Crain's Cleveland Business

CRAIN’S LIST Bank of America jumps past dozens of others in our annual ranking of Northeast Ohio’s largest banks. PAGE 38

CONSTRUCTION: Contractor concerns climb as COVID-19 roils the market. PAGE 5

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I NOVEMBER 22, 2021

PHOTOS BY JASON MILLER

For 30 years, Crain’s has been spotlighting bright young leaders who will play a substantial role in our region for the next several decades. They are people of substance who already have achieved great things in their careers and in the community. This year’s honorees have a huge tradition to uphold, and we know they are more than up to the task. PAGE 10

With Forest City behind them, the Ratners rebuild

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

In early November, striking images of a Denver apartment tower made the rounds on the internet.

The renderings, depicting a 16-story building with a lush canyon carved into its facade, captured the atten-

tion of design buffs and real estate writers across the country.

The lead developer of that project is based in Shaker Heights, in a third-floor office suite at the Van Aken District. The Max Collaborative, formed in 2019, represents the Ratner family’s efforts to rebuild af-

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ter the sale of Forest City Realty Trust Inc., the once-venerable development business that shaped cities from its headquarters in the heart of downtown Cleveland.

In late 2018, after a battle with activist investors, Forest City’s shareholders voted to sell the nearly cen-

THE

tury-old company to Brookfield Asset Management.

That $6.8 billion deal closed the book on one of Cleveland’s most storied employers. It also left the Ratners, the company’s founders, with a lot of cash — just as the U.S. government was rolling out a program that

LAND SCAPE

offers significant tax benefits to investors with capital gains.

Motivated by the potential for tax deferrals and savings, the Ratners started chasing real estate deals in federally designated Opportunity Zones.

See RATNERS on Page 40

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MARIJUANA

Competition for Ohio dispensary licenses is red hot Some property owners see windfall

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Off state Route 261 on the outskirts of Kent’s university-powered downtown is a unique but troubled property known as “The Dome” that has struggled to keep a stable tenant throughout its many incarnations.

In years past, The Dome — which features an actual geodesic dome — has been home to a strip club, a restaurant and, most recently, an indie music venue. It’s an eye-catching building, compared with the neighborhood and office buildings surrounding it. Yet, today, it sits empty and in disrepair.

It could see new life once again, however, and some $600,000 in upgrades, if Geoff Korff, CEO of burgeoning marijuana company Galenas, wins one of just several dozen highly coveted and potentially lucrative medical marijuana dispensary licenses being awarded by the state in the coming months.

Galenas runs a Level II cultivation facility in Akron, but the company is already in progress with establishing itself in Michigan. It’s looking to expand its operations in Ohio, as well.

Korff wants to run dispensaries in both states under the brand name Shire, and The Dome could be home to one of those.

But in the Buckeye State, just 73 new dispensary licenses are available, and each will be awarded through a random drawing of qualified applicants. If all licenses are awarded, Ohio will have at least 130 dispensaries.

There were 1,463 applications submitted for those 73 available licenses in the latest application round (otherwise known as the second request for applications, or RFA II), according to the Ohio Board of Pharmacy. With that much competition, the chances of securing just one license — let alone five, the maximum any one entity can hold — aren’t fantastic.

Korff knows this. But that isn’t stopping him from playing the lottery.

Galenas has filed 10 applications in total, each tied to a different piece of property across the state.

According to consultants and real estate officials, it’s not uncommon for some applicants to have submitted double or triple that in order to increase odds for securing a license or a few. After all, the marijuana industry could go full recreational in the future, which could be a boon for companies situated to take advantage of the expanded market.

Korff “It is very exciting right now. We are at a moment in the program where a lot of expansion is coming or about to come,” Korff said. “The retail side of the business is certainly attractive. No question. And not just from the standpoint of profits. The value of the licenses themselves in limited license markets (like Ohio) is very high, which is why I expect a lot of activity in this application round.”

Paying to play Compared with running a cultivation or processing facility, dispensaries tend to have lower barriers to

JEREMY NOBILE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

“The Dome” in Kent, which could be home to a future marijuana dispensary if the applicant wins a license. | CONTRIBUTED RENDERING

entry and require less in startup costs.

Couple this with the lottery system for awarding licenses, and there’s a sense of a more level playing field for aspiring dispensary operators as they jockey for a license and a piece of the marijuana retail market against larger, established multistate operators (MSOs) competing for their slice of the Ohio industry.

There has been $585.8 million in marijuana products sold in the state since sales began in January 2019.

This is seemingly inspiring even more competition for the finite licenses available, which become more valuable due to their intrinsic scarcity.

“With the first round of licensing, if people felt that if they were confident they can run the business well, then it was worth applying for,” said Tom Haren, a cannabis lawyer with Frantz Ward. “But that was when the application was geared around demonstrating you can run this business.

Now, it’s the luck of the draw. If you have the real estate and the money, then you can apply for a license.”

To be sure, applicants are paying up for their chance to run a marijuana store.

There’s a $5,000 fee just to submit each license application. And each

requires proof of at least $250,000 in liquid assets. Therefore, someone applying for five licenses must have at least $1.25 million just in capital at their disposal.

Each application must be tied to a property and show proof of an ability to buy or lease that property from a willing owner through a letter of intent. There must also be evidence provided that a governing municipality would permit the use of a marijuana dispensary at the given site, which for many applicants has meant securing conditional zoning approvals from local regulators. Not all of those efforts have worked out.

Depending on a number of variables, experts indicate building out and opening a site for a dispensary might take between $400,000 to $1 million in startup costs.

But that’s all on top of the time, assets and capital required just to submit a single application for a license that there is zero guarantee of winning.

“I think everyone knows one of these licenses could be a gold mine,” said David Leb, a commercial real estate broker at Cushman & Wakefield, who noted that his firm has been flooded with calls from aspiring Ohio dispensary operators scrambling to find sites to tie to their applications.

“They know if you win a license, you can basically print money.”

‘Ohio is a very hot market’ This is creating some nice cash flow for property owners whose sites have caught the interest of dispensary license applicants — regardless of whether they have a dispensary operator to sell or lease to in the future.

Most won’t discuss terms of their agreements publicly because of confidentiality.

Brokers and consultants won’t disclose names of their clients for the same reasons. But some are large, well-known brands with operations in multiple states. Others are completely new to the marijuana industry.

Interested parties are reaching out from across the country and across the spectrum in terms of marijuana industry experience, said Mike Herzfeld, a sales agent with Reisenfeld & Co. He’s hearing from people and companies not just in various pockets of Ohio but also out-of-state groups from Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois and California who need help finding suitable commercial sites for their potential dispensaries.

With requirements that prospective dispensary sites be located no less than 500 feet from certain areas (including schools, parks, churches and libraries), and with many municipalities refusing to allow any marijuana business at all, it’s common for sites that are available and appropri-

ate for one of these retail stores to draw interest from several parties.

“It creates a challenge for sure,” said Kirsten Paratore, an analyst with Cushman & Wakefield who’s been working on identifying potential marijuana retail sites in Northeast Ohio since March. “The amount of fluctuation in interest in these sites since the spring is driving market prices through the roof. People are definitely willing to pay for this product.”

Others have echoed that sentiment.

“As it relates to the real estate side, RFA II might as well have been called the Landlord Stimulus Act of 2021,” Haren said. “There is no doubt real estate is at a premium for these applicants.”

With competition for space heating up as the Nov. 4 to Nov. 18 application window opened, some landlords have agreed to sign letters of intent to sell or lease property to multiple applicants. Of course, the license lottery is first-come, firstserved. So if there are multiple applications from different parties pulled for a singular site, the first drawn wins out.

In most cases, applicants are paying up to have a property delisted until the license drawing happens and they know their fate, which at its soonest may be early next year.

There’s been no promise of when the drawing might be. State regulators have only said they want to move faster this time than in past licensing rounds, where applications were scored and ranked. About six months passed between the application period closing and provisional licenses being awarded the first go around.

Many property owners have asked for nonrefundable fees to sign a letter of intent to an aspiring dispensary operator. And in high-demand areas near population centers, it’s not uncommon for applicants to agree to pay double the market price or more should they win a license.

“That, let’s call it an option fee, which says I give you the right to buy this, that can be anywhere from $5,000 to $100,000. It’s a huge range,” said Kevin Patrick Murphy, a cannabis lawyer with Walter | Haverfield and a co-owner of a Cleveland-based vertically integrated marijuana company that is applying for additional dispensary licenses.

“It depends on how bad you want this property. Are you going to put that hard, nonrefundable money down? That is part of the risk, too.

You are paying rent or option fees on a property subject to a lottery.”

Murphy said he’s seen owners of properties that have been difficult to lease charging about $12 per square foot for retail space. But in terms of dispensary interest, he said, “Ohio is a very hot market right now.”

“And if a dispensary comes knocking,” Murphy said, “the number could double.”

Leb said the competition for retail space is “unprecedented” when it comes to the dispensary dynamic.

“We have properties in the middle of nowhere that have gone from having no business for three years to now having six people interested in them,” Paratore said. “It’s like the wild, wild West. It really is.”

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

NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 3

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Team NEO’s Jacob Duritsky moderates a panel discussion with LCCC President Marcia Ballinger and Simon Macioch, chief of staff for Fortress Security Risk Management. | NICK J. COOL

Team NEO report shows employers need to get creative to fill jobs

BY KIM PALMER

direction,” Duritsky said.

The increase is a good sign, he For five years now, Team NEO has said, and perhaps a consequence of collected, analyzed and reported on five years of quantitative data reNortheast Ohio’s workforce supply ports that Team NEO has provided and demand imbalance, and each “to help connect the dots” for stakeof those yearly reports has come to holders that has resulted in “a strathe same conclusion: The region tegic alignment around the specific set of data.” needs more skilled workers.

“We’re actually seeing real strate“The reality is that, five years in, the findings are the same,” said Jacob gy alignment from our partners Duritsky, vice president of strategy around the report,” Duritsky said, and research at Team NEO. In short, pointing to strategies including the region continues to have a signif- those targeting the retention of imicant gap between higher-wage mediate college graduates and, manufacturing, IT and health care more recently, programs aimed at jobs, and the skilled workforce need- creating a pipeline of talent leveraging college and K-12 schools. ed to fill those positions.

In response to the workforce gap, Factors including an increase in demand for skilled workers, a de- higher education institutions, including Lorain County clining regional populaCommunity College, are tion, an aging workforce developing market-based and remote work situacareer courses aimed at tions resulting in skilled guiding students toward employees being poached careers and preparing by out-of-state companies them by creating a curricare leading to those gaps ulum involving in-decontinuing to grow larger. mand skills.

According to the 2021 “We are taking the pain Team NEO Aligning Opout of the process for emportunities report, of the Duritsky ployers,” LCCC president region’s three most in-deMarcia J. Ballinger said mand industry sectors — during the panel discusmanufacturing, IT and sion at Team NEO’s Alignhealth care — there is only ing Opportunities event one in which demand in last Thursday, Nov. 18, at non-entry level positions the Music Box Supper is being met with approClub in Cleveland. priately skilled workers.

During a discussion tiWorkers for jobs in health tled “Preparing Talent for care are nearly aligned In-Demand Jobs,” Ballwith demand, but IT em- Ballinger inger said officials at Forployers face a deficit of about 13,000 skilled workers, and tress Security Risk Management, a manufacturing has a skilled-worker division of Cleveland-based data protection company MCPc, asked if deficit of more than 20,000.

But it is not all bad news, accord- the school would create a curricuing to Duritsky, the Aligning Oppor- lum to help build a talent pipeline based on competencies the compatunities report’s author.

In terms of filling those employ- ny required.

From there, an internship was dement gaps with skilled workers, Northeast Ohio residents are be- signed combining skills training coming more educated, with the with work experience at the MCPc percentage of the region’s popula- office that ends in a job offer for intion holding post-high school certif- terested and qualified students.

“The ‘earn and learn’ component icates, associates and bachelor’s degrees growing to 37% in 2021 is important because what we focus on (at LCCC) is connecting students from 33% in 2017.

“That number is nowhere near to the actual career field in the bethat 65% threshold that some data ginning,” Ballinger said.

Even though Northeast Ohio consuggests the region will need by 2025 to fill the workforce gap, but tinues to lag behind the state and the numbers are going in the right the country in terms of post-high

school degrees, the region ranks second-highest in relation to peer metropolitan areas in the rate of residents who have some college, a data point Duritsky takes as an opportunity.

There has been a decline in the number of in-demand jobs that require a bachelor’s degree, opening up those positions to workers who face barriers to completing a fouryear degree but are interested in other types of upskilling. It’s a shift that Duritsky said is happening as companies make a realistic assessment of what actually is required to do certain jobs.

“We have to think differently as a community about how we train people, how we think of their skills,” Duritsky said.

Another reality are the differences in not only sourcing talent but thinking differently about attracting and then retaining employees, including what it means to keep workers content.

“It is important to look at the employee as a consumer, because employees have more choices now about where they want to work and how they want to work,” said Yvonne Foster, a KPMG human capital advisory consultant.

Company culture is a “value add,” Foster said, and in an employee-centric labor market, businesses need to assess whether they’re providing an appropriate work-life balance and nurturing the “lifecycle of an employee” to create a clear path to advancement and promotion. It’s also important, she said, to “give voice to employees” by creating resource groups, like internal Black, Hispanic and LGBTQ networks that foster a diverse and inclusive culture.

The ongoing demographic shifts in Northeast Ohio means the workforce gap is “a lot more than a math problem” and that the region is not going to grow its way out of the problem, Duritsky said.

“You can’t just sit back and say in the post-pandemic environment, I can’t find the talent,” he said. “You have to be thoughtful and strategic in how you recruit and how you think differently about what sourcing talent looks like in 2021.”

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

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

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CONSTRUCTION

BY STAN BULLARD

penses or new equipment. In Northeast Ohio, 31% said overhead Backhoes may have kept digging, increased, down from 52% a year nail guns shooting and structural ago.

Worry about the supply of skilled steel rising as builders worked through the pandemic. But getting labor remains a concern, though it construction jobs done required lots slipped to second place after availmore juggling. ability of work as a threat to busiThat’s the upshot of the annual ness. In 2021, 24% of respondents Marcum accounting and advisory worried about securing skilled lafirm’s survey of construction compa- bor, compared with 38% in 2020. ny owners. Respondents to the sur- More than 50% of respondents anvey remain optimistic but are scram- nually the three prior years, from bling with new worries about the 2017 to 2019, were citing worries volume of future construction and about the lack of trained construcsigns of a suddenly more competitive tion workers.

Reflecting the staggering run-up market.

Bobby Krueger, president of of steel, rising and then falling lumKrueger Group, a Cleveland de- ber prices and others, 15% cited masign-build construction firm, said the terial costs as a threat to their busicompany’s building projects for non- ness, up from 9% a year earlier. It profit groups dried up but are coming was never cited as a concern by more than 10% since 2009, and for a back.

“We learned a lot in the pandem- few years just 3% of respondents saw ic,” Krueger said. “Material was not a rising prices as a worry.

“It’s the most challenging aspect concern in years past. It is now. The volatility of lumber was significant. of the business today,” said Peter L. There are supply chain hiccups. We Snavely, a vice president of Chagrin used to order roofing 30 to 60 days Falls-based Snavely Group, a conout. Now it’s six months. In building, struction and realty development you have to rely on things you can’t firm. “It does not sound like price control. You’ve got to show up, put increases will slow down next year.” the time in and figure it out.”

Gingerich said it’s a time for conMarcum’s survey showed dramat- struction business owners to be cauic changes between its 2020 report, a tious.

“Contractors are notorious for agsurvey through the first blush of the pandemic, and 2021, as the scourge gressive pricing, trying to land more work, even at less margins,” Ginentered its second year.

Concerns about lack of work gerich said. “It’s not a good formula.”

However, some positive factors climbed to 29% as the biggest threat to respondents’ business, from 17% have solidified within just the past in 2020. Just 12% cited it as the biggest month. Congress finally passed the threat in 2019, before the pandemic largest infrastructure bill in decades, though Gingerich said contractors hit. serving the highway and similar "WE'RE SEEING A LOT OF PROPOSALS markets are a NOW. I SEE A LOT OF REASONS FOR smaller component of the indusOPTIMISM." try than other parts — Jason Jones, vice president and Northeast Ohio regional manager, Turner Construction Co. of the building business.

Meantime, Sherwin-Williams Co. “We have a pre- and post-pandemic market,” said Roger Gin- has started building its new research gerich, Midwest construction lead- center in Brecksville and is commiter in Marcum’s Solon office. “It’s ted to building a 36-story headquarfascinating. 2020 was poised to be ters in downtown Cleveland. Typione of the biggest years for con- cally, big jobs such as those keep big struction since 2008 (the start of the firms busy, clearing the field for Great Recession). Now they worry smaller companies to snag other about the size of their backlog. Mar- jobs.

Jason Jones, vice president and gins are thinner. More contractors Northeast Ohio regional manager are bidding for the same jobs.”

Contractors are hungrier for for Turner Construction Co., said acwork, especially those who bid for tivity has increased as the pandemic jobs rather than rely on relation- wore on.

“There is more momentum now ships with customers. Marcum noted 17% faced 10 or more bidders on than at the beginning of the year,” average, the most since 2011, com- Jones said. “It’s clear from looking at bidding that electrical HVAC (heatpared with 6% in 2020.

One reason for more bidding ing, ventilation and air conditioncompetition is that many contrac- ing) contractors are hungry. That’s tors report their backlog —con- not to say there is not a lot of uncerstruction jobs they know they have tainty with problems in the supply won that have not yet started— is chain and price volatility. We’re seebelow 2019’s level. Nearly half of re- ing a lot of proposals now. Over the spondents in Northeast Ohio ex- year, health care was the first market pect the 2021 backlog to be lower to come back, followed by commerthan a year ago. Just one-third of cial work. The higher education respondents in the region expect it market is starting to perk up. I see a lot of reasons for optimism.” to be higher.

Against that backdrop, more construction companies are watch- Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, ing their spending on overhead ex- (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

50 40 30 20 10

Concerns about the pipeline of potential projects supplanted availability of skilled labor as a top concern of Northeast Ohio construction contractors and subcontractors this year. Material costs also became a big concern, a first for the decade-old annual survey.

