Crain's Cleveland Business

SENIOR HOUSING Vaccines have helped ease some of the vacancies at independent and assisted living properties for older people. PAGE 3

THE SAUCE: Mid’s Pasta Sauce teams up with the Cleveland Browns. PAGE 6

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I JANUARY 24, 2022

GCP aims to pick up region’s growth pace Partnership’s most recent strategic plan seeks to make Cleveland more competitive with peer cities

BY KIM PALMER

Under the leadership of Baiju Shah, the Greater Cleveland Partnership’s most recent strategic plan details how the organization’s “All-In” mantra, paired with a set of key priorities and measurable growth goals, will make the region more competitive with its peers.

The plan developed

by GCP, the region’s chamber of commerce, was introduced last week at the group’s an- Shah nual Chairman’s Forum.

It’s the first with Shah, who became president and CEO in 2021, at the helm, and is the culmination of nine months of intensive board engagement.

“It is a shared vision, plan and initiatives that were started months ago,” Shah said in an interview with Crain’s before the forum took place last Wednesday, Jan. 19.

“It is part of what we are seeing

emerge — great energy and support from the business community, and our many partners interested in bringing our shared vision for the region to fruition.”

Shah, who took over the 12,000-member organization last April, set his sights on determining what Cleveland needed to compete with and outperform peer Midwestern regions over the next 10 years.

Under the new GCP strategic plan, Shah wants to see 25% in economic output growth, a 15% increase in new jobs and 12% in average income growth for the Cleveland region. Those numbers would represent significant increases from 2009 to 2019, which, according to GCP data, saw economic output for the region grow 15%, while jobs increased by 6% and average income increased by 9%.

See GCP on Page 19

Health care costs consume growing share of income

BY LYDIA COUTRÉ Legacy Capital Partners acquired the Green at Northpark, top, a New Orleans apartment complex, in December and the Summit at Salado Creek, above, in San Antonio, Texas, in November. | LEGACY CAPITAL PARTNERS PHOTOS

BUSINESS BOOMING Legacy Capital Partners pivots as apartment deal competition grows

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

From a third-floor office at Legacy Village in Lyndhurst, a private equity firm with a lean staff sold off close to $726 million worth of real estate last year.

It was a banner run of dispositions

for Legacy Capital Partners, which targets apartment properties in need of a little love. The sales spanned 13 assets in nine states, stretching from New Hampshire to Florida to Texas.

The transactions illustrate the vast amount of money chasing apartment deals, during a nationwide housing

NEWSPAPER

VOL. 43, NO. 3 l COPYRIGHT 2022 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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shortage that is only being exacerbated by surging materials costs, supply-chain snarls and a lack of skilled labor. The trends bode well for sellers but present hurdles for buyers, who are being pushed to new cities, and See APARTMENT on Page 20

THE

LAND SCAPE

As health care costs continue to rise, Americans with employer-sponsored health coverage are spending more of their income, on average, on premium contributions and deductibles, a trend that has continued for well over the past decade, according to the latest report from the Commonwealth Fund.

In 37 states, including Ohio, premium contributions and deductibles amounted to 10% or more of the median income in 2020, compared with just 10 states a decade prior, according to analysis by the Commonwealth Fund,

a nonprofit private foundation supporting independent health care research.

In most years, health care costs are rising more rapidly than the median income, said Sara Collins, the organization’s vice president for health care coverage and access.

Nationwide, health insurance premium and deductible costs combined to consume 11.6% of median household income in 2020, compared with 9.1% in 2010.

“If you look at 2010 to 2020, it’s pretty striking what’s happened,” Collins said.

See HEALTH CARE on Page 21

A CRAIN’S CLEVELAND PODCAST

1/21/2022 2:23:38 PM

MANUFACTURING

A

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

A.J. Rose Manufacturing Co. has three locations, including the headquarters in Avon seen here. | A.J. ROSE MANUFACTURING

Innovation, adaptability have led to

100 YEARS for A.J. Rose Manufacturing

Engineers Dale Pritchard and Keith Fishburn evaluate the process to make an impeller component. | A.J. ROSE MANUFACTURING

A process used by A.J. Rose Manufacturing is robotic welding. | A.J. ROSE MANUFACTURING

t its heart, A.J. Rose Manufacturing Co. is a family business.

The company got its start in 1922, when Czech immigrant Anton J. Rose opened a small stamping shop in Cleveland. The company’s scope was broad at first, but eventually focused in on the automotive aftermarket, and then on serving original equipment manufacturers in that industry, said vice president of sales and marketing Terrence Sweeney. It was the company’s ability to create cost-saving designs for customers that led to its growth in that space, he said.

And Terrence Sweeney thinks it was employees’ design acumen that has allowed the company to persist for so long.

“We always flourished on that ideology,” he said.

A.J. Rose Manufacturing has seen a lot of change in its century of existence as technology and industry have evolved and grown. Ultimately, it comes down to the “mind work” of its employees, Terrence Sweeney said, and A.J. Rose Manufacturing is hoping its newest generation will be able to build upon the foundation it’s built over time.

That foundation goes back to the founder. Rose had three daughters and a son, Terrence Sweeney said, all of whom joined the company as the second generation.

Today, there are four families that hold equal ownership of the company, all cousins descended from founder Rose. They are the Rose, Pritchard, Warnkey and Sweeney families — and the fourth generation of the founder’s family has now gotten involved.

But when Terrence Sweeney talks about the next generation, he’s thinking beyond family. The company has low turnover, and it’s not uncommon for employees to stay for decades.

“People make the company,” he said. “Without good people, you don’t have a company.”

Today, A.J. Rose Manufacturing employs about 345. The company has two facilities in Northeast Ohio — its headquarters in Avon and its original manufacturing site in Cleveland — as well as one in India. The company declined to share financials.

A.J. Rose Manufacturing primarily serves the automotive industry, with that market making up about 95% of its business, Terrence Sweeney said.

The rest of the business is in industrial and HVAC. It primarily works with a variety of steels and aluminum.

The main focus in automotive for A.J. Rose Manufacturing is in the powertrain, everything from the

transmission to the engine, Terrence Sweeney said.

A.J. Rose Manufacturing got its start making more general parts.

Now it’s primarily a contract manufacturer for automakers, making parts specific to their products. What A.J. Rose Manufacturing makes today is “highly engineered, tight tolerance parts,” Terrence Sweeney said. And they help their customers save money and weight in their vehicles.

The company has taken pride in being able to consistently innovate and improve on customer designs, said sales engineer Torey Sweeney.

That’s helped to build a strong reputation over time.

“We can take a $10 part and redesign it into a $5 part, and it’s lighter and performs better,” Terrence Sweeney said.

Working in automotive means the company is always thinking a few years ahead. The parts it makes today are going into vehicles a couple of product years in the future, Terrence Sweeney said.

And that’s more true today than ever, as the industry moves away from the internal combustion engine and toward electric vehicles. That’s a “major transformation,” Terrence Sweeney said.

“And as a result, that’s going to yield a lot of new design requirements,” he said. “It’s going to yield a lot of new engineering requirements. It’s going to yield a lot of new part numbers. It’s also going to eliminate a lot of part numbers as we go forward, too.”

A.J. Rose Manufacturing has always worked to look at where the industries it serves are going, Torey Sweeney said, so its employees can be working on solutions for problems yet to come.

A lot of companies that started around the same time as A.J. Rose Manufacturing grew to become large conglomerates or became absorbed into larger companies, Terrence Sweeney said. A.J. Rose Manufacturing opted to stay “small, nimble, flexible,” he said, and that’s helped it to adapt and survive over time.

A “strong vision” from the family behind A.J. Rose Manufacturing has been necessary to its longevity, said David Klotz, president of the Precision Metalforming Association in Independence. A.J. Rose Manufacturing has been a member of the association for more than 50 years, and it’s been active locally and nationally in that time, Klotz said.

In addition to its vision, A.J. Rose Manufacturing has reinvested back into the company over the years, Klotz said, and upgrading technology and adding more automation is critical to ongoing success.

Rachel Abbey McCafferty: (216) 771-5379, rmccafferty@crain.com

The company’s original manufacturing plant in Cleveland is still standing, though it’s been expanded. | A.J. ROSE MANUFACTURING

2 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JANUARY 24, 2022

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REAL ESTATE

Pandemic pain starts to wane for senior housing providers

BY STAN BULLARD

Occupancy has improved in Northeast Ohio independent and assisted-living properties, but the region remains among the softest in the nation.

According to a report from the National Investment Center (NIC) for Seniors Housing & Care, an Annapolis, Maryland, nonprofit that produces data for the sector, occupancy in the Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area reached 77% at the end of 2021, actually climbing above 75% at the end of 2020.

However, that pales compared to the sector’s pandemic comeback.

NIC notes occupancy in the Cleveland MSA hit bottom at 74% in the first quarter of 2021.

Brian Spring, president of Danbury Senior Living, a North Canton-based provider with 20 properties in the region, said vaccinations for Spring COVID-19 “played a big part” in setting the table for resurgent leasing in the third quarter and a busy year-end.

“We ended December with 85 move-ins in our portfolio for that month,” Spring said. “That’s incredible, because people generally are not keen on moving in during the holidays. We’re very pleased with that.”

Essentially, operators made up about half the ground they lost in terms of occupancy during the pandemic, but the impact was reduced by the completion of new properties

The Danbury Senior Living complex in Hudson offers ‘resort-style’ amenities. It’s one of 20 properties of the chain. | CONTRIBUTED

in the region.

However, the region’s not as healthy as the industry is nationally.

NIC reports national occupancy at the end of the year was 88%.

Cleveland’s 77% ranks among the bottom three of 31 large markets tracked by NIC, ahead of Houston, with 75% occupancy, and behind Atlanta, with 78% occupancy.

The other bottom dweller markets are areas with stronger economies and fewer barriers to entry, so they have a much larger pace of develop-

ment.

“It’s not so great a situation,” Lana Peck, a NIC senior principal, said in a phone interview. “Cleveland had a lot of units, which take several years to plan and build, increase inventory just as COVID-19 hit.”

She said 967 units were added to the Cleveland market in 2020 and 159 were added in 2021.

In the Akron area, which NIC also tracks, occupancy improved to 76.3% at the end of 2021 from a low of 73% in the second quarter of the year.

However, supply actually dropped by more than 200 units that were removed from operation through closings, such as at the Stow Glen Retirement Village in Stow.

Expectations are generally for the development of new units to slow as a result of the pandemic hiccup in occupancy. Nationally, just 35,000 units were under construction at the end of 2021, which NIC characterized as the weakest pace since 2015.

Spring said he believes the market may normalize from here because of

slowing development, particularly since delivery of construction supplies has become so spotty it’s likely to slow down production of new developments.

“Cautiously optimistic is the term that comes to mind,” Spring said.

“It’s been two years and just when we thought we were out of the battle, something new would come up,” he added. “Last year at this time we were coming off a tough fourth quarter and in a very difficult first quarter.

The vaccines have been a game changer, particularly for our residents. The question is where does the rest of COVID come out, and when will staffing shortages settle out.

Those are the unknowns, but they are not quite as bad as the unknowns as we had before.”

Tough times typically cause real estate operations of every type to offer incentives to get customers in the door. According to the Northern Ohio Apartment Association, incentive packages of 5.7% were available in the Cleveland/Akron area late last year.

Moreover, with rising prices for multiple goods and increased wages, NIC surveys have shown many operators nationally are preparing to increase rates.

Although Danbury’s staffing challenges are not as tough as some of its competitors face, thanks to its 25year history and culture, Spring worries that more operators in the region may close because they won’t have the staff for adequate operations.

That may mean some more distress for the industry.

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

CORRECTIONS  A Jan. 17, page 14 article misstated the nature of a $306 million refund that FirstEnergy issued to customers, which was part of an agreement the company reached with outside parties. The agreement came after a ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court, which found that state regulators improperly allowed FirstEnergy to exclude revenue from a modernization rider from its reported revenues.

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Lots of college students really, really like cold brew coffee. Yes, even in January, even when it’s freezing, even during snowstorms like the one that leveled Northeast Ohio last week.

“It can be 20 degrees out, it could be 18 inches of snow like in Cleveland, and we still see plenty of them drinking cold brew,” said Russ Wilkin, vice president of marketing and product at the Philadelphia-based coffee company Saxbys. “It’s really become a year-long beverage.”

Cold brew is one of the core menu items at Saxbys’ new location at John Carroll University. Other items include a slate of grilled cheese sandwiches along with brews named “Pep Talk” and “Liquid Courage,” all aimed at a collegiate clientele.

The difference between Saxbys and some other campus coffee shops, though, is that this one is entirely student-run. The company opened its first location in Ohio on JCU’s University Heights campus last Tuesday, Jan. 18.

JCU’s cafe operates using what the company has dubbed its experiential learning platform. A student CEO — that’s cafe executive officer — oversees everything from managing and presenting profit and loss statements to hiring and developing the cafe’s team members. They receive a salary, maintain full-time credit status, and get lots of that on-the-job work experience.

“The most important part is just walking away from that and not just learning some niche skills, that are kind of specific to a functional area, but to understand what it is to be a leader,” said Saxbys’ Wilkin.

Josh Ruminski, a senior studying psychology, was the first student CEO at John Carroll. Already an entrepreneur running a candle company committed to donating part

of its profits to suicide prevention and mental health awareness causes, he said he was drawn to Saxbys’ mission to “make life better.”

“I really wanted to help or figure out how I can make a lasting impact or legacy on John Carroll, and so a way to do that is to help start a business that’s coming in,” Ruminski said.

He said he earned a $15,000 stipend for the work he completed from July to January 2022. Construction delays and supply chain problems delayed the opening, originally scheduled for the fall semester.

