Columbus CEO – Winter 2026

Caught in the Middle

New Labor Landscape

Financial planning pointers for the sandwich generation

Workplace trends: What employers should know

PAGE 46

Medicine in Motion Orthopedic advances boost patients’ mobility.

PAGE 43

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Winter 2026

CEO OF THE YEAR Meet our 15th annual honorees, plus an economic outlook PAGE 15

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Give your child the world.

We can help.

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Contents

Photo by Tim Johnson

Departments

5 Editor’s Notes 48 Breakdown Insider

8 Profile Basketball star Clark Kellogg gives back to Columbus.

12 Tech Talk Scioto AgriTech is using biologics to improve crop health.

Scott Barbour in the materials science lab at Advanced Drainage Systems’ Engineering and Technology Center

13 Honoring Everyday Kindness Heroes Pursuit founder Nate DeMars provides clothing and dignity.

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In-Depth

15 CEO of the Year

16 CEO of the Year Profiles

38 Orthopedic Advances

Our 15th annual CEO of the Year awards recognize 17 Central Ohio executives who work in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Meet the 2025 honorees, and learn what local leaders expect from the economy in the year ahead.

Get to know this year’s honorees.

Doctors are developing new technologies and techniques to improve mobility.

WINTER 2026 Cover photo by

TIM JOHNSON

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32 Economic Outlook Survey C-suite leaders weigh in on their expectations for 2026, with analysis from Regionomics.

43 The Changing Labor Landscape Local attorneys offer insights on unionization and other workplace trends.

34 Senior Living

46 Wealth Management

Our annual directory features 91 communities offering multiple levels of care.

Balancing your own financial needs while helping your children and your parents

Cover: Ten of our CEO of the Year 2025 honorees (from left), seated: Sophia Fifner, Ilaria Rawlins, Lisa Courtice, Scott Barbour; standing: Vickie Thompson-Sandy, Shannon Isom, Kate Bauer, Habiba Bankston, Elizabeth Brown and Carlie Boos

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Editor’s Notes 605 S. Front St., Suite 300 Columbus, Ohio 43215 Phone: 614-540-8900

ColumbusCEO.com

VOLUME 35 / NUMBER 1 GENERAL MANAGER DISPATCH MAGAZINES

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* jhohbach@ColumbusCEO.com

17 CEOs Making a Difference As we close out the challenging year that was 2025, I think most of us would agree there’s still a lot to be thankful for.

While hot-button political issues such as tariffs, rising consumer costs and the stifling of diversity initiatives have deservedly grabbed headlines—and the attention of many executives—the year also had its share of bright spots.

At Columbus CEO, we once again had the chance to tell important stories about the local business community, from serious topics such as affordable housing challenges and legal issues to features about entrepreneurs, thriving businesses, the region’s economic growth and more. Some of my personal favorites are our longstanding annual awards, including Best of Business, which celebrated its 18th year, and our 13th installment of Top Workplaces.

In this issue, for the 15th year, Columbus CEO is proud to recognize some of Central Ohio’s best business leaders, who were selected by their peers as part of our CEO of the Year initiative.

Our 2025 group of honorees is incredibly diverse in both experience and the organizations where they work. From two thirtysomethings to midcareer professionals and a banking executive in his 70s, our four winners and 13 finalists all have made notable contributions

to their current organizations, and past employers, too. Some have been leading their companies for years, while others are more recent newcomers to their role.

Multiple honorees have been recognized as CEO of the Year finalists before, including Scott Barbour of Advanced Drainage Systems Inc., a 2025 winner who was a 2024 and 2023 finalist.

This year, we invited all 17 honorees to our office to participate in a group photo. Given their busy schedules, we weren’t able to assemble them all, but it was a wonderful opportunity to watch them interact, and we’re thrilled to present the results to you on this Winter issue cover.

Learn more about them and the rest of our CEO of the Year honorees starting on Page 15. And be sure to read the online versions of the finalist profiles, which contain additional insights on what skills or traits they believe are key to successful leadership.

Thanks for reading.

Julanne Hohbach Editor

SUBSCRIPTIONS

760-237-8505 columbusceo@pcspublink.com Winter 2026 • ColumbusCEO

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COLUMBUS CHAMBER 2026 A N N U A L M E E T I N G Presented by:

January 29, 2026 | 7:30 - 10:30 AM Greater Columbus Convention Center | Battelle Grand Growth does not happen in isolation. It happens when businesses, leaders, and communities work together. The Power of US, presented by Vorys, reflects how the Columbus Chamber and its members combine expertise, resources, and advocacy to drive measurable results for the region’s economy.

This year’s Annual Meeting highlights the impact of collaboration: stronger pipelines of talent, expanded access to resources, new market opportunities, and a unified voice for business at every level. Together, we help companies navigate challenges, accelerate growth, and influence the policies that shape the future of Central Ohio.

When we align around shared goals, we create the conditions for prosperity. The Power of US is more than a theme. It is the competitive advantage of the business and greater Columbus community.

LEARN MORE & REGISTER TODAY COLUMBUS.ORG/EVENTS Supported by:

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How telemedicine is increasing access to pancreatic cancer care “Once a patient has qualified for the trial, our pharmacy ships the oral therapy directly to their homes. Throughout the studies, we conduct televisits weekly, or as often as needed, to monitor our patients. All blood work and CT scans are done locally in coordination with their oncologists,” Roychowdhury says. “They never have to travel to Ohio.”

Scan the QR code to learn more about cancer clinical trials at the OSUCCC – James.

Future possibilities for telemedicinebased cancer clinical trials

Telemedicine is delivering hope to the homes of pancreatic cancer patients through a first-of-its-kind clinical trial.

Pancreatic cancer presents several treatment challenges, including a lack of early symptoms that can lead to diagnoses at later stages, when therapies might be less effective.

Ohio State researchers have been working tirelessly to identify and develop new personalized treatments. One of the most promising therapies involves a smart drug that targets a genetic mutation involving the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) gene linked to a rare form of pancreatic cancer.

“Pancreatic cancer is a disease where, with even the best chemotherapy we have, patients live somewhere around eight months on average,” says Sameek Roychowdhury, MD, PhD, a physician scientist at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James).

“Patients with a gene mutation involving FGFR are likely to benefit from a matching smart drug, and telemedicineenabled clinical trials can bring this opportunity to patients nationwide.”

Because this cancer type is rare, it can be difficult to connect patients with clinical trials at specific locations. So, Roychowdhury and his team turned to telemedicine.

“Dr. Roychowdhury and his team are leading the way with the first fullydistributed, nationwide trial for pancreatic cancer that’s bringing advanced care to patients where they live,” says W. Kimryn Rathmell, MD, PhD, the CEO of the OSUCCC – James. “This is an important achievement in research-based care.”

Scan the QR code to learn more about pancreatic cancer care at the OSUCCC – James.

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Telemedicine for pancreatic cancer The groundbreaking study involves a form of pancreatic cancer linked to FGFR mutations that have been targeted by drugs for another condition.

“There were drugs approved for a type of liver cancer associated with FGFR, but we learned it could also benefit patients with other kinds of cancer,” Roychowdhury says. “One of those is pancreatic cancer.”

The smart drug works by “turning off” the FGFR gene – shutting down its signal to slow cancer’s growth and even shrink tumors.

“We find that when we can directly target someone’s cancer, they’re more likely to benefit,” Roychowdhury says. “We’re also more likely to reduce side effects by staying away from less promising drugs.”

After previous clinical trials involving a small number of pancreatic cancer patients showed potential, Roychowdhury and his team began exploring ways to involve more participants. Telehealth lessons learned during the pandemic helped them expand the study nationwide.

“The traditional trial approach wasn’t going to do it,” he says. “Brick and mortar buildings where patients must travel can prevent participation due to time and cost.”

After a lengthy regulatory and approval process led to a workable plan, the clinical trial began on May 8, 2025.

Patients with pancreatic cancer and the FGFR gene are able to remain at home and coordinate their treatment with local oncologists and Roychowdhury’s team, who will work in tandem.

“This is the first nationwide telemedicine therapeutic trial for cancer,” Roychowdhury says. “Personalized cancer therapy implies looking at individuals with cancer – small populations that do not fit conventional drug development approaches.

“Telemedicine can address small populations in cost-effective ways and open doors and access for more patients.”

As an NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, the OSUCCC – James combines care and research in the same facilities, providing the kind of multidisciplinary expertise needed to conduct these kinds of cutting-edge studies.

“We happen to be experts on both the disease of pancreatic cancer and the class of drug involved in this trial,” Roychowdhury says.

The study could become a building block in the creation of telemedicine-enabled clinical trials for other types of cancer.

“We’re already working on developing new trials,” Roychowdhury says. “We want to educate others on this approach and learn from them at the same time.”

Roychowdhury believes this trial will make it more cost-effective for pharmaceutical companies to develop smart drugs for rare forms of cancer. He’s working to create a national alliance of oncologists to share ideas and best practices, and to launch more trials.

“Telemedicine disrupts current clinical trial approaches and will advance clinical cancer research in ways we could not imagine,” Roychowdhury says. “We can bring trials to the patients.”

Scan the QR code to learn more about innovation in cancer care at the OSUCCC – James.

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PROFILE

By LAURA NEWPOFF

Scoring for Columbus Basketball star and CBS analyst Clark Kellogg continues to give back to his adopted hometown.

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hen Clark Kellogg was growing up on the east side of Cleveland in the 1960s and 1970s, his dad and his uncle were police officers with the Cleveland Division of Police. As a Black man, his dad occasionally experienced racism on the job. He told his children that while some people would treat them differently because of the color of their skin, they were always to treat others based on their humanity and individuality.

During his children’s formative years, the high school three-sport athlete exposed his five kids to the world of sports, knowing the value it would bring to them as an avenue to make friends and understand the importance of teamwork. Kellogg remembers attending Cleveland Browns home games on Sundays where police officers helped with crowd control. “I couldn’t wait to tag along with dad and my uncle as a 9and 10-year-old, freezing my behind off at the stadium,” he says. “I’d bundle up and the fans would take care of me and make sure I had a hot chocolate and a hot dog.” Sometimes he got to go on the field after games and into the locker room and, if he was really lucky, was gifted an official NFL football. The whole experience offered him a sense of belonging and community.

It was around this age that Kellogg started playing sports himself. It was basketball, though, that truly captivated him. He played at W.H. Kirk Middle School and then

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attended the Catholic and predominantly white Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School (VASJ). “Clark-SpecialK-Kent-Kellogg” would go on to have a high school basketball career that’s been referenced as one of the finest in Cleveland’s history, including a 51-point game that still is an Ohio state finals record. In 1979, he was named Mr. Basketball USA as the high school sport’s best player and a McDonald’s All-American.

In reflecting on his time at VASJ, Kellogg wrote that “sports in general is a powerful yet imperfect example

of how the values of care, commitment, effort, love, sacrifice, service and teamwork can bridge socioeconomic and racial gaps. It’s powerful because in my experience in the game of basketball at every level, folks from diverse backgrounds and races have coalesced around the game and a common goal, embracing the work of ‘the many becoming united as one,’ and bearing the fruit of enriched lives through shared personal experiences and relationships.”

It’s a sentiment the lead studio

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Photo by Tim Revell/Columbus Dispatch

Kellogg scores a basket at St. John Arena on Feb. 7, 1980.

Clark Kellogg Lead studio college basketball analyst

CBS Sports

Experience: Former member of the Ohio State University Board of Trustees; former player for the Indiana Pacers; director, First Merchants Bank; director, RLI Corp.

Photo by Tim Johnson

Education: Bachelor’s degree in marketing, Ohio State University

college basketball analyst at CBS Sports has carried forward to this day through an unwavering commitment to his faith and community service. Kellogg serves as the Governing Committee chairperson of the Columbus Foundation, one of the top 10 largest community foundations in the country. It serves nearly 3,000 individuals, families and businesses that have created unique funds and planned gifts to make a difference in the lives of others through the most effective philanthropy possible.

He was officially appointed to the

Community involvement: Chairperson of the Columbus Foundation Governing Committee Resides: Westerville Family: Wife Rosy Kellogg, three children and four grandchildren with a fifth on the way committee in 2020. His three-year term at the helm ends at the end of 2025, though he will remain on the committee afterward.

“As an extension of stewardship, I think it’s important to try to lend what God gives you to the causes that can help lift people up and move them forward,” Kellogg says.

“That’s how I view having the privilege and honor of serving on the Governing Committee. It really leverages the generosity that exists in the community from individuals and businesses alike.”

