Crain's Cleveland Business

CRAIN’S ENDORSEMENT: Justin Bibb should be Cleveland’s next mayor. PAGE 6

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The Courtyard by Marriott Cleveland University Circle received a $30,000 state relief grant aimed at lodging properties hurt by the pandemic. Ohio has awarded less than a third of $50 million in grants earmarked for hotels.

OHIO TO BUSINESSES:

PLEASE TAKE THIS $200M

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

Ohio is sitting on $207 million in business aid — and struggling to find takers.

Three months after rolling out new pandemic-relief grants, the state has awarded only a third of a

$310 million pot earmarked for hotels, entertainment venues, restaurants and new employers. Yet officials don’t believe the slow uptake reflects a lack of demand.

“I feel like I’m getting a little desperate, because I know that there are people out there who need these re-

Manufacturers connect with students in a virtual world

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

Much has been made of the manufacturing employment pipeline in recent years. Companies have worked hard to improve the image of the industry, using plant tours and other programs to show the next generation that manufacturing is high-tech, interesting and engaging.

It’s important work for an industry facing a labor shortage.

And it’s work that became more difficult than ever during COVID-19.

But companies found ways to continue connecting with students.

The industry can’t afford to “create more leaks in the manufacturing See STUDENTS on Page 21

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sources,” Lydia Mihalik, director of the Ohio Department of Development, said during a recent visit to Cleveland.

In late June, the department began accepting applications for grants of up to $30,000 for businesses that lost revenue due to the pandemic and

“WE KNOW THAT STUDENTS LEARN BEST

BY TALKING TO PEOPLE WHO ARE IN THE JOB, THAT LOOK LIKE THEM, THAT ARE MAYBE A COUPLE YEARS REMOVED, AND HANDSON ACTIVITIES.” — Adam Snyder, managing director of sector partnership at MAGNET

THE

public health orders. Another grant program offers $10,000 apiece to businesses launched in 2020.

As of Sept. 23, more than 9,000 businesses had applied, with the heaviest demand from the food and beverage industry. But the state has not been overwhelmed with re-

quests for aid, to the surprise of public officials and trade association executives.

Business owners say there is not one simple reason that the programs weren’t maxed out.

See AID on Page 20

Local community colleges report drops in enrollment

BY AMY MORONA

Community college enrollment plummeted across the country last fall amid the pandemic. Early data shows drops are continuing at local institutions this semester.

Boosting enrollment isn’t as simple as flipping a switch. Lots of factors are in play. More than half of

LAND SCAPE

students at two-year public institutions are women and/or people of color, two groups disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

Angela Johnson, vice president of access and completion at Cuyahoga Community College, said the continuation of the pandemic played a See ENROLLMENT on Page 19

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REAL ESTATE

Historic landmark in Ohio City to launch new ventures

BY STAN BULLARD

Harness Cycle, the spinning fitness center in Ohio City and downtown Cleveland, is closed except for online classes during the pandemic. But that hasn’t stopped owner Anne Hartnett from hatching plans for a permanent home for it that also may serve as a springboard for multiple businesses.

Hartnett has struck a deal to buy the Vitrolite Building, 2915 Detroit Ave., from the Intermuseum Conservation Association (ICA), a nonprofit providing museum-quality art and historic restoration services that has owned the building for 20 years. ICA is slimming its physical footprint and narrowing its focus with a move to leased space at the Pivot Center, the arts and social services center at 2937 West 25th St. “Harness Cycle is really a neighborhood business,” Hartnett said during an interview and tour of Vitrolite, which stands next door to the spinning center’s original Hingetown home.

“What’s unique is that we want to stay in the community where we have connections to Inca Tea and other stores in Hingetown,” she said.

“We’ll have the entrance to Harness Cycle on Church Avenue and an entrance to it and other businesses from Detroit.”

Due to flux in the office market, Harness Cycle’s downtown operation, now serving as a rental center for stationary bikes, will be permanently closed at year-end.

The two-story Vitrolite Building, notable for its white architectural glass and detailed patterns in glass on the outside, fills the bill on multiple levels.

The showroom constructed in 1900 for the Chicago-based pigmented glass maker of the same name also served as a Cleveland-area warehouse for its products. Its floors were built to withstand heavy use. That has been perfect for big pieces of artwork

Anne Hartnett (left) and Julie A. Reilly, executive director of the Intermuseum Conservation Association, discuss how a workroom at ICA’s Ohio City building could function as a proposed retail incubator. | STAN BULLARD/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

at present and will be in the future in part of it for at least 35 stationary bikes, with room to increase to 50 bikes, and riders. However, the 18,000-square-foot structure has two floors that will accommodate lockers and changing areas, with space left over.

Vitrolite will be renamed “Harness Collective,” which reflects plans

by Hartnett and Andrea Loczi, Harness Cycle CEO, to fill it with multiple uses. Plans call for reviving Groundswell, an earlier Hartnett venture, with yoga classes on the second floor in what is now ICA’s office for its curators that has archtopped windows overlooking Lake Erie. Weather permitting, the building’s top floor will serve as a location for outdoor yoga classes.

Groundswell also may be expand-

ed, Hartnett said, with outdoor activities such as paddle boarding on the lake.

The most ambitious concept is to use the back half of the second floor for what Hartnett and Loczi call “The Founders Club,” a retail incubator for startup businesses, particularly those in the food, beverage and retail sectors.

Harness Cycle’s existing location on the east side of Vitrolite will be sublet for them and other pop-up retail businesses. Other space in Vitrolite will be devoted to kids activities with an arts focus, while their parents workout. A cafe will be installed in the front, which may meld an established operator with the startups.

The cafe is planned for the storefront of the building — an amazing

space because sections of its walls are covered with Vitrolite samples in varied colors and designs. The cafe will also serve the public to give people outside Harness Cycle customers a chance to enjoy the storefront, Hartnett said. ICA had started restoration of the storefront space as a potential education center when the pandemic put a timeout on that plan.

Many of the details for the retail incubator and childcare operation remain to be determined, which is why Loczi joined the staff as CEO to handle operations as Hartnett works on real estate and other issues.

Julie A. Reilly, executive director of ICA, said she and the organization’s board changed their plans because of the pandemic’s impact on its budget and those of some of its clients: non-

profits such as art and history museums, in addition to collectors.

ICA, which has a staff of 11 trained in museum-quality restoration, will focus on artwork and historic conservation, she said, and will drop an art storage component of its mission.

Several locations now provide such services, which was not the case for most of the nonprofit’s 70-year history. The shift will allow ICA to reduce its operations to 8,000 square feet of leased space at Pivot.

“This will preserve our liquid resources,” Reilly said. Net proceeds from the sale of the building will aid operations, she said, and serve as an endowment for ICA’s future.

Hartnett and Reilly expect to close the deal in November. Neither would say how much Hartnett’s firm will pay for the structure, which has a market value of $422,700 for property tax purposes.

Harness Cycle is pursuing a U.S. Small Business Administration loan for firms that want to own their own buildings, and it may pursue grants for some of its operations.

ICA’s move has its own particular requirements. Rick Foran, who developed Pivot, said his team is exploring how to add a freight elevator to the structure that is large enough to accommodate sculptures and other huge items ICA undertakes to restore.

Tom McNair, executive director of Ohio City Inc., the local development corporation serving the area, said he’s confident that Hartnett will treat the building appropriately and has the entrepreneurial passion to make a go of her plans.

For Hartnett and Loczi, the first step after getting title to the property is straightforward.

“The first phase will be to get Harness Cycle off the ground and running” physically, Loczi said, perhaps around year-end.

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

Can mortgage brokers do good and do well? These three hope to do so

BY STAN BULLARD

A second-floor office suite above Nanobrew in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood is not where you might expect to find a startup mortgage brokerage concern. However, that suits the owners of Social Mortgage just fine, both for lunch and for public contact.

Gusty Molnar, a real estate developer who cut his realty teeth as a mortgage banker at what’s now Rocket Mortgage and is co-founder of Social Mortgage, said, “If you want to ride your bike to get a mortgage, this is the perfect location.”

Molnar and his fellow co-founders, Brian Lewis and Michael Hudson, say the minority-owned business emphasizes social in its name to show a focus on community and a goal of helping younger buyers and under-represented minorities get into the crowded for-sale housing market.

“During COVID-19, we decided this is a way to pay it forward, helping people get mortgages and help the community the same way that Dan Gilbert did with Rocket Mortgage,”

Molnar said.

One thing that is clear is that Social Mortgage is participating in a resurgence of the mortgage brokerage business.

The less-regulated mortgage brokerages bore some blame for contributing to bad mortgages, waves of Molnar home foreclosures and the 2007-2008 financial collapse. Federal and state laws have been dramatically strengthened on mortgage brokers, who sign up and seek loans for applicants that other lenders finance, as well as in-house bank lending officers.

The booming housing market and loan refinances in an environment of low interest rates have reinvigorated the lending business since the Great Recession.

Kevin Allard, superintendent of the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions, wrote in an email that new loans from non-bank state licensed mortgage lenders now exceed bank-originated mortgages.

“In Ohio, we saw a 42% increase in the number of licensed mortgage

loan originators, from June 30, 2020 to June 30, 2021,” Allard wrote.

So Social Mortgage needs a story and strategy to stand out and distinguish itself in an industry driven by relationships and devotion to customer service.

To fulfill its goals, Social Mortgage plans to work with major employers to conduct classes to help employees learn how to buy their first home, coach prospective clients on ways to improve their credit scores, and make it a point to let clients know about down payment assistance programs and other programs offered by local development and neighborhood corporations.

The three, all Cleveland State University alums, worked together in 2008 at the Cleveland office of Quicken Loans, now known as Rocket Mortgage, where they became a group of friends.

Hudson returned to Cleveland last spring from a post in Detroit as a regional vice president at Rocket to

become managing partner of the startup brokerage. He recalled that as a novice mortgage banker in 2008, as the housing collapse damped prospects for lending, he became friends with Molnar and Lewis who taught him the ropes.

“That experience,” Hudson said, “showed me the value of the company you keep. They showed me I could get through. That gave me, a person who has a focus on helping others as the son of a minister, the conviction that finance is the building block to a full life. Starting a company in our own backyard is a way that we as Clevelanders can help other Clevelanders, not only with a loan,” but hiring and providing jobs as the concern grows.

Lewis, who is Black and the majority owner of the enterprise, said he felt growing up in Cleveland, Euclid and Cleveland Heights that he was on the outside looking in at banking.

Today, he operates from a conclusion and a mission from his extensive banking background.

“Financial literacy is something we can improve in the Afri-

can-American community, and we want to help as many under-served people as possible,” Lewis said.

Aside from Rocket, Lewis has climbed the ranks among several local banks, working as a teller, bank manager and wealth management lender.

Hudson said prospective home buyers in Cleveland face a particularly challenging market because they are being beaten to closing by hordes of out-of-town and local investors making cash offers.

“But there are programs to help people with low down payments buy homes,” Hudson said. “Millennials are an under-represented generation in home ownership because of various things such as student debt that keep you from starting to build equity.”

Molnar said he and his partners plan to go the extra mile to help prospects, noting he has personally called listing agents to assure them that a prospect can get qualified with the right lender.

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

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Nationally accredited IT apprenticeship program is headed to Cleveland

BY KIM PALMER

ery year. Carlson points out that the United States is seeing only about Leaders from the Greater Cleve- 7,500 students graduating with land Partnership and Seattle-based computer science degrees yearly, so Apprenti are teaming up to help fill employers should not expect those the IT talent gap in Northeast Ohio, graduates to close the talent gap.

The good news is that when leveraging federal, state and local workforce dollars to create a tech pressed to re-evaluate, companies that normally require a degree for IT apprenticeship program.

The two groups announced the positions found only 40% absolutely launch of the IT apprenticeship pro- required four years of school, meaning that 60% can be filled gram, a national model by skills received through used in cities around the registered apprenticecountry, during GCP’s anships. nual Tech Week in late “We are the creators of September. The program, our own problem as an inslated to begin sometime dustry. We have created an in 2022, is tasked with artificial belief that there closing the gap between are not enough people to the 3,300 newly skilled IT do the work in this counworkers and the more try. When in reality we just than 7,700 tech jobs that a Carlson need to shift gears and re2020 IT Workforce Alliturn people to the way we ance Talent Bulletin reneed them to work in our ported exists in Greater industry and give them an Cleveland. alternative route,” Carlson said.

Focusing on skills Apprenti has provided that alternative route for Jennifer Carlson does more than 1,500 nontradinot look at a candidate’s tional candidates now previous job title or educaworking in IT around the tion when she first evalu- Stall country, including in Coates applicants for Aplumbus and Cincinnati, prenti’s IT apprenticeship were the organization has program. programs.

