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FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES in Northeast Ohio

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FOCUS: Great Recession has changed recruitment and retention for banks. PAGE 38

SOURCE LUNCH Executive director of NOPEC and avid guitarist Chuck Keiper PAGE 47

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I DECEMBER 16, 2019

A MARATHON, NOT A SPRINT SPORTS BUSINESS

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Spire Institute’s facilities include a track that has hosted prominent meets.

Spire’s new owners have big, long-term growth plans for the Geneva sports complex BY KEVIN KLEPS

Like almost anyone else who has visited Spire Institute in Geneva, Ted Meekma and Rich Odell see an expansive property with top-notch facilities and potential almost as large as the 177 acres its occupies. But the consultants with strong IMG ties are, in the words of Odell, approaching the situation with “fresh eyes.”

Meekma, who operates a Florida consulting firm that bears his name, and Odell, the founder and CEO of Evanston, Ill.-based Heads Up Educational Consulting, have been hired by Axxella to oversee Spire’s vast array of facilities and programs. Axxella, a Baltimore investment firm, announced the acquisition of the Spire complex on Monday, Dec. 9.

The group, which includes Axxella CEO Jonathan Ehrenfeld and chief operating officer Michael Hannon, is bringing more than just ideas. The firm — established in 2018 to build on the work of Blue Ocean Realty, a Baltimore-based commercial real estate company — is expected to provide some much-needed financial backing to a business that has

had its share of struggles since it was launched by Ron Clutter in 2009. “It needs more resources and more expertise to drive certain types of programming,” said Meekma, whose two-decade career at IMG included playing a crucial role in the development of IMG Academies. See SPIRE on Page 46

SMALL BUSINESS

Acquisitions, organizational overhaul widen scope of Medina’s ALICE Institute The shooter response training company names new CEO, buys two software firms to branch out into emergency prevention BY JUDY STRINGER

The same company that introduced a whole new way of responding to active shooters for thousands of school districts across the country now wants to deliver one of the nation’s first holistic solutions to school safety preparedness. The ALICE Training Institute of Medina purchased two emergency preparedness software companies in the past seven months, according to company officials, and in recent weeks announced Flori-

da-based executive Jean-Paul “JP” Guilbault has taken over as CEO. Those developments come on the heels of the Riverside Co.’s acquisition of a majority stake in the AL-

ICE Training Institute in April and the induction of a new senior leadership team. “So the day-to-day operating structure of the company is different,

“THERE’S A VISION TO GROW THIS COMPANY IN A WAY THAT PREVENTION BECOMES A KEY COMPONENT, AND WE CAN USE DATA AND TECHNOLOGY TO SAVE LIVES.” — Jean-Paul “JP” Guilbault, CEO of the ALICE Training Institute of Medina

as is the ownership group,” according to Guilbault. Organizational changes aside, Guilbault said the acquisitions of SafePlans in Palm Harbor, Fla., in June and NaviGate Prepared in New Philadelphia in November signal the first two moves aimed at building a broader, “end-to-end solution” for educational institutions and faithbased organizations. While the ALICE Training Institute historically has focused on intrusion-response training — both online and in person — the new addi-

tions bring digital tools that can help school districts mitigate the risk of violent intruders. “There’s a vision to grow this company in a way that prevention becomes a key component, and we can use data and technology to save lives,” he said. Financial terms of either deal were not announced. ALICE is an acronym that stands for alert, lockdown, inform, counter and evacuate. See ALICE on Page 37

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CONTENT

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NEWS AND TRENDS FROM NORTHEAST OHIO’S TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

TECH MATTERS CITY BLOCK ORGANIZERS SEEK REGIONAL BUY-IN

020 is right around the corner, signaling the proposed onset of the first phase of Tower City’s planned transformation into a 350,000-squarefoot “entrepreneurship center,” dubbed City Block. Yet, how the vision of City Block becomes a reality is very much fluid, according to tech entrepreneur Bernie Moreno. One of the initial major goals of the project is securing anchor tenants and creating a place where entrepreneurs work side by side with established companies in an atmosphere that fuels innovation, creativity and investorMoreno entrepreneur collisions. The site could accommodate up to 20 high-paying corporate tenants, which would embed “innovation groups” or other specially carved out 25to 50-person divisions into the space. It could house another 20 startups and many more renta-desk workspaces. City Block organizers have “quite a few soft commitments” from large companies and “a ton of really interested prospects,” Moreno said. “The good news is I am very, very optimistic that we’ll be able to fill this space,” he said. “That’s not a concern at this point.” The bigger challenge, which Moreno said must be addressed before Phase 1 plans are finalized, is rallying community support. While City Block initially was hatched as a hub for technology innovation — including blockchain, the original focus of his Blockland Cleveland organization — it has more recently evolved to encompass a broader entrepreneurship mission. Moreno said the expanded scope was a result of community feedback and a desire to ensure City Block wouldn’t simply benefit conventional entrepreneurs but also those typically left out of innovation and the prosperity that comes with it. City Block would include cafes, parks, retail and meeting amenities to provide gathering and networking spaces for members and the public alike. Moreno believes Tower City’s position as an RTA hub means the innovation

energy at City Block would be on full display for people who might not otherwise be exposed to such an environment. He also envisions leveraging the RTA assets with additional public transit options at the site, giving City Block even more accessibility and visibility. Ideally, investors and business support services would be onsite to provide coaching and guidance as well. Cuyahoga County officials are among the many civic, business and community leaders Moreno and his team have briefed on the project. Chief economic development officer Ted Carter said the county supports the City Block vision because it “intersects with elements of the county’s five-year economic development plan, specifically innovation, workforce development and placemaking.” “I am anxious to see where it lands and the next phase of the project,” he said.

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hile City Block organizers build community momentum behind a proposed entrepreneurship hub on Public Square, local leaders soon will hear results of a yearlong analysis that aims to identify how Northeast Ohio can enhance its innovation ecosystem more broadly. Marty McGann, senior vice president of advocacy and strategic initiatives at Greater Cleveland Partnership, said findings of the Cleveland Innovation Project study should be released in the first quarter of 2020. He expects four or five

A PRODUCT OF

2019 P002_CL_20191216.indd Tech Matters-12-16.indd 2 1

recommended strategies “to put the region on track with some of the other innovative economies” to emerge from the analysis. “There’ll be more to talk about from a content and implementation standpoint starting early this year,” McGann said. GCP is spearheading The Cleveland Innovation Project, along with funders JumpStart, Team NEO, the Cleveland Foundation and the Fund for Our Economic Future. BioEnterprise and JumpStart were launched last time GCP

looked to enhance the region’s innovation assets. McGann said The Cleveland Innovation Project predates Bernie Moreno’s Blockland initiative, although the two groups have met several times to discuss where their projects intersect. Both include equity as a central goal, to ensure more people share in any prosperity arising from innovation-fueled economic growth. “Cooperation will be critical,” Moreno said. “We can’t be fractured or competing against other.”

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

12/11/2019 12/10/1911:17:55 3:38 PM AM

TECHNOLOGY

Newly formed Medina Fiber LLC gets residential project off the ground Medina County will become one of only a few communities nationwide to have an open-access fiber network for residents BBY KAREN FARKAS

Medina County residents will soon be able to choose among several internet service providers through an innovative open-access residential fiber network similar to only a few others in the country. Unlike traditional municipal networks in which the municipality or company owns and operates the network and there is only one service provider, open access separates the network from the services. With open access, service providers pay a fee to join the network. Residents are able to choose the provider that best fits their needs and budgets. Officials with Medina County’s project said there are only a handful of residential open-access networks in the country. Medina County’s will be similar to the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Network (UTOPIA), a consortium of about 16 Utah cities. The Medina County Fiber Network, which brought a high-speed broadband network to businesses in the county, announced this month that has partnered with Lit Communities and Peak Communications. Those companies have created Medina Fiber LLC. The partnership ends a several-year attempt by the Fiber Network to expand high-speed internet to residents.

Construction of the network began this month to homes in Seville and will soon expand to Westfield Center and Guilford Township. Residents began sign- Corrado ing up for service at a Dec. 13 ribbon-cutting and open house in Seville. Medina County Fiber Network CEO David Corrado said he is pleased the project is finally going forward following a stumble earlier this year. In April, the network had announced an open-access residential project with Neighborly, a San Francisco-based, venture- backed technology company. But the startup was unable to raise the necessary funds and has since gone out of business. Brian Snider, who at the time of the April announcement was president of Neighborly’s Broadband Group, left that company soon after and formed Lit Communities, a consulting firm in Alabama that works with communities to create open-access networks. Lit and Peak — the latter a company of Smart Communications Systems, a Florida telecommunications construction firm — raised $8 million for the initial installation in the three Medina County areas. Ben Lew-

Lewis-Ramirez said he and Snider is-Ramirez, chief marketing officer for Services to residents will initially be Lit, said he did not want to comment believe so strongly in the open- ac- offered by two companies, an internet on who provided the funding. Offi- cess concept that they want to start it service provider called iFIBER and cials said funding for the additional in a sparsely populated area of the Docity, a provider of telehealth ser$50 million needed to complete the county “to prove that it works. We are vices. Additional providers and other network in the remainder of the coun- a revenue source for the coun- applications, such as smart-home serty-owned network. Our network devices, will be added as Medina Fiber ty will be finalized in early 2020. Snider said in a news release that he pends on their (providers) leasing expands across the county. had hoped banks would provide capi- some capacity from their network.” “Current cable providers cannot He explained how the network provide the necessary internet bandtal, but Lit “had to expand our search to the world of private investment to would work by using the analogy of width, and the services they offer are very expensive,” make this happen. With Peak Com- “WE HAVE TOO MANY STUDENTS WHO MUST TRAVEL TO A Seville mayor Carol Carter said munications, we found the perfect LIBRARY JUST TO COMPLETE THEIR ONLINE HOMEWORK. in a statement. “We have too partner to get this OUR RESIDENTS ARE SCREAMING FOR MORE CHOICES many students network started.” who must travel Corrado said he AND THE CHANCE TO CHANGE FROM THE CABLE to a library just to has no doubts MONOPOLY CONTROLLING OUR TOWNSHIP TODAY.” complete their about the viability online homeof Lit because of ——Seville mayor Carol Carter his 18-month relationship with Snider. operating a municipal airport, where work. Our residents are screaming The Medina County Fiber Network is airlines don’t have to build their own for more choices and the chance to owned by Medina County and operated runway or terminal to gain access to change from the cable monopoly by the Medina County Port Authority. It the facility for passengers. controlling our township today.” began the project in 2010 by selling “Most people in the U.S. do not $14.5 million in bonds. Corrado said it have options in providers,” Lewis- Contact Karen Farkas: has about 200 business customers and Ramirez noted. clbfreelancer@crain.com has installed 151 miles of lines across the county. He added the businesses can choose from 12 carriers on its open-access network. ``A Page 19 story on Dec. 9 in Crain’s Cleveland Business incorrectly identified Corrado also said the Fiber Network Barbara Boyd, the retired Cleveland Heights politician. She is alive. began exploring how to expand the net- ``A Page 4 article on Dec. 9 in Crain’s Cleveland Business incorrectly reported work to residents four years ago and de- the occupancy of The Plaza at Chapel Hill in Cuyahoga Falls. Plaza owner Shotermined a public/private partnership pOne Centers REIT Inc. reported the Ross Dress for Less lease and others took to offer open access was the best option. occupancy to 95%.