Coming to Columbus

As a high schooler, Kellogg was considered one of the top players in the country and began being recruited to play in college after his sophomore year. He and his parents met with coaches and traveled to four potential schools—Ohio State University, the University of Michigan, Notre Dame and the University of Kentucky—before he made his decision his senior year in 1979. This was the first time the family flew on an airplane together.

During the process, Kellogg felt like he was being recruited by the entire state of Ohio. He received letters from elementary school kids, governors, prominent business figures and Ohio State University alumni—all encouraging him to become a Buckeye.

“Being an Ohio kid, being a Buckeye, would give me great opportunities post-basketball,” is how Kellogg describes it. “I didn’t understand that fully at age 17 or 18, but I could kind of picture it a little bit, and it felt good.” He also liked that his teammates were talented Ohio guys who could contend for championships in one of the best conferences in the country.

Kellogg played for Ohio State from 1979 to 1982 and earned All-Big Ten Conference and Most Valuable Player honors. Highlights included making two free throws to beat Indiana during his freshman year and contending to be conference winners his junior season.

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Another highlight of coming to Columbus was meeting a girl named Rosy Swayne during his freshman year at an R&B concert. Kellogg got her phone number, but got cold feet and never called. A couple months later, when his brother’s high school basketball team came to Columbus for a game, he attended and Rosy was there, too. “That’s when we reconnected and I made good on my second chance,” he says. They’ve been together ever since, marrying in the summer of 1983.

Photos by Tim Revell /Columbus Dispatch (2)

A Career Cut Short

Photos from top: Kellogg plays at St. John Arena on Feb. 14, 1980; Kellogg shoots over several Northwestern players in a 1981 game.

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Kellogg declared for the NBA after his junior year. The Indiana Pacers selected him with the eighth pick of the 1982 draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in 1983 and was considered a budding superstar. He even had his own “Special K” sneaker through an endorsement deal with Converse. “I was excited about being amongst the best players in the world,” Kellogg says. “I was trying to prove that I belonged and could stand out in time. There was great excitement and a lot of gratitude for having been able to realize that dream.”

Kellogg developed chronic knee problems that required surgeries in 1984, 1985 and 1986. It was one of the most pivotal points of his life.

“I came to an awakening around my faith and gave my heart and life to Christ in the winter of 1986,” he says.

“That became really the driving force of my life, that personal relationship with God through faith in Christ, realizing my life was a gift from him and that stewarding my life was going to be most important in every dimension moving forward. Basketball has been great for me as a player, but it wasn’t the totality of who I was. And so that big change in terms of my perspective and allegiance and loyalty really helped me navigate having to give up playing. It gave me a purpose beyond just chasing a dream of being a pro player. When I had to give up playing, it was painful and disappointing and it brought forth some tears of loss and grief. But it also was, even though I didn’t know exactly what I was going to do, I knew that I had given my life and future to God and was able to trust he would be able to handle what I entrusted to his care.”

Kellogg continued to take college classes after he left Ohio State and earned his marketing degree from the school in 1996. Because of the good relationship he had with the Pacers, the organization hired him to serve as an analyst on the team’s radio broadcasts in 1987. That was the springboard to a future in broadcasting, including serving as a game analyst for the CBS Sports coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 1993. He joined the station full time in 1997 as the lead in-studio game analyst for college basketball coverage. A career highlight was working alongside A-listers Jim Nantz, Tracy Wolfson and Steve Kerr from 2009 to 2013 as the main on-site commenting team for the Final Four. Another was his youngest son Nick’s magical run with Ohio University during the 2012 tournament. CBS put a special monitor next to Kellogg so he could keep track of his son’s games, “a real personal one shining moment” for the family.

Kellogg went back to the studio in 2014. This past September, he was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, receiving the Curt Gowdy Media award. He’s known for personalizing his approach to broadcasting by coining his own buzzwords like “spurtable” and “spurtability” to describe teams that can go on scoring runs.

Connecting to Community Through Philanthropy

Kellogg and Rosy have three children: Clark, Nick and Talisa, all of whom played Division I college sports. The couple has four grandchildren with a fifth on the way, and they have called Westerville their home since 1993. They enjoy board and word games, travel and golf, and watching movies and documentaries with the grandkids.

Among Kellogg’s other accomplishments was serving as an Ohio State University trustee from 2010 to 2019.

It allowed him to more fully understand the depth and breadth of the university’s impact in a role that was “one of the highlights of my life.”

Kellogg’s time as a trustee overlapped with that of Judge Algenon Marbley, U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio, and the two

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Photos by Joshua A. Bickel/Columbus Dispatch (2)

Kellogg, then a member of the Ohio State University Board of Trustees, waits with administrators and fellow trustees to enter Ohio State’s commencement in May 2018.

have been friends for about 20 years.

Both are part of a group of 12 men called the “Golf Nomads” who travel across the country to play different courses as part of their love of the sport. Marbley describes Kellogg as “erudite, well-read and cerebral” and the one who leads group discussions when the men gather for dinner.

With all of his success, Kellogg has remained grounded.

“You won’t find anyone more humble,” Marbley says. “When we travel and people come up and want to take a picture with him or ask questions about basketball, he never is too busy to have time for an adoring public.

He doesn’t seek it out, but he makes himself approachable. He’s as real in person as that person you see on TV.” After he left the OSU trustees role, Columbus Foundation CEO Doug Kridler reached out and asked Kellogg to consider serving on the Governing Committee when the time was right.

For Kellogg, it was the right fit.

“Rosy and I always have tried to be supportive of issues, programs and agencies that promote uplifting people through education, sport, faith, and [we] have always been engaged in philanthropy as a family,” Kellogg says. “In terms of Christian organizations, sports, our church or social service organizations where

Kellogg at the Scholar Athlete Awards at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in 2019

we can contribute our time, talent and treasure, it’s been a huge part of who we are in terms of connecting to our community and trying to move the world that we can influence forward using what God gives us in platform, visibility, name recognition and resources. Serving with the Columbus Foundation has been an extension of that.”

Kridler says Kellogg has played an important role in the “perpetual fulfillment of the promise of an anchor institution like this devoted to generosity.” He is a positive thinker and team player who believes in the

potentiality of people and situations.

“It’s often easy to underestimate folks who are generous in spirit and kind, as if they don’t possess the grit, determination or even fire to achieve. Clark has all of those attributes,” Kridler says. “He has a generosity of spirit along with a finely honed competitive spirit to win. In his case, the win-win is he likes to be a part of a winning team and community, and he’s found that at the Columbus Foundation and in Columbus.”

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

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TECH TALK

BY CYNTHIA BENT FINDLAY

Targeted Treatment Scioto AgriTech is developing biologics to improve crop health.

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ost people have heard the term biologics by now. It refers to therapies made or derived from living organisms, such as proteins, that are increasingly being used in the treatment of diseases like cancer or diabetes.

But did you know they might be able to heal your tomatoes?

Scioto AgriTech, a Columbus-based biotech startup, is pioneering novel uses of biologics on plants in the hopes of saving farmers money and increasing crop yields.

CEO Nicole Weidner says the agricultural industry has been attempting to apply biologic agents with natural antifungal or antibacterial properties with only moderate success.

The application does not genetically modify the plant, Weidner says.

A biologic agent kills a pest like a fungus or bacteria by disrupting a targeted pathway in that organism.

Scioto AgriTech

And it must be a target specific to that organism, say a fungus, but not an animal or insect, so no collateral damage is done to the environment.

Scioto AgriTech is working with a type of cell-penetrating peptide that can deliver biostimulants or biopesticides into plant cells much more effectively than topical application of the biologic agent alone. “Finding the targets is always the hard part in pharma and in agriculture,” Weidner says.

The delivery platform—the peptide— is the technology Scioto AgriTech owns. “The whole goal is to move from broad application of synthetic chemicals,” Weidner says. “Their use is harming our soil and also causes harm to nontarget organisms like pollinators.

Even worse, overuse of herbicides and pesticides is causing pests to become increasingly resistant.”

For example, copper sulfate has been used liberally on tomato crops in Florida to treat funguses. That copper accumulates in soils, is harmful to aquatic life and is expensive to remove from drinking water.

The company’s work stems from research by Ohio State University chemist Dehua Pei and plant pathologist Guo-Liang Wang.

Scioto AgriTech is the fourth startup for Pei, Weidner says. Most of his work is currently used in the pharmaceutical industry. One of the companies he co-founded, Entrada Therapeutics Inc.,

went public in 2021.

Scioto’s first target market is high-value crops such as tomatoes, but Weidner says down the line the company sees potential applications in commodity crops like soybeans.

In 2024, the country’s largest vegetable crop was tomatoes, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But tomato blights, wilts and rots cause massive losses globally each year in the $197 billion industry.

Weidner left her position in venture development at OSU in 2024 to head SciotoAgriTech. “We’re very much in the proof of concept phase,” she says. The company has four antifungal candidates in the pipeline and is working toward greenhouse trials in spring. “We’re going after difficult problems that we know there aren’t solutions for.”

The company incorporated in August 2024 and has received $200,000 in grant funding from the Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation and Start-up Fund. Rev1 Ventures is also a funder, and SciotoAgriTech has a lab at Rev1’s Kinnear Road facility.

Weidner says the company is in the middle of a seed funding round to raise money for greenhouse and field trials taking place next year.

Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.

Nicole Weidner

sciotoag.com LOCATION: Rev1 Labs, 1275 Kinnear Road, Columbus

BUSINESS: Agritech FOUNDED: 2024 EMPLOYEES: 2 FUNDING: $200,000 Ohio Third Frontier Technology Validation and Start-up Fund grant plus Rev1 Ventures support

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Photo courtesy Scioto AgriTech

LEADERSHIP: Nicole Weidner, co-founder and CEO; Guo-Liang Wang and Dehua Pei, inventors and co-founders

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Nate DeMars, founder and CEO of Pursuit, the custom suit retailer

In Pursuit Of Giving Custom suit entrepreneur Nate DeMars celebrates two years of [Good] Intentions.

By SOPHIA VENEZIANO + Photo by TIM JOHNSON

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fter years of brainstorming how to use his business to give back to the community, Nate DeMars, the founder and CEO of Pursuit, launched the [Good] Intentions program on New Year’s Day in 2024.

The Short North custom suit retailer started in 2011 as a class project when DeMars was an MBA student at Ohio State University. Throughout his years as a business owner, he had participated in various fundraising efforts, including silent auctions benefitting nonprofits. However, he felt he could extend his impact by directly reaching individuals who were unable to purchase a suit, such as those who are incarcerated or overcoming a battle with addiction.

“The power of the suit and the symbolism for folks that otherwise couldn’t afford it or never would dream of it is so much more impactful,” he says. “A suit we might give away has significantly more emotional value to the person receiving it than the opposite scenario, where it turns into a little bit of cash for the nonprofit.”

To launch [Good] Intentions, the company began selling gift cards and

building nonprofit partners. In the first two years, the program has worked with the Columbus Urban League, Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Ohio, the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio, Goodwill Columbus, the Harmony Project and more to provide suits for the people each group serves.

This includes the Harmony Project’s Prison Arts program at Pickaway Correctional Institution.

DeMars says the group’s founder and creative director, David Brown, leads the “most emotionally impactful” work of any nonprofit he has seen.

“So often, these men are in the shadows, and we just think of them as their crime and we don’t really think of them as human beings,” Brown says.

“What a powerful statement when your son is serving a 25-to-life sentence, and you don’t think he’s ever got any hope of getting out. And then you see him walking in a suit. What you see is what he can be, not what he was.”

It was Brown’s idea to incorporate custom suits into the prison choir to allow the men to feel seen in this way. “I’m not sure I ever would have connected those dots. I had never set foot in a prison, and I presumed that

a suit would not be all that useful to somebody incarcerated. And it turns out that was the most wrong,” DeMars says.

In 2024, Pursuit served 216 people directly by fitting them in suits. In 2025, he says the number was closer to 40, but on top of that Pursuit gave a few hundred thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise to nonprofit partners.

“I think we always felt like we were good citizens and we did a lot, but it always kind of felt haphazard,” he says.

“I just created a program and figured out what nonprofits could benefit from it. That has been really powerful.”

DeMars says it has been especially impactful to see what [Good] Intentions means to his team.

“The feedback was, ‘This project is what lights us up and gets us through the stress,’ ” he says. “I think that was validation that this is a key component of our identity at work and not just for me.”