The co-founder and exParticipants in the apecutive director of the notprenticeship program are for-profit company she required to take an online co-founded five years ago skills test, and if they pass, to provide a nontraditionthey will spend 40 hours a al solution to fill the tech week of immersive classtalent gap is much more room training for three to interested in what skills a Marbury five months, followed by, candidate possesses.

“There is a lot of bias that is built on average, a year of hands-on work into those requirements,” Carlson within a company with a mentor.

Most importantly, the program said.

“If a Burger King manager ap- provides a federally protected trainplied to a large company for a tech ing wage during the apprenticeship.

According to Carlson, since the job, people would scratch their head and that resume would proba- program began, 93% of participants bly never even make it into some- complete the classroom work and then go on to jobs that pay on averbody’s hands,” she said.

Disqualifying a potential tech age in the mid-$50,000 range, scalworker because, as in the examples ing up to the mid-$80,000 range afCarlson gives, their previous job was ter full employment. in food service or they have a twoyear associate’s degree from a small A ‘finishing school’ or online university promotes “pedigree over competency” and ignores IT apprenticeships and coding the skills that person brings to the boot camps were already gaining table. It has also exacerbated ineq- popularity before the COVID-19 panuity in the tech field, she contends. demic, but with the service industry “If you think about it, that person and some parts of the gig economy has done payroll, supply chain experiencing huge disruptions, altermanagement, ordering, hiring, fir- native tech education became more ing, managed schedules and logis- attractive. Groups like Tech Elevator,

“OUR FEMALE DEMOGRAPHIC WENT FROM ABOUT 22% TO 31% IN JUST ONE YEAR, AND IN TOTAL THE COMBINATION OF UNDER-REPRESENTED, WITH REGARD TO RACE, ETHNICITY AND GENDER, MAKE UP 51% OF OUR RECENT STUDENTS.” — Rita Stall, senior director of digital programs at Tech Elevator

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tics. This is the person who’s got a lot of really tangible skills that companies value when you strip out the context,” Carlson said.

And ignoring those possible workers is not an option with the demand for IT jobs topping 4 million annually, with 1 million of those representing net new jobs ev-

which provides a 14-week tech boot camp, as well as career readiness and job placement services, saw surges in enrollment, particularly in demographics normally under-represented in the tech industry.

When the organization, founded in Cleveland in 2015, moved online due to the pandemic, senior director of

digital programs Rita Stall said more women came looking to retrain.

“Our female demographic went from about 22% to 31% in just one year, and in total the combination of under-represented, with regard to race, ethnicity and gender, make up 51% of our recent students,” Stall said.

As with Apprenti, Tech Elevator’s average student is in their early 30s, and between 50% and 60% have some college. But most often, if they have a degree, those are not STEM-related or from traditional mainstream colleges.

Stall said that many treat the tech skills programs that Tech Elevator provides as a “finishing school,” and it’s a fit for those workers who are not able to take the time to complete a four-year program or pay full college tuition.

“There are a lot of inequalities when it comes to access to education, and a lot of students find that education model does not match their learning style,” Stall said. “Tech is very much a meritocracy. It’s what you know, and you can definitely learn what you need to know through a boot camp.”

Partnering with GCP Although the official announcement that GCP was partnering with Apprenti is recent, the collaboration has been in the works for years. The hope was to build on the region’s long history of apprenticeships in the manufacturing, building and trades industries, according to Shana Marbury, Greater Cleveland Partnership senior vice president of talent.

“Talent is the first, second and third challenge employers have right now,” she said.

GCP and the Workforce Connect IT Sector Partnership will act as sort of back office or coordinator of the apprenticeship program, and as an employer-facing organization, connect with companies needing IT workers.

The goal of the partnership is to make sure that employers do not get bogged down in administrative detail, Marbury said.

Apprenti handles the recruiting, based on employer standards, and handles all of the registration and compliance work. It also co-manages the apprentices from day one of classroom work through the mentored apprenticeship that, according to Carlson, 90% of the time means that person is employed with the company for at least five years.

Individual apprenticeships will be funded with a combination of public dollars that are available for workforce development initiatives and funds from employers participating in the program.

“This is part of our strategic plan in terms of innovative and effective ways to grow abundant talent in our region.

We are starting out in the tech industry, but we really hope to become a facilitator of apprenticeships in other industries and those that are traditionally not served,” Marbury said.

Companies interested in learning more and participating in the Apprenti program are encouraged to reach out to aperry@greatercle.com or call (216) 592-2235.

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

4 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 4, 2021

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Mentor developer Lance Osborne is taking on his biggest project to date with the development of 140 apartments at a former BF Goodrich plant downtown. | DAN SHINGLER/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

The Goodrich, Akron’s latest apartment project, is set to open by year’s end

BY DAN SHINGLER

Akron’s 139-unit residential development at Canal Place — one of its largest to date — expects to open late this year under a new name, and its developer is already eyeing additional projects downtown.

Mentor developer Lance Osborne, president of Osborne Capital Group, said his apartments at Canal Place will be named The Goodrich, after BFGoodrich, which once operated from the two buildings Osborne is converting to luxury apartments.

Construction began in March, and Osborne said so far he’s not had any major issues with shortages of labor or materials.

“It’s going well. We just have to get it done — hopefully, we can walk you through there during the holidays when it’s finished,” Osborne said while giving a tour of the project in September.

Osborne said he’ll have spent more than $40 million by the time the work is done, including acquisition and development costs, making the project his largest to date by far.

The Goodrich project encompasses Buildings 10 and 17 at Canal Place and a total of about 250,000 square feet of space. Building 10 will consist of four floors of apartments, while Building 17, which is being completed now, will have three floors of residential units.

The development will include 104 one-bedroom units of about 880 square feet apiece, 32 two-bedroom apartments ranging in size from 1,200 to 1,400 square feet, and three studio apartments at about 400 square feet each, Osborne reports.

Osborne said he’s figuring out rents, but added that the units will likely rent for about $1.65 per square foot. That puts rent for a one-bedroom unit at about $1,450 per month, and rent for the largest two-bedroom units at about $2,300 a month.

That’s not cheap; the average rent in Akron is $888 per unit and under $1 per square foot across the city, according to the website RentCafe.com.

But it’s not out of line for downtown, where the website cited an average rent of $1,255 per month.

Osborne’s rents will actually be below those of some other developments. That includes the Bowery District, which has already rented out all of its apartments for more than $2 per square foot, and The 159, where New Jersey architect and developer Tom Rybak reports being about half-leased at an average rent of $1.90 per square foot.

All of the projects — particularly The 159 and The Goodrich, which are coming to market later — are watching each other very closely, hoping to gauge local demand and determine where their rents should be. Rybak and Osborne both inquired about the other’s progress.

Rybak said he’s gotten a good response to his development, though, much to his surprise, most of his new tenants are from out of town and are either working from home or at new jobs in the area.

“I’d say 95% of my tenants are from out of town — I’ve been very surprised,” said Rybak, who added that he’s not considering marketing The 159 to folks in Cleveland who might commute to the Akron area for work and might want to shorten those commutes.

As is the case with other luxury developments downtown, Osborne is investing heavily in converting his buildings. On top of what have become almost standard features at high-end downtown developments, such as granite countertops in island kitchens, Osborne has gone to great lengths to give his buildings big new windows that let in natural light and create an open-air feeling.

Some of his units are also among the largest being built downtown.

The Bowery, for example, has a 3,000-square-foot penthouse unit, but its two-bedroom apartments are just under 1,000 square feet.

Once he’s finished with The Goodrich, Osborne will likely not be done with his Akron developments.

He is also doing an 80,000-squarefoot mixed-use development at the former Rosemont Country Club in Fairlawn. There, he’s building 55 apartments on the top three floors of a four-story building, while working with other homebuilders to build out the rest of the 150-acre site.

After that, Osborne said he’ll look for other Akron projects. He said he’ll likely begin with another 100unit development at another industrial building on Akron’s West Bartges Street, which he hopes to begin next year.

His efforts, like those of other developers, have been welcomed by officials in a city where Mayor Dan Horrigan has made rebuilding the population a cornerstone policy.

“The city is certainly supportive of Mr. Osborne’s efforts to redevelop the Goodrich and other Akron locations,” Sean Vollman, deputy mayor for the Office of Integrated Development, said via email. “We partnered with Mr. Osborne on the Goodrich deal and there is a development agreement in connection with the retail and residential development that Mr. Osborne is undertaking. We look forward to working with him on his ongoing efforts to invest in our community.”

Osborne said he’s looking to do more apartment developments, in particular.

“We’ve done a lot of retail, but we’re kind of pivoting toward the multifamily market with this development,” Osborne said.

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Correction ` An article in the Sept. 27 edition of Crain’s Cleveland Business erroneously stated that Ohio was the No. 1 state for the sale of American whiskey. The article should have stated that Ohio ranks first for American whiskey sales among the 17 states in which liquor sales are state-controlled.

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PERSONAL VIEW

We need more champions than critics to solve poverty in our community

RICH WILLIAMS FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BY MAJOR THOMAS APPLIN

EDITORIAL

Justin Bibb for mayor W

hen Cleveland voters in September narrowed the mayoral race to two contenders from seven, they picked the two candidates who, from our perspective, were clearly the most qualified for the job.

And now, with early voting about to begin for the Nov. 2 general election, we believe the choice is equally clear: Justin Bibb should be Cleveland’s next mayor.

Bibb is young, at age 34, and he has never held elective office. That’s not the traditional background for someone seeking a job of this magnitude. Cleveland for some time, though, has been hidebound by traditions and ways of thinking that, frankly, haven’t gotten it very far — or at least as far as it could get. The energy and tenacity Bibb has shown throughout the campaign, combined with his promise of collaboration, a smart approach to addressing the city’s big problems and an ability to galvanize the community to work for positive change, have convinced us he’s the right man to lead City Hall.

Bibb’s opponent in the race, Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley, is a serious candidate with real acCLEVELAND NEEDS complishments to his CHANGE, AND IT NEEDS name, in areas as varied as helping reduce the city’s inIT NOW. WE BELIEVE fant mortality rate (through BIBB IS THE CANDIDATE the First Year Cleveland iniand working to proBETTER SUITED TO MAKE tiative) vide lawyers to indigent IT HAPPEN. families facing eviction. If voters choose Kelley, they will get a mayor with detailed knowledge of how the city works and a realistic approach to problem-solving. He almost certainly would be an upgrade from the unfocused administration (at least in the last few years) of outgoing Mayor Frank Jackson. “Experience,” narrowly defined, is on Kelley’s side.

But that experience cuts both ways, and we’re not persuaded that the performance of City Council in Kelley’s eight years at the helm offers a model of compelling leadership.

Cleveland needs change, and it needs it now. We believe Bibb is the candidate better suited to make it happen.

Bibb in a relatively short period of time has established credentials in government, business and the nonprofit sector. He has worked for Cuyahoga County as a special assistant for education and economic development, in the private sector as Gallup’s head of the Global Cities Practice and as a vice president at KeyBank, and has served on the boards of Destination Cleveland and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. He’s currently the chief strategy officer at Urbanova, which advises municipal leaders nationwide on data/ technology in projects to improve cities — a vital piece of experience in Cleveland, where bridging the digital divide is a key part of fostering broader, more equitable economic growth.

Development projects throughout the city, Bibb said last week in an interview with Crain’s editorial board, should be focused on growth viewed through “an equity lens” and an acknowledgment that Cleveland remains one of the nation’s poorest large metros. He stressed that a Bibb administration would make sure the city’s development resources target not just the parts of Cleveland that already are doing well, but neighborhoods — particularly on the East Side — that continue to struggle to get out from under the crushing burden of multigenerational poverty.

One of the critical issues in the campaign has focused on strategies for combating violent crime and improving the relationship between police and the community — topics typically outside our focus. We all want a safer Cleveland, though, so the city is a better place to live, work and invest. Economic development strategies, no matter how creative, won’t pay off fully if Cleveland is perceived as unsafe, and the short-term trends here (and in other cities) are not good. Both Bibb and Kelley spoke eloquently and compellingly about the need to recruit and hire more police officers, deploy them more effectively (including at neighborhood police stations) and give them better training. Bibb, unlike Kelley, supports a city charter amendment, appearing on the Nov. 2 ballot as Issue 24, that would shift oversight of the police department to a civilian-led board and commission.

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

In the nearly 40 years of ministry in The Salvation Army, my wife and I have had the blessings to connect personally with countless individuals and families affected by poverty. We have learned that poverty cannot be defined by one cause or symptom, one action or reaction, or even one source. While we all wish it were so, there is not one answer to the challenge that will just make it go Applin is The away. We have also learned that making Salvation a difference by being a champion to one Army's person and one family at a time can have divisional an impact that is beyond measure. secretary for While I do not often talk about it, my Greater childhood was filled with the effects of Cleveland. poverty.