Corrections

We are proud to announce our new President & CEO, Brandon R. Miller John P. Fleischer, CPA

Brandon R. Miller, CPA,CGMA

Thank you, John Fleischer, for your years of extraordinary leadership. (216) 831.1200

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A recent study from the Commonwealth Fund shows what many Americans have felt acutely for years: Employer health insurance costs are eating up a greater and greater share of middle-class incomes as growth in premium contributions and deductibles outpaces growth in wages. In 2008, average employee premium contributions and deductibles exceeded 10% of the median income in seven states. By 2018, that was the case in 42 states, including Ohio, according to the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit private foundation supporting independent health care research. The state-by-state report found that the average annual growth of total potential out-of-pocket costs (employee contribution to premiums and deductibles) outpaced average annual growth in median income in every state between 2008 and 2018. For those with middle incomes, this combined cost accounted for 11.5% of median income in 2018 nationally. Ohio was just below that at 11.1%. This, said David Radley, senior scientist for the Commonwealth Fund and co-author of the report, seems like a breaking point. It probably feels that way for many families struggling to fork over at least 10% of their income for health care. Many are already forced to skip care or forgo other important things in their lives. Eric Krieg, president of Fairlawn-based Risk International Benefits Advisors, called the system â&#x20AC;&#x153;totally broken.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;People are in positions where theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re being compromised financially or theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re compromising their health care,â&#x20AC;? he said. The growth rate in Ohio for total potential out-of-pocket costs for both single and family coverage (weighted by the state distribution of single and family households) is greater than the national average. Between 2016 and 2018, the average annual change was 10.5% in the state, compared to 4.4% nationally. In 2018 in Ohio, employeesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; potential out-of-pocket costs was $7,509 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

â&#x20AC;&#x153;PEOPLE ARE IN POSITIONS WHERE THEYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE BEING COMPROMISED FINANCIALLY OR THEYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;RE COMPROMISING THEIR HEALTH CARE.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Eric Krieg, president of Risk International Benefits Advisors

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

more than double what it was in 2008. The study looked at rates in 2008, 2014, 2016 and 2018, the last being the only year that potential out-of-pocket costs in Ohio were higher than the national average. But both grew between all of those years. Nationally, one of the main culprits behind the growth is higher health care prices, given the flexibility that providers have in determining what they charge for health care services, Radley said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;And the national trend over the last five or six years that weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve seen is that the overall health care utilization is pretty flat,â&#x20AC;? he added. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s growing at a very modest rate, and some services actually weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re using less of. But overall, health care spending is growing pretty rapidly nationally, and the only explanation really is that prices are growing up.â&#x20AC;?

Employers now have to focus on what Robert Klonk, CEO of Oswald Cos., a Cleveland-based insurance brokerage, said they should have been focusing on all along: the root cause of whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s driving expenses. The costs of pharmaceuticals, technology and facilities are all contributing to the growth in health care costs. Klonk also noted that the expansion of Medicaid and the growth of Medicare have put pressure on prices. Providers donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t make money â&#x20AC;&#x201D; or sometimes even lose money â&#x20AC;&#x201D; on this care, which they recoup in the private insurance marketplace, he said. The more people use those programs, the more providers have to push costs to private insurers, meaning growing costs for employers and employees. See INSURANCE on Page 45

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Economists have warned of the beginnings of a national manufacturing recession since late summer, but even with a recent moderate slowdown in the industry, manufacturers in Northeast Ohio remain optimistic heading into 2020. “Manufacturers have had record returns that they have not experienced in a decade or more, if ever,” said Ethan Karp, president and CEO of MAGNET, a nonprofit organization that works with regional manufacturing companies. “The vast majority of manufacturers, looking back at 2017 and then 2018, had record-breaking years. Last year around this time, they crossed the line of pre-recession catch-up.” Manufacturing has long been considered a reliable indicator of the health of the rest of the economy. Data from the Institute for Supply Management’s Manufacturing Index indicated that November was the fourth straight month that the number used to represent whether there is expansion or contraction in the industry came in below the growth threshold. Strong profits, though, have most manufacturing owners upbeat and in the mood for expansion, even when the market slows a bit, as it did in 2019. Team NEO CEO Bill Koehler said he doesn’t see a pending recession when he talks with the hundreds of manufacturers the economic development group works with in its 18-county footprint. “We hear a lot from the media about a potential recession. What has been reported here over the last two years is pretty good,” Koehler said. “What you see and hear overall is that

companies are performing at a median level or better, and they feel OK about where things are.” Those sentiments are confirmed in the JobsOhio Business Retention and Expansion (BRE) Data Analysis that was released in November. The data was collected by six statewide economic development groups, including Team NEO, and aggregated by JobsOhio. Of the nearly 600 manufacturing companies that responded to the survey, fewer than 10% said they were underperforming relative to the industry as a whole and all but one rated the industry climate in the state as “excellent,” “good” or “fair.” Manufacturing companies also plan to invest in their businesses. According to the BRE survey, about 65% of Northeast Ohio companies with annual revenue of less than $25 million responded “yes” to the survey question asking if they planned to put money back into the business by mid-2021. A majority of manufacturers with whom Karp talked said their business growth stems from the rollout of new products and services within existing markets, with a smaller number attributing growth to entering new markets. The BRE findings support that observation, with more than 50% of respondents reporting that new product lines or new and expanding markets were the main factors behind their growth in 2019. Some of the optimism stems from owners having braced for a slowdown that was not as bad as expected. “Everyone was anticipating this year not being great, but now that we are here, manufacturers are saying it isn’t too bad,” Karp said. “In some

ways, some of them were going so hard in the past two years that there is some breath-catching going on.” With growth on the horizon for a number of regional businesses, it isn’t surprising that one of the major concerns manufacturers have, and foresee being a problem in the future, is the lack of adequate facilities for expansion. “I am seeing it firsthand with our clients on the industrial side that the challenge to economic development and business recruitment, expansion and retention is available space,” said Nathan Kelly, managing director at commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield | CRESCO Real Estate. Inadequate facility space was the second-most-cited factor inhibiting growth, after workforce availability/ quality, according to the BRE report. The problem is that many existing facilities are obsolete, Kelly explained. “It is either poorly located, environmentally challenged or too small,” he said, meaning ceilings are too low. “The trend is stacking material higher. If you go higher, you are paying for less square footage.” Kelly added that industrial vacancy rates are the lowest he has seen, and that in addition to seeking adequate space, companies must think about the proximity of facilities to their workforce. “For more and more of our clients, we are talking about workforce maps,” Kelly said. “The notion of people moving to be closer to jobs is over. People are choosing to live where there is a quality life, and then finding a job (comes) after that.” Kim Palmer: kpalmer@crain.com, (216) 771-5384, @kimfouroffive

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BANKING

30 Huntington branches at Giant Eagle are closing

Reducing Real Property Tax Assessments Throughout Ohio And Across The United States

Shutdowns are slated for first quarter of 2020 BY JEREMY NOBILE

Huntington branches

Huntington Bank’s latest cost-saving move calls for closing 30 branches in Giant Eagle stores across the bank’s footprint. The branch closures were discussed at a Dec. 11 Goldman Sachs investor conference, according to a recent public filing. Approximately half of those branches are around Greater Cleveland. Those closures are slated for the first quarter of 2020. Upon consolidation, Huntington will still operate at least 65 in-store branches in Giant Eagles and 97 in Meijer stores. Huntington spokeswoman Emily Smith said the consolidating branches are “within five minutes” of other branches, and half of those are located within a half-mile of other ones. It’s the latest cost-cutting move for the Columbus-based bank in what it has described to investors as a “challenging interest rate environment.” Analysts tend to praise Huntington for its cost controls. The bank disclosed plans around third-quarter earnings to trim 150 to 200 jobs across its seven-state footprint. With 15,659 full-time-equivalent employees as of Sept. 30, that amounts to approximately 1% of its total workforce. In-store branches tend to have a fraction of the staffers that standalone branches do. However, Smith did not specify how many jobs those closures affect, noting the company tries to shift displaced workers into other positions. Huntington has been slowly but steadily reducing its branch footprint since buying Akron’s FirstMerit Corp. in 2016. At the time, the move added 327 retail locations to its network. The bank reported 1,091 operating branches in 2016. It’s closed at least 89 so far this year. With the Giant Eagle closures factored in, the branch network will come down to 826. Since 2012, the bank has opened 193 branches and closed 288 (with

Physical retail full-service branches Year

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019, estimate 2020,est. for 1st Q