This article was made possible by the Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation, which partners with Columbus CEO to showcase kindness in the community. Suggest ideas to Sophia Veneziano at sveneziano@dispatch.com. Learn more at ColumbusCEO.com/Kindness.

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12/11/25 3:27 PM

Tell Us About Your

Everyday Kindness Heroes Kindness

is all around us.

Sometimes the beneficiary is a stranger. Sometimes it’s a friend, acquaintance or colleague.

We look to honor those who perform extraordinary selfless acts to improve, heal and unite our community.

Consider lifting up the volunteer quietly aiding their neighbors or the community member tirelessly advocating for change. We need your help to recognize the kind, selfless heroes among us.

LOOK FOR MONTHLY STORIES IN COLUMBUS MONTHLY CELEBRATING KINDNESS IN CENTRAL OHIO.

The Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation has partnered with The Columbus Dispatch to highlight those making our community a better place. Help us inspire kindness by suggesting people, initiatives, or organizations for Reporter Sophia Veneziano to profile. She can be reached at sveneziano@dispatch.com.

Learn more at ColumbusMonthly.com/Kindness.

Sophia Veneziano Human Kindness Reporter The Dispatch/Columbus Monthly/Columbus CEO

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Nominate your heroes:

12/11/25 5:14 PM

Awards

2025 Get to know our four winners and 13 finalists, and learn what business leaders think about the economic climate, tariffs, AI and more.

C

olumbus CEO is proud to again recognize some of the region’s top leaders in our 15th annual CEO of the Year awards.

Our 2025 awards honor four winners and 13 finalists from the for-profit and nonprofit sectors.

They work in industries such as banking, retail, manufacturing, social services, construction and insurance.

Honorees were chosen by their peers as part of the annual Survey of Economic Conditions conducted in partnership with Regionomics and the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. It seeks to gain insights about the local business climate; challenges posed by the area’s growth; workforce and hiring trends; and expecations for the local, national and global economies.

The survey, adapted from the SMU Cox CEO Sentiment Survey, was open to all C-suite and

cabinet-level executives, as well as general, district and store managers, in the Columbus metropolitan area. Responses, collected in September and October, were anonymous and were aggregated and analyzed by Regionomics owner Bill LaFayette.

C-suite and cabinet-level respondents voted for the 2025 CEO of the Year awards. The ballot featured 35 nominees in four categories: Large For-Profit (500 or more employees), Small For-Profit (fewer than 500 employees), Large Nonprofit ($5 million or more annual revenue/deposits) and Small Nonprofit (less than $5 million annual revenue/ deposits). Nominees included past finalists and top vote-getters, as well as select choices from local executives and our staff. A write-in option also was available. Past winners are not eligible.

Congratulations to all of our 2025 CEO of the Year honorees.

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By JULANNE HOHBACH + Photo by TIM JOHNSON

Looking to the Future Scott Barbour has ushered in a new era of growth and sustainability at Advanced Drainage Systems.

S

Large For-Profit

2025

Scott Barbour President and CEO

Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. IN ROLE SINCE: 2017 AGE: 64 EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree

in mechanical engineering, Southern Methodist University; MBA, Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

Member of the Columbus Partnership; board of directors, Allison Transmission and Recreation Unlimited; advisory board and “buddy,” Buddy Up for Life and Buddy Up Tennis; rider with the ADS Foundation Pelotonia team

16

cott Barbour’s business is water.

As president and CEO of Advanced Drainage Systems Inc., he has placed the company on an impressive growth trajectory through strategic operational moves and an emphasis on sustainability.

ADS provides solutions and products for stormwater and wastewater management. It develops, manufactures and sells plastic pipe and other products for use in agriculture, nonresidential construction and residential development.

The publicly traded company, founded in 1966, operates 63 manufacturing facilities, 38 distribution centers and multiple recycling centers.

Barbour, a rural Arkansas native, credits his family’s move to rural New Hampshire for teaching him how to meet new people and integrate into new cultures. “It’s a good learning experience to get along with all kinds of different people,” he says. “I think I’ve leveraged that as I’ve moved from different companies to different jobs, different locales.”

He started his career as a project engineer at Colt Industries after earning a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Southern Methodist University. After getting his MBA from Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, Barbour worked for Emerson Electric Co. from 1989 to 2016. He held multiple leadership posts, including president of Emerson Climate Technologies’ American and Asian air conditioning divisions. After three years in Hong Kong, he was transferred to Columbus in 2011 as executive vice president of struggling Emerson Network Power.

“I learned a lot during that period of time, not all easy,” Barbour says. “I’d had a lot of success in my career, and I hit something that was really tough in a very visible type of way.” The company divested the business, now known as Vertiv, and it and Barbour parted ways.

Since joining ADS in 2017, he has overseen significant growth marked by multiple acquisitions, financial gains and a new headquarters and

Engineering and Technology Center, both in Hilliard. The 110,000-squarefoot, $65 million center unites research and development, testing and other functions. “The ultimate goal of this is to get products to the market faster,” Barbour says.

Bob Eversole, chairman of the ADS board of directors, says Barbour is a strategic thinker who isn’t content with the status quo. “I think every day he wakes up saying, ‘We can be better at this, we can be better at that,’ ” says Eversole, a managing partner of Stonehenge Partners Inc. and former president and CEO of Fifth Third Bank’s Central Ohio region.

Guided by the trademarked slogan “Our Reason is Water,” sustainability has become a major emphasis.

ADS is one of the largest plastics recyclers in North America. In fiscal 2025, it purchased more than 500 million pounds of recycled plastic—about half the company’s annual usage.

As ADS shifted its messaging from products to water, growth has followed.

“Water is a precious resource. When we do our jobs well, it makes communities a better place to live,” Barbour says.

Between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2025, the company grew from $1.26 billion in revenue and 4,500 employees to $2.9 billion in revenue and 6,000 employees.

Barbour also touts a significant rise in cash flow and an increase in profitability, with adjusted EBITDA margins doubling from 15 percent to 30 percent.

Barbour says a rigorous evaluation of manufacturing, logistics, sales and other processes has yielded benefits, as has a significant capital investment in machinery, the fleet and several key acquisitions that helped grow the business, dating back to Infiltrator Water Technologies in 2019.

Eversole says Barbour has deftly navigated challenges such as the pandemic, supply chain disruptions and acquisitions while leading from the front, making time for customers and employees.

“He cares about the people. He cares about the company. He cares about the community.”

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By LINDA LEE BAIRD + Photo by TIM JOHNSON

Empowering Women At Fortuna Bank, Ilaria Rawlins is helping to build and grow local businesses one client at a time.

D

Small For-Profit

2025

Ilaria Rawlins Founder, president and CEO

Fortuna Bank IN ROLE SINCE: 2022, including

the “in organization” period

AGE: 55 EDUCATION: Bachelor’s

degree in communications and economics, Denison University

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

Volunteer with Denison University’s Executive-inResidence program

18

enison University in Granville sounded warmer than her native Syracuse, New York—in terms of weather and friendliness—to Ilaria Rawlins when she was deciding where to attend college. Her initial plan was to study journalism and become a news anchor. A junior year economics class broadened her perspective.

“I thought it was fascinating,” Rawlins says, recalling the way she was intrigued by questions of how price is determined and how money moves. “I ended up getting a double major [in] communications and economics.”

A college internship at Park National Bank got her a toehold in the field of banking and ultimately helped her land a job at Household Bank upon her graduation in 1992. At the time, she considered it a stepping stone. “Landing in banking at that time felt very much like, ‘OK, this is a good first job out of college, but there’s no way I’m staying in banking for the rest of my life,’ ” she says.

But life is full of unexpected twists, and more than 30 years later, Rawlins is still in the field. Today, she’s president and CEO of Fortuna Bank, which she opened with co-founder Lisa Berger in December 2024. The Grandview Heights financial institution, named for the Roman goddess of fortune, is the first (and only) majority women-owned bank in Ohio.

Fortuna is closing its first year with $42.5 million in assets, $22.5 million in deposits and $14.5 million in loans for the bank’s roughly 500 mostly commercial clients. Women investors account for 75 percent of Fortuna’s shareholders.

The CEO credits two roles with changing her perspective and preparing her to lead Fortuna. The first was working for the startup First Bexley Bank, where Rawlins was the first hire in 2006 after departing Ohio Savings Bank.

Working for a small, community-based bank allowed her to wear a variety of hats and see what it took to grow a bank from the ground up.

When First Bexley was acquired in 2014 by First Financial Bank, Rawlins stayed on. She worked as a leader of

the Columbus market, was promoted to oversee Ohio branches as retail region president and then was named retail bank president, leading a network of 140 offices and 700 associates across four states. She says these experiences gave her the knowledge and sharpened the skillset she would bring to Fortuna.

Even as she was working that demanding job, “In the back of my mind, I knew that I really loved community banking and being much closer to the client. … I just have much more of an entrepreneurial kind of spirit,” she says.

So when Berger—a client of Rawlins’ at First Bexley—called in 2021 with the idea of starting a women-owned bank, Rawlins was ready. “I knew that women-owned businesses are growing at two times the national average. I knew that women stand to inherit the majority of the great wealth transfer taking place. I also knew that female entrepreneurs are denied three times more often than their male counterparts for commercial loans.”

Berger, who chairs Fortuna’s board, says she chose Rawlins based on a trusting relationship the two had developed. In 2006, when Berger had just purchased AmeriTitle Downtown, Rawlins was her banker. “From the outset, I was so impressed with her attention to customer service and detail. I grew to trust her implicitly,” Berger says.

The two have much in common outside shared business interests. “Like me, she is one of three girls and has two daughters. She understands the challenges that women in the industry face, and she has always been an advocate for change in that arena,” Berger says, adding that her co-founder is “real, but is endlessly optimistic.”

She brings optimism to leadership, as well. “I would love to think that I lead … with empathy, and that I care more about the person first,” Rawlins says.

She values her team of 12 at Fortuna and encourages aspiring CEOs to be strategic about who they bring into their organizations. “I definitely don’t know all the answers. … But if we all bring our strengths to the table, then together we’re much stronger.”

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By KATY SMITH + Photo by TIM JOHNSON

Standing Tall

Liz Brown is boldly leading YWCA Columbus’ mission to eliminate racism and lift up women.

T

Large Nonprofit

2025

Elizabeth Brown President and CEO

YWCA Columbus IN ROLE SINCE: 2023 AGE: 42 EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree

in English, Columbia University

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

Former AmeriCorps member

20

o Liz Brown, everyone she meets holds a lesson for her. That philosophy guides her in leading 240 employees providing frontline social services while fighting for social justice at YWCA Columbus, where she is president and CEO. “No one’s status gives them a monopoly on wisdom and creativity to solve problems,” Brown says. It was much the same when Brown served as an elected official on Columbus City Council from 2016 to 2022. “I learned that the more you’re out there, the more you’re listening, the smarter you are about the work that seems like it belongs in the ivory tower,” she says.

Plenty of work lies ahead for Brown and the YWCA. Its Family Center providing shelter to some 200 adults and children every night faces “extreme challenges” with funding, like other homeless shelters, Brown says. In response, Columbus shelter providers came together to advocate to the city and Franklin County for a solution.

The Shelter Providers Network includes the YWCA, Lutheran Social Services, YMCA of Central Ohio, Community Development for All People, Southeast Healthcare, Huckleberry House and Maryhaven. (Community Shelter Board is not a member because it is a funder and not a provider, but it works closely with the group, Brown says.)

The group’s timing is right. For the first time in 15 years, the city of Columbus has convened a Funding Review and Advisory Committee to make recommendations to elected officials for how public needs are paid for, including tourism, social services, the arts and cultural institutions. Shelter funding has become a focus for the committee, Brown says.

There has been no shortage of politics in Brown’s new role, something she didn’t quite expect when she transitioned off city council in 2023, but it’s an element that she relishes. “I can’t get away from it,” says the West Wing TV show lover who is the daughter of former Ohio Senator and current candidate Sherrod Brown.

As Brown has fought for the recipients of the YWCA’s services, she’s also

fought for its workers. When she joined the YWCA, she learned many of her staff “felt economically insecure to the point that they could have been one of the residents we were serving.”

Brown led the organization to increase its minimum wage from $15 to $20 an hour for full-time employees and $18.50 for part-time workers.

It’s a bright spot in an exceptionally tough year. President Donald Trump’s second administration has targeted nonprofits, the arts, media and educational institutions with racist fearmongering and vitriol unsubstantiated by facts, chilling programs and services that further diversity, equity and inclusion. Not at the YWCA. “Our mission for a long time has been and still is ‘eliminating racism and empowering women.’ There’s no getting rid of [that],” Brown says.