There were times when our family struggled to have enough food. Were it not for a grandmother who cleaned houses to support herself, we certainly would not have had enough. Our clothes were generally hand-me-downs and very well worn. They were the blessings of extended family or friends and were passed from sibling to sibling until they could no longer be worn due to the heavy wear. Each vehicle we owned was never reliable and was in a constant need of repair. We moved from rental house to rental house, always struggling to find a place that was more affordable than the last while having room for a family of seven. While insignificant really, my brothers and I always had to have short, cropped hair — not a popular style in that day — because we could not afford a barber and my father could only cut it one style.

The longer-term effects of all of this were perhaps even I KNOW PERSONALLY more challenging. The need for my father to attempt to HOW LIFE CAN KEEP provide for his family resulted YOU STUCK WHERE in his tendency to be a workaholic. He became distant and YOU ARE AT, FEELING inattentive. My mother suf- LOST AND HOPELESS. fered silently from severe bouts of depression and anxiety. As one might expect, there were fractured relationships in us all causing great instability and trauma. I personally suffered from very low self esteem and periodic bouts of depression which caused me to be unmotivated and unproductive in school.

I was often embarrassed and anxious about our family setting but powerless to change anything. As soon as I was able to work, I secured odd jobs to help support my family.

In retrospect, my life and future seemed hopeless for anything other than what I knew and was experiencing.

I know that there were many questions and answers from outside our immediate family. Why didn’t my father just get a better job? Why didn’t my mother go to work? Why didn’t we, as a family, just try harder to pull ourselves together?

Why didn’t we get help? For me personally, it was comments from others that I should apply myself more. I should just try harder in school and attempt to make something of myself.

All I have said in this recounting of the challenges of my early life will tell you that none of these questions and comments have an easy solution. I know personally how life can keep you stuck where you are at, feeling lost and hopeless.

See BIBB, on Page 7

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 POVERTY, on Page 7

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

6 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 4, 2021

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OPINION

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Chart a new course to avoid overdevelopment What is a legacy?

Recent Census data analysis indicates increasing a city’s population does not necessarily translate into economic growth. And that too much development in the wrong places (floodplains, watersheds, deserts) exacerbates the detrimental effects of the existential issue of our time: climate change.

This should give pause to the dated thinking that bigger is better, expanding a city’s footprint is a laudable goal and always leads to economic growth.

The old paradigms are shifting. We need to chart a new course. A current developer that does business with the city of Akron remarked that the new Summit Metro Parks Valley View Area is a weed patch and vowed never to let such a thing to reoccur. Again, this is old-fashioned thinking, not conducive to civic legacy building.

The proposed nodes of development in the Akron and Cuyahoga Falls Merriman Valley Master Planning areas are above the valley and contain wetlands. While the specious argument is we live in a capitalistic society and therefore can’t stop private land owners, consider

the public will pay for the ensuing flood-causing water because of “private” development. There are zoning rules, regulations and incentives to persuade against such actions.

Consider the Shaker Lakes legacy. Just 50 years ago, a group of gardeners, civic organizations and other citizens of Shaker Heights stood up to stop a freeway slicing through it. Yes, urban planners were going to cut through the city of Shaker Heights to connect Interstate 271 to Cleveland.

Regarding the 45-acres of land near the Cuyahoga Valley National Park known as Theiss Woods in Akron, which side of the legacy equation would you want to be on: the conservation of greenspace that reduces air and water pollution or the overdevelopment of greenspace that increases pollution, flooding and traffic congestion? Additionally, it will cost Akron for sewer and water service and infrastructure and stretch resources to enhance the housing stock in the legacy city.

What is a legacy?

Jodie M. Grasgreen Akron

Let your goals be your guide

BIBB

Ruggiero Wealth Management UBS Financial Services Inc. 600 Superior Avenue East 27th Floor Cleveland, OH 44114 216-736-8317

From Page 6

“I believe Cleveland could be a model for police reform,” Bibb said.

Beyond public safety, Bibb outlined central priorities that include creating “a modern and responsive City Hall,” in which citizens and business owners have fast, reliable access to “high-quality, basic services”; having a stronger hand in working with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to bring greater accountability to the district’s performances in offering a quality education to all its students; identifying priorities for the city’s use of American Rescue Plan Act funds that can be “sustained over time” with the help of an office of economic recovery; and making more consistent investments in legacy challenges that include broadband (to address the digital divide) and lead safety.

Cleveland at present is not part of the Ohio Mayors Alliance, a bipartisan coalition of mayors of the state’s largest cities. Bibb vowed he would join the organization “to make sure Cleveland has a seat at the table” as part of a “cities caucus” focused on advocating for investments in urban areas, including in public transit, where Ohio, to its detriment, has been disinvesting for years. It’s a small, but telling, example of the promise of collaboration Bibb has advocated throughout the campaign. “I don’t have to have the credit all the time,” he said of his approach to collaboration in leadership.

Neither Bibb nor Kelley would identify people they would name to their cabinet, though both acknowledged that picking strong, capable figures is vital to executing the priorities of a successful administration. Bibb said, broadly, that he would turn to “several retired CEOs,” as well as “talent in the nonprofit sector” and “great activists on the front lines” to build a team focused on moving the city forward.

And this is an ideal time for the city to make a push in new directions.

The pending leadership change in City Hall comes at

POVERTY

From Page 6

Fortunately for me, I was gifted with people who saw my potential and became my champions. There were other family members, teachers, church members and even employers who saw me for my potential rather than my situation. My champions invested in me and walked alongside me with encouragement and practical support. Instead of continually asking the whys and why nots, they made that investment that has been life changing for me. God has blessed me with willing champions.

My point in sharing all this is that I am aware of the same questions and comments I have personally expe-

Advice for the life you lead Modesto “Moe” Ruggiero Managing Director– Wealth Management Senior Portfolio Manager Wealth Advisor modesto.ruggiero@ubs.com

ubs.com/team/ruggiero

a time when important institutions including the George Gund Foundation, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals have or are getting new leaders. We could have a new Cuyahoga County Executive next year, too.

This is a time for fresh voices in a city that too often has accepted the status quo.

One final thought. An exhortation, actually: If you’re a Cleveland resident, please make sure to vote in this election. Turnout for the September election to get down to two candidates was less than 20% — a figure that’s not atypical for a primary, but still disappointing, given the stakes.

Clevelanders have an opportunity to set a different, more ambitious, more hopeful course for the city after 16 years of the Jackson administration. We encourage a vote for Justin Bibb to do that.

As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, UBS Financial Services Inc. offers investment advisory services in its capacity as an SEC-registered investment adviser and brokerage services in its capacity as an SEC-registered broker-dealer. Investment advisory services and brokerage services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate arrangements. It is important that clients understand the ways in which we conduct business, that they carefully read the agreements and disclosures that we provide to them about the products or services we offer. For more information, please review the PDF document at ubs.com/relationshipsummary. © UBS 2020. All rights reserved. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. CJ-UBS-2031105874_2 Exp.: 10/31/2021

rienced about people in our communities who are “stuck” in life. Why don’t they just get a job (especially now with the well-publicized labor shortage)? Why don’t they just better themselves? Don’t they want a better life?

I can only tell you from personal experience that life situations are not solved with easy answers. The solutions are not easily or quickly fixed. They are solved with champions. The criticism and questions will solve nothing. It takes people who will continually invest in the systems and programs that will come alongside one individual and family at a time and champion them to a better life. The future is only as good as a society that is willing to invest in others without criticism. Champion them up to a better life.

OCTOBER 4, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 7

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Many regions in the Rust Belt, including ours, require rejuvenated, faster growing economies. New infrastructure of a specific kind, we believe, is the answer. It is a good time to think about it as though new infrastructure funding has been passed by Congress.

Over the years we have written extensively on ultrahigh-speed commuting using advanced technology to connect nearby Midwest cities. Let’s be clear. We propose using ultra-high-speed commuting trains (UHSCT) between these urban areas, which can typically be done in as little as 15 to 30 minutes.

These travel times cannot be replicated by Amtrak, air or car. These proposed commuting times are a quantum jump that can change everything.

A possible Cleveland-based set of adjacent cities for such connections could include Columbus, Pittsburgh and others. Connecting one or more of these cities so that commute times are 15 to 30 minutes would yield supercharged growth rates for these cities with attendant increases in tax collections and real estate prices.

As a Midwest example, three roughly equal-sized cities growing at 2% to 4% annually when connected with UHSCT will instead start growing to 3% to 5% annually, an increase of growth rates by nearly 50%.

Many studies by well-respected urban planners and scholars say that populations that are aggregated together with UHSCT into an integrated urban environment create accelerated economic growth reflecting a 9:49 AM power law based on the aggregate population of the newly formed metroplex. For example, Geoff West of Santa Fe Institute argues that population change increases economic growth by a specific power law – for every unit of population growth, the economic growth rates increase by a factor of 1.15. This aggregate population power law has been confirmed by other urban planners and scholars. Most interestingly, it has been shown to work for many clusters of cities linked by high speed trains in China.

Adding more cities to an existing cluster further increases growth rates for the connected cities; and those rates are compounded every year. So, it is quite reasonable to estimate that after a decade or so of such supercharged growth, the cost of building such a system could be easily covered by tax and other benefits of the extra growth.

High-speed trains are often proposed based on the so-called gravity model, that is, economic growth is proportional to population and inversely proportional to the distance of commuting. The gravity model is the bible of the planning industry, but we argue for a nuanced change. It is not the distance, but the door-to-door commuting time. Offering alternative rail service with travel times similar to or somewhat exceeding drive time between Cleveland and Columbus is qualitatively not the same as ultra-high-speed 15-minute commuting between city clusters. The convenience, economic results and ridership are very different. Driving does not create an urban metroplex, while UHSCT credibly allows one

to live in one city and work or play in the other.

Further, the Midwest has about a dozen urban areas that all, give or take, have 3 million people, with each city within 100 to 150 miles from its closest urban neighbor.

With ultra-high-speed commuting, the door-to-door time within many of these Midwest city clusters can be reduced to commuting times integrating and knitting these cities together and supercharging their growth rates. Finally, as a bonus, land near UHSCT train stations will explode in value creating opportunity and tax revenue. For example, with Terminal Tower as a UHSCT stop, land under Burke Airport would likely be valued in the billions Aggarwal and of dollars.

Bohinc are civic What accounts for the higher futurists based growth rates of a city cluster intein Northeast grated by commuting time system?

Ohio.

There are many good reasons, but not all of them can be anticipated in detail. An obvious example is that the market is now bigger allowing economies of scale and scope. The lower costs of manufacturing mean businesses can have more customers. An allied reason is larger populations allow for more and more specialization. For entrepreneurs, there are more startups, better ideas, more support and less risk. Richard Florida, now at the University of Toronto, has long promoted the now accepted idea of a creative class: The higher the population, the bigger is the creative class that also contributes to retaining local talent like young college graduates.

Another advantage to clustering cities with commuting service is that the costs of operating and managing the aggregate population cluster does not increase as much as the growth of the economy. Said another way: These city clusters are cheaper to operate relative to their effective population. That is a big advantage, as a 9 million population New York City is more expensive to run effectively than the 9 million metroplex consisting of three 3-million population centers of Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Columbus.

A new name for such places is being proposed: 15-minute cities. They are lower cost, manageable places and yet with personal vibrancy, competition and stimulation found in world-class cities like London or New York City. Also, COVID has accelerated the search for a new vision of city living, and the 15-minute city may be the answer. Nothing better describes our Midwest city cluster like Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis and even Toronto.

Cleveland, it’s time to leapfrog the Rust Belt. Time to think boldly outside the box. Why should China be the main beneficiary of this idea? Time to supercharge our economic growth rates.

8 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 4, 2021

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ADVISER

Do’s and don’ts of social media marketing

BY LAURA SHERIDAN

The role of social media marketing in your business plan is important. But how do you determine what to do and how to do it?

Keep these things in mind:

DO work backward Why is social media part of your marketing plan? Like all business planning, start at the end by defining what success looks like.

What metrics do you need to achieve for social media to be an integral part of your marketing program?

Examples of metrics include qualified leads, conversions, revenue and customer retention.

DO know your audience The success of a social media program is dependent on the content you post and where it’s posted.

Posting information that your target audience values and connects with on an emotional level will result in engagement — comments, shares and likes. How do you find topics that your target audience cares about? Talk to them. Listen to the questions they’re asking your customer service representatives. Read what they’re commenting about on social media. See what photos they’re posting on Facebook and in LinkedIn groups.

DO understand your available internal resources Who on your staff has the skill and experi-

Sheridan is president of Viva La Brand, the Clevelandbased brand and marketing strategy, research and agency search firm.

ence to lead or execute your social media plans?

Sure, there’s an opportunity to learn on the job, but it’s key to have an expert who understands the levers available and how to use them to result in a successful program.