During that time, he worked to try to assimilate Saxbys into JCU’s campus culture by setting up tables at events and creating a TikTok video.

He recruited and hired a team of about two dozen other student-em-

and founder Nick Bayer. Current university president Al Miciak announced the deal in July 2021.

“This combination of academic and experiential learning will position our students to succeed during their time at JCU and after graduation,” Miciak said in a release at the time.

Saxbys’ Wilkin declined to detail the financial breakdown between Saxbys and JCU, only saying it’s “truly a partnership” between the pair.

This new cafe is launching roughly 13 years after Saxbys declared bankruptcy. Founder and CEO Bayer called it the “best thing” to happen to the company.

“It gave us the opportunity to do more with less (now one of our company’s core values) and rebuild our brand into “I REALLY WANTED TO HELP OR FIGURE something we all believe in,” he OUT HOW I CAN MAKE A LASTING wrote in 2015.

Two years later, IMPACT OR LEGACY ON JOHN CARROLL, Bayer told Forbes AND SO A WAY TO DO THAT IS TO HELP he expected to see million in revSTART A BUSINESS THAT’S COMING IN.” $15 enue that year.

— Josh Ruminski, John Carroll University student The company, a Certified B corpoployees, facing what he called his ration, currently has a 3.6-star rating biggest managerial challenge: navi- on the employee review website gating employees’ availability. Lots Glassdoor. Free coffee and flexible of people were willing to work at hours were some of the common night, he said, but finding people to pros. Low pay was listed as a frestart a shift at 6:30 a.m. proved to be quent con. tougher.

Saxbys currently operates cafes As Ruminski’s spring graduation using its experiential learning platapproaches, he’s handed off duties form at 15 campuses, like those at to a new student CEO, though he’s the University of Pittsburgh and staying on to work at the cafe in op- Penn State University, nationwide. erations this semester. He said he The company has eight additional learned a lot during his time in locations, too. charge.

Officials said the company is con“When you don’t know some- sidering more expansion, including thing, say, ‘I don’t know,’ but be apt more spots in the area between and ready to find that out and dis- Cleveland and Pittsburgh, regions cern what the answer is,” he said. rich with higher-education instituJCU first popped up on Saxbys’ tions. radar thanks to Michael Johnson, the university’s president from 2018 Amy Morona: amy.morona@crain. to 2021, who knew company CEO com, (216) 771-5229, @AmyMorona

4 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JANUARY 24, 2022

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1/21/2022 1:05:41 PM

Benesch Brings Out the Best • Best Lawyers in America® 2022 named 59 Benesch lawyers to its annual rankings list.

• 37 Benesch attorneys were named Best Lawyers—“Ones to Watch”.

• Four lawyers in Benesch’s Cleveland office were recognized as Best Lawyers 2022 “Lawyer(s) of the Year,” a distinction given annually to a single outstanding lawyer in each practice area and designated metropolitan area.

Benesch’s Cleveland 2022 Lawyers of the Year are:

JOHN A. REGO

JOSEPH A. CASTRODALE

Litigation—Environmental

Litigation—Mergers and Acquisitions

MEGAN L. MEHALKO

THOMAS O. CRIST

Securities Regulation

Litigation—Construction

Congratulations to all the Best Lawyers of Benesch!

www.beneschlaw.com

SPORTS BUSINESS

Mid’s puts its pasta sauce mascot on the field Amusing ad tied to Browns Sal Siciliano

Of course, Miller still needed to sell it to Mid’s, so he put on his best Sal Siciliano voice and pitched it to Chovan and Mid’s CEO Steven Cress.

It went well.

“In business and in life, the second you see somebody genuinely laughing and laughing hard, you’re golden,” Miller said. “And I have to say this — Steve and Scott and Mid’s collectively have more boldness and courage than brands a thousand times their size. I’ve worked for a handful of people in my entire career who would have pulled the trigger on this instead of finding a way to talk themselves out of it.”

BY JOE SCALZO

Mid’s Pasta Sauce has one of those heartwarming origin stories where a nonna from the old country packs away her family’s spaghetti sauce recipe and carries it with her to America, where she passes it on to her grandson, who turns it into a successful company.

There’s just one problem. Half the sauces in America have the same story.

So when Mid’s approached Faction Pictures last year about creating an advertising campaign for its partnership with the Cleveland Browns, executive producer Beau Miller knew one thing.

“I can’t do ‘Grandma’s special recipe for 50 years,’” Miller said. “People won’t care and they won’t remember it. It’s been done a million times.

“We needed a big campaign idea.”

They needed Sal Siciliano.

If you watched a Browns game last fall, you may remember Siciliano, the Browns’ special meals coordinator with the Ted Lasso-esque mustache (and visor!) who drafted Mid’s Sicilian pasta sauce with his first pick. The campaign, which included Siciliano running a Mid’s pasta sauce mascot through football drills, was brought to life through the work and creativity of three Hudson High School graduates: Miller, actor Steve Olson and the Browns’ director of corporate partnerships, Sean Othen.

Together, they tried to fulfill Miller’s mission of leveraging the Browns’ name to maximize a new partnership, create a memorable campaign and — most importantly — boost the sales of Mid’s, a fast-growing company in Navarre, about 10 minutes south of Massillon.

How did they do?

“The early indications are that we made a really good decision,” said Scott Chovan, Mid’s chief operating officer. “I can tell you this for sure — we didn’t sell any less of it.”

Launching the campaign

In this Mid’s pasta sauce commercial, Sal Siciliano runs the Mid’s mascot through a number of football drills. | MID’S PHOTOS

Hudson connection Miller, Olson and Othen all grew up a few streets away from each other in Hudson. Miller and Othen are both 2004 Hudson High graduates who played football together throughout middle school and high school. (Othen was a linebacker, Miller a lineman.) Olson, who was a year older, was Othen’s teammate on the Explorers baseball team.

“Steve was probably the funniest guy on the baseball team,” Othen said. “We always said he could be on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ He had that kind of personality. He was always doing impromptu things, long before he started acting.”

After graduating, Othen went to Ohio University, where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sports management. Miller majored in advertising at Kent State and founded Faction in 2013, around the same time that Othen first landed with the Browns. Maybe the best way to illustrate their different career paths — and personalities — is with their LinkedIn profile pictures. Othen’s photo shows him smiling in a gray suit,

Sal Siciliano, the special meals coordinator for the Cleveland Browns, was played by Hudson High graduate Steve Olson.

while Miller is lying shirtless on a beach chair with a towel around his waist and a cocktail in front of him.

(His main Faction photo shows him on a fishing boat.)

Olson, meanwhile went into acting, where he parlayed an improv background into success doing commercials (including one for Carmax with Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry), as well as some minor film roles and guest spots on sitcoms like “How I Met Your Mother” and “The Goldbergs.”

Faction had already done some social media marketing for Mid’s, so when Othen reached out to the Stark County company about partnering with the Browns, Faction was an easy choice to make the commercials.

(Even better, Miller was a Browns fan who already ate Mid’s.)

“Our goal was to fully leverage the

Miller

Othen

Browns, rather than just making a generic pasta sauce commercial and putting the Browns logo at the end, like so many people do,” said Miller, who said Mid’s gave him carte blanche to come up with his best proposal.

Miller and Faction director/editor Kevin DeOliveira brainstormed some ideas and found themselves wondering, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we put the sauce on the team and

had a coach talk about the sauce the way they talk about athletes?” (Sample quote: “I’ve been watching Mid’s since he was a baby tomato playing in pee-wees.”)

The fake press conference idea isn’t necessarily new — CrossCounty Mortgage had one this fall where a loan officer channels his inner Alec Baldwin from “Glengarry Glen Ross” — but between the silly Siciliano character and the mascot football drills, Miller knew the campaign had promise. But for it to work, he also knew he needed someone with serious comedic chops, so he sent the script to Olson.

“He called me back five minutes later and was cracking up on the other end of the phone,” Miller said. “He was like, ‘I’m in, 100%. I don’t care how we have to do it, when or where, I’ll be there.’ ”

For the commercials, the Browns gave Faction access to both FirstEnergy Stadium and the team’s indoor practice facility in Berea, which is how Miller and Othen found themselves channeling some football memories on a sweltering day in downtown Cleveland last July. They were on the service level of FirstEnergy Stadium, preparing for a commercial shoot, when Othen and Miller caught each other’s eyes and started laughing.

“We were like, ‘Who would have thought 15-20 years ago that we’d be here?’ ” Othen said. “We took the teamwork from our high school football days and put it back to work in a professional setting. It was pretty neat to see it come full circle.”

Alas, COVID-19 intervened, forcing Faction to shoot some of the commercials elsewhere. Fortunately, Chovan is a Massillon Washington High School graduate, allowing him to gain access to the Tigers’ indoor facility. (To get an idea of how rare this is at the high school level, consider this: Both Massillon and Cincinnati have stadiums named after Paul Brown. Only Massillon has an indoor facility next door.)

Faction ultimately made five commercials — each one featuring Siciliano and the sauce mascot — and together they aired about 75 times in the Cleveland market, with about 35-40 of those coming during Browns games, Chovan said. Mid’s also produced special labels featuring six different Browns players: Joel Bitonio, Nick Chubb, Myles Garrett, Jarvis Landry, Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward. And while Mid’s is available in 70 grocery store chains in 30 states across the Midwest, East Coast and the South, the campaign was decidedly local.

“We didn’t have the jar labels running in Pittsburgh,” Chovan said, laughing. “I don’t think they would have reacted too well.”

Mid’s still has two years remaining on its three-year partnership with the Browns, so it’s a safe bet football fans will see the Siciliano campaign again, along with some new characters. Chovan said they’ve already started planning meetings for next year.

“Business is risk-reward,” he said.

“If you don’t take the shot, you don’t make the basket. If you don’t swing the bat, you don’t hit a homer.

“We’re really happy with our firstyear results, and we’re really excited about next year for sure.”

Joe Scalzo: joe.scalzo@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @JoeScalzo01

6 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JANUARY 24, 2022

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1/21/2022 1:29:05 PM

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PERSONAL VIEW

Strategies to help keep women in the workplace

RICH WILLIAMS FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BY SARAH HUTCHISON

EDITORIAL

Chips are up I

t’s not a Cleveland win, directly, but Intel’s plan, unveiled last Friday, Jan. 21, to spend $20 billion on a chipmaking hub outside Columbus is a huge victory for the state — and for the cause of advanced manufacturing everywhere in Ohio.

Santa Clara, California-based Intel expects the operation in Licking County to become the world’s largest silicon-manufacturing site. The chipmaker later this year will begin construction of two fabrication plants, known as fabs, on a 1,000acre site that it expects to be operational by 2025. The fabs will employ 3,000 workers at an average salary of $135,000 per year.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger says the company will use the location to research, develop and manufacture its most advanced chips and will have the option to expand to 2,000 acres and up to eight fabs. He told Time magazine, “We helped to establish the Silicon Valley. Now we’re going to do the Silicon Heartland.”

As Baiju Shah, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, noted on Twitter, “This is BIG for all of Ohio.

Chips will create supplier and downstream product opportunities. Also adds to Ohio’s Smart Manufacturing reputation.”

The Columbus Dispatch noted that to support a workforce equipped to deliver what the company and its suppliers will need, Intel also is committing $100 million to partnerships with local educational institutions including Ohio universities, community colleges and the U.S. National Science Foundation. Gov. Mike DeWine said the project is expected to add $2.8 billion to Ohio’s annual gross state product.

Success breeds success. A growing Intel presence in the center of the state will make it that much easier to attract advanced-manufacturing talent and capital to Ohio.

Keep the faith Americans for a variety of reasons — some legitimate, some specious — have been losing faith in the federal government.

In the former category of reasonable gripes is self-dealing by political leaders, which takes many forms. Among those:

lawmakers enriching themselves through stock trades that use information from classified briefings or committee meetings to make money in the market.

As NPR reported last week, there’s a bipartisan push “to ban lawmakers from trading individual stocks at all.” It’s an issue Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, among others, has been active in pushing for a while, as a way to address conflicts of interest and reduce doubts about lawmakers’ actions.

At present, members of Congress and their spouses are required to disclose when they buy or sell stocks. As NPR noted, “Reports filed by lawmakers exposed trades by members of both parties in 2020 that resulted in profits after briefings on the seriousness of the pandemic. The Justice Department reviewed several cases but ultimately didn’t pursue any charges.” Critics say too many members of Congress fail to file reports required under the rules, or file them months late, and there are no real consequences.

Brown, who does not own individual stocks, has previously introduced legislation to prohibit members of Congress from trading them. The idea is pretty simple: Members of Congress should not buy and sell stocks in certain industries while at the same time crafting legislation affecting those industries.

Last fall, Brown went a step further when he and three other Democratic senators introduced the Ban Conflicted Trading at the Fed Act, which would prohibit Federal Reserve officials from trading individual stocks. And sure enough, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida in mid-January became the third Fed official to resign in recent months after a trading scandal at the central bank that involved potential conflicts of interest.

The push to ban stock trading by members of Congress has a powerful opponent in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who said, glibly, “We are a free market economy. They should be able to participate in that.” (Pelosi is among the wealthiest members of Congress, by the way.)

The public has a right to know its representatives are not acting in their own interests when they make official decisions.

Banning individual stock trades by members of Congress and Fed officials wouldn’t cure the public’s lack of faith in government, but it would be a good step in the right direction.

Executive Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com) Managing Editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com) Contact Crain’s: 216-522-1383 Read Crain’s online: crainscleveland.com

The loss of talent — specifically female talent — in the workplace is alarming. While men gained 220,000 positions in September 2021, more than 300,000 women left the labor force. Why is this happening now?