Material costs

Securing work

Securing skilled labor

60% Percent of contractors who rated this as their top concern

Contractor concerns climb as COVID-19 roils the market 60

Top concerns among construction contractors

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0% 2012

SOURCE: MARCUM SURVEY

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 5

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EDUCATION

PACE program aims to bring cohesion to career pathways work

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

The Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s new PACE initiative is more than a one-off program. It’s a comprehensive structure designed to help students discover interests that could lead to careers.

PACE, which stands for Planning and Career Exploration, launched Nov. 15.

PACE isn’t the district’s career answer to Say Yes, the well-publicized, college-focused scholarship and support program that arrived in Cleveland in 2019. It’s a broader approach that includes a variety of post-highschool choices.

“PACE has us shifting from that kind of bifurcated college or career structure to a everybody needs a career, and let’s work through whatever supports you need to help get there,” said Anthony Battaglia, executive director of career and college pathways at the Cleveland Metropolitan School District.

The program is being led by the district and the Cleveland Foundation, with six other organizations working closely with the partners to implement it. They are the Neighborhood Leadership Institute (True2U), Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland, College Now Greater Cleveland, Youth Opportunities Unlimited, the Greater Cleveland Partnership and The Fund for Our Economic Future. In all, “more than 100 individuals, 40 organizations and 70 employers” were involved in the two-year planning process, a news release said.

PACE begins this year with students in sixth through 12th grade. In terms of curriculum, PACE will be embedded in the school day. The frequency of the programming will vary by grade level, and the experiences will vary, too, from guest speakers to job shadowing. And programs already in the district, like Junior Achievement or the True2U mentoring program, will become part of this larger structure. Schools also have a say in how PACE gets implemented in their day-to-day.

“It’s not throwing everything out. It’s building on what we already have,” Battaglia said. “It’s really an integrated experience for students.”

them rely on school-by-school relationships as in the past, Battaglia said. It will help expand access without asking for more of that up-front time from businesses.

Having a set structure will be “critical” for employers, said Shana Marbury, general counsel and senior vice president of talent at the Greater Cleveland Partnership. Smaller companies in particular don’t always have the staff or infrastructure to coordinate interns or schedule school visits. They relied on organizations like GCP to help, she said.

PACE brings those different community supports into one place.

The partnership viewed its role as

“PACE HAS US SHIFTING FROM THAT KIND OF BIFURCATED COLLEGE OR CAREER STRUCTURE TO A EVERYBODY NEEDS A CAREER, AND LET’S WORK THROUGH WHATEVER SUPPORTS YOU NEED TO HELP GET THERE.” — Anthony Battaglia, executive director of career and college pathways at the Cleveland Metropolitan School District

The partners quickly learned that PACE couldn’t be an “add-on,” said Helen Williams, program director for education at the Cleveland Foundation.

“It’s a very methodical, very wellthought-out curriculum that really is intended for students to leave with a diploma and a plan,” Williams said.

And those graduates are the future workforce for the region’s employers.

The PACE structure will give businesses a tangible way to get involved with the district, rather than having

getting employers involved, she said, and those employers and the experiences they can offer students are necessary to the program’s success.

Adam Snyder, managing director, sector partnership at MAGNET in Cleveland, said there have been “little pockets” of programs like these across the district over the years, relying on specific schools or employees. PACE is being launched “at scale,” bringing partners together to implement curriculum faster than it could spread organ-

ically from school to school.

“As with anything, when the design and the build is collaboratively done, everybody is bought in to the outcomes from the start,” Snyder said.

Alex Harper, program director at BridgePort Group in Cleveland, said when the supply chain and logistics technology company heard about PACE, it wanted to get involved. The company had already created a pre-apprenticeship program in supply chain and knew how important it was to get students interested in different fields at a young age.

“Because all of our students can’t be basketball players, baseball players, dentists, lawyers or doctors,” Harper said. “There’s a myriad of other industries that they can get into, but they have to be exposed to it early enough to where they can get an interest for it.”

Amanda Petrak, regional corporate responsibility officer for Northeast Ohio at KeyBank, said PACE will help create an “essential ecosystem that’s been missing from our community,” encouraging broad collaboration. The bank and its employees have long been involved with programs like College Now and Say Yes, as a philanthropic supporter and as volunteers. But the bank likes that PACE is going to be a “holistic approach,” she said.

Williams said she doesn’t think the PACE program or Say Yes could have happened a decade ago, because the conditions at the district weren’t right.

The Cleveland Plan put the district on the path to improvement, and gradua-

tion rates have gone up dramatically.

That frees the district to think about “what happens after,” she said.

And Say Yes showed the community how to think about collaboration and the schools differently, Williams said. The district can’t do everything, and there are resources in the community that can help. It’s the same with PACE. The district couldn’t do this work alone. And, Williams said, ultimately, it shouldn’t have to.

“It isn’t the job of an educational institution to develop the workforce,” Williams said. “They’re part of it. But it’s really a community-wide effort, right? It’s higher ed, it’s employers and it’s nonprofits who do youth development and all these other supportive programs.”

As the PACE program implementation rolls out, the next step will be the creation of what the news release called a “Career Consortium,” which is expected to launch in early 2022. Williams said that will be housed in a local nonprofit with an executive director.

Ultimately, the program is just beginning, and there will be “stops and starts,” Williams said.

“People shouldn’t expect everything to be connected and running smoothly in a year, particularly in a COVID year,” she said.

But it is a big shift for the district — and one that could shape its students for years to come.

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

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10/28/21 7:43 AM

PERSONAL VIEW

A primer on cryptocurrencies and blockchain RICH WILLIAMS FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BY GREG GENEGA

EDITORIAL

Fresh start V

ery little is easy in the world of Cleveland sports.

Case in point: the lurching, complicated journey the city’s baseball team had on its way to becoming the Guardians, a transition that became official last Friday, Nov. 19.

The initial controversy over the switch from the name Indians — overblown, in our estimation, over a marketing decision, but people get emotional about their teams — was followed by a naming dispute with the more-established Cleveland Guardians (you know, the roller derby team) that mercifully got settled last week. In turn, just in time for the holidays, official Guardians merchandise has arrived at the Progressive Field team shop and will soon be at local retailers. The team’s website and social media platforms, awkwardly employing “Indians” during this interim period, also have made the switch.

With these transitions completed, fans now can move on to a winter of wondering how the team can become more competitive and contend once again for the playoffs.

Of far greater significance, Cuyahoga County Council last week approved funding its portion — about $9 million a year over 15 years — of the proposed $435 million deal to renovate and maintain Progressive Field, though as Cleveland.com pointed out, “not all council members shared enthusiasm for the deal, and one voted against it.” Similarly, Cleveland City Council’s Development, Planning and Sustainability Committee voted unanimously in favor of the proposal to cover about $117 million of the costs over a 15-year period “despite lingering questions and concerns about what Cleveland would get in return.” (The Guardians are kicking in about $150 million but aren’t offering a major community-benefits package.) The next hearing, at council’s Finance Committee, could come as early as this Monday, Nov. 22 — and likely is the last step before a final vote from the full council.

The hesitancy is understandable in a city that ranks among the poorest in the nation. There’s no indication the deal won’t go through, but city council members should debate this with rigor. We’ve argued previously that in the world of pro sports, Cleveland is doing relatively well in getting teams to contribute a significant amount of their own money toward these projects.

Happiest of all here must be Cleveland Mayor-elect Justin Bibb, who no doubt wants to have this wrapped up before he

takes office so the new administration doesn’t have to contend with questions about whether the benefits of the deal are greater than the costs.

Heard the news?

Cleveland is emerging as an important laboratory in an experiment to determine if the nonprofit sector can fill big gaps that have emerged in the world of local news.

This month has produced announcements of two significant projects in the nonprofit news space. One, from a coalition of Cleveland-based organizations and the American Journalism Project, aims to produce daily journalism employing a community reporting model. The other, from The Marshall Project, a Pulitzer Prize-winning organization, with support from the George Gund Foundation and others, will focus on producing “investigative, data and engagement journalism” about Cuyahoga County’s criminal justice system. Both intend to launch in 2022.

The American Journalism Project-led effort is the larger of the two, with an anticipated staff of 25. The Marshall Project’s initiative here envisions a staff of five, backed by the national editorial, data and back-office resources of the organization.

Those might sound like modest numbers, but they’re a welcome development in making more vibrant a local news environment that has withered as digital disruption and other factors have reduced the ranks of people producing serious, reliable information focused on Northeast Ohio. In combination with the expanded scope and ambitions of Ideastream, they represent a welcome bit of news about the news in this region.

“News needs new models. We believe the nonprofit/philanthropic model can be one of them,” Carroll Bogert, president of the Marshall Project, told us last week.

Academic studies have shown that, as Columbia Journalism Review put it, “a lack of local media coverage is associated with less-informed voters, lower voter turnouts and less-engaged local politicians.”

We hope Cleveland proves fertile ground for a test of what’s possible as local news evolves.

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

There have been multiple headlines lately talking about the rising popularity of Bitcoin, NFTs and digital dog tokens.

Where is this all coming from? Are these just a passing fad, or are we entering the next big technological era reminiscent of the dawn of the internet? For us to understand where this is coming from, we first need to understand how Bitcoin paved the way.

Genega is a Just over 13 years ago, an anonymous certified person or group of people behind the cryptocurrency pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto” re- expert and leased their white paper titled “Bitcoin: A certified Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System.” blockchain This paper detailed a form of electronic expert by the cash that would allow online payments to Blockchain be sent directly from one party to another Council. without going through a financial institution.

This technology would take the form of a ledger called a “blockchain” where every Bitcoin transaction would be recorded forever. This system would also be nearly impossible to hack by utilizing an enormous network of computers (Bitcoin miners) carrying out CPU-intensive math problems to verify transactions before they are recorded on the blockchain.

Bitcoin has received much attention in the media lately due to recently hitting a new all-time high and some financial institutions claiming it could be a superior store of value and inflation hedge than gold.

The programming behind Bitcoin makes it disinflationary by reducing the amount of Bitcoin that is paid to miners by halving the rewards every four years. Since this technology is completely decentralized, there is no governmental authority in the world that can destroy or control Bitcoin without either abolishing the internet entirely or acquiring billions upon billions of dollars of computing power.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are here to stay with the increasing acceptance of the technology by U.S. companies and investors. Earlier this year, Coinbase became a publicly traded company that acts as one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Just last month, the first Bitcoin Futures ETF started trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. U.S. regulators are starting to lay the groundwork, so people understand the boundaries they need to play within when interacting with decentralized blockchain technologies such as Bitcoin. While the future for crypto may be bumpy, it is certainly looking brighter than it ever has before.

So where does Shiba Inu come in, and why is your nephew asking how he can get some? While Bitcoin is by far the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, many new tokens and cryptocurrencies have entered the scenes. These cryptocurrencies utilize other blockchain technologies with the most popular one being Ethereum, which Shiba Inu is issued on. Shiba Inu is considered a decentralized “meme” token where its community members decide the direction of the project. While it is difficult or nearly impossible to comprehend what a token like this should be worth, many are amazed by the incredible 1,000%+ gains it made from September to October this year. Crazy gains like these make it a dangerous and volatile asset that people should do heavy research on before thinking about being part of this ecosystem.

See BLOCKCHAIN, on Page 9

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.

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

8 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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So why has it become so popular? Some think it’s because people like to be part of a disruptive community that challenges the old ways of thinking, such as how the “Wall Street Bets” folks sent shockwaves through the stock exchange earlier this year by pumping up stocks like GameStop and AMC. Others think it’s because Elon Musk, who enjoys the concept of cryptocurrencies, recently attained a Shiba Inu dog. Or maybe it really is as simple as … people just love cute dogs.

Yet another asset based upon blockchain technologies are NFTs, which stands for non-fungible tokens.

Non-fungible means these tokens are completely unique from one another and cannot be copied, like baseball cards. Almost anything digital can be linked to an NFT on a blockchain, such as art, music or items in an online role-playing game. If you own an NFT in a digital wallet, you can be sure you’re the only one in the world with that asset and you have the right to sell or trade it for whatever someone is willing to give you. This concept of verifiable unique digital collectibles has sent

RESPONSIVE, REAL-TIME COMMUNICATIONS

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BLOCKCHAIN

STREAMLINES YOUR WORK ORDERS

55

as well as a situation. Due to the impact leadership has on an organization, an individual and a given situaLeadership. This one word offers a simple solution to tion, it is important for leaders to complex problems. While this one word seems to be a continuously develop their skills for simple solution, leadership itself is not simple and inthe betterment of themselves, the volves multiple layers to try and understand. These layers individuals they can influence, and can and often are as complex as the problem(s). A simple the institution in which they serve. way to try and understand leadership is to address what We all look to leaders in our evleadership is not. Leadership is not management, is not eryday lives for inspiration, vision, easy, and is not for everyone or every situation.

Mickler is guidance and direction. Whether Management is very task focused. Given this charac- executive this be at work, religiously, and/or in teristic, more focus is given on items such as planning, director of MBA budgeting and staffing when discussing the concept of Programs for the our personal lives, we all are reliant on leadership. As such, leaders are management. Management is necessary for specific situ- Dauch College constantly under a microscope for ations, as well as specific industries, however, successful of Business and their actions, inactions and deciorganizations need both leaders and managers to survive Economics at sion-making responsibilities. For Ashland and thrive. me, a main responsibility of a leader In helping an organization survive and thrive, leaders University. is to empower people. must rely on their experiences, consider the past, evaluEmpowering people to be successful and offering ate the present and create the future. However, the experiences of a leader are not only work related. Influencers those with opportunities to be successful is an opportuboth inside and outside of work can impact someone in nity for leaders. A leader must recognize this responsitheir leadership development. Through their experienc- bility because, in turn, this will fulfill the organization’s es, leaders are able to produce change, inspire and teach mission, which will add value to the organization. Addiothers, are in a constant state of learning, and need to tionally, this also will bring about transformational know and appreciate oneself in order to know and appre- change in others, in the organization and in society.

To become a transformational leader is the epitome ciate others. These are the characteristics of a true leader.

These characteristics are complicated, yet they all de- of leadership development. Transforming individuals velop into what leadership is. Experiences shape us and to become more successful and, in turn, have them influence others to become more successful is the ultimate goal for a LEADERSHIP IS A PROCESS OF A CONSTANT STATE leadership legacy. To help with this OF LEARNING, IMPACTED BY EXPERIENCES. goal, practicing self-reflection on recent and past experiences and relymold us into who we are and who we become through- ing on ethics, values and principles is paramount. This out life. Without positive and negative experiences to self-reflection influences authenticity and the establishrelate to or reflect upon, one will have a difficult time ment of goals which helps one in situations, decigrowing and adapting to all that life has to offer. For sion-making and information sharing. Becoming a leadership to arise out of someone, he or she must come transformational leader is a continuous process that is constantly in motion. to know oneself through self-reflection.

Leadership is a process of a constant state of learning, Self-reflection is paramount for a leader and there is much to learn from this practice. Reflecting upon one’s impacted by experiences, producing outcomes that are experiences in life and influencers can arm a leader influential, motivational and inspirational, resulting in with the ability to relate to a given situation and/or indi- changing a person(s) and/or situation(s). Producing the vidual and contribute to their ability to bring about most good to the most people is an unselfish characterchange. This understanding and self-reflection will arm istic of leadership. While leadership is a simple answer a leader with the ability to constantly learn and bring to complex problems, the processes and characteristics involved in leadership are themselves complex. Howevabout effective leadership styles.

Today’s leaders are faced with many challenges im- er, these characteristics have the greatest impact on inpacting their leadership skills. Leadership determines dividuals and organizations that have ripple effects on the success or failure of an organization, an individual changing and influencing the greater good.

G

BY RONALD MICKLER JR.

ripples through pop culture with pixelated profile pictures from collections such as “Cryptopunks” and “Bored Ape Yacht Club” fetching millions of dollars at world-class auction houses. There are also upcoming NFT-based video games and social platforms that are adopting the term “Metaverse” to define their environment. This may have even led to Facebook’s recent rebranding to Meta which could show their intention of being a major player in this space.

With daily headlines and billions of dollars of venture capital money pouring into cryptocurrencies, NFTs and decentralized finance, we can be sure that this is not just a passing fad. It could even be that crypto will be the fastest growing and most widely adopted technology we see over the next 20 years. However, this space has historically been exceptionally risky and volatile, and it’s likely that trend will continue. If you are investing money in crypto, please know you can easily lose what you put into it.

The Blockchain Council seeks to provide education pertaining to crypto. Genega is not a financial adviser and nothing in his writings should ever be considered financial advice.

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For 30 years, Crain’s has been spotlighting bright young leaders who will play a substantial role in our region for the next several decades. They are people of substance who already have achieved great things in their careers and in the community.

If there’s one thing we know for certain from doing Forty Under 40 since 1991, it's that many of the 2021 honorees will go on to bigger and better things. (In fact, Cleveland Mayor-elect Justin Bibb was in the Crain’s Forty Under 40 class just last year.)

This year’s honorees have a huge tradition to uphold, and we know they are more than up to the task.

Photography by Jason Miller/Pixelate

Emily Adams 38 | Vice president, employee benefits consultant, USI Insurance LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ emily-adams-usi Emily Adams is the kind of person who sees a problem and “takes action,” according to former supervisor Kate Bang.

In 2016, for example, Adams saw a need for a Cleveland organization focused on developing female leaders.

She then partnered with the national Women for Economic and Leadership Development nonprofit to start a local chapter, said Bang, who is vice president of corporate development at USI Insurance, where Adams has worked as a Cleveland-based benefits consultant for eight years.

More recently, when her daughter was diagnosed with pediatric feeding disorder (PFD), Adams leapt into action to find the best care, temporarily relocating to Columbus for treatment

at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

But she didn’t stop there.

“During this time, she observed that there are many items that PFD kids need that are not covered by insurance. So, Emily decided to create a fund to help families with these expenses,” Bang said.

Adams simply states that “people are my passion.” She graduated with a degree in exercise physiology from Ohio State University but quickly transitioned to the corporate side of health care, starting her consulting career at Oswald Cos. Today Adams provides complex advisory services to help USI clients design health care benefit packages.

She’s been the top salesperson in her office for the last five years, created a working group within USI for working moms, and mentors developmental salespeople to help ensure

the success of her entire team.

“My job is also wonderful because USI allows me time to give back to the community, to be active in nonprofits and on boards,” she said. “So, what I’ve been able to do as a result of being in this position has been particularly fulfilling.”

Those causes have included leadership positions at the Cleveland Leadership Center, Engage! Cleveland, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Soroptimist International of the Americas, Feeding Matters and Different Like You. During the pandemic, Adams also began delivering for Westlake Meals on Wheels with her two young daughters in tow.

