

Ubihere focuses on AIinformed location tracking technologies, and offers hardware and other inventory tracking tags and AI software that work in otherwise difficult situations such as shielded X-ray facilities, or even space.

Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.

Photos by ROB HARDIN

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eadership Columbus has appointed Shannon Lee executive director.

March 8 will be her first day with the nonprofit, which provides education and training for emerging and existing leaders in the Columbus area. Lee has 25 years of experience in nonprofits, education and sales leadership. A graduate of Ohio State University, she holds a degree in education and started her career as a teacher and principal at Harvest Preparatory School.

Most recently, Lee served as the executive director at Rela Leadership.

Interim executive director Robbie Banks, who managed the organization through the pandemic and the sudden shift to virtual, has been promoted to associate director for Leadership Columbus. Banks is a member of the Columbus CEO Future 50.

“The Board of Trustees is confident Shannon and Robbie will take this opportunity to build off of the strong foundation of this organization and keep the robust momentum going,”

the staff and board to ensure they’re committed to learning not only about diversity, but anti-racism, Lee says.

“I want to make sure that as an organization, we’re embracing that mindset that we’re going to forge forward. We’re going to dismantle any area that we find as we uncover things that might be influenced by systemic racism,” Lee says. “And you do that by inviting various voices into the conversation.”

Lee also hopes to establish new “cradle to grave” leadership programs, which she says would be a collection of action plans suitable for teens, young professionals, seasoned professionals and beyond.

“The big picture here is how we can create a continuum of leadership experiences where someone could start at one end and go all the way through their leadership needs as they progress through their career here in central Ohio,” Lee says.

Jess Deyo is associate editor.

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March 24 | Experience Series

Building Loyalty and Reducing Turnover Whether you are leading a large corporation or one of our small to mid-size businesses, losing employees is costly in more ways than one. Turnover can cost twice an employee’s salary to find and train a replacement. More so, high turnover can increase position knowledge loss and decrease overall performance and employee job satisfaction.

From stay interviews to gaining a better understanding of your employees’ “why”, join us as we discuss better practices and strategies to improve employee retention.

Supported by:

Columbus Chamber Annual Meeting

April 28 | Virtual Production & Summer 2021 | In-Person Networking Adapt. A word that holds renewed value in our community’s ever-changing “normal”.

Join the Columbus Chamber for its two-part Annual Meeting and hear directly from regional leaders who have exuded resiliency and adaptability as they share powerful messages to inspire you and your team.

Speakers like Jeni Britton Bauer, David Berson, Shawn Holt, Brett Kaufman, and The Edge Sisters will take our virtual stage through a series of mini keynotes.

Supported by:

LEARN MORE & REGISTER TODAY

COLUMBUS.ORG/EVENTS

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spotlight

By Virginia Brown + Photo by rob hardin

Small Business

Designing prosperity Lannetta Knotts is using her Maraye Design Studio to help families succeed during the pandemic.

W

hen database engineer Alain Jean’s Washington, D.C.-based company told him that he would be working from home for the foreseeable future, he did what a lot of people did: He made every room in the house his office.

“I would just stage myself in the bedroom, or on the couch, or in the kitchen,” Jean says. But as the pandemic escalated, Jean and his wife, Rhia, began struggling with the demands of at-home work and their three kids, ages 6, 5, and 3.

“They had to be online, virtually

“The kitchen is not your office. The kitchen is a place where you cook a meal and sit down and eat with your family.”

Lannetta Knotts, owner, Maraye Design Studio

Maraye Design Studio 3000 E. Main St., Suite B170 Columbus 43209 maraye.com Business: Interior design Owner/design director: Lannetta Knotts Employees: 1 full-time, 2 consultants Revenue: Would not disclose

Lannetta Knotts learning,” Jean says. “I was sharing with my children, and we decided we needed something more suitable for long-term remote working.”

That’s when Rhia called on her friend, interior designer Lannetta Knotts, 43, owner of Columbus-based Maraye Design Studio since 2008.

“I had already been thinking about how to shift my focus to work-fromhome,” Knotts says. “They hired me on the spot.”

She spent the evening designing processes and pricing for her website.

Since then, Knotts’ sales have increased by 20 percent. And, by offering ergonomic furniture solutions, the firm saw a roughly 30 percent increase in sales in the fourth quarter of 2020. “I believe, with the trend of more employers offering employees the option to stay home permanently, sales will double this year,” she says.

Pre-pandemic design Prior to opening Maraye, which is Knotts’ middle name, she designed educational spaces for Ohio State University for about a decade, so when she launched Maraye, she focused on education facilities.

She has also worked with restaurants and hotels, updating rooms

and dining areas, and helped design Franklin County administrative buildings and courtrooms.

When the pandemic hit and schools and businesses began adopting virtual models, at-home spaces became increasingly important.

“Creating a separate work space at home is crucial to productivity,” Knotts says. “I tell [clients], the kitchen is not your office. The kitchen is a place where you cook a meal and sit down and eat with your family.

You don’t want to associate time with your family and work.”

The efficiency and health of the working- and learning-from-home space are also important, Knotts says.

“We put [children] in a hard chair and say, ‘Learn.’ And then you see a child slouching over, not paying attention—they’re sitting in a chair that’s uncomfortable.” Screen positioning also is key, she says. “Ergonomically, your child should not be looking down.”

For Jean, she recommended a sunny yellow paint color and upgraded lighting, plus a dedicated desk and office space.

Originally from Akron, Knotts was raised in a low-income area called The Bottom. “I grew up in the inner city where not very many people

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columbusalive.com

Your guide to what you can’t miss. went to college,” she says. “No one I knew was an architect. I didn’t know what architecture and design was, but I liked to build things and sketch,” she says.

Those interests took her to Miami University in Oxford, where she earned her degree in interior design. “I got a lot of financial aid and my family put money together to support me,” she says. “My neighbors, my family, friends—everyone was encouraging because they wanted to see someone from our community do better.”

Today, she pays it forward by helping young adults navigate college admissions, and she has used her design skills to help parents of children with learning differences.

“I have a child at home with ADHD,” she says. “I wanted to see how parents were dealing with that, and I was able to share some of the things I had done at home, like placing a red dot where the camera is” to help her child focus.

In Jean’s case, Knotts office updates have certainly helped. “It’s shifted my ability to focus, and I’m more comfortable sitting down at a real desk,” Jean says. “I’m more organized. Definitely my productivity has improved.”

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Virginia Brown is a freelance writer.

March 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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spotlight

By Steve Wartenberg + Photo by rob hardin Amy Klaben

Nonprofit

Easing the housing burden Move to Prosper helps single moms bring their children to better neighborhoods.

T

he phone call from Move to Prosper couldn’t have come at a better time for Bessie Jackson and her two sons, Braylon, 12, and Derius, 8. “We were technically homeless,” Jackson says. Her grandmother’s old, drafty, money pit of a home on the East Side where she and her boys were living had caught fire four days earlier and was uninhabitable. Jackson, a home health care worker, had lost her job.

“We were living in a hotel,” she says.

It was 2018, and Jackson had been accepted into the three-year pilot

“[I’m determined] to find strategic opportunities for kids who live in areas of concentrated poverty.”

Amy Klaben, project facilitator, Move to Prosper

Move to Prosper

Ebner Building, 1070 College Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43209 movetoprosper.org Business: A collaboration between Ohio State University’s city and regional planning program and community partners to improve the housing and financial stability of low-wage families headed by women through rental support, coaching and education.

Employees: About 10 Revenue: Not disclosed

of Move to Prosper, a collaboration between Ohio State University’s city and regional planning program and community organizations. The guiding principle is that single mothers and their children do better in higher-opportunity, safer neighborhoods with better school systems.

The problem: These neighborhoods are expensive and beyond the means of most low-wage earners.

Through Move to Prosper, 10 women and their 13 children were given support so they could move into communities with high-ranking schools: Gahanna, Dublin, Olentangy and Hilliard. The moms also receive coaching on financial, career, educational and wellness goals.

Amy Klaben is the project facilitator for Move to Prosper. For 16 years,

she led Homeport, the Columbus affordable housing nonprofit. She left in 2015, determined to “find strategic opportunities for kids who live in areas of concentrated poverty,” Klaben says.

Columbus Mayor Andy Ginther recently said more than 54,000 residents spend more than half their income on housing. Spending 30 percent or more on housing is considered a “cost burden,” according to U.S. Housing and Urban Development.

To break the cycle of housing insecurity, the women in the Move to Prosper pilot moved into apartments where the owners agreed to cut rent by $100, and Move to Prosper gave each family $200 a month.

Gina Smith is one of four coaches who work with the moms, who range

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“from highly educated to some who didn’t get past high school,” Smith says. “One of my moms called to tell me her son had tested gifted and they wanted to put him in the gifted program at school. This has changed the trajectory for the entire family.”

The move to Gahanna certainly changed life for Jackson and her boys.

“My goodness, as far as the education system, this is the best move I could have made,” she says. Braylon had some behavioral issues at his previous school. “He entered school here in the fourth grade, but only had a second-grade reading level. At the end of the year, he jumped up to his [fourth-grade] level. They didn’t give up on him.”

The behavioral issues? Gone.

Jackson, who is working full-time in home health care, wants to find a permanent place to live in Gahanna.

“I was always drowning before, was behind and never had a budget. Now, I have a budget and have set money aside, and, wow, this really works.”

Because of Covid-19, the 10 women and their children were given a fourth year in the program.

Jason Reece, an Ohio State assistant professor in city and regional planning, is on the Move to Prosper advisory board. He says living in unsafe neighborhoods, sending children to poor-performing schools and constantly worrying about finances creates “chronic stress [for mothers] and the persistent fear of what could happen to their children.

Once the families were stabilized, we saw improvements in education [and] in income.”

With the pilot program nearing completion, it’s time to expand Move to Prosper, Klaben says. In November, it announced it would move forward with a $6.4 million initiative to provide assistance to 100 families. Humana donated $75,000. Soon after, local businessman Carl Faller announced he would match up to $50,000 in donations.

Faller says he’s known Klaben since she her days at Homeport and that her proposals “are always very deliberate and well-thought out. It’s so important to make this effort so more people can have the opportunity to achieve personal success.”

Who’s moving and shaking this Week?

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Steve Wartenberg is a freelance writer.

March 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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spotlight

By Jim Weiker + Photos by FRED SQUILLANTE

Commercial Real Estate

Downtown visionary Jeff Edwards is taking Columbus’ urban core into the future with optimism.

L

ate last year, in a former bank lobby that his firm meticulously restored, Columbus developer Jeff Edwards studied a map of Downtown Columbus and saw a changed city.

He saw a Downtown rising to life after a pandemic left it all but a ghost town, boarded up and empty.

In Edwards’ vision, the new Downtown will include an elevated landscaped skywalk, a vibrant French bistro spilling onto the sidewalk, a sunken plaza with outdoor dining, public art hovering over High Street and nightlife rivaling the Short North.

“It’s going to come back,” says Edwards, 57, CEO and president of Edwards Cos. “Long-term, Downtown Columbus will be great. It’s on the verge of exploding again.”

While many developers are waiting out a pandemic that has left them jittery or merely finishing projects started before the pandemic, Edwards is set to embark on a string of developments totaling more than $160 mil-

Edwards Cos. 495 S. High St., Suite 150, Columbus 43215 edwardscompanies.com Business: Real estate developer CEO: Jeff Edwards WORK: Downtown projects include

Neighborhood Launch, Citizens Bank, The Nicholas, Madison’s building

“Long-term, Downtown Columbus will be great. It’s on the verge of exploding again.”

Jeff Edwards, CEO, Edwards Cos.

lion that will transform Downtown and help bring his vision to life.

When those projects are finished, Edwards will have invested approximately $400 million to erect more than a dozen buildings covering most of six city blocks, restored three more buildings, and added 1,100 residences to Downtown Columbus.

No single developer, with the exception of Nationwide Realty Investors, whose efforts have been concentrated in the Arena District, will have left a greater mark on Downtown so far this century.

“Jeff Edwards sets a gold standard for development in Columbus,” says Becky West, executive director of the historic preservation group Colum-

bus Landmarks, which gave Edwards its Patron Award in 2018.

“He really does have a vision for Downtown. It’s exciting because it will attract more residents and inspire visitors, which is so critical as we consider our post-Covid recovery.