Opened

Closed

Total branches

12 50 10 15 6 1

25 3 8 51 18 89

715 762 1,091 956 944 856

—

826

Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill, Co., LPA

SOURCE: 2019 GOLDMAN SACHS U.S. FINANCIAL SERVICES CONFERENCE

the Giant Eagle closures included). Even with those closures, Huntington will still have the heaviest retail presence among banks in both Ohio and Michigan. Smith could not address any future plans for consolidations, and did not speak to approximately how much the latest round of branch closures will save the bank in costs. However, the bank indicated at Goldman Sachs that its large network in those states will allow for “future consolidations and efficiencies.” As reported in a recent Crain’s analysis of Federal Deposit Market Corp. data, Huntington is the third-largest bank in Ohio by deposit market share — though it had 139 more branches in the state than its nearest competitors, Fifth Third Bank and PNC Bank, as of June 30. In Northeast Ohio, Huntington is the top bank by deposit market share, where it edges out Cleveland’s own KeyBank. As of June 30, Huntington operated 229 branches in the region to Key’s 114. It controls 18.81% of the market to Key’s 17.73%. (Key is the sixth-largest bank in Ohio by deposit market share.) Huntington’s branch consolidations fold into its efforts toward what it’s described as “strategically positioning for a digital future.” The Columbus-based bank has approximately $108 billion in assets. Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

When you hire Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill, you work directly with Sleggs, Danzinger and Gill. Each client is directly represented at all levels by a principal of the firm with a combined 75 years of experience. No pyramid, no associates, no on-the-job training. Our clients deserve the very best representation, so we structured our firm to allow each client, throughout the entire process, to work directly with Messrs. SLEGGS, DANZINGER and/or GILL. Our philosophy is to work cooperatively with school district and County officials to ensure that our clients pay the lowest possible real property tax obligations. If a fair resolution requires litigation, SLEGGS, DANZINGER & GILL have the depth of trial and appellate experience to handle the most complex valuation issues. Whether the valuation relates to large industrial plants, apartments, shopping centers, warehouses, office buildings, vacant land or any other type of commercial property, the faces above will ensure that you receive the best counsel, legal advice and litigation expertise. Todd W. Sleggs, Esq.

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FROM THE EDITOR

RICH WILLIAMS FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Readers applaud flexibility in work schedules

EDITORIAL

Bring on 2020 W

ith 2019 almost in the books and holidays fast approaching, we hope you have a chance to take at least a little time off between now and Dec. 31. Based on most of the economic data available, the evidence is overwhelming — you’ve all worked hard (again) this year, as the longest economic expansion in U.S. history is at 125 months and counting. Last week in this space, we reviewed some of the developments in 2019 that have made us optimistic about Northeast Ohio. This week, we’re turning our focus to 2020 and some of the things we hope to see happen in the new year. In no particular order, they are: ``A West Side Market revival: We all love the market. Everybody points visitors there. It’s beautiful and an architectural gem. But vacancies are piling up (see last week’s announcement that Turczyk Meats will leave after 36 years in business) and the building itself is showing its age. It’s abundantly clear that the city of Cleveland is no longer equipped to operate the market in a fast-changing retail environment, which requires greater dexterity in managing leases, repairs and the tenant mix than the city can capably handle. Would some sort of nonprofit management structure be better? Probably. (It couldn’t be worse.) The Jackson administration seems dug in, for now at least, on continuing to operate the market. We’d urge city officials to reconsider — or short of that, redouble efforts to make the market great again. ``A Public Square renaissance: The $53 million remaking of Public Square unveiled in summer 2016 was a big hit with locals and made a splash nationally when the city was in the national spotlight as the host of the Republican National Convention. But since then ... yikes. It’s been little more than disputes about bus traffic and, as a result, the appearance of the much-derided (with reason) Jersey barriers. The Group Plan Commission, the team of urban landscape designers, planners and other stakeholders that created the revitalized Public Square, has a plan that would cost about $2 million to restore some of the aesthetic pleasures of Public Square. Private funders, get to it.

``A transit renaissance: The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has a new CEO, India Birdsong, who brings a refreshing vision and energy to the job. The big challenge, of course, is funding, and the state doesn’t do much to help in that area. And help is needed. Five times last week, RTA tweeted notifications of mechanical issues that led to train breakdowns that delayed riders. Cleveland can’t be a great city without a better transit system that helps connect more people with the places they need to go — especially their jobs. Transit is a big element of addressing the poverty that afflicts our community. On the state level, we need a policy shift to prioritize public transit in transportation funding so Cleveland and other cities can maximize their economic potential. ``Preserve home rule: The Ohio House last week passed a bill banning local communities from restricting the use of plastic bags, and it sent the measure to the Senate. Cuyahoga County is among the communities in Ohio that have passed ordinances that would charge retailers for distributing single-use plastics like grocery bags, as part of an effort to address the THIS WEEK, WE’RE plastic waste disposal problem. It’s not a comprehensive TURNING OUR FOCUS solution. But it’s what TO 2020 AND SOME OF Cuyahoga County decided. Gov. Mike DeWine is among THE THINGS WE HOPE those who have questioned TO SEE HAPPEN IN whether the House’s action violates the home-rule provi- THE NEW YEAR. sion of the Ohio Constitution. The Legislature has been chipping away at home rule for years, in a number of ways. It should stop. ``Vote!: There’s no gubernatorial or U.S. Senate race in Ohio, but 2020 obviously is a presidential election year, and there will be all varieties of important local contests and ballot issues to decide. Voters come out in higher numbers when we’re picking a president, but participation in elections in this country is pretty dismal. Be part of the solution and make sure your voice is heard.

Publisher and 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

Earlier this month, I wrote a column asking your thoughts on the traditional workweek in today’s work climate after news of Microsoft Japan’s experiment with a four-day workweek went viral. Microsoft employees gave a hearty thumbs-up to the trial, with 90% of them endorsing the shorter workweek. The company also benefited from a productivity Elizabeth boost of nearly 40% during the experiment. McINTYRE Now, Northeast Ohio has its own reduced workweek test to watch. On Dec. 3, Newburgh Heights council unanimously approved a shortened, 32-hour workweek for full-time village employees, becoming, the mayor said he believes, the first municipality in the country to adopt such a policy. Full-time workers in Newburgh Heights will still bring home the same pay with full-time benefits, but will work eight fewer hours per week. The impetus behind the decision, Mayor Trevor Elkins told me, was to create a better work-life balance for staff. “No one ever says on their deathbed, ‘I wish I had worked more,’ ” he said. The shorter workweek also helps the village of 1,872 residents remain competitive with surrounding communities for recruiting and retaining employees. Department heads will work with staff to create schedules to ensure departments’ — and most importantly, the public’s — needs are met, he said. And the village will make some new hires to fill in the gaps. One reader who reached out to me with her thoughts on the traditional workweek applauded the move by Newburgh Heights while offering her personal perspective. Like many readers who contacted me, she asked that I not identify her. After decades with her company, she requested a work schedule reduction from 40 hours to 32. Her company agreed, and reduced her base pay. She found, though, she’s actually making more money because her commissionbased sales are at an all-time high. “It’s amazing how you can truly accomplish the same amount in less time if the ‘carrot’ is more personal time off,” she wrote. “I found myself more focused while I was working and able to completely meet my company goals and client’s needs.” Another reader suggests companies explore using a longer workday in a shorter workweek, such as four 10-hour days, with the option of working one or two of those days from home, allowing flexibility for errands, snow days and chores. If nothing else, she said, “An extra day to de-stress makes the workforce happier and healthier.” Several people offered suggestions on Facebook. One commenter’s company allows employees to work from home with the flexibility to work any eight hours they choose between 5 a.m. and 7 p.m. to meet the company’s needs. “The flexibility,” he wrote, “is fantastic.” Another social media commenter said she could make more money elsewhere, but finds the perks at her current job — the ability to work one to two days per week from home — are too attractive to leave. For some though, being in the office has its benefits. Some wrote they are more productive and efficient in the confines of an actual workplace. Others enjoy interacting with colleagues. One even said working from home with three large barking dogs — plus the lack of multiple monitors and other office equipment — makes it less enticing. Consistently what I heard, though, is workers want more flexibility in their work schedules. And when they get it, they believe their productivity increases. A win-win, I’d say, for both employees and employers.

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 | December 16, 2019

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OPINION

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Congress must protect Ohio jobs by repealing the medical device tax  Two story redevelopment opportunity  Located in an Opportunity Zone next breakthrough medical treatments. in the heart of downtown Akron  Major road and streetscape improvements Ironically, despite its economic  6,710 SF + 3,355 SF partially finished underway disruptions, the tax fell short of its basement  Surrounded by downtown amenities primary revenue-raising objectives. Compared with the initial projections when the policy was first imSVN SUMMIT COMMERCIAL plemented, the tax raised about $2.1 REAL ESTATE GROUP, LLC billion below estimated revenues CONTACT during the 2013-15 period. Nichole Booker, PhD These shortcomings are what drove Boots is the 3009 Smith Road, Suite 25 Associate Advisor lawmakers to suspend the levy twice, engineering Akron, OH 44333 330.475.5500 with the most recent suspension set to manager at GE (234) 231-0200 nichole.booker@svn.com expire on Jan. 1, 2020. In other words, Healthcare in in less than three weeks, the tax will be Aurora. reimposed as the clock strikes midnight to signal the new year. Fortunately, lawmakers have a solution to do away with the device tax once and for all. Introduced in both the House and Senate earlier this year, the Protect SVNMediAd-Liverpool-12-16.indd 1 cal Innovation Act (H.R. 2207) (S. 692) would permanently repeal the device tax, finally lifting a cloud of uncertainProviding a private travel experience ty over this important industry. The legislation enjoys that exceeds expectations. broad bipartisan support in both chambers, including from 13 members of Ohio’s congressional delegation. Despite having support from both parties, more must be done to move the legislative needle on this issue. If Congress fails to act before the clock strikes midnight early next year, the tax will be imposed regardless of whether or not hundreds of lawmakers and industry stakeholders support repeal. For the sake of our plant in Aurora, and countless other med-tech manufacturing centers across Ohio, I urge Congress to stop stalling and repeal the medical device tax once and for all.