“It’s not common for toddlers to serve these meals,” she said with a laugh, “but it’s a great opportunity to enhance empathy in the next generation.”

— Judy Stringer

Sunny Adams 35 | Audit manager, Apple Growth Partners LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ sunny-adams Sunny Adams never imagined she’d go into accounting. She loved math, but “everyone always talked about how boring accounting was,” she said.

Pursuing a degree in business, however, required her to take financial accounting, and that course revealed the fun side of the industry.

“You can go into tax or forensics or analytics. There are so many opportunities in accounting to make it your own,” Adams said.

Before joining Apple Growth Partners, Adams was a senior auditor at PwC. Because she worked with a lot of Japanese companies, she decided to learn more about the culture and then the language. She considered applying for the company’s Global Mobility Program but realized she’d be surrounded by English-speaking colleagues and likely have little opportunity to immerse herself in Japanese culture.

So, in 2016, she took a sabbatical and moved to Japan, where she enrolled in an intensive language and culture program at International Christian University.

Upon returning to the U.S. in 2018, she worked for nearly two years at HW&Co. But when Adams heard about the work chairman Chuck Mullen was doing at Apple Growth Partners, she had to learn more.

“It was so different than what I had experienced in my career,” she said.

Adams, who joined Apple Growth in June 2020, in part specializes in Generally Accepted Accounting Principles compilations, financial audits, compliance, contracts and grant agreements. She’s also a member of the internal process documentation team.

“I have not been disappointed in the least. I’m not just another auditor. The culture pushes you to ask what you want to achieve and pushes me to excel in my personal inter-

ests,” Adams said.

Mullen said she lives up to her name. “She has a sunny personality.

She’s warm. She’s magnetic, and she pours her heart and soul into everything she does, whether it’s in the business or in the volunteer work she does.”

One thing Adams did was partner with A’shira Nelson, a 2020 Crain’s Forty Under 40 honoree, to create IMPACT (Increase Minority Professionals’ Awareness and Create Traction for Change), which helps minority-owned businesses in Northeast Ohio find access to capital and education and development resources. The pair curate and implement webinars, instruct on certification and help business owners develop solid relationships with bankers.

“We didn’t have a textbook on how to start and how to conduct.

She and A’shira just took that bull by the horns and made it happen,” Mullen said.

— Leslie D. Green

10 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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Larissa Burlij 39 | Senior associate architect, Bialosky Cleveland LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/larissa-burlij As a child, Larissa Burlij watched her architect father create models at his drafting table and dreamt of her future in architecture.

“Sometimes the economy is not so kind to the architecture and construction worlds. So, my dad really tried to urge me out of the architecture profession,” Burlij said.

As a result, Burlij pursued a degree in foreign services at Georgetown University, which allowed her to study abroad and learn more about communities and socioeconomic systems.

Rather than turn her away from the field, however, her love of the field grew stronger. So she earned a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Cincinnati.

“I love being an architect,” Burlij said. “Even on my toughest days, I’m really happy that this is what I’m doing.”

Burlij worked at Dimit Architects for six years before joining Bialosky in 2017. Her career has consisted of

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She’s particularly proud of her historic restoration work on the Fairmont Creamery and Wagner Awning Building. Her favorite project to date so far is the Lincoln Building.

“We didn’t have a site that allowed for a tremendous amount of horizontal landscaping,” she said. “But we were able to incorporate it into the building vertically.”

Craun said Burlij brings a creativity to her designs that “I LOVE BEING AN ARCHITECT. EVEN ON elevates Bialosky’s practice.

MY TOUGHEST DAYS, I’M REALLY “Many of us can HAPPY THAT THIS IS WHAT I’M DOING.” grow comfortable with design solutions her work that is really above and be- and can apply those solutions reyond most of her colleagues of her peatedly because it’s easier. She’s alsame age and cohort,” said Bialosky ways striving for something new and Cleveland principal David Craun. fresh,” he said.

In addition to her work with Bialo“She has won the confidence of principals and clients and the re- sky, Burlij developed and implespect of the team that she leads. It’s mented a STEM curriculum for youth an achievement that is often not through a partnership with the Girl seen until much later in one’s ca- Scouts of Northeastern Ohio and the American Institute of Architects reer.”

Bialosky allows Burlij to thread all Cleveland.

— Leslie D. Green of her experiences together, she said. working on side projects with her dad along with large-scale urban development projects, landscape architecture and more nuanced designs with townhomes and historic restoration projects.

She was promoted to senior associate architect at Bialosky in December 2020.

“Larissa has achieved a level of career advancement and aptitude in

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Tera Coleman 33 | Associate, BakerHostetler LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ tera-coleman

vestigated by the government.

Big Law in general is a “grind,” Coleman said. White-collar cases Tera Coleman’s prized Christmas bring a different level of stress, gift in third grade was a book on the though, because of the potential that someone could lose their “liveU.S. Constitution.

“It had questions and answers, lihood or freedom,” she added. and the real text of the Constitution Coleman’s solution for dealing in the back, and I just fell in love with it all: “Just stop and think with that,” she said. about how blessed you are to be doEven before Santa granted her ing what you’re doing.” wish that year, Coleman wanted to Dettelbach said the Bakerbe an attorney. She’s not quite sure Hostetler associate “has a toughwhy, since she’s a first-generation to-match star quality.” college student who didn’t know Added Rendon: “When I have a any lawyers. tough issue, I send it to Tera. It’s Those memories, along with the usually the last I hear of it. That’s gold.”

Coleman grew up “EVERYBODY THAT KNOWS ME KNOWS in South Point, Ohio, THAT I HAVE A HUGE GERMAN a small village along Ohio River. Her SHEPHERD. I LIVE SMACK DAB IN THE the father, Russell, CENTER OF DOWNTOWN, AND THIS stressed to her the importance of going DOG, HE’S LIKE 150 POUNDS. HE’S to college.

HUGE AND I THINK IT SHOCKS PEOPLE “When you’re a first-generation colTO SEE THIS HUGE DOG JUST ROAMING lege student and you don’t see anyone goAROUND DOWNTOWN.” ing to school, your recollection of her father laboring self-efficacy to think you can through long days as the owner of a achieve that is greatly diminished,” small construction company in Coleman said. southern Ohio, carry Coleman That’s part of the reason she’s so through her most stressful days as passionate about donating her time an associate at BakerHostetler. to education and mental health efAt Baker, two former United forts. Her mother, who has been States Attorneys for the Northern clean for about a decade, suffered District of Ohio, Steven Dettelbach from drug addiction for a long time. and Carole Rendon, have taken “Any speaking engagements I do Coleman “under their wing,” the or programs I’ve created have all 33-year-old associate said. The vast been geared toward instilling that majority of Coleman’s work is in self-efficacy in kids to let them white-collar criminal defense, know that they can do it, that colwhich calls for her to be involved in lege is an option for them and to cases in which high-profile individ- beat the odds,” Coleman said.

— Kevin Kleps uals and companies are being in-

Cynthia Connolly 37 | Director of programming, City Club of Cleveland LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ cynthia-connolly Cynthia Connolly knew from the beginning that a career in nonprofits was for her.

Part of a large family, she grew up in Detroit and enrolled in the University of Michigan, where she “had an absolute blast” and graduated with a degree in American culture with a focus in Native American Studies.

She was very active with Native student groups “and really cut my teeth on a lot of the social justice work I would do for our Native communities and my tribe (the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians),” she said.

“I knew that my passion and my focus and what I was looking for in my career and in the type of service I

wanted to do for my community was either in the public or nonprofit sector.”

And so, after earning a master’s degree in public administration at Cleveland State University, she spent four years at University Circle Inc. and then six years as development director for Policy Matters Ohio.

But her work with Native/Indigenous communities, including the Lake Erie Native American Council, was always front and center.

One example is a forum she organized for the City Club before she worked there, focused on Native representation and visibility. That caught the eye of City Club CEO Dan Moulthrop.

“The Indigenous perspective is vital, and often overlooked,” he said in an email. “Cynthia brings that voice

and perspective into every conversation, and frankly, she brings a particular sensitivity and empathy that I and others on the team may not have.”

As programming director, booking City Club forums is now Connolly’s primary job, and she is clear about how that intersects with her activism.

“It’s being able to bring in a mix of Indigenous voices into the City Club — it’s great for Cleveland, it’s great for Northeast Ohio and again, you have a national stage, so it’s great for the country.”

Connolly lives in Ohio City with her husband, an Ohio State University grad who works for NASA, and their two daughters. The only snag?

“He’s a Buckeye, I’m a Wolverine,” she said with a laugh.

— John Kappes

“I BELIEVE THE WHOLE MASCOT ISSUE IS PART OF A LARGER PROBLEM OF THE WAY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARE REPRESENTED IN MODERN SOCIETY. IT’S NEVER AS PEOPLE LIKE ME, YOUR NEIGHBORS, YOUR CO-WORKERS, YOUR CLASSMATES … WHAT ARE THE REPERCUSSIONS OF THAT FOR NATIVE PEOPLE?” 12 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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Jared Daly 34 | Regional coordinator of workforce development, Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities

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LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/jared-daly Jared Daly had spent a few years as a job placement professional at Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland before he joined the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities in 2013 to head its workforce development efforts. A big challenge at both organizations, Daly explained, was matching his small contingent of candidates to employers who often were looking for specific skill sets.

“If we connected with a business that was really excited to hire someone with a disability or some other barrier to employment, it was rare that we had a good fit,” he said.

To that end, Daly launched the nonprofit Employment Collaborative of Cuyahoga County (ECC) with the goal of partnering with placement staff in other local government agencies and social service groups and

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providing employers with a single point of access to a larger pool of vulnerable job seekers.

Today, over 60 partner organizations feed candidates into ECC, which works with more than 500 Cuyahoga County businesses “on the demand side,” according to Daly. It has held hiring events at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, FirstEnergy Stadium and Progressive Field.

Daly said that to date, the collaborative has helped 770 individuals connect to employment.

“But we really like to think of it as employers filling 770 openings in their workforce,” the Lake Erie College graduate said. “This year alone, we’ve helped employers fill 217 job openings.”

That business-first mentality is a 180-degree turn from how agencies like the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities had

worked historically, said Christopher Carpenter, strategic analysis manager at the board. It’s also a great example of Daly’s problem-solving prowess.

“Jared sees systems and processes as either fundamentally working or not,” Carpenter said, “and then is able to identify practical solutions to make them work better.”

When not working on ECC — the organization is currently vetting software that will help it match candidates with posted openings more seamlessly — Daly counsels Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities clients individually in their job search. He is also a vocal advocate for workplace inclusion, having presented both nationally and regionally and published articles on the topic, and is president-elect of the Cleveland Society of Human Resource Management.

— Judy Stringer

“A JOB IS A BIG PART OF OUR LIVES. IT’S WHERE WE SPEND A LOT OF OUR TIME, AND THE MONEY WE MAKE ALLOWS US TO PAY RENT AND GO OUT TO SOCIALIZE OR DO ACTIVITIES THAT WE ENJOY; I FIND BEING A PART OF THAT INDIVIDUAL IMPACT VERY REWARDING.”

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NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 13

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Tyler Estell

39 | Supervisory management and program analyst, VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ tyler-estell Coming from a military family, Tyler Estell “broke the mold” when he didn’t follow in the footsteps of his father, brothers, uncle and grandfather, all of whom served.

But service underlines everything he does, from lifelong involvement in the church (where he is now a minister) to his work at the VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System.

“My life is public service,” said Estell, who worked for the city of Cleveland before joining the VA in 2009. “That truly meant something to me to work at the VA. ...

It was very important, like, 'Hey, I can do my part this way serving veterans who serve for our country.' ”

Mercedes Davis

Bradford Davy

36 | Creator and owner, Black Girls in Trader Joe’s (BGITJ)

34 | Director of regional engagement, The Fund for Our Economic Future

LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ mercedes-davis

logo and hosts “restore retreats” where fans got the chance to shop, cook and hang out with Davis and Mercedes Davis has always en- one another.

Deborah Plummer, a diversity joyed cooking and creating inviting consultant, former educator and meals.

So, when COVID closed Bloom Davis’ aunt and adviser, said the Spa, an esthetician business she BGITJ brand today is about more ran out of her Shaker Heights home, than food. Davis is a lifestyle influDavis turned to her love of cooking encer, Plummer said, and she’s usand of shopping at Trader Joe’s, and ing her voice to inspire Black womto sharing both via the Black Girls en to think more carefully about in Trader Joe’s (BGITJ) Instagram nutrition, wellness and social handle. change.

“It was for Black women specifi“It also amplifies Black women cally, because often Black women as discerning food product conweren’t represented in these large sumers — not just cooks or chefs — which has pushed Trader “I WANTED TO BE AN INFLUENCER Joe’s and other orBEFORE I KNEW WHAT AN INFLUENCER ganizations to have more multiWAS, MAYBE BEFORE ANYONE KNEW racial, multiculturWHAT AN INFLUENCER WAS.” al strategies in how they relate to peofan or influencer pages with Trader ple and groups,” said Plummer.

During the racial justice uprising Joe’s,” she said. “It was mostly white women. This was an opportunity following the murder of George for me to speak to Black women Floyd, Davis said she wrote a letter and say, ‘We can afford this. We can to Trader Joe’s requesting the grogo to these places and get delicious cer publicly state “how they were getting behind their Black employfood.’ ” BGITJ grew quickly. Davis — who ees and shoppers.” The company changed her major at Bowling Green did not respond directly, she said, State University “about seven times” but did release a statement about before leaving college to pursue a its next steps related to supporting cosmetics career — said she had Black-owned businesses and cre90,000 followers within two months. atives.

“We have seen some growth and Currently, 215,000 Instagram users follow the page. Ever the entrepre- new things that they’re doing. It’s neur, she’s also launched a line of exciting to be a part of that,” Davis reusable shopping bags, stickers, said.

— Judy Stringer T-shirts and hoodies with the BGITJ

LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ bradford-davy Bradford Davy has built relationships with some of the most impactful leaders in Northeast Ohio.

The most important part of those interactions, The Fund for Our Economic Future’s director of regional engagement said, is authenticity.

“I think all people want to be seen and heard,” Davy said. “Everyone brings a unique perspective and value, so I try to make all of my relationships authentic ones. I always try to lead with empathy.”

Davy joined the Fund — an alliance of 40-plus foundations, higher education institutions, corporations, government institutions and civic associations — in 2018. He played a key role in the development of OpportunityCLE, which gathered 20 local stakeholders to identify and market social ventures within Cleveland’s Opportunity Zones.

Davy currently is leading a community investment funding effort for Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood. The initiative has secured the backing of the Kresge Foundation.

“Bradford is extraordinarily likable and the kind of person whose presence and style makes those around him feel good about themselves,” The Fund for Our Economic Future president Bethia Burke said.

“This seemingly simple trait is quite rare, and is incredibly valuable in

his work.”

Cleveland, with one of the highest poverty rates in the U.S. and significant racial economic inequality, is “behind,” Davy said. Still, he’s encouraged by “this cohort of really young and exciting thinkers who are coming into prominence and leadership.”

Included in that group is Cleveland Mayor-elect Justin Bibb, a friend for whom Davy served as the Neighbors for Justin Bibb campaign chairman. (Bibb recently announced that Davy will be managing his transition team.)

Davy, Bibb said, “is an outstanding leader, one of the smartest minds I’ve come across. His gift is always being able to see around the corner.”

The nonprofit executive, Bibb added, is “an amazing dot-connector — not just with people, but ideas.”

The dot-connecting in his role “focuses on economic growth for all, regardless of race and place,” Davy said.

The regional engagement director is a huge fan of Arsenal Football Club, a high-profile English soccer team, and “a big sneakerhead.” The shoe obsession is fitting for someone who’s always on the move — at work and play.

“I’m an urbanist through and through,” Davy said. “I love to explore nooks and crannies of large American and international cities.”

— Kevin Kleps

“MY LIFE IS PUBLIC SERVICE.” In 2019, he became the first manager of the Greater Cleveland Fisher House — where military and veteran families can stay while their loved one is getting care. Estell’s dad, a veteran who lost his right arm in Vietnam, was at the grand opening of the local house, part of a national program. His dad broke down crying, excited for the facility and saying he wished there had been a place for Estell’s mom to stay when he needed care years earlier, Estell said.

Leading Fisher House, Estell helped make it a home, said Maya Davis, assistant chief of the patient transfer center at the VA and former assistant manager of Fisher House. Estell listened to guest feedback in the early days of the new house to make small adjustments to mirrors, alarm clocks or menus. A servant leader, he extended the same care to staff as well.

“He knows what he’s here for,” Davis said. “He’s empathetic, he listens, he shows compassion. ...

He’s one of those people that’s not just listening to get you out of his face. He actually listens and tries to help. He tries to find a way.”

This fall, Estell became a supervisory management and program analyst, an HR role at the VA in which he’ll help with onboarding clinicians. The shift from supporting families of patients to supporting the providers for servicemen and -women feels “full circle,” he said.

“Every aspect of my life is serving people, trying to do something for the greater good,” Estell said.

— Lydia Coutré

14 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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Hardik Desai 39 | Senior partner, JumpStart Inc. LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ hardik-desai The startup world can be lonely — just ask Hardik Desai. As a student at Ohio State University, Desai co-founded medical diagnostics company IR Diagnostyx, spearheading the firm’s ceaseless product development and fundraising efforts.

Desai takes that empathetic perspective into his work at JumpStart, where he navigates fellow early-stage tech entrepreneurs through the choppy waters of company creation.

“I have been in their shoes, so I know what challenges they are facing,” said Desai, who joined JumpStart in 2012. “You have teams and investors, but at the end of the day, you are a lonely CEO or founder trying to figure out your challenges.

I understand what they are going through.”

As a key leader of the JumpStart team, Desai connects tech-centric startups with local entrepreneurial resources. He also helms a due-diligence team that engages companies seeking venture capital, playing a critical role in the approximately $62 million JumpStart has invested in its 131-firm portfolio.

Desai said, “I’m a conduit to resources companies might need,

whether through JumpStart or other sources. The startup world is organizational chaos, and our companies have different needs. I learn something new every day.”

As investment capital becomes more critical to Cleveland’s growth, the community needs investors like Desai participating in this vital ecosystem, noted Jerry Frantz, chief investing and services officer at JumpStart.