The timing of these projects couldn’t be more optimistic.”

Founded in 1959 by Jeff Edwards’ father, Peter, the privately held Edwards Cos. became one of central Ohio’s largest developers by focusing on student housing, multifamily housing, suburban commercial development and pioneering the redevelopment of the Brewery District.

A dozen years ago, the company entered Downtown in a big way

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Jeff Edwards, lower left, in the former Madison’s Department Store and White-Haines buildings.

with Neighborhood Launch east of North 4th Street and north of East Gay Street that included a dozen buildings and 400 residences over five city blocks. The development is significant not merely in size, but also in its design, which brought to Columbus an urban townhouse streetscape like that in Chicago or Boston.

“Neighborhood Launch is really spectacular. The scale of it, the design of it, the urban qualities of it, are just spectacular,” says Robert Loversidge, a longtime member of the Columbus Downtown Commission and CEO of the Schooley Caldwell architecture firm.

Neighborhood Launch also included the renovation of the former Welsh

Presbyterian Church on East Long Street into a community center. The company followed that renovation with a $20 million conversion of the former Citizens Bank building at the corner of North High and Gay streets into apartments and what might be the most luxurious bar in Columbus.

Immediately to the north, the company filled the empty block on the northwest corner of Gay and High streets with The Nicholas, an $80 million building that includes 230 apartments and 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.

“That was a fantastic infill,” says West, of Columbus Landmarks. “That block was a missing tooth Downtown for decades; it was just so exciting to watch that stretch of High Street come back to life.”

Now, Edwards is about to tackle a third corner of Gay and High — the former Madison’s Department Store and White-Haines buildings, which for years have been sat empty. In a $60 million project, Edwards plans to redevelop the three buildings into commercial space and apartments, while adding a new building that would include parking and possibly a hotel to the north, on High Street.

Edwards also envisions expanding the funky commercial strip of Pearl Alley north of Gay Street.

On the northeast corner of Gay and High, Edwards has leased the ground floor and mezzanine of a building for a French bistro called Grande Rue that would feature sidewalk seating.

When finished, Edwards would have renovated or developed three of the four corners of Gay and High, an intersection he sees as a vibrant streetlife center of Downtown, dancing with galleries and restaurants.

“We want to create a real hub at Gay and High,” he says. “We’ve already spoken with gallery owners who want to be part of this.”

As an exclamation point, Edwards has reached out to artist Janet Echelman to install one of her enormous suspended and illuminated fiber sculptures over High and Gay streets. Nothing has been settled yet on the sculpture, which would require city approval, but Echelman’s sculptures have served as major draws in other cities.

Edwards’ other focus is a few blocks away, on East Broad Street east of 3rd

Street, where he is working on two connected projects: • A $63 million overhaul of the 24-story PNC building at 155 E. Broad St. Fourteen upper floors will be converted from offices into 105 residences. The two-story glass box in front of the building on Broad Street will be replaced with a sunken terrace with outdoor dining.

• The Gilbert, a 13-story, $44 million building housing 133 apartments and 265 parking spaces that will replace three smaller buildings at the southeast corner of Young and East Broad streets. Unlike most other Edwards’ projects, this one involves razing buildings, something he says is necessary for the project but others, including West and Loversidge, find disappointing.

Edwards plans to link the Gilbert and PNC buildings by reinventing the elevated walkway from the PNC building over South 4th Street into a “parkwalk.” The long-neglected, musty walkway, notorious for freezing in winter and baking in summer, will be uncovered, widened and topped with plants to create a 30-by-760-foot lush setting with benches, trees and shrubs that will rise from East Broad and South 3rd streets to take pedestrians to a parking garage on South Young and East Capital streets.

“This will be an elevated greenspace, like a park,” Edwards says.

Joel Pizzuti, another developer moving forward on Downtown projects during the pandemic, is excited by Edwards’ Broad Street plans.

“I think what Jeff is doing on Broad Street will be terrific,” says Pizzuti, president of the Pizzuti Companies.

“All his developments have been really well-thought-out, the architecture and planning is first class.”

With these projects and others Downtown, Edwards is helping fill in the empty buildings, parking lots and other gaps that have drained Downtown of life for decades.

“His projects are helping us with one of our fundamental projects, which is density,” Loversidge says. “It’s increasing the density and connecting the dots, so to speak. Jeff’s projects have been huge contributors.”

Jim Weiker is senior reporter with the Columbus Dispatch.

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2021

TELL US ABOUT YOUR EVERYDAY HERO In these divisive times, The Dispatch family of brands again looks to honor those who perform extraordinary selfless acts to improve, heal and unite our community.

The Columbus Dispatch, Dispatch Magazines and ThisWeek Community News want your help to recognize the heroes among us. Consider the social activist righting a wrong or the volunteer quietly aiding those in need.

Later this year, we will publish a Dispatch section featuring their stories and honor them at the event.

Nominations accepted from March 1 through April 9.

Sponsors

Nominate your Everyday Hero today at Dispatch.com/everydayheroes

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H E A LTH C A R E Achievement Awards 2021

In what has been one of the most terrifying years of our collective lives, the Columbus region is immeasurably blessed to be protected by a dedicated corps of healthcare heroes who have risked their lives for us every day since Covid-19 first came into our lexicon.

The sector employs more than 45,000 people at hospital systems and a nonprofit research institute that are among the best in the nation, where ground-breaking research advances us into the future.

In any normal year, honoring our top researchers, care providers and innovators is a treat because their stories are so compelling. This year, it’s paramount.

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J U D G E S H E A LT H C A R E AC H I E V E M E N T AWA R D S 2 0 2 1

Columbus CEO is indebted to the healthcare leaders from diverse backgrounds who served as judges for our Healthcare Achievement Awards this year. The judges scored nominations based on specific criteria for each category. To avoid conflicts of interest, judges were not eligible to score in categories where they had affiliations with the nominees. Accumulated results determine winners and finalists. With thanks for their invaluable contributions, we’re proud to partner with these judges:

David Sabgir Dr. David Sabgir, a cardiovascular specialist at OhioHealth, is founder and CEO of Walk with a Doc, now operating in communities worldwide, and 2016 Columbus CEO Pathway to Population Health award winner.

In 2015 he was recognized as a CNN Hero. Sabgir holds a medical degree from Medical College of Ohio and served his internship, residency and fellowship at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. He still leads a local Walk with a Doc chapter every Saturday morning.

File/Columbus CEO/TIM JOHNSON

Amy Acton Dr. Amy Acton was named director of the Ohio Department of Health in 2019. She gained national attention for her leading role in keeping Ohio safe during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and was beloved by many for her easy-to-digest way of explaining complex medical concepts.

Acton stepped down from the role and joined the Columbus Foundation as vice president of Human:Kind. In early 2021, Acton left that position to consider a run for the U.S. Senate. She holds a medical degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and a master’s of public health from Ohio State University.

Darrell Gray II Dr. Darrell Gray II is a gastroenterologist at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and deputy director of the Center for Cancer Health Equity at OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center.

He completed medical school at Howard University College of Medicine, a residency in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center and a gastroenterology fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. Gray holds a master’s of public health from Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. He is assistant professor of medicine, director of community engagement and equity in digestive health, and medical director of endoscopy and gastroenterology services at Ohio State University. Gray’s research is focused on community engagement in preventive health behaviors and interventions and on understanding the interaction of the social determinants of health, public health and healthy policy in cancer prevention.

File/Columbus CEO/ROB HARDIN

File/Columbus Dispatch/JOSHUA BICKEL

P Fin

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Incomparable People.

Extraordinary Things.

At Mount Carmel, our people make us who we are.

You know us through them and the extraordinary things they do. They make a difference in the lives of our patients and the community, both inside and outside of our hospitals. We’re proud to congratulate three members of our Mount Carmel family who have been named finalists for the 2021 Columbus CEO Healthcare Achievement Awards. We see the hardwork and dedication of Unhee Kim, Dr. O’Handley, and Dr. Herbert exhibit every day, and we’re proud that effort is being recognized by our community.

Unhee Kim

John O’Handley, MD

Mark Herbert, MD, FACP

President, Mount Carmel East Finalist for Executive of the Year

Medical Director, Mount Carmel Community Outreach Finalist for Lifetime Achievement

Infectious Disease Specialist Finalist for Practitioner of the Year

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EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

Joe Mazzola

Franklin County Health Commissioner AGE

44 IN POSITION SINCE

2017 EXPERIENCE

Director of health systems and planning, Franklin County Public Health; local health department liaison, Ohio Department of Health; policy and government liaison, Ohio Tobacco Prevention Foundation; regional policy coordinator, American Lung Association E D U C AT I O N

Master’s degree in public administration with a concentration in public health, Kent State University; bachelor’s in marketing, Marietta College.

C O M M U N I T Y I N V O LV E M E N T

President, Association of Ohio Health Commissioners; Ohio Public Health Association; American Heart Association of Central Ohio; Central Ohio Trauma System; Lifeline of Ohio.

STORY BY Laurie Allen PHOTO BY Rob Hardin

IF EVER A TIME NEEDED voices of reason, understanding and truth, the past year has been just that. Columbus Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts and Franklin County Health Commissioner Joe Mazzola lent their voices to guide central Ohioans through uncertainty and fear as the

Joe Mazzola with Dr. Mysheika Roberts

Covid-19 pandemic bore down.

“I always thought we were due for a major outbreak, but thought somehow it would be different in 2020. It’s been eye-opening,” Roberts says. “It’s been a test of my strength and my character and that of my team, who have not let me down from Day One.” Mazzola says he never thought he’d be in the public eye as much as he has been in the past 12 months, but he is

“very, very thankful to work in public health” and with his staff in particular.

In nominating Mazzola and Roberts for a joint Healthcare Achievement Award, Nationwide Children’s Hospital said, “Both exhibited leadership of the highest, most inspirational order.

They have worked closely together and practiced a strong and public partnership, they have rallied their leadership teams and employees to

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EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR

Dr. Mysheika Roberts Columbus Health Commissioner AGE

50 IN POSITION SINCE

2017 EXPERIENCE

Medical director, assistant health commissioner, Columbus Public Health; Ohio outbreak investigator, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; STD clinic and hepatitis prevention leader, Baltimore City Health Department E D U C AT I O N

MD, University of Maryland School of Medicine; MPH, University of Michigan C O M M U N I T Y I N V O LV E M E N T

Columbus Medical Association Foundation; YWCA of Columbus; Lifeline of Ohio Minority Advisory Group; OhioHealth Physician Diversity Scholars Program; OhioHealth Faith, Culture and Community Benefit Committee

face complex and frightening challenges and they have directly engaged the public with calm, candor and encouragement. And they have been unwavering.”

Roberts and Mazzola credit not only their teams but leadership at Columbus’ four healthcare systems, state and local government and other organizations for mounting a comprehensive yet agile response to a rapidly evolv-

ing pandemic.

In the last year, each commissioner issued a clarion call to action that they feel may be the biggest accomplishments of their careers.

For Roberts, it was her decision to advise cancelation of the Arnold Sports Expo last March when Covid-19 began to appear locally after originating overseas. With the possibility of athletes coming in

“I always thought we were due for a major outbreak, but thought somehow it would be different in 2020. It’s been eyeopening.”

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from all over the world, Roberts was alarmed.

“I remember waking up that morning. I sent a text to a couple of my staff and said, I think I want to cancel the Arnold.” One staffer told her later he had to spit out his morning coffee when he read the text.

She also remembers calling Mayor Andrew Ginther’s office, and “no one blew me off.” She found receptive ears in Gov. Mike DeWine and then-Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton.

The Arnold was one of the first major events in the country to be canceled due to Covid. This year’s sports and fitness festival is postponed until later in 2021. Ginther and DeWine were the public faces of the decision to shutter the expo, and Roberts is OK with that. “What I wanted to see canceled was canceled. I rang the bell.

I am proud that I stood up and said the Arnold shouldn’t happen. I knew what the financial implications were.”

“Looking back, I’m glad we put our voice out there. We were humbled by the response we got (from) people saying, thank you for naming it and acknowledging it.

Naming is the easy part.

We are trying to be part of the solution.”