` Analysis: A great social media professional can track, monitor and evaluate the right metrics and then devise a plan to achieve better results next time. ` Being customer-obsessed: The best marketers are ones who can view the world through the lens of their customer. They know a lot more about them than mere transactional buying information.

DO understand what skills are needed

DO be true to your brand

Developing and maintaining an effective social media program requires these skills: ` Copywriting: This is the ability to write appealing posts that attract eyeballs. It’s about sharing content that readers connect with emotionally, want to know more about and want to share with their community. It’s about telling a captivating story. ` Design: Research has found that social media posts with images receive more engagement. In addition, 43% of consumers want to see more videos in posts. Design matters. ` Customer service: As the face of your company on social media, it’s important that your social media specialists understand that they are customer service representatives. They need the knowledge and skill to ask the right questions to facilitate engagement and answer questions about the product, company or industry, or at least know how to quickly find them.

The tone and feel of your posts must be true to your brand. Brand authenticity is crucial to keeping and winning customers. An authentic brand is one that is transparent and consistent in its messaging and branding initiatives. It’s about gaining trust. Know what happens when customers don’t trust a brand? They often start looking for a brand they can trust.

DON’T hire the social media agency your friend uses for her business You need a creative partner that can demonstrate by case study example that they have the skills and experience to tackle your business situation — not your friend’s. You need to ask the tough questions like, “Do the people who created this amazing social media campaign that’s on your website still work for your firm?”

DON’T sacrifice quality for quantity Neither your customers nor search engines

are counting your posts. Instead, they are interested in content that is informative, engaging and full of value.

DON’T stop testing and tracking One of the benefits of digital marketing over traditional marketing (think TV ads, radio and billboards) is that you can quickly measure results. Equipped with real-time data and a channel that enables fast swapping of ads, marketers can conduct creative and messaging tests nonstop.

DON’T forget about mobile According to Hootsuite’s 2021 Social Media Report, 98% of people access social media sites via a mobile device (and spend an average of four hours and 10 minutes on those devices every day). What does that mean for you?

When you’re developing a social media campaign, ensure that your image, video and text formats are mobile-friendly.

DON’T buy fans or followers People are savvy when it comes to social media. They can tell when you have paid followers or earned ones. Authenticity is key, so instead of buying fans or followers, post engaging content and let your community spread the word.

Developing and implementing a social media program that achieves your business goals isn’t easy. Follow these do’s and don’ts for a running start.

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HIGHER EDUCATION

PAPER WORK

POLARIS CAREER CENTER

PAGE 15

The cost to enroll in Polaris Career Center’s medical assisting program, shown here, is far less than other institutions. But earning that certificate can result in a lower wage compared with other allied health fields.

Health care certificate programs vary widely in return on investment, with some offering little or nothing back

`BY AMY MORONA Getting a job in the medical field

seemed like a good fit for Kayla Hales. The 25-year-old from North Royalton has some health issues. Other family members do, too. Seeing a friendly face at a front desk or exam room of a doctor’s office eased their fears over the years.

Plus, she heard a phrase that feels like a familiar one in Northeast Ohio: It’s a good career move.

“My parents always say there will always be jobs in health care,” she said.

So after high school and stops at Cuyahoga Community College and Bryant and Stratton College, she completed the 39-week medical assisting program at Polaris

Career Center. She now has one of the multitude of health care jobs in the region — but it’s certainly not one of the most financially lucrative ones.

Northeast Ohio is a medical mecca. Health care is one of the biggest drivers of the local econo-

my. The sector has the most jobs as well as the greatest number of openings, per a 2020 Team NEO report.

Opportunities extend far beyond top-of-mind options like being a doctor or nurse. Many health care positions don’t require an advanced degree. Community colleges and for-profit colleges offer loads of two-year degrees and even shorter-term credentials in everything from sports massage to medical coding.

But a recent analysis of federal data shows that some health care credentials don’t have much, if any, long-term economic payoff.

See PROGRAMS on Page 12

Return on allied health certificates There can be big discrepancies in which health care certificates have the greatest return on investment. Though several institutions across Northeast Ohio offer courses in allied health and medical assisting, median earnings two years post-grad are varied.

Cuyahoga Community College: $30,988 Polaris Career Center - Adult education department: $20,687 Ross Medical Education Center: $20,846 Stautzenberger College: $25,194 Median salary of an Ohio high school graduate with no college : $23,000 SOURCE: THIRD WAY

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

10 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 4, 2021

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Stepping up when it matters most Last year, we committed $1.25 billion over five years to build on our long-standing work in support of driving racial equality and economic opportunity. To date, we’ve directly funded or invested nearly $400 million of this commitment, in addition to other ways we continue to make an impact in our communities.

Our actions include: •

$36 million to 21 Minority Deposit Institutions (MDIs) and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) banks that support minority-owned businesses. This is in addition to our approximately $100 million in deposits to MDIs and our existing $1.8 billion CDFI portfolio.

•

$300 million to 100 equity funds to provide capital to diverse entrepreneurs and small business owners

•

$10 million grant to fund the Center for Black Entrepreneurship (CBE), in partnership with Spelman and Morehouse colleges

•

$25 million to 21 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) and community colleges in support of job skilling and placement

•

Establishing new partnerships and coalitions focused on building skills and creating job opportunities for people of color

•

$60 million to increase access to capital and career opportunities for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) affordable housing developers

•

33 million+ masks, more than 272,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and 8 million gloves to communities in need

•

$1.35 million in grants to support mental health initiatives for young people of color

•

$25 million founding partnership in the Smithsonian’s new initiative on race, Our Shared Future: Reckoning with Our Racial Past

These are just some examples of how we’re working with community partners, business leaders, experts and academics across the public and private sectors to continue to drive progress.

At Bank of America, we call this a nice start.

Jeneen Marziani President, Bank of America Ohio

What would you like the power to do?® Go to bankofamerica.com/cleveland to learn more.

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FOCUS | HIGHER EDUCATION

PROGRAMS

From Page 10

Leaders at Polaris Career Center’s medical assisting program said students often report that their interests in the field stem from wanting to care for others. They’re not necessarily motivated by money. | POLARIS CAREER CENTER

Third Way, a think tank, examined data from the federal government about what graduates of thousands of programs earned two years after getting their credential or degree.

The bulk of those with bachelor’s and associate degrees see a return on their investment five years or less after graduating.

Yet 53% of students who graduate from a certificate program never get any economic return, when compared with what a high school graduate earns.

And health care fields — despite the public perception of job growth — have some of the widest range of outcomes.

“The discrepancy has always been there,” said John Cordova, program director of allied health at the nonprofit Futuro Health. “It goes back to the ‘us and them’ type of thing. The more education you have, the more you’re ‘us.’ The less education you have, the more you’re ‘them.’ ” Take Tri-C, for example. It offers two tracks in the allied health field.

Graduates in the diagnostic, intervention and treatment professions lane spend $5,144 on the program.

Two years after graduation, median earnings came in at about $52,000, per Third Way’s analysis.

That’s nearly $30,000 more than a high school graduate earns in Ohio.

The course catalog is full of other

options that sound similar, including medical assisting. It also falls under the allied health umbrella. It costs the same amount of money as the diagnostic track. Two years after graduation, though, those who completed this program made only about $8,000 more than a high school graduate.

Scan the websites of various institutions’ medical assisting information pages, and you’ll notice that many tout the growing demand for jobs in that particular field. That’s true, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But most don’t add an additional line detailing the median pay of $17.23 an hour.

At Polaris, Hales’ alma mater, graduates of its medical assisting program reportedly earned about $2,000 less than those with only a high school diploma. Third Way’s analysis finds there’s no return on investment for that program at that institution.

Leaders at Polaris have seen the data. It surprised them. They’ve gone to local hospitals and pushed for higher wages.

“We've been rather frank about starting salaries and what an entry level medical assistant should be paid,” said Karen Rayk, the adult education director at Polaris.

For many, the decision to enter this field centers on a desire to help others or to use the job as a stepping stone to other positions like nursing, according to Amy Hrouda-Traum, who teaches in Polaris’ medical as-

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Diagnostic fields, for example, often pay off far sooner compared with those who finish a medical assisting program.

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sisting program. She’s never had anyone leave the program after conversations about potential salaries.

“Many students tell me it’s not about money,” she said. “It’s about being happy in a lifelong career, not just a job they do not enjoy.”

That particular offering at Polaris has a net price of about $7,700.

It’s far more expensive at other places, including Fortis College.

The for-profit institution has outposts in Cuyahoga Falls, Centerville, Cincinnati and Westerville.

Its medical assisting program’s net price is about $22,000, yet those who completed the program made $1,300 less than those who only have a high school diploma.

“We’re just honest with people about the industry and how much you can make as a general rule,” said Brian Parker, president of the Cuyahoga Falls campus. “And people choose to do that.”

Students know they’re training for entry-level positions, he said, adding that the college’s website is

Out of 69,815 total graduates, 47.3% will recoup their educational investment in five years or less.

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

sion to shift the medical assistant program from an associate’s degree to a one-year certificate.

“What they were saying is, ‘We need more MAs (medical assistants), how can you get them out faster? But we still want them to have the academic rigor, we want them to be as ready as they are when they come out of your twoyear program,’ ” she said.

The shift will also allow students to tap into different financial resources, like scholarship money earmarked strictly for short-term certificates. Stark State officials looked at post-grad wages, too.

There wasn’t a difference, Reinsel said, between whether someone had an associate’s degree in medical assisting versus a certificate.

The salary uptick emerged for those who passed a national certified medical assistant exam. Not all programs are approved through accrediting bodies, and this discrepancy is more pronounced at for-profit colleges.

The Cleveland “WE’RE JUST HONEST WITH PEOPLE Clinic partners with both for-profit and ABOUT THE INDUSTRY AND HOW nonprofit colleges to MUCH YOU CAN MAKE AS A GENERAL offer students externships and internRULE.” ships. It’s an educational opportunity, of — Brian Parker, president of the Fortis College Cuyahoga Falls campus course, but also gives the hospital system a clear in laying out relevant infor- chance to expand its workforce mation, including its 56% gradua- pipeline.

While Mari Knettle, director of tion rate for first-time students.

Parker said the college’s marketing the center for health sciences, efforts are run by its corporate arm. stresses the hospital system has The way colleges talk isn’t decid- successful relationships with all ed by accident. Institutions nation- types of institutions, the Clinic’s list wide spent a reported $730 million of approved partnerships tends to on advertising in 2017. It’s especial- skew more toward nonprofit colly pronounced at for-profit schools. leges.

“In many cases, the not-for-profit The Brookings Institution reported finding those places spent $400 on institutions have the accreditation advertising for each student, far that we're looking for; they provide more than the $48 at private and a lot of support to the students while they are with us,” said Knettle. the $14 at public colleges.

Offerings aren’t decided based “We don't want to have a situation on chance, either. Kelly Reinsel, where students are left hanging out dean of health and public services to dry.” at Stark State College, said decisions there are rooted in communi- Amy Morona: ty needs. Conversations with local amy.morona@crain.com, employers helped form the deci- (216) 771-5229, @AmyMorona

Medical assistants, like those shown here, can earn far less after completing a certificate program compared with those who work in a diagnostic field. | POLARIS CAREER CENTER

OCTOBER 4, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 13

FOCUS | HIGHER EDUCATION OPINION

How free college can help remake the U.S. economy As the Democrats’ budget bill takes shape, higher education policy is once more a point of contention.

It's a good time to rethink the country’s approach to higher ed, which has become increasingly contradictory and unsustainable in recent decades. Most importantly, policymakers should ponder how to make U.S. colleges both an engine of upward mobility and a support system for key industries.

Many people who focus on the problems in the U.S. university system consider only rising tuition and student debt. Others are preoccupied with inequities at elite universities like the Ivy League. Both concerns are legitimate, but the challenges extend far beyond these issues.

Start with the fact that the university system has grown increasingly inequitable. As of right now, students from lower-income backgrounds with high test scores are less likely to graduate than high-income students with low scores.

Fiddling with admissions at Ivy League schools isn’t likely to solve the problem. When organizations like the Equality of Opportunity Project, U.S. News and World Report and CollegeNET have tried to calculate the degree to which various schools give their students an economic boost, schools in the California State system, the City University of New York system and other cheap state schools do the best. Further-

STEFANI REYNOLDS/BLOOMBERG

BY NOAH SMITH | BLOOMBERG

Many people who focus on the problems in the U.S. university system consider only rising tuition and student debt. But the challenges extend far beyond these issues.

more, top private schools like Harvard and Yale have small student bodies — perhaps 100,000 in total, compared with almost half a million

for the California system alone.

U.S. higher education policy should aim to increase the number of people who graduate from these

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institutions — and without coming away with big debt burdens. Subsidizing tuition is a part of this, but for lower-income students, room and board are a much bigger factor.

Offering cheap housing to students at working-class schools is essential.

