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11/16/2011
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
NOVEMBER 21 - 27, 2011
TODD GOLDSTEIN Managing partner Shaker LaunchHouse
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said Julie Oddo, InfoCision’s vice president for valued accounts. “He has to deliver it with finesse and be straightforward. We are known for our quality. Without him and his whole department, we wouldn’t be able to do that.” As a former semi-pro soccer player and kicker for the University of Akron football team. Mr. Feisthamel knows the value of teamwork. He said he believes he has put to together a strong network of individuals in his department at InfoCision. “It’s something I learned in politics,” he said. “You can’t just bring in that volunteer that shows up for one hour a week. You have to get
the right people involved and trust they’re going to work with you. That’s how you’re going to be successful.” Because of the reputation InfoCision’s quality assurance department developed, the company — with Mr. Feisthamel’s help — recently launched a subsidiary called Quality Check that acts as an independent third party to evaluate companies’ internal call centers. “By being the leader of quality assurance department, I’m always looking for the next best thing,” Mr. Feisthamel said. “Once you become stagnant and aren’t creative, you’re going to lose your edge.” — Timothy Magaw
His experiences as the product of a management training program at Las Vegas-based Caesars Entertainment Corp., where he was recruited eight years ago after earning an MBA from Duke University, positioned him for this job. Rough and deadlinedriven jobs are not new to Mr. Glover, who helped revive a hurricane-devastated Biloxi, Miss., casino in 2006. “It was very fulfilling to help 1,300 people get their jobs back and see the area recover,” Mr. Glover recalls. John Payne, president of Caesars Entertainment’s central division who hired Mr. Glover out of Duke and was his boss for several years in New Orleans, said the Biloxi work propelled Mr. Glover to a job as vice president of operations at the 1,500-employee St. Louis casino and hotel, which led to Cleveland. Mr. Glover’s ability to quickly form relationships won him the blessing of Caesar’s joint venture partner, Rock Gaming LLC, said Matt Cullen, the Detroit-based chief operating officer of Rock Gaming.
Mr. Glover brings more than gaming and MBA chops here. He worked for Accenture and Deloitte Consulting between graduating from Morehouse College and entering grad school. He said Caesars (then Harrah’s Entertainment) intrigued him at a Duke job fair because its entertainment/ hospitality mix fit his desire to work in pro sports or entertainment. While working at the New Orleans casino, he dated and wed his wife, Candace, whom he had met while he was at Morehouse. Today they have three children, ages 7, 4, and 6 months. For fun, Mr. Glover said he devotes his free time to his children, though he tries to play basketball when he can. Mr. Glover recently joined the Cleveland board of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. However, you will find sports talk rather than rock on his car radio. In gaming, he said, his favorite is craps; he likes the game’s active side. — Stan Bullard
ortheast Ohio should embrace young entrepreneurs, according to Todd Goldstein. Exhibit A in that argument could be Mr. Goldstein himself. He and business partner Dar Caldwell are the founders of Shaker LaunchHouse, a business incubator in Shaker Heights where dozens of startup companies work in close proximity. Though LaunchHouse accepts entrepreneurs of all ages, many on its roster are young, which is OK by Mr. Goldstein. He and Mr. Caldwell long have said they want LaunchHouse to attract young, bright minds who otherwise might leave Northeast Ohio. “Young people are what’s going to make this region successful,” he said. Mr. Goldstein, 29, has spent much of his young life preparing to work in the world of startups. He grew up in the family that founded a Cleveland restaurant called The Theatrical, in addition to other companies. He remembers his grandfather trying to teach him about the stock market when he
was 13, helping spark his interest in the business world. After graduating from Brush High School in Lyndhurst in 2000, Mr. Goldstein dove straight into business courses at Johnson & Wales University, where in three years he earned a bachelor’s in financial
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management. In subsequent years he worked as operations manager for a call center company and as a business analyst for Franklin & Seidelmann Subspecialty Radiology in Beachwood, which had just raised its first round of venture capital. All the while, Mr. Goldstein was buying and fixing up rental properties. “From that experience (at Franklin & Seidelmann) and the real estate company, I learned what it took to grow a business,” said Mr. Goldstein, who later served as CEO of a local technology startup called Zolio. It was when Franklin & Seidelmann needed some landscaping done that Mr. Goldstein met Dar Caldwell, who at the time was a partner at a local landscaping architecture firm. When Mr. Goldstein hired the company to help him spruce up one of his properties, they realized they shared a passion for entrepreneurship. Mr. Caldwell said he knew he found a business partner when he realized that Mr. Goldstein was willing to give his all to start LaunchHouse. “He definitely loves taking on big challenges,” Mr. Caldwell said. — Chuck Soder