“Hardik brings his personal experience as an entrepreneur to his role as a venture capitalist,” said Frantz.

“This experience allows him to advocate for and advise entrepreneurs, taking into account the perspective from both sides of the table. He’s been described as a founder-friendly investor — I believe that’s true and it sets him apart in the field.”

A native of India residing in Westlake, Desai can be frequently found hiking in the Metroparks with his wife and young son. He’s also a big podcast guy, with a fondness for motivational founder stories or business and technology topics.

“I’m driven by founder passion,” said Desai. “The people we work with are very optimistic, even in the face of significant challenges. My role at JumpStart wouldn’t be as meaningful if it wasn’t for the folks we work with and the impact they can create.”

— Douglas J. Guth

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“I SEE MYSELF AS A PROBLEM SOLVER.”

Leah McLaughlin Fazio 35 | General counsel, Vitamix Corp.

LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/leah-fazio As general counsel at Vitamix Corp., Leah McLaughlin Fazio works in a variety of critical areas for the company, from managing Vitamix’s data privacy program to advising its supply chain team.

“I see myself as a problem solver,” she said.

Fazio said she views her role as a way to help people, to offer advice or solutions. As an in-house lawyer, she’s part of a team.

That was attractive to Fazio early on. Her career got its start at a law firm, but law firms can be tough places to work because of work-life balance, she said. And the work is project-based. Fazio wanted to be part of the bigger picture.

“You have repeat clients, but still,

you’re just getting a window into their world, versus really digging in with a company and being a part of their team, seeing where your work leads and being part of long-term success of a company, which is really what I enjoy about being in-house,” Fazio said.

She joined FedEx in 2014 before moving to Ohio and Vitamix. She started as a senior attorney at the blender maker at the end of 2016.

After a couple of years, Fazio requested a promotion to corporate and compliance counsel, having already taken on responsibilities in that space. Advocating for oneself can be intimidating, but “important,” she said.

In 2020, Fazio took on the role of general counsel. That promotion made her the youngest general coun-

sel in the company’s century-long history, the nomination said.

Fazio is “grounded,” “authentic” and “purposeful,” taking the time to fully understand situations and different factors at play, said Vitamix president and CEO Jodi Berg.

“She thinks with a business mind through a legal lens,” Berg said.

Fazio said, long term, she doesn’t have set career goals. Instead, she wants to make sure she operates with integrity. She wants to make her husband, Mark, and their son, Mark Jr., proud. She wants to serve as a mentor to others, helping them accomplish their dreams, too.

“Sometimes with life, it’s more about how you do things, not necessarily what you do and what you accomplish,” Fazio said.

— Rachel Abbey McCafferty

Samantha Flores 37 | Director of program and partner services, Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ samantha-flores1 Community has long defined Samantha Flores and, in many ways, drives what she does as the director of program and partner services for the Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio.

Born and raised in Lorain, Flores remembers joining her mom and big sisters to hoist lunch boxes over the fence to her steelworker dad during his afternoon break at the U.S. Steel plant.

“I was amazed by such an intense place and seeing the hard work he put in there,” she said. “Those ties made me want to come back.”

Flores spent five years teaching English in South Korea when she felt the pull to return home.

Home was yearning for her, too. She had made such an impression while working from 2009 to 2011 as an Amer-

iCorps team member that Bev Lizanich, Second Harvest’s then-director of program, was actively recruiting Flores, according to Julie Chase-Morefield, CEO and president of Second Harvest Food Bank, which is based in Lorain and serves Lorain, Crawford, Huron and Erie counties..

“She knew the type of person she was,” Chase-Morefield said.

So, it was no surprise that in 2017, Flores returned to Second Harvest, where she continued to learn under Lizanich, who taught her to take the time to have conversations with people.

Several months after Flores’ return to Second Harvest, Lizanich retired because of illness and died the following year. Flores took on increasing responsibilities during that time.

“She could depend on me then, when I depended on her all those years before,” she said.

In 2020, Flores was named director

of program and partner services, following in the steps of her mentor. In that role, she builds and maintains relationships with more than 100 different partners, oversees more than 140 programs, and manages initiatives such as the Mobile Pantry, School Pantry and Senior Box distributions.

During the pandemic, Flores and her team were invaluable to their communities. They led Second Harvest’s pivot to a Mobile Drive-Thru Food Pantry model of distribution, in which they served more than 172,000 community members, more than double pre-pandemic levels. (Flores insists that Second Harvest refers to those they serve as “community members,” not clients, Chase-Morefield explained.)

“These are her neighbors, the people she grew up down the street from,” she said.

— Elizabeth McIntyre

Celso Goncalves

33 | Executive vice president and chief financial officer, Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ celso-goncalves Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. is one of those historic companies that “made the United States what it is today,” said executive vice president and chief financial officer Celso Goncalves.

And it’s the work of bringing a historic company into the future that drives him.

“We want to be here, not just for the next quarter or the next month or the next year. We’re here as a generational company,” Goncalves said.

“And that’s what’s really exciting.”

Goncalves has been instrumental in Cleveland-Cliffs’ transformation from an iron ore producer to a steelmaker, having helped complete the

company’s acquisitions of AK Steel and ArcelorMittal USA in 2020.

Goncalves took on the role of executive vice president and chief financial officer at Cleveland-Cliffs this past September, having worked his way up the financial department.

Prior to joining the company, he worked at Deutsche Bank and Jefferies in New York, helping the latter open an office in Brazil, where he was born.

Goncalves said he had been drawn to the challenging nature of investment banking after college, as he “wanted to do something really meaningful right away.”

Goncalves is an “outstanding professional,” and he doesn’t freeze up in the face of a challenge, said Lourenco Goncalves, chairman, presi-

dent and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs.

And it’s that, not the familial connection, that made him want to bring his son to the company.

Goncalves joined the company as assistant treasurer in 2016, taking on a variety of roles before becoming CFO this year.

And, while the work was a great fit, the move to Cleveland-Cliffs also brought him closer to family, a plus as he and his wife, Megan, welcomed their son, Lucas.

Lourenco Goncalves had a vision for the longstanding company that included a lot of M&A. He needed a “fearless CFO” as the company grew and transformed, he said.

“And Celso is just that,” Lourenco Goncalves said.

— Rachel Abbey McCafferty

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11/18/2021 2:13:30 PM

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Cathryn Greenwald 38 | Partner, Thompson Hine LLP LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ cathryn-greenwald

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“Cathryn Greenwald is a dynamo. She’s quick, capable and gets things done,” said Kip Bollin, partner in charge of the Cleveland office of Thompson Hine LLP. “She’s also a good (law) firm citizen and helps people.”

Greenwald has handled a large body of real estate-related work, including the $1.85 billion sale of a public gaming company, lease disputes and NYSE-listed real estate investment trusts and multimillion-dollar acquisitions and dispositions.

Greenwald first worked for Thompson Hine in 2008 as a summer associate and was offered a position in the real estate group at the end of her term. However, by the time she graduated from Cleveland State University in 2009 with her law degree and a master’s in environmental studies, the country was headlong into the Great Recession and related housing crisis.

She worked at Javitch, Block and Rathbone, dealing with auto insurance subrogation, until 2011, when a Thompson recruiter asked her if she was still interested in a job.

“There were not a lot of real estate associates at the firm, or at any other firms really. So, I benefited and was able to do a variety of work,” Greenwald said. “By the time I was a senior

associate, I had a broad base of real estate knowledge.”

That knowledge allowed her to partner with a New York-based associate to build out Thompson’s lender representation platform.

“That helped me make partner,” Greenwald said. “The other thing that helped is that I followed the advice of knowledgeable and more senior people who encouraged me to get involved outside the office.”

She sits on the board of CHS Housing Solutions and is a founder and co-chair of the Cleveland chapter of the Urban Land Institute’s Women’s Leadership Initiative.

“The real estate industry is still very much a male-dominated industry,” Greenwald said. “One of the reasons we decided to bring the WLI, which is now a national program, to Cleveland is to continue to build a network for women involved in real estate and to reach out to younger women graduating from college and make sure they understand that the real estate industry is a really great place to build their careers.”

Greenwald said that program and working on Thompson Hine’s summer associate committee further emphasized to her that having a diverse set of employees benefits the workplace and enhances their ability to serve their clients.

— Leslie D. Green

“I FOLLOWED THE ADVICE OF KNOWLEDGEABLE AND MORE SENIOR PEOPLE WHO ENCOURAGED ME TO GET INVOLVED OUTSIDE THE OFFICE.” 18 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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11/18/2021 2:16:55 PM

Thomas Haren 35 | Partner, Frantz Ward LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ thomas-haren Destined to become a successful lawyer, Tom Haren gave his first oral argument when he was a teenager at Lowellville High School.

A self-described “First Amendment geek,” Haren was an editor of his school’s newspaper, The Rocketeer, who took exception to the principal constantly censoring stories.

Some of the articles in question were innocuous satires — one was about weapons of mass destruction being hidden in the cafeteria.

Another was an op-ed decrying the censorship that very piece was subjected to.

The Student Press Law Center helped him draft a legal memo and offered to represent him pro bono as he basically threatened to sue the school.

This months-long ordeal culminated with a presentation in front of the board of education about how the censorship violated protections of free speech.

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“Everything we were doing was, and still is, so new,” he said. “There are many aspects of it that have never been done before.”

Haren remains early in his career but is already an authority in the field he sees as a marriage of policy, politics and law. He helped develop his firm’s blossoming cannabis law practice and is the first exec“I’M ALMOST NEVER THE SMARTEST utive vice president PERSON IN THE ROOM, BUT I’LL BE of the Ohio Hemp AssociaDAMNED IF I LET SOMEONE OUTWORK Industry tion.

“The accomME. THAT HAS BEEN PIVOTAL TO ANY plishments he has SUCCESS I HAVE HAD IN MY PRACTICE.” racked up to date put him among the Haren briefly hung his own shin- best of the best in our legal comgle out of law school before joining a munity,” said Rebecca Ruppert Mcfirm where he was encouraged to Mahon, CEO of the Cleveland Metpursue his interests in the burgeon- ropolitan Bar Association. “And his ing world of cannabis law. It was future is unlimited. Whether that around the mid-2010s, a time when means expanding his practice, many attorneys were steering clear considering a run for public office of work in an industry that remains or maybe even entering the business world, Tom can really accomfederally illegal.

The fact this area of law is so novel plish anything.”

— Jeremy Nobile intrigued him.

Haren graduated not long after all this. So, to what extent the school walked back censorship moving forward is unclear.

“But that was when I said, law is the career for me,” Haren said. “I just knew you could make a huge difference as a lawyer, and the work that lawyers do matters.”

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CONGRATULATIONS Celso Goncalves Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. for being selected

CRAIN’S 2021 FORTY UNDER 40 Celso was instrumental to Cleveland-Cliffs’ business and financial transformation. Over the past five years, he has led all of the company’s capital structure efforts, been the key person behind the execution and financing for Cliffs’ transformational acquisitions, and managed the company’s liquidity through the pandemic. The recognition is well deserved.

Your colleagues at

NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 19

Dallas Hogensen 35 | Co-founder and CEO, Felux LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ dallas-hogensen Felux, its website says, “has been making steel sexy since 2019.”

Representatives from the company, which built an online marketplace and supply chain platform for the steel and metals industry, wore T-shirts displaying a similar message to a major industry trade show.

“They were a huge hit,” Chris Day, one of Felux’s three co-founders, said. “We had to order another batch because there were hundreds of people on a list who were requesting that we send them the shirt.”

Dallas Hogensen, who founded Felux with Day and Majestic Steel USA CEO Todd Leebow, said it’s all part of an approach that is completely opposite from the “misconception” that steel is “traditional and old.”

“We want people in the industry who don’t feel like they have to take themselves too seriously,” Hogensen said. “We want them to have fun, because this is one of the most important industries and the backbone of our economy. We look at it in a completely different way, and we’re unapologetic about it.”

Hogensen joined Felux in 2020, after a decade building and scaling companies. His previous work includes co-founding Liveli and Signal HQ (which were acquired in 2016 and ’20, respectively), plus two top sales jobs at Lyft.

Hogensen has lived in Denver, New York and San Francisco, including a time in which he stayed on a friend’s couch and built his entrepreneurial network. The Oregon native (Hogensen said he grew up two doors down from Cavs star Kevin Love in Lake Oswego) said, “Cleveland will

always be our home.”

Felux recently completed a $5.1 million fundraising round that included investments from co-founders of Uber and Groupon. Another funding round has started for a company whose platform has produced more than $100 million in sales.

Hogensen, Day said, has been crucial in building an “amazing culture” that, along with some quality hires, “has changed the trajectory of our company.”

The company’s sales pitch to prospective employees touts all that Northeast Ohio, and Felux, has to offer.

“Live a better life. Have space, slow down,” Hogensen said. “We get every first Friday off, and we might move to a four-day work week. We believe there’s better ways to build companies.”

— Kevin Kleps

Adam R. Jacobs

37 | Senior director, investments; financial adviser, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ adam-r-jacobs “Simply put, Adam personifies our best. He is a role model for our younger financial advisers. He is a voice of reason for his clients, and his moral compass always points true north,” said Jim Lowe, senior vice president in the Private Client Division of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. From his great-grandfather, who worked in the financial services industry during the Great Depression, Adam Jacobs is the fourth generation in his family to work in the industry.

However, even more than advising multigenerational families through the ups and downs of the times, Jacobs enjoys building relationships.

“The thing that’s most fulfilling is when there are people that I am able to help, whether directly related to my business or just helping them with their lives. Some of the most appreciative clients have turned into great friends,” Jacobs said.

His desire to help is one reason he supports numerous nonprofits as a volunteer, board and committee member and donor. In 2018, Cleveland Jewish News named Jacobs one of its 18 Difference Makers.

“I’m generally not someone who likes to sit back and just let things go,” Jacobs said. “I am a problem solver. I find it a lot easier to affect change when you’re on the inside and when you have a voice. I’m someone who likes to get involved — who likes to find out

how we can grow this, how we can take something and make it even better.”

Jacobs sits on the board of trustees for Providence House, which he is helping to open a second location in the Buckeye neighborhood. He serves on a committee at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank that is helping to adapt fundraising events and community outreach. And he chairs the 403(b) retirement fund sub-committee for the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, which named him Young Campaigner of the Year for his fundraising work.

Jacobs is also a co-founder of North Coast Wine Club in Solon. The organization started in 2011 with five people and is now a full-time, fully licensed, award-winning winery.

— Leslie D. Green

Lamar Hylton 39 | Senior vice president for student affairs, Kent State University LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ lamar-hylton Lamar Hylton dreamed of a life spent on the operatic stage.

After all, it seemed like the next logical step. He graduated from a performing arts high school, earned a bachelor’s degree in vocal music performance, and enrolled in a music master’s program.

His graduate assistantship at Ohio University was spent working in the dean’s office of the College of Fine Arts doing recruitment and retention work for underrepresented students.

It was that experience, Hylton said, that caused the tune to change. He loved it. Hylton decided to leave the music program and instead enrolled in OU’s college student personnel offering.

“And I've never looked back,” he said.

Officials at Kent State University are undoubtedly glad for that career shift. He’s now the senior vice president for student affairs there.

“I have been the recipient of quality and effective mentoring, as well as people who packed my professional bag and my personal bag to help me down the road of success,” he said.

“Now I feel called to do the same for somebody else.”

Mark Polatajko, KSU’s senior vice president of finance and administration, called Hylton a “visionary leader” in his nomination form, writing that his achievements at Kent have been significant.

For Hylton, there are two initiatives launched during the pandemic that he’s especially proud of. The first is the expansion and enhancement of mental health services for students, even amid budget concerns.

There’s also the university’s anti-rac-

ism efforts.

“We've really done great work in identifying ways to enhance our anti-racism efforts in all facets of university life: the student experience, the faculty and staff experience, our community partnerships, the curriculum, the programming that we offer,” he said.

According to Louis Stark, vice president for student affairs at Case Western Reserve University, Hylton is someone who looks at the big picture.

“He really cares about student development, social justice issues, and really cares about people,” Stark said.

The two crossed paths six years ago via the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. The group’s upper Midwest chapter recently awarded Hylton the “Outstanding Senior Student Affairs Officer” award for 2021.

— Amy Morona

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Partnering to help create opportunities Last year, Bank of America committed $1.25 billion over five years to advance racial equality and economic opportunity. To date, we’ve directly funded or invested one-third of this amount on top of long-standing efforts to make an impact in our communities and address society’s greatest challenges.

Here are some of the ways we’re working to make a difference: • Investing $300 million in 100 minority-owned and minority-led equity funds, including Cleveland Avenue State Treasurer Urban Success Fund, LP. This will help diverse entrepreneurs and small business owners create more jobs, financial stability and growth.

• Investing $36 million in 21 Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) banks that support minority-owned businesses. This is in addition to approximately $100 million in deposits to MDIs and our existing CDFI portfolio of more than $2 billion, which helps build pathways to economic vitality in local markets.

• Providing funding and support through innovative programs and partnerships with community colleges, universities and nonprofits that offer training and credentialing programs connecting more people to high-wage, in-demand careers.

We’re doing this work in collaboration with community partners, business leaders, experts and academics across the public and private sectors to ensure that our investments are directed where they’re needed most. Together, we can help drive sustainable progress in Cleveland.

What would you like the power to do? ®

Jeneen Marziani President, Bank of America Cleveland

Learn more at bankofamerica.com/cleveland

Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender

© 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

Brandon Jirousek 37 | Vice president of digital, Cleveland Cavaliers LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ brandon-jirousek Hoping to land a job in the sports industry, Brandon Jirousek went to a job fair before a Cleveland Cavaliers game.

The draw for Jirousek was a free Cavs ticket that came with his attendance that day. The result was a job managing the website of the Mahoney Valley Scrappers, a former minor league baseball affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.

Not even two years later, Jirousek was back at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse — as an employee of the Cavs.

“Kinda full circle in that regard,” said Jirousek, who was promoted to the team’s vice president of digital in 2017.

In sports, even on the business side, everything is measured in sea-

sons, Jirousek, one of the Cavs’ youngest VPs, said. In his 15th season, he’s seen it all — from the Cavs ending Cleveland’s 52-year major championship drought to LeBron James coming and going (twice), and a promising new era built around rookie Evan Mobley.

“It’s just been an incredible journey, and I use journey intentionally because when you look at it from the basketball side of things, we’ve gone through so much,” Jirousek said.