BY JEROME BOOTS

For more than eight years, I’ve had the privilege to work in a medical device manufacturing plant here in Aurora. Our success in developing award-winning MRI coils has allowed our factory to support hundreds of good-paying jobs in our community — all while creating innovative medical tools that help improve health outcomes and save lives. Promisingly, our economic achievements are not an isolated example. Ohio has always been a state of makers, and despite the tragic reduction in automotive manufacturing over the last few decades, our state’s medical technology (med-tech) and life-sciences industries have seen some impressive growth. Currently, there are about 35,300 Buckeyes either directly or indirectly employed in Ohio’s med-tech sector. In addition to earning salaries above the median household income, these employees — through their collective economic output — pump more than $6 billion into our state’s economy every year. All told, our state has a unique stake in protecting the med-tech industry. That’s why I’ve grown increasingly concerned about the potential reimplementation of the medical device tax — a policy that has proven to be the bane of economic growth and innovation within the med-tech industry. Originally imposed to help offset various costs associated with the Affordable Care Act, the device tax has come to be seen as poorly constructed policy that goes against the basic principles of just taxation. During the 36-month period it was in effect between 2013 and 2015, the device tax siphoned away almost 29,000 high-paying jobs across the country, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce. These consequences were further compounded by reductions in research and development investment, taking much-needed dollars away from the development of the

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August 12, 2019

CRAIN’S AWARDS

NOTABLE WOMEN IN NONPROFITS T NOTABLE WOMEN IN NONPROFITS Dani Robbins T NOTABLE WOMEN IN NONPROFITS Dani Robbins T August 12, 2019

CRAIN’S AWARDS

he women profiled here serve organizations that touch nearly every aspect of Northeast Ohio, from the arts to the workforce, from education to poverty, from elder care to tech innovation. Their energy, determination and devotion are helping to make our region a better place to live, work and grow.

August 12, 2019

CRAIN’S AWARDS

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I NOVEMBER 18, 2019 I

40 40 UNDER

hese 40 leaders offer a snapshot of all that’s best about Northeast Ohio. While a mix of hometowners, transplants and immigrants, they all share a love for and commitment to our region. They are entrepreneurs and professionals, activists and creators, public servants and problem-solvers. All are engaged in helping others and bettering the community, through both their jobs and beyond, in volunteer efforts. Still shy of 40, this group has plenty of ladder available yet to climb, so watch for these top-of-their-class individuals to take on even greater responsibilities as they help shape Northeast Ohio’s future.

devotion are helpingProgram, to make John our region a better place to live, work and grow. Title: Director, Nonprofit Administration Carroll University,

` Musically inclined: She attended Central State University on a singing scholarship.

University Heights Most recent education: Master of public administration in public management, Cleveland State University

Dani Robbins, the first full-time director of John Carroll’s Nonprofit Administration Program, sought input from every student athe JCU beforeprofiled redesigning program to women here the serve organizations that touch nearly every aspect of Northeast Ohio, from the arts to Title:and Director, Nonprofit Program, John Carroll University, better reflect the skills education neededAdministration to prepare future nonprofit leaders. the workforce, from education to poverty, from elder care to tech innovation. Their energy, determination and University Heightsfaculty Most recent education: Master of public administration Her retooling included enhancing todevotion include nonprofit leaders and overhaulare helping to make our region a better place to live, work and grow. in public management, Cleveland State University ing course offerings, such as adding a cultural diversity class. In addition, Robbins, who authored “Innovative Leadership Workbook for Nonprofit ExDani Robbins, the firston full-time director of John Carroll’s Nonprofit ecutives,” began providing free workshops executive leadership, organizational culture,Administration Program, sought input fromtoevery student at JCU in before redesigning the program to resource development and board governance nonprofit executives the community. reflect the skills and education needed to prepareAdministration future nonprofit leaders. “Dani has beenbetter transformational in her time ... directing the Nonprofit Her retooling included enhancing faculty to include nonprofit leaders and overhaulM.A. program at John Carroll University,” said Anne Kugler, associate dean for graduate and professional programs in the College of Arts Title: Nonprofit Administration Program, John Carroll University, ing course offerings, such asDirector, adding a cultural diversity class. and Sciences at JCU. “She has revamped the curriculum to be cutting-edge applicable to the nonprofit sector; enhanced the quality of In addition, Robbins, who authored “Innovative Workbook for Nonprofit Ex- administration University Heights MostLeadership recent education: Master of public instruction; developed a thriving community of learners/practitioners among her students; and invigorated community-university ecutives,” began providing free workshops on executive leadership, in public management, Cleveland Stateorganizational University culture, relationships.” resource development and board governance to nonprofit executives in the community. Robbins also leads John Carroll’s nonprofit community advisory committee and the faculty advisory committee. “Dani has been transformational in her directingdirector the Nonprofit Administration Dani Robbins, thetime first...full-time of John Carroll’s Nonprofit Administration “Dani is a strategic thinker, who has a rich and broad expertise in the field of nonprofit administration and strives to keep her M.A. program at John Carroll University, Anne Kugler, for graduate and professional programsto in the College of Arts Program, sought” said input from everyassociate studentdean at JCU before redesigning the program comprogram current and relevant,” said Eileen Saffran, founder and CEO of The Gathering Place and a member of JCU’s nonprofit com and Sciences at JCU. “She hasreflect revamped the curriculum to be cutting-edge applicable to the nonprofit sector; enhanced the quality of better the skills and education needed to prepare future nonprofit leaders. munity advisory committee. instruction; developed aHer thriving community of learners/practitioners among her students; and invigorated community-university retooling included enhancing faculty to include nonprofit leaders and overhaulrelationships.” ing course offerings, such as adding a cultural diversity class. Reprinted with permission from Crain’s Cleveland Business. © 2019 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved. nonprofit community advisory Robbins also leads John Carroll’s committee and the faculty for advisory committee. In without addition, Robbins, who authored “Innovative Leadership Workbook Nonprofit ExEx Further duplication permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainscleveland.com. #CC265 “Dani is a strategic ecutives, thinker, ”who hasproviding a rich and broad expertise the fieldleadership, of nonprofit administration and strives to keep her began free workshops onin executive organizational culture, program current and relevant, said Eileen Saffran, founder and CEOto ofnonprofit The Gathering Place in and of JCU’s nonprofit com comresource”development and board governance executives thea member community. munity advisory committee. “Dani has been transformational in her time ... directing the Nonprofit Administration

` Career advice: “Be your authentic self.”

Dani Robbins

Autumn R. Russell, 36 Executive Director, Early College Early Career, MAGNET

s executive director of Early College Early Career at MAGNET, the Manufacturing Advocacy & Growth Network, Autumn R. Russell helps bridge the gap between educators and manufacturers. Her goal is to show educators that manufacturing offers viable career options for their students and to show industry professionals that working with students can help close the skills gap. Early College Early Career is a pre-apprenticeship program that provides high school students with pathways into manufacturing careers through paid internships and college-credit courses. “So it’s really an opportunity for them to get a head start in their college journey and in their careers,” Russell said. She started her career in higher education before joining the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, where she was responsible for creating initiatives to boost the graduation rate of at-risk student populations. The program she oversaw, Closing the Achievement Gap, began as a statewide program, but Cleveland’s success helped the district get funding to continue the work beyond its initial scope, which Russell counts among the

M.A. program at John Carroll University,” said Anne Kugler, associate dean for graduate and professional programs in the College of Arts

proudest moments of her career. She later worked at the state level, as a consultant with the Ohio Department of Education’s academic distress commission. In April 2018, Russell joined Magnet to work in the Early College Early Career program, taking on the executive director role a few months later. The work gave her the chance to have a “larger impact,” she said. She’s still able to pursue her passion of creating programs for students, while also helping coordinate conversations between educators and industry partners that wouldn’t have happened in the past. “It gave me an opportunity to be a change agent, and I saw opportunity for me to grow professionally,” Russell said. She has helped shape the program, which started in the fall of 2017, in its early years, taking the “learnings and challenges and successes” it’s seen so far and refining the model, said Ethan Karp, CEO and president of Magnet. The program currently works with about 70 students across three counties, with plans to grow next year. — Rachel Abbey McCafferty

Reprinted with permission from Crain’s Cleveland Business. © 2019 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved. and Sciences at JCU. “She has revamped the curriculum to be cutting-edge applicable to the nonprofit sector; enhanced the quality of Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainscleveland.com. #CC265

instruction; developed a thriving community of learners/practitioners among her students; and invigorated community-university relationships.” Robbins also leads John Carroll’s nonprofit community advisory committee and the faculty advisory committee. “Dani is a strategic thinker, who has a rich and broad expertise in the field of nonprofit administration and strives to keep her program current and relevant,” said Eileen Saffran, founder and CEO of The Gathering Place and a member of JCU’s nonprofit community advisory committee. Reprinted with permission from Crain’s Cleveland Business. © 2019 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainscleveland.com. #CC265

VOL. 39, NO. 48

NOVEMBER 6 - 12, 2017

C-SUITE

ark Plush is a known in industry circles as a fixer and builder, the perfect combination of skills for a startup in need of help. Plush joined the company then known as Wireless Environment in 2016, having already served on the board in a time of rapid, unsustainable development. Upon taking the helm, Plush instituted controls, contacted service providers and got the Mayfield Village-based LED manufacturer audit-ready within 13 months, according to the nomination. An administrative cleanup made Wireless Environment’s November 2017 acquisition by Ring possible. Today, the company —

which makes the Mr. Beams line CFO: Mark Plush of LED products — is an indepenRing Beams dent unit within Ring, a California business that sells internet-connected home security products, including a doorbell that can send audio and video to your smartphone. Along with making the purchase possible, Plush has overseen the firm’s growth from $15 million to $29 million in less than two years. In the nomination, president and co-founder David Levine said his CFO’s “calm, focus and determination” kick-started one of the fastest-growing businesses in the observed,” added Levine. “From region. “Mark is the most dependable, his first day, he created a 13ethical and forward-thinking fi- week cash flow so we could make nancial professional that I have the optimal decisions to preserve cash. My relationship with Mark is what I always hoped a CEO-CFO relationship would be. I know with complete confidence that he’s watching the key indicators, freeing me up to sell, hire and market the company.” Previously the CFO for Keithley Instruments, Plush leads a young team at Ring Beams, impressing upon them the importance of gross margins and the careful selection of customers. Plush is also active in the nonprofit world, serving on the board of University Hospitals with the goal of improving its finances and performance. — Douglas J. Guth

Reprinted with permission from Crain’s Cleveland Business. © 2018 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved. Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainscleveland.com. #CC188

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DECEMBER 16, 2019 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 9

12/6/19 1:27 PM

The Future of Work

Execs say region needs to retool workforce development, find shared vision A shared table, a shared conversation Deloitte, along with the Cleveland Foundation, recently convened through Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland a select group of C-suite leaders to discuss the future of work and its impact on our region. The private gathering of high-level executives at the Marble Room was intended to promote an organic discussion on the overarching topic of the changing nature of work. The following pages are designed to capture key elements of their conversation.