With the return of the school year, child care arrangements once again changed and continue to be the primary headwind for women returning to Hutchison is a full-time work. Which begs the ques- Cleveland native tion: What can be done to reverse this and is an demographic trend? Glad you asked. interior designer Making flexibility the norm, offering and team leader autonomy, and putting support sys- with Shivetems in place to set everyone up for Hattery’s success are a few solutions that come to Cleveland design office. mind.

It is no surprise that flexibility is at the top of the list. After working remotely for whatever length of time during the pandemic, the collective “we” proved it could be done. Organizational psychologist Adam Grant summed it up perfectly when he so eloquently tweeted: “Hey leaders trying to cancel all remote work: did you forget we made it work in a pandemic? Productivity is purpose and process, not place. It’s driven by why and how we work — not where we work. Flexibility is here to stay.

Those who reject it may not be.”

As an interior designer and mother of two, I leave the office at 3:15 p.m. each day to pick up my girls from school since their aftercare program has yet to resume. Once we arrive home a half hour later, the girls play or do homework while I log back on for a few hours. Technology allows me to be productive in the “office-centric” hybrid model that blends office and home, but more importantly the flexibility afforded me makes it happen.

I would be remiss not to state the obvious: autonomy. We all want autonomy. To some extent in a really weird way, that was what was given us at the onset of the pandemic — sure, we had to log into countless Zoom or Teams meetings, maybe forced to be on camera even if you were uncomfortable — but if I wanted to take an hour-long walk or bike ride at 10 a.m., I could. If I wanted to sleep in until noon and work 4 p.m. to midnight, I could. Although both of those scenarios sound lovely, neither were my reality as the designer/mother/teacher/daycare working playground monitor I was during the crux of the pandemic! If I wanted to work outside or play with my girls — or let’s be real, help them figure out how to log into their own Zoom classes — in the middle of the day, I could. One of the hardest parts that needs to be addressed in this slow return to the office is the loss of that autonomy. Which is where empathetic leadership comes into play.

One of the best changes driven by the pandemic was the humanization of the workplace. Vignettes of the CEO’s children coming into view during a Zoom call showed a more personal side of people. Let’s hang onto that humanization and work to create the work-life harmony we’ve all been trying to figure out for the past 22 months (whether we realize it or not). Most of us, if not all, want to be understood and to feel like our opinions and wants and desires are heard. Empathetic leadership is taking the time to listen to employees, their experiences, their goals, and coming up with a unique plan that works for everyone involved.

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited. Send letters to Crain’s Cleveland Business, 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113, or by emailing ClevEdit@crain.com. Please include your complete name and city from which you are writing, and a telephone number for fact-checking purposes.

See WOMEN, on Page 9

Sound off: Send a Personal View for the opinion page to emcintyre@crain.com. Please include a telephone number for verification purposes.

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OPINION

430 MILLION $

COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SERVICES, WORLDWIDE

www.naipvc.com

PERSONAL VIEW

How to strengthen the supply chain for essential medical supplies, drugs

BY BRIAN LANE AND MICHAEL J. ALKIRE

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the nation, governments and the private sector tore through their stockpiles of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other resources. Several supply chain issues quickly emerged, including the lack of visibility into supply sources, a fragmented approach to ordering and fulfillment, and an over-reliance on overseas manufacturing.

While we have made progress in managing aspects of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions, including raw materials, manufacturing, shipping, distribution and “last-mile” delivery, remain in a system not designed for a pandemic’s demands.

With a few targeted strategies, it is possible to reverse these disruptions. For our part, Premier, a health care improvement company uniting 4,400 U.S. hospitals and health systems and partner of the Northeast Ohio-based CHAMPS Group Purchasing, has been concerned about supply chain risk management for years, and we’ve built forward-thinking capabilities to help protect against disruption.

To strengthen the supply chain, Premier and CHAMPS are calling for the implementation of key national priorities to respond to surge demand for essential medical supplies and drugs. We need to take a broader approach to create an end-to-end supply chain that is transparent, diverse and reliable. Beyond quantities, we must also ensure the U.S. has established, contractual relationships that include contingency plans to ramp up production upon identification of future need.

Specifically, we must address the following. ` The need for domestic manufacturing: The pandemic underscored the need for more homegrown access to critical medical supplies, which is why we are advocating for a short-term, 30% tax incentive to support do-

TOGETHER WE CONTINUE TO SHOW UP AND LEVEL UP TO ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC AND DRIVE HEALTH CARE INNOVATION FOR THE FUTURE. mestic manufacturing. We also believe the private sector can play a role in advancing change related to the manufacturing of critical goods.

In March 2020, Premier pioneered a syndicated model to ensure a robust and resilient supply chain for essential medical products. The program provides a vehicle through which Premier and its members pool capital to invest in domestic manufacturers that can supply shortage products, providing up-front liquidity needed for production capacity expansion and plant modernization, as well as long-term buying commitments to provide incentive for innovation. This ensures that providers have a cost-effective, domestic alternative for

WOMEN

From Page 8

Support systems to retain employees must be addressed. We all collectively just went through a once-ina-lifetime social experiment. Not one of us has any idea the after effects of this all on our mental health, let alone our physical well-being. Taking the time to listen to and understand each one of your employees and their unique challenges and concerns and offering professionals to help will elicit a type of bond that is unmatched.

Another support system not often mentioned is childcare. With so much buzz around amenities — and rightfully so — one major one is still not really discussed.

If I could drop my children off down the hall and go get some solid work done, I’d be back to the office five days per week. I am only partially kidding. Childcare was

their patient care needs. Here in Northeast Ohio, CHAMPS Group Purchasing partnered with JobsOhio to implement agreements with PPE and related product suppliers as part of our commitment to supporting local, diverse and small business domestic suppliers to progress the region’s economy. ` The need for an innovative global sourcing strategy: Past situations such as H1N1, Ebola and Hurricane Maria highlighted vulnerabilities associated with overreliance on single countries for medical supplies and drugs. In response several organizations (including ours) have been diversifying the production of PPE, spreading business to multiple counLane is president tries and regions to mitigate the ongoing risks of product shortages. As part and CEO of The of this, we also must ensure providers Center for have a voice in determining what Health Affairs should be included in the strategic naand CHAMPS tional stockpile of equipment.

Healthcare. ` Tech-enabling the supply chain: Alkire is Until recently, hospitals have been president and on their own in translating local CEO of Premier COVID-19 surges into immediately Inc. meaningful information regarding capacity and supplies. Now, providers are using technology to be better informed about how rapidly cases are spreading and about their required supplies at any given point. This new technology is leveraging real-time surveillance capabilities — providing early warnings, forecasting surges, and helping organizations plan coordinated responses where they’re needed most.

Moreover, the federal government needs technology that will provide visibility into what supplies are in stockpiles, distribution and hospital inventories during national emergencies. This will enable allocation to places in need and reduce hoarding and the illicit market, problems that challenged America for the first nine months of the pandemic.

When health care providers can predict COVID-19 hospitalizations and have confidence in the supply sufficiency of critical products, this creates a positive ripple effect — relieving strain on supply chains, ensuring more responsive care across communities, and helping keep businesses and schools open and running.

Even as COVID-19 exposed supply chain flaws and transformed the health care landscape, together we continue to show up and level up to address the challenges because of the pandemic and drive health care innovation for the future.

We must rally together to ensure access to the supplies, data, analytics and intelligence needed to survive and thrive in a challenging environment.

330

YEARS COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE IN COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE

20

REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONALS

5

CCIM DESIGNEES

4

SIOR DESIGNEES

5 MILLION 22 PROJECT SF PROPERTIES UNDER MANAGEMENT

IN TRANSACTIONS COMPLETED

MANAGERS

13

TEAM PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

hard enough to add into the mix prior to the pandemic, given even less options for it now mid-pandemic. It is a very real issue.

Women are now having to choose life circumstances over their career/livelihood/passion. Juggling the roles as mother, teacher, caretaker and more, they need the flexibility, autonomy over their schedules and support systems in place to succeed. My own daughters have big dreams. One wants to be a veterinarian or a singer; the other plans to be a fashion designer or kindergarten teacher. My dream for them is to enter the future workplace where they can flourish and maximize their creative potential to serve others. We can set the stage today with the right strategic decisions for an evolving hybrid workplace. Employers that help women navigate the most challenging years of raising children by offering these necessities will retain extremely loyal and productive contributors. Who knows? Your future CEO may just be in this mix of talent, too!

JANUARY 24, 2022 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 9

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ACTIVISTS GROW FRUSTRATED Cleveland-Marshall College of Law grapples with change from name referencing slave-owning Supreme Court justice.

LEGAL AFFAIRS

PAGE 12

LAW FIRMS OVERCOME UNCERTAINTY

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GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK PHOTO

Fin

Northeast Ohio offices see trends toward higher revenues and more flexibility continuing

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Last year was another highly profitable one for law firms in Northeast Ohio and across the industry, despite coping with the economic uncertainties of a lingering pandemic and the dynamics of the so-called “Great Resignation.”

While stakeholders suggest that it may be difficult to replicate the same successes of the prior year amid growing costs and a competitive environment for business and talent, much of the momentum of 2021 is expected to carry into 2022.

“Across the board, law firm leaders described 2021 as a year characterized by increased workloads, strong financial results, workforce expansions and continued confidence managing a hybrid work environment,” said Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association CEO Rebecca Ruppert McMahon, referencing results of the group’s annual state-of-the-firm survey. “Big firms appear to have made the greatest gains, although on balance, mid and small firms also had a good 2021.”

The CMBA survey, conducted through early

January, was sent to 75 law firm managing partners and partners-in-charge in Greater Cleveland. More than half of those responded. Their collective feedback offers a sense of what firms are reacting to and planning for in the rest of the year.

A detailed report will be included in the CMBA’s February Bar Journal.

In the meantime, here are some of the key takeaways of the survey and some insights on industry trends in the local market from the CMBA, some industry observers and other resources.

“WHAT IS INTERESTING TO ME IS THE BUSINESS CONTINUES TO THRIVE WITH PEOPLE WORKING WHEREVER THEY WANT TO WORK.” — Joseph Morford, Tucker Ellis managing partner

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A said “sur wel ons A por cial 2019 cial crea “T stra ebra new nea thei 80% form yea like tial A firm form ly.”

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FOCUS | LEGAL AFFAIRS

es

Workload Nearly 80% of all firms surveyed in the CMBA report said their workloads increased “significantly” or “somewhat” in 2021 — double what was reported in 2020.

Every large firm except one reported an increase in their workload.

About 66% of the midsize and small firms reported increases.

For the purposes of the CMBA survey, large firms are defined as those with 75 lawyers or more, and small firms have 14 lawyers or fewer.

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK PHOTO

Financial performance

g

At the end of 2020, McMahon said, many firms reported both “surprise and delight” over how well they performed during the onset of the pandemic.

A year ago, 50% of all firms reported an increase in their financial performance compared with 2019; 25% reported similar financial results; 25% reported a decrease.

“The results from 2021 demonstrate that even more firms are celebrating a successful year as the new one is getting started. Just as nearly 80% of the firms reported their workload increased in 2021, 80% also saw their financial performance increase year-overyear,” McMahon said. “And it looks like those increases were substantial.”

Among Cleveland’s largest law firms, 70% said their financial performance increased “significantly.”

No large firms reported a financial decline.

At smaller and midsize firms, 25% reported significant financial increases, while half reported some financial gains. Less than 20% of mid and small firms reported some decline in their 2021 financial performance.

As far as the industry at large, according to the Citi Hildebrandt 2022 Client Advisory published in December: “The year 2021 has been one of the strongest years on record for the law firm industry, even accounting for the aberrational base year created by the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. If we measure 2021 performance against a more normal 2019, the industry is still back to both demand and rate growth levels the likes of which we have not seen since 2007.”

The Citi report finds that firms reported average revenue growth of 14.7% through the first three quarters of 2021 compared with the like period of 2020.

Demand for services was up 6.6% over the same period, “driven largely by M&A, finance and capital markets as well as litigation activity," according to Citi.

“Even if we compared the 2021 performance to a more normal 2019,” the Citi report notes, “we still saw performance levels akin to pre-Global Financial Crisis years.”

Rate changes Firms weren’t just working harder in 2021. They charged more, too.

About 66% of all large and midsize firms in Greater Cleveland increased rates in 2021, according to the CMBA, which is just about the same number that reported rate increases in 2020.

The average rate increase was between 1% and 5%.

“In clear contrast,” McMahon said, just one of the responding small firms increased its rates.

According to the Citi report, rates across the legal industry increased by approximately 6.5%, while the collection cycle shortened by 2.1%.

According to the 2021 Clio Legal Trends report, the average hourly rates in Ohio in the past year were: $221 for firms; $234 for lawyers; $138 for non-lawyers.

Comparatively, the most expensive market, according to Clio, was Washington, D.C. ($373 for firms; $411 for lawyers; $187 for non-lawyers). The cheapest market was West Virginia ($161 for firms; $163 for lawyers; $141 for non-lawyers).

Workforce According to the CMBA, half as many firms reported workforce reductions in 2021 compared with 2020. Just 15% of survey respondents reported position eliminations in the past year versus 30% in 2020.

“While there has been much discussion about the Great Resignation, mid and small firms saw little impact on their workforces, although a few reported seeing paralegals resign at a higher rate than usual,” McMahon said. “In contrast, more than 60% of large law firms indicated they saw associates, paralegals and administrative staff leave more frequently than in previous years.”

To be sure, managing these increased workloads has translated to growth for many firms.