Nor is money the only issue keeping working-class kids from completing college. Policies like unified applications can save kids the money, effort and confusion of applying to many schools. Investment in mentoring and guidance counseling in high school can encourage students from modest backgrounds to set their sights higher, and help them prepare for the challenges of college.

Yet it’s also important to recognize that not every American should graduate from a four-year university. Because the debate over higher education tends to be dominated by people who themselves graduated from four-year colleges, there’s a natural tendency to imagine a world where everyone is a well-rounded professional with a liberal arts degree from a good school.

But this is nothing like the reality that working-class Americans face.

Not only are many not prepared for the coursework at a four-year school, many simply want to get out in the working world as fast as possible and earn a good salary for their families. Research shows that community colleges are important and powerful engines of upward mobility, so these institutions need more support.

Fortunately, President Joe Biden is trying to do exactly the right thing on these fronts. His education plans, which will be part of the Democrats’ budget bill in some form, include free community college and more

support to states to make state universities cheaper and more accessible. He’s also expanding Pell grants, which are a much better form of financial aid than cheap loans.

Biden should supplement these excellent initiatives by following through on another of his longtime priorities — vocational education. Research shows that vocational training increases the share of a country’s income that goes to the working class. Germany has used it to build both a world-class export manufacturing sector and an economy that’s more equal than America’s.

Which brings me to another important point: Higher education isn’t just about opportunity, it’s also about restructuring the American economy. Americans on both sides of the political aisle are beginning to realize that manufacturing and exports play too small a role in the U.S. economy. Both Biden and former President Donald Trump have talked about giving industry a boost, not just to provide more good jobs but also to compete with China.

Higher education is an extremely important part of that transformation. Scholars who study industrial policy have found that access to job training and higher ed are among the most important policies in terms of building a workforce that can support local manufacturing industries.

In other words, in terms of equality, opportunity and industrial policy, there’s simply no substitute for a broad-based technically competent working class. Biden’s education plan is a step in the right direction, but leaders of both parties should be pressing for more and sparing no expense.

14 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 4, 2021

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FOCUS | HIGHER EDUCATION

Ursuline initiative aims to help women regain footing after pandemic

BY JUDY STRINGER

Things were going pretty well for American women headed into 2020.

Women were making most of the buying decisions for families. They were inching closer to pay equity, controlling a majority of the wealth, entering politics in record numbers and outpacing men in both the creation of small businesses and in investment dollars for their entrepreneurial efforts.

“All women were moving up, not equally, but all of us were moving up,” explained Denise Reading, CEO of Chagrin Falls-based LDR Worldwide.

“Women were in such a positive state.”

Then — almost overnight — they weren’t. COVID-19 hit the female population hard. They disproportionately lost their jobs, shouldered a greater burden of heightened family caregiving duties and more frequently reduced their hours or left their jobs entirely in response.

By some estimates, Reading said, the pandemic undid at least a generation’s worth of advances in economic equality between the sexes — and women of color have seen the biggest setback.

Female-focused Ursuline College is leveraging its expertise and resources in a bid to get women back on track.

Earlier this year, the private Catholic school launched the Institute for Women, Wellness & Work, a digital learning platform that gives subscrib-

ers access to workshops, webinars, videos, blogs, articles and networking opportunities — all centered on helping women move forward professionally and personally.

“We really thought this was a great opportunity to take what we’ve been doing for 150 years — empowering women to succeed — and look at how we can support, in particular, the midcareer-level women who are really dealing with many of the struggles that exist today,” said Gina Messina, executive director of the institute and an associate professor at Ursuline.

Millions of women sidelined their careers because they couldn’t find stable child care or to home-school their kids or care for aging parents, according to Messi- Reading na. And those still working are facing unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety related to managing work and family obligations amid mounting responsibilities and concerns about their health and safety and that of their families.

“Women are in this constant state of hustle, and it’s Messina exhausting,” she said. “So, we created the institute not just focusing on career development, which of course is the (biggest) piece of it, but really taking that 360 approach that in-

cludes how women can take care of themselves while they’re doing all of this other stuff.”

Reading, who is a member of the Ursuline College Women’s Leadership Committee, helped curate the Women, Wellness & Work curriculum. She said conversations about the institute started before the pandemic.

Back then, organizers approached its development from the standpoint of helping womankind — already at the top of its game — continue to evolve, with an emphasis on leadership and workforce skills.

Seeing the devastating consequences of COVID, Reading said the college accelerated its timeline for launching the institute and shifted its content focus slightly toward wellness.

“We’re dealing with a crisis when I am on the phone with a 30-something C-(suite) executive for a very, very large company, a high achiever, telling me she feels like a loser,” she said. “The pandemic has done a number on women, and how they define themselves and understand their strengths and priorities.”

Messina said the institute also has put more effort into providing resources related to the gig economy “than we

might have pre-pandemic.” As a result of the COVID upheaval, she said, midcareer women are questioning “what they want to do for the next 20 years,” and many are craving careers that fit into their busy lives.

Gig opportunities, meanwhile, are on the rise and can provide more flexibility and sometimes better wages.

Messina said the pay gap between women and men in gig professions is just one cent. The pay gap among those in more traditional jobs, by comparison, is 21 cents for white women, 36 cents for Black women and 44 cents for Latinas.

“It’s an opportunity for women individually to take more control over their lives and collectively to shrink the pay gap, which we know is getting worse in the pandemic,” she said.

The institute currently has about 500 subscribers, which Messina expects to “quadruple by the end of the year.”

Individual subscribers pay just $27 annually. Keeping the price point affordable was important, Messina said, to optimize its reach. A limited number of scholarships are available for women who can’t afford the annual fee.

The institute also offers corporate subscriptions, which are priced by the size of the organization, from $5 per subscriber for those with 500 or fewer employees to $10 per user for businesses and nonprofits with more than 500 employees.

Most of the content is free to subscribers, although some of the on-de-

mand courses do cost extra, ranging from $49 to $299.

“Those are meant to be professional development opportunities on very specific topics that are more engaged,” Messina said.

Reading sees corporate subscriptions as an area of potential growth. As of late September, eight organizations had signed on to offer institute subscriptions to their female employees.

Many more, she said, are asking her “who is buying into this.”

“There’s always a little bit of tentativeness about, ‘Should we single out a single group and provide support to them?’ ” Reading said. “But when you look at the impact that women have on the success of organizations, you realize that it is imperative that we support women at this time.”

Messina has a mug on her desk that reads “The hustle is real.” It’s a reminder, she said, of what the institute is up against — a reality for women in which career and family are at constant odds, now more than ever, and a lack of support and/or options too often leads to mobility-limiting decisions.

“We want to get women to the position where they have the ability to make better decisions about their lives,” she said.

“Intentionality is a big piece of all of our programming.”

Contact Judy Stringer: clbfreelancer@crain.com

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SPONSORED CONTENT

S1 2021 S1 October May 18, 4, 2020

S

THOUGHT LEADER FORUM

CYBERSECURITY PROTECTING EMPLOYEES AND ASSETS

M

Computer viruses. Hacking. Phishing emails that appear to come from a legitimate person or organization. According to the FBI’s 2020 Internet Crime Report, the cost of cybercrimes reached $2.7 billion during that year alone. Organizations are taking action. Worldwide spending on information security and risk management technology and services is expected to grow 12.4%, to reach $150.4 billion in 2021, according to Gartner Inc. In particularly, integrated risk management technology and cloud security are experiencing double-digit growth. The global pandemic has influenced spending growth.

C n l w b

October marks Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which is intended to raise awareness about the importance of cybersecurity in the U.S.

H

Below are some related facts and data.

SMALL BUSINESSES ARE VULNERABLE More than 43% of cyberattacks target small businesses. These organizations are attractive because they have valuable information that cybercriminals want, and they typically lack the security infrastructure required to effectively prevent or respond to an attack.

SAFEGUARD YOUR MOBILE WORKFORCE

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

The increasing share of the employee base who is working remotely or in hybrid fashion has prompted the need for further IT security planning. Organizations should focus on certain key areas, such as VPN (which protects data access) and zero-trust network access.

Personally owned devices should include enhanced endpoint security. Companies and organizations should also address secure web architecture, cloud access security brokers and security solutions for teleconferencing and collaboration platforms.

Draft, update and implement a remote work policy, which should address whether your organization is providing phone, computer or other equipment to employees. This policy should address equipment use procedures and related cybersecurity standards.

BUT THEY ARE WARY

IDENTIFYING AN EMAIL SCAM

According to a recent survey conducted by the U.S. Small Business Administration, 88% of small business owners feel vulnerable to a cyberattack yet they lack the time and resources needed to fend off a potential threat.

How does one know if an email is legitimate or a hoax? Certain key indicators can help identify a phishing campaign, including: • The email includes multiple recipients and a lack of specific details.

• The cybercriminal provokes a sense of urgency and demands immediate payment to avoid a breach. This activates the stress response in a person, which impacts their ability to think rationally.

• The email does not offer proof that they can pull off an attacker’s claims.

COMPILED BY KATHY AMES CARR, CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND

COMMON THREATS Cyberattacks continue to evolve. The most common attacks include viruses, malware, ransomware and phishing.

SOURCES: CENTER FOR INTERNET SECURITY, CYBERSECURITY & INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, GARTNER, GLOBAL CYBER ALLIANCE, TRI-C CYBERSECURITY AND U.S. SMALL BUSINESS CENTER

S & D

SFA: A significant security risk and bad practice DALE DRESCH Director, IT Services Maloney + Novotny LLC ddresch@maloneynovotny.com 216-344-5296 Dale Dresch has over 15 years of experience in infrastructure design, systems administration, and cybersecurity, over 10 of which were spent in the public sector designing and implementing systems for the federal government. Dresch has both a bachelor’s degree in computer science and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace University.

A

s Cybersecurity Awareness month kicks off in October many businesses will look to improve their security posture by providing additional training to their staff or by implementing additional technologies to eliminate cybersecurity risks.

password into either their workstation or some application to begin working. This practice of only pairing a password with a username to gain access to a system is the most common, low-security method of authentication known as Single Factor Authentication, or SFA.

One category that always garners attention during this time of year is passwords.

Not only is SFA the most common, but it is also the most significant security vulnerability in technology today.

For better or worse passwords have been around for a very long time and will probably continue to be around further into the future than any of us would like. Almost everyone’s day starts off with entering their username and

So much so, that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, the government agency that leads the effort to understand and manage cyber and

physical risk to our critical infrastructure in the United States, added SFA to its list of bad practices that should be avoided by all organizations.

The most critical of weakness with SFA is that you depend upon your user, by themselves with minimal input, to create a complex enough password to protect your business, your data and your customers.

With SFA only one thing needs to go wrong for a bad actor to gain access to your organization.

The alternative is Multi Factor Authentication or MFA. MFA still requires entering a username and password but it also includes at least one additional step requiring the user to confirm their identify.

These additional steps can come in the form of a biometric scan (fingerprint, retina or voice), a smart card, hardware token or by using a smartphone to authenticate the user’s identity through the use of an application, message or notification containing a unique onetime passcode.

First, adding these additional factors increases exponentially the complexity of the actions a bad actor would need to take to gain entry to your organization. Second, you are no longer dependent only upon your users’ ingenuity to create complex passwords as the primary pillar of your organization’s security.

The good news is that most organizations already have the ability to implement MFA on critical services without additional investment of time or money.

The use of MFA shouldn’t stop at organizations trying to increase their security. Individual consumers should also consider enabling MFA. If your bank or other financial service offers you the ability to enable MFA you should do so.

This doesn’t just stop at financial based services either.

Any service you use that supports MFA should have it enabled because consumers can and should exercise the same care organizations do to actively safeguard their own personal data.

MFA is one of the most significant improvements that any organization can make to increase their security posture and protect themselves from becoming the next breach headline for two reasons.

This advertising-supported section/feature is produced by Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland, the marketing storytelling arm of Crain’s Cleveland Business. The Crain’s Cleveland Business newsroom is not involved in creating Crain’s Content Studio content.

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T s w o e w

A i f l w a s c

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SPONSORED CONTENT

May 18, 2020 October 4, 2021S2S2

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SPONSORED CONTENT

CYBERSECURITY MANAGING CYBER LIABILITY Cyberattacks are a pervasive and increasing threat for organizations both small and large, and the U.S. economy overall. To manage the evolving need for organization-wide cyber hygiene, organizations are managing cyber protection by prioritizing information security and acquiring cyber liability insurance policies. In fact, the U.S. market for personal cyber insurance comprises less than a quarter of overall cyber premiums in the U.S., while the majority are written for corporations. Meanwhile, the size of the global cyber insurance market is suggested to increase from about $8 billion in 2020 to more than $20 billion by 2025, according to Statista, a provider of market and consumer data.