Joe Mazzola Mazzola’s moment was when the county health department became the first in Ohio to declare racism a public health crisis. “I got chills when we did that. Our county acknowledged how systemic racism is a significant driver of public health outcomes.”

Timing of the public declara-

FINALIST

Unhee Kim

Since Unhee Kim stepped into the healthcare industry, she has continuously risen higher. Beginning as a nurse at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, Kim, an immigrant of South Korea, quickly rose to leadership positions within every hospital she served. Today, Kim is the president and chief operating officer of Mount Carmel East.

Throughout her time at Mount Carmel, Kim has been essential to company successes, such as the 2020 Healthgrades Patient Safety Excellence Award, IBM Watson Top 100 Hospital award and Medicare Five Star rating. Kim also serves on the American Heart Association board.

FINALIST

Harold Paz, MD

In June 2019, Harold “Hal” Paz accepted the newly created role of executive vice president and chancellor for health affairs at Ohio State University and CEO of the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center. Since then, Paz has worked to foster growth and oversee the hospital’s reputation.

Within his first year on the job, the medical center’s revenue grew to a record $4.33 billion for the 2020 fiscal year. Working amidst Covid-19, Paz has taken advanced safety precautions for his staff, working with local and state public health officials and continuing to treat patients.

tion came at a pivotal point. “This pandemic was bearing down on us, and we saw that it likely was going to have a disparate impact” among underserved populations with already limited access to healthcare.

Simultaneously, racial unrest was mounting on the streets of Columbus and around the country in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.

“If ever there was a time to make this declaration, this was it,” Mazzola says.

“Looking back, I’m glad we put our voice out there. We were humbled by the response, people saying, thank you for naming it and acknowledging it.” He’s quick to add, “Naming is the easy part. We are trying to be part of the solution.”

To that end, the county health department hired an associate director of inclusion and established an equity council to address food deserts, transportation, housing and mental health and addiction. Its work will be ongoing.

Mazzola says the power of words has been a constant theme within the department as staff asked, “How do we create a message that is sciencebased and data-driven that resonates with people?” To address that, it created the Spread Love, Not Covid campaign to address people primarily 30 and younger.

Public health departments have been further confounded by the urgent need to address Covid-19 and continue vital programming, Roberts says.

“We’re doing everything in our power to get to the other side of this pandemic” while still trying to address existing public health crises such as the opioid epidemic, violence, tobacco use and obesity.

While Mazzola, who majored in marketing, took a less traditional route to public health, Roberts was dialed in from the day basketball star Magic Johnson announced he had HIV in 1991. Raised in Los Angeles and a huge Lakers fan, Roberts says hearing him tell the world he was infected with the deadly AIDS virus “put a different spin on it, particularly in the minority community, where African Americans were disproportionately affected. I took my first public health class as a result of Magic Johnson.”

Laurie Allen is a freelance writer.

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LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Dr. Olivia Thomas

Chief diversity and health equity officer, Nationwide Children’s Hospital AGE

70 IN POSITION SINCE

2018 (with the hospital since 1979) EXPERIENCE

Clinical professor, department of pediatrics, Ohio State University College of Medicine; past division chief/section chief, ambulatory pediatrics, Nationwide Children’s Hospital; past chair, Ohio Commission on Minority Health Board E D U C AT I O N

Bachelor of Science, Kentucky State University; Doctor of Medicine, Creighton University College of Medicine; pediatric residency, Columbus Children’s Hospital and Ohio State University College of Medicine C O M M U N I T Y I N V O LV E M E N T

Board member, Franklin County Child Development Council Head Start Program, Center for Family Safety & Healing, Partners for Kids; member, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Kentucky State University Alumni Association, National Medical Association STORY BY Laura Newpoff PHOTO BY Rob Hardin

WHEN DR. OLIVIA THOMAS was growing up in a small Kentucky town, she was the neighborhood babysitter who fixed all the cuts and bruises when children fell off their bikes or

got hurt playing sports. During high school, she was drawn to the sciences, and she loved the experiments she got to work on in the lab. In the late 1960s, she’d combine those two interests to begin the educational journey of a medical doctor at a time when the Civil Rights Act had just allowed Black students to be admitted into all U.S. medical schools.

Those loves of science and children were the foundation for what’s now a 45-year career as a pediatrician, advocate, mentor and leader. And though she’s beyond traditional retirement age, the persistent challenges of race and health equity have made it impossible for Thomas to step away.

“I’ve been trying to retire for five years now,” says Thomas, chief diversity and health equity officer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

“Something will always come up and I’ll think, ‘Oh, OK, I’ve got to stay until we at least get this done.’ ” In 2020, what came up was Covid-19, which disproportionately affected people of color, and unrest because of continued police killings of unarmed black men. Thomas pushed retirement aside to continue the fight for health equity for all families, to stand against racism and to help improve the diversity and inclusion culture at the hospital.

Standing against racism After graduating with a Doctor of Medicine degree from Creighton University College of Medicine in 1976, Thomas moved to Columbus to complete her internship and residency in Ohio State University’s DepartMarch 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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ment of Pediatrics and what was then Columbus Children’s Hospital.

In 1985, she became the medical director of what’s now called the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Primary Care Network. Under her leadership, the network has grown to 12 locations.

In 1999, she became section chief of ambulatory pediatrics at the hospital and chief of the ambulatory division in the Department of Pediatrics at Ohio State, roles she would maintain until 2017.

Today, Thomas continues as a professor of pediatrics at Ohio State and is a member of the medical staff at Nationwide Children’s. In recognition of her decades of leadership and the increasing importance of addressing disparity and health equity issues, Thomas was elevated to a new institution-wide position in 2018—chief diversity and health equity officer.

“I’ve been doing diversity equity and inclusion as part of my work forever, but I think what has happened over the last three years is that I’m now able to share that passion with others at the hospital in a position of influence.”

Dr. Olivia Thomas CEO Tim Robinson, President and COO Rick Miller and Chief of Pediatrics Dr. John Barnard were advocates for this new role.

Thomas has been working closely with Chief Human Resources Officer

FINALIST

Barbara Parker

Barbara Parker, lead nurse and clinical supervisor at Lifecare Alliance, has been working as a nurse for half a century. A graduate of Capital University, Parker made her start as a public health nurse at the Columbus Health Department, eventually making her way to Lifecare Alliance in 1987, where she has stayed ever since.

Parker, known to many as “nurse Barb,” continues to see clients during the Covid-19 pandemic and helps corporate partners. Outside of work, she volunteers at the Holy Family Catholic Church through a Mount Carmel outreach program to provide foot care to the homeless community in Columbus.

FINALIST

John O’Handley, MD

For decades, John O’Handley, medical director of community health and well-being at Mount Carmel Health System, has worked to give a voice to vulnerable communities. A frequent member of outreach teams, he has worked to provide free urgent medical care, checkups and more. Further, he helps to provide those services on the program’s mobile coach, visiting patients on-location.

O’Handley also introduced the Street Medicine program to the Columbus community, which includes visiting homeless camps across Columbus and treating those who have limited access to shelter, human services and medical care. Through his efforts, over 6,000 patients are treated each year.

Lorina Wise and LaVone Caldwell, the director of health equity. Thomas and Wise have held listening sessions with hospital staff, and information gleaned from the discussions is guiding the development of a diversity, inclusion, anti-racism and health equity plan called “Stand Against Racism. Stand For Health Equity.”

“I’ve been doing diversity equity and inclusion as part of my work forever, but I think what has happened over the last three years is that I’m now able to share that passion with others at the hospital in a position of influence,” Thomas says. “This is not all new work for the hospital either.

Since the beginning, the hospital’s mission has been to care for all children regardless of the family’s ability to pay. This is one path to achieving health equity. The hospital has also been active in the community surrounding our campus, helping to stabilize housing, education, safety, health and economics for families in the area for the past 10 years.”

Constant improvement Thomas, who has mentored many health care professionals, says several role models helped advance her career. Early mentors include Dr. Antoinette Eaton, Dr. Grant Morrow and Dr. Bruce Meyer. Thomas’ first nurse, Lucille Tillery—who had experience as a public health nurse —taught her how to be a good doctor. That served Thomas well as a practitioner, and as she expanded the primary care network of clinics in underserved areas of the city, she worked to tackle racial disparities in infant mortality, installed clinics in schools and got mobile units up and running.

Deena Chisolm, Nationwide Foundation endowed chair in health equity research, was one of Thomas’ mentees and affectionately refers to her as “Mama.”

In nomination materials, Chisolm wrote: “I have watched her nurture a generation of diverse health care providers and watched her push our organization to constantly improve the quality and equity of care that our institution provides. She is a force of nature in advocating for the health of children at (the hospital) and beyond.”

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

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©

Thanks for making the most of every minute

HEALTHCARE TRAILBLAZER FINALIST

Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit

PRACTITIONER OF THE YEAR FINALIST

Joseph Gastaldo, MD OhioHealth System Medical Director of Infectious Diseases

In healthcare, minutes matter.

During a stroke, minutes cost millions of brain cells and weeks in recovery. So our stroke team found a way to bring lifesaving treatments to patients when they don’t have a minute to spare.

But taking a few extra minutes during COVID-19, to answer questions, reassure patients, inform the public and lead by example, shows how one physician can comfort a community.

Congratulations to our Columbus CEO 2021 Healthcare Achievement Award finalists, for making minutes matter when they matter most.

© OhioHealth Inc. 2021. All rights reserved. FY21-521877.

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HEALTHCARE TRAILBLAZER

Dr. Patricia Gabbe Clinical professor of pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, Ohio State University; founder and director, Moms2B; principal investigator, Center for Perinatal Research, Nationwide Children’s Hospital AGE

79 IN POSITION SINCE

2008 EXPERIENCE

Faculty appointments and positions since 1972 including at the Boston University School of Medicine; University of California, San Francisco; Ohio State University; University of Washington and Vanderbilt University. Hospital appointments include Boston City Hospital, San Francisco General Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and Nationwide Children’s Hospital E D U C AT I O N

B.A., Mills College (Oakland, California); M.S. in anatomy, electron histochemistry, Oregon Health Sciences University; M.D., Oregon Health Sciences University; Master of Public Health, Harvard University School of Public Health C O M M U N I T Y I N V O LV E M E N T

In 2010, she founded Moms2B to bring research-based maternity, prenatal and early infant education to neighborhoods across Columbus that experience the highest rates of infant mortality. She has an extensive history of community involvement and currently is an infant mortality steering committee member at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

STORY BY Laura Newpoff

AFTER GOV. TED STRICKLAND was sworn in as Ohio governor in 2007, Dr. Patricia Gabbe was tapped to work with him and Mayor Andrew Ginther, then a Columbus city councilman, to address the region’s infant mortality crisis. A task force was assembled, a report was completed—and then that report got filed away. “We can’t file that away.

We’ve got to do something,” Gabbe thought.

The clinical professor of pediatrics,

obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State University had an idea. She’d both help and learn from women in highcrime and high-poverty neighborhoods where infant mortality rates were five times higher than what they should be. Alongside Twinkle Schottke, an infant mental health specialist, Gabbe founded Moms2B in 2010 with a $48,000 grant from Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. It started out as a cooking program at a Black church in Weinland Park near the university with just a few women.

“We learned from the moms,” says

“We soon learned we needed to have nurses educate about pregnancy and early signs of labor.

We needed social workers for stress reduction (and) connecting to services.

We needed dieticians to make sure they had heart healthy meals and that they were tasty, because we needed the women to eat them. And, modeling breast feeding was really important.”

Dr. Patricia Gabbe

Gabbe, who also is principal investigator at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Center for Perinatal Research.

“We soon learned we needed to have nurses educate about pregnancy and early signs of labor. We needed social workers for stress reduction (and) connecting to services. We needed dieticians to make sure they had heart healthy meals and that they were tasty, because we needed the women to eat them. And, modeling breast feeding was really important.”

A multidisciplinary program was created with those specialists and

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cy

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o rt

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more. The focus was on the social determinants of health that address factors beyond the exam room.

3,000 healthy babies Moms2B has grown into a comprehensive education program for expectant mothers and new moms. It operates out of eight locations across Columbus and virtually with moms in Dayton. There are weekly education and support sessions to promote healthy choices and link moms with support from pregnancy until baby’s

first birthday. Lessons include breastfeeding, child development, family planning, goal setting, labor and delivery, mindfulness, anger management, reproductive health and safe sleep.