In Cleveland, more than 90% of firms added new positions in 2021 compared with just 80% in 2020, according to the CMBA. Separately, 65% of responding firms said they plan to add additional positions in 2022, with midsize firms being the most intent on scaling up. About 80% of midsize firms in Cleveland said they plan to add new positions, compared with about half of the large and small firms.

Working from where?

CMBA survey respondents indicate firm partners, associates, paralegals and administrative staff are working more often in the office than at home today compared with the past year. But few are going to the office exclusively.

According to the CMBA, zero partners and associates at large and midsize firms are working solely at their company offices — which makes sense given the flexible work arrangements embraced amid COVID. Among paralegals and administrative staff, however, about half are working in the office exclusively.

Partners and associates at small firms tend to report working much more out of their company offices.

“When looking ahead toward the second half of 2022, firms indicate they are still planning to support a hybrid work environment but remain hopeful their workforces will spend more and more time in the office than outside of it,” McMahon said. “It is clear, however, hybrid is here to stay.”

McMahon highlighted a confidential survey comment from a Cleveland managing partner: “The

Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association survey results The survey got responses from 43 law firm leaders in the Cleveland market.

During 2021, did firms add any new positions?

Added one or more new administrative positions: 24 Added one or more new legal assistant/paralegal positions: 14 Added one or more new attorney positions: 33 Did not add any new positions: 5

Are firms likely to add any attorney positions in 2022?

Yes: 35 No: 3 Too soon to know: 5

share what the firm is paying associates as a base, he notes the strategy for his company is to play up the flexibility.

“We may not offer the same as a New York firm,” he said. “But we try to make up for that with a competitive salary and work-life-balance.”

As the firm’s chief diversity officer, Thompson said he’s also found success in drawing young people while playing up the firm’s own DEI efforts. He often highlights the diversity in the firm’s executive and compensation committees, which are 67% and 50% diverse (in terms of having women and minorities), respectively.

While firms don’t like to disclose their pay rates, the leader of a top-20 firm in Cleveland said in the past year that its starting associate salary in this market has increased approximately 30%, to $165,000.

As far as office space …

Did landlord provide firm with any pandemic-related benefits?* Free rent for one or more months: 2 Reduction of monthly lease payment: 1 Modification of lease term without penalty: 3 Modification of lease term with penalty: 0 Other financial concessions: 2 No pandemic-related benefits: 32 We own our building: 2 *3 FIRMS SKIPPED THIS SURVEY QUESTION SOURCE: CLEVELAND METROPOLITAN BAR ASSOCIATION SURVEY

pandemic has been a time machine that accelerated already existing technological and demographic trends. Those trends — flexibility, dress code, virtuality — have now become the new normal. There is no stopping the march. We were all going to be here anyway, we just got here a bit sooner.”

Firms like to say publicly that they’ve never closed down their offices despite the pandemic and that they are routinely working in the office, because it conveys to clients that they are busy and committed to service.

In reality, work is obviously getting done, but firms are being very flexible with where they permit their lawyers to work, perhaps even more than they might collectively let on outwardly. One need only to walk the halls of a floor in Key Tower — or any other prominent downtown building — to notice that foot traffic remains but a fraction of what it was in pre-pandemic times.

Competing for talent The embrace of hybrid work is a common part of the pitch when attempting to attract or retain talent, law firm leaders say, especially when it comes to younger associates.

“What is interesting to me is the business continues to thrive with people working wherever they want to work,” said Tucker Ellis managing partner Joseph Morford. “I wasn’t exactly sure that would be the case.”

He notes that firm revenue in-

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

creased about 15% in 2021.

There is some concern about newer recruits not connecting with their colleagues in the same way because of remote work. But a common way to address this is by simply leaning into virtual interfacing opportunities. There are deliberate efforts to connect lawyers with practice group heads and mentors, with Zoom happy hours sprinkled in with some regularity.

The firm may look at a hybrid structure this spring or summer with a couple of mandatory in-office days if COVID begins to recede. But with the current dynamics working generally well, and with attorneys feeling happy about it, there is not a huge rush to yank folks into the office, Morford said.

That sentiment is shared by many other firm leaders.

Besides workplace flexibility, firms are raising salaries earnestly in order to compete in what Morford describes as a “hot talent market where recruiters are chasing everyone.”

Tucker Ellis, he said, gave three raises to associates in 2021.

That is not typical.

Adrian Thompson, co-partner-incharge in Cleveland for Taft Stettinius & Hollister, indicates his firm has taken a similar tack.

Pay is rising even higher in bigger legal markets, like New York and Chicago.

But firm leaders say it’s not just pay that is resonating with new hires.

Although Thompson declined to

The embrace of virtual work amid the pandemic, coupled with growing costs in areas like personnel and technology, has duly raised questions about the future needs of office spaces and what impact that might have in turn on commercial offices in general.

This was a particularly hot topic amid the first COVID waves in the U.S. in 2020 that played out before the availability of vaccines. That summer, legal consultancy Altman Weil said it would be “managerial malpractice” for firms to not reconsider office-related costs and petition landlords for rent concessions.

This idea took root before the industry realized what a highly profitable couple of years it had ahead.

But the sentiment remains. If people are working in offices less, how much should really be spent on those spaces? This thinking has led to some firms downsizing, including in this market.

Morford said Tucker Ellis has slightly shrunk some offices across its footprint, which has helped it save “seven figures” on rent since COVID started.

Be that as it may, nearly 90% of respondents in the CMBA survey reported no change to their office sizes or locations in 2021.

Nearly 25% of responding firms, however, said they considering space reductions in 2022, including half of the smaller firms.

Very few firms — less than 20% — reported receiving any concessions from their landlords in 2021, a slight increase over 2020, according to the CMBA. A leader of one growing large firm in Cleveland said that while it has received no breaks on rent at its downtown office tower, landlord concessions have materialized via expense reductions offered as the firm takes up additional space and adds offices on additional floors.

As some businesses shrink their office space, growing firms like Taft are looking to snap up more.

“COVID, like everything, it is hopefully going to come to an end. And when it does, our goal is to create an environment where people want to be in the office,” Thompson said.

“That will just mean making it fun and conducive to learning and mentoring. And that’s all part of being a modern law firm.”

Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

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Cleveland-Marshall continues to grapple with name Activists pushing for college of law to eliminate reference to slave owner grow frustrated

BY JEREMY NOBILE

A movement pushing for Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law to eliminate from its name any reference to John Marshall, chief justice of the United States between 1801 and 1834 and a slave owner, continues to pick up steam — and not just in Northeast Ohio.

The surrounding activist effort calls on all learning institutions named after Marshall to remove any references to him in their names in recognition of his problematic history.

This movement helped inspire The University of Illinois at Chicago’s John Marshall Law School to change its name last July to the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. That leaves two other law schools bearing Marshall’s name at this time: Cleveland-Marshall and Atlanta's John Marshall Law School.

A Cleveland-Marshall naming committee is charged with exploring whether the school's name should be modified and with considering potential alternatives if so. A 46-page Law School Name Framing Document published in December details the process so far.

It includes a passage from Cleveland-Marshall professors David Forte and Stephen Lazarus titled “Why We Should Keep Our Name.”

“The independence of the Court that Marshall brought about and the institution of judicial review that he preserved gave later Supreme Courts the power to overturn segregation and affirm equal rights for African Americans,” they write. “Though he personally owned many slaves, an action that cannot be defended, John Marshall’s life led to freedom and liberty under our laws for millions of our citizens.

“Particularly for those in Cleveland who achieved so much through an institution bearing his name, John Marshall should remain an honored name among us,” they continue. “Moreover, in our quest to bring justice to issues of racial equality, it would be ironic to remove the name of a man who provided the means today for achieving that racial justice. We should not distract ourselves from this quest by removing the Marshall brand, which has meant so much to the advancement of minorities as well as many from our ethnic communities.”

The school has has not yet committed to a timeline for reaching a resolution on the renaming situation.

Cleveland-Marshall Dean Lee Fisher has encouraged observers to “respect the process” that is being undertaken.

Students Against Marshall This, however, rankles some members of the student body who find the process unsatisfactory. As a result, the Students Against Marshall group was formed in November. On Tuesday, Jan. 18, the group said it submitted a formal request to the Cleveland-Marshall naming committee urging the school to change its name.

“We have mobilized to pressure the school to remove the name of the brutal slave owner, Chief Justice John Marshall, so that no other law student graduates with a slave owner on their diploma,” said Emily Forsee, a

A Cleveland-Marshall naming committee is charged with exploring whether the school’s name should be modified. | CONTRIBUTED

second-year Cleveland-Marshall student and a representative of the group.

Ward 9 Cleveland City Councilman Kevin Conwell introduced a resolution earlier this month urging the school to change its name as well. It notes that “although John Marshall believed slavery was evil and opposed the slave trade, he nevertheless owned slaves most of his life."

“In the early 19th century, Marshall expressed reservations about large-scale emancipation of slaves, in part because he feared a large number of freed slaves would rise up in revolution.” And “in 1817, Marshall joined the American Colonization Society, which favored sending freed blacks to Africa ... this Council believes that because of John Marshall's life-long association with slavery, the Law School Name Committee should eliminate any reference to him regarding the college of law.”

Many alumni are resistant to the change. Some are reportedly worried about voicing their opinions because of how that might be interpreted.

Meanwhile, Forsee said she feels that critics of the renaming effort dismiss the views of Students Against Marshall as those of a “woke” group and a product of cancel culture.

What started all this?

This renaming movement began with a Change.org petition created in June 2020 by Hanna Kassis, a Cleveland lawyer, CPA and entrepreneur.

Kassis graduated from the UIC law school in 2014. It was during his time at the university he learned about cases where Marshall “upheld the notion that Native Americans have no claim

to their land, by using legal trickery to reverse lower-court decisions or simply refusing to hear the case.”

The chief justice’s behavior struck a personal chord with Kassis, who was not actually aware of Marshall’s history as a slave owner at the time.

“This hit close to home because I’m Palestinian,” Kassis explained. “In the West Bank, my family has actually lost land to the Israeli government under the Oslo Accords. My grandma died fighting this in court, trying to get our land back. Exactly what happened to my grandma, my parents, my dad and siblings, is exactly what John Marshall did in Johnson v. M’Intosh.”

That landmark Supreme Court case held that Native Americans did not have any legal right to sell land Kassis they had lived on to private citizens because they didn’t own it.

The U.S. government, Marshall opined, inherited the right of preemption over Native lands when it declared independence from Great Britain in 1776.

The result is a ruling undermining Native American claims to lands they lived on for so long. They were “denied justice,” Kassis said.

This is how he feels about his own family.

It was at this point Kassis said he began considering whether to pressure his alma mater to change its name.

But time passed. He graduated from law school and returned to Northeast Ohio (he has family in Youngstown), where he began to focus on his career and professional life.

Then came spring 2020 and the extrajudicial murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. What followed was a countrywide reckoning for racial justice that led to riots in downtown Cleveland.

“I just felt helpless at that time,” Kassis said. “I thought, ‘How can I contribute to justice in America?’

And this was it.”

In June 2020, he created the petition titled “Rename John Marshall Institutions.” He sent it directly to deans at Cleveland-Marshall and his Chicago alma mater.

“It just felt like the right time to do it,” Kassis said.

Kassis later discovered the 2018 book “Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation's Highest Court” by Paul Finkelman. The book dives into John Marshall's history as an owner of people. He owned hundreds of slaves throughout his life, traded them and used his position on the Supreme Court to keep slavery intact.

“It wasn't until 2018 that people really knew how bad Marshall's slave ownership was. Thanks to Dr. Paul Finkelman. All the lead ‘scholars’ before him either denied or buried the fact that he was a slave master who traded in slaves,” the petition notes.

“To this day, those same scholars fail to recognize the truth. Meanwhile 18 schools (and two law schools) carry on Marshall's name.”

'People are frustrated' All that is necessary to alter the school's name is a vote by the college's board of trustees. But any ac-

tion is unlikely until an official recommendation has been supplied by the name-change committee.

When asked about a timeline for a resolution to the situation, Cleveland-Marshall provided the following statement: “The College of Law is working through a process evaluating its name. This is a consequential decision that requires careful study, and a thoughtful, inclusive process that considers different viewpoints from our entire law school and university community. Our process has modeled what we teach our law students — to listen and learn, and to withhold judgment until we have had a chance to evaluate what we have heard.

There is no timetable for a decision.”

It’s been nearly 20 months since Kassis’ petition — which has nearly 1,600 signatures and continues to draw more — was launched and sent to the school.

For activists, it feels like action is moving at a glacial pace.

Forsee suggests that there is nothing stopping the school from removing John Marshall from its name if it really wanted to and selecting a more official moniker down the road — similar to how the Washington Redskins changed their name to the more generic Washington Football Team until further notice.

“People are frustrated. Lawyers are very capable of consuming voluminous amounts of data and drawing decisions immediately. That is what we are trained to do,” Kassis said.

“But the fact they’ve been deliberating and hypothesizing for so long … it’s like, just make a decision.”

Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

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GREAT PLACE TO WORK?

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FOCUS | LEGAL AFFAIRS

BEYOND BOX-CHECKING

BY DOUGLAS J. GUTH

Squire Patton Boggs attorney Fred Nance joined the full-service firm in 1978, a time when the notion of equal opportunity was still in its nascent stage. Diversity in law has seen fits and starts since, with the George Floyd protests in summer 2020 sparking a social justice flashpoint across the industry.

“So many of our clients have an intense social justice focus now,” said Nance, who currently leads Squire’s newly created Office of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion). “People are looking beyond diversity box-checking to (in-house) advancements and who’s getting credit inside the law firm. It’s created an arms race among many large firms to improve their diversity performance.”

Meeting DEI goals involves a perhaps never-before-seen intentionality, encompassing a sustained commitment to new recruiting, hiring, training and promotion practices.