Here are some considerations and resources for reinforcing cyber protection:

TAKE ACTION

SECURE CYBER LIABILITY COVERAGE

Approach cybersecurity as a business risk and a priority across the entire organization. Identify and prioritize your organization’s critical assets and associated consequences if a breach were to occur. Create a plan that aligns with risk. Some key questions to ask: • Are we in compliance with industry frameworks?

• What could a breach cost us?

• How would an incident impact employees, customers or business partners?

• What plan do we have in place, if any, to prevent a breach?

• What can we do now to offer the best protection?

Certain standard business insurance policies may cover certain types of cyber incidents. A separate cyber liability is more comprehensive and may cover loss or corruption of data, business interruption, several kinds of liability, identity theft, cyber extortion and reputation management.

RESOURCES AVAILABLE U.S. state, local, tribal and territorial (SLTT) government organizations can access different cybersecurity services such as software that blocks email hoax campaigns through the Multi-State Sharing and Analysis Center.

Kindergarten through 12th-grade educational institutions and public and private hospital systems also can access certain no-cost services.

STATEWIDE CYBERSECURITY CONFERENCE WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE FUTURE The global pandemic has upended traditional business operations, presenting new and ongoing challenges for companies and organizations. This time also has led organizations to become more resilient, nimble and wary, including in the field of information security, according to Gartner. With accelerated changes expected to continue businesses will need to work closely with cybersecurity professionals to ensure their assets and employees are protected.

SOURCES: CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS, CENTER FOR INTERNET SECURITY, CYBERSECURITY & INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY, INSURANCE INFORMATION INSTITUTE, OHIO DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICE, STATISTA AND U.S. SMALL BUSINESS CENTER

The Ohio Cybersecurity Day Conference is set for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 26. This event is ideal for technology leaders, government chief information and information security officers, IT administrators and other IT staff who play a key role in information security.

For details, visit infosec.ohio.gov/ OhioCybersecurityDay.aspx

COMPILED BY KATHY AMES CARR, CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND

Insurance carriers scrutinize cybersecurity controls LACY REX Vice president, cyber strategic leader Oswald Companies lrex@oswaldcompanies.com 513-716-6002 Lacy Rex has over 13 years of experience in the insurance industry, always focused on executive risk coverages. Her knowledge in cyber security has earned her international speaking engagements and panel opportunities.

D

uring the past year, there has been a substantial shift in the already challenging cyber liability marketplace.

The changes, especially scrutiny around supply chain coverage and systemic losses, was precipitated by the Solarwinds incident of December 2020 during which numerous entities, including government and businesses, were compromised.

According to Fitch Ratings, cyber liability incidents have been increasing in severity and frequency for the past few years, with a 73% loss ratio in 2020. I suspect 2021 will be worse with the amount of catastrophic events that already have occurred, such as the recordsetting $40 million extortion paid by CNA; concerns over potential disruption to food

supply chain by the JBS USA meatpacking company ransomware incident; and the Colonial Pipeline, which disrupted fuel supply to the East Coast.

What was the cause of the Colonial Pipeline incident? Lack of multi-factor authentication for an account.

With the increase in cybersecurity claims, insurance carriers are scrutinizing cybersecurity controls and rigorously underwiring every risk.

As a result, multi-factor authentication and cyber hygiene are crucial to obtaining coverage.

So, what is multi-factor authentication (MFA)?

Two authenticating factors to verify the identity of an individual.

Typically, it’s a password and authenticating application, and it should be utilized for the following: • Remote access for all employees, corporate users and third parties accessing your system • Email access on noncorporate devices or web app • Privileged/administrative access within your network Cyber insurance carriers are beginning to sublimit some coverage lines, apply coinsurance up to 50% of the loss, reduce capacity and limit coverage when cybersecurity controls aren’t favorable.

Historically, premiums have been very competitive, but they are increasing approximately 60% to more than 100% due to claims. Cyber liability underwriters are looking for specific baseline controls due to the increasingly difficult market before considering offering terms.

In addition to MFA, organizations should consider regular phishing exercises, encrypted backups, email filtering for malicious content, well-rehearsed incident response plan, routine vulnerability scan, and patch management process.

finish line, and companies should continue to improve their controls with endpoint detection and response, privileged access management, next-generation firewalls, etc.

In addition, make sure to allocate enough to your IT security budget and confirm they align with the insurers’ expectations.

Cyber liability insurance is a critical risk transfer mechanism for any organization but securing it has been more challenging than ever.

Your organization should review your cybersecurity controls with your broker to identify potential challenges and gain insights into renewal expectations. Insurance carriers have encouraged their policyholders to utilize their risk management tools, but they now expect companies to adopt these controls.

An effective cyber risk management program will help drive the best terms and conditions possible in this challenging market.

Think of these controls as similar to insuring a building. If there are no sprinklers or similar loss control considerations, then your building may not be insurable. Cybersecurity does not have a

This advertising-supported section/feature is produced by Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland, the marketing storytelling arm of Crain’s Cleveland Business. The Crain’s Cleveland Business newsroom is not involved in creating Crain’s Content Studio content.

P016_017_CL_20211004.indd 17

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CRAIN'S LIST | ACCOUNTING FIRMS Ranked by number of CPAs in Northeast Ohio as of Sept. 1, 2021

RANK

COMPANY MAIN LOCAL OFFICE

LOCAL CPAS 9-1-2021 1-YEAR CHANGE

FULL-TIME LOCAL STAFF 9-1-2021 1-YEAR CHANGE

LOCAL PERSONNEL ENGAGED IN 2020 REVENUE (MILLIONS) 1

AUDITACCOUNTING

TAX

CONSULTING

OTHER

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

1

ERNST & YOUNG LLP 950 Main Ave., Cleveland 44113 216-861-5000/ey.com

367 -4.7%

1,476 -9.5%

$15,820 2

487

164

196

629

Monte Repasky, Cleveland office managing partner Whitt Butler, Akron office managing partner

2

COHEN & CO. 1350 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44115 216-579-1040/cohencpa.com

168 -2.9%

321 5.2%

$98.8 2

108

109

27

77

Randall S. Myeroff, president, CEO

3

PWC LLP 200 Public Square, Cleveland 44114 216-875-3000/pwc.com

166 3 -1.2%

— —

$18,000 2

—

—

—

—

Gregg Muresan, Cleveland office managing partner

4

DELOITTE LLP AND SUBSIDIARIES 127 Public Square, Cleveland 44114 216-589-1300/deloitte.com

121 10.0%

487 8.7%

$23,157

181

91

195

20

Paul Wellener, Northeast Ohio managing principal

5

KPMG LLP 1375 E. 9th St., Cleveland 44114 216-696-9100/home.kpmg/us

95 0.0%

185 0%

$9,600

55

20

90

20

James Mylen, Cleveland managing partner

6

RSM US LLP 1001 Lakeside Ave. E., Cleveland 44114 216-523-1900/rsmus.com

73 -3.9%

175 2.3%

$2,878.5

60

24

57

34

David Andrews, Ohio market leader

7

MEADEN & MOORE 1375 E. 9th St., Cleveland 44114 216-241-3272/meadenmoore.com

72 -2.7%

152 2.7%

$39.9 4

58

44

22

28

James P. Carulas, CEO

8

MALONEY + NOVOTNY LLC 1111 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114 216-363-0100/maloneynovotny.com

67 -5.6%

135 0%

$22.2

68

40

10

17

Jon Ruple, managing shareholder

9

CLIFTONLARSONALLEN LLP 4334 Munson Street N.W., Canton 44718 330-497-2000/claconnect.com

66 -2.9%

81 -12%

$1,400

29

33

8

11

Dane Mayle, managing principal

10

BDO USA LLP 1300 E. 9th St., Cleveland 44114 216-325-1700/bdo.com

63 -3.1%

150 -2%

$1,800

51

68

16

23

Robert M. Littman, Ohio managing partner Dave McClain, Tax Office managing partner Teri Schaffer, Assurance Office managing partner

11

MARCUM LLP 6685 Beta Drive, Mayfield Village 44143 440-459-5700/marcumllp.com

62 -12.7%

165 -23.3%

$689

48

45

57

28

Dani B. Gisondo, office managing partner, Cleveland (East)

12

THE SIEGFRIED GROUP LLP 950 Main Ave., Cleveland 44113 216-912-1342/siegfriedgroup.com

61 15.1%

69 13.1%

$291

0

0

0

61

Brian D. Seidner, managing director, Lake Erie Markets - Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Detroit

13

REA & ASSOCIATES 6300 Rockside Road, Independence 44131 216-573-2330/reacpa.com

56 0.0%

121 14.2%

$55.9

13

72

13

23

Rick T. Lash, regional president, Northeast Ohio

14

HW&CO. 23240 Chagrin Blvd., Beachwood 44122 216-831-1200/hwco.com

51 4.1%

91 -1.1%

$21.5

37

28

19

1

Brandon Miller, president, CEO

15

PEASE & ASSOCIATES LLC 1422 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44115 216-348-9600/peasecpa.com

50 2.0%

104 4%

$18 4

31

51

6

16

Kuno S. Bell, managing partner

16

BOBER, MARKEY, FEDOROVICH & CO. 3421 Ridgewood Road, Akron 44333 330-762-9785/bmf.cpa

50 -13.8%

96 -4%

$20.1 4

37

31

9

19

Mark B. Bober Cindy S. Johnson Theodore A. Wagner, partners

17

APPLE GROWTH PARTNERS 1540 W. Market St., Akron 44313 330-867-7350/applegrowth.com

47 -2.1%

99 6.5%

$18.4

22

44

10

23

Charles Mullen, chairman

18

GRANT THORNTON LLP 1375 E. 9th St., Cleveland 44114 216-771-1400/grantthornton.com

47 -2.1%

85 -16.7%

$1,920

25

32

19

9

Thomas P. Freeman, office managing partner

19

PLANTE MORAN PLLC 1111 Superior Ave., Suite 1250, Cleveland 44114 216-523-1010/plantemoran.com

47 4.4%

72 2.9%

$812.3

33

26

8

5

Daniel P. Hursh, office managing partner

20

BARNES WENDLING CPAS INC. 1350 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44115 216-566-9000/barneswendling.com

39 2.6%

73 0%

$13.9 4

22

32

5

14

Jeffrey D. Neuman, president, director

21

CORRIGAN KRAUSE 2055 Crocker Road, Westlake 44145 440-471-0800/corrigankrause.com

36 16.1%

79 36.2%

$12.2

14

22

5

38

Thomas L. Harrison, president, CEO

22

CBIZ INC. 6050 Oak Tree Blvd., Independence 44131 216-447-9000/cbiz.com

35 16.7%

298 -3.9%

$963.9

18

22

68

190

Jerome P. Grisko Jr., president, CEO

23

HBK CPAS & CONSULTANTS 6603 Summit Drive, Canfield 44406 330-758-8613/hbkcpa.com

32

123 —

$120

3

88

5

27

Phillip L. Wilson, chief operating officer, principal/ quality control, chair of HBK Assurance Committee

24

SIKICH LLP 274 White Pond Drive, Akron 44320 330-864-6661/sikich.com

31 -6.1%

111 16.8%

$184.2

18

22

52

27

David A. Brockman, partner-in-charge, Akron

25

FOUR-FIFTEEN GROUP 4300 Munson St. N.W., Canton 44718 330-492-0094/415group.com

28 -3.4%

71 6%

$11.8

14

28

22

7

Richard L. Craig, managing partner

26

CIUNI & PANICHI INC. 25201 Chagrin Blvd., Beachwood 44122 216-831-7171/cp-advisors.com

28 -15.2%

53 -5.4%

—

30

15

5

3

Brian D. Marita, president

Research by Chuck Soder (csoder@crain.com) | Information is from the companies unless footnoted. Firms with the same number of local CPAs are then ranked by local full-time employees. NOTES: 1. Revenue in most cases excludes revenue from separately owned firms that share the same brand name. 2. From Accounting Today. 3. Crain's estimate. 4. From Inside Public Accounting.

Get all 37 firms and more than 160 executives in Excel format. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data 18 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 4, 2021

P018_CL_20211004.indd 18

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DATA SCOOP

Accounting firms jockeying for talent are adapting to tight labor market

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Companies in the accounting field continue to grapple with finding enough employees in a tight and competitive labor market exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey for the Crain’s Accounting Firms list.

Of the 37 firms on the full digital list, 14 answered a question asking if recruiting has become more challenging over the past two years — and all 14 said it has. Eight of those respondents said it has become “significantly harder,” five picked “moderately harder” and one chose “slightly harder.”

Tactics firms are deploying on the hiring front include recruiting from new schools and new geographies (something further enabled by an embrace of remote work), according to another question answered by 11 companies on the list. They’re also hiking salaries further and faster, offering improved insurance or retirement benefits, and awarding signing bonuses.

Though the top five firms on the list didn’t answer those survey questions, Ernst & Young, the perennial No. 1 firm on the list by in-market CPAs, is among those embracing remote work.