There are free, healthy meals, food access and the bonus of friendships that regularly develop among the mothers.

Moms2B also focuses on how a family overall fares with food, transportation and education; whether there is safe housing and a safe place for the baby to sleep; helps with drug problems and smoking cessation; and addresses structural and implicit racism

issues in a hopeful and real way.

Some of the program’s milestones include: • Since its inception, nearly 3,000 healthy babies have been delivered in underserved central Ohio neighborhoods.

• In Weinland Park, there has been a five-fold decrease in the infant mortality rate to 2.9 per 1,000 births.

• In 2019, the infant mortality rate in Franklin County fell below 7 per 1,000 births perhaps for the first time ever.

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FINALIST

OhioHealth Mobile Stroke Unit The Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit, launched in 2019 and funded by OhioHealth, offers critical assistance to stroke victims in a situation where every second counts. A leading cause of death worldwide, strokes can cause critical damage with every minute that passes.

The Mobile Stroke Unit decreases the time it takes to receive treatment by meeting patients on location, in an average of 15 minutes, instead of waiting to transfer the patient to a hospital for care. The unit’s team provides CT scans and can offer treatment that will stop stroke progression before the patient even leaves their driveway.

FINALIST

Central Ohio Primary Care

COPC’s Dr. Bill Wulf

Central Ohio Primary Care has been seeing patients since its founding in 1996 and has since grown to include over 80 practices that serve more than 450,000 patients. Most recently, COPC has employed new methods to deliver care following Covid-19, including telehealth visits.

At the rise of the pandemic, COPC’s care coordinators reached out to 4,500 of its highest risk patients to enroll them in telehealth visits. Additionally, a Drive-Up Care program was developed for those with limited internet access, a service that allows patients to park at the facility and borrow an iPad for their appointments.

MedOne’s Dr. Stephen Behnke

FINALIST

MedOne Why Not Home MedOne’s “Why Not Home” program, offered in all OhioHealth hospitals, offers an alternative for patients after their hospital stay. The physicians behind the program saw that the options postrelease, which are to be sent home or to a continued-care facility, didn’t account for a gray area including patients who didn’t truly qualify for either. In that instance, patients are more likely to go to a facility, resulting in overutilized resources.

The program changes that narrative, offering specialized caregiver training so patients can receive care from the comfort of their home. The program saved $5.2 million in Medicare FFS and Medicare Advantage populations in its 2020 fiscal year.

FINALIST

Chavaughn Gibson Chavaughn Gibson, a member of the National Association of Health Service Executives, serves as program manager at McKesson Pharmaceuticals and as the company’s National Cultural Lead.

Gibson also serves on the board of the company’s African American Employee Resource Group.

Off the clock, Gibson continuously works to advance healthcare as the chief operating officer and co-founder of The Daughters Den, an organization created alongside her sister that helps provide African American women and children with resources such as family counseling and mental health programming to promote intergenerational healing.

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11 moms to seeing nearly 800 pregnant and parenting moms in 2019.

Despite Covid-19, Moms2B served more than 600 moms in 2020, including 312 new moms. The program hosts 11 Zoom sessions every week.

Moms2B has received support from multiple organizations over the years, including the Columbus Foundation, Mount Carmel Health, Kroger and the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community initiatives.

A gift, not a burden Moms2B has had a profound impact on the lives of local families. Gabbe likes to point to the story of Amber Broadus, a single mom who said the program’s employees were the first people in her life to congratulate her for being pregnant. Instead of feeling as if her children were a burden, Moms2B helped her realize they were a gift, Gabbe says.

“That is our whole focus. Respect Black women (who) are pregnant and give them the honor they deserve,” Gabbe says. “They have incredible resilience. They look at life for the most part in a positive way and (want a way) to have healthy pregnancies and be a good parent.”

Gabbe realized as the program evolved she needed to get the dads involved, so the curriculum for Dads2B, which is now five years old, was created and serves as the model of a reproduceable program. A recently published research paper that documents Moms2B’s success in reducing infant deaths is giving Gabbe “new energy to say, ‘Yes, we need to take this program throughout Ohio.’ ” In nomination materials, Dr. Kamilah Dixon-Shambley, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Ohio State University College of Medicine and Moms2B’s medical director, wrote: “I have never worked with an individual as dedicated and passionate to the service of pregnant mothers and protecting the health of babies as ‘Dr. Pat.’ On a more personal note, Dr. Pat has also proven to be a mentor to everyone she works with. She has provided support and encouragement for moms in the program who now work as community health workers with Moms2B.” Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

HEALTHCARE TRAILBLAZER

Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion at Nationwide Children’s Hospital ABOUT

The pavilion is the largest and most comprehensive center dedicated exclusively to child and adolescent behavioral and mental health on a pediatric medical campus in the U.S. SIZE

386,000 square feet, nine stories OPENED

March 2020 F E AT U R E S

Gift shop, courtyards, training rooms, sanctuary, gym, outdoor play deck, inpatient units, Ronald McDonald family room, observation suite, research space, youth crisis stabilization unit STORY BY Laura Newpoff PHOTO BY Rob Hardin

In 2013, Dr. David Axelson and his team at Nationwide Children’s Hospital received an invitation from the board to hear about whether the hospital was meeting the mental health needs of children. The board wanted the hospital to invest in this area to expand inpatient and outpatient services and build more research programming.

Axelson and the planning subcommittee got to work and came up with a proposal to substantially expand services. The board heard them out and

encouraged them “to think bigger.”

Bigger meant a signature building housing a program that would be designed to break the stigma around mental health and represent how important this area of care is to a child’s overall health. Axelson and his team would hit the road and visit other programs across the country to gather ideas. They were particularly impressed with Bellevue Hospital in New York, which had integrated acute services, a psychiatric emergency program, inpatient services and partial hospitalization. While Nationwide Children’s had robust outpatient services, those other areas of care were lacking.

In 2016, Columbus retailer Big Lots announced a $50 million gift to the hospital to support the construction of the pavilion. In 2020, seven years after that board invitation, the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion at Nationwide Children’s Hospital opened at the downtown campus. It features inpatient services, intensive outpatient services, a psychiatric crisis department and research under one roof. It was designed to offer an experience that breaks the stigma around mental health treatment and its look mirrors the main hospital to offer hope and optimism and to ensure a consistent experience for patients during their healthcare journey.

“There was an attention to design and to safety, yet still maintaining the warmth and light and playfulness of a children’s hospital,” says Axelson, chief of the department of psychiatry and behavioral health.

Integrated care According to Nationwide Children’s, the pavilion helps meet a growing need—11 percent of children ages eight to 11 and 22 percent of teens ages 13 to 18 have a mental illness. And the timing of the pavilion’s debut couldn’t have been better as the national mental health crisis has been exacerbated by the continuation of Covid-19.

Features of the pavilion include: • A psychiatric crisis department with nine assessment rooms and a 10-bed extended observation suite that allows for time to determine if a patient should be admitted to a higher level of care.

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tion unit for intensive mental health treatment. A study has shown this care model has significantly helped decrease suicides.

• Inpatient psychiatry units. The pavilion will ramp up to house 48 patient beds and will have a unit for patients with intellectual and developmental diagnoses.

“There was an attention to design and to safety, yet still maintaining the warmth and light and playfulness of a children’s hospital.”

Dr. David Axelson, chief of psychiatry and behavioral health

• A gym, fitness room, play deck and outdoor courtyards.

• Common gathering spaces to allow patients and families to interact during group therapy.

• Intensive outpatient programs, including the mood and anxiety program, family-based intensive treatment, outpatient general psychiatry and the Critical Assessment and Treatment Clinic.

• The Center for Suicide Prevention and Research.

• Comfort rooms, a sanctuary and quiet alcoves with views of nature and natural light provide places of respite.

More than 10,000 people donated to Project S.N.A.P. to create inspirational artwork for the pavilion.

“Having all the different levels of care—crisis to outpatient—located in the same building is important,” Axel-

son says. “Everything in one building allows for a shorter and safer transition between levels of care.”

A desperate need The hospital also rolled out a stigma-breaking campaign called “On Our Sleeves” to give families the resources they need to help kids cope during this challenging time. Axelson says it’s meant to provide structure for kids to be comfortable talking to parents and parents to be comfortable talking to kids about mental health.

“There are really nice educational materials around maintaining mental health and wellness (so we’re) thinking about that prevention aspect,” he says. “It’s helping everybody think about the fact that mental health conditions are no more stigmatizing than

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Dr. David Axelson

VOLUNTEER OF THE YEAR

Sandy Freer Vice president, business partner relations, Quantum Health AGE

63 IN POSITION SINCE

2012 EXPERIENCE

Assistant vice president, Cigna E D U C AT I O N

Wittenberg University, BA; Capital University, MBA C O M M U N I T Y I N V O LV E M E N T

physical health conditions. It’s all part of our overall health.”

In nomination materials for the Healthcare Achievement Award, Erika Clark Jones, CEO of the Alcohol Drug and Mental Health Board of Franklin County, wrote: “With the opening of (the pavilion) and their national antistigma campaign, On Our Sleeves, Nationwide Children’s stepped forward in a new way to prioritize the needs of mental wellness for our community’s children. This home to integrated behavioral health services was created with community engagement to meet the needs of families. Most notably was the expansion of available beds for those who need an inpatient level of care – something desperately needed in our community.”

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

Volunteer, Meals on Wheels, Habitat for Humanity, Alvis Evening of Light, Clintonville Beechwold Community Resource Center, Mid-Ohio Food Collective; Quantum Cares committee chair to focus on volunteerism and community initiatives.

STORY BY Jess Deyo PHOTO BY Rob Hardin

With decades of volunteer experience, it’s no wonder Sandy Freer spends a little extra time recalling her list of services. However, New Year’s Day 2021, may be unforgettable. It was a cold and rainy day, and her Meals on Wheels route was longer than usual.

While many use the kickoff of the new year to relax and indulge, Freer sees it as an opportunity to serve the Columbus community, just as she does on holidays like Thanksgiving and any other day, for that matter.

Freer, vice president, business partner relations at Quantum Health, is certainly humble, but her efforts are far from unnoticed. Her desire to help

can be seen within her daily responsibilities, which consist of aiding clients through their insurance journeys. Simply put, Freer works to break down the complicated insurance jargon that many stumble over.

“We always say nobody gets up in the morning and decides, I think I’m going to have a serious illness today,” Freer says. “It’s a journey that people don’t choose to go on. And we are there to walk with them on that journey.”

When Freer isn’t helping her clients, it’s probable that she’s helping others in her community. She wears many hats at Quantum Health, most surrounding a pain-free insurance experience, but she also serves as the executive facilitator of the Quantum Cares committee, where she helps direct the company’s philanthropic spending.

At the heart of Quantum Health’s many efforts is LifeCare Alliance, the backbone of central Ohio’s Meals on Wheels program. Freer and her team began taking delivery routes in 2009 and over time increased participation to five times per week.

“It’s never been a challenge to encourage people, it’s just part of the Quantum Health DNA and who we are,” Freer says.

Rebecca Hurd, vice president of advancement at LifeCare Alliance, is quick to share her appreciation for Freer and her team. For every route covered, LifeCare saves over $12,000 a year. Most recently, Quantum Health offered an additional donation in April to help cover meals through the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hurd has interacted with Quantum Health through many volunteer efforts, and Freer has oftentimes served as the liaison that connects the two, Hurd says.

“Every time I see her at a meeting, she is so consistently supportive and willing to jump in at any moment,” Hurd says. “Her input is really valued by all of us on staff here, whether she’s helping plan an event or offering feedback, we know that we’re going to get wonderful input, smart ideas, creativity, and all-around great support from anything that Sandy contributes.”

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“When I think about my focus, I would say it’s about providing food for people, and shelter.

Because to me, those are very basic needs where if you don’t have those met, you kind of don’t have a chance.”

Sandy Freer

various boards and committees, like the Habitat for Humanity family selection committee and the Alvis Evening of Light planning group.

Freer also is active in her church, and routinely packs food boxes each December to take to the Broad Street United Methodist Church. Of her efforts with the church, volunteering to help rebuild homes is one of her most cherished experiences.