It’s a test of nerves. “Willingness to be bold and keep doing this work is actually more about risk tolerance than anything else,” she says. Brown credits her foremothers for the “crystal clear” mission giving her the ability today to understand the assignment.

By that she means the women who founded the YWCA, former CEO Christie Angel and also her grandmother Emily Brown, who died in 2009. She became involved with the YWCA in Mansfield, where she lived, and helped to found the Ohio Council of YWCAs. In a full-circle moment, Liz Brown recently was elected president of that same council.

“There are a few organizations in town that for various reasons are quasi-public offices, and Liz’s experience in government has been on rich display this year as folks look to the YWCA not just for services, but for hope,” says Michael Corey, executive director of the Human Service Chamber of Franklin County. “They’ve certainly gotten it, which is why Liz is so deserving of the CEO of the Year recognition.”

What is next for her? “I don’t know if I will ever run for elected office again,” she says. “I believe that government can be a force for good. And I don’t want to give up on the [democracy] project—I’m always honored to be near it.”

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By LUCY CLARK + Photo by TIM JOHNSON

Leading the Way

Kate Bauer is connecting the business community and nonprofits in her role at Leadership Columbus.

F

Small Nonprofit

2025

Kate Bauer Executive Director

Leadership Columbus IN ROLE SINCE: 2024 AGE: 46 EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree

in communications, Ohio State University

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:

Member of the Wexner Center Foundation Board of Trustees and a past member of the Dress for Success Board of Directors

22

or Leadership Columbus Executive Director Kate Bauer, people have been at the forefront of every step in her professional journey—a focus that is more actionable now than ever before.

Leadership Columbus is well known throughout the business community for its Signature program, a 10-month experience in which participants work with nonprofits to help them solve an issue or realize a goal they otherwise don’t have resources to tackle. For example, the class of 2025 helped Community Shelter Board strategize how victims of domestic violence can leave while ensuring their pets’ safety.

Bauer, an Akron native, came to Columbus via Ohio State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in communications in 2005. She worked in human resources at Big Lots before moving to NiSource Inc. to work in leadership development and performance training. After shifting to NiSource subsidiary Columbia Gas of Ohio as community engagement manager, she launched the Columbia Cares philanthropic initiative. A colleague recommended the Signature program, and Bauer joined the class of 2017.

“I was getting newly involved in the community, and it was the perfect way for me to connect with 60 other community members, intricately learn about the city, understand its challenges and opportunities and learn about some of the nonprofits,” Bauer says. “When I came out of that program, I thought to myself, ‘I would love to have that job. I would be so good at that job.’ ” She would have one more stop before realizing her goal. A Signature classmate who worked at CoverMyMeds recruited her as senior manager of community engagement, a role she held from 2019 through June 2024, when she joined Leadership Columbus.

Bauer has focused on the nonprofit’s operations and introduced new programs to move it forward. One is the Impact Lab. Sponsored by a grant from the Wolfe Associates Fund, this program conducts a free needs assessment for

nonprofits and provides workshops tailored to those needs.

Bauer’s corporate background with a focus on philanthropy and community engagement is what Kelly Clifford Riehl describes as “the exact right combination of skills and experience that we were looking for as a board.” Riehl is the immediate past board chair of Leadership Columbus, vice president of Installed Building Products and a 2018 Signature alumna.

“The other thing that’s been really critical to her success is that she is a phenomenal relationship builder,” Riehl says. “She’s beloved in our community by nonprofit leaders, corporate leaders, by government leaders, by everyone that she meets. You just can’t help but want to be friends with her.” Riehl adds that Bauer brought a fresh perspective to what was becoming a stagnant operation and “shook things up in the best way.”

Bauer also expanded programming with Columbus 360, a two-day immersive experience for professionals new to the city to learn the lay of the land.

She simultaneously tightened financial operations and culled programs that were not profitable or relevant. The organization, which employs Bauer and two others, saw revenue rise to $929,527 in 2024 from $468,765 in 2023.

“Starting up these new programs and seeing all these opportunities and ways that we can support the nonprofit sector is so exciting for me,” says Bauer, who describes her leadership as people centered. “People already have strengths, how do we maximize them? How do we help make them more impactful? And how do we ensure their journey takes into [account] the idea of their values, and how does that affect their leadership?”

“We need people who care about our community now more than ever,” says Riehl. “It’s always been critically important, but in our current environment, it’s critical to our city’s success. Kate is leading that with empathy and braveness, and she’s having fun doing it.”

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Awards

2025

LARGE FOR-PROFIT FINALISTS

By JULANNE HOHBACH

Photo courtesy Grange Insurance Co.

A

John Ammendola President and CEO

Grange Insurance Co.

Photo courtesy Safelite

F

Renee Cacchillo President and CEO

Safelite

24

s president and CEO of Grange Insurance Co. since 2015, John Ammendola has successfully led the strategic vision and performance of his 1,200-employee company while also finding time to serve on a variety of industry and community boards.

Ammendola, 59, joined Grange in 2010 as president of personal lines and later was named property and casualty president. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the New York Institute of Technology and has served in executive roles at Geico, Safeco Insurance and Kemper Corp.

He is a member of the Columbus Partnership, the 2025 board chair for Columbus State Community College and a board member of the American Property Casualty Insurance Association, as well as past board chair for the Ohio Insurance Institute

or Renee Cacchillo, president and CEO of Safelite since 2021, strong leadership involves courage and the ability to ask tough questions. “It’s about staying curious, surrounding yourself with talented people, setting clear priorities and taking care of your team along the way,” she says.

Cacchillo, who joined the company in 2011, leads the country’s largest provider of vehicle glass repair and replacement and its more than 16,000 employees. Her previous experience includes working for Bob Evans Farms Inc., Limited Brands, Hallmark and Accenture. She holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Kansas.

A member of the Columbus Partnership, Cacchillo, 55, also serves on the board of directors for Pelotonia,

and a past board member of the YMCA of Central Ohio and Jazz Arts Group of Columbus.

Ammendola also was a finalist in the 2024 CEO of the Year awards and received CEO’s 2023 Top Workplaces special award for Leadership in the large organizations category.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “CEOs can empower the next generation by mentoring emerging leaders and providing opportunities to take initiative. They should foster adaptability and a mission-driven mindset, particularly as technology and AI accelerate change and open new avenues for growth. By modeling confidence and value-driven leadership, CEOs should equip future leaders with how to make informed decisions that strengthen trust and shape long-term success.”

the Ohio Business Roundtable, Foster Love Affiliates and the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Champion Steering Committee.

She also has worked to boost the company’s presence in the community and relaunched the Safelite Foundation’s mission and giving priorities with a new strategic framework to create national and local impact.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “CEOs can help the next generation by encouraging them to aim high, think creatively and prioritize talent on their agenda.

They might not get it right every time, but each experience builds confidence and sharpens their instincts. When emerging leaders learn to balance bold ideas and genuine care for the teams, that’s when real, lasting success starts to take shape.”

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Photo courtesy Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

Fran Horowitz

CONGRATS TO CARLIE J. BOOS

Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

COLUMBUS CEO OF THE YEAR!

CEO

F

ran Horowitz has been leveraging her retail expertise as CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch Co. since 2017, overseeing the company’s global operations and more than 25,000 employees. She joined A&F in 2014 as Hollister brand president and was promoted to the company’s president and chief marketing officer in 2015 before taking on the top post.

She previously held executive roles at Ann Taylor Loft, Express Inc., Bloomingdale’s and other retailers.

A graduate of Lafayette College, Horowitz, 62, also holds an MBA from Fordham University.

She has been recognized with numerous national accolades, including being named in 2024 to Barron’s list of top CEOs and Business of Fashion’s “BoF 500” and receiving the Women’s Wear Daily Edward Nardoza Creative Leadership award. Horowitz was named to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women list in 2024 and 2025, and in 2026, the National Retail Federation Foundation will recognize her with The Visionary award.

She is a member of the boards of directors for Bombas and Jersey Mike’s.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “At A&F Co., we believe good ideas can come from anywhere, so we listen to voices across the entire global organization, not just at the executive level. Our test and learn culture encourages our global team to innovate, push boundaries, and think differently. ‘Always Forward’ has been my guiding mantra; if something isn’t working, we adapt quickly and move on.”

CMHA is honored to congratulate our friend Carlie, executive director of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio (AHACO), on receiving the Columbus CEO of the Year award for a small nonprofit. AHACO works to expand affordable housing resources for Columbus communities.

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SMALL FOR-PROFIT FINALISTS

Awards

2025 Photo courtesy Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.

S

Heather Brilliant CEO

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.

Photo courtesy Ian Crumpler

J

Jordan A. Miller Jr. Chairman and CEO

Adelphi Bank

26

ince joining Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. as CEO in 2019, Heather Brilliant has grown the investment firm’s assets while focusing on strategy and culture to deliver results for clients and the firm’s 120 employees.

She joined Diamond Hill after serving as CEO for First State Investments’ Americas division and Morningstar Australia, as well as Morningstar’s global head of equity and credit research.

Brilliant, 49, is a Chartered Financial Analyst who earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Northwestern University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

She is a member of the Ohio Business Roundtable, the Columbus Partnership and the International Women’s Forum and serves on the

ordan Miller was barely into retirement when he was recruited in 2020 to co-found Adelphi Bank, the first Black-owned bank in Ohio, which has grown to 25 employees.

Miller is a longtime veteran of Fifth Third Bank, where his roles included regional chairman, as well as president and CEO, of Central Ohio; president and CEO of Fifth Third Securities Inc.; and senior vice president and manager of Fifth Third Investment Advisors. He previously worked at Huntington National Bank.

Miller, 74, earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Maryland, holds an honorary doctorate of community leadership from Franklin University and was inducted into the Ohio Civil Rights Hall of Fame in 2024.

He is a board member of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Ohio Access to Justice

boards of Downtown Columbus Inc., ODW Logistics, the Investment Company Institute and the Orli Foundation. She is a former board member and chair of the CFA Institute and a former chair of the Chicago CFA Society.

Brilliant also was a finalist in the 2023 and 2024 CEO of the Year awards.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “CEOs can empower rising talent by creating space for authenticity, giving meaningful responsibility, and modeling humility and vulnerability. By articulating clear values, inviting diverse perspectives, providing real opportunities to make a difference and delivering effective feedback, a CEO fosters the next generation’s confidence, capability and ownership of both strategy and culture.”

Foundation, among other organizations. His past involvement includes the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Advisory Council; Ohio Banking Commission; the Columbus Partnership; Columbus Chamber of Commerce; PACT; Columbus Metropolitan Library; United Way of Central Ohio; and the Columbus Downtown Development Corp.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “CEOs empower future leaders by giving them opportunities to think critically, lead initiatives, and learn from real challenges. This means offering mentorship, sharing institutional knowledge and creating pathways for diverse talent to advance. When senior leaders model transparency, humility, and lifelong learning, emerging leaders gain confidence to innovate. Empowerment happens when young professionals feel trusted, supported and included in shaping the organization’s future.”

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Photo courtesy Ian Alexander Photography

Congratulations to Habiba K. Bankston, Columbus CEO of the Year Honoree.

Your bold, purpose-driven leadership and visionary approach continue to elevate Dress for Success Columbus and expand what’s possible for women across our community. With heart at the center and impact as the goal, you lead with integrity, courage, and an unwavering belief in the power of women to rise, thrive, and lead.

Lewis R. Smoot Jr. President and CEO

Smoot Construction

L

ewis Smoot Jr. is the third generation of his family to lead Smoot Construction. As CEO and president since 2021, Smoot oversees operations and the 108 employees of the Smoot Corp., Smoot Construction Co. of Ohio, Smoot Construction LLC in Indiana and Smoot Management.

Smoot joined the company in 1980 and learned the business firsthand by working jobs such as a laborer, estimator, project manager, administrative manager and vice president. He served in the U.S. Navy as a senior corpsman for the nursery intensive care unit.

He holds associate degrees in construction management and finance from Columbus State Community College and a bachelor’s degree in industrial technology from Ohio State University.

Smoot, 68, serves on the Columbus Partnership and has a history of community involvement, including with the CAPA board of directors, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium associate board and Zoombezi Bay board, Boy Scouts of America, and the Mount Carmel and Columbus State foundation boards.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “Embrace intergenerational leadership by truly listening to what the next generation has to say. Leadership should be bi-directional—CEOs empower emerging leaders not just by teaching, but by learning from them, fostering a culture where insight flows both ways and innovation thrives.”