“The key to making the future of

work possible is flexibility,” Monte Repasky, EY’s Cleveland office managing partner, told Crain’s earlier this year. “Leaders who are willing to consider alternative operating models that better fit the strengths of their teams may find that it attracts and retains valuable talent that can take their business to new heights.”

EY shrank slightly in the past year, reporting 367 CPAs in Northeast Ohio this fall, compared with its peak of 385 in 2020. It has a total of 1,476 staff here compared with 1,631 last year.

EY is followed by Cohen & Co., which has 168 in-market CPAs (down from 173 last year) and 321 full-time staff (up from 305).

The total number of CPAs in the market was ultimately relatively flat, decreasing by about 1.5% in the past year. Compared with 10 years ago, however, the total number of CPAs among the 20 largest firms has increased by more than 24%.

Nonetheless, some firms have logged noticeable decreases versus a few years ago.

Chicago-based BDO USA, which announced an acquisition of SS&G Inc. in 2014, is about half the size today as it was when it unveiled that deal. Currently the 10th-largest firm in the market, BDO has decreased its bench of local CPAs from 130 in 2014

Companies take action to address recruiting challenges Eleven companies responded to a Crain’s survey about their recruiting actions taken in the past two years and recipients could choose multiple answers.

Raised salaries beyond cost-of-living increases 7 companies Improved insurance/retirement benefits 2 companies Permanently allowing remote work part or full time 7 companies Added signing bonuses 7 companies Recruiting from new geographies 7 companies Recruiting from new schools 7 companies 4 Recruiting more people not actively seeking work 3 companies Loosened listed qualifications for positions 0 companies CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

to 63 today. Its total local staff has sunk in that same span from 401 to 150.

Behind BDO on the list is New York-based Marcum, which announced an acquisition of Cleveland’s Skoda Minotti in 2019. The firm reports 63 CPAs today and 150 staff compared with 69 and 179, re-

spectively, in 2019.

Midsize firms have grown by small amounts in the past year. But as Crain’s reported this spring, firms are grappling with a talent shortage in the accounting field, further complicating an already tight labor market.

“If I could find 200 good people tomorrow, I would hire every single

one of them” Kuno Bell, managing partner of Cleveland-based CPA firm Pease & Associates, told Crain’s in May. “We are growing so fast it’s just a matter of time until I need them.”

Since 2015, Pease has effectively doubled its number of CPAs, to 50, and its total staff to more than 100.

Adding another 100 people is a bit of an exaggeration for Pease. But Bell’s point is that the firm is growing and hungry for more. It has plenty of work opportunities in front of it to feed to additional workers.

The total number of CPAs in the country has declined about 20% since the 1990s, according to the Accounting Institute for Success. Meanwhile, students who are drawn to finance disciplines are being snapped up by other industries.

These factors combined mean the accounting field has a shallower pool of people to recruit and more competition to deal with.

So while getting talent in the short term means adapting to the virtual work environment, there’s a sense of urgency that more work needs to be done to draw a younger generation to the finance and accounting fields to build up the ranks in a field where workers are in high demand.

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

ENROLLMENT

From Page 1

role in the college’s roughly 7% drop in total enrollment from fall 2020.

About 17,500 students currently attend.

Those who are parents — and national figures show about a quarter of community college students are — told officials at Tri-C that uncertainty around their kids’ K-12 school schedules influenced choices they made about their own educations. The strength of the current job market affected things, too.

“A lot of students are getting jobs, because the market is in their favor in a lot of areas,” she said. “Lots of high-paying jobs where students are trying to make the decision between school or work.”

Tri-C wasn’t alone in seeing drops, though institutions still have upcoming shorter sessions that will start later this semester. Lakeland Community College has 4,868 total students on campus this fall, about 9% fewer than last year. Lorain County Community College’s preliminary enrollment of 9,510 students reflects approximately a 5% drop compared with the same time in 2020.

Things at Stark State College stayed about the same. Full-time enrollment fell 1%, and the North Canton campus’ headcount dropped about 2%, to 10,629. Staying just about flat was in line with projections, said Robyn Steinmetz, director of marketing and communications at the college.

It’s credited, at least in part, to rounds of relief funding the college received during the past year. It allowed the campus to do some “creative” things, Steinmetz said. That includes offering a semester of free tuition for 2021 high school graduates or those who earned their GEDs. The campus hasn’t had this many

Early data shows Cuyahoga Community College and its peers across the region are seeing enrollment drops this fall. | CUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE

recent grads enroll since 2013. Steinmetz said the boost spoke to the fact that high school seniors and their families were looking for both a good deal and an option that came with a safety net. This fall marked another far-from-normal semester.

“We’re still in a pandemic,” she said. “Things are still changing. Col-

of three types of students: those joining directly from high school, those who are at least a year posthigh school, and those taking classes while in high school.

The rate of delayed high school students, that second group, grew by about 5% at Tri-C. Students returning to LCCC after some time away

“A LOT OF STUDENTS ARE GETTING JOBS, BECAUSE THE MARKET IS IN THEIR FAVOR IN A LOT OF AREAS. LOTS OF HIGH-PAYING JOBS WHERE STUDENTS ARE TRYING TO MAKE THE DECISION BETWEEN SCHOOL OR WORK.” — Angela Johnson, vice president of access and completion at Cuyahoga Community College

leges have to make decisions at the drop of a hat, so maybe it’s a good idea to have my students commute, stay close to home.”

New-student enrollment is up nearly 5% at Lakeland, too. Officials at the Kirtland campus said they define that group as being comprised

increased by 6% compared with fall 2020. Officials at Lorain noted that rate included upticks of both students of color and men, populations that saw declines last fall.

Comb through data provided by institutions, and you’ll see some other year-over-year bright spots,

too, such as transfers rising nearly 4% at Tri-C; Lakeland’s 16% increase in new high schoolers enrolling for classes through the state’s College Credit Plus program; or the 80% of Pell-eligible students who are continuing to utilize an effort at LCCC designed to help bump up retainment by offering more support.

Yet overall, things look more grim when compared with pre-pandemic numbers. Total enrollment at Cuyahoga Community College, for example, is nearly 26% lower this semester than it was at the same point in 2019.

The college is being thoughtful when analyzing specific areas of decline, said Tri-C’s Johnson. Some areas, like the declining rates of high school students enrolling, can be understood more easily. The yield there can be simpler to predict, since officials know the number of students set to graduate. The number of Ohio’s graduating high school seniors is projected to keep dwin-

dling.

But other sectors are harder to figure out.

“The adult students are the ones that are a lot more tough for us to understand in terms of what recovery opportunities are there,” Johnson said.

It’s pushing college officials to reevaluate things, like looking at the needs of the local economy to figure out how both credit and non-credit programs could fill gaps.

And it’s not enough to just offer courses, she said. Flexibility will be key, whether that’s in modality or time to complete. The number of part-time students is estimated to grow as people continue to juggle their out-of-classroom responsibilities.

The college is being “a lot” more responsive, Johnson said, in trying to understand adult students.

Amy Morona: amy.morona@crain. com, (216) 771-5229, @AmyMorona

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AID

From Page 1

Independent businesses are not necessarily connected to the industry groups talking up the grants.

Restaurant owners are preoccupied by staffing shortages and rising inventory costs.

Stretched-thin employers have paperwork fatigue after 19 months of navigating federal, state and local assistance programs, each with different rules. And some hotel owners are busy chasing larger sums of money from other sources to offset steep revenue drops.

“When you think about the reality of $30,000 on a $5 million property, it truly does feel like a drop in the bucket,” said Ben Haller, an Ohio-based regional vice president for Concord Hospitality Enterprises, which runs hotels including the Courtyard by Marriott Cleveland University Circle.

Still, Haller can’t see why anyone would pass up free money.

The Courtyard by Marriott, in the core of the city’s medical, educational and arts district, received a $30,000 grant. So did most of the other Buckeye State hotels that Concord manages.

“We’ve still got a heavy uphill climb,” Haller said of the industry.

“So every dollar we can claim in grant money or efficiencies across the board can help us to rebuild these hotels.”

The state’s programs are broad. Eligible food and beverage applicants, for example, are not just bars and restaurants. They include caterers, fraternal organizations, coffee shops, snack bars and other businesses that earn more than half their revenues by selling food and drinks.

Entertainment-venue grants are available to dinner theaters, movie theaters, museums, zoos, amusement parks, golf courses, bowling alleys and arcades. The lodging program is open to hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast operators.

The Courtyard by Marriott Cleveland University Circle is among the nearly 800 hotels, motels and bed-and-breakfast properties that have applied for state lodging grants. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

“IF ANYTHING, THIS PANDEMIC HAS SHOWN US THAT IT IS VERY DIFFICULT TO CREATE ALLENCOMPASSING PARAMETERS.” — Melinda Huntley, executive director of the Ohio Travel Association

But some entrepreneurs are finding that they fall outside the lines. To secure a grant, a new business must have between two and 25 employees.

That shuts the door on many salons, barber shops, yoga studios and other service businesses that rely on independent contractors.

Trade-show organizers and professional associations that host meetings also don’t meet the requirements, even though they were sidelined for more than a year by state regulations.

“Because they don’t have four walls, they don’t qualify. But we bring business to these places with four walls,” said Melinda Huntley, executive director of the Ohio Travel Association.

Huntley said the state is working closely with business groups to promote the programs and consider potential modifications. Any significant changes to the grants would require action by the General Assembly, which allocated the money in May through Senate Bills 108 and 109.

Cars sit in the valet lane at the Courtyard by Marriott Cleveland University Circle in late September.

Ohio is struggling to give away $207 million In late June, the state rolled out three grant programs offering up to $30,000 to struggling businesses. A fourth program provides $10,000 grants to businesses that formed in 2020. The majority of the money is still available.

Applications received Funds awarded Funds remaining

Food and beverage

Entertainment

Lodging

New business

Total

5,148 $69,432,435 $130,567,565

806 $13,451,210 $26,548,790

792 $13,380,509 $36,619,491

2,498 $6,080,000 $13,920,000

9,244 $102,344,154 $207,655,846

SOURCE: OHIO DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT, DATA AS OF SEPT. 23.

“If anything, this pandemic has shown us that it is very difficult to create all-encompassing parameters,” said Huntley, who commended the development department. “I think they’ve done a great job.

They’ve also been willing to make adjustments.”

To land a lodging grant, a hotel must have experienced an occupancy dip of at least 10% last year. The actual amount of the grant —

$10,000, $20,000 or $30,000 — is tied to lost revenue.

The occupancy rule means that some hotels that served as temporary housing for health care workers or overflow homeless shelters last year cannot secure grants, even if they suffered a financial hit, said Joe Savarise, president and CEO of the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Association.

Quirky accommodations like So-

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

journer’s Lodge & Log Cabin Suites in Amish country also miss the mark. Owner Gwen Miller filled out a lodging-grant application in August but could not submit it without a state hotel or motel license.

She, like other owners and operators of pint-sized properties, does not have a license.

Miller’s business, in Holmes County, is faring much better than hotels that rely on major events or

corporate travel. But the lodge and log cabins were offline in April 2020, and Miller did experience a falloff in occupancy and income as guests canceled their reservations.

“I definitely appreciate all that Ohio has done and the government has done to help small businesses get back on their feet. … It would be nice to have the opportunity to apply for the grants that the bigger ones got,” she said.

Mihalik said her department is open to tweaking the programs, but she’s focused first on highlighting the grants through chambers of commerce, trade groups and other economic-development organizations. She hopes to award the remaining money by the end of the year.

“There’s no expiration date on it yet, but there will have to be at some point,” said Steve Stivers, president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.

The state set aside $200 million for food and beverage businesses, $50 million in lodging grants, $40 million for entertainment venues and $20 million for new businesses. It was difficult to calculate the need up-front, Stivers said, and the response so far is nothing to scoff at.

“That’s real money,” he said. “And that’s a lot of help to a lot of businesses who have been struggling.”

The chamber is working to spread the word beyond its 8,000 members through posts on social media, email blasts, webinars and interviews with television stations and other outlets.

It can be particularly difficult to reach fledgling businesses. But officials know they exist. Ohio saw a record high of 171,073 new business filings last year — though not all of those filings represent a company with brick-and-mortar operations, employees or profits.

The surge in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant is making outreach harder. The Ohio Restaurant Association has convened large meetings in Cleveland and other cities and is calling members about the grant programs, said John Barker, the group’s president and CEO. He stressed the importance of direct conversations with restaurateurs, including those who are not tech-savvy or who speak English as a second language.

“I had a boss once who said momand-pop operators don’t like to read emails,” he said.

When the online application portal opened on June 29, it took Jill Bacon Madden only 10 minutes to apply for a food and beverage grant.