On the other side of the house, Jirousek manages a team of 14 (up from four digital staffers upon his arrival in 2007) for the Cavs and Rock Entertainment Group. The digital group’s work has been amplified during the pandemic, as the Cavs have figured out different ways to engage with fans and used their

massive platforms to address matters of social justice and inequality.

Jirousek was part of the group that created the Cavs’ Twitter account.

Now, the organization — with a combined tally of almost 22 million followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — has one of the largest followings in North American professional sports.

Mike Conley, the Cavs’ chief information officer, said Jirousek’s “commitment to excellence is contagious, and we are lucky to have someone of his skill and expertise in our organization.”

Jirousek is the one who feels fortunate.

“It was absolutely surreal,” he said of his entry to pro sports — one he didn’t think was all that likely prior to the job fair that changed everything.

— Kevin Kleps

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39 | Director, design development, Geis Construction LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ brandon-kline As a child, Brandon Kline literally learned to love architecture at his father’s knee.

On Saturday mornings, he colored on blueprints under his dad’s desk at Herschman Architects in Warrensville Heights.

“I couldn't have been much older than 6, maybe,” he recalled.

In 2006, he joined his father at Herschman after studying architecture at the University of Buffalo and Kent State University. Kline spent nearly seven years designing shopping centers before joining the Geis Cos. as a senior project manager.

At the time, Streetsboro-based Geis — a family-owned business best known for its suburban industrial parks — was making a huge play in downtown Cleveland. Kline

quickly got pulled into working on The 9, the mixed-use makeover of the former Ameritrust complex at East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue.

“That was trial by fire,” he said.

“We had probably one of the fastest schedules you could ever imagine, from start to finish. Projects like that usually take a year in design before you start swinging a hammer. And I think it was like three months.”

Since 2012, Kline has touched everything from warehouses to restaurant build-outs to historic-preservation deals, including The 9 and the apartment conversion of the former May Co. department store just off Public Square.

As design development director, he’s now responsible for Geis’ growing pipeline of residential, mixeduse and urban projects — both inhouse deals and work for other

owners.

“You actually get to see and witness things you worked really hard on,” said Kline, who enjoys showing his own children the city he's helping to shape.

Greg Geis, the company’s second-generation owner, said that Kline thinks fast on his feet and understands construction, which is a huge asset in the field.

“His hands-on knowledge is probably the best I’ve seen from an architect in my career,” said Geis, who applauded Kline’s dedication — and his sense of humor.

“The company historically has worked hard and played hard,” Geis added. “Some of us older folks are slowing down a bit, but there’s always the next generation to fill in the gaps. And I look at Brandon as a next generation."

— Michelle Jarboe

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Omar Kurdi 30 | CEO, Friends for Life Rehabilitation Services LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/omar-kurdi

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Omar Kurdi was hesitant to join the family business.

His father and stepmother, Yasin and Joanna Kurdi, opened Friends for Life Rehabilitation Services in 2015. The couple was inspired to open the adult daycare and vocational habilitation organization for adults with developmental disabilities after looking for programs that best fit their autistic son.

Prior to 2015, Omar had worked in social and digital media, and he studied international relations in college.

“I didn’t study this, didn’t think I’d be the greatest business leader,” Kurdi said. “But luckily, I had a great mentor, my dad, and slowly I found my heart in it.”

Kurdi joined Friends for Life as director of operations in August 2015. Four years later, the Cleve-

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“More leaders should follow his example,” Rivera added.

Friends for Life recently hired five people, upping its employee count to 21, and provides services to 100 individuals — an increase of 30 since 2019.

Kurdi credits his “amazing” staff and “phenomenal” stepmother, who is Friends for Life’s chief operations officer, for their work, especially during an incredibly trying last 20plus months.

All of which brings him back to his father, who passed away in 2019 — hours before he was scheduled for a lung transplant.

“My dad, I wish he could see this happen, because I knew he was worried about this continuing after him, and to see that I’ve been able to achieve such a thing with the help of everyone at Friends for Life, I know that he’d be very proud,” Kurdi said.

— Kevin Kleps

“YOU GO EVERY DAY AND YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT. I’M NEVER BORED. ROUTINE IS NOT A THING. THEY TELL YOU THEY LOVE YOU AND YOU KNOW THEY MEAN IT. WHEN I SEE PEOPLE LEAVE MY PROGRAM BECAUSE THEY FINALLY FOUND A JOB IN THE COMMUNITY, THERE’S NO BETTER FEELING THAN KNOWING THAT YOU’VE CONTRIBUTED TO SOMEONE’S INDEPENDENCE AND ADVANCEMENT.”

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The acknowledged legal expert in the rapidly growing, $400 million medical marijuana industry in Ohio. An advisor to policy makers and a prominent authority in the media.

A tireless advocate for racial equity and criminal justice reform. Congratulations, Tom, and all of the Forty Under 40 recipients.

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land-based organization opened a second location in Parma Heights.

COVID, of course, changed everything, but the pandemic reinforced to Kurdi the things that matter most.

“You work with people with disabilities. They’re like the most loving individuals you will ever meet,” said Kurdi, who was elevated to CEO in 2017. “It’s as simple as they want to come hug you and you tell them that you need to keep distance. I’m getting goosebumps.

That was the hardest thing for me to do.”

Friends for Life was closed for almost three months during the pandemic. Carmen Rivera, the organization’s program director, said Kurdi ensured that all staffers remained on the payroll.

If employees are struggling personally or financially, “Omar has been ready and willing to aid in areas and times of need,” Rivera said.

Thomas G. Haren Partner

FrantzWard.com

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11/15/21 3:13 |PM NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 23

Daniel Lettenberger-Klein 35 | CEO, Stella Maris LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ daniel-lettenberger-klein Stella Maris has seen substantial growth since Daniel Lettenberger-Klein joined the nonprofit addiction recovery center in 2019.

The budget increased to $10 million from $5.3 million, and the number of staff members grew to 120 from 63. He also streamlined reporting, created new training protocols for senior management and raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

“We didn’t raise the minimum wage in a vacuum,” Lettenberger-Klein said. “We did that in tandem with publishing a DEI policy, a compensation philosophy, making sure there will be fair and equal pay at Stella Maris and that we’re committed to ongoing conversation not only about compensation but also equity and access to opportunity.”

In addition, Lettenberger-Klein

led a $5 million capital construction project and opened a 13,000-square-foot building that houses an all-gender detoxification center, centralized intake, and a kitchen and cafeteria that serves nearly 400 meals a day.

“He’s very skilled at managing, hiring and onboarding processes and recruiting and retaining high-quality people,” said Susan Gragel, president of Goldstein Gragel LLC and immediate past president of the Stella Maris board. “He’s also become very good at explaining to the larger community the issues surrounding addiction and behavioral health problems, in terms of communicating with clients, their families, government officials, health care professionals and foundations who support recovery.”

Lettenberger-Klein hadn’t intended to run a nonprofit. When he started college, he was intent on

becoming a dentist. After his first organic chemistry course, however, he knew he needed to pivot and began looking at psychology and sociology so he could enter some sort of helping profession.

He holds a master of science degree in marriage and family therapy from Purdue University, a program that only accepts nine students a year. Prior to taking a job at Stella Maris, Lettenberger-Klein provided court-ordered services for people mandated to receive treatment for substance use. He also worked at for-profit behavioral health centers where he gained increasingly higher leadership.

“At Stella Maris, I’m afforded the opportunity to do really impactful work every single day,” Lettenberger-Klein said. “Not working in a for-profit helps me feed that clinician soul to do meaningful, intentional client-centered work.”

— Leslie D. Green

“NOT WORKING IN A FOR-PROFIT HELPS ME FEED THAT CLINICIAN SOUL TO DO MEANINGFUL, INTENTIONAL CLIENT-CENTERED WORK.”

A well-deserved spotlight for a job well done.

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KPMG congratulates the 2021 Crain’s Cleveland Business Forty Under 40 honorees, including our own Jamie Sanchez-Anderson.

We are proud to celebrate Jamie and her accomplishments as she continues to make an impact through her leadership and community service in Northeast Ohio and beyond. kpmg.com

© 2021 KPMG LLP, a Delaware limited liability partnership and a member firm of the KPMG global organization of independent member firms affiliated with KPMG International Limited, a private English company limited by guarantee NDP261770-1A

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39 | Partner, Social Mortgage LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ brian-lewis-mortgage When Brian Lewis was a child accompanying his parents on a trip to the supermarket, he said he would keep track of the price of purchases in his head. When the tab came up at the cash register, he would compare the bill to the total, including the applicable sales tax, that he had from his mental math.

That love of numbers served him well on a path in finance and banking.

Lewis is the majority owner of the new mortgage banking concern, Social Mortgage, in Ohio City.

The other two partners are friends he made while attending Cleveland State University, later colleagues when they worked together as mortgage bankers at Rocket Mortgage, then Quicken Loans.

To launch the new company, the three left their jobs last March.

Lewis left a job as a regional vice president and Cleveland market leader for the wealth management lending division of Merrill Lynch Bank of America. He made more than $55 million in loans to highnet-worth individuals in both 2019 and 2020.

"We were all in the same room as we called in to quit our jobs. It was like a scene in a movie. I was the first to reach my boss," Lewis said.

"It was a lonely feeling until my partners resigned as well."

With Social Mortgage, Lewis is taking a step back to mortgage banking, where he ended a 10-year stint at Quicken as a director of mortgage banking.

Lewis got his first taste of finance when he became a teller at what was then a Metropolitan Savings Bank branch at Beachwood Place and wound up as a bank branch manager before joining Quicken.

He worked full time while studying finance as he earned a business degree at CSU. His first boss at Metropolitan, David Mercado, now a senior financial adviser at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, became his mentor. "(Lewis) is a brilliant, clear communicator," Mercado said. "He presents well. He's also the hardest-working person I have met in my career. No one will outwork Brian Lewis.”

Gusty Molnar, one of the partners at Social Mortgage, agreed and added another description for Lewis: "He's calm under fire."

Lewis lives in Tremont and plays on volleyball and softball teams. He took golf lessons in 2019 and became a devotee during the pandemic. He now hits the driving range three times weekly and in the season plays every weekend.

— Stan Bullard

CONGRATULATIONS

AKRON | CLEVELAND | BMF.CPA

Brian Lewis

BMF is proud to congratulate Mindy Marsden on her recognition as a Forty Under 40 Honoree

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CONGRATULATIONS

“I WANT TO ANSWER QUESTIONS. THAT’S A MAJOR THING DRIVING ME.”

to all award winners and finalists and to our own own

Daniel Lettenberger-Klein on being selected as an honoree

CRAIN'S 2021 Forty Under 40 The staff, leadership, and board of directors appreciate your leadership and contributions.

stellamariscleveland.com

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Subscribe FOR FREE by visiting CrainsCleveland.com/enewsletters

Xiao Li 39 | Assistant professor, Case Western Reserve University LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ xiao-li-CWRU Xiao Li was well-accessorized when she got her COVID-19 vaccination: There was an Oura ring on her finger, a Fitbit on her left wrist, and both an Apple Watch and a BioStrap on her right.

No, she’s not a fanatic about counting her steps. Part of the cutting-edge research she’s doing as an assistant professor at Case Western Reserve University involves exploring the data provided by those types of fitness wearable devices for pre-symptomatic detection of diseases, including COVID-19.

“She's a trailblazer, setting up a whole new area that most people wouldn't have even thought of,” said Michael Snyder, chair of the genetics department at Stanford University’s School of Medicine who worked with Li on her post-doctoral research. “It also requires quite a bit of technical expertise and prowess to pull this off.”

Li, who earned her doctorate from the University of Toronto, is driven by a desire to answer questions. There’s one in particular that she’s trying to tackle through

her work each day.

“What actually determines when people are healthy and when people are sick, and how does this transition happen?” she said.

Her study in this sector “provides a roadmap to a rapid and universal screening method for large scale detection of respiratory viral infections before the onset of symptoms, highlighting an innovative approach for managing epidemics using digital tracking and health monitoring,” CWRU medical school interim dean Dr. Stan Gerson wrote in his nomination of Li. She is currently working with Northeast Ohio’s medical giants — Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and MetroHealth — on how wearables could potentially impact long-term recovery from COVID-19.

Many of the questions Li is pursuing now, Gerson wrote, are “likely to be mainstays of medical practice in the near future.”

Li has a wide variety of interests outside of her research. The list includes playing basketball, an activity she now shares with her 5-yearold son. She bakes, too, and also enjoys painting.

— Amy Morona

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"NOT EVERYBODY CAN WORK FOR A STARTUP. NOT EVERYBODY SHOULD WORK FOR A STARTUP. BUT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO DO, IT IS INCREDIBLY SATISFYING."

Eugene Malinskiy 36 | CEO and co-founder, Lazurite Holdings LLC

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Allison Lukacsy-Love 35 | Director, department of planning and development, City of Euclid LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ allison-lukacsy-love The Euclid Waterfront Improvement Plan project that Allison Lukacsy-Love was tasked with completing as city planner in 2016 has been in the works, in some form or other, for decades.

Transforming Euclid’s shoreline from a collection of private properties ravaged by the effects of erosion into a publicly accessible and connected park that is a model for other lakefront communities was no small feat.

“It was given to me as: ‘Here is a project that's been sitting on the shelf, garnered some funding and support over time, and that the new administration very much wants to see happen,’ ” said Lukacsy-Love, now Euclid’s director of planning

and development.

The job to take the waterfront project from concept to reality took advantage of Lukacsy-Love’s skills as an architect. She’s worked for the Geis Cos. and studioTECHNE architects, in addition to her Cleveland State University graduate education in urban studies and urban economic development.

And those skills, along with her passion for art, advocacy and civic engagement, are ever-present.

It is her ability to harness those skills and get others excited about not only long-term, multimillion-dollar projects but smaller, quicker ones that made her stand out to Marianne Crosley, president and CEO of the Cleveland Leadership Center, when Lukacsy-Love was a member of the 2017 Bridge

Builders class.

“Whatever is happening, she's determined to make an impact. She is always looking at ways to contribute her talents, her skills to make a difference,” said Crosley, adding that Lukacsy-Love is also always available to mentor those who also want to make a difference.

In her off-hours, Lukacsy-Love, as part of the Cleveland Leadership Center civic pitch competition, created "Bus Stop Moves," a project that wraps bus stops with graphics offering exercises created for riders waiting for their bus. In another pitch, "Give Box CLE", she created a series of mini-pantries stocked with nonperishable foods and hygiene supplies for residents around Cleveland.

— Kim Palmer

“YOU WANT PEOPLE TO FEEL LIKE THEIR VOICE IS VALUED IN THE CIVIC PROCESS. WE REALLY SHOULDN'T, AS STEWARDS OF THE COMMUNITY, BE BUILDING ANYTHING WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT AND THEIR VOICE IN THE MIX.”

LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ eugene-malinskiy Eugene Malinskiy has always been a tinkerer. Still is.

In his free time, the CEO and co-founder of medical device startup Lazurite Holdings likes to play around with technology, soldering microboards or reviving an older piece of electronics. (It's not all tech; he likes to grow vegetables, cycle, run and swim, too.)

It was the spirit of tinkering around to find a new (and better) way to do an existing task that helped lead to the creation of Lazurite — previously known as Indago — which has raised more than $18 million on its way to creating "the operating room of the future."

The idea for Lazurite came from identifying the need for a wireless arthroscope while working at his prior venture, DragonID, a biomedical engineering consulting firm, when Malinskiy witnessed an accident in a minimally invasive operating room in which a staff member was injured by tripping over surgical camera wires. Malinskiy said the incident helped inspire the ArthroFree wireless surgical camera system, which will be Lazurite’s first product to market.

Lazurite is preparing to submit ArthroFree to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval as a Class II medical device. If all goes smoothly, Malinskiy said, the company could be selling ArthroFree by the middle of 2022. Lazurite, which has 15 employees, is working on other products to help surgeons in the operating room, too.

Malinskiy has been an entrepreneur for all his adult life, having formed his first company — Dragon Intelinet, a network/IT consulting business — before college. His previous companies were on the consulting side of the tech business, and he said he finds great satisfaction in the "creation potential" of Lazurite.

Dr. Mark Froimson, an orthopedic surgeon who founded Riverside Health Advisors and chairs the Lazurite board, was introduced to Malinskiy four years ago. Froimson said the company is entering "a huge year" and that Malinskiy has helped set it on that path through the power of ideas and inspired management.

"He's visionary, really intelligent, but humble and self-aware," Froimson said. He said Malinskiy "has a sense of optimism and positivity" that helps guide Lazurite.

— Scott Suttell

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Sarah Markt 38 | Assistant professor of population and quantitative health sciences, Case Western Reserve University LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/sarah-markt “On a national level, Sarah Markt is an emerging star as a cancer researcher and cancer epidemiologist,” said Lorelei Mucci, professor of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Markt wanted to be a physician until she worked in a doctor’s office.

That’s when the Buffalo, New York, native realized that rather than seeing patients after they got sick, she wanted to study population health and prevention more broadly. So she earned a master of public health degree in epidemiology from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and a doctor of science degree in epidemiology from Harvard.

Now she is co-leader of a National Cancer Institute working group on prostate cancer, Mucci said.

“That’s a very prominent role for someone at this stage of her career,” Mucci said. “Sarah is very wellknown as an essential member of cancer research teams.”

Moreover, Markt, along with clinicians and pathologists at UCLA, recently received a large grant from the U.S. Army Prostate Cancer Pro-

gram, the largest funder of prostate cancer research in the country.

Markt sees her ability to get the right people working together as her biggest career win.

“One of the things I’m most proud of is my ability to build successful, multidisciplinary, collaborative teams across different institutions … to think about what’s the best way to understand risk factors for cancer initiation and progression,” she said.

While most of Markt’s research still deals with prostate and bladder cancer, she is helping the Cleveland Department of Public Health — in partnership with Case Western Reserve University — manage, analyze, display and report the huge amount of data coming out of COVID-19 to understand the pandemic and how they can use that data to help inform public health responses in the city.

The pandemic has kept Markt busier than ever, but she spends what free time she does have with her husband, Rob, and two young children — often exploring “the really beautiful landscape of Northeast Ohio.”

— Leslie D. Green

“ONE OF THE THINGS I’M MOST PROUD OF IS MY ABILITY TO BUILD SUCCESSFUL, MULTIDISCIPLINARY, COLLABORATIVE TEAMS ACROSS DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONS.”