We are proud to celebrate this well-deserved recognition and the meaningful change you create every day.

With gratitude and pride,

The Dress for Success Columbus Board & Team

1204 North High Street Columbus, Ohio, 43201

614.291.5420

Bold.

Bold.

Original.

Original.

Bold.

Bold.

Original.

Original.

Columbus Monthly is your go-to for coverage of the arts and the creative forces driving our culture and economy. With in-depth reporting and unforgettable stories you won’t find anywhere else, we spotlight the artists, innovators and ideas shaping the city.

Stay Inspired.

columbusmonthly.com

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Columbus Monthly is your go-to for coverage of the arts and the

Awards

LARGE NONPROFIT FINALISTS

2025 Photo courtesy Ira Graham III Photography

L

Lisa Courtice President and CEO

United Way of Central Ohio

Photo courtesy Community Shelter Board

I

Shannon TL Isom President and CEO

Community Shelter Board

28

isa Courtice has led the charge on several new initiatives at United Way of Central Ohio, including the Success By Third Grade literacy program, the Community Impact Center for local nonprofits and the Aspire Columbus affordable housing project.

Courtice joined the 48-employee organization as president and CEO in 2017 after serving as executive vice president of the Columbus Foundation.

She previously held director roles with Columbus School for Girls, the Childhood League Center, the Center for New Directions and organizations in Akron and Washington, D.C. Courtice, 63, earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Syracuse University, a master’s in counseling from West Virginia University and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Akron.

n two years at the helm of Community Shelter Board, Shannon Isom has placed a focus on driving a regional, systemwide effort to provide access to safe, stable and affordable housing for all residents of Franklin County.

Isom, 54, joined the 40-employee organization as president and CEO in 2023 after 10 years as president and CEO of YWCA of Dayton. She previously worked at CareSource Management Group, Premier Health Partners, Miami Valley Hospital and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in pre-medicine/biology at Spelman College and an MBA at D’AmoreMcKim School of Business at Northeastern University. Isom also studied at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine and the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Isom’s community involvement has included the KeyBank National Advisory Council, First Financial

She has served on the Syracuse University College of Arts & Sciences dean’s advisory council; the boards of Ohio United Way, Ohio Wesleyan University and ASPYR; and the United Way Worldwide National Advisory Council, among others.

She is an active volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio.

Courtice also was a finalist in the 2024 CEO of the Year awards.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “As a CEO, I believe my greatest responsibility is to lift others as I lead. Over the years, I’ve learned that empowering the next generation starts with mentorship— listening, guiding and opening doors.

CEOs should make it a priority to give emerging leaders meaningful opportunities to grow, take risks and find their voice. I have found that watching them step into their potential is the most rewarding part of leadership.”

Bank Advisory Board, the executive advisory committee for the Human Rights Center at the University of Dayton and the boards of the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio and the Dayton Metropolitan Library.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “CEOs empower emerging leaders by modeling courageous, authentic leadership, demonstrating that strength and vulnerability are both essential to the work. We must give our time, authentic access and real support, evidenced by mentorship and sponsorship.

When equipped, the challenge to grow will not only be evident, but inevitable. We should be identifying it, championing it, and celebrating their challenges. By being transparent about our own learning edges and inviting bold, innovative thinking, we create a culture where the next generation can lead with integrity, confidence and purpose.”

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Awards

LARGE NONPROFIT FINALISTS

2025 Photo courtesy Tariq Tarey

V

Vickie Thompson-Sandy President and CEO

The Buckeye Ranch

ickie Thompson-Sandy’s tenure as president and CEO of the Buckeye Ranch has been marked by a surge in demand for mental health services for youth. The nonprofit has responded with a plan to boost fundraising and innovation, including a $35 million capital campaign to add the state’s first psychiatric residential treatment facility to its campus.

Thompson-Sandy, 57, has led the Buckeye Ranch and its 700 employees since 2019, after 13 years in a series of roles with Samaritas (formerly Lutheran Social Services of Michigan), including president. She also worked at several other nonprofits and earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and sociology from Western Michigan University and a master’s in social work from Eastern Michigan University.

She is the president-elect of the Ohio Children’s Alliance Board of Directors,

president of the Marysville High School Volleyball Boosters and a former board member of several Michigan social services organizations.

Thompson-Sandy also was a finalist in the 2024 CEO of the Year awards.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “CEOs have a unique opportunity to empower emerging leaders by providing them with meaningful challenges, opportunities to build new skills and consistent support. Often, the most valuable growth happens when individuals feel stretched beyond their comfort zones, when they’re ‘in over their heads’ and learning through experience.

It’s not enough to simply offer new responsibilities; it’s equally important to elevate these individuals as visible leaders within the community. While this visibility may carry the risk of losing talent as they grow, it’s a risk worth taking.”

“On behalf of CEO and President, Lewis R. Smoot, Jr., and the entire Smoot Construction Family, we humbly thank you for this nomination.

We will continue our commitment to excellence and the carrying on of our guiding principle: C.H.I.P.P.; Character, Humility, Integrity, Pride and Performance”, in all we do.

CD-43000278

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Awards

SMALL NONPROFIT FINALISTS

2025 Photo courtesy Ryan Jones

A

Habiba K. Bankston Executive Director

Dress for Success Columbus

Photo courtesy Carlie Boos

T

Carlie J. Boos Executive Director

Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio 30

s the executive director of Dress for Success Columbus, Habiba Bankston stewards the organization’s mission to empower women to achieve economic independence by providing professional attire and career development.

Bankston, 38, joined the 11employee nonprofit in 2021. She previously worked as manager of community relations at L Brands Inc./ the L Brands Foundation, coordinator of stewardship and donor relations for the Office of Student Life Advancement at Ohio State University and coordinator of central programs and multicultural wellness initiatives at Ohio State’s Office of Student Life Multicultural Center.

She holds a bachelor's degree in human ecology with a minor in public health from Ohio State.

Outside of work, she is a board

hough the Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio has just two employees, executive director Carlie Boos is helping the nonprofit close the Columbus region’s affordable housing gap through research, education, technical assistance and advocacy.

Boos, 41, joined the organization in 2020. She previously worked as community economic development counsel and a consumer rights attorney at Legal Aid of Southeast and Central Ohio, and policy and program manager and compliance and neighborhood initiative manager at the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.

She holds a law degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and bachelor’s degrees in political science and women’s studies from Ohio State University.

member of the American Red Cross Central Ohio Chapter and the Lincoln Theatre and previously served on the boards of Flying Horse Farms and the Columbus Urban League, National Urban League Young Professionals and the Create Columbus Commission.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “CEOs empower the next generation by modeling transparency, sharing power and creating real opportunities for emerging leaders to practice decision-making. This includes intentional mentorship, equitable access to development, and a culture where questions, innovation and thoughtful failure are welcomed. Leaders must coach, not control; delegate stretch opportunities, not just tasks; and invest in aligned learning so the next generation feels prepared, trusted and needed right now, not just someday.”

In the community, she is president of the Franklinton Development Association Board of Directors; a member of the Columbus and Franklin County Continuum of Care and the Columbus Women’s Commission Eviction Prevention Working Group; an advisory committee member for the Central Ohio Community Land Trust; and a volunteer at Huckleberry House.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “I’m a Socratic method girlie. So, I think ‘empowerment’ is about access and transparency. I believe we all do better when we welcome the next generation to sit at the table, play a role and see the dynamics at play. Not just in the workplace, but at home. I’m raising an Alpha. And my goal is to teach my son how to spot and navigate the interests that drive the world around us.”

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Awards

SMALL NONPROFIT FINALISTS

2025 Photo courtesy Ian Crumpler

S

Sophia Fifner President and CEO

Columbus Metropolitan Club

ophia Fifner has hit the ground running since joining Columbus Metropolitan Club as president and CEO in 2023. The five-employee civic organization is known for its robust series of forums that bring leaders together to discuss the region’s most pressing topics and challenges.

Fifner, 39, previously worked as director of corporate social responsibility and executive director of the NiSource Charitable Foundation, community relations chief for the city of Columbus, director of corporate philanthropy for Nationwide Children’s Hospital, manager of PAC and campaign finance for Nationwide, and staff assistant for U.S. Sen. George Voinovich.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Miami University, a master’s in communications from Franklin University and is

Photo courtesy Emma Parker

K

Kelley Griesmer President and CEO

The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio

elley Griesmer is passionate about helping the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio advance gender equity through its research efforts, grants and advocacy.

Griesmer, 57, joined the nonprofit, which now has six employees, as president and CEO in 2018 after two years as senior vice president at the Columbus Foundation. Her earlier roles include chief operating officer of Pelotonia, associate and partner at the Jones Day law firm and law clerk for the Ohio Supreme Court and Ohio’s Third District Court of Appeals.

She earned bachelor’s degrees in journalism and history from Indiana University and a law degree from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law. A founding member of the Matriots, she serves on Ohio State’s

a Harvard University Young American Leaders Program graduate.

In the community, Fifner chairs the board of the Ohio Crime Victim Justice Center, is a past board chair of the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, and is involved with the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Freedom a la Cart and Marsy’s Law for Ohio.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “We build the next generation by modeling courage in everyday ways. Invite emerging leaders into real conversations. Teach them how to navigate conflict with compassion and clarity. Share what you learned the hard way. Give them responsibility before they feel ready and support them as they grow. When we treat leadership as something that is practiced, not inherited, we help more people believe they belong in the work of shaping their communities.”

Student Life Advisory Council and is a past board member of the Center for Healthy Families, the Ohio State Alumni Advisory Council, the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio and Choices for Victims of Domestic Violence.

Griesmer also was a finalist in the 2024 CEO of the Year awards.

How can CEOs empower the next generation of leaders? “We can empower future leaders by constantly finding ways for them to start leading now. Though the experience and expertise that we gain as leaders over time is important, we should also share that expertise freely and give new leaders room to take on more leadership responsibilities, even when that means we as current leaders need to be vulnerable about passing the baton.”

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Awards

2025

Business Leaders Expect Higher Inflation and Weaker Profits Respondents in our annual economic outlook survey were less optimistic than last year, but the news isn’t all bad.

By TIM FERAN

Top Business Challenges

In the 2023 and 2024 Columbus CEO

32

Bill LaFayette surveys, the top two challenges cited by respondents included the general economic climate and labor force availability. "Everyone was screaming about labor force," LaFayette says.

But labor availability has declined in importance as a concern. Instead, inflation has become much more of a worry among survey respondents.

Coming out of the pandemic, inflation soared to a 9.1 percent annual rate in June 2022. Since then, inflation has been trending lower. However, 79 percent of respondents expect at least some worsening in inflation, while only 15 percent expect an improvement—a finding that is opposite last year’s report, when 70 percent of respondents expected inflation to improve compared with 16 percent who expected it to rise.

“The funny thing about that is [NABE] puts out a survey every few months … and the predictions for inflation really aren’t that bad,” LaFayette says. The 40 economists in that survey expect inflation in 2026 to be at 2.8 percent—the same as 2025— although that is above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2 percent inflation for 2026.

“The Cleveland Federal Reserve forecasts aren’t all that bad either,”

Photo courtesy Rick Buchanan

T

he red lights are blinking, as many Central Ohio business leaders have become markedly more pessimistic about economic conditions than they were a year ago.

“They’re not necessarily expecting a recession, this year or next,” says Bill LaFayette, owner of economic consulting firm Regionomics. “But there is generally a prediction that the economy is going to slow, employment is going to slow, GDP will remain positive, but no great shakes.”

The findings are part of the 15th annual Columbus CEO Survey of Economic Conditions that the magazine conducts and LaFayette analyzes.

The latest survey shows the current economic climate and cost increases/ inflation are the two dominant challenges facing local businesses.

Nearly half of the C-suite executives in companies, nonprofits and government who responded to the survey expect a decline in the global economy in 2026; 74 percent expect the U.S. economy to decline; and 30 percent expect a deterioration in the local economy. It's a shocking change from last year, when only 3 percent of respondents expected the local economy to decline.

Just as concerning: Two-thirds of survey respondents already see worsening conditions.

Professional economists expect slow growth in 2026. A recent survey by the National Association for Business Economics predicted that median gross domestic product growth in 2026 would be 1.7 percent, slightly lower than the 1.8 percent growth that was expected for all of 2025. Virtually none of the forecasters predict a recession will begin before the second half of 2027, however.