Squire has more than three dozen women and ethnic minorities serving in either appointed or elected leadership positions firm-wide, including at its very highest levels.

In September, Squire appointed Michele Connell — previously the firm’s Cleveland office managing partner — as a global manager for a U.S. LLP covering 34 of Squire’s 45 international offices. Connell will succeed Nance in the role, with her pre-

Nance

Adamson

decessor understanding that equality and representation at Squire — and across the industry at large — still has miles to go.

“It’s about evolving the mindset of what used to be sufficient, which was to do no harm or not discriminate,” Nance said. “Now it’s in our joint self-interest to be proactive in supporting and nurturing diverse colleagues.”

at large law firms, with Northeast Ohio’s legal community lagging behind on key gender and racial diversity metrics. Data submitted for Crain’s 2019 Law Firms list revealed a glaring lack of diversity in partner-level roles, even as there were signs of improvement.

The number of female partners in the region increased by 7% from 2008 to 2019, while the number of local minority partners remained flat. Of 1,362 partners at the 40 large firms that submitted data, 283 were women and 55 identified as minorities. Those figures equated to just

What’s the problem?

Adequately addressing DEI objectives has historically met with failure

Squire Patton Boggs is looking to meet rising demands for diversity 20% and 4%, respectively, of that group’s partner class.

The story is similar on the national front: According to a report from the American Bar Association, women comprised 35% of all attorneys in the U.S., filling approximately 20% of partner-level positions.

Only 5% of all active lawyers identified as Black — another 5% identified as Hispanic or Latino, and just 2% were Asian.

Squire is purposeful in affirming the core values that underpin its inclusive culture, a stance resulting in “political heat” from some quarters, according to Nance. Regardless, the firm’s DEI arm is spearheading a culture change that included a recent internship cohort where half the participants came from diverse backgrounds.

Outreach is vital in changing an industry where circumstance of birth is on equal footing with merit, said Nance. Retaining high-profile clientele hinges on nurturing estab-

What circles does your family move in? Where did you go to school? All those factors disadvantage minorities, because we don’t start out with those social contacts. So it’s hard to get in the door, then there’s a disproportionate difference in moving up the ladder unless you get a significant amount of client work. It seems like such a daunting task.”

An active obligation to diversity

Bryan Adamson, associate dean for diversity at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law, is quick to note the difference between diversity and inclusion.

“When I think of diversity, it means who do we include in our space, and ranges around race, ethnicity, orientation, ability and gender,” said Adamson. “Diversity means what are our numbers, and inclusion means how do we make those numbers count?”

In perpetuating larger goals of “NOW IT’S IN OUR JOINT SELF-INTEREST inclusivity, the TO BE PROACTIVE IN SUPPORTING AND law school is now offering students NURTURING DIVERSE COLLEAGUES.” a “Race, Law and — Fred Nance, Squire Patton Boggs attorney Society” elective.

Though exploring lished social networks that attorneys the relationship between discrimiwith disadvantaged upbringings are nation and the U.S. legal system is less likely to have. not an end-all for equality, such stuNance said, “Who do you know? dent-centered discussions can still

14 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JANUARY 24, 2022

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mak uns T syst pop thei quir soci sou dive tate ing “Y abo fost Ada doe then can N liga attra Man soci read pac has “F firm ey, b of t whe A the hire they ing whe vice on dea

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK PHOTO

FOCUS | LEGAL AFFAIRS make inroads with minority learners unsure if law is for them.

To further break discriminatory systems around underrepresented populations, firms should evaluate their hiring practices, which requires outreach to minority bar associations and other untapped resources. Top-down commitment to diverse employment also necessitates would-be associates supporting your newly minted value system.

“You can certainly ask a candidate about their last job, and how they fostered a DEI environment there,” Adamson said. “If that answer doesn’t align with your firm’s values, then you have your answer if that candidate is right for you.”

Nance of Squire said an active obligation to diversity is a magnet for attracting women and minorities.

Many Black candidates enter law for social justice reasons, as they already recognize the deleterious impact a lack of power and resources has on marginalized people.

“For these folks, working at a big firm is not just about making money, but about improving the culture of the country and the community where they live,” said Nance.

After getting diverse attorneys in the door, firms must involve new hires in client pitches, and ensure they are put to work on a case. Acting on behalf of the social good — whether providing pro bono services to the indigent or embarking on criminal justice projects for death-row inmates — can be an ad-

Squire Patton Boggs associates Chang Baek, left, Christina Luo and Lauyrn Durham listen as Fred Nance makes a point in the firm’s offices. Nance leads Squire’s newly created Office of DEI. | SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS

ditional draw for a new generation of underrepresented attorneys.

However, a lack of upward mobility among associates will only drive them to other opportunities, added Nance. Squire’s employment ladder includes two high-ranking women:

Columbus office managing partner Traci Martinez and Petrina Hall McDaniel, co-leader of the firm’s class action and multidistrict litigation practice in Atlanta.

Recruiting, mentoring and promoting diverse attorneys is chang-

ing the tide at one of Cleveland’s oldest legacy law firms. Nance would like to see Squire’s work spread to every corner of a typically slow-moving industry.

“It’s the same dynamic that’s driving so much change in the U.S.,” said

Nance. “America is becoming more diverse, and simple demographics show more women and minorities in positions of power and authority.”

Contact Douglas J. Guth: clbfreelancer@crain.com

o y

move ? All oriwith d to prog up nifiems

ean Rew, is een

, it our ethgenrsity and make

uatls of the now ents and tive. ring mim is stustill

Crain’s Cleveland Business will honor eight individuals in their 80s or older who are still working tirelessly to advance Northeast Ohio and its residents.

Do you know someone 80 or older who has seemingly tossed the word “retirement” from his or her vocabulary and continues to make an impact in Northeast Ohio’s business, civic and philanthropic circles?

NOMINATION DEADLINE: Feb. 14 | Issue Date: Apr. 18

NOMINATE TODAY: CrainsCleveland.com/nominate JANUARY 24, 2022 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 15

CUSTOM PUBLISHING SECTION

WELLNESS AND THE WORKPLACE We want to hear from forward-thinking business leaders in Northeast Ohio on strategies for ensuring employees are healthy and supported.

Create your own unique topic or choose from the list: • How to reward healthy behaviors

• Catered lunches and other perks

• Best practices in building benefits packages

• How to address mental health with accessible therapy

• Ways to incentivize continuing education

• When to bring in wellness consultants and guest speakers

• Flexible PTO approaches

• “Gamifying” fitness with exercise awards and more

• Holistic insurance options (pet, renters, etc.)

• Lunch-and-learn opportunities • How to help staff maintain a work/life balance • Charity programs that let employees give back • Team-building events that strengthen bonds and break ice

• Setting aside “Wellness Wednesday” events • Planning “happy hour” occasions and other chances to unwind • Providing healthy snacks in the break room • The value of standing desks and accommodating other physical health needs

• Connecting employees with local/regional health resources • Ways to incentivize smoking cessation • Bringing flu shots and blood drives to the office • Hosting on-site clinics and other health services • The importance of regular customer surveys to learn what’s working and what’s not • Setting aside dedicated space for mindfulness, decompression and rest • Showing employees appreciation with gifts, bonuses and other rewards

ISSUE DATE: April 11 | PARTICIPATION DEADLINE: Feb. 14 | ARTICLES DUE: Feb. 25 | AD CREATIVE DUE: March 28

Contact Conner Howard at conner.howard@crain.com to learn more about these opportunities.

roundtable for wellness full.indd 1

CRAIN’SCONTENTSTUDIO CLEVELAND

1/13/22 7:40 AM

AKRON

Diebold Nixdorf’s move to Hudson is nearly complete DAN SHINGLER

You might not have noticed, but the big ATM maker Diebold Nixdorf has all but completed moving its headquarters from Green to Hudson’s Executive Parkway.

“It’s built. We’ve started moving in and I’ve been working here since late October. We’re kind of slow-rolling the move in,” said Mike Jacobsen, senior director of corporate communications for Diebold Nixdorf .

The 70,000-square-foot building was once a call center, Jacobsen said.

But it’s being remodeled by Industrial Commercial Properties (ICP), a Solon-based developer that purchased the site, along with Diebold Nixdorf’s former headquarters in Green, on the last day of 2020 for a combined price of just under $10 million.

The project says a lot about the times. For one thing, the new headquarters is a fraction of the size of the 262,000-square-foot building that Diebold Nixdorf is leaving behind.

That’s by design, in part because Diebold Nixdorf has decided to allow a lot of its employees to continue working remotely, said Jacobsen, who himself sometimes works from his home in North Canton.

It had begun allowing remote work even before the pandemic, which only accelerated the practice at Diebold Nixdorf, Jacobsen said.

But the company had also decreased its headquarters’ needs as a result of its 2015 merger between what was then Diebold Inc. and Germany’s Wincor Nixdorf. The combined company pledged to cut $500 million from its annual costs. It previously reported having cut $165 million from its costs in 2020 and said that year it was on track to save another $160 million in 2021. Jacobsen said the company has reduced its headcount by about 1,000 employees since the beginning of 2020, to about 22,000 currently.

Between that and the company’s embrace of remote work, Jacobsen

said, Diebold Nixdorf had only been using about 50% of its old space, prompting the move to a smaller headquarters as the company re-evaluated its real estate holdings generally.

“It’s utilization,” Jacobsen said.

“Even before COVID hit we weren’t using that space. … Then COVID hit and our CEO saw that people were still productive.”

That’s all expressed in the interior design of the new headquarters, which features a combination of permanent workspaces for people who will be in the office regularly and fulland part-time remote workstations that employees can share and use on their in-office days.

The last two pieces of the move yet to be completed are the transfer of the company’s IT people and the build-out

of an “experience center” that will showcase Diebold Nixdorf’s latest products and technologies for customers and visitors, Jacobsen said. A laboratory with an array of the company’s ATMs is set up and full of the machines for which Diebold is known.

“We should be complete soon,” he said of the experience center. “And the plan is to move our IT support functions in this month (January).”

The experience center should be completed sometime in February, he said, and Diebold Nixdorf thinks its new headquarters is ideally located for visitors to see it thanks to its proximity to both the Cleveland Hopkins International and Akron-Canton airports.

“Another attraction of us going to Hudson is that people can again fly and visit us easily. We like the flexibility that location gives us between the air-

ports,” Jacobsen said.

The company’s arrival is a boon to Hudson, where Diebold Nixdorf will be one of the city’s largest companies.

“We are pleased to welcome Diebold Nixdorf to Hudson’s growing business community. They are a great addition to our city, and we wish them much success in Hudson,” said city communications manager Jody Roberts, who added that the city expects the company to be among its top 10 sources of income tax revenues once it’s fully staffed there.

Meanwhile, Diebold Nixdorf is growing in North Canton, where it has expanded its manufacturing operations after moving them there from North Carolina in 2019.

About 100 people work there now but employment is expected to go to about 450 once the company expands its space in the North Canton’s Hoover District, which the company also sold and will lease as part of its real estate reorganization.

“Where we are at right now, the current manufacturing space is approximately 180,000 square feet, the expan-

Diebold Nixdorf’s new headquarters on Executive Parkway in Hudson. | DAN SHINGLER/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

sion would be approximately 178,000 (additional) square feet,” Jacobsen said. “We’re hoping to move in in the fourth quarter of this year.”

That site is owned by ICP affiliate Maple Street Commerce. The developer has not released a cost figure on either that or the headquarters project.

ICP chief operating officer Chris Salata said via email that the expanded manufacturing space at the Hoover District should be completed well in time for Diebold Nixdorf’s planned move to its expanded plant in North Canton later this year.

“The Diebold expansion in North Canton is progressing well as our teams have begun work on the foundations and building pad,” Salata wrote.

“The project will continue into the spring, and we are expecting completion in Q2 2022.”

Dan Shingler: dshingler@crain.com, (216) 771-5290, @DanShingler

REAL ESTATE

Trio of Northeast Ohio hotels sold to new owners

BY STAN BULLARD

A local hotel company and two out-of-state ones have started placing their bets and bucks on the comeback of the lodging market from pandemic pains.

The neighboring Courtyard and MainStay Suites properties on Engle Road in Middleburg Heights were sold by a lender-controlled group for $5 million and $3 million, respectively, according to Cuyahoga County land records. And the Hampton Inn Kent/Akron in Brimfield Township was sold for $5 million, according to Portage County land records. All three deals closed in the waning days and tax year of 2021.

Courtyard’s new owner is an affiliate of Superior Hospitality — one of several hotel companies led by Malik Abdulnoor — a Farmington Hills, Michigan, hotel owner and real estate developer with 15 inns in its Superior

portfolio, according to its website.

MainStay Suites, previously a TownePlace Suites, is now owned by Radhekrish LLC, which is led by Alpesh Patel, who is based at the Mentor Hampton Inn, which his company also owns.

And the Hampton Inn Kent/Akron now belongs, through SSS Hospitality LLC, to the Chicago-based Witness Group, which has 20 Ohio hotels and another 14 in Indiana. The four-floor hotel was sold by its original developer, Haribol Haribol Inc., a New Philadelphia, Ohio, hotel developer and owner.

All three properties were sold through Ten-X Capital online auctions earlier in 2021, even though the deals were consummated within the past month. All three properties traded at a discount to market values assigned by their respective Cuyahoga or Portage county taxing authorities.

In a reflection of the times, the auctions represent a way for sellers to

handle multiple potential buyers as well as the traditional method of lenders using auctions to vend distressed inns.

David Sangree, president of Hotel & Leisure Advisors, a lodging and appraisal company based in Lakewood, said in a phone interview, “A lot of money is chasing hotel deals, but they are generally only buying at a discount.”