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Mindy Marsden 36 | Partner, Bober Markey Fedorovich LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ mindy-marsden While earning a degree in accounting from the University of Akron, Mindy Marsden took a job at a small CPA firm and then an internship at the J.M. Smucker Co., doing international accounting. But the repetition of closing the books at the end of each month, preparing financial statements and translating financials from pesos to U.S. dollars bored her.

Marsden decided instead to try something a little faster-paced — public accounting — and joined Bober Markey Fedorovich as a staff accountant in 2008.

“I didn’t know anything,” Marsden said. “I just followed whatever anyone told me to do, and after about a year and a half, I got the hang of it.”

After three years with the company, however, Marsden realized that while the culture was great, accounting might not be the right fit for her personality.

Before she quit, however, her manager told her they were trying to grow the consulting side of the firm and wanted her to be part of the team. Transaction Advisory and Val-

uation Services (TAS) values businesses, evaluates risks and helps business owners sell or grow their companies through acquisition.

“The consulting side is where it’s fun,” Marsden said. Despite not being a CPA, she earned a promotion to partner in June 2021.

“Mindy works on supporting private equity groups and other strategic buyers and sellers in acquisitions or divestitures and has excelled in that area. She’s an extremely talented young leader in our firm and in our industry and has been an integral part of the growth of the department,” said Bober Markey partner Mark Bober.

He said she also energizes professionals and leaders at BMF and through her board service with the Association of Corporate Growth Cleveland.

“You’re nothing without your people,” Marsden said. “I’m always thinking about whether my staff is happy and if my staff is comfortable.

If your people aren’t engaged and happy, they are probably not going to do good work. I want them to find meaning in the work they do, because there’s room for a really exciting career in accounting.”

— Leslie D. Green

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André Russell 37 | Chief operations officer, Sports and Spine Physical Therapy LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ andre-russell André Russell’s story could make a movie — the kind that makes you feel good when you leave the theater, possibly even with a little of your faith in humanity restored.

He’s living the American dream — the real one. Not the one where you grow up in the leafy suburbs, go to a great local school and then decide if you want to attend your parents’ alma mater or someplace else.

No, Russell is living in something more akin to reality for many — the dream where you grow up in the projects, find a way to stay out of trouble, study hard and then are lucky or persistent enough to get someone to show you the ropes and mentor you as you succeed.

He might not have done it coming from another environment, he said.

“Growing up in CMHA housing, that’s probably what I identify as my first work experience,” Russell told us. “I look at that experience as a blessing, because it gave me grit and tenacity and the humility I need to lead our organization.”

“YOU TRAVEL, AND YOU REALIZE: THE PROJECTS ARE A LUXURY COMPARED TO SOME OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD.” And lead it he does. Russell isn’t reluctant to say that his plans are to one day run the company where he is already chief operations officer — Sports and Spine Physical Therapy in Beachwood.

His boss, mentor and company owner, Leon Anderson, has no problem with that, either — it’s what he’s been grooming Russell to do, after all.

“That is the plan,” Anderson said.

“The succession plan right now is at some point I’ll be chairman and he’ll be CEO. He’s COO now and he’s primed to be CEO.” Russell and Anderson are more than close. Anderson refers to him as “my son,” and Russell credits Anderson with helping him learn how to succeed in business and in life.

Russell says he got Anderson as a mentor by being tenacious. “I would not go away,” he said with a chuckle.

Anderson says he was won over early.

“When we first met … I think he was 11 or 12 years old, and we participated in a mentoring program.

One of the activities was to play musical chairs — there had to be 40 people playing at Case Western — and André was tenacious. And we won.”

And they seem to have kept winning ever since.

— Dan Shingler

Kristin Morrison Luke Palmisano 37 | Partner, Jones Day

35 | Chief operating officer, The Max Collaborative

LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ kristin-morrison

LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ luke-palmisano

If Kristin Morrison has one piece of advice based on her 11 years at Jones Day, it’s to never decline an opportunity. Whether that means running point on a complicated trial or advising junior attorneys, Morrison doesn’t like to say “no.”

“Don’t be afraid to stretch yourself, to just say ‘yes’ and figure out how to get it done,” said Morrison.

“If you want to try that new piece of litigation, or show you’ve got leadership potential to run a committee, ask for it and you’ll find the resources within yourself or around the office.”

Morrison handles commercial litigation for corporate clients including Cleveland-Cliffs, Macy’s, J.M. Smucker and KeyBank. More recently, she represented Walmart on a landmark opioid trial with billions of dollars in liability at stake.

Morrison has expertise in breach-of-contract cases, business torts, confidentiality, and various statutes surrounding business conduct and competition. Her day-today mostly encompasses pretrial and trial procedures — motion practice, complex discovery, depositions and more.

“Working for large corporations means we have to come at questions not just from a standpoint of how to win, but what the business perspective is as well,” said Morrison, a Case Western Reserve University School of Law graduate. “No client has litigation as a focus — they need us to do it.”

Morrison, who lives in Ohio City with her husband and two daugh-

Luke Palmisano joined the Ratner family office as an intern in 2007. And he never left.

After graduating from John Carroll University in 2008, he signed on full time with RMS Investment Corp., which managed private real estate holdings for the founding family of Forest City Enterprises Inc., then a $3.8 billion publicly traded development company.

Fast-forward 13 years, through the Great Recession, the rebound and the sale of Forest City, and Palmisano still is side-by-side with the Ratners, helping to build a new empire.

In 2019, he and Jon and Kevin Ratner founded the Max Collaborative. The real estate company shares the family’s offices at the Van Aken District, a Shaker Heights project with Palmisano’s fingerprints all over it.

“Without Luke, the Van Aken District would certainly not exist,” wrote James Ratner, a director of the Max Collaborative and a longtime Forest City executive.

Real estate wasn’t in Palmisano’s blood. But during his teen years, his parents bought a rundown apartment building in University Circle and started an arduous, years-long renovation project.

Inspired, the Northeast Ohio na-

ters, is similarly committed to mentoring younger attorneys. Along with spearheading her firm’s law student summer experience, she’s also active in recruiting and professional development. Additionally, Morrison oversees junior attorneys in pro bono representations, including a recent expungement case for a victim of human trafficking.

Morrison said, “I wouldn’t be where I am if I didn’t have people looking out for me. I have to think about the people who are coming up next.”

Heather Lennox, partner-incharge of Jones Day’s Cleveland office, calls Morrison a sharp, strategic lawyer with an uncanny ability to strategize around a client’s best interests.

“Kristin does this without gamesmanship or incivility — she is always a professional,” said Lennox.

“She brings reliability and humanity to her relationships with clients and colleagues.”

— Douglas J. Guth

tive decided to pursue a career in development — with a checkbook instead of a hammer and nails. He studied business and economics, then landed a life-altering opportunity at RMS. He started out crafting budgets for suburban shopping centers. As he rose to become RMS’ president, he managed the sale of those properties — all but the 1950s Van Aken Shopping Center, which the family kept.

On Palmisano’s watch, what began as a modest renovation plan for Van Aken blossomed into an ambitious new town center for Shaker Heights. “It was a very tough time. But it was an incredible learning experience,” he said, adding that the Ratner family’s faith in him buoyed his confidence.

RMS finished the $110 million first phase of Van Aken in late 2018. Now the Max Collaborative and another family company are preparing to break ground on Phase 2.

“Luke is a man of tremendous character,” said Umberto Fedeli, CEO of the Fedeli Group insurance brokerage and a close adviser to Palmisano. “He’s very committed, has incredible compassion and is just a person of impeccable integrity. And an incredible work ethic.

He performs.”

— Michelle Jarboe

“ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I ENJOY MOST ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT I WORK WITH IS THAT THEY TRULY CARE ABOUT THE PLACES THEY’RE BUILDING, AND MAKING THEM SPECIAL, AND GIVING BACK TO THE COMMUNITY.”

30 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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LET’S GET SOCIAL LET’S GET SOCIAL LET’S Ángel ReyesTweet Us» Like Us» Follow Us» Rodríguez Twitter.com/CrainsCleveland

38 | Director, McNair Scholars Program, Cleveland State University LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ angel-reyes-rodriguez Ángel Reyes-Rodríguez is a research scientist by training, but Meredith Bond, dean of Cleveland State University’s Sciences and Health Professions, calls him “a cultural magician” in his current role.

With one stroke of his wand, Bond said, Reyes-Rodríguez celebrates the diverse cultural backgrounds of the underrepresented college students in CSU’s McNair Scholars Program. With another, she added, he introduces them to the “often-foreign cultures” of academia, graduate education, the middle class and the predominantly white spaces in which they will study, research and work.

“He is actively changing the culture: encouraging diverse students to pursue graduate education and moving the next generation of researchers and industry leaders toward greater equity and inclusivity,” Bond said.

A native of Puerto Rico, Reyes-Rodríguez arrived in Cleveland in 2007 for post-graduate studies at Case Western Reserve University, where he served on the Minority Graduate Student Organization. He earned a Ph.D. in molecular virology in 2015 and spent about three years as a research fellow at the Cleveland Clinic before leaving benchwork altogether for

the CSU post.

“Doing my Ph.D. on the mainland, I could see that as you advance through academia levels, the diversity of those around you diminishes,” he said. “That’s when I started thinking about these equity issues and what is contributing to that loss of diversity.”

The federally funded McNair Scholarship aims to increase the diversity of doctoral candidates by engaging promising low-income and first-generation undergrads in research and other activities. As director, Reyes-Rodríguez has helped over 70% of McNair Scholars transition from “at-risk” college students to master’s or doctoral students with a combination of networking, tutoring, mentoring and career development activities.

His students boast significantly higher six-year graduation rates than their peers, according to the nomination.

“First-generation students, they lack the basic information about college from their social network, so we become that network for them,” he said. “And underrepresented students, a lot of times they have challenges that other students don’t, and the goal is to provide enough support to get them to the same level.”

Reyes-Rodríguez is also an avid cyclist and member of the Heights Bicycle Coalition.

— Judy Stringer

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Instagram.com/CrainsCleveland

Congratulations, Cathryn!

We are proud to recognize our partner,

Cathryn E. Greenwald, and her fellow honorees in the Forty Under 40 Class of 2021.

Cathryn is dedicated to helping her clients with their real estate finance, development and leasing transactions. She is also a true advocate for the advancement of women professionals in the firm and throughout the community.

Cathryn E. Greenwald Partner 216.566.5694 Cathryn.Greenwald@ ThompsonHine.com

ThompsonHine.com

November 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 31

Jamie Sanchez-Anderson 39 | Health care operations managing director, KPMG LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ jamie-sanchez-anderson Jamie Sanchez-Anderson jokes that high school teachers and peers might have voted her “least likely to graduate.” After struggling for several years in public schools, Sanchez-Anderson’s parents sent her to the private, all-girls Saint Joseph Academy as a junior.

“I believe that was honestly the foundation for my career, because nothing before really suggested that I had it in me,” she said.

Sanchez-Anderson did graduate from Saint Joseph and went on to earn degrees from Lorain County Community College (associate’s), John Carroll University (bachelor’s) and Case Western Reserve University (master’s in nursing and an MBA).

While attaining those latter degrees, she was simultaneously working as a registered nurse and beginning a

transition into the operational side of health care, which Sanchez-Anderson said afforded her the opportunity “to have a direct impact on the community.”

In 2011, Deloitte Consulting recruited Sanchez-Anderson to be part of its health care advisory practice.

She spent nearly a decade there, helping hospitals streamline their operations and gain efficiencies in clinical and non-clinical operations.

She also co-developed a leadership readiness and sponsorship program after seeing a gap in the skills needed to promote and advance underrepresented minorities. More than 200 individuals have participated in the program.

“A lot of it was really how to promote and advocate for yourself,” she said. “I learned early on that woman and minority consultants just weren’t advocating for themselves when it came time to go to that next promo-

tion level.”

Today Sanchez-Anderson continues to redesign health care systems at KPMG, where she’s also replicating the leadership initiative targeted at women and people of color. Outside of the office, the mother of three advances women’s education and gives back to Saint Joseph as a member of the school’s committee on curricula development in addition to her longtime commitment to Medina Early Childhood.

Erin Jaynes, a former supervisor at Deloitte, credits much of Sanchez-Anderson’s professional success to an “abundance of energy.”

“And that energy comes from a passion,” said Jaynes, chief nursing officer at St. Louis-based SSM Health. “She’s passionate about patient care and making sure that care is delivered at the highest level possible.”

— Judy Stringer

“THE DEMAND FOR HEALTH CARE IS ONLY GOING TO CONTINUE TO EXPAND, SO THE MORE THAT WE CAN TAP INTO OTHER INDUSTRIES LIKE TECHNOLOGY AND OTHER BUSINESSES AND WHAT THEY’RE DOING, THE MORE WE CAN OPTIMIZE AND ADVANCE HEALTH CARE SERVICES AND OUTCOMES.”

K 39

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Congratulations Austin Semarjian

Vice President, Leasing and Acquisitions

“TH WO SH DA 32 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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CONGRATULATIONS

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ADAM JACOBS

Senior Director – Investments

For being recognized as an honoree of Crain’s Cleveland Business’ 40 Under 40 Award Program

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@ 2021 Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Transacts Business on All Principal Exchanges and Member SIPC. 3907463.1

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND

Kale Schulz

Tap into Cleveland.

Crain’s is now in the app store.

39 | Financial adviser, Carver Financial Services LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ kale-schulz Not every financial adviser can say they had their first successful stock pick in middle school.

But then there’s Kale Schulz, who says he got bit by the investing bug as a youngster after picking Marvel Entertainment as a stock to follow in a junior high finance class.

The value surged. And the excitement left an impression on him. If only he had some real cash to invest at the time.

Nonetheless, that rush cemented the career path for this self-described math nerd.

“That really gave me the itch for picking companies that might do well and maybe make some money doing it,” Schulz said.

Today, Schulz manages the savings of clients through Carver Financial Services. He joined right out of college, making an impression on firm founder Randy Carver early on.

That was 17 years ago. More than just an adviser, he’s found his way into the executive management team and serves as Carver’s de facto CFO. He is credited with

helping the firm’s total assets under management balloon fivefold over his tenure to $2.2 billion.

Revenue has quadrupled over that span. In fact, his firm ranked as the top-producing Raymond James office in the country in 2020.

“Kale quietly leads by example,” Carver said. “He doesn’t have to tell you what he is doing, he just gets it done. Kale is very analytical and a good complement to some of the big-picture folks in the firm.”

Described as a forward-thinker and a “team player,” Carver said, Schulz last year spearheaded a project to integrate new technology that helped yield $1 million in cost savings. “That’s leadership,” Carver emphasized. He added, ”Clients love him. I rely on him.”

Besides his family, Schulz says that having the opportunity to help other people through financial well-being is what drives him in his work.

“When you can truly see yourself making a difference and hear from people who genuinely think you made a difference in their lives, that’s rewarding,” he said.

“You can really see the fruits of your labor.”

— Jeremy Nobile

“THE BIGGEST THING IS JUST SHOWING UP AND WORKING HARD. A LOT OF PEOPLE LOOK FOR SHORTCUTS TO THAT BUT IF YOU WORK HARD EVERY DAY, SOME PRETTY INCREDIBLE THINGS CAN HAPPEN.”

Congratulations to

André Russell of NOMS Sports and Spine

and all 40 under 40 honorees! nomshealthcare.com NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 33

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Y E A R S

GET MORE OUT OF

FOCUS | MIDDLE MARKET FORECAST: M&A activity should continue at rapid pace. PAGE 10

LENGTHY DELAY Tri-C plans to rebuild athletic programs ‘the right way.’ PAGE 2

UH, ValueHealth aim to deliver value with new surgery centers

BY LYDIA COUTRÉ

In its new venture with ValueHealth, University Hospitals aims to offer bundled-payment models for certain procedures at a series of new ambulatory surgery centers in Northeast Ohio that the two are developing as part of UH’s value-based strategy.

So far, the two have announced centers in Lorain County and Medina, with plans for more in the region. The outpatient facilities will offer total joint replacement care and may expand to include other complementary multi-specialty surgical care such as ENT and pain management. In collaboration with ValueHealth — a Leawood, Kan.-based health care services company that operates Ambulatory Centers of Excellence — UH is working to provide many such procedures in a bundled model, offering a predictable price for payors and employers.

MICHELLE JARBOE

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Apartments, offices and retail slated for Ohio City spot

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

Former Voss properties Additional MRN holdings RTA development site

Ave.

St.

Chatha

m Ave.

See VOSS on Page 27

Pandemic has added to ‘daunting issues’ female lawyers face It didn’t take a global health crisis to point out what has been known for generations: The legal industry is collectively failing women.

Nonetheless, the pandemic has shone a brighter light on issues impacting working women, who, according to Pew Research Center, lost jobs at a greater rate than their male counterparts during this economic shock.

See VALUEHEALTH on Page 7

As for female lawyers, the COVID-19 outbreak created fresh disruptions that are thought to be adversely affecting not just worklife balance, but the ability for women to grow in their professions.

Circumstances vary, but according to the American Bar Association, women across the industry are coping with “daunting issues” ranging from increased stress to loss of income and feelings of isolation.

These issues are attributed in some part to gendered expectations and inadequate recognition of parenting needs.

See GELI on Page 28

NEWSPAPER

VOL. 42, NO. 18 l COPYRIGHT 2021 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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CO NG RATU L AT I O NS

Sam Flores

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAM AND PARTNER SERVICES

for being selected as one of the Crain’s 40 Under Forty honorees

Growing hope in our region by creating pathways to nutritious food.

“We know the cost of health care is continuing to go up and the challenges that come with reimbursement and hospital funding,” said Don Bisbee Dr. James Voos, chair of orthopedics for UH. “So our hospital leadership looked toward the future to see what’s the best way to continue to provide that incredibly high quality of care that we’re used to delivering in an academic health care system with the very high efficiency setting of ambulatory surgery centers.”

Beyond the ongoing growth driven by potential promise of lower-cost care, the ambulatory surgery center model has also gained traction in the past year during the pandemic. The postponement of

GELI hopes to address gaps in legal industry

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Lorain

25th

includes parking lots that could become construction sites.

The purchase adds to MRN’s already sizable footprint near West 25th Street and Lorain Avenue, in a fast-changing pocket of the city’s near West Side.

Brothers Ari and Jori Maron now own most of two blocks on the west side of West 25th, just south of Lorain. They control surface lots spanning hundreds of spaces on both sides of West 25th and West 26th streets.

W.

A former manufacturing complex in Cleveland’s Ohio City neighborhood, only steps from the West Side Market, is being reimagined as apartments, offices and retail space.