By JUDY STRINGER CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND

rom advances in automation and robotics to the rise of the gig economy and virtual teams, a massive employment shift is underway, according to research from Deloitte. And it’s a shift, Deloitte vice chairman Paul Wellener said, that will transform every aspect of the business enterprise around the world. To that end, Wellener, along with Ronn Richard, president and CEO of The Cleveland Foundation, and Elizabeth McIntyre, editor and publisher of Crain’s Cleveland Business, recently invited senior executives to a Dec. 2 discussion about the future of work and the workforce, and how Northeast Ohio can position itself as a leader given this rapidly evolving landscape. “There is a great concern about what jobs will exist and what skills will be required in the next five to 10 years and beyond,” said Richard. “And I think if we don’t get ahead of this right now, we’re behind.” Much of the conversation centered on rethinking workforce development strategies. Participants stressed that current education and training paradigms often come up short in preparing workers for today’s jobs, let alone future workplaces. MAGNET president and CEO Ethan Karp said area manufacturers are among the hardest hit by the talent crunch.

“Sixty-five percent of manufacturers say that the shortage of individuals coming into their factories is literally hampering their growth today, which is a crazy statistic,” he said, “because they could be growing today, our region could be healthier.”

WHAT’S THE ANSWER?

Dr. Akram Boutros, president and CEO of The MetroHealth System, questioned if Cleveland leaders should develop a purpose-driven philosophy that limits investments in educational programs to those with clear and existing employment opportunities, like an approach being taken in Detroit. Many of his peers in the discussion, however, raised additional perspectives on that notion. Richard said he is concerned strategies like that could pigeonhole low-income students into training programs and trade careers that would do little to raise their standards of living. And that those positions are the types of jobs that may be phased out in coming years as a result of automation. Others, including Tri-C president Alex Johnson, highlighted studies that suggest skills like analytical thinking, creativity, originality and initiative will bear far more weight than specific technical competencies. “It’s the belief that if individuals come in with strong personal and social skills, they can develop the technical

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competencies that will be needed,” for future success, Johnson said. According to Karp, the region’s small and mid-sized manufacturing companies “universally say attitude and aptitude” are more important than educational degrees or training certificates. Manufacturers will work with local educational resources to train people, he said, “they just need to get them to show up.”

which could free workers to focus on higher-value tasks. If current efforts to advance opportunity and income equality fail, they said, these disparities will be starker in the future. Then there’s the challenge of staying ahead of the technology curve altogether. Wellener notes for Greater Cleveland and Northeast Ohio to even have a seat at the table, the region must “become a net importer of talent” and attract more post-graduates to the area.

EMPLOYER-DRIVEN SOLUTIONS

FINDING CLEVELAND’S NICHE

Participants also saw the need for a greater number of co-ops, internships and externships to address the skills challenge. Some of those initiatives already are underway, they said, and underscore the importance of employer-driven solutions. For example, since the launch in 2015 of its Project Opportunity, Nestlé’s John Carmichael said his company has gone from “zero to 300 apprenticeships” and “zero to 1,000 internships” across its U.S. facilities, and it also is reaching 300,000 people annually through “readiness for work” activities such as mock interviews and career path role models. Jodi Berg, president and CEO of Vitamix, unveiled a new initiative her company is developing that will bring professors from Tri-C and other area colleges into its manufacturing sites for two hours each workday so workers don’t have to choose between a job and an education. “Whatever degree or program they end up going through is completely irrelevant,” she said, “because the entire time that they are at school, I have an incredibly dedicated person who’s doing a critical job on my assembly floor.”

‘THE BIG EQUALIZER’

Along with real-world work experiences, Cleveland State University president Harlan Sands said regional four-year colleges must get better at both helping traditional students align their educational paths with current employment opportunities and helping first-generation and non-traditional students understand the benefits of a degree. “The big equalizer in generational poverty is a college degree,” Sands said. Wellener, Sands and others emphasized the larger role that post-secondary and advanced degrees will play as artificial intelligence and robotics become more embedded in workplaces and repetitive jobs are replaced by machines,

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Whatever specific strategies rise to the top, participants were clear in vocalizing a need for broad collaboration to identify and develop “Cleveland’s technology niche.” The city, county, educators, philanthropists, employers and employer groups must go beyond the conversation phase, Boutros said, and start working together on the development of a shared economic development vision.

THE PARTICIPANTS: • Jodi Berg, president and CEO, Vitamix • Dr. Akram Boutros, president and CEO, The MetroHealth System • John Carmichael, president, Nestlé Foods Division • Alex Johnson, president, Cuyahoga Community College

“We have to make major strides in five years,” he said. “We have to have a clearer path. We must know what we are doing. Otherwise, too many people are ahead of us.” Many of the executives referred to the Cleveland Innovation Project — an initiative involving five of the city’s economic development and philanthropic organizations to stimulate innovation and drive inclusive economic growth in Greater Cleveland — and other emerging multisector partnerships as evidence of greater collaboration. “We’ve got a lot of the pieces coming together,” Wellener said, “and I think with the continued emphasis, we can get there.” He stressed too, however, the importance of haste. “It’s about economic development. It’s about collaboration in the community. It’s about the university and the philanthropy and the corporations and governments coming together. With the right insights and collaboration, Cleveland can pursue a deliberate future of work strategy.”

• Ethan Karp, president and CEO, MAGNET • Elizabeth McIntyre, editor and publisher, Crain’s Cleveland Business • Ronn Richard, president and CEO, Cleveland Foundation • Harlan Sands, president, Cleveland State University • Paul Wellener, vice chairman, Deloitte

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FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES Millennium Capital and Recovery Corporation Millennium Control Systems, LLC Millstone Management Group National Safety Apparel Nations Lending Corporation Neptune Plumbing & Heating Co. NOMS Healthcare North American Coating Laboratories Northeast Factory Direct ON Partners OnShift Osborn Engineering Payroll4Construction.com PS Lifestyle Pure Water Technology, LLC Purebuttons LLC QualityIP

Radcom, Inc. ReMax Haven Realty Property Management Risk International Holdings, Inc. Rock The House Safety Controls Technology SC Fastening Systems LLC SecureData 365 Sequoia Financial Group, LLC Sgt. Clean’s Car Wash Sherlock Services, Inc. Shoemaker Rigging & Transport, LLC Sky Quest SpaceBound, Inc. Technical Assurance, Inc. Terves, LLC ThenDesign Architecture, Ltd. TLC Products, Inc.

42connect A & I Health Solutions, LLC Brakey Energy, Inc. Ciresi & Morek, LLC CleanLife LED Clum Creative DMS Management Solutions E.A. Loxley & Associates Everest Land Title Agency FORM Fusion. Marketing Group iPlanGroup M Genio Inc. Mortach Financial Services Muse. On The Other Side Planned Financial Services Pritt Entertainment Group Request A Test River Rock Advisors Robert P. Madison International Inc. Sculpt Fitness Gyms Simplex-IT StandOut Stickers The Gertsburg Law Firm the telos institute TinyCircuits Woodside Health, LLC YellowLite

Centurions

CrossCountry Mortgage, Inc. Diversified Employee Solutions Echo Health, Inc. ExactCare Garland Industries, Inc. GEMCORE Health Jarrett LeafFilter Gutter Protection Leppo Group, Inc. Mazzella Holding Company, Inc. MobilityWorks OEC Park Place Technologies Providence Healthcare Management TalentLaunch Union Home Mortgage Valley Truck Centers

WITH SUPPORT FROM:

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

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

The future of business is here

INSIDE BUSINESS PROFILES

Rock the House ... 3 Providence Healthcare Management ... 4 Clum Creative ... 4 Park Place Technologies ... 6 Apex Dermatology ... 8 Safety Controls Technology ... 9 STUDENT PROFILES

Yang Hu, Cleveland Clinic ... 11 Allison Zmozynski, Bank of America ... 11 Vaibhav Khurana, Cleveland Clinic ... 12 THE LISTS

pages 14-23 Weatherhead 100 Upstart Centurion BY THE NUMBERS

page 24

SPONSORED CONTENT

Entrepreneurs, educators must work to find best way to apply digital advancements By JUDY STRINGER | CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND

arc Andreessen’s 2011 proclamation that “software is eating the world” famously set out the case that physical assets, or atoms, are being eaten by digital ones, or bits. After studying innovation for years, Case Western Reserve University professor Youngjin Yoo doesn’t disagree with Andreessen’s premise but he is quick to note there are limits when it comes to the replacement of atoms with bits. Humans can’t eat bits, for example, or live in bits. Bits can’t heal us or make us stronger, or move us or our things from place to place. And, that’s good news for Northeast Ohio, he said. “All digital transformation — for people to enjoy their basic necessities of life — needs to become physical, and that is what we have here in this

Youngjin Yoo

RL Shankar

region,” said Yoo, who teaches design and innovation at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. “We build stuff. We make stuff. We know how to push stuff through supply chains and deliver goods. We own the customer touch points and distribution channels. We actually touch patients.” Yoo is not suggesting, however, it is “business as usual.” The digital revolu-

tion is touching every facet of life from how we socialize and access entertainment to how we work and manage our wellness. This requires a dramatic rethinking by organizations of their underlying value proposition, he said, and how technology – specifically big data and analytics – can be leveraged to provide faster, smarter and more personalized products and services. “What I want in the morning and what I want in the afternoon is different, the challenge for companies is now to figure that out and deliver to me what I want at the right time.” The shift to digital-driven business also requires educators to re-evaluate how they prepare and train future leaders, according to RL Shankar, an assistant professor for banking and finance at Weatherhead. Beyond the whole new set of technological skills needed by engineers in disciplines like data mining and artificial intelligence, product and business managers must be better prepared to discern the impact and limitations of digital tools. Take artificial intelligence. The technology works and its applications are well established, Shankar said, yet a 2018 survey by Protiviti Consulting in partnership with the think tank ESI ThoughtLab found that only 16% of businesses said they are getting val-

ue out of their artificial intelligence investment. He suggests that some companies may be deploying artificial intelligence technologies without first articulating the value proposition of the final application, or, in other cases, they may have overestimated the technology’s capabilities and/or underestimated the implementation or integration requirements. “The onus is on business faculties to teach people how to effectively adopt these technologies,” Shankar said, adding that new courses and workshops addressing artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies like blockchain at Weatherhead are aimed at doing just that. The bottom line, Yoo said, is that Silicon Valley did the hard part, spending decades and billions of dollars building the software and devices that powered digital transformation in the online world. Now, savvy Northeast Ohio businesses and entrepreneurs are in a unique position to apply those tools to physical commerce. “Silicon Valley wants to create a frictionless economy. The physical world will have friction, and so organizations need to learn how to do these digital transformations where the friction applies,” he said.