LaFayette says. “But remember a few years back, the burst of inflation was expected to be ‘transitory.’ ” While economists make their predictions, the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment survey found the general public is in rough agreement with local business leaders, LaFayette says.

Year-ahead inflation expectations in the Michigan survey of consumers eased slightly to 4.5 percent in November from 4.6 percent in October. But that was still well above the 3.3 percent seen in January 2025, as consumers continue to grapple with high prices and weakening incomes.

The Michigan survey of consumer sentiment “fell back about 7 percent,” to 51 percent in November, the second lowest on record. “This is of concern,” LaFayette says, because the way people feel about the economy is generally seen as an important indicator of where the economy is headed.

Due to the gloomy outlook for general economic conditions—as well as inflation—expectations regarding revenue, costs and profits among local survey respondents are “way down from last year,” LaFayette says. A little more than half of respondents expect revenues to increase in the coming year. While half expect at least a 5 percent increase in costs in 2026, only 19 percent expect at least a 5 percent increase in profits.

“The other thing in the survey that grabbed my attention was the percent of businesses incorporating AI,” LaFayette says.

Artificial intelligence was a firsttime survey topic, and 61 percent of respondents said their businesses have incorporated AI into their processes, and another 27 percent are exploring the possibility.

“I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting it to be that high,” LaFayette says.

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There is generally a prediction that the economy is going to slow, employment is going to slow.”

Bill LaFayette, owner of Regionomics

Tariffs and Other Concerns

The expected impact of tariffs is mixed. Just under a third of respondents expect little to no impact, while two-thirds expect a negative impact.

However, most of the respondents expecting a negative impact, 45 percent, believe it will be small.

The fact that tariffs have become less predictable in recent years is “probably part of it,” LaFayette says.

“Also, many respondents [in the survey] are from for-profit service firms that are probably not too tied to importing stuff. So, everything has to be taken with a grain of salt.”

That tracks with a recent report from a Cleveland-based nonprofit, Magnet, which focuses on strengthening the manufacturing industry. In that report from mid-November, tariffs had affected the sales of one-third of Ohio manufacturers, with 18 percent losing sales while 15 percent benefitted from tariffs.

Despite national controversy around diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, more than half of the organizations in the survey still have a dedicated DEI budget, and smaller organizations continue to emphasize efforts to have an inclusive workforce. (See Page 48.)

Worries over labor shortages have become almost negligible, as Central Ohio is expected to add 700,000 people in the next 25 years. Local organizations have been adjusting to worker needs, too, with 48 percent of respondents providing the ability to work at home at least part-time, and 20 percent keeping many or all employees working remotely full-time.

Tim Feran is a freelance writer.

ECONOMIC SURVEY RESULTS Here’s a look at how Columbus region executives view the economy in our 2025 Survey of Economic Conditions compared with responses from 2024. The survey, which was open to local C-suite and cabinet-level executives, as well as general, district and store managers, is adapted from the SMU Cox CEO Sentiment Survey. Responses reflect expectations for the next 12 months. Numbers have been rounded.

2025 SURVEY

2024 SURVEY

World

World

No opinion

15%

29%

3%

Stay the same

Stay the same

Decline

13%

33%

Decline

Improve

No opinion

Improve

3%

55%

49%

U.S. No opinion

U.S. Decline

Improve

17%

0%

Stay the same

Stay the same

39%

Decline

74%

Columbus MSA

No opinion

1%

Improve

Decline

30%

Stay the same

39%

1%

12%

10%

30%

No opinion

Improve

48%

Columbus MSA

No opinion

Decline

3%

3%

Stay the same

24% Improve

71%

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Photo courtesy Westerwood

Friendship Woods at Westerwood

SENIOR LIVING

Directory of Facilities These 91 communities across Central Ohio offer various levels of care for yourself or a loved one.

KEY: IL – INDEPENDENT LIVING UNITS; AL – ASSISTED LIVING UNITS MC – MEMORY CARE UNITS; SN – SKILLED NURSING UNITS Central Ohio has a wealth of retirement and senior communities spanning a full continuum of care.

Here are 91 options across the region to suit a variety of needs, whether you seek independent living, skilled nursing or something in between.

ALPINE HOUSE

ABBINGTON ASSISTED LIVING

amberparkseniorliving.com 401 Hill Road N., Pickerington 614-834-3113; AL

Abbington of Arlington Assisted Living

ARROW SENIOR LIVING

abbingtononline.com

1320 Old Henderson Road, Columbus 614-451-4575; AL

Abbington of Pickerington Assisted Living 9480 Blacklick-Eastern Road Pickerington; 614-577-0822; AL

Abbington of Powell Assisted Living 3971 Bradford Court, Powell 614-789-9868; AL

alpinehouse.net

Alpine House of Columbus 1001 Schrock Road, Columbus 866-468-7302; AL

AMBER PARK SENIOR LIVING

arrowseniorliving.com

Carriage Court Senior Living 3570 Heritage Club Drive, Hilliard 614-892-7686; AL/MC

BICKFORD SENIOR LIVING

Bickford of Lancaster

1834 Countryside Drive, Lancaster 740-901-0912; AL/MC

Bickford of Upper Arlington 3500 Riverside Drive, Columbus 380-800-6440; AL/MC

Bickford of Worthington

6525 N. High St., Worthington 614-505-4499; AL/MC

BROOKDALE SENIOR LIVING INC. brookdale.com

Brookdale Lakeview Crossing

4000 Lakeview Crossing, Groveport 614-830-9525; AL/MC

Brookdale Muirfield

7220 Muirfield Drive, Dublin 380-269-0922; AL/MC

Brookdale Pinnacle

1305 Lamplighter Drive, Grove City 614-666-9577; AL/ MC

Brookdale Trillium Crossing

3500 Trillium Crossing, Columbus 614-956-3339; IL/AL

Brookdale Westerville

6377 Cooper Road, Columbus 380-246-7399; AL/MC

bickfordseniorliving.com

CENTURY PARK

2600 E. Main St., Bexley 380-333-6746; AL/MC

Mayfair Village Retirement Community

Bickford of Bexley

centurypa.com

3011 Hayden Road, Columbus 614-889-6202; AL

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CIENA HEALTHCARE

HOMESTEAD SENIOR LIVING

Laurels of Gahanna

Homestead Village Blacklick

4588 Wesley Woods Blvd., New Albany 614-924-0030; IL/AL/MC/SN

Homestead Village Grove City

LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES

cienahealthcare.com

5151 N. Hamilton Road, Columbus 614-337-1066; SN

Laurels of West Columbus

7250 E. Broad St., Blacklick; 614-360-2266; IL

441 Norton Road, Columbus; 614-812-1200; SN

4990 Hoover Road, Grove City 614-653-1567; IL

1030 High St., Worthington 614-885-0408; MC/SN

HOOVER HAUS ASSISTED LIVING

Laurels of Worthington

CONTINENTAL SENIOR COMMUNITIES

continentalseniorcommunities.com

The Bristol

7780 Olentangy River Road, Columbus 614-886-2818; IL/AL

Cherry Blossom Senior Living 79 Blossom Field Blvd., Columbus 614-530-7726; IL/AL/MC

The Coventry

hooverhaus.com 3675 Hoover Road, Grove City 614-875-7600; IL/AL/MC

THE INNS AT SUMMIT AND WINCHESTER TRAIL Inn at Summit Trail

innatsummittrail.com 8115 Summit Road, Reynoldsburg 740-919-4977; AL/MC

Inn at Winchester Trail

Wesley Woods at New Albany

seniorlivinglss.com

LSS Kensington Place

1001 Parkview Blvd., Columbus 614-252-5276; IL/AL/MC

NATIONAL CHURCH RESIDENCES

nationalchurchresidences.org

Avondale

5215 Avery Road, Dublin; 614-319-3353; IL

Brookwood Point

2685 E. Livingston Ave., Columbus 866-569-6328; IL

Chimes Terrace

65 S. Williams St., Johnstown 888-205-8801; IL/AL

First Community Village

Dublin Glenn Memory Care

winchestertrail.com 6401 Winchester Blvd., Canal Winchester 614-829-6388; AL/MC

Ganzhorn Suites

KINGSBURY LIVING LANCASTER

3550 Fishinger Blvd., Hilliard 888-211-3477; AL/MC

3240 Tremont Road, Upper Arlington 614-967-9697; IL/AL 6355 Emerald Parkway, Dublin 614-761-9200; MC

1800 Riverside Drive, Columbus 877-364-2570; IL/AL/MC/SN

Harmony Trace

livekingsbury.com 1572 Timbertop St., Lancaster 740-245-3823; IL/AL/MC

The Hartford at Stafford Village

1500 Weaver Drive, Granville 740-587-0059; IL/AL/MC

LIFE CARE SERVICES

FERIDEAN COMMONS

The Avalon of Lewis Center

1195 North St., Westerville 844-841-5770; IL/AL/MC

10272 Sawmill Parkway, Powell 614-356-9810; MC

Middleton Senior Living

feridean.com 6885 Freeman Road, Westerville 614-898-7488; IL/AL

FIVE STAR SENIOR LIVING fivestarseniorliving.com

The Forum at Knightsbridge

4590 Knightsbridge Blvd., Columbus 614-451-6793; IL/AL/MC

FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE OF DUBLIN fvdublin.org 6000 Riverside Drive, Dublin 614-764-1600; IL/AL/MC/SN Photo courtesy Life Enriching Communities

homestead-village.com

lifecareservices.com

8875 Green Meadows Drive N., Lewis Center; 740-690-3203; AL/MC

The Avalon of New Albany 245 E. Main St., New Albany 740-640-6541; AL/MC

LIFE ENRICHING COMMUNITIES lec.org

Wesley Glen Retirement

Inniswood Village Lincoln Village

4959 Medfield Way, Columbus; 614-870-1123; AL

Stygler Commons

165 N. Stygler Road, Gahanna 614-342-4588; AL

Walnut Trace

389 Olde Ridenour Road, Gahanna 844-211-1329; IL

OHIO LIVING ohioliving.org

5155 N. High St., Columbus 614-888-7492; IL/AL/MC/SN

Ohio Living Sarah Moore

2225 Taylor Park Drive, Reynoldsburg 614-759-0023; IL/AL/MC/SN

717 Neil Ave., Columbus 614-228-8888; IL/AL/MC/SN

Wesley Ridge Retirement

THE GABLES OF WESTERVILLE

26 N. Union St., Delaware; 740-362-9641; AL/SN

Ohio Living Westminster-Thurber

OPTALIS HEALTHCARE

gablesofwesterville.com 131 Moss Road, Westerville 614-918-0050; IL/AL/MC

optalishealthcare.com

Canal Winchester Rehabilitation Center 6800 Gender Road, Canal Winchester 614-834-6800; AL/SN

HERITAGE SENIOR LIVING OF MARYSVILLE heritageslm.com 1565 London Ave., Marysville 937-738-7342; AL/MC

120 E. Stafford Ave., Worthington 888-205-8740; IL

Grand of Dublin Wesley Glen

4500 John Shields Parkway, Dublin 614-889-8585; MC/SN Winter 2026 • ColumbusCEO

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WHO’S MOVING AND SHAKING IN CENTRAL OHIO?

Find out when you become a Columbus CEO Insider

Sign up today at ColumbusCEO.com

Mill Run Rehabilitation Center 3399 Mill Run Drive, Hilliard 614-527-3000; AL/SN

Monterey Rehabilitation Center 3929 Hoover Road, Grove City 614-875-7700; MC/SN

New Albany Rehabilitation Center 5691 Thompson Road, Columbus 614-855-8866; AL/SN

Riverview at Clintonville

3710 Olentangy River Road, Columbus 614-457-1100; AL/SN

West Park Rehabilitation Center 1700 Heinzerling Drive, Columbus 614-274-4222; MC/SN

OUR HOME SENIOR LIVING ourhomesl.com

Cotter House Worthington

800 Proprietors Road, Worthington 614-896-8700; MC

Our Home New Albany

5055 Thompson Road, Columbus 614-855-3700; IL/AL

WHERE HAPPINESS LIVES IN HILLIARD

See all that our community has to offer.

• Theater • Social events • Pet friendly • Wellness programs • Public library connection • Cottages • And more

RITTENHOUSE VILLAGE BY DISCOVERY SENIOR LIVING rittenhousevillages.com

Rittenhouse Village Gahanna 1201 Riva Ridge Court, Gahanna 614-933-8640; IL

SENIOR STAR seniorstar.com

Dublin Retirement Village

6470 Post Road, Dublin; 380-205-2393; IL/AL/MC

Harrison on 5th

579 W. Fifth Ave., Columbus 308-208-1268; IL/AL/MC

STORYPOINT GROUP storypoint.com

Danbury Senior Living of Columbus 2870 Snouffer Road, Columbus 614-339-0459; IL/AL/MC

Call (614) 930-6370 to schedule your tour!