The transactions also show that suburban properties, which have a stronger leisure base and locations near highways, are faring better than big downtown hotels that also rely on group and business travel.

“The business component is still lagging, because as people have learned to work from home, they have also learned to do business from home with less travel,” Sangree said. “The leisure business is really back, which you can tell particularly in Sandusky with hotels that serve

Cedar Point. They are back to pre-pandemic levels.”

Taken as a group, the three hotels have a total of 324 rooms or suites and sold for an average price of just over $40,000 per plastic room key, a price well below replacement costs and, in the case of the Engle Road properties, prior sales prices.

Charles Bichara, Middleburg Heights economic development director, said the new owners of the hotels in the suburb have not yet been in touch with city officials about the acquisitions or future plans.

“These hotels have remained in operation through the pandemic,” Bichara said. He noted that last year, both had stable operations based on hotel room taxes, although he declined to specify collection figures.

Those are a distinct difference from some other hotel sales.

In one high-profile example, the 404-room DoubleTree Inn in Beach-

wood was bought from a lender by a group led by Chad Kertesz, a Cleveland real estate developer, in November for $12.4 million. Kertesz has a track record as an apartment and single-family residential developer, not as a hotel operator. He also heads an investor group converting a previously closed nursing home in Beachwood to apartments and a coworking office operation.

That property dates from the 1970s, while the Courtyard and Suites were developed in the 1990s by affiliates of the former Richard Jacobs Group and have changed hands three times. The Hampton Inn Kent/ Akron is the same vintage.

None of the three new ownership groups returned three contact efforts from Crain’s Cleveland Business by phone and email.

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

JANUARY 24, 2022 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 17

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CRAIN'S LIST | LARGEST OHIO MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS ANNOUNCED IN 2021 Ranked by deal value DEAL VALUE (MILLIONS)

COMPANY/ASSET SOLD; LOCATION

BUYER; LOCATION

SELLER; LOCATION

DATE ANNOUNCED

DESCRIPTION OF COMPANY/ASSET SOLD

1 2

$10,105.1 Announced

MEGGITT PLC Coventry, United Kingdom

Parker-Hannifin Corp.

Mayfield Heights

Various investors

Aug. 2, 2021

Manufacturer of components and sub-systems for aerospace, defense, energy and other markets

$4,912.5 Closed

CANTEL MEDICAL LLC Little Falls, N.J.

STERIS plc Dublin, Ireland (HQ); Mentor (operational HQ)

Various investors

Jan. 12, 2021

Infection prevention and control products and services company

3 4 5

$4,555.0 Closed

FIRST STUDENT INC./FIRST TRANSIT INC. United States

EQT Partners AB Stockholm, Sweden

FirstGroup America Inc. Cincinnati

April 23, 2021

Transportation services companies

$3,618.6 Announced

HEXION HOLDINGS CORP. Columbus

American Securities LLC New York

Various investors

Dec. 20, 2021

Manufacturer of adhesives and performance materials

$3,500.0 Closed

GREAT AMERICAN LIFE INSURANCE CO. AND AFFILIATES Cincinnati

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. Springfield, Mass.

American Financial Group Inc. Cincinnati

Jan. 27, 2021

Insurance provider

6 7 8

$3,236.8 Closed

COOPER TIRE & RUBBER CO. Findlay

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Akron

Various investors

Feb. 22, 2021

Manufacturer of replacement tires

$3,034.8 Announced

ADIT EDTECH ACQUISITION CORP. 1 New York

Griid Infrastructure LLC Cincinnati

Adit Edtech Sponsor LLC New York

Nov. 30, 2021

Special purpose acquisition company

$2,846.0 Announced

KENTUCKY POWER CO./AEP KENTUCKY TRANSMISSION CO. INC. United States

Liberty Utilities Co. Salem, N.H.

American Electric Power Co. Inc. Columbus

Oct. 26, 2021

Electric utilities

9

$2,830.0 Closed

COBHAM MISSION SYSTEMS WIMBORNE LTD. Wimborne, United Kingdom

Eaton Corp. plc AI Convoy (Luxembourg) S.a.r.l.

Dublin, Ireland (HQ); Beachwood Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (operational HQ)

Feb. 1, 2021

Aerospace and defense products manufacturer

10

$2,375.0 Announced

FIRSTENERGY TRANSMISSION LLC Akron

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP Hamilton, Bermuda

FirstEnergy Corp.

Akron

Nov. 7, 2021

Owner and operator of high-voltage transmission facilities

11 12 13

$2,289.2 Announced

FERRO CORP. Mayfield Heights

Prince International Corp.

Houston

Various investors

May 11, 2021

Specialty materials manufacturer

$2,233.0 Announced

ZANITE ACQUISITION CORP. 1 Beachwood

Eve Urban Air Mobility LLC São Paulo, Brazil

Various investors, including Zanite Sponsor LLC of Beachwood

Dec. 21, 2021

Special purpose acquisition company

$2,017.2 Closed

Vertiv Holdings Co. E&I ENGINEERING IRELAND LTD./POWERBAR Columbus GULF LLC AFFILIATE Ireland (E&I); United Arab Emirates (Powerbar Gulf LLC)

Powerbar Ltd. Donegal, Ireland

Sept. 8, 2021

Manufacturer of electrical switchgear and power distribution systems

14

$1,650.0 Closed

TRIPPE MANUFACTURING CO. (TRIPPE LITE) Chicago

Eaton Corp. plc — Dublin, Ireland (HQ); Beachwood (operational HQ)

Jan. 29, 2021

Manufacturer of power protection and connectivity products

15 16

$1,600.0 Closed

MTD HOLDINGS INC. (80% STAKE) Valley City

Stanley Black & Decker Inc. New Britain, Conn.

—

Aug. 17, 2021

Manufacturer of outdoor power equipment

$1,580.0 Closed

PORTFOLIO OF 86 SENIORS HOUSING PROPERTIES United States

Welltower Inc. Toledo

Holiday Retirement Winter Park, Fla.

June 21, 2021

80 independent living and six combination independent living/assisted living properties

17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28

$1,200.0 Announced

GLOBAL EPOXY BUSINESS OF HEXION INC. Netherlands

Westlake Olefins Corp.

Houston

Hexion Inc. Columbus

Nov. 24, 2021

Manufacturer and developer of specialty resins, coatings and composites

$988.4 Closed

LANDCADIA HOLDINGS III INC. 1 Houston

Hillman Solutions Corp.

Cincinnati

Jefferies Financial Group Inc., New York; TJF LLC, Houston

Jan. 25, 2021

Special purpose acquisition company

$965.0 Closed

DRB SYSTEMS INC. Akron

Gilbarco Inc. Greensboro, N.C.

New Mountain Capital LLC New York

July 19, 2021

Provider of car wash technology

$927.0 Closed

CORDIS CORP. Santa Clara, Calif.

Hellman & Friedman LLC San Francisco

Cardinal Health Inc. Dublin, Ohio

March 12, 2021 Manufacturer of cardiology and endovascular medical devices

$812.5 Announced

VERSO CORP. Miamisburg

BillerudKorsnäs Solna, Sweden

Various investors

Dec. 19, 2021

Paper and pulp producer

$775.0 Closed

FERROUS PROCESSING & TRADING CO. Detroit

Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. Cleveland

Soave Enterprises LLC Detroit

Oct. 11, 2021

Processor and recycler of scrap metal

$700.0 Closed

PET SUPPLIES PLUS LLC Livonia, Mich.

Franchise Group Inc. Delaware, Ohio

Sentinel Capital Partners LLC New York

Jan. 25, 2021

Chain of pet supply stores

$683.9 Announced

PINE TECHNOLOGY ACQUISITION CORP. 1 Aurora

The Tomorrow Cos. Inc. Boston, Mass.

Various investors

Dec. 7, 2021

Special purpose acquisition company

$631.0 Closed

ENGINEERED CONTROLS INTERNATIONAL LLC Elon, N.C.

OPW Fueling Components Inc. Hamilton, Ohio

Windjammer Capital Investors LLC Newport Beach, Calif.

Dec. 16, 2021

Manufacturer of specialty valves and control products

$581.4 Closed

W.S. BADCOCK CORP. Abbeville, S.C.

Franchise Group Inc. Delaware, Ohio

Badcock family

Nov. 22, 2021

Operator of home furniture retail stores in the southeastern United States

$580.0 Closed

14 PROPERTY SENIOR HOUSING PORTFOLIO United States

Welltower Inc. Toledo

NorthStar Healthcare Income Inc. New York

Nov. 4, 2021

14 senior housing properties

$571.2 Closed

RAIL LEASING BUSINESS OF THE ANDERSONS INC. United States

American Industrial Transport Inc. St. Charles, Mo.

The Andersons Inc. Maumee

Aug. 16, 2021

Railcar leasing business

29 30

$550.0 Closed

NINE PROPERTY PUERTO RICO PORTFOLIO Puerto Rico

Kildare Acquisitions US LLC Los Angeles

Retail Value Inc. Beachwood

July 15, 2021

Includes nine retail properties in Puerto Rico

$510.0 Announced

VNDLY INC. Mason

Workday Inc. Pleasanton, Calif.

Various investors, including Cintrifuse and Vine Street Ventures of Cincinnati

Nov. 18, 2021

Contractor and vendor management software company

RANK

Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence (spglobal.com/marketintelligence); additional research by Chuck Soder (csoder@crain.com) | The list excludes deals that were announced in 2020 but closed in 2021. Deal value includes earn outs and other payments occurring only when certain conditions are met. Crain's does not verify all information; there is no guarantee these listings are complete or accurate. NOTES: 1. Special purpose acquisition companies are often considered the acquirer in a legal sense, but they are typically considered the acquired company from an accounting perspective as they do not control the combined organization.

Get 50 deals and detailed transaction notes in Excel. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data 18 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JANUARY 24, 2022

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REAL ESTATE

California technology company opens new operation in Chardon

BY STAN BULLARD

ISSQUARED landed in Northeast Ohio because of easy access to the Bala Ramaiah, CEO of ISSQUARED eastern U.S., school systems, colInc., is putting so much into the com- leges, diversity and distance from pany’s new operations and training “tornado alley” in the South and center in Chardon that he said, “I’m Midwest. And the climate? He said the weather here is a plus, because building it all over from scratch.”

Ramaiah wasn’t referring to his the company plans to establish a business, which will continue to re- data center at the Chardon building, main headquartered in Westlake Vil- and being in a cooler climate is benelage, California. He was referring to ficial.

“I feel a lot of things are his family life. He moved his falling in place for Ohio’s wife and two pre-teen kids to future, so I see a lot of opChagrin Falls from their portunity here,” Ramaiah home in Thousand Oaks, Calsaid. “It’s also a good ifornia, after setting the deal place to raise a family.” in motion to buy the contemPlans call for porary office building at 100 ISSQUARED to add infraSeventh Ave. structure to serve the The three-story building company’s core cybersewas purchased late in 2020 curity business, renovatfor $1.3 million from an affili- Ramaiah ing the building’s third ate of the Dolan family, which includes the Cleveland Guard- floor and parts of the first to serve its ians baseball team among its hold- staff, an executive briefing center, a technology demonstration center ings.

“This is an important move for and a training center.

Ramaiah is in the process of hiring ISSQUARED,” Ramaiah said, as the company, which provides a variety of the company’s first 10 staffers, both information technology services, in- here and through relocation, who tends to initially invest some $5 mil- will be based at the Chardon buildlion into the property and ramping ing. As it adds new products for its corporate clientele, he said up operations here.

The new location will serve as a ISSQUARED may grow to as many as beachhead for the firm’s expansion 150, perhaps with a physical expanthrough the eastern U.S. Its existing sion on more of its six-acre site. The offices are in 10 cities in the western company, which Ramaiah launched a decade ago in his garage, has a curU.S. and five cities around the world.

DATA SCOOP

SPAC trend impacts M&A deals list

BY CHUCK SODER

Stock prices of special purpose acquisition companies dropped tremendously over the past year, but the trend of companies going public by merging with SPACs was still strong enough to have a big impact on our list ranking the largest Ohio mergers and acquisitions announced in 2021.

There are four SPAC mergers among the top 30 deals in the print version of the list, which is built with data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. By comparison, just one SPAC deal announced in 2020 made the top 30, and only one the year before that — and that deal got canceled.

The largest deal on this year’s list, worth about $3 billion, shows up at No. 7: Cincinnati-based bitcoin miner Griid Infrastructure announced on Nov. 30 that it would go public by merging with a publicly traded company called Adit EdTech Acquisition Corp. As an SPAC, New York-based Adit EdTech exists solely to merge with another company and help it get listed on a stock exchange. Two of the four deals involve SPACs based in Northeast Ohio.

Zanite Acquisition Corp. of Beachwood in December announced it would merge with Eve, a Brazilian company developing electric aircraft designed to take off vertically. That $2.3 billion deal is No. 12 on the list.

The other local SPAC, Pine Technology Acquisition Corp. of Aurora, is slat-

ed to combine with The Tomorrow Cos. of Boston in a $683.9 million deal.

Doing business as Tomorrow.io, the Boston-based company uses software to help companies prepare for weather-related challenges.

But there may not be so many SPAC deals on future lists. Nationally, the massive boom in SPAC deals has started to slow: The number of U.S. SPAC mergers went from 26 in 2019 to 93 in 2020 before hitting 290 in 2021, according to data from Refinitiv. But the number of those deals — and especially the value of those deals — dropped as the year went on. The IPOX SPAC Index, which measures the market value of the top publicly traded U.S. SPACs, stood at about 566 on Jan. 20. It lost nearly onethird of its value in the year prior.