THE AWARDS

With Gratitude. Ancora is honored to be recognized as a Weatherhead 100 Award recipient once again and congratulates our fellow class members. 216-825-4000 / www.ancora.net

Weatherhead 100

The 100 fastest growing companies in Northeast Ohio are based on revenue from 2014 through 2018. Companies on the list must have had sales of at least $100,000 in 2014, plus a minimum of 16 full-time employees and more than $1 million in sales in 2018.

Upstart

These companies have met all Weatherhead 100 qualifications, employed 15 or fewer employees and/or had less than $5 million in net sales in 2018.

Centurion

These companies have met all Weatherhead 100 qualifications and had net sales of $100 million or more in 2018.

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

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Side job as a DJ turns into multimillion-dollar enterprise By VINCE GUERRIERI

s a teenage DJ, Matt Radicelli thought he was having fun and making a little money on the side. Turns out it was the first step on the road to being an entrepreneur. Radicelli started Rock The House Entertainment in 1999, combining his skills at being the life of the party with his experience installing audiovisual equipment. It has since grown into a multimillion-dollar business providing live event staging and production at more than 1,500 events a year, as varied as the Edgewater Live concert series, the Diocese of Cleveland’s Alleluia Ball and trade shows and corporate training events. “I didn’t know until I was about four years in that I was a hardcore entrepreneur,” Radicelli says. “I just thought I had money in my pocket and was running a business. I knew people who were self-employed, creating a job for themselves, and I realized I wasn’t doing that. “I was building a business. I learned to delegate. I learned to trust people. I learned making mistakes was OK. I realized I’m not a DJ that started a company. I was an entrepreneur that capitalized on entertainment.” Radicelli’s parents ran a nightclub in Streetsboro. His mother tended bar and his father spun records. Radicelli himself worked as a disc jockey while in high school, and that turned into audiovisual installation. But in 1999, he started Rock The House Entertainment, realizing he could stay local while providing entertainment services for bar and bat mitzvahs, from disc jockeying to recording events. Seven years later, the company transitioned into providing event audiovisual production. “We realized we’d nearly saturated entertainment,” Radicelli says. Today, event audiovisual production accounts for about 85% of the company’s business, while the rest remains entertainment services. Radicelli says it was a natural transition -- because they knew how to talk to people. “We knew how to be hospitable,” he says. “One of the things assumed about the audiovisual industry is if you’re a sound guy or a lighting guy or a technician, you’re kind of a jerk. There are stereotypes in the industry and we broke all of them because we were nice, fun people who got it.” That’s evident to Mary Beth Lee, director of Jobee Inc., who’s been event planning for 20 years and has worked often with Rock The House, in no small part because of her comfort level with them. “What they can do and create as a collaborative team is really an art in itself,” she says. “I love going to them with a

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What traits does the next generation of leaders need to succeed? They must understand how to pivot and manage, and make decisions rapidly having to do with working with other generations. They can’t use a one-sizefits-all management foundation or strategy. What advice would you give to the next generation of business leaders? It’s not much different from advice I’d give anyone from any generation. Learn from anybody you can around you. You’ll never be the smartest person in the room. If you’re not good at the thing you need in that time in business, you need to find someone who is. Make a friend and hire some people.

Weatherhead 100

No. 1

Rock The House Oakwood Village Founded: 1999 Sales growth: 1923.98% Number of employees: 31

blank slate and saying, ‘Help me put this together.’” Rock The House Entertainment Group – an umbrella company that includes Selective Sound Entertainment, Rock The House Entertainment, Zone Entertainment and Rock The House Audiovisual (RTHAV) – employs 47 people full-time as well as 75 part-time/ seasonal employees. Although Rock The House does work as far away as Las Vegas, Dallas and Chicago, 90% of its events, by volume, are in Northeast Ohio. “We are still primarily – and don’t claim to be anything else – a regional AV company,” Radicelli says. “We can say we do national work, but we don’t have any satellite offices in any other cities. Yet.” Radicelli says the key to the company’s success is the customer service it provides. He’s mindful that Rock The House is not the cheapest option, but it sells their creativity and energy as well as expertise. “It’s a cliché to say it, but our people are rock stars,” he says. “That’s why we get hired and if we’re in a competitive bid situation and earn the business, we have a 90 percent rate of return.” Lee says if the organization she works with doesn’t have a signed contract with someone else for audiovisual event services, she makes it a point to bring Rock The House along. “They really take a special interest in the event itself,” she says. “Every event is treated individually and they look at what we’re trying to accomplish. If I share my goals, they can come up with something that I wouldn’t think of, but it’ll keep us under budget and accomplish what I need to. Not all vendors care about that budget component and they do, and that’s what keeps me coming back to them.” The trend in the industry for special events is multiple LED tiles as well as the capacity to work indoors as well as outdoors – which can pose its own problems when dealing with electrical equipment. But Radicelli remains adaptable – and still tries to stay on the cutting edge. “We have a love-hate relationship with the phrase, ‘Stay in your lane,’ because we swerve out of our lane to try new things,” he says.

We are honored. Apex Dermatology is honored to be named among the Weatherhead 100 recipients. Our business thrives because our entire team is focused on one mission: Transforming Lives Through Healthy Skin. We look forward to continued growth and increased impact in Northeast Ohio.

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

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Changes in sector are opportunities for Providence Healthcare By VINCE GUERRIERI

etween advances in medical science, demands for profits from stockholders and government attraction for managed care, there isn’t a day that goes by without changes in the health care industry. But to Eli Gunzburg, the founder and CEO of Providence Healthcare Management, those changes bring opportunity. Providence provides consulting and back office services – everything from systems support to processing, human resources and payroll – to dozens of health care companies in Ohio and Kentucky. The company started with two people in 2008, and has since grown to more than 2,800 employees. The company mostly operates in what Gunzburg calls the “post-acute care space” – care people might get outside of a hospital, including skilled nursing, assisted living, home health and hospice care. Providence has seen exponential growth since its inception, no doubt due in part to the increased need for the company’s services. But it’s also because of Gunzburg’s passion for the work he does – and the way he incorporates technology to do it. “He’s one of the most astute health care providers I’ve encountered,” says Rob Vadas, owner and CEO of Arbor Rehabilitation and Health Care in Gates Mills, which employs a network

Centurion

No. 1 Providence Healthcare Management Pepper Pike Founded: 2008 Sales growth: 801.46% Number of employees: 2,863

of physical and occupational therapists and speech pathologists, some of whom work in Providence facilities. “He’s one of my most unique clients. He’s like a statistician.” Gunzburg said both the government and private insurance are mak-

ing a push toward managed care, particularly since the standard fee-for-service model of medical care, which essentially pays for a health care worker’s time, almost incentivizes inefficiency in treatment. But Gunzburg is ready for the next step: Predictive care

– using the data available to health care providers to be proactive, or predictive. “For example, there are certain symptoms people exhibit before a stroke or MI (myocardial infarction, or a heart attack),” Gunzburg says. “If we’re able to catch those symptoms before an acute event happens, we can avoid a hospital stay that costs $50,000 or $100,000.” There’s more data available to health care providers now than ever before – and that amount is likely to increase, Gunzburg says. “We’re finding millions of data points per person per day,” he says. “I like to see more and more technology. We’re constantly piloting more new technology to change the way we deliver care. We’re pushing for higher quality care and more efficiency.” Innovation is demanded by demographics, Gunzburg says. The population is aging, and the workforce is nearing zero unemployment, stretching an already thin labor market for health care workers – an industry that’s already known for eating its young and spitting out its old. “The amount of people who need care are only going to increase pretty significantly over the next decade, and people who are going to care for them is decreasing,” he says. “That’s a problem. PHM continued on next page

Clum Creative founder ‘never looked back’ after jump into video biz By VINCE GUERRIERI

ike a lot of millennials, Mike Clum had an iPhone and used it to make videos. But as he looked at some of his classmates’ senior videos, he realized he could do better. And after realizing college wasn’t for him, he was highly motivated to find some type of work. “I like making videos, I needed to make money,” says Clum, the founder and president of Clum Creative. “I bought a $600 camera, walked out of class and never looked back. It all fell into place.” Clum made his first hire in 2014. Two years later, he had a staff of five, and that doubled the following year. Today the company, which does $1.7 million in revenue, has a staff of 20 and another 10 contract or part-time workers on various projects at any time. And at 26, he’s the youngest person on staff. “We’ve been able to grow quickly for the business we are,” he says. That business is making video content for a variety of companies locally and regionally,

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UPSTART

No. 1 Clum Creative Cleveland

Founded: 2011 Sales growth: 1068.53% Number of employees: 20

including TT Electronics in Perry. “We were looking for a way to differentiate ourselves,” says Katelyn DeVan, the company’s vice president of global marketing. “Electronics are a saturated market, and there are few things that differentiate one firm from another. I didn’t even know I needed a video.” But she can’t argue with the results. The initial video Clum did for TT Electronics – an atypical sales video, DeVan CLUM continued on next page

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PHM continued from previous page