That revival plan for the vacant Voss Industries buildings along West 25th Street is the first phase of a much larger potential project dreamed up by homegrown developer MRN Ltd. In late March, an MRN affiliate paid $7.5 million for the 4.2-acre Voss property, which

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5/7/2021 1:28:30 PM

Austin Semarjian

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27 | Vice president, leasing and acquisitions, Industrial Commercial Properties

38 of c Cle

LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ austin-semarjian

“When he presented it, we all said, ‘... the amusement park?’ A lot of us had not thought about it as a As Beachwood City Council last potential acquisition,” Salata said.

The younger Semarjian also won August reviewed terms for incentives for GE Current to relocate to over the ultimate show-me crowd, the suburb from Nela Park, Austin commercial real estate agents.

George Pofok, a senior vice presiSemarjian of Industrial Commercial Properties was there to field ques- dent at the Cushman & Wakefield Cresco brokerage, said, “He was in a tions.

Semarjian, who looks younger difficult position joining ICP, bethan his age of 27, was representing cause his father is so well known in the lighting company’s future land- the brokerage world. But he’s worked his tail off there.” lord.

Austin Semarjian said he wanted to get “I LOVE CLEVELAND. I HOPE TO into the real estate busiMAKE A POSITIVE MARK ON IT.” ness after watching his father.

“I saw how much he loved the “That was his deal from cradle to grave,” said Chris Salata, chief oper- business and doing deals,” he said. ating officer of ICP. “He’s been a “Working with people to help their business is very fulfilling.” sponge since he got here.”

After getting a bachelor of science Semarjian joined ICP, which is owned by his father, Chris Semarji- degree in business and finance from an, in 2017. Since then, he has com- Ohio State University, his first job pleted 75 sales, acquisitions and was in the accounting department leases with a total value of $200 mil- of DDR Corp. of Beachwood, now SITE Centers Corp., to see how anlion.

He also got the company to buy a other realty company did things.

The younger Semarjian just big portion of the former Geauga Lake Amusement Park in Bain- moved out of downtown after buybridge Township. He pushed for the ing his first place, a townhouse near deal after learning that Menards Lake Erie. He enjoys attending pro Inc., which he had been hoping to sports games and is a member of the land for a warehouse deal, wanted to Team NEO Right Sites Council.

— Stan Bullard put a store there.

34 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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Delanté Spencer Thomas 34 | Education and ethics counsel, Cuyahoga County Agency of Inspector General LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ delante-thomas Delanté Spencer Thomas is always doing more than one thing at a time. It might be because the East Cleveland native and Shaw High School graduate was raised by more than one parental figure, with his grandmother, a host of aunts, uncles, older brothers and neighbors all chipping in.

“It truly was a village effort,” Thomas said.

He received two degrees from Syracuse University, a bachelor’s degree in sports management and a master’s degree in public relations. He also finished with two degrees from Cleveland State University, popping into Cleveland-Marshall School of Law during a visit and getting a “feeling” that was where he was sup-

posed to be.

“I had a desire to, or really kind of a calling, to come back to Cleveland,” he said.

In 2017, Thomas left CSU with his law degree and a master’s in labor relations and human resources. After passing the bar, he joined Cuyahoga County’s Agency of Inspector General. While working as an investigator in the office, he was also given the job of providing ethics training and education to the county’s staff, including elected officials, employees and board members.

In fact, Thomas is so good at what is normally a torturous part of modern employment that he was tasked with creating an ethics and training program on his own.

“People send thank-you notes after they take his class,” said Mark Griffin, Cuyahoga County’s inspec-

tor general. “He is really that talented.”

During his full-time work with the county, Thomas also started his own private practice, LMP Solutions, when a family member needed legal representation after a car accident.

Thomas now balances his time among his private-practice work, a part-time position as the county ethics trainer and a job at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where he is the director of the JD Advantage program, in which he counsels law students in alternative legal careers.

When Thomas is not working, he serves as vice president of the Norman S. Minor Bar Association and as chair of the Cleveland-Marshall Law Alumni Association minority outreach committee.

— Kim Palmer

“I WAS ALWAYS MORE INTERESTED IN THE PREVENTATIVE WORK.”

Give our youth the future they deserve. youthopportunities.org

Current Job General Manager & CEO Rapid Transit Authority First Job Waitress

Chirag Shah 38 | Director of breast radiation oncology and director of clinical research, Department of Radiation Oncology, Cleveland Clinic LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ chirag-shah-clinic If there’s not a known answer to a question that arises in his clinical work, Dr. Chirag Shah, director of breast radiation oncology at Cleveland Clinic, will push himself to find it.

Once the answers came during the middle of dinner, and he asked his wife, another doctor at the Clinic, if they could leave so he could go home to start writing.

People who support him just know that means he’ll work nights and weekends, he said.

“Sometimes I’ll wake up at 3 or 4 in the morning to work, and having a family that supports that, really, my success is their success,” said Shah, who’s also director of clinical research in the Clinic’s Department of Radiation Oncology.

His family and mentors champion his work, said Shah, who was inspired by his mom (a pediatrician) and big sister (a surgeon) to pursue his own career in medicine. In college and medical school, he discovered an interest in supporting patients with cancer through their most difficult hour.

Dr. John Suh, chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Taussig Cancer Institute at Cleve-

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land Clinic, said Shah’s trajectory at the Clinic has been “very rapid.”

Since joining the Clinic in 2015, Shah’s research “has affected how we think about care of women with breast cancer,” Suh said, noting that in addition to prolific research publishing, Shah is also involved with several national societies.

“He’s been a very impactful physician through his patient care, research, education, teaching and through advocacy,” Suh said.

Recognizing that he wouldn’t be where he is today without the guidance he’s received over the years, Shah mentors high school and undergraduate students — particularly those underrepresented in medicine — and introduces them to medicine and health care as a potential career path.

“I think medicine needs diverse perspectives, and having individuals who come from underrepresented backgrounds in health care and in medicine will only improve patient care, and improve how we as an organization and as a health care society do better for people,” he said. “I view it as part of my responsibility as a physician I think to do that, and to make sure that we’re training the next generation.”

— Lydia Coutré

“

I was a waitress for a local golf course in Dayton, Ohio. It was a great experience. I learned customer service and patience.

India Birdsong NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 35

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Catherine Tkachyk 37 | Chief innovation and performance officer, Cuyahoga County LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ catherine-tkachyk The spark behind Catherine Tkachyk’s flourishing career was ignited by a visiting speaker at the University of Dayton. A political science major, Tkachyk had recently decided against law school and was unsure of what path to pursue.

“A city manager from a suburb of Dayton talked about local government service and I thought that sounded really interesting,” she recalled.

The Brunswick native went on to earn a master of public administration degree at the University of Kansas. After graduation, Tkachyk joined the staff of San Antonio, Texas, where she was later tapped to serve on its fledging innovation division before boomeranging back to head Cuyahoga County’s Innovation Office in 2017.

Since returning, Tkachyk established the county’s Innovation Academy, a program that empowers employees to pinpoint waste and propose solutions. Over 230 staff members have participated to date, identifying roughly $750,000 in efficiency improvements, according to the nomination.

She’s also led efforts to move the county toward data-driven decision-making, most notably with the

launch of Cuyahoga Performance, which tracks 300 measures quarterly and disaggregates that data by race, allowing a better focus on equity issues. And she’s directing the county’s response to digital inequality.

“If we want to continue to modernize our government and provide more services online, part of that also means helping our residents be able to access those services,” Tkachyk said. “And we know about 20% of Cuyahoga County residents don’t have internet access in the home.”

Matt Carroll, chief economic growth and opportunity officer for Cuyahoga County, calls Tkachyk “the county’s driving force” behind providing 6,000 hotspots and 11,000 computers to families in need during the pandemic, when lack of digital access threated the health, well-being and education of thousands of Clevelanders. Tkachyk also spearheaded efforts to connect 2,000 residents in East Cleveland and is currently managing a project that aims to improve digital access throughout the county.

“Catherine is one of the most talented and effective government leaders I have ever met,” Carroll said.

“She brings a unique combination of both creative and practical thinking to every challenge with a consistent emphasis on collaboration.”

— Judy Stringer

A 39

Link adam

Congratulations Brandon Jirousek Vice President, Digital

Class of 2021

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Karis Tzeng

Here for you.

Here for life.

30 | Director of AsiaTown Initiatives, MidTown Cleveland Inc. LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ karis-tzeng

Adam Zuccaro

39 | Vice president, creative, Creative CX Studio, Adcom LinkedIn profile: tinyurl.com/ adam-zuccaro Adam Zuccaro is always busy making things happen. In his job as vice president of creative for Adcom’s Creative CX Studio, Zuccaro’s either figuring out how to tell a client’s story or on a shoot producing it, as he was when we caught up with him.

It’s a job that changes greatly from one assignment to the next, Zuccaro said.

“We pride ourselves on being nimble and lean and being able to pull something off using two people.

But we did a production a couple of months ago with probably 50 people. So, it’s about being small and nimble when you can, but beefing up when it’s required,” Zuccaro said.

You can add “nimble” to the superlatives that are used to describe Zuccaro — alongside words like “generous,” “focused” and “deep thinker,” all of which Adcom CEO Joe Kubik used in nominating Zuccaro for Forty Under 40.

“He keeps a cool head while faced with a daily stream of hot jobs, calmly leading his team to produce outstanding work at an incredible pace,” Kubik wrote.

Phil Winton, vice president of strategic messaging at GBX Group

and a mentor to Zuccaro, said his protégé has some outstanding qualities that help him succeed.

“Adam takes the time to listen, understand and learn what is important to his work clients. He is a person you can always count on.

He is sincere and caring and demonstrates it genuinely,” Winton said in email correspondence. “He is humble and knows more than he would lead you to think. He has a great creative eye.”

For his part, Zuccaro keeps focused on what he says is his underlying passion: storytelling. He’s able to do that better, as of late, thanks to a recent promotion from head of production to his current more strategic role.

“It’s all very new and exciting,” Zuccaro said.

As for the traits that help him succeed, Zuccaro said he got them from his no-nonsense father, who is a retired firefighter, and his mother, who has worked in administration at Hillcrest Hospital for 40 years.

Dad might have instilled the work ethic, but it seems Mom played a big role in making Zuccaro a storyteller.

“When I was a kid, with my mom — we loved going to movies,” Zuccaro said.

— Dan Shingler

For most of us, the impact of coronavirus began in March 2020, with travel bans, school closings and lockdowns. The racial fear and mistrust spawned

by COVID, however, caused “a serious decrease in business for AsiaTown merchants beginning in January and February,” according to Karis Tzeng, a community development specialist with MidTown Cleveland who focuses her work on the near East Side neighborhood.

Many of its 40 Asian-owned businesses are small, family-run establishments that had temporarily closed even before state shutdowns, Tzeng explained, casting a cloud of insecurity over the entire community.

“We really wanted to do something to both meet the needs of food access in the neighborhood and to kind of create some community connection points, because we were hearing that a lot of residents were feeling isolated and alone,” she said.

In response, Tzeng spearheaded the Feed AsiaTown pop-up food distribution program. Every other week, MidTown Cleveland partners with neighborhood restaurants, gives them a boost by buying boxed meals and then distributes those to residents for free.

“It also became an opportunity to sort of check in with residents and do things like pass out masks,” she said.

For the newish AsiaTown Initiatives — launched when Tzeng joined MidTown Cleveland in June 2019 — Tzeng said the pandemic provided an unexpected boost to her fledging efforts to foster relationships with the residents and businesses.

Tzeng did her undergraduate work at the University of Pennsylvania and earned a master’s degree from the University of Michigan before honing her community development skills in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and in Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

Under Tzeng’s leadership, MidTown Cleveland has secured close to $200,000 for AsiaTown projects, including funding for COVID-19 relief, business support, language access and translation, public infrastructure and cultural programming, said the nonprofit’s vice president, Joyce Huang.

“She is creative, kind, empathetic and scrappy, while also approaching community development with thoughtfulness and inclusion, meaning that she is able to build upon relationships and partnerships,” Huang said.

— Judy Stringer

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11/18/2021 2:47:50 PM

CRAIN'S LIST | BANKS Ranked by Northeast Ohio deposits as of June 30, 2021 NORTHEAST OHIO DEPOSITS (MILLIONS) RANK

COMPANY MAIN LOCAL OFFICE

6-30-2021

6-30-2020

% CHANGE

LOCAL OFFICES

EMPLOYEES WORLDWIDE (FTE) 6-30-2021

HOLDING COMPANY HEADQUARTERS LOCATION

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

1

KEYBANK NA 127 Public Square, Cleveland 44114 216-689-3000; key.com

$32,257.7

$34,777.9

-7.2%

104

17,696

KeyCorp Cleveland

Christopher M. Gorman, chairman, president CEO

2

HUNTINGTON NATIONAL BANK 200 Public Square, Cleveland 44114 800-480-2265; huntington.com

$27,607.8

$23,614.9

16.9%

212

22,047

Huntington Bancshares Columbus

Sean P. Richardson, regional president, Cleveland

3

PNC BANK 1900 E. 9th St., Cleveland 44114 888-762-2265; pnc.com

$17,297.5

$17,100.9

1.1%

98

50,995

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Pittsburgh, Pa.

Pat Pastore, regional president

4

CITIZENS BANK 1215 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114 216-277-5326; citizensbank.com

$12,242

$12,484

-1.9%

78

17,320

Citizens Financial Group Inc. Providence, R.I.

James M. Malz, president

5

JPMORGAN CHASE BANK NA 1300 E. 9th St., Cleveland 44114 800-935-9935; chase.com

$12,118.1

$10,526.3

15.1%

84

199,245

JPMorgan Chase & Co. New York, N.Y.

Rudy Bentlage, executive director, commercial banking; market executive, Northeast Ohio

6

FIFTH THIRD BANK 600 Superior Ave. E., Cleveland 44114 216-274-5533; 53.com

$7,243.2

$6,959.1

4.1%

69

19,806

Fifth Third Bancorp Cincinnati

Joseph D. DiRocco, regional president, Northern Ohio

7

THIRD FEDERAL SAVINGS AND LOAN 7007 Broadway Ave., Cleveland 44105 800-844-7333; thirdfederal.com

$6,583.7

$6,545.7

0.6%

21

991

TFS Financial Corp.

Cleveland

Marc A. Stefanski, chairman, president, CEO

8

U.S. BANK 1350 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44115 216-623-9300; usbank.com

$3,731.4

$3,631.5

2.8%

59

66,399

U.S. Bancorp Minneapolis, Minn.

Alan Zang, regional president, Northeast and Central Ohio markets

9

OHIO SAVINGS BANK (A DIVISION OF NEW YORK COMMUNITY BANK) 1801 E. 9th St., Cleveland 44114 216-736-3480; mynycb.com

$2,564

$2,498.7

2.6%

28

2,785

New York Community Bancorp Inc. Anthony Donatelli, executive vice president Westbury, N.Y.

10

FARMERS NATIONAL BANK OF CANFIELD 20 S. Broad St., Canfield 44406 888-988-3276; farmersbankgroup.com

$2,460.5

$2,138.6

15.1%

32

410

Farmers National Banc Corp.

Canfield

Kevin J. Helmick, president, CEO

11

DOLLAR BANK FSB 1301 E. 9th St., Cleveland 44114 216-736-8934; dollar.bank

$2,454.7

$2,259.4

8.6%

29

1,381

Dollar Mutual Bancorp Pittsburgh, Pa.

William M. Elliott Jr., executive vice president, regional lending director

12

PREMIER BANK 1 275 W. Federal St., Youngstown 44503 330-742-0500; yourpremierbank.com

$2,381.9

$2,312.7

3%

26

1,056

Premier Financial Corp.

Defiance

Gary M. Small, president, CEO; Matthew Garrity, executive vice president, chief lending officer

13

FIRST NATIONAL BANK 55 Public Square, Cleveland 44113 800-555-5455; fnb-online.com

$1,852.8

$1,703.9

8.7%

26

3,867

F.N.B. Corp.

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Vincent J. Delie Jr., chairman, president, CEO

14

FIRST FEDERAL LAKEWOOD 14806 Detroit Ave., Lakewood 44107 216-529-2700; ffl.net

$1,703.5

$1,612.7

5.6%

19

403

First Mutual Holding Co. Lakewood

Timothy E. Phillips, president, CEO

15

WESTFIELD BANK FSB Two Park Circle, Westfield Center 44251 800-368-8930; westfield-bank.com

$1,681.4

$1,512.9

11.1%

7

188

Westfield Westfield Center

Jon W. Park, chairman, CEO

16

CIVISTA BANK 100 E. Water St., Sandusky 44870 419-625-4121; civista.bank

$1,151.9

$977.6

17.8%

13

452

Civista Bancshares Inc. Sandusky

Dennis G. Shaffer, president, CEO

17

BANK OF AMERICA NA 30195 Chagrin Blvd., Pepper Pike 44124 800-432-1000; bankofamerica.com

$1,125.1

$846 2

33%

5

138,120

Bank of America Corp.

Charlotte, N.C.

Jeneen Marziani, Ohio and Cleveland market president

18

MIDDLEFIELD BANKING CO. 15985 E. High St., Middlefield 44062 440-632-1666; middlefieldbank.bank

$1,077.7

$1,031.9

4.4%

11

183

Middlefield Banc Corp.

Middlefield

Thomas G. Caldwell, president, CEO 3

19

NORTHWEST BANK 457 Broadway Ave., Lorain 44052 440-244-8014; northwest.com

$1,007.4

$992.3

1.5%

13

2,383

Northwest Bancshares Inc. Warren, Pa.

Julie Hughes, president, southwestern Pennsylvania and Ohio region

20

FIRST COMMONWEALTH BANK 1100 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114 800-711-2265; fcbanking.com

$882.3

$836.5

5.5%

11

1,392

First Commonwealth Financial Corp.

Indiana, Pa.

Jane Grebenc, executive vice president, chief revenue officer; Matt Zuro, regional president, Northeast Ohio

21

CORTLAND SAVINGS AND BANKING CO. 4 194 W. Main St., Cortland 44410 330-637-8040; cortlandbank.com

$677.7

$648.6

4.5%

13

151

Farmers National Banc Corp.