The full digital list includes 50 deals worth $69.6 billion. The top 30 in the print list account for $62.9 billion of that total. That represents a 44% increase from 2020, when the top 30 deals generated just $43.6 billion.

However, the 2021 total is down 31% from two years prior, when Fidelity National Information Services of Jacksonville, Fla., plunked down $43.6 billion worth of cash and stock to acquire Worldpay, a Cincinnati-area payment processing company. By comparison, the largest deal announced in 2021, Parker Hannifin Corp.’s planned acquisition of aerospace and defense products manufacturer Meggitt plc, is valued at $10.1 billion.

A building owned by the Dolan family in Chardon is the new home for ISSQUARED Inc.’s new cyber and technology center. | CONTRIBUTED

add geographic diversity.”

In an emailed statement, Matt Dolan, a state senator seeking Rob Portman’s U.S. Senate seat, wrote, “Our family is pleased to sell our building to ISSQUARED, which is going to occupy a “I FEEL A LOT OF THINGS ARE FALLING IN large portion of building PLACE FOR OHIO’S FUTURE, SO I SEE A LOT the bringing new jobs and comOF OPPORTUNITY HERE.” merce to Char— Bala Ramaiah, CEO of ISSQUARED Inc. don and Geauga County.”

Ramaiah said he is discussing infor the building for the Dolan family, who will invest in the only Class centives with government agencies but has been impressed by his contact A-rated building in Geauga County.

“Chardon looks like a sleepy com- with the city of Chardon over the memunity, but we had multiple buyers chanics of updating the building. He for the building,” Hollister said. “This noted he was assisted in his search by one started out with the information JobsOhio, the state’s private economic that a company with corporate cli- development concern.

JobsOhio, in an email last Wednesents was searching for an office to rent staff of more than 500. As a private company, sales were not disclosed.

David Hollister, a managing director in Newmark’s Cleveland office, said he was pleased to find a buyer

GCP

one,” she said during a presentation about workforce sector partnerships.

From Page 1 As part of the discussion If those growth targets are realized, around the region’s talent the Cleveland region would be in the needs, Belk also antop tier of peer regions, which include nounced exploratory plans Buffalo, New York; Cincinnati; Co- for the addition of a hospilumbus; Detroit; Indianapolis; Louis- tality-focused workforce ville, Kentucky; Milwaukee; Roches- sector partnership.

Belk If officially designated a ter, New York; Pittsburgh; and St. sector for targeted workLouis.

Reaching those aggressive growth place development, hospimetrics, with the goal of being what tality would join informaShah called “a great region on a Great tion technology, health Lake,” can come about through col- care and manufacturing as laboration and a focus on building sectors with groups workdynamic businesses by helping culti- ing to address talent defivate an abundant workforce that pro- cits in those industries.

Recently, the Fund for vides inclusive opportunities, while investing in appealing communities Our Economic Future an- Burke nounced that Sean Watterand advancing pro-growth policies.

Cathy Belk, president and CEO of son, president and co-owner of the the Deaconess Foundation, a private Happy Dog, a Gordon Square bar and foundation that helps people in need music venue, was named a senior build careers and one of the present- consultant for a hospitality talent iniers at the GCP event, said there has tiative formed to determine if a more permanent workforce sector part“WE’RE REALLY COMMITTED IN nership is needed.

GREATER CLEVELAND TO NOT ONLY The idea came CREATING AN ABUNDANT TALENT POOL, about from the intersection of “stratBUT A DIVERSE ONE.” egy and opportunity,” said Bethia — Cathy Belk, president and CEO of the Deaconess Foundation Burke, president of the Fund for Our been an unprecedented amount of Economic Future, during an intercollaboration among the public, the view with Crain’s. The work is funded by the Cuyahoga County Department private and the civic sectors.

“We’re really committed in Greater of Development and the Deaconess Cleveland to not only creating an Foundation, with additional support abundant talent pool, but a diverse from Destination Cleveland and the

day, Jan. 19, confirmed its work with the company and said Northeast Ohio’s talent and ingenuity attracted ISSQUARED. Bill Koehler, Team NEO CEO, said that the “region’s commitment to its growing technology sector,” along with other factors, helped attract the company here.

Randal Sharpe, Chardon city manager, said in a phone interview that if the company meets its growth projections for the future, it could be “very significant for us.”

Asked if he was surprised a California tech company would land at the building, Sharpe said, “I did not at all anticipate a bunch of high-paying IT jobs coming to the community. It’s a dream come true.”

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter Greater Cleveland Sports Commission.

“There is an acute, visible talent need people can see when they try to go to a restaurant that is closed because of a lack of workers,” Burke said.

Hospitality is a particularly visible workforce that bridges multiple industries, including restaurants, hotels and event venues, and is, as Burke points out, a “symbol of economic vitality.”

The industry as a whole also tends to be affected by employment that is less stable.

“If you’re in the service industry and your child’s school is closed often, you’re responsible for backfilling your shift or you lose your job,” she said.

Burke said that uncertainty regarding long-term stable employment might be one reason why hospitality jobs are unfilled.

“These workers know they are going to have to manage this extra degree of uncertainty and are constantly worrying that they are going to lose their job — again.”

A hospitality workforce partnership, she argues, could help employers who need workers now and also work to figure out a more resilient business model to improve retention and attraction for those businesses.

Kim Palmer: kpalmer@crain.com, (216) 771-5384, @kimfouroffive

JANUARY 24, 2022 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 19

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From Page 1

product types, in their quest for yield.

To better compete for sought-after properties, Legacy Capital Partners is changing its approach. The firm will no longer create funds to invest in a series of acquisitions. Instead, the company’s principals will pursue one-off deals.

“We’re going to stay on the multifamily highway. We’re just going to change lanes a little bit,” said David St. Pierre, the firm’s co-founder and executive director.

A former banker, St. Pierre teamed up with developer Mitchell Schneider and launched Legacy in early 2004. At the time, Schneider was working on what he thought would be his last major retail project, the St. Pierre Steelyard Commons shopping center in Cleveland’s industrial valley.

The pair made for an unusual blend of financial savvy and hands-on real estate experience.

Schneider Schneider leads Lyndhurst-based First Interstate Properties Ltd., a developer of Northeast Ohio shopping centers and apartment buildings.

Legacy’s premise: Give individual investors the chance to put money into high-quality real estate deals.

And do so in a modest way, without aspirations of creating ever-larger funds or trying to bring institutional players into the fold.

“We’re out and about in our communities, and the people that we run into are people that have invested with us,” Schneider said. “So our sense of responsibility to this capital is just on a totally different level, I think, than institutional capital or other funds.”

Initially, the duo focused on ground-up developments. That model seemed promising at first, as Legacy put money into student housing in Florida, a lifestyle center in Massachusetts, senior apartments in Colorado and other deals.

Then the housing bubble burst, and the country slipped into the Great Recession in late 2007. Development ground to a halt. And St. Pierre and Schneider found themselves wrangling with banks and adding years to their anticipated holding periods for projects that stalled.

In 2009, the partners emerged from those battles with a new blueprint.

They would buy existing apartment buildings, fix them up, raise rents and, after a few years, sell. In every case, they would partner with an experienced operator who would tackle the renovations.

“We’re putting in the lion’s share of the equity,” St. Pierre said. “Our partner is putting in a decent amount of their equity. And then together we own the asset. They have the boots-on-the-ground expertise ... in markets that we otherwise never would have identified.”

Florida-based American Landmark Apartments teamed up with Legacy in 2009, on the firm’s first

Legacy Capital Partners sold Lago Paradiso at the Hammocks, an apartment property in Miami, Florida, in September. The firm acquired the real estate through one of its investment funds in May 2017. | LEGACY CAPITAL PARTNERS PHOTOS

Legacy Capital Partners owned the Reserve at Peachtree Corners in Atlanta from September 2016 to November of last year.

and St. Pierre as shrewd and sincere.

“We work with a lot of limited partners,” he said. “But with all due respect, some are brighter than others.”

Over the last 18 years, Legacy has created seven funds, each of “WE’RE OUT AND ABOUT IN OUR them topping out COMMUNITIES, AND THE PEOPLE THAT at $40 million to $60 million. To WE RUN INTO ARE PEOPLE THAT HAVE participate, invesINVESTED WITH US. SO OUR SENSE OF tors had to contribute at least RESPONSIBILITY TO THIS CAPITAL IS $500,000.

The JUST ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT LEVEL, I funds promised geographic diverTHINK, THAN INSTITUTIONAL CAPITAL sity and partnerOR OTHER FUNDS.” ships with a variety of operators.

— Mitchell Schneider, Legacy Capital Partners chairman The firm closed units, addresses structural and me- out its fourth fund in September by chanical repairs and changes every- selling off the last remaining asset. thing from a building’s name to the That fund, which made its first investment in early 2013, returned color scheme to the landscaping.

Joe Lubeck, the company’s found- $2.11 to investors for every dollar er and CEO, described Schneider they put in. The net internal rate of

such multifamily deal. The partners have jointly invested in 18 properties and have sold off 17 of them.

American Landmark, an owner and operator of apartments across the Sun Belt, upgrades all of the

return, a key profitability metric, was 20.3%.

They made the final acquisition from their seventh fund in December.

Bob Campana, the CEO of Westlake-based Campana Capital, has participated in the funds, along with single-asset investments that Legacy has offered as an add-on since 2015. A real estate developer with a hand in a wide range of industries, Campana said he has total confidence in Schneider, St. Pierre and Barb Rauhe, the firm’s chief financial officer and managing director.

“We’re investing in jockeys, not horses,” he said. “And Mitchell and David and Barb are great jockeys.

They also are really good at picking different horses to ride.”

Going forward, those horses will all be syndicated deals, where investors pool their cash to buy a single property.

Soaring apartment pricing and fierce competition are making it

harder for the firm to find its breadand-butter deals: Apartment complexes of less than 400 units, in need of transformation, that typically cater to middle-income tenants.

By ditching the fund-based approach, St. Pierre and Schneider will have room to pursue a broader range of investments, including newly opened buildings and planned projects; to move faster on purchases; and to be more flexible about their holding periods. They also can raise larger pools of cash for each deal, rather than being limited to an average $5 million to $6 million investment from a fund with obligations to spread investors’ money around.

And they’ll potentially appeal to a bigger audience. For their past single-asset deals, the minimum investment was $100,000.

The downside, of course, is that participants won’t have the same diversification that comes with a multi-asset fund.

But the shift makes sense to longtime Legacy investors like Ned Huffman, the CEO of Bellwether Enterprise, a national mortgage banking firm based in Cleveland.

“Especially in the cycle that we’re in, in real estate in general, there’s a lot of challenges when you do a fund approach. … When it’s a single-asset investment opportunity, you know it’s there, you know what capital you need. With a fund, there’s more unknowns,” Huffman said.

Attorney Dave Tavolier, who has advised Legacy since the firm’s inception, said the new strategy speaks to its principals’ practicality and their desire to do right by investors in a hot real estate sector that shows little sign of cooling.

“Their concern is never to do a deal just to do a deal,” said Tavolier, who leads the tax practice group at the Taft law firm in Cleveland. “Do a deal that makes sense.”

Michelle Jarboe: michelle.jarboe@ crain.com, (216) 771-5437, @mjarboe

20 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JANUARY 24, 2022

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THE WEEK GREENER PASTURES: The president and CEO of Union Home Mortgage has purchased Medina Country Club, a 27-hole golf course that has spent a few years in the rough. The club announced the sale Tuesday, Jan. 18, in a news release that did not include deal terms. But Medina County records show that the roughly 245-acre property, which spans the club and adjoining land, sold for just over $3.5 million. The transaction actually closed in October. The club and its new owner held off on an announcement while developing new branding materials, including a fresh logo. Bill Cosgrove, who owns and leads Strongsville-based Union Home Mortgage, said during a phone interview that he and his family are planning a major overhaul. “It’s a multi-year, multi-pronged project that we think will just be really something special for the Medina community,” said Cosgrove, an avid golfer who lives in nearby Sharon Township.

public utilities, and commercial snow and ice removal. Enviroscapes has 200 employees that will be joining Schill’s workforce of 400.

That size creates one of the largest landscaping businesses in the Midwest.

Schill Grounds Management founder, president and CEO Jerry Schill. Contributed photo | CONTRIBUTED

lion in contracts from 2015 to 2017, and the company eventually refunded that amount. The inspector general “found that TransDigm’s business model is specifically designed to raise prices on defense contracts,” House Oversight Committee chairwoman Carolyn Maloney said ahead of a Wednesday, Jan. 19, hearing on the topic. The dispute sheds light on the Pentagon’s difficulty in getting a handle on costs, no matter how small, across a budget expected to top $740 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.

ACROSS THE BOULEVARD: Out-ofstate buyers recently snapped up a pair of large East Side apartment properties, in a deal that speaks to high demand for multifamily real estate. The Vista at Shaker Square and the Residences at Shaker Square sold as a bundle in early January for $12.4 million, according to public records.

The midcentury properties on Shaker Boulevard in Cleveland span 250 units. The seller was an affiliate of North York Capital, a New Yorkbased investment company that owned the buildings for only two years. The buyer was a joint venture between Chicago-based AMG Realty Group, led by Adam Glickman, and the Chetrit family, major players in New York real estate.