55+ Luxury Senior Living 4522 Hickory Chase Way • Hilliard, OH 43026 (614) 930-6370 • VerenaAtHilliard.com Scan to learn more about our community

Danbury Westerville – Parkside Village 730 N. Spring Road, Westerville 614-794-9300; IL/AL/MC

StoryPoint Gahanna Central

775 E. Johnstown Road, Gahanna 614-541-1792; AL/MC

StoryPoint Gahanna North 5435 Morse Road, Gahanna 614-924-8144; IL/AL/MC

StoryPoint Grove City

3717 Orders Road, Grove City 614-532-4385; IL/AL/MC

StoryPoint Pickerington

611 Windmiller Drive, Pickerington 614-953-5421; IL

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StoryPoint Powell

Columbus Colony Housing

10351 Sawmill Parkway, Powell 614-363-6631; IL/AL/MC

1165 Colony Drive, Westerville; 614-794-2011; AL

SUNRISE SENIOR LIVING

WALLICK SENIOR LIVING

1149 College Ave., Columbus 614-559-5600; AL/MC

4801 E. Broad St., Columbus 614-641-2995; AL

1151 College Ave., Columbus 614-585-8665; SN

3197 Southwest Blvd., Grove City 614-957-3918; AL/MC

WILLOW BROOK CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES

3700 Sturbridge Court, Hilliard 614-633-4811; IL/AL/MC

Willow Brook at Delaware Run

5546 Karl Road, Columbus; 614-431-1739; MC

Willow Brook Christian Home

5500 Karl Road, Columbus 614-431-1739; IL/AL

Willow Brook Christian Village

The Ashford on Broad

4175 Stoneridge Lane, Dublin 614-524-5654; AL/MC

The Ashford of Grove City

TRADITIONS MANAGEMENT traditionsmgmt.net

The Ashford at Sturbridge

3615 Glacial Lane, Grove City 380-666-4975; IL/AL/MC

The Grove

Grove City Senior Living by Traditions Traditions of Hilliard

Oakleaf Village of Columbus

4303 Trueman Blvd., Hilliard 380-212-3446; AL/MC

TRUE CONNECTION COMMUNITIES

WESTERWOOD

trueconnectioncommunities.com

Verena at Hilliard

4522 Hickory Chase Way, Hilliard 614-333-6042; IL

UNITED CHURCH HOMES unitedchurchhomes.org

Geraldine Schottenstein Cottage

wallick.com/columbus

sunriseseniorliving.com

Sunrise of Dublin

2200 Welcome Place, Columbus 614-655-3257; IL/AL

liveatwesterwood.org 5800 Forest Hills Blvd., Columbus 614-890-8282; IL/AL/MC/SN

WEXNER HERITAGE VILLAGE whv.org

Creekside at the Village

Wexner Heritage House

willow-brook.org

100 Delaware Crossing W., Delaware 740-201-5640; IL/AL/MC 55 Lazelle Road, Columbus 614-885-3300; AL/SN

100 Willow Brook Way S., Delaware 740-369-0048; IL/AL/MC/SN

WORTHINGTON CHRISTIAN VILLAGE wcv.org 165 Highbluffs Blvd., Columbus 614-846-6076; IL/AL/SN

People like this don’t grow on trees.

To find a group of residents as lovable and fun as ours, it takes a culture that’s equally lovable and fun. It gives retirement here a unique flavor. Schedule a visit and taste it yourself.

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HEALTH WATCH

Columbus-area doctors are developing new orthopedic technologies and techniques to help patients gain mobility.

By PETER TONGUETTE

I

n the field of orthopedics, cutting-edge innovations and ongoing refinement of existing techniques can help patients improve their musculoskeletal function and movement. Here’s a look at some of the latest surgical procedures and facilities offered by Columbus-area practices and health systems.

A SHIFT TO OUTPATIENT PROCEDURES Progress in orthopedics can be measured in part by how much time patients spend in the hospital following a surgical procedure.

Historically, a joint replacement called for a stay that could extend up to a week, says Dr. Joel Politi, a hip and knee reconstruction physician at Orthopedic ONE. “Even 10, 15 years ago, people were staying days in the hospital,” Politi says. “Now, through advances in techniques and medication protocols and preoperative education, we are able to do, typically, joint replacement surgery in the span of an hour in surgery, and we let the patients go home the same day.”

The progression from such procedures being done on an outpatient rather than inpatient basis has been one of the biggest advances in orthopedics, Politi says. The benefits include the patient’s mental wellness, which contributes to their physical wellness. “It’s a mindset,” he says.

“In other words, sick patients go to the hospital [but] healthy patients that need elective surgery go home.”

Part of the reason is that doctors better equip patients to deal with the recovery period. “If they’re at home in

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Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Livingston Orthopedic and Surgery Center their own environment, that leads to more independence and independent function” Politi says, which in turn leads to improved rehabilitation.

“The home environment is a safer environment anyway,” he says. “We tell people, ‘When you go home, you’re at home with your own germs.

When you’re in a hospital, you’re with everybody else’s germs.’ ” ADVANCES IN TECHNOLOGY Another shift in orthopedics is improved technology, from faster CT and MRI machines to roboticassisted joint replacement surgeries. At OhioHealth, robotic-assisted procedures are used for partial and total knee replacements and total hip replacements, and shoulder replacements will be added soon.

Incorporating robotics is a boon to surgical precision, says Dr. Lance Maynard, an orthopedic surgeon at OhioHealth. CT scans allow physicians to create 3D models of the patient’s anatomy. Then, at the

Even 10, 15 years ago, people were staying days in the hospital.”

Dr. Joel Politi, physician at Orthopedic ONE

Photos by Doral Chenoweth/Columbus Dispatch (2)

Medicine in Motion

time of surgery, refinements can be made. “When you’re able to change things fractions of a millimeter, you really create a stable construct that, hopefully, recreates their anatomy,” Maynard says. “Hopefully that patient will reach a point where they forget they had that joint replaced.”

OhioHealth also has begun doing smaller revision surgeries using robotic-assisted techniques. “It takes these really complicated, complex surgeries with deformity, either congenital or post-traumatic, and it really simplifies it,” Maynard says, pointing to the example of a patient who has screws or plates from a leg fracture and now needs joint replacement.

“Now we can work around it.”

Maynard says that inflammatory suppression following surgery has become a point of emphasis in the field. “How do we do what we need to do, and cause as little pain as possible, as little swelling, so we can get people back faster?” he says. “You’re not seeing as many extensile surgical approaches. Things are becoming more minimally invasive.”

At Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, the health system is among a small number nationwide with a program specializing in musculoskeletal and periprosthetic joint infections, according to director of media relations Marti Leach. The multidisciplinary team includes doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners from areas including

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orthopedic and plastic surgery, microbiology, infectious disease and more.

Additionally, a new outpatient facility opening in 2026 will expand Ohio State’s orthopedic care and physical therapy to Powell.

TREATING PEDIATRIC PATIENTS Nationwide Children’s Hospital opened its Livingston Orthopedic and Surgery Center in 2024, with six stories encompassing sports medicine, imaging options, in-house orthotics and prosthetics, and physical and occupational therapies.

One of the highlights is the Honda Center for Gait Analysis and Mobility Enhancement. A lab for neuromuscular patients is used “to judge gait evaluation and how we can help these kids either walk, become brace-free to walk, or guide surgical interventions to help them in their mobility,” says Dr. Kevin Klingele, chief of orthopedic surgery.

A spine-motion lab helps patients with scoliosis and sports injuries, while an upper-extremity lab can

A gym at the Livingston Orthopedic and Surgery Center features a basketball court and an artificial turf field. “guide surgical interventions, medical treatment for kids with spasticity, neurologic injury, peripheral nerve injury and such, and determining how they’re recovering or what we can do interventionally to help,” he says.

The labs enable the deployment of new treatments, including spinal tethering for scoliosis. “Classic techniques would push us to fuse that spine so it doesn’t progress,” Klingele says. “We now have ways on certain patients where we can do this growth modulation and tether a certain part of the spine to make it

grow straight.”

Other innovations include 3D printing in orthopedic oncology and targeted muscle reinnervation for amputees or limb deficiency patients to lessen phantom pain and improve the ability to support a prosthetic.

To date, the center has been able to serve a variety of patients while delivering a streamlined experience.

“It allows patients to have kind of a single-shop day,” Klingele says.

“It’s really a complete package.”

Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer.

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

PICTURE YOUR NEXT MEETING IN MEDINA COUNTY

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edina County is a fantastic destination for group gatherings of any size, offering a range of activities and amenities sure to impress. It is located just an hour and a half from Columbus and in between Akron and Cleveland and the scenic farmland of central Ohio. The Medina County Convention & Visitors Bureau has custom itineraries to suit a wide range of group needs. Diverse in our small-town character, yet only about 30 minutes from Cleveland or Akron, why not consider bringing your meeting or corporate group to Medina County?

Castle Noel, the largest year-round indoor Christmas entertainment attraction in America. Imagine hosting events in a party room adorned with sparkling holiday lights and ornaments, accommodating up to 70 participants. Alternatively, opt for the newly established outdoor Tiki Patio, featuring a waterfall, stage for presentations and entertainment, with a full liquor license and resort-level ambiance, perfect for gatherings of up to 100 guests.

With four large hotels conveniently close to restaurants and interstates, as well as entertainment options that cater to groups, Medina County is perfect for meetings, conferences and events. The county melds modern amenities with historic character making for a memorable experience and a place to celebrate your group’s successes.

Another unique place to hold an event or meeting is The Common Ground in Medina. This converted warehouse space is perfect for gatherings big and small with two large open areas complete with Pickleback’s bar and Dilly’s Sandwich Shop, which can both enhance your event. With local musical artists and an outdoor dining and game area, holding a meeting at The Common Ground would be an experience not soon forgotten.

A standout feature of Medina County is its two unique meeting venues at

Once your meetings are concluded, the county offers plenty to explore. Discover

23 open county parks and 40 miles of scenic trails or indulge in retail therapy at the many local shops. Diners can savor delectable meals at varied restaurants, ideal for alfresco dining or intimate indoor parties. Golf enthusiasts will delight in the 12 public golf courses and can unwind with a beer or coffee afterward at one of the numerous breweries or coffee shops. The entertainment options are diverse, including drive-in movie theaters, putt-putt golf, indoor games and go-karting and countywide outdoor concerts in a variety of venues.

Medina, reminiscent of a setting in a Hallmark movie and designated by HGTV, World Atlas and Cleveland.com as one of America’s “Best Small Towns, is in the center of the county, offering accessibility to three cities within the county and several neighboring communities.

It is an excellent place to explore and unwind with award winning restaurants and shopping.

Nine miles north of Medina, Brunswick has an entertainment district, including

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

breweries, shopping and dining. New to Brunswick is Market 42, a premier public market, dining and entertainment destination. Rest and settle down nearby at Comfort Suites, an award-winning hotel that will be sure to meet all your group needs.

Galaxy Banquet Center in Wadsworth is equipped to support event needs, including three restaurants. Unique to this location are two hotels on the grounds of the event center. Nearby, groups can find the Wadsworth town square, a quaint area with shopping and restaurants supported by Main Street Wadsworth.

Just 12 miles west of Wadsworth is Westfield Center, home to Westfield Country Club and Blair Conference Center. Their unique hospitality venues are open to the public. The Blair Conference Center is the perfect venue for any meeting or special gathering. Their main parlors can accommodate up to 400 guests for a cocktail style reception or 220 guests for a sit-down meal.

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LEGAL TRENDS

The Changing Labor Landscape Photo by Getty images

Local attorneys offer insights on what employers should know about unionization, class actions and other workplace trends.

By SHANNON SHELTON MILLER

A SHIFT IN UNIONIZING Littler, a multinational labor and employment law firm, noted in its 2025 Labor Survey Report that while union

Photo courtesy Littler

W

ork-life balance, remote work and shifting employee expectations have defined the post-pandemic workplace landscape. As employers continue to address those issues, they’re also encountering new legal concerns and challenges.