“When I think about my focus, I

would say it’s about providing food for people, and shelter,” Freer says.

“Because to me, those are very basic needs where if you don’t have those met, you kind of don’t have a chance.”

There are many reasons Freer has dedicated her life to volunteering, but at the core is her desire to connect with others, she says. No matter what she is doing, regardless of the day, she finds joy in the chance to meet people.

The biggest lesson, she says, is that her

life is about more than herself.

“I always say that it’s not like we need another reminder of how fortunate we are, but when you do something like that [volunteer], you’re so thankful of everything you have,“ Freer says. “It brings me joy, and I believe part of the reason I’m here on this Earth is to be in service to other people.”

Jess Deyo is associate editor.

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PRACTITIONER OF THE YEAR

Dr. Joseph Gastaldo OhioHealth system medical director of infectious diseases; medical director of quality and safety, Riverside Methodist Hospital; infectious diseases physician AGE

51 IN POSITION SINCE

2017 EXPERIENCE

Specialty is infectious diseases.

Treatments include soft tissue infections, HIV, MRSA infections, foodborne illness and post-operative wound infections.

E D U C AT I O N

Wright State University, Boonshoft School of Medicine; completed residency and fellowship at Ohio State University Hospitals C O M M U N I T Y I N V O LV E M E N T

Member of Upper Arlington Schools medical advisory team; as a member of the Greater Columbus LGBTQ Health Coalition, he serves as a voluntary “Pride Provider” who is committed to delivering LGBTQ-centered and culturally competent care.

STORY BY Laura Newpoff PHOTO BY Rob Hardin

Acute and chronic infections caused by bacteria, parasites, fungi and viruses can be complicated to treat, and doctors in this field often are called upon when simple answers can’t be

found. That never was more true than in February 2020, when Dr. Joseph Gastaldo got a call that would change the trajectory of his professional life.

On the line was then-OhioHealth Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff. He needed Gastaldo, the system’s medical director of infectious diseases, at OhioHealth’s Incident Command Center to provide guidance about Covid-19, which had just been detected in the U.S. As a novel coronavirus, Gastaldo and other doctors knew next to nothing about the emerging problem. To become a helpful resource, he set out on a mission to become a credible source of information about Covid-19, both inside and outside the walls of OhioHealth’s hospitals.

This new path would lead Gastaldo to become the man Ohioans turn to for answers about Covid-19. He

has participated in countless media interviews to inform the public, conducted daily briefings with providers, informed public health policy and stayed on the forefront of treatments and vaccines. He also uses his social media channels to post tips and information in ways that are easy for the

“Joe has worked arm in arm with frontline workers in our hospitals and with leadership in our Incident Command Center providing his expertise since day one of Covid-19.”

Dr. Teri Caulin-Glaser

FINALIST

Mark Herbert, MD

Dr. Mark Herbert, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Carmel Health System, has been providing care to patients for over three decades. Most recently, Herbert’s studies came into play with the rise of Covid-19, with him serving both on the frontlines and behind-the-scenes to answer questions from the hospital and the community.

While continuously providing care, Herbert also serves on the Mount Carmel Health System Incident Command Center, where he works to review and execute plans for the hospital to address the pandemic. Additionally, he has routinely made himself available to local media to offer information about Covid-19

FINALIST

Melinda Rowe

As the director of LifeCare Alliance’s Wellness Department, Melinda Rowe leads multiple teams that offer care to underserved communities. In seven Community Wellness Centers throughout Franklin County, Rowe leads a team of registered nurses who provide health assessments, assistance with medication, and more.

Rowe also oversees a team of registered dietitians who provide medical nutrition therapy, diabetes selfmanagement and other nutrition education programs available at the wellness centers and at clients’ homes.

Additionally, with the rise of Covid-19, she led the charge to implement telehealth services and develop additional safety procedures to help protect patients.

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layperson to understand.

“I was essentially pulled from seeing patients (early on in the crisis).

That part was challenging to me, but it was important to (respond to Covid-19) during this really historic time,” Gastaldo says. “When history judges what’s going on, it will be in the same context as World War II.” About 407,000 Americans were killed in World War II. America passed 400,000 Covid-19-related deaths in mid-January.

The battle over fact vs. fiction

including blogs and social media, and the iHeartRadio Podcast. An NBC4 interview with Gastaldo that aired on Facebook Live received more than 1.9 million views.

Progressive care Gastaldo has worked to ease the health crisis in a number of ways.

Examples include: Staying on top of the latest research about the virus and making sure the newest drugs and treatments are available to patients in central Ohio. And when an antibody treatment received emergency approval from the Food

and Drug Administration, he immediately began using it and made sure OhioHealth’s vaccination clinics had access. He also was an early adopter of steroids for inpatients and continues to be a frontline worker. He meets daily with the lab testing and pharmacology teams and hosts regular video meetings for the system’s physicians.

Gastaldo presents facts with no political agenda so he can be a resource for statewide public health decisions. He was a leader in developing a statewide plan around return-to-work guidelines. He also headed a committee that determined which patients should receive contact

On a Monday morning in late January, Gastaldo woke up, ran a 5K and then had his morning cup of coffee while doing a radio interview with 610 WTVN to talk about the latest developments in the battle against the pandemic. It’s one of two regular radio appearances he’s done every week since March to keep the public informed. Part of the problem in combating the virus, he says, is an “infodemic” where people rely on opinion journalists and social media and therefore aren’t able to tell the difference between fact and fiction.

Knowing lives are at stake, Gastaldo has made himself available around the clock and on holidays and weekends to talk to the media. He’s reached tens of thousands of Ohioans through interviews with local TV stations, articles in local publications, OhioHealth’s public education resources

“I was essentially pulled from seeing patients (early on in the crisis).

That part was challenging to me, but it was important to (respond to Covid-19) during this really historic time. When history judges what’s going on, it will be in the same context as World War II.” Dr. Joseph Gastaldo

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plasma to ensure good use of a limited resource.

Gastaldo seeks out information from infectious disease colleagues, pores through medical journals and digests advisories from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He shares the knowledge he gains with the broader medical community so providers can deliver progressive care. He also prepares daily communications for 4,875 OhioHealth physicians, residents and advance practice providers, including short videos that synthesize scientific data.

“Joe has worked arm in arm with frontline workers in our hospitals

and with leadership in our Incident Command Center providing his expertise since day one of Covid-19,” Dr. Teri Caulin-Glaser, senior vice president, chief clinical officer at OhioHealth said in a statement prepared for Columbus CEO. “Beyond that, his willingness to participate in literally hundreds of media interviews has educated people in the community and helped separate fact from fiction about all things Covid-19.

He’s truly a committed healthcare provider and very worthy of this honor.”

Subscribe to

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

Dr. Joseph Gastaldo

Subscribe or renew your annual subscription to Columbus Monthly for $18.

Go to columbusmonthly.com or call 877-688-8009.

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PATHWAY TO POPULATION HEALTH

Dr. Joshua Joseph Assistant professor of medicine, endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center AGE

39 IN POSITION SINCE

2016 EXPERIENCE

Instructor of medicine, division of general internal medicine, department of internal medicine, Yale; founder and director of Yale Primary Care Center Weight Management and Wellness Clinic, department of internal medicine, Yale E D U C AT I O N

Master of Public Health, Ohio State University; Christopher Saudek fellow in diabetes research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; MD, Boston University School of Medicine, 2009; BS, Morehouse College, 2003 C O M M U N I T Y I N V O LV E M E N T

Research, lecture and community programs at the local, state and national levels.

STORY BY Jess Deyo PHOTO BY Rob Hardin

Dr. Joshua Joseph remembers the day he realized he wanted to study medicine.

It was the day his grandmother went to the hospital clenching her chest— she had type II diabetes, and she suffered from a heart attack. She came home, but would later return to St. Anthony’s, known today as Ohio State University Hospital East. That time, she wouldn’t return home to the family on the Near East Side of Columbus.

His grandmother had a profound impact on his life, Joseph says, and was the foundation for his personal mission toward the prevention and better treatment of chronic disease, including heart disease and diabetes.

Today, Joseph is assistant professor of medicine in the endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism division at OSU Wexner Medical Center.

For Joseph, his education served as stepping stones, representative of the points in his career that he became passionate about eliminating health disparities, becoming a researcher and studying population health.

After acceptance to Boston University School of Medicine’s early medical school program, where Joseph would also earn his Doctor of Medicine, he served as the president of the Student National Medicine Association, where he interacted with underserved communities to gather research on disparities in healthcare, especially for African Americans.

“What we saw was that many of the communities that were really hit hard by diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and many other chronic diseases were communities with individuals that look like myself and other people in my organization,” Joseph says. “They kind of look like my grandmother, my grandfather and my parents.”

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Joseph later completed a clinical research fellowship at the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, where he realized he had a passion for research, he says. After, he completed a residency at Yale, where he founded the Yale Primary Care Center Weight Management and Wellness Clinic.

He followed with an endocrinology fellowship at Johns Hopkins, where he realized he wanted to work in population health—the final piece of the puzzle, he says. Under the mentorship of Dr. Sherita Golden, vice president and chief diversity officer of the school, he began to study risk factors at the population level.

Since moving back to Columbus and starting his current role in 2016, Joseph’s desire to eliminate health disparities at the population level has continued to grow.

Of his more recent programs is Black Impact 100, a six-month lifestyle program in collaboration with

Updox’ Michael Morgan

the African American Male Wellness Agency to help improve the health of Black men through continuous research, application and community engagement.

The program, led by Dr. Timiya Nolan, Dr. Darrell Gray II, and Joseph, a board member of the American

“What we saw was that many of the communities that were really hit hard by diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and many other chronic diseases were communities with individuals that look like myself.”

Dr. Joshua Joseph

FINALIST

Updox

Updox has made healthcare accessible during the Covid-19 pandemic, facilitating over 500,000 appointments via telehealth visits. The company allows patients to continue seeing their primary care physician, access patient forms and receive messages.

With a focus on the out-of-hospital market, Updox, founded in 2008, has served more than 170 million patients. The company created a digital platform for patients and medical providers requiring no apps or special equipment. Its platform handles over 45,000 telehealth visits each day, including extended office hours.

FINALIST

Christin Brown

Under the direction of Christin Brown, the Columbus Cancer Clinic has contributed to breaking down barriers for low-income and at-risk individuals to receive care.

The clinic is Medicare and Medicaid certified, and provides low-cost or free full cancer screenings, including mammograms, breast ultrasounds and breast biopsies.

The clinic has also upgraded its breast cancer screening services to include a tomosynthesis screening, an advanced method to detect breast cancer at the earliest stages, offering a service to underserved communities that was not previously readily available to them. Additionally, the clinic provides home care support for those who qualify.

Heart Association, aims to improve what the association defines as “Life’s Simple Seven,” or the seven factors known to be important in preventing cardiovascular disease and diabetes: blood sugar, blood cholesterol, blood glucose, BMI, physical activity, diet and smoking status.

When assessing these variables in the Black male community, it was clear there was plenty of room for research and opportunity to improve health outcomes. For the program, 100 Black men were recruited for health coaching and weekly exercise and education. A month into the study, the men already were seeing results.

“The way that I think about solving these disparities and solving these inequities is really working with communities, co-creating, co-developing solutions,” Joseph says.

In the view of Autumn Glover, president of Partners Achieving Community Transformation, which works to improve lives on the Near East Side, and a director of the civic and community engagement group at the medical center, Joseph’s ability to be in both the lab and the community is one of his most defining qualities, she says.

Of her favorite memories with Joseph is the Mask Up program following Covid-19.

The program, launched shortly after the rise of the pandemic, aimed to deliver care kits to underserved communities in central Ohio. In the end, over 46,000 masks were distributed.

“I think the beautiful thing is that he is also in the community very directly,” Glover says. “He’s out there on the frontlines, engaging with the public.

Many of our community members feel like he’s their brother, their nephew, their son.”

For Joseph, his work wouldn’t be the same without the chance to interact with people each day. That alone is enough to keep him passionate about his practice.

“It really is the people and the relationships that excite me every day,” he says. “I have a deep passion for trying to really solve these health inequities along with the communities. That’s what really gives me the motivation to wake up every day and to do this work.”

Jess Deyo is associate editor.