Canfield

Kevin J. Helmick, president and CEO - Farmers National Banc Corp.; James M. Gasior, senior executive vice president, corporate development officer

22

CFBANK NA 28879 Chagrin Blvd., Woodmere 44122 216-468-3100; cf.bank

$588

$327.2

79.7% 5 2

187

CF Bankshares Inc. Columbus

Timothy T. O'Dell, CEO; Mark Nykaza, Northeast Ohio market president

23

WAYNE SAVINGS COMMUNITY BANK 151 N. Market St., Wooster 44691 330-264-5767; waynesavings.com

$497.8

$415.1

19.9%

10

95

Wayne Savings Bancshares Inc. Wooster

James R. "Jay" VanSickle II, president, CEO

24

ANDOVER BANK 600 E. Main St., Andover 44003 440-293-7256; andoverbankohio.com

$444.3

$364.2

22%

7

89

Andover Bancorp Inc. Andover

Stephen E. Varckette, president, CEO

25

PORTAGE COMMUNITY BANK 1311 E. Main St., Ravenna 44266 330-296-8090; pcbbank.com

$409.8

$344.6

18.9%

4

87

Portage Bancshares Inc. Ravenna

Kevin T. Lewis, CEO

Research by Chuck Soder (csoder@crain.com) | Financial data comes from fdic.gov. This list includes deposits and local offices in 15 counties: Ashland, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark,

Summit, Trumbull and Wayne. NOTES: 1. Home Savings and First Federal Bank of the Midwest became known as Premier Bank in June 2020 following the merger of their parent companies in January 2020. 2. Estimate from Bank of America; includes Northeast Ohio deposits that were excluded from 2020 FDIC data because at the time they were allocated to offices outside the region. 3. Caldwell is scheduled to retire on March 31, 2022. 4. Cortland was acquired by Farmers National Banc Corp. on Nov. 1, 2021, and is now part of its banking subsidiary, Farmers National Bank of Canfield. 5. CFBank estimates that 30% to 40% of its increase in local deposits was due to accounts being reassigned to branches in Northeast Ohio from branches outside the region.

Get 51 banks and historical deposit data in Excel. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data 38 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

P038_CL_20211122.indd 38

11/19/2021 12:51:34 PM

DATA SCOOP

Bank of America lands on banks list

BY CHUCK SODER

It did not take long for Bank of America to break into the top 20 on our annual list ranking Northeast Ohio’s largest banks, and there’s reason to believe they may rank even higher next year.

After reporting zero deposits in Northeast Ohio two years ago, the nation’s second-largest bank reported $1.1 billion in local deposits as of June 30, 2021, according to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That put them at No. 17 on the list out of 51 banks in the extended digital version.

So how did they immediately leapfrog so many other banks?

Bank of America had no local retail branches two years ago. It did have customers in Northeast Ohio, but their deposits were routed to branches in other areas and thus didn’t show up in FDIC data for Northeast Ohio.

Since then, the Charlotte-based bank has opened five local branches as part of a plan to add hundreds of new financial centers nationwide. Those new local branches created a double-whammy effect: The bank expanded its local customer base and started reporting pre-existing local deposits through those new branches.

The true size of Bank of America’s local presence remained hidden in June 2020: FDIC data at the time suggested the bank held just $3.2 million in local deposits. At that time, the bank actually held roughly $846 million in local deposits that previously were almost all allocated to offices outside the region, according to an estimate Bank of America provided to Crain’s.

The following year, the bank grew local deposits by roughly 33%, hitting $1.1 billion. Today it also has more than 60 local ATMs, up from just one less than two years ago, according to Jeneen Marziani, market president for Ohio and Cleveland.

Bank of America plans to open nine more local branches in 2022 and several more after that, Marziani said.

They’re going against the trend.

Banks on the list closed 4.7% of their local branches in the 12 months ending June 30 as part of a long national trend driven in part by the rise of online banking and accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But Marziani said the new branches are well-positioned for the future. She said they feel more like Apple Stores and have a “hightech, high-touch approach.”

“It’s not what it looked like 10 or 20 years ago,” she said.

As for the list ...

Total deposits on the full digital list jumped 34% to $146 billion. KeyBank maintained its hold on the top of the list despite a 7% drop in local deposits year over year. Huntington National Bank is still at No. 2, but a 16.9% increase in deposits helped it narrow the gap with Key. A significant chunk of that increase was due to its June 2021 acquisition of TCF National Bank, which ranked 15th

on last year’s list, with $1.6 billion in local deposits.

CFBank, No. 22 on the list, also saw significant local deposit growth, posting a 79% increase.

But like Bank of America, some of that growth — roughly 30% to 40% — was due to accounts being reassigned from branches outside the region.

Chuck Soder: csoder@crain.com, (216) 771-5374, @ChuckSoder

THE WEEK CHANGING DOWNTOWN’S LOOK: The Sherwin-Williams Co. expects to start site preparations this month in downtown Cleveland’s Warehouse District, on parking lots marked for the company’s new headquarters. As the coatings giant moves toward a formal groundbreaking, which is likely to occur in January, Sherwin-Williams is seeking final design approvals from a quartet of city commissions and committees. Architects submitted a bundle of images to the city on Tuesday, Nov. 16, in preparation for a public meeting set for Nov. 30. The package shows how Sherwin-Williams plans to enhance and unify its three-building campus through lighting and landscaping. Detailed renderings also depict understated signage on the east and west faces of the

Wesley H. Gillespie Regional President

36-story office tower.

ANOTHER LEADERSHIP CHANGE: Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish said via a video announcement that he will not run for re-election in 2022. “This was not an easy decision. In fact it was a very hard decision,” Budish said in a video message on Tuesday, Nov. 16. Budish, 68, said he was most proud of being able “to improve the quality of life for those most in need” during his two terms, but that he respects the limits of public service and that eight years “is the right amount of time to serve as county executive.” Two candidates already have declared their intentions to run for county executive in 2022: former University Circle Inc. president Chris Ronayne, a Demo-

crat, and Republican Lee Weingart, a former county commissioner.

NOTHING VENTURED ...: Gravitas Ventures, an independent film distributor in Cleveland that has grown steadily since its founding in 2006, has been acquired by a global media company in a deal that sets the stage for Gravitas to ramp up its creative output. Anthem Sports & Entertainment Inc. of Toronto on Tuesday, Nov. 16, announced it has acquired Gravitas Ventures from Red Arrow Studios, the content production and distribution arm of German company ProSiebenSat.1 Group. The deal is valued at $73 million in cash, as well as additional Anthem common stock consideration. Gravitas has been part of Red Arrow since November 2017.

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NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 39

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The Distr

Luke Palmisano and Jon Ratner, COO and CEO, in the offices of the Max Collaborative, a real estate company that is based at the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights. | GUS CHAN FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

RATNERS

From Page 1

Now, three years after Forest City’s finale, the Max Collaborative and a fellow startup, Uplands Real Estate Partners, are working on a pipeline of apartment buildings worth more than $700 million.

In Denver and Los Angeles, they’ve teamed up with local partners to bring Opportunity Zone projects out of the ground. But they’re also investing in their backyard, at the Van Aken District, where a second wave of construction is looming.

The new family enterprises are about much more than reducing taxes and meeting demand for apartments in places where Forest City had a formidable presence, said Jon Ratner, the Max Collaborative’s 50-year-old CEO. The third-generation developer, a father of three, is trying to fashion another long-running business — one that might someday see its centennial.

“That’s very clearly the aspiration,” he said. “It’s not just to deploy this OZ capital and be done. It’s to start and

build and grow another great company — and headquarter it here in Shaker Heights.”

agreed to eliminate a two-tiered stock structure that favored the founders.

Eroding family control and pressure from hedge funds culminated Contemplating the future in a sale process that Ron Ratner, the Ron Ratner remembers playing in former chief development officer, described as rocky, at best. He was the family lumber yard as a child.

His father, Max, was one of the not the only member of the clan, the founders of Forest City, an immi- Ratner, Miller and Shafran families, grant-owned business that started to vote against the deal with Brookout selling lumber and building ma- field, a Canadian asset manager that terials on Cleveland’s East Side and also took on $4.6 billion in debt from grew to become one of the nation’s Forest City.

The family started talking about foremost developers of complicated next steps well before the transacurban projects. tion closed.

Jon Ratner had “IT’S KIND OF INFECTIOUS WHEN YOU left Forest City in WORK WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE JUST SO 2017 to work at RMS Investment Corp., SMART AND DRIVEN AND LOVE THE the private family JOURNEY OF DEVELOPMENT SO MUCH.” company that was replacing the aging — K.C. Yasmer, a Forest City alumnus and co-founder of Wynne Yasmer Van Aken Shopping Center in Shaker The company went public in 1960 Heights with offices, 103 apartments, shops, restaurants and a as Forest City Enterprises Inc. In 2016, the corporation rebrand- 21,000-square-foot market hall.

Construction on the first phase of ed and restructured itself as a real estate investment trust. Soon after, Van Aken was wrapping up in late its directors and shareholders 2018. And the team at RMS, housed

in the family’s wealth-management office, also was contemplating the future.

Ultimately, Jon and his older brother, Kevin, teamed up with Luke Palmisano, the president of RMS, to create the Max Collaborative. Their board of directors includes Jon’s father, Chuck, a former Forest City CEO; and uncles Ron and Jim, both past Forest City executives and board members.

Another branch of the family, descended from Forest City co-founder Leonard Ratner, formed Uplands Real Estate Partners in Washington, D.C. They also created Uplands Ventures, a company that invests in early-stage companies in the health care and blockchain industries.

The three principals of Uplands are Deborah Ratner Salzberg, the longtime president of Forest City Washington; Josh Hoffman, her sonin-law; and Brian Ratner, who managed Forest City’s investments in Texas and, before that, along the East Coast. Albert Ratner, the 93-year-old former Forest City CEO who unsuccessfully tried to stave off the 2018 sale, serves as chairman.

The Ratners won’t say how much

Cons prop

money they made on the deal with Brookfield, which paid $25.35 per share for Forest City. Regulatory filings show that the family controlled more than 11.3 million shares in autumn of 2018.

“Our ownership in Forest City was founder’s stock. It obviously had a very low tax basis,” Ron Ratner said. “And there was an incentive for investing in, candidly, exactly the type of real estate we wanted to invest in.”

Family members agreed to put their gains in Opportunity Zone funds. The funds then used that money to buy real estate in developing, but arguably distressed, locations.

Public records show that companies tied to the Max Collaborative spent more than $50 million on real estate acquisitions in 2019 and 2020.

“We don’t like sharing specifics on any of the personal stuff, candidly,” Hoffman said. “What I can say is that we’re deeply invested in these projects, from a financial perspective, but we’re also extremely active. … We’re very high touch on all of this.”

40 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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A34,

‘A great first step’

The Max Collaborative recently broke ground for One River North, a dramatic-looking apartment tower in Denver’s River North Art District. A canyon-like cutout will traverse the facade of the building, weaving nature into the structure. | MAD ARCHITECTS

See RATNERS on Page 42

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Congress created Opportunity Zones in 2017, as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The idea was to spur economic development by giving investors reasons to place money into real estate or businesses in low-income communities. State officials selected the qualifying Census tracts in 2018, and the IRS released the final regulations the following year.

That timing couldn’t have been better for the Ratners, who had a long history of tapping public incentives and parsing complicated government programs. They had six months to place their gains into Opportunity Zone funds. Then those funds had a year to make investments.

“It really gave us an impetus to move fast,” said Kevin Ratner, 54, who lives in Los Angeles and serves CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | as the Max Collaborative’s chief development officer.

The IRS made some adjustments to the program last year, to account for the economic upheaval from the coronavirus pandemic. But the broad strokes remain the same: Tax deferral on the redeployed gains through 2026 and tax breaks for investors who keep their money in a fund for at least five years.

Long-term investors will see the greatest benefit, though. People who hang onto their Opportunity Zone investments for a decade won’t pay any taxes on gains from those new projects.

And the Ratners have no intention of selling anytime soon.

“Our real estate approach is to develop quality assets and hold them over the long-term — and not to build and flip,” Jon Ratner said.

The Max Collaborative and Uplands, with two local partners, recently broke ground for One River North, that eye-catching Denver apartment tower. The 187-unit building, scheduled to open in late 2023, is the first U.S. residential rental project for Beijing-based MAD Architects.

Six miles away, the Max Collaborative is preparing to start construction on Wilder, the first phase of a broader residential development near Denver’s stadium district. And in Aurora, east of Denver, Uplands is leading the charge on Broadleaf, a 370-unit rental project across the street from a medical campus.

In Los Angeles, the Max CollaboS E P T E M B E R 3 - 9 , 2 018 | PA G E 2 9 rative expects to start moving dirt next year for A34, a low-slung, three-building project on a 5-acre warehouse site in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood. Fifty-five percent of the 468 apartments are reserved for middle-income or very low-income renters.

The Ratners scouted sites in other cities, including Nashville and Austin. But they settled on projects in markets they know well — where, in many cases, they could work with companies led by former Forest City employees.

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NOVEMBER 22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 41

P040_P042_CL_20211122.indd 41

11/19/2021 2:52:31 PM

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

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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 BANKING

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Whitslar is a graduate of Walsh University with over four years of experience in commercial banking, credit analysis, and risk management.

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Prior to joining Ancora, Stephen served as an attorney and financial analyst with Veterans Development and with MCM Company. He previously served as a law clerk with Progressive Insurance after beginning his industry career as a financial analyst in 2010. Stephen earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Miami University as well as a Juris Doctor degree from CWRU’s School of Law.

Westfield Bank is pleased to announce Christopher McManis has joined our business banking team as a commercial loan officer. In his new role, McManis will provide personalized financial services for Greater Akron businesses and through collaboration, identify customized financial solutions to empower business growth.

McManis has over 11 years of experience in banking, and is a graduate of Cuyahoga Community College and the Ohio Bankers League Commercial Credit School.

Patrick Walsh has been involved in all areas of litigation. He advises clients operating in the cannabis industry in Ohio, counseling them in numerous different matters including dispensary applications, change of ownership applications, and zoning requirements. Patrick received his J.D. from The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and his B.A. from Cleveland State University.

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She earned her J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

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Jon Ratner, CEO of the Max Collaborative, points to a work apron from the early days of the family-owned business that became Forest City Realty Trust Inc. The publicly traded real estate owner and developer was sold in late 2018, ending an era that lasted nearly a century. Now the Ratners are building new companies in Shaker Heights and Washington, D.C. | GUS CHAN FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

RATNERS

From Page 41

“It’s what they love to do, and it shows,” said K.C. Yasmer, a Forest City alumnus and co-founder of Wynne Yasmer Real Estate Inc., a Denver-based developer playing a supporting role on One River North and Broadleaf. “It’s kind of infectious when you work with people who are just so smart and driven and love the journey of development so much.”

This first wave of ground-up projects is much simpler than the long-gestating, mixed-use endeavors that Forest City tackled, including the redevelopment of Denver’s former Stapleton International Airport as a massive master-planned community.

“It’s a great first step in demonstrating what we can do outside of Forest City, and we’ll use this as a stepping stone to do more development,” said Palmisano, the Max Collaborative’s 35-year-old chief operating officer.

The company also might pursue acquisitions of existing apartments, he said.

Dan Walsh, a Cleveland banking executive turned multifamily investor, isn’t surprised to see the Ratner family focusing on apartments.

“Housing is generally undersupplied nationally, and the Opportunity Zone legislation is meant to help address some of that,” said Walsh, the founder and CEO of Citymark Capital, a company that employs a handful of Forest City expats. “Given that the Ratners have always been civic-minded people who also happen to be talented and experienced real estate people, it just makes a lot of sense.”

The next generation The Van Aken District does not sit in an Opportunity Zone. But it’s a location that speaks to both the Ratner family’s history and the possibilities in the post-Forest City era.

A master plan for the district, a

town center for the inner-ring suburb, shows more than $450 million worth of development. The Max Collaborative and Uplands hope to break ground in early 2022 for a 228-unit, high-rise apartment building north of Farnsleigh Road.

Later phases of the project include a 140,000-square-foot office building, at Warrensville Center Road and Chagrin Boulevard, and a mix of housing, offices and retail that will replace the nearby Shaker Plaza shopping center.

Shaker Heights Mayor David Weiss, a former real estate executive, describes Van Aken as a community-wide block party, the lively result of years of public-private collaboration.

“I would like to think we would have been an attractive community for any developer to develop in,” Weiss said. “But I think having the Ratner family and RMS made it truly unique and special. The development came from the heart as well as the head, if you will.”

The family’s offices at Van Aken look out over the district, where pedestrians stroll past storefronts, stop for ice cream or wait for Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority trains. A conference room just inside the office’s front door is lined with Forest City memorabilia: work aprons from the old hardware stores, calendars advertising prefabricated homes, the first lease the family signed in the early 1950s at the Van Aken Shopping Center.

At 74, Ron Ratner said he’s given up on changing the world. He’s happy mentoring a next generation of developers who have their own vision for remaking the landscape.

“For anybody, the question is, ‘What is an exciting and interesting environment to live in? How do you make great places?’” he said. “And then, I just want the company to be a place where people come to work with a smile on their face — and come home with a bigger one.”

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

42 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | NOVEMBER 22, 2021

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YOUR GUIDE TO

GIVING TUESDAY IN NORTHEAST

From fundraisers and volunteer work to estate planning opportunities, there is no shortage of ways to get involved in Northeast Ohio’s nonprofit causes. The 2021 Crain’s Cleveland Business Giving Guide is designed to serve as a one-stop resource for reviewing the various philanthropic endeavors available for giving back to the community.

Akron Children's Hospital Foundation American Cancer Society American Heart Association American Red Cross of Northern Ohio Beech Brook Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging Canopy Child Advocacy Center Care Alliance Health Center Catholic Community Foundation The City Mission Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Metroparks The Cleveland Orchestra Cleveland Zoological Society College Now Greater Cleveland Crossroads Health First Year Cleveland Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland and East Central Ohio Great Lakes Science Center Holden Forests & Gardens Hudson Community Foundation Hunger Network Ideastream Public Media Journey Center for Safety and Healing JumpStart Inc. Koinonia

Neighborhood Alliance Neighborhood Family Practice New Directions, Inc. OhioGuidestone Playhouse Square Preterm Stella Maris Teach For America Ohio United Way of Greater Cleveland Youth Opportunities Unlimited

CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO CLEVELAND

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Stan Bullard, senior reporter, Real estate/ construction. (216) 771-5228 or sbullard@crain.com Lydia Coutré, Health care/nonprofits.

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22, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 43 11/16/21 6:57 NOVEMBER PM

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