ABOUT THAT $20.8 MILLION ...: The Defense Department is requesting refunds from Cleveland-based TransDigm Group Inc. for the second time in less than three years after the department’s watchdog said the supplier of specialized spare parts continues to collect excess profits. An audit by the Pentagon’s inspector

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York chairs the House Oversight Committee. An audit by the Pentagon’s inspector general “found that TransDigm’s business model is specifically designed to raise prices on defense contracts,” Maloney said. | BLOOMBERG

general found the company’s excess profit amounted to $20.8 million — or more than half of the $38.3 million it collected on 153 sole-source con-

tracts from 2017 through mid-2019 that the watchdog reviewed. A previous audit issued in 2019 found $16.1 million in excess profit on $29.7 mil-

HEALTH CARE

From Page 1

The total cost of employee premium contributions plus the potential spending on deductibles in Ohio in 2020 was calculated at about $7,300, or 11% of the median income in the state. This is actually a slight decrease (by a couple hundred dollars) compared with 2019, but still up significantly from 2010, when the total was about $4,500 or 9% of the state’s median income.

Because the 2020 figures are for plans that would have been set the year prior, the pandemic isn’t a factor.

The primary driver behind the costs is not the use of care, but the cost of it, Collins said. The cost of pharmaceuticals and the prices providers charge for health care — which can vary greatly across the country — are responsible for the majority of the growth in health care costs every year, she said.

And with that, employers are faced with figuring out how to appropriately share in that cost with their employees, said Steffan Moody, vice president and director of global accounts for Oswald Cos., a Cleveland-based insurance brokerage. They must do so within the confines of various requirements, such as minimal essential cov-

Collins

Moody

erage and certain thresholds set by the government.

“The government does define what a benefit program deductible and cost share look like and certain benefits that must be included, and within that, insurance companies price for it,” he said.

It’s important for employers to understand the financial exposure of their employees by digging into data to understand not just the offerings, but how many employees are hitting deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums, said Eric Krieg, president of Fairlawn-based Risk International Benefits Advisors.

“Do I think maybe I’ve got people who are insured in my health plan and they have major financial distress and/or maybe even the plan is causing them to go bankrupt because of their health care expenses?” he said. “It’s always, first of all, under-

Krieg

Starr

standing what you have. And then, well, what can you do about it? Can you do anything different with how you might set up the eligibility of your plan?”

Right now in particular is a great opportunity for such an assessment, as employers are evaluating their recruitment and retention efforts amid a tough labor market, Krieg said.

The next step to that data analysis is identifying and eliminating waste, which has been done in other areas of benefit management, he said.

“Employers are much more diligent in operating their retirement plan assets as compared to health and benefit assets,” Krieg said. “And what that means is they have an obligation to eliminate excess fees and expenses from plans”.

Patty Starr, president and CEO of Health Action Council, has also seen increased costs driving employers to

SOLID GROUND: Schill Grounds Management, a private equity-backed commercial landscaper based in North Ridgeville, has announced the acquisition of Enviroscapes of Louisville, Ohio, in a deal that expands Schill’s service offerings in the Buckeye State as well as portions of western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Financial terms of the deal, the largest in Schill’s nearly 30-year history, were not disclosed. Enviroscapes’ offerings include landscaping design and maintenance, a service vertical focused specifically on oil/gas and dig deeper into their data to look for solutions, such as different types of benefits or medication management or even adjusting the way they communicate to employees and members. Health Action Council is a nonprofit coalition representing midsize to large employers that aims to enhance human and economic health.

“I think that it also incentivizes employers to really look at their data in a different format,” she said, “and dig into it to see if they can see different trends, and different patterns that they can either tweak and/or interrupt by either adjusting clinical services, product service teams, where their employees are accessing care — I think that all of that really gives them a different look and a different picture as well.”

After two years of the pandemic have shifted some health care access behaviors, there’s also an opportunity to explore claims data to understand what that has meant to employees and members.

Looking at trends within claims pre-COVID and in the current state can shed light on what may lie ahead.

For instance, if certain claims were dramatically reduced, is that cause for concern of what’s around the corner? What preventive care was missed?

BIG BRAIN STUDY: Cleveland Clinic has launched what it calls “the largest clinical study ever for brain disease.” The Clinic said the Cleveland Clinic Brain Study “will collect data from up to 200,000 neurologically healthy individuals over a 20-year period to identify brain disease biomarkers and targets for preventing and curing neurological disorders.”

It’s led by Dr. Andre Machado and Dr. Imad Najm of the Clinic’s Neurological Institute. The Clinic described the study as “an enterprise-wide undertaking, enlisting a multidisciplinary team of physicians and scientists from across the global health system.” The study launched at the Clinic’s main campus in Cleveland and will expand to additional Cleveland Clinic sites over time.

TAKING THE HELM: Megan Lykins Reich, who has led the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland as interim director since June 2020, now has the job on a permanent basis.

The museum on Wednesday, Jan. 19, announced that its board of directors named Reich as the Kohl Executive Director. The appointment was an- Reich nounced to staff and community partners by the board’s co-presidents, Joanne R. Cohen, Audra T. Jones and Stephen G. Sokany. Reich joined moCa in 2004.

She took on the interim executive director role about a year-and-a-half ago, succeeding Jill Snyder, who left moCa in the wake of controversy over a decision to cancel an exhibition of drawings by New York artist Shaun Leonardo that depicted police killings of Black men and youths.

“Now that we’re coming out of that state, how do we re-educate employees, consumers, dependents on when to get preventive care, how to re-enter the health care system for a condition that may or may not have been diagnosed yet so they either begin care, and/or they continue the care that was needed?” Starr said.

As health care costs continue to rise, employers need to seriously consider more creative solutions “outside of the big box insurance companies and PBMs (Pharmacy Benefit Managers),” Krieg said, noting several examples of such creative solutions. “How am I setting up my relationship with the health care system? Am I using a traditional network? Am I doing direct contracting?

Am I setting up some type of incentive-based system with certain kinds of providers that have been already vetted for cost and quality? Am I working through different ways to access prescription drugs more affordably?”

If they don’t start exploring new ideas, he said, “they’re going to be stuck, and we’ll talk two years from now, and we’ll just see the numbers keep going up.”

Lydia Coutré: lcoutre@crain.com, (216) 771-5479, @LydiaCoutre

JANUARY 24, 2022 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 21

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ACCOUNTING

ACCOUNTING

HW&Co.

HW&Co.

Daniel Kaminski, CPA has been promoted to Principal at HW&Co. A member of the Accounting & Assurance Department, Dan has Kaminski significant experience in audit engagements and is also adept at governmental audits, including HUD audits and UGG. Dan’s Bachelor’s degree and MBA are from John Carroll University and he is on the board of The Help Foundation. Kim Zagar Zagar, CPA has also been promoted to Principal. She has extensive experience in financial statement compilation and review, tax planning and compliance, financial consulting, and business solutions. Kim is the Director of HW&Co.’s Private Business Advisory Department, serving businesses of various sizes and stages of development.

Kim’s Bachelor’s degree is from Lake Erie College.

Michael Muniak, CPA has been named as the new Director of HW&Co.’s Accounting & Assurance Department. Mike has extensive experience as Muniak an auditor, accountant and business advisor for privatelyheld and nonprofit organizations.

He has significant experience with long-term care facilities, HUD projects, ERISA, UGG and operational reviews.

Thewes Mike serves on the Peer Review Acceptance Committee of the Ohio Society of CPAs. Mary Lou Thewes, SPHR has joined HW&Co. as Director of Human Resources.

With an extensive background in the professional services industry, Mary Lou brings expertise in human capital development, employee engagement, performance systems, and benefits. She earned her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Mount Union.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

To place your listing, visit www.crainscleveland.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com ACCOUNTING

ACCOUNTING

AUTOMOTIVE

HW&Co.

HW&Co.

Transtar Industries

Cheryl Lanese, CPA, CCIFP has been named Managing Principal of HW&Co.’s Mentor office. Cheryl has over 20 years’ experience in public accounting providing compliance, tax planning, and business consulting needs to closely held and family-held businesses in a variety of industries. She has extensive experience in financial statement compilation and review engagements, with an emphasis on construction and manufacturing. Cheryl earned her Bachelor’s degree from The University of Akron.

Brian Palisin, CPA, MT has joined HW&Co. as a senior manager in its tax department. With over 25 years of accounting and tax experience, he brings expertise in tax research and strategy, flow-through entity taxation, individual taxation and planning and small business consulting. Previously, he has worked in public accounting for regional and national firms, and in private industry. Brian received his Bachelor’s degree from Dyke College and his Master’s of Taxation from the University of Akron.

Transtar Industries, a leading distributor of quality automotive parts and software solutions, is pleased to announce the promotion of Kevin Rozsa from Vice President, Marketing to Executive Vice President, Business Development. Kevin, who has more than 35 years of industry experience, will lead Transtar’s merger and acquisition strategy.

ACCOUNTING

ACCOUNTING

ACCOUNTING

RSM US LLP

RSM US LLP

RSM US LLP

RSM US LLP

RSM US LLP is pleased to announce Arlene (Terbrack) Towarnicke became a Principal in the firm. Arlene is the leader of our Complex Financial Instrument team within our Valuation Practice. She has extensive experience in valuing complex securities and derivatives for financial reporting purposes. Arlene earned bachelor’s degrees in actuarial science and finance from Ohio University and a master’s degree in financial mathematics from The University of Chicago.

Ryan Branon joins the partnership group at RSM US LLP in the Transaction Advisory Services practice. He has over 20 years of transaction advisory experience and leads the firm’s Deal Advisory group driving value for clients through providing guidance around pricing mechanism, purchase agreement wording and performing the closing calculations. He also serves as a technical advisor on complex deal matters, provides project quality reviews and develops the policies, practices and methodologies.

Congratulations to RSM’s newly promoted principal Anthony Catalano. Anthony is the national cyber lead for private equity at RSM. He has over 17 years of experience advising multibilliondollar healthcare, technology, and Private Equity organizations on matters relating to information security, enterprise risk, and cyber liability insurance.

Having served as the CISO for a variety of organizations, he has experience building entire security programs and developing security management strategies.

RSM US LLP is excited to promote Joseph Leonard, CPA, to partner. Joe is a graduate of Baldwin Wallace University and has over 15 years of experience providing audit services and business advice to the middle market, with an emphasis on private-equity backed companies in the technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) and business and professional service industries. Joe also serves as Ohio’s TMT audit leader and is a nationally designated revenue recognition subject matter specialist.

INSURANCE

Western Reserve Group is pleased to announce the promotion of Kay Risner to Vice President of Insurance Operations effective January 1, 2022. Kay joined WRG in 1996 as a Personal Lines Underwriter. In 2012, she was promoted to AVP of Strategic Development where she managed pricing and product development initiatives.

As VP of Insurance Operations, she will assume oversight of Underwriting, Business Operations, and Strategic Development. Kay is a welcome addition to the Executive team at WRG.

MANUFACTURING

LAW LAW

Roetzel & Andress Roetzel is pleased to announce that Morris Hawk has been elected as a shareholder of the firm. Morris is a member of the Employment Services Group. He focuses his practice on helping employers successfully navigate all legal aspects of the employment relationship. Morris advises employers on complying with federal and state employment laws and employee benefits law and represents employers in traditional labor relations law before the NLRB.

22 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | JANUARY 24, 2022

CONSTRUCTION

Ohio Home Builders Association

ACCOUNTING

Western Reserve Group

Advertising Section

Roetzel & Andress Roetzel is proud to announce that Jessica Sanderson has been elected as a shareholder of the firm. Jessica is a member of the Medical Defense and Products & Transportation Groups. She focuses her practice on litigation, with an emphasis on medical and professional liability defense, transportation/ trucking, and general liability defense. Jessica defends companies, individuals, and professionals in a wide array of litigated matters.

PMI Industries, Inc. Robert (Bob) J. Centa, MBA was named president of PMI Industries, Inc. PMI specializes in designing, manufacturing, and testing underwater cable hardware and assemblies. Industries include energy, fossil fuel and renewables, marine, research, and government. Mr. Centa was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of The Great Lakes Brewing Co. and brings a broad business acumen and over 25 years of experience in leadership, strategy, operations, and finance.

Enzo Perfetto was elected the 2022 Treasurer/Secretary of The Ohio Home Builders Association.

The OHBA is a 4000 member trade association representing home builders and their associate vendors in a legislative and regulatory capacity on a statewide basis. It is an affiliate of the National Association of Home Builders.

OHBA serves its membership by promoting proactive involvement on state issues and legislation impacting the residential building industry such as wetlands, affordable housing, workers’ compensation, etc.

NONPROFITS

UCP of Greater Cleveland UCP of Greater Cleveland’s Board of Directors announces the appointment of Beth Lucas as President & CEO, effective January 1. Beth served as Chief Operations Officer starting in 2014 after joining UCP in 2008 as Director of Development. She has been instrumental in program development, enhancing employee engagement, restructuring, fundraising and administration. Beth has a Master of Nonprofit Administration from John Carroll University and a Bachelor of Arts from Baldwin Wallace University.

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TUESDAY, MARCH 15 AT 9 A.M. There’s no hotter place in Cleveland in 2022 than Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Join us at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown at Key Tower for a panel discussion about the resurgent Cleveland Cavaliers, the 2022 NBA All-Star Game here in Cleveland, upcoming events at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse and in Northeast Ohio, and more.

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All attendees must present a negative COVID test (within 72 hours of the event) OR show proof of being fully vaccinated (vaccination card with more than two weeks after the second dose). Proof must be presented at the registration desk on the day of the event with a PRINTED copy of your negative test or your original vaccination card. You must follow all posted instructions in order to attend Crain’s Sports Forum event – you will be turned away at the door if you do not comply. COVID-19 is an extremely contagious %DAY_OF_WEEK_DATE% | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND | 99 disease, and an inherent risk of exposure exists in any public place where people are present. By attending Crain’s Sports Forum event, you voluntarily assume allBUSINESS risks related to exposure to COVID-19. Masks are highly recommended but not required. sports-forum-3.indd 99

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