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Virtual

Roundtable C y b e r s e c u r i t y

Preparing for when the breach happens Asking the right questions Phishing and artificial intelligence The U.S. government recently blamed the Russians for a major hack of federal agencies and large companies by compromising software made by Texas-based SolarWinds.

Some have called the massive breach the Pearl Harbor of American IT. This cybersecurity crisis is just one more reminder that business owners and executives should focus intently on protecting their data and networks.

Columbus CEO discussed key issues involving cybersecurity with representatives from Affiliated Resource Group and Blue & Co. during a virtual call on Feb. 2.

Here is an edited and condensed version of that conversation.

Transcript provided by PRI Court Reporting.

Moderated by Ray Paprocki, publisher/general manager, Columbus CEO

Ray Paprocki (CEO): What can businesses learn from the SolarWinds attack?

Michael Moran (Affiliated Resource): This is just an example of

things that have been going on for a long time. If you look back to last year, FBI Director (Christopher) Wray stated that half of the ongoing investigations the FBI was looking at had to do with intellectual property theft–it had to do with access and cybersecurity issues.

Executives rarely ask IT professionals what are the tools that you use to support and manage the business. I think they need to have an annual risk assessment. They need to start looking at their IT operations, not from a negative but, hey, where might we have some holes that we can protect.

As an executive, you need to be asking more questions about the status of

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Blue & Co. is a regional

accounting firm with 10 offices in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky that focuses predominately on health care—offering audit, tax, financial consulting and IT risk and security services. blueandco.com

your IT. Many executives aren’t comfortable with IT, so they assume it’s covered. You have to ask. And then I think that executives need to inspect what you expect. If you’re expecting your organization to be protected, how is your team doing that?

Thomas Skoog (Blue & Co.): What

organizations can learn from this is they really need to make sure that they’re managing the risk of their vendors. Imagine if what happened to SolarWinds happened to Microsoft, or to Apple, or Adobe, or SAP, or Oracle. And it’s also not just software that this can happen to.

There have been several examples of microchips being infected with malware inside of hardware.

So what are some reasonable things that you can do? I think the first is to acknowledge that this happened, and it can happen again. Second is to understand from your software vendors– your key software vendors or other key parties that can have an impact on your network and your systems–what protections have they put in place to identify and detect and respond to this type of supply chain attack.

And finally, I think you need to have a quality backup strategy and test your restorability of that plan. And that you have got to change your paradigm from not if we’re breached, but rather when we’re breached and have well thought-out plans that are tested to respond to that breach.

CEO: What are a handful of key questions leadership should be asking, and

File/ColumbusCEO/Rob Hardin

what are the answers that might cause them concern?

Skoog: Are they setting the appro-

priate tone at the top about security?

Do they have an appreciation for the sensitivity or the confidentiality of their data if the data was lost or the integrity of the data was compromised?

What kind of impact is that going to have on the business?

From there, I think they can start asking the questions about what are we communicating to our employees about the criticality of that data and setting that tone at the top so that employees realize they need to properly protect this data because it’s vital to the survivability of the business.

And I would ask the IT folks what is being done to properly protect our data. I think this is where it’s probably advantageous to–especially for a small business that is relying on a single IT person–to look outside your business for some help. It might be just simply, hey, what are the 10 or 15 questions

“The last thing you want is one of your customer service people saying, oh, I’m sorry, I can’t help you today because we had a ransomware attack and our systems aren’t working.”

Michael Moran, Affiliated Resource Group

Tom Skoog

principal, cybersecurity and data management practice leader, Blue & Co.

I should be asking my IT person, and what kind of answers should I be expecting? Your accounting firm should have somebody that does that.

Moran: What are we trying to pro-

tect? Some companies, they’re trying to make sure they’re protecting their productivity, because they don’t want any down time from their systems.

Other companies have to balance protecting their data–for example, companies who work with consumers, in the health care or financial services industries–and protecting the productivity of their systems.

Others have intellectual property they’re trying to protect in addition to protecting their productivity.

Are our systems prioritized? Then start looking at what are the threats to our organization. If you don’t understand that, you can’t have a level of protection for that. How comfortable are we with our ability to detect and respond before it’s too late?

And then there are questions about an incident response plan. How are we going to respond when something happens? When did we have our last risk assessment? When we start with new customers, that’s one of the questions we ask, and very rarely have they had a risk assessment done in the

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Skoog: It’s important to make sure

you’re asking those kinds of questions to the right people. It’s the CEO, the CFO, the owner. I don’t think you can rely on your IT person unless they’re having several conversations with those executives to answer those.

Moran: I did a presentation about a year ago and it turned out about 80 percent of the people in the room had HIPAA regulation requirements, and they didn’t even realize it until I asked and then explained it to them. And there were some very interesting looks among people in the room, like holy moly, we’ve got some work to do.

CEO: How has COVID-19 impacted cybersecurity?

Skoog: Since COVID, there’s been a

huge uptick in ransomware attacks using COVID as the guise for whatever the scheme is that the hackers are using.

I think another thing that we’ve seen early on when a lot of companies went remote was they weren’t prepared to have an entire workforce go remote, so they had employees using home PCs to access their network, and those home PCs didn’t necessarily have the protections on them that their work PCs did. Most of those companies went ahead and procured laptops and then configured those laptops appropriately.

And I think a lot of companies have been pleasantly surprised that moving to a remote environment wasn’t as difficult as you might expect it to have been. The investments they had to make were maybe not quite as onerous as they thought they would be.

Moran: Between January and early February (2020) there were like 1,200 URLs registered that had a tie to COVID or coronavirus worldwide, and you’ve got to believe that not all of those were done for a positive registration.

Longer term, we’re working with organizations now that are trying to look at their infrastructure and their networks and determine how are we going to handle this potential quick flip of what goes on in case something

off. But also not under-communicating the importance of good cybersecurity practices. And just doing it annually is certainly under-communicating.

else happens. What is their strategy with their infrastructure? Are we able to make quick changes like we had to do there? Are we in a position to help support those things?

CEO: Is there anything that we

CEO: We all know the importance of

haven’t addressed that you think is important that you want to share?

training. Are there any examples that prove to be most effective in getting people not only to understand the information, but also to apply it beyond the training session itself?

Moran: It’s regular training and then it’s also reminders via simulation.

It’s maybe a 15- or 20-minute video they have to watch with a little quiz that follows it. And then they get, on a regular basis–and in many cases it’s specifically tied to not only their role in the business, but the department they’re in–phishing simulations.

Where they get attempted emails to go through. You find out who some of the folks are that are risky clickers.

Skoog: Find that line of not over-

communicating, because at some point people will start shutting that

Courtesy Michael Moran

last two years. And I think in today’s environment that’s a risk.

Michael Moran

co-founder and president, Affiliated Resource Group

Affiliated Resource Group is a technology advisory firm that provides cybersecurity compliance and IT support services for small- and midmarket organizations. aresgrp.com

Moran: You’ve got to have a response plan put together as an organization, and you really have to have that in place today. Sometimes people say, well, I got an IT provider so if I have a problem I call them.

OK. That’s part of it. But do they have a plan to help you get that done?

What are we doing on a day-to-day basis to protect our systems? What are we going to do when we realize we have an issue? How are we going to respond? What are our steps going to be?

What’s the plan to get it fixed? And there would be more requirements depending on the type of organization you are. Because if you have regulatory requirements, you have to do additional things to determine what’s the effect of things.

And you have to have a communication plan. And that communication plan can be as simple as who are we going to contact and when? Many companies have cyber insurance. So you may need to call them to let them know you had an issue. You may need to call your internal teams; you may need to call some external folks. You also need to start crafting a message to your staff. What are you going to say? The last thing you want is one of your customer service people saying, oh, I’m sorry, I can’t help you today because we had a ransomware attack and our systems aren’t working.

Skoog: I’ve been to banks that have

a breach notification policy, but they don’t have an incident response plan.

We’ve been infected with ransomware, we’ve had a breach and we’ve lost data, somebody lost a laptop. What’s our response plan to that?

And these plans really should consist of kind of four macro-level stages.

Identification: Identify what happened, identify who you need to talk to and who you need to communicate with.

Containment: How do we make sure that this breach hasn’t gone any further than it has to this point?

Eradication: How do we get rid of it?

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“How AI is going to be used by these bad guys is going to be the next technical issue that companies need to deal with.”

Tom Skoog, Blue & Co. Recovery: How do we get back up and running and sort of something that resembles normalcy?

Mike mentioned one of those communications probably is immediately going to be to your cybersecurity carrier. Those cyber carriers are going to tell you the next two phone calls you’re going to make are to this law firm, because everything that you’re going to do is going to be under attorney-client privilege. And secondly, it’s going to be to this forensic firm to figure out what happened, figure out what the extent of the damages have been or the consequences have been, and then how to move forward.

And at a minimum, annually you should come up with some scenarios of, OK, let’s talk through what we would do if we had a laptop stolen.

IT person, what’s your responsibil-

ity? CEO, what’s your responsibility?

Who’s making the first call? Who’s making the second call? Because without doing that, the chances that you’re going to actually execute the plan accordingly are going to drop pretty precipitously.

Moran: One of the things that we

went ahead and did is we put together, for what it’s worth, a little white paper that you can get on our website that’s kind of a framework for developing your incident response plan, and that’s been pretty well received.

Skoog: I think one other thing that

companies ought to be doing is really keeping an eye on regulatory changes inside of their industry.

They’re happening consistently, and the industry that’s struggling with it

right now is the construction industry, particularly if they’re doing work with the Department of Defense. Because the DOD has come out with some extremely demanding security protections that are in place if you’re part of the DOD supply chain, and they are going to be having third parties come in and assess, eventually, your compliance with these requirements. And if you’re not compliant, you’re not able to bid on new contracts.

CEO: What’s coming next?

Skoog: For the last few years the type

of attacks that companies had to worry about haven’t changed that much. It’s getting phishing emails and having those phishing emails deliver malware or ransomware. And now, the sophistication of those emails maybe has changed, and the sophistication of the ransomware and the malware has changed, but at the end of the day those are still the top risks that organizations need to worry about.

But I think just as they start getting to a point where they figured out how to manage those risks to an acceptable

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level, the new risks they’re going to need to start thinking about is how artificial intelligence is going to be used to continue to do these phishing expeditions or those social engineering exercises.

I’ve heard of where through AI the bad guys are taking video or voice of somebody inside your company. For example, if somebody in XYZ company gets a video of what appears to be me or a voicemail of what appears to be me saying we need you to do the following, and they’re going to think, well, jeez, it’s Tom, it must be legitimate. So how AI is going to be used by these bad guys is going to be the next technical issue that companies need to deal with.

Moran: I mean, if you think about all of the robo calls that you receive on your cell phone, in many cases those robo calls are trying to get you to say yes or something else so that they can use the automated attendant at organizations to validate things.

So, for example, if they’re going to commit fraud using your American Express card, in many cases American

Express expects you, if you’re going to go in and change account information, you have to state information, and you have to state the word, yes, we’re acknowledging you can do this. So those are things that are there.

I also think at a next level there’s data stealing. Yes, they want ransom.

But I think the bigger value in that data is looking to understand trends and things that are going on to make further connections so that they can build a package and gain a competitive advantage–whether it’s in financial services, in your consumer goods scenario, whether it’s who’s buying information or who’s buying things from you. All of that information, it gives them a competitive advantage if they have your customer list and they have all of your invoice recognition.

The more data folks can steal, the more things that they could do with that data and start building up their own competitive advantage, and you don’t even know that they’re doing it.

So that idea of protecting your systems and protecting your data–companies that just think, hey, we’re just a simple manufacturer, we manufacture

business-to-business sales, we don’t have anything we need to protect.

In reality, there are other companies that are your competitors. They may want to know that information. And if somebody steals that data and they have a smarter way to compile it and use technology to get it done, they might have a better way to go after your customers or position themselves to be a better price perspective in terms of that, or better delivery means.

So, again, people have to really be cognizant of what they used to think really didn’t matter is more important today because of advanced technologies like AI and the analytics activity that’s going on. Because everything is being studied today down to the most minute transaction. And the more information people can get, the more factors they can add into the systems and start to see more and more opportunities or more and more risks in terms of ways to create a competitive advantage.

CEO: Well, a fascinating thought to end on, and a little scary also.

Thank you.