Courts are increasingly taking on cases related to remote work, and businesses are seeking counsel about managing misconduct complaints and developing artificial intelligence policies. Organizations also are experiencing an uptick in employee interest about unions. In November, for example, Columbus Metropolitan Library employees announced their intent to unionize, and workers from Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams filed a petition to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1059.

How can businesses keep up with the evolving landscape? Attorneys in the Columbus offices of three multistate firms share their insights on current workplace trends and offer guidance employers can use to help navigate those issues.

Many employers aren’t preparing for organizing if they haven’t already seen it happen in their workplace.”

Brooke Niedecken, co-chair of Littler’s labor practice representation petitions rose through 2024, they fell in 2025. Brooke Niedecken, co-chair of Littler’s labor practice, says those numbers indicate employees might be curious about unions because they want more choices in the workplace, but they might not complete the unionization process if employers have solid

engagement plans in place.

Still, businesses should be prepared for the possibility of unionization and more aggressive organizing efforts, including strikes, walkouts or coordinated corporate campaigns.

Negotiations and proposals that once took place behind the scenes are often posted on social media, turning local workplace concerns into national issues. Niedecken adds that organizing is taking place in industries that hadn’t seen it before, and strikes and work stoppages are happening in places where such action had been absent for years.

“We prepare for all sorts of issues in the workplace, so collective bargaining and work stoppages should be thought of in the same way, so we have an effective plan as opposed to doing it on the fly,” she says. “In our labor report, one of the things we found—which is similar to my experience in practice—is that many employers aren’t preparing for organizing if they haven’t already seen it happen in their workplace.”

FOCUS ON POLICIES AND TRAINING Chris Green, a partner with business and employment firm Amundsen Davis, stresses the importance of keeping company policies updated to address the current workplace Winter 2026 • ColumbusCEO

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environment, as well as delivering ongoing training to avoid potential legal issues. He says he’s seen an increase in employee complaints of misconduct, harassment or microaggressions in the workplace, but when details are revealed, the issue can be more nuanced.

“Younger employees might expect a different work environment than employees in the past, and an interaction that might be a misunderstanding can turn into a hostile workplace complaint,” Green says.

Marissa Borschke, an associate with Amundsen Davis, says drafting and redrafting work from home policies has become common as workplaces adapt to hybrid or remote work as their new norm. Having an AI policy is also important, and employers are advised to be transparent with employees about how AI can be integrated into their work.

“We have a lot of requests for AI policies,” Borschke says. “The technology is evolving, and AI can be used as a helpful tool in the workplace.”

EMPLOYEE CLASS ACTIONS The emergence of class action lawsuits related to remote or hybrid work is a trend Chris Tackett, a commercial litigation attorney with Bailey Cavalieri, is seeing more consistently.

Across the country, employees are filing complaints claiming they aren’t being fully compensated for all work done at home.

Tackett is also seeing more legal action related to disputes over noncompete agreements and intellectual property, along with questions about the extent of acceptable discovery due to the growing amount of data that can be accessed, removed and shared digitally.

A recent U.S. District Court decision from the Southern District of Ohio, Lott v. Recker Consulting LLC, addressed the question of compensable time in remote environments.

While the employees in the class action claimed they were not paid for all their working time per the Fair Labor Standards Act, the court ruled compensable time began when employees started operating the

system required for their jobs and ended when they left that system.

The time they spent starting up or shutting down their computers was not considered compensable.

“Class actions are the most noteworthy because when you have clients who are employers and they have a lot of employees, it’s a multiplier on the potential exposure in an action,” Tackett says. “Even if the harm is really small, if it’s happening to enough people, they believe they can make it worth pursuing.”

Niedecken says it’s always beneficial for employers to review their employee engagement policies and practices and update them as needs change.

“I think employers need to lean into things employees are saying they want from their workplace, and I think many already are,” Niedecken says. “It also has the larger goal of retention and employee satisfaction—all of those things really go hand in hand.”

Shannon Shelton Miller is a freelance writer.

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PDS Planning Inc. 475 Metro Place S. Suite 460 Dublin, OH 43017 614-481-8449 pdsplanning.com Winter 2026 • ColumbusCEO

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WEALTH MANAGEMENT

By Peter Tonguette

F

or those of a certain age, the term “sandwich generation” might call to mind comic-strip character Dagwood Bumstead, known for his love of both family and elephantine sandwiches. But it refers to a real and growing phenomenon: the generation of adults whose financial resources and attention are split among themselves, their children and their aging parents.

This family dynamic is strikingly different than what people experienced in decades past.

“Before we got to this idea of the sandwich generation, it was you going out and just taking care of yourself,” says Sarah Daya, central division lead for wealth planning and advice at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. “Then when kids came into the picture, it was like, ‘OK, we’ll take care of the kids until we send them off to college.’ … What we’re seeing more and more is college kids that maybe are coming back and living at home. We also have more elderly folks who maybe can’t take care of themselves.”

With older adults attaining increased longevity and sometimes needing long-term care—as well as young people encountering uncertain paths to independence—members of the sandwich generation need to plan carefully and prepare for the unexpected, financial planning experts say.

“It’s forcing families to have more proactive conversations,” says David Brinkman, a partner in the Columbus office of Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors who also is a CPA, Certified Financial Planner and Chartered Financial Analyst.

“These are always delicate conversations to begin with—anything related to money,” Brinkman says.

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David Brinkman “Now, when you’re going to be accountable for your parents, it’s really hard if you don’t have a full understanding of what their finances are.”

Experts agree that an essential starting point is for these individuals

We’ve seen a lot more targeted schemes towards seniors. A lot of times we get those phone calls, like, ‘There’s a loved one in trouble—can you transfer money in this amount?’”

Sarah Daya, J.P. Morgan Wealth Management to fully assess the finances, starting with their own.

“I oftentimes run into clients who have all of these lingering accounts that are out there,” says Daya, such as people who switched jobs and have multiple retirement accounts, or who use several banks. “That’s exactly where I’d start,” she says. “Let’s take

Adam Koos

Photo by Rob Hardin

Financial planners offer pointers for the “sandwich generation.”

Photo courtesy Jen Barker Worley Photography

Family Finance

an inventory of what we’ve got … and then what are the expenses.”

The same financial picture should be compiled for aging parents, especially in situations when long-term care might become necessary. “For somebody in the sandwich generation, you’ve probably got to build out two, maybe three balance sheets— one for yourself, the second one for your parents, and then the kids … [which] is relatively straightforward, if [the kids] even have any assets to begin with,” Brinkman says.

The process requires initiating talks about money that can be blunt but don’t have to be awkward. Daya suggests asking parents whether they have a financial plan, or when such a plan was last updated, as a good starting point. She also recommends taking simple steps toward getting more involved.

“It’s like, ‘Do you want me to write out this check for you? Do you want me to set up direct bill pay for you?’ ” Daya says. “A lot of times, parents are more receptive, especially these days I think, to having these conversations.”

Once an accounting has been made, those in the sandwich generation may need to prioritize their financial commitments. Daya considers saving for one’s own retirement to be nonnegotiable. “Those are going to be the funds that they have to rely on,” she says.

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On the other hand, “support goals” for offspring or aging parents can be financed in multiple ways. “A support goal could be something like paying for college,” she says. “While that’s important, there are going to be other strategies that we can use to fund college expenses.”

Daya also suggests building a strong emergency fund and utilizing flexible spending and dependent care spending accounts, which set aside pretax money for expenses related to day care, elder care or health care.

When it comes to aging parents, Adam Koós at Libertas Wealth Management Group Inc. suggests looking into long-term care insurance.

He recommends hybrid policies, “where the owners … can purchase a joint policy that covers them,” he says.

“If they die and they never need longterm care, then the kids or grandkids or both get a tax-free death benefit.” If the insurance is needed for a nursing home or memory-care center, then “the death benefit that would otherwise have been paid to the next generation is accelerated and used while they’re living,” Koós says.

J.P. Morgan’s Daya recommends that grown children help their parents preserve the wealth they have earned by educating them about common schemes, including phishing and romance scams. “We’ve seen a lot more targeted schemes towards seniors,” Daya says. “A lot of times we get those phone calls, like, ‘There’s a loved one in trouble—can you transfer money in this amount?’ ” The designation of a trusted contact person on a senior’s accounts is one tool to prevent fraud; others include credit freezes, adding grown children to accounts and keeping close tabs on account activity. “That may result in paying for some nominal software that downloads your transactions and makes it easy to view in one spot,” Brinkman says. Experts also say that hiring a financial adviser can be helpful to everyone concerned.

“You’ve got three stakeholders in this sandwich, and they all have different objectives and desires,” Brinkman says. “Even the most highly functioning family … doesn’t necessarily always proactively talk about every topic.”

Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer

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0

0

In-County Nonrequested Copies Stated on PS Form 3541 (include sample d. Non-requested copies, requests over 3 years old, requests induced by a premium, bulk (2) Distribution (By Mail sales and requests including association requests, names obtained from and Outside the Mail) business directories, lists, and other sources)

0

0

(4)

(1)

Nonrequested Copies Distributed Through the USPS by Other Classes of (3) Mail (e.g., First-Class Mail, nonrequestor copies mailed in excess of 10% limit mailed at Standard Mail® or Package Services rates)

0

0

Nonrequested Copies Distributed Outside the Mail (Include pickup stands, 361 trade shows, showrooms, and other sources) e. Total Nonrequested Distribution (Sum of 15d (1), (2), (3) and (4)) 361 f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) 9,875 g. Copies not Distributed (See Instructions to Publishers #4 (page #3)) 8 h. Total (Sum of 15f and g) 9,883 i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation (15c divided by 15f times 100) 96.3% * If you are claiming electronic copies, go to line 16 on page 3. If you are not claiming electronic copies, skip to line 17 on page 3.

16. Electronic Copy Circulation Average No. Copies Each Issue During Preceding 12 Months a. Requested and Paid Electronic Copies 0 b. Total Requested and Paid Print Copies (Line 15c) + Requested/Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16a) 9,514 c. Total Requested Copy Distribution (Line 15f) + Requested/Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16a) 9,875 d. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation (Both Print & Electronic Copies) (16b divided by 16c x 100) 96.3% (4)

110 110 9,091 0 9,091 98.8% No. Copies of Single Issue Published Nearest to Filing Date 0 8,981 9,091 98.8%

I certify that 50% of all my distributed copies (electronic and print) are paid above a nominal price.

17. Publication of Statement of Ownership If the publication is a general publication, publication of this statement is required. Will be printed in the November issue of this publication.

18. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner X

Rick Voegele - Sr. Manager, AAM & Audit Reporting

Publication not required.

Date 10/1/2025

I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).

PS Form 3526-R, July 2014

PSN: 7530-09-000-8855

PRIVACY NOTICE: See our privacy policy on www.usps.com.

Winter 2026 • ColumbusCEO

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Breakdown

BY KATY SMITH

2021

1%

Cut the DEI budget

19%

Increased the DEI budget

37%

No dedicated DEI budget

20%

Established a DEI budget

DEI Backlash

22%

Did not change DEI budget

2025

7%

2%

Increased the DEI budget

Cut the DEI budget

2%

Established a DEI budget

43%

46%

No dedicated DEI budget

Did not change DEI budget

Source: Survey of Economic Conditions, 2021 and 2025

48

The annual Columbus CEO Survey of Economic Conditions for 2025 found evidence of a drop-off in efforts around diversity, equity and inclusion as the racial justice reckoning of 2020 recedes into the rearview mirror and sentiment against DEI fueled by racism comes to the forefront at the state and national levels.

Here are the results as reported by for-profit enterprises and nonprofit and government organizations surveyed in 2021 and 2025. (Worth noting: In 2021, 27 percent of survey respondents were from nonprofit organizations. In 2025, that figure was 39 percent, giving them an outsized weight in the survey compared with the Columbus area overall.)

On both surveys, respondents were asked: Have you changed your company’s budget to promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) over the past year, including dedicated staff positions, training and workforce analysis?

ColumbusCEO • Winter 2026

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Two Buildings. One Reason.

Protecting the world’s most precious resource: water.

We may be on opposite sides of 270, but the associates in the new ADS Engineering and Technology Center and Headquarters are working together toward the same vision: advancing quality of life through sustainable solutions to water management challenges.

These new buildings stand as visible proof of ADS’ remarkable growth under the leadership of President and CEO Scott Barbour. His vision and leadership have elevated ADS to new levels of performance, strengthened our market position and expanded our influence across the water management industry.

Join us in congratulating Scott on being named CEO of the Year in the Large For-Profit category.

adspipe.com

© 2025 Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. 12/25 CS

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