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to run out of money if we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t find more efficient ways to deliver health care. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to have to do more with less. We are compelled to find the most efficient way to deliver health care with the best outcomes.â&#x20AC;? Vadas notes that external forces are pressing the shortening of hospital stays as well. Procedures that once entailed a two- or three-day hospital stay are now practically outpatient surgery. But Gunzburg notes that hospital stays â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and even time in a nursing home â&#x20AC;&#x201C; are still regarded as a necessary evil, if not outright hated by some people. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We want people cared for in home or an environment where theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re comfortable,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Nursing homes are more pleasant than the public perception, but theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re still not home.â&#x20AC;? Gunzburgâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s goal is to continue to grow guided by the 29 priniciples defining the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s culture â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and without the chaos heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s seen in his first decade with Providence â&#x20AC;&#x201C; while increasing name recognition and be-

CLUM continued from previous page

says, more emotion and message-driven â&#x20AC;&#x201C; was so well-received within the company and by external clients that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve used Clum for several more videos. DeVan says TT Electronics uses Clum videos as direct marketing tools, sending LCD screens to potential clients with videos to watch. Clumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most recent video for TT Electronics is a tour of its factory in China. â&#x20AC;&#x153;A lot of people canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get to China, but you have to give them an idea what it looks like,â&#x20AC;? she says. DeVan says her business with Clum started with a cold email to the company, a common practice for Clum, who started his company with little more than LinkedIn Premium and Crainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cleveland Business marketing lists. The thrill of the hunt appealed to him -- and still does. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been a lot of fun to grow this company,â&#x20AC;? he says. Clumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been able to take advantage of a changing marketplace as well. Much like his iPhone opened up his career path, companies are seeing the benefits of videos -- but may not be necessarily committed to hiring inhouse to do it. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Needs from a macro level have evolved,â&#x20AC;? Clum says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Some companies have been doing video content for years, but now, instead of one huge project a year, they may need 30, 40, 50 for social media and other projects. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Video demands are growing, but I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think the services market is growing,â&#x20AC;? he says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re competing with people who want to hire something in-house, so weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re modern and creative in pricing and try to find good ways to meet the market.â&#x20AC;? One way Clum Creative has distinguished itself is with its use of animation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It was an untapped niche,â&#x20AC;? Clum says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a little harder to hire for that â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and you can do it anywhere.â&#x20AC;? Clum currently has about 5,000 square feet on the East Side of Cleveland, including five editing bays, but thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a lot of working from home.

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

What traits does the next generation of leaders need to succeed? Leadership boils down to some pretty simplistic components. Any book on leadership focuses on the same core tenets but uses different words. A significant part of leadership is selflessness and humility and doing things for the better good, and that can be challenging. What advice would you give to the next generation of business leaders? Stick with it. Give some good grit and dedication to accomplishing both business and personal goals. I think weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve lost a lot of that.

coming a destination employer. Vadas feels like heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on the right path. â&#x20AC;&#x153;He just gets it,â&#x20AC;? he says of Gunzburg. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I really hope he embodies the future of what home health care is.â&#x20AC;?

What traits does the next generation of leaders need to succeed? Willingness to be aggressive and persistence. Get your name out. There are so many people who do what I do and so often, it comes down to, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Who called me most recently? Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll hire them.â&#x20AC;? Stay in touch. For every person you think youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll annoy, youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll get another whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll be grateful.

A national, full-service commercial and multifamily mortgage banking company. We are CAPITAL ON A MISSION.

What advice would you give to the next generation of business leaders? You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to think of a new idea. Just get started in something you know you can make successful. So much of my first two or three years were spent building a solid portfolio and getting a great network. Then I could focus on sales because I had a great product.

He also notes that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s relatively easy to rent out a video production space for a day at a time. In addition to providing creative services for other companies, Clum also has developed its own content. One of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s employees, Teddy Baldassarre, was interested in wristwatches (what the iPhone did for video production, the Apple Watch did for wristwatches), and started a YouTube show. Today, Baldassarreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s show has more than 134,000 subscribers and 1.5 million monthly viewers â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s introduced his own line of watch straps. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Not only can we make client videos that work, we can build our own brands,â&#x20AC;? he says. And they do make client videos that work â&#x20AC;&#x201C; at least, according to DeVan, who has plans to use Clum Creative even more as TT Electronics grows. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a permanent line item on my marketing budget,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If I consider anyone to be a strategic business partner, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the guy.â&#x20AC;?

Proud to be a

Weatherhead 100 Centurion for the

4th straight year. Congratulations to all of the 2019 Weatherhead 100 winners! CrossCountry Mortgage | 6850 Miller Road, Brecksville, OH 44141 | NMLS3029 All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions apply. Call for details. CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC. NMLS3029 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org)

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

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Park Place Technologies finds its sweet spot and capitalizes on it By BARRY GOODRICH

hristopher Adams has the title of an executive, the mindset of a startup entrepreneur and the lifestyle of a family man. “I’m extremely driven, very competitive and always motivated,” says Adams, the president and CEO of Park Place Technologies. “But I try to make it to every event for my kids. I see people who do nothing but work, and I tell them it’s not smart. You’re not winning if you don’t have a family life.” Winning has become part of the landscape at Park Place Technologies as Adams has cultivated a culture of success at the Mayfield Heights-based firm. Founded in 1991 as a hardware maintenance firm, PPT has established itself as a global leader, with 35 offices supporting 16,000 clients across 55,000 data centers. The firm’s maintenance and support for servers, storage and networks has expanded to over 140 countries. “Six years ago, we had six salespeo-

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What traits does the next generation of business leaders need to succeed? One skill that is very important is to have an understanding of finance. A lot of times people come up in business without being exposed to that. What advice would you give to the next generation of business leaders? You have to be able to adapt and be able to work on teams. The No. 1 most important thing is that you’ve got to have a work ethic. That’s never going to change.

ple,” says Adams. “We now have over 200. We have a culture of sales here – it’s about getting out and talking to customers and earning their respect.” PPT’s annual double-digit growth also is the result of well-timed acquisi-

tions. Earlier this year, the firm purchased Entuity, a global network performance monitoring software company with offices in Boston and London, as a move to expand its IT in-

frastructure. The business has benefitted from a dedicated team of five employees tasked with company acquisitions and integrations. “That’s not something you can expect people to fit into their day jobs,” says Adams. “It can be kind of sexy to buy a business, but it could cost you your job if you don’t do it right. I would grade most of our acquisitions as A’s. None of them are lower than a B-.” Competing against such tech giants as Dell and HP, PPT has found a sweet spot and capitalized on it. “If you have products with a three-year warranty you have to decide what you’re going to do when they expire,” says Adams. “Our prices are half of what the manufacturers charge.” A concerted effort over the past four years has brought PPT to the global stage. “One day you’re an entrepreneurial company and then you get bigger and bigger,” says Adams. “Becoming a global leader in our industry is a good feeling. It was a steady grind … we worked our butts off.” That determined effort paid off in the form of a company-wide bonus that took employees by surprise. “I told them that we pushed them hard the last three or four years,” says Adams. “We kept the bonuses completely secret. That was a fun day to be at work … it was like being at your own wedding.” PPT also has instituted a lucrative compensation plan, an incentive at which one competitor marveled. “I was asked how it works, and I said we have no cap,” says Adams. “He asked me what I would do if someone had $20 million in sales and I told him I would sign the (compensation) check and personally hand it to them. Compensation has got to be fair and equitable.” While PPT’s growth has been phenomenal, the firm’s service and sup-

Centurion

No. 5 Park Place Technologies

Cleveland Founded: 1991 Sales growth: 205.29% Number of employees: 1102

port-oriented approach is not lost on Adams. “I have 16,000 bosses,” he says. One of those is Andrew Misso, assistant director of technology for the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. “They really are an extension of my team,” says Misso of PPT. “They are no longer a vendor, they’re a partner.” Seven years ago, a somewhat skeptical Misso put 300 of his servers with PPT and he has never looked back. “All our medical equipment is attached to these servers so it can literally be a lifeand-death situation when there is a problem,” he says. “You know the Staples commercial with the Easy Button? That’s my relationship to PPT. They are my Easy button. Working with them lets me sleep well at night.” Misso was so impressed with PPT’s service, he is now a member of the company’s advisory board. “My calendar is ugly, but I will always make time to talk about them,” he says. Despite PPT’s arrival as a global presence, Adams has maintained his tireless, day-to-day work ethic. “I’m in the trenches with our team,” he says. “Being one of them is important to me. I want to understand what’s important to them and be able to give it to them.” With revenues of over $218 million in 2018, Adams is thinking even bigger. “I’ve said that when we get to $1 billion, we’re going to do a Super Bowl ad.”

12/3/2019 7:43:38 AM 12/2/19 8:14 PM

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

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Apex Dermatology built on concept of improving access By BARRY GOODRICH

y putting a new face on dermatology, Dr. Jorge Garcia-Zuazaga is revolutionizing the industry in ways that not only improve lives but can save them as well. “I call it the ‘rock star experience,’” says the high energy Garcia-Zuazaga. “Rapid access and focusing on the patient are what we’re all about – from the front of the office to the back. We’re transforming people’s lives through healthy skin.” Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Venezuela, Garcia-Zuazaga’s impressive background includes a stint as a U.S. Marine Corps senior flight surgeon, a fellowship at Harvard Medical School and an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management. “I’m an overachiever,” he says. “When I first started the group in 2011, my vision was to tackle the access problem.” Getting an appointment with a dermatologist can typically take months, not a reassuring timeline for someone who may have a skin cancer. “Waiting three or four months for an appointment is very common in dermatology,”

says Garcia-Zuazaga. “I got tired of that … and I got tired of people waiting for two hours to see a doctor once they got an appointment.” Apex Dermatology guarantees sameday or next-day appointments, a business model that has helped the firm grow from four original employees to 110 today with offices in Concord, Hudson, Maple Heights, Medina, Parma, Solon and Westlake. “I remember our first holiday party was in a booth at a restaurant … there were six of us,” laughs Garcia-Zuazaga. “For last year’s party we had over 200 people and rented out a restaurant.” Providing medical and aesthetic skin care and treatment services for conditions ranging from acne to psoriasis, Apex Dermatology is an industry leader in the treatment of skin cancer through Mohs surgery. “When you’re a specialist you can diagnose a patient pretty quickly,” says Garcia-Zuazaga. “Patient education is very important to us. People don’t want to hear a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo. We talk with them as if they are family members.” Garcia-Zuazaga is keenly aware that

trust is the basis of doctor-patient relationships. That philosophy has resulted in patients who return on a regular basis and refer Apex Dermatology to their friends. Orange resident Laura Geller devel-