CD-0006272764-01

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Health Watch

Cautious optimism Immunologists say the development of coronavirus vaccines has been awesome in its speed and effectiveness. But masks, social distancing and Zoom are not going away anytime soon.

By Laurie Allen + Photo by ROB HARDIN

A

fter enduring more than a year in the grip of a deadly, unpredictable virus that brought misery and chaos, Columbus’ public health leaders can sense a shift to the positive as vaccines roll out from lab to largescale immunization.

Despite stalls and shifts in supply and distribution, the effort to vaccinate some 300 million Americans in the next several months is moving forward, giving healthcare leaders a sense of optimism.

“I am in awe of all the progress that’s been made,” says Dr. Susan Koletar, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Ohio State Uni-

versity Wexner Medical Center.

“I continue to be hopeful, and I think we need to keep focusing on the positives. I think there is clear evidence that the vaccines are and will continue to be making a difference.”

Dr. Mark Herbert, an infectious disease specialist with Mount Carmel Health System, says despite problems with distribution and lack of longterm data, vaccines have the power to change the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. “It’s been wonderful to see the number of people who are immunized catch up and surpass the number of people who’ve been infected. My hope is that we reach a place where we control the virus, and the virus doesn’t control us.”

The Holy Grail in freedom from Covid-19 is herd immunity, which

occurs when enough people in a community are protected from a disease that transmission effectively stops. Estimates vary, but most public health leaders predict that will happen when at least 70 of the population is immunized. The road from here to there is neither straightforward nor predictable, local healthcare leaders agree. Barriers include inequities in access to health care, vagaries in supply and distribution and public buy-in on the importance of being vaccinated.

The dizzying speed at which science has learned and manipulated information about the coronavirus has itself caused some unease, Koletar says. Even the name Operation Warp Speed carries emotional baggage. “The term ‘warp’ implies that something is wrong,” she says.

The fact that people started receiving vaccines just months after Covid appeared in this country is testament to scientific progress and substantial federal financial investment. By contrast, there still is no vaccine for HIV. “People wonder, did it go too fast? The difference today is that we weren’t starting from scratch. We had other coronaviruses out there,

“I do believe [vaccines] are safe. That said, we don’t have long-term data on anything. …

Everything has a riskbenefit, but these seem extraordinarily good at preventing serious illness.

It’s not just about you. It’s about someone else.”

Dr. Susan Koletar, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

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“People wonder, did it go too fast? The difference today is that we weren’t starting from scratch. We had other coronaviruses out there, and we already had vaccine candidates.”

Frederic Bertley, COSI CEO and a specialist in immunology and vaccine development and we already had vaccine candidates,” says COSI President and CEO Frederic Bertley, a specialist in immunology and vaccine development.

He and others say that while the Food and Drug Administration fast-tracked clinical trials, safety precautions were not shortchanged.

“I do believe they are safe,” Koletar says of the vaccines. “That said, we don’t have long-term data on anything.

I tell people there are no guarantees in life. Everything has a risk-benefit, but these seem extraordinarily good at preventing serious illness.” Also, she notes, “It’s not just about you. It’s about someone else.”

Herbert says there is a social responsibility to protect the vulnerable and those who care for them.

“People in their 20s and 30s have a responsibility to protect their parents and their grandparents, and to protect their children. Children’s lives have been greatly disrupted.

I’d like to see children have more normal lives.”

Personal experiences play a role, Koletar says. “My father had polio as a child, and I’m pretty sure my sister and I were No. 1 and 2 on the list to get the polio vaccine. My job is not to talk anybody into anything, however, anyone who is eligible to get the vaccine should get it.”

Getting the vaccine has not been easy in many cases. Across the community, hours-long waits, difficulty scheduling and reports of people being turned away amped up frustrations.

Koletar says a certain amount of hype led to unrealistic expectations early on. “It’s quite the logistical dance, doing these large-scale vaccinations while we’re still in the midst of

a pandemic.” However, she adds, “I think we’ll get there.”

Herbert says problems with vaccine distribution also have emphasized inequities in access to healthcare among different populations.

Mount Carmel’s community outreach and street medicine programs aim to take the vaccine to marginalized and underserved communities, such as the city’s homeless, says Virginia Ruef, regional pharmacy manager.

That effort will be aided immensely as one-dose vaccines and those with longer shelf lives become widely available, she says.

The future of vaccines also must take into account coronavirus variants, or mutations, some of which may be more dangerous than earlier versions. Herbert says it’s important to note that all viruses change and mutate on a regular basis in order to thrive, but that it’s possible to modify vaccines so they’re still able to impede the virus’ ability to attach to a cell and replicate.

Bertley says what matters is where and how many mutations occur, specifically on the spike protein that the virus uses to grab onto cells. Even in newer variants, vaccines seem to offer protection against serious illness that would require hospitalization.

Setting a date for a return to “normal” is a tricky proposition. “All things being equal, once we’re able to go to scale and achieve herd immunity, I see a return to normal,” says Bertley, who expects that everyone in the United States should be able to receive a vaccine by the end of the year. But he believes we will continue to live in “a new steady state of Zoom meetings, hand sanitizer and masks.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

The tunnel is not short.”

Healthcare leaders have ongoing concerns about asymptomatic transmission, which might still occur even with the vaccine. “That’s why social distancing, masking and hand hygiene will still be in place for a long time to come,” Ruef says. “I think of the vaccine kind of like a seatbelt. Can you drive a car without a seatbelt? Yes, you can. But you are much safer, and those around you are much safer, with one. The vaccine adds an extra layer of protection.”

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Laurie Allen is a freelance writer.

March 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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Higher education

Leaning into the possible

Otterbein senior Myiah Kelley on the soccer field in 2018.

How central Ohio universities got student athletes back on the playing field during Covid-19.

I

n March 2020, the men’s and women’s swim and dive teams at Denison University were just days away from competing for a title at the NCAA championships. At Otterbein University, Drew Kasper, the No. 1 ranked Division III wrestler in the country in his weight class, was preparing to compete for a national championship, a big deal for a program that at the time was just five years old. And at Ohio Wesleyan University, the men’s lacrosse team was en route to Pikesville, Maryland, to face off against the Mustangs from Stevenson University.

The meet, the match and the game never took place because of Covid-19.

While 2020 was mostly a lost year for sports at those Division III schools, their athletic departments stayed active to get protocols in place so students could compete again when it was considered safe.

Today, winter sports—basketball, swimming and diving, track and field and wrestling—are up and running at a smaller scale even though the NCAA has called off championships. Here’s how the schools navigated the pandemic to make sports safe for their students.

Art of what was possible University officials interviewed for this story say an enormous amount of planning occurred throughout 2020 to reconfigure their sports programs.

The NCAA issued and continues to

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Courtesy OTTERBEIN ATHLETICS

By Laura Newpoff

update “return-to-sport” guidelines that spell out testing protocols, physical distancing requirements and quarantine policies, and divisions and conferences handed down decisions about what games could be played.

At Denison, a decision was made early on to partner with Ohio State University to develop a robust testing strategy. Physical spaces were reconfigured, disinfection protocols were established and the decision was made to move as many activities as possible outdoors.

“We were leaning into the art of what was possible,” says General Counsel Alexandra Schimmer.

“You’re taking apart a massive enterprise and putting it back together in a different way.”

While many students returned to the university in the fall, sports for that season—cross country, field hockey, football, golf, soccer and volleyball—didn’t happen. Practices in small groups and internal scrimmages took place alongside virtual workouts, and team culture and community service activities allowed a sense of togetherness to continue.

By the time late summer and fall rolled around, athletic directors

were having discussions with their conferences about what winter sports would look like. Ohio Wesleyan Athletics Director Doug Zipp remembers the day in September that the North Coast Athletic Conference made the difficult decision to cancel winter sports. It then became an institutional decision whether to let teams schedule games on their own. Ohio Wesleyan decided to proceed with all its winter sports.

“But it’s going to look very different,” Zipp says. “No spectators.

Benches spaced out (so basketball players are) 6 feet apart. Individual chairs. Players on the bench wearing masks. Go play in an empty gym, but the silver lining is students get to compete against somebody now.”

The games and meets are being played with other schools in the conference that want to play. Before Covid-19, if a team played twice in one week, it would play two different teams. Now, games are played as home-and-homes between the same two teams to create a sort of “mini bubble,” Zipp says.

Covid-19 testing is determined differently among sports. Basketball, for example, because of its close contact,

“(Division III) student athletes are as fierce (competitors) as pro athletes or Olympic athletes.

What sets Division III apart are the relationships.

(Student athletes) love to be with their teammates, even practicing in masks.”

Nan Carney-DeBord, director of athletics, Denison University

Courtesy OTTERBEIN ATHLETICS

Otterbein Athletics Director Dawn Stewart

is considered high-risk and so players, coaches and trainers are tested weekly.

Financial impact Division III schools that don’t have 100,000-plus-seat football stadiums to fill don’t make a financial windfall off their sports. Rather, they offer them to enhance the student experience and provide an outlet for competition. Even so, the schools’ financial livelihoods are tied to the student body, including those who want to play sports, says Dawn Stewart, Otterbein’s vice president for student affairs and director of athletics. Without sports, the school would run the risk of losing students.

“We wanted to try to find a way to implement the athletic experience safely so our student athletes were engaged, so they had an outlet beyond academics and beyond a virtual academic platform,” she says. “The NCAA supported all membership schools in this pursuit by providing strict guidelines to safely manage sports programs.”

Nan Carney-DeBord, director of athletics at Denison, says holding sporting events means extra costs for

schools for testing and disinfecting, but the university is happy to do it because sports are an important part of the educational experience. “(Division III) student athletes are as fierce (competitors) as pro athletes or Olympic athletes,” she says. “What sets Division III apart are the relationships. (Student athletes) love to be with their teammates, even practicing in masks. They’ll do anything to be in a practice environment.”

Impact on students Molly Delaney, an Ohio Wesleyan junior who plays on the women’s basketball team, says student athletes have experienced a surge in anxiety because they’re constantly worried about all the uncertainty tied to the virus. As she was preparing for a game to be held on the first Thursday in February, two people on the team tested positive for Covid-19. More testing would be necessary on Wednesday to see if the team would get the green light to play its game with Denison on that Friday and Saturday. The games were played, with Ohio Wesleyan winning both.

Having activities tied to the sport

taken away from her because of the pandemic makes her appreciate the chance to play a season she hopes gets to eight games. “(Before Covid-19), you usually would have post-season spring workouts where you’d still get to play against each other,” she says. “Not having that really made me realize how passionate I am about playing basketball, and how much it helps me mentally and physically. The team atmosphere pushes me to be a better person on and off the floor.”

Myiah Kelley is a senior at Otterbein, where she plays soccer and is an athletic training student. While soccer normally is a fall sport, this year it’s been moved to the spring, and she has her fingers crossed that the team will be able to play.

“I tried to have hope that we would have a season in the spring after fall got canceled,” she says. “I have friends who play soccer in different divisions, and they just completely cancelled.

The fact that Otterbein put out a statement that there was a chance in the spring gave me hope (and the incentive) to stay fit and work hard.”

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

March 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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2/17/21 4:30 PM

Reach Your Full Potential With Franklin University

1

2

3

4

Robbie M.S. Marketing + Communication

Interim Executive

Director,

Leadership

Columbus

Achieve Your Goals at Ohio’s #1 Nonprofit University for Online Degrees Earn your degree at Franklin University and join the ranks of alumni who put their expertise to work at leading organizations like Nationwide, Cardinal Health and OhioHealth. Franklin’s faculty of in-field experts help you gain knowledge you can put to use right away, and our convenient course options enable you to balance your education with your life. For a list of partnerships and programs designed to help you maximize your education benefits, go to franklin.edu/partners.