Her Akron concert club, Jilly’s Music Room, was shuttered from mid-March 2020 until July of this year. The $30,000 from the state is a huge help, Madden said, equivalent to two-and-a-half months of payroll or a year’s worth of insurance premiums and licensing fees.

She believes a lack of awareness is hampering the state’s efforts to pump out aid.

“A lot of the small, indie, momand-pops, they’re not members of the chambers. It’s a luxury expense for a lot of people to be a member of the chamber of commerce,” Madden said.

“They’ve got to figure out how to get to people where they are. And if that’s sending … somebody else door-to-door, that would be the way to do it. Neighborhood by neighborhood. Business by business.”

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

20 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 4, 2021

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THE WEEK

Lake County’s Think Manufacturing event is returning to an in-person format this year.

STUDENTS

From Page 1

pipeline,” said Geoff Lipnevicius, senior manager of organizational effectiveness for Lincoln Electric Co. in Euclid.

The welding products company has tried to be more “intentional” about its outreach to students in recent years, creating a “menu of tools” such as plant tours and MAGNET’s Early College, Early Career program to engage with them, Lipnevicius said.

When the pandemic hit, Lincoln Electric held virtual plant tours and created videos to highlight possible career paths in manufacturing. And it continued its work with the Early College, Early Career program, which connects high school students with jobs at plants. It even took on some additional students when their jobs dried up due to COVID concerns from employers.

“We didn’t want to walk away from that commitment or abandon that commitment that manufacturing had made to the students, just because of something that hopefully was going to be transitory,” Lipnevicius said.

Manufacturers always are looking to build their talent pipelines, and high school students are an important part of that, both for immediate workforce needs and for the future, said Adam Snyder, managing director of sector partnership at MAGNET in Cleveland. Students aren’t always exposed to manufacturing’s different possible career paths, and companies want to make sure they are.

In Northeast Ohio, MAGNET has worked to raise that awareness over the years, coordinating in-class speakers and plant tours.

“We know that students learn best by talking to people who are in the job, that look like them, that are maybe a couple years removed, and hands-on activities,” Snyder said. “And, ultimately, seeing a manufacturing facility can be a really formative experience as a young person decides what their future looks like, because, typically, students don’t get to see inside a manufacturing facility.”

But the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges to that traditional awareness work, as schools moved to remote learning. The Cleveland Metropolitan School District in particular remained remote last year, and MAGNET worked closely with the district to schedule remote guest speakers, Snyder said. The organization also created content for schools to use,

and worked with companies to create virtual plant tours.

Manufacturing Works in Cleveland worked with MAGNET on some of that video content through the region’s manufacturing sector partnership.

The videos helped Manufacturing Works connect with suburban school districts outside of Cleveland, said Jessica Westropp, senior manager of youth workforce development. The economic development organization had wanted to expand its reach in the past, but it was difficult with a small staff. The virtual options let the team be in more than one place at one time, Westropp said.

“It’s been nice to be able to spread our wings a little bit, to make more of an impact in the community,” she said.

Snyder, Westropp and Lipnevicius all thought the videos and virtual options created during the pandemic would be good tools for the future.

Jergens Inc. in Cleveland last year put together a virtual Manufacturing Day program, complete with a video tour, said director of human resources Michelle Belviso.

Manufacturing Day is a national event held the first Friday of October; in recent years, local companies and institutions have often hosted tours and events near the date to raise awareness of the industry.

Training and education has been part of the DNA of Jergens since the company was founded, said president and CEO Jack Schron. Before the pandemic, it was regularly inviting students, teachers and counselors on site to learn about manufacturing and visiting schools for events like career expo days, Belviso said.

But last year’s virtual Manufacturing Day event helped the nearly 80-yer-old company reach more people than it could in person, a lesson that it’s applying again this year.

Even though it’s returning to some in-person tours, it will offer a virtual option, too.

In Lake County, a group of economic development organizations will be hosting a downsized version of its annual Think Manufacturing Career Expo on Oct. 7. Though the pandemic isn’t yet over, the chambers thought it was important to bring the expo back in person this year.

“That need for employees has just intensified, ten-fold,” said Karen Tercek, president and CEO of the Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

One of the companies that will be

| CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

taking part in the expo is Universal Metal Products in Wickliffe.

The metal stamping company’s corporate HR manager, Christina Balint, said she doesn’t find the virtual options available now are always as “impactful.” The face-toface component of school visits, especially when the company could bring in apprentices to share their experiences, was valuable, she said.

But she doesn’t know whether schools and companies will ever go back to the way it was pre-pandemic.

Despite that, companies have to continue connecting with students, because the talent shortage isn’t going away. Balint said she thinks the pandemic actually widened the talent gap as near-retirement employees left the labor force. If companies can’t get the next generation interested in manufacturing, they have to start thinking about increased automation.

“We knew this was coming, with the amount of boomers retiring, but COVID catapulted this,” she said.

Ultimately, it’s tough to know how the pandemic will affect the manufacturing pipeline in the near-term — or the long-term, for that matter.

When the stay-at-home order started, some students had their in-progress career paths disrupted, Snyder said. And MAGNET lost touch with some of them.

“Those stories weigh on me,” he said.

But the pandemic also caused some students and families to reconsider their plans for the future.

More students may opt for manufacturing jobs or related degrees, in the wake of economic challenges or remote higher education options, he said.

At Lincoln Electric, the company realized vocational education was getting put on hold in many cases, and that it would need to supplement its internal training for new employees, Lipnevicius said. Today, it provides a four-week program to train new employees on everything from company policies to foundational skills like soldering or fastener identification — and it’s been attracting employees from industries like food service that saw layoffs during the pandemic.

Whether the programs take place on the plant floor or on a computer screen, one thing’s for sure: Manufacturers will have to continue to look for creative ways to connect with the workforce of the future.

ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS: The Cleveland Orchestra received the largest gift in its 103-year history — and one that will lead to a slight change in the name of the orchestra’s home. A $50 million grant from the Jack, Joseph CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | and Morton Mandel Foundation “will greatly strengthen the finances of the institution while increasing its impact in its local and global community,” the orchestra said Thursday, Sept. 30. The largest portion of the grant — $31.5 million — is being dedicated to endowment funds, “bolstering the orchestra’s financial foundation and supporting a Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Opera and Humanities Festival,” according to the orchestra. In “recognition of the magnitude and longterm impact of the gift,” the orchestra will name its main performance space the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Concert Hall. The name of the orchestra’s building will change from Severance Hall to Severance Music Center.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS: In response to the local effects of a national staffing shortage, Summa Health is reducing its inpatient bed capacity by 22% and taking a series of other steps to align its inpatient hospital capacity with current levels of available staffing. By Oct. 24, the Akron health care system will adjust the combined inpatient bed capacity on its Akron and Barberton campuses from 551 to 430.

BIG JOB AHEAD: Bedrock, the Detroit-based owner of the mall at Tower City and other nearby real estate,

picked a Cleveland native to oversee its local development efforts. The company announced Thursday, Sept. 30, that Christopher Noble has signed on as its senior vice president of development in Cleveland. He replaces Ken Till, who S E P T E M B E R 3 - 9 , 2 018 | PA G E 21 exited the position in the spring. Noble’s resume includes stints at the Richard E. Jacobs Group of Westlake, Cleveland-based Stark Enterprises and Forest City Enterprises, the company that sold the Avenue at Tower City mall to Bedrock in 2016.

READY TO ROLL: Cleveland Construction Inc. of Mentor is setting to work on 55 Public Square, K&D Group’s latest conversion of an office building to a mix of uses, primarily residential and office, after closing loans and other investments to fund the more than $85 million project. The building on the northwest corner of Public Square faces part of the proposed Sherwin-Williams Co. headquarters. The final plan calls for 205 apartments on floors 3 through 15, with office space concentrated on the building’s top 7 floors.

THIS WEEK’S SPECIAL: Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams Co. said it plans to acquire Specialty Polymers Inc., a maker and developer of water-based polymers for applications like architectural and industrial coatings. Specialty Polymers has about 150 employees and operates facilities in Woodburn, Oregon, and Chester, South Carolina. Revenue was about $112 million in 2020. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2021.

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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Advertising Section 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

CONSTRUCTION

FINANCIAL SERVICES

INVESTMENT FIRM

LAW

Apple Growth Partners

Tober Building Company

Ancora

Evolution Capital Partners LLC

Renner Otto

Andrea Conti, PMP, has joined Apple Growth Partners as assistant director of tax operations. In this new role, Andrea will help manage ongoing projects within the tax department to improve processes and operations. With 15 years of experience, Andrea is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and has been instrumental in process improvement projects in both public and private sectors, with experience in event management and nonprofit advancement.

Will Manley & Gene Fitch joined Tober Building Co. and serve as Sr. BIM Modeler and Program Manager respectively.

Both focus their time Manley within ToVee & Atlas Frameworks our Modular Manufacturing division. Will has 5+ years of experience in creating and managing accurate and detailed models for multifamily, residential projects and has a background in Architecture with structural disciplines in Wood and Steel construction. Gene’s career began in the Steel Industry, with an Fitch emphasis in HVAC, OEM, Construction and Transplant Automotive markets.

He has spent 20 years serving the intellectually disabled, including his current work with Special Olympics Ohio. His focus will be continuing education, training, and an Education Apprenticeship Program at TBC.

Ancora is happy to announce that Mr. Kyle Psychas, MBA has joined the firm as an Assistant Vice President of Client Service & Operations. Prior to joining Ancora, Kyle served as an onboarding specialist at Equity Trust Company and has served in a business development role with Park Place Technologies.

Kyle earned a dual-major Bachelor of Science degree in both Business Administration and Sports Management as well as a Master of Business Administration degree from Heidelberg University.

Evolution Capital Partners LLC is pleased to announce that Jessica Leonard, CPA, has joined the firm as a partner. She brings with her more than 13 years of public accounting experience and has a strong background working with a broad range of clients, including private equity funds and the companies they own. Leonard previously held multiple roles at RSM US LLP and KPMG, LLP. She earned her bachelor’s degree and MBA from Baldwin Wallace University.

Rita Kline joins Renner Otto as the newest Partner, bringing with her extensive trademark experience working with international and domestic businesses and organizations. A graduate of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law with over 20 years in practice, Kline is known in the industry as a highly respected trademark attorney.

She advises clients on brand management, including complex trademark matters and adversarial proceedings and management of international intellectual property portfolios.

ACCOUNTING

Pease, CPAs Russell Burgett recently joined Pease, CPAs as a Partner in their Assurance Services department.

Professionally, Russ focuses on closely-held manufacturers and distributors, specializing in technical guidance on complex transactions related to business structures and acquisitions of privately-held businesses. “We are excited to have Russ on our team and add his experience and talents to our firm. I look forward to working with him for many years,” commented Kuno Bell, Managing Partner.

LAW

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell LLP LAW

OnPoint Wealth Partners

The Czack Law Firm

OnPoint Wealth Partners is pleased to announce the addition of Jacob Adamczyk to the firm as a Financial Advisor. He comes to OnPoint following ten years at Marcum Wealth. Jake works with individuals and families in providing comprehensive feebased wealth management & financial planning. He is a cum laude graduate of John Carroll University and an active member of the Children’s Heart Foundation.

Thomas J. Hobbs has joined personal injury law firm, Czack Law, as an associate attorney.

Thomas graduated with his JD and MBA degrees from The University of Toledo. He has had experience in both insurance defense and most recently on the plaintiff side with a law firm representing seriously injured accident victims and their families. Thomas is licensed to practice law in all Ohio courts as well as the Federal District Courts for the Northern and Southern districts of Ohio.

Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell LLP announces that Ashton E. M. Bizzarri has joined the firm.

Ashton focuses her practice in the areas of Estate Planning and Trust and Estate Administration. She also represents clients in Trust and Estate Litigation. Her previous experience as a trust officer at a regional financial institution provides her with a unique perspective when advising clients. Ashton received her J.D. from the University of Akron School of Law, where she graduated cum laude.

INDUSTRY ACHIEVERS ADVANCING THEIR CAREERS LAW

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Porter Wright

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22 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | OCTOBER 4, 2021

Porter Wright is proud to announce that Tracey Turnbull, partner-in-charge of the firm’s Cleveland office, has received the Davis Carr Outstanding Committee Chair Award by Defense Research Institute (DRI).

DRI’s annual awards celebrate outstanding performance by members, law firms, and state and local defense organizations.

Turnbull is chair of DRI’s Commercial Litigation Committee and will be presented with the award at DRI’s Celebration of Leadership on Oct. 15 in Boston.

Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell LLP Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell LLP is pleased to announce that Veronica T. Garofoli has joined the firm. Veronica focuses her practice in the areas of Probate Litigation, Administration, and Estate Planning. She also advises clients on corporate matters, real estate issues, and contract negotiations.

She has consistently demonstrated a commitment to serving and protecting the best interests of her clients. Veronica received her J.D. from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Cleveland State University.

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