MASTER’S MASTER’S + DOCTORAL + DOCTORAL PROGRAMS PROGRAMS BUSINESS BUSINESS Doctor Doctor of Business of Business Administration Administration (DBA)(DBA) MBA MBA MBA-Healthcare MBA-Healthcare Specialization Specialization M.S. in M.S. Accounting in Accounting M.S. in M.S. Business in Business Analytics Analytics M.S. in M.S. Business in Business Psychology Psychology M.S. in M.S. Human in Human Resource Resource Management Management M.S. Marketing M.S. Marketing + Communication + Communication EDUCATION EDUCATION + LEADERSHIP + LEADERSHIP Doctor Doctor of Education of Education in in Organizational Organizational Leadership Leadership (Ed.D.) (Ed.D.) Doctor Doctor of Professional of Professional Studies Studies – – Instructional Instructional Design Design Leadership Leadership M.S. Instructional M.S. Instructional Design Design + Learning + Learning Technology Technology HEALTHCARE HEALTHCARE Doctor Doctor of Healthcare of Healthcare Administration Administration Master Master of Healthcare of Healthcare Administration Administration M.S. in M.S. Health in Health Informatics Informatics M.S. in M.S. Nursing in Nursing M.S. in M.S. Nursing in Nursing – Family – Family NurseNurse Practitioner Practitioner M.S. in M.S. Nursing in Nursing – Nurse – Nurse Administrator Administrator

Best MBA Program

Best Continuing Education Offerings

www.franklin.edu www.franklin.edu Franklin Makes It Possible. Franklin Makes It Personal.

Franklin Makes It Possible. Franklin Makes It Personal.

Franklin University is nonprofit and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org/800.621.7440).

State rank data sourced from the National Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Database.

Franklin University is nonprofit and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (hlcommission.org/800.621.7440).

State rank data sourced from the National Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Database.

052-053_Leaderboard_OnlineDegrees.indd 52

PUBLIC PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ADMINISTRATION Master Master of Public of Public Administration Administration M.A. M.A. in Criminal in Criminal Justice Justice Administration Administration TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY M.S. Computer M.S. Computer Science Science M.S. in M.S. Cybersecurity in Cybersecurity M.S. in M.S. Data in Data Analytics Analytics M.S. in M.S. Information in Information Technology Technology

2/18/21 5:40 PM

5

6

7

8

9

10

Columbus region ONLINE DEGREE PROGRAMS Ranked by 2020 fall undergraduate enrollment

Fall 2020 central Ohio Online Enrollment

FALL 2020 TOTAL ONLINE ENROLLMENT

Undergraduate

Undergraduate

Full-time

Graduate

Graduate

Part-time

23,661

26,082

336

0

0

1,038

2,927

88,921

3,778

1,223

32,516

3,778

1,659

3,220

60

754

1,664

809

University

583

1,059

105

1476 Lancaster Pike, Circleville 43113 740-474-8896 • ohiochristian.edu

165

197

258

227

407

283

717

1,567

54

89

7

122

78

16

0

85

5,357

32

3,134

600 Total

of Nursing

75

91

11

127 S. Davis Ave., Columbus 43222 614-234-5800 • mccn.edu

28

42

10

50

664

424

15

1,680

248

24

24

25

129

129

29

INSTITUTION 1 Columbus State

Community College 550 E. Spring St., Columbus 43215 614-287-2161 • cscc.edu

2 WGU Ohio 325 John H. McConnell Blvd., Columbus 43215 • 866-903-0108 ohio.wgu.edu

3 Franklin University 201 S. Grant Ave., Columbus 43215 614-949-0316 franklin.edu

4 Ohio Christian

5 Ohio State University

281 W. Lane Ave., Columbus 43210 614-292-6446 online.osu.edu

6 Mount Vernon Nazarene University

800 Martinsburg Road Mount Vernon 43050 • 740-392-6868 mvnu.edu/gps

7 Indiana Wesleyan University

3455 Mill Run Drive, Suite 550 Hilliard 43026 • 614-529-7550 iwueducation.com

8 Mount Carmel College

9 Kent State University 800 E. Summit St., Kent 44242 330-672-3000 kent.edu

10 Ohio Dominican University

1216 Sunbury Road, Columbus 43219 614-251-4690 • ohiodominican.edu

wnd = would not disclose, pch = per credit hour, na = not applicable, nav = not available, HLC = Higher Learning Commission, CCNE = Commission on Collegiate Nursing, IACBE = International Accreditation Council for Business Education, CAE-CDE = National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education, UG = undergraduate, G = graduate, D=doctorate

Source: Survey of online degree programs. Information compiled by Rebecca Walters

Information included in this survey was provided by institutions listed and was not independently verified.

052-053_Leaderboard_OnlineDegrees.indd 53

online faculty members

Studenttofaculty ratio

15:4

ACCREDITATION Annual tuition/

FIRST YEAR university ACCREDITED

$4,888/

Higher Learning Commission; Member-North Central Association

per credit hour

$162.93

nav

$6,670 (UG) $7,405 (G)

13:1

$398 pch (UG), $670 pch (G), $748 pch (D)

11:1

$9,120$12,720/$380$530 pch

nav

$13,269 (UG), $31,068 (G)/$382 pch (UG) $723 pch (G)

10:1

$6,360$11,952/$265$498 pch

9:1

$20,550$26,714

nav

varies

varies

16:1

$32,300 (UG)/ $11,178 (G), $760 pch (UG), $617 pch (G)

Associate

1987 Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

2003 HLC, IACBE, CCNE, CAHIIM, CAE-CDE

1976

Bachelor’s, master’s

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, certificate

2005

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s

Higher Learning Commission 1913

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, certificate

Higher Learning Commission

ACBSP, CAEP, CCNE, CSWE

1993 Higher Learning Commission

1966 Higher Learning Commission; Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education

1995

19:1

DEGREES GRANTED

Higher Learning Commission

2005 Higher Learning Commission

1934

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, certificate Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, certificate

Bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, certificate Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, certificate

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The June Leaderboards will feature Columbus region temporary employment agencies. The deadline for inclusion in those surveys is Monday, April 12. If you want your company to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Rebecca Walters at rwalters@columbusceo.com.

March 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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2/17/21 3:15 PM

Check online for current information

Working to keep you safe and

support local small businesses

R T C

Jo Ev (6 ww rea

65

YEARS

March h 6-14 Our Community’s Safety is our Top Priority

The 65th annual Home & Garden Show will operate as safely as home improvement and retail stores that are open for business.

You can read our full Safe Operating Full Safety Plan Online information online, designed to ensure DispatchHomeAndGardenShow.com the health and safety of everyone involved.

R M P G V

Al (6 al re

GET INSPIRED. GET STARTED. Trusted local experts

Backyard Getaway Gardens

Does the home you’ve been couped up in need some updating? Talk with trusted local experts and find ideas for every space in your home — kitchens and baths, remodeling, plus all the essentials to keep your home weather-tight and energy efficient.

KITCHENS

BATHS

REMODELING

March 6-14

Presented by

Sponsors Spo p nsors

CLOSED Mon. Mar. 8 NEW

DispatchHomeAndGardenShow.com

Bricker Building

Enter Fairgrounds via 11th Avenue

For your safety, tickets will not be sold onsite.

R M P G V

Al (6 al re

GARDENS

BUY TICKETS ONLINE ONLY

Ohio Expo Center PARKING ENTRANCE

054_055_ExLiv.indd 54

Safely stroll indoor landscaped gardens in full fragrant bloom and discover ways to transform your green spaces into a backyard getaway. Our Backyard Getaways feature themed gardens such as: Movie Night Garden, Garden Party, Inside/Outside, It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere Garden, and more.

Discount Coupons available at Lowe’s

2/18/21 5:37 PM

Wouldn’t you like to be looking at your home?

Ask your Realtor to market your home in the Executive Living section of Columbus CEO Magazine!

East of I-71 call Telana Veil at (614) 469-6106 or e-mail at tveil@dispatch.com West of I-71 call Amy Vidrick at (614) 461-5153 or e-mail at avidrick@dispatch.com

RE/MAX TOWN CENTER

CUTLER REAL ESTATE

Joe and Patty Evans (614) 975-7355 www.joeandpattyevans. realestate

Neil Mathias (614) 580-1662 neil@themathiasteam.com

DEER RUN - A limited number of building lots available in this exclusive private gated community. Deer Run is a secluded, private lush wilderness in the heart of Dublin. Bring your own builder and design your dream home in one of the last centrally located communities in the city of Dublin. Acreage from 2-3+ Acres and Pricing starting at $825,000/lot. www.deerrunoh.com

1309 NEIL AVE - This unique 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 baths, 3 car garage with above garage loft area, finished basement + storage, fenced in yard with hot-tub, wood floors, custom updates throughout. Over 4100 sq ft, 1 mile to OSU stadium, Crew stadium, restaurants and more. $799,000

RE/MAX METRO PLUS GERMAN VILLAGE

RE/MAX METRO PLUS GERMAN VILLAGE

Al Waddell (614) 832-4079 al.waddell@ remax.net

Al Waddell (614) 832-4079 al.waddell@ remax.net

39 N OHIO AVENUE - American 4SQ with every update imaginable! The 30’ center hall leads to a stunning, original 3 story staircase. 2 sets of dbl pocket doors open to a Music Rm & Liv. Rm (each w/ FP), LR opens to banquet-sized FDR. A large island centers the kitchen w Quarts counters. 2nd flr has 2 en-suite BRs, custom dressing room & 4th BR (or home office). The 3rd flr is a private owner’s suite, with vaulted ceilings, sitting area & luxurious bath. $659,900

RE/MAX METRO PLUS GERMAN VILLAGE

NEW ALBANY REALTY Jane Kessler Lennox (614) 939-8938 janel@new albanyrealty.com

Al Waddell (614) 832-4079 al.waddell@ remax.net

5578 WHITE ROAD - Country estate on +/- 6 acres, total renovation, 4 BRs, 3 Baths, 3 Car garage, 2 WBFPs, Walk out LL with huge Fam Rm + deck + patio. Oversized barn with Studio/ Apt/Ofc. $799,900

054_055_ExLiv.indd 55

60 MIAMI AVENUE – Elegnt home w/ leaded glass entry opens to a vestibule that opens to a center hall foyer. Home office and magnificent staircase, working FP flanked by two wood trimmed arched doorways into the FDR. Coffered ceilings, stained glass, updated kitchen w/ center island & new pro-style appls. 2nd floor has 4 BRs & 2 full baths + sunroom. Owner’s BR adjoins full bath & 2nd BR to create a lavishly lg owner’s suite. $624,900

107 ASHBOURNE RD, BEXLEY - Breathtaking architectural beauty on one of Bexley’s favorite quiet streets. Enhanced by an amazing expansion, this estate has 6470 SF, 5 BR, 5 full/2 half BA, boasts original hdwd floors, 7 fireplaces, elevator & original trim work. Great rm, DR, white gourmet kitchen w/high-end appls, casual dining, library, Fam. rm, screened porch & huge bonus rm. Patio w/firepit in lg private backyard & 4-car gar. $1,349,000

2/17/21 3:18 PM

Office Space

By JESS DEYO + Photos by Rob Hardin

Danis Construction 777 Goodale Blvd., Suite 100 Columbus 43212 danis.com

The Dayton-based builder’s new Grandview Heights space was designed by the team, for the team—one member calls it “invigorating.”

Celebrate

The team’s work is highlighted for employees and visitors alike to see.

Bright ideas

Sunlight was a design priority throughout the firm’s 8,000-square-foot space.

Creative nook

Staff can work at their desks or gather in booths meant to offer some privacy.

Staying fit

To encourage workout breaks, Danis offers an in-house gym with weights, treadmill, bike, rowing machine and more.

Welcome

Modern minimalism and a sophisticated feel are found in the lobby and throughout.

Design by M+A Architects.

Visit columbusCEO.com for a full article on the space.

Inspiration space

New sketches can easily be rolled out during meetings.

Communal space

The kitchen is a place to prepare meals, relax and hang out with coworkers.

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2/18/21 1:26 PM

Connecting People Through the Gift of Communication Since 1923 Columbus Speech & Hearing Center has been dedicated to improving people’s lives in our community with speech and hearing challenges for nearly a century. We rely on donor support to provide the critical speech and hearing services they need to be successful and connect to the world around them.

1 in 3 families receiving services relies on support from people like you.

Your generous gift allows us to provide: • Screening and outreach services to identify and treat communication disorders • Hearing evaluations and hearing aids for low-income seniors • Free or discounted speech screenings and therapy for families

DONATE TODAY! Call (614) 263-5151 Or visit www.columbusspeech.org (Get Involved—Ways to Give) ColumbusSpeech.org 510 E. North Broadway, Columbus, Ohio 43214

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