CONGRATULATIONS to our fellow 2019 Weatherhead 100 Winners!

oped melanoma after many years of working as a lifeguard and was successfully treated by Garcia-Zuazaga. “I only trust him to look at my skin,” she says. “I trust his expertise implicitly.” For patients, particularly those with skin cancer issues, the ease and quick turnaround of scheduling an appointment cannot be overstated. “You can be waiting for seven or eight months for an appointment and that’s not what you want,” says Geller, who now has checkups three times each year. “I’m able to get in when I want to. And the medications and aftercare are always explained to me.” As Apex Dermatology grew, Garcia-Zuazaga saw the need for a corporate structure within the company. He aligned himself with the telos institute, a global organizational consulting firm based in Cleveland, to form an in-house Apex Leadership Institute. With quarterly meetings, the institute offers a way to impart leadership skills to doctors and the executive team. “A lot of doctors try and do it all themselves … I depend on my executive team to help me out,” says Garcia-Zuazaga. “Like all successful companies, we invest in our staff. I’m all about positivity – if you are out in front as a leader, your team will be behind you 110%. If you’re negative, they will pick up on that.” Apex Dermatology also is invested in the community. A new Purple Heart

Weatherhead 100

No. 25 Apex Dermatology Mayfield Heights Founded: 2011 Sales growth: 243.37% Number of employees: 103

Project, launched on Veterans Day, provides complimentary laser scar revisions for wounded veterans. “If I can help out at least one of those veterans, I’m all for it,” says Garcia-Zuazaga. His experiences with the Marines set the stage for Garcia-Zuazaga’s business career, forming a work ethic he has carried forward. “When you’re in the service you can be put in a position of leadership that maybe you’re not ready for at the time,” he says. “I took on a lot of responsibility early in my career and that helped me craft my leadership style. That was a pivotal moment that helped me a lot in terms of leadership skills.” Building a successful business in the space of eight years is only part of the equation for Garcia-Zuazaga. “There was a lot of sweat equity involved but doing something that’s meaningful makes me very proud.”

What traits does the next generation of business leaders need to succeed? I believe that, to succeed as an entrepreneur, one must have passion for an idea, a clear vision and resilience to be able to execute.

10311 Berea Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44102 www.1stchoiceroofing.com • 216.227.7755

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What advice would you give to the next generation of business leaders? Surround yourself with good, professional advisers and don’t be afraid to take risks. It is important to be a resonant leader in order to motivate people toward your vision. It is also important to invest in your teams to make them better. Only then will you create something bigger than you – something special that, with enough grit and hard work, will grow into your vision.

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Risk, innovation are key to success of Safety Controls Technology By BARRY GOODRICH

hen the opportunity arose for Mike O’Donnell to join Safety Controls Technology, he didn’t hesitate to become part of a team he had seen up close and personal for a decade. As head of the Greater Cleveland Partnership’s workers’ compensation division, O’Donnell had several opportunities to engage with the multi-service consulting company providing engineering, environmental and occupational safety and health services for clients in the private and public sectors. “I was familiar with their culture and level of service,” says O’Donnell, now SCT’s general manager. “I had worked with larger companies, so this was my first foray with a family-owned business. I knew Gail (Grueser) very well and I knew the people here did good work. It was a no-brainer.” With co-founder Grueser heading up the Woman-Owned Business Enterprise, SCT brings a breath of fresh air to what has traditionally been a male-dominated construction industry. “The real differentiator for us has been Gail,” says O’Donnell. “She has been driving a lot of what we do since 1999. It’s the people she has hired and put in place that have given us an advantage.” Emphasizing continuing education has served as another catalyst for SCT as it enters its third decade as an industry leader. “Education is paramount to our mission,” says O’Donnell. “We make sure our people are always on the cutting edge when it comes to new technologies and processes.” An entrepreneurial mindset by ownership has enabled SCT to grow from $4 million to $8 million in revenues in the last three years. In 2017, the company made two pivotal moves, acquiring both Amerisafe and Advantage HealthCare. “We’re not afraid of risk here,” says O’Donnell. “Those are big, high-stakes moves that don’t always work. Organic growth coupled with responsible acquisitions has been critical to our success.” Working closely with its clients, SCT

Weatherhead 100

No. 33

Safety Controls Technology Middleburg Heights Founded: 1999 Sales growth: 200.94% Number of employees: 59

helps to develop policies that not only meet OSHA standards but exceed them. “Our experience and knowledge is second to none,” says O’Donnell. “Our senior vice president Rob Medlock was the Cleveland area director of OSHA for 20 years and Dennis Hobart, our director of construction services, is a road warrior who has traveled all over the Midwest.” One such client is Diamond Products of Elyria, a firm SCT has collaborated with on everything from respiratory compliance to hearing protection to drug-free workplace programs. “We went through an unannounced OSHA investigation this year and they really helped us with that,” says Gary Sauer, the firm’s health and safety director. “Their expertise is the best and they’re great people to work with.” With safety procedures like calibrated machines that test the air quality, SCT has helped Diamond Products go above and beyond to ensure its employees are healthy and safe. “They have done a lot more than just keep us to code,” says Sauer. “Our air (quality) is half of what the OSHA limits are.” Building a long-term relationship with SCT also has resulted in a personal relationship not always found in the industry. “If I need some advice, they’re not going to send me a bill for 15 minutes of conversation on the phone,” adds Sauer. O’Donnell, who played football at Western Reserve Academy and rugby at Villanova, brings a team culture to SCT. “Leadership is about allowing the people around you to succeed,” he says. “You have to know who they are and what they do best. Put people in a position to play to their strengths.”

SCT is investing in an innovative initiative to help continue the firm’s growth, a unique safety academy program that is offered directly to students enrolled at two universities with curriculums in safety management -Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Slippery Rock University. “This is a program to attract young people before they graduate to have a

full week embedded in a classroom with onsite training that includes operating heavy equipment,” says O’Donnell. “It’s been a huge success for us and we’ve even had students come back to be teaching assistants. This is something that allows them to hit the ground running when they enter the job market.” While some of its competitors still op-

erate like old school construction offices, SCT has made the most of a marketing department that utilizes social media strategies such as short films and public service announcements to spread the company’s message. “We’re always looking to break into new markets,” says O’Donnell. “It’s about doing your due diligence and never being complacent.”

What traits does the next generation of business leaders need to succeed? Having an excellent work ethic and knowing how to treat people with honesty and decency. What advice would you give to the next generation of business leaders? Never underestimate the significance and effectiveness of the Golden Rule. This holds true in both business dealings and interactions with the rest of mankind.

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

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THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS | WEATHERHEAD STUDENT PROFILE

GLOBAL EXPERIENCE

Interning at Cleveland Clinic International Operations taught Yang Hu how to analyze new markets with diverse cultures By KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE

Yang Hu lived in Beijing, China, for 20 years before moving to Cleveland to study business and analytics at Case Western Reserve University. Intimate knowledge of her home country’s culture and economy was an asset to Cleveland Clinic International Operations when she was invited to serve as an intern, researching the expanding Chinese market. The opportunity included conducting market and supply chain research — specifically, analyzing China’s pharmaceutical supply chain in preparation for the opening of a Cleveland Clinic Connected project, the Shanghai Luye Lilan Hospital. Scheduled to open in 2024, the Shanghai operation will deliver services including cardiology, digestive disease treatments and oncology, and it’s a platform for implementing medical technology globally. In China, the project is a vehicle

to help the country achieve its “Healthy China 2030” vision. Hu got a first-class ticket to international relations and global expansion during her internship experience. “I learned how to leverage the power of clinical operations and business to improve the entire health care system, and how this can benefit the medical and economic wellness of patients,” Hu says. Beyond market research, Hu says Cleveland Clinic International Operations’ staff encouraged her to pursue her interests. “The internship experience was really about self-motivation rather than just completing tasks,” Hu says, adding that she could apply classroom learning to real-world situations. “It helped lay a foundation for my work after graduation.” Hu adds, “I really want to help patients as much as possible, and I hope this will help me start my career path in the health care industry.”

What surprised you the most about your internship experience? “This internship gave me an opportunity to learn more about internationalization and to conduct market research on regions of the world that I was unfamiliar with before. The access to diverse cultures was interesting, and it helped me grow so much as a person.”

THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS | WEATHERHEAD STUDENT PROFILE

INNOVATION IN BANKING Collaborating on a team to figure out ways to improve customer experience opened Allison Zmozynski’s eyes to the future of financial services

By KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE

Customer experience is a significant focus for banks, as they leverage technology and test new service models to appeal to the modern customer. Allison Zmozynski got to experience this at a ground level as an intern at Bank of America Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., where she worked with its consumer banking team to think through strategic decisions to enhance the way the financial institution delivers service. “My prior experience was in higher education consulting, so it was interesting to learn about a new industry,” relates Zmozynski, a second-year MBA student at Case Western Reserve University. The internship opened Zmozynski’s eyes to the dynamic innovations that banks are exploring, and how financial institutions are leveraging technology such as artificial intelligence. “The bank has an extraordinary number of

patents,” she adds. While the projects Zmozynski worked on are proprietary and she cannot disclose details, the nature of her work included collaborating with a team that was focused on customers in the 24-and-younger market segment. “We were thinking about how we could best serve and better support individuals who are new to banking and who might have questions about how to manage their finances,” she says. A typical day on the job included joining team meetings and learning from other departments. “The internship gave me an opportunity to experience the decision-making process and what planning looks like at a Fortune 500 company,” Zmozynski says. She adds, “The bank is constantly thinking about if they can support its customers from a service perspective and also how they can use technology to do that.”

What surprised you the most about the internship? “My previous experience was in higher education consulting and I was doing more internal strategy, but this opportunity gave me an opportunity to work on external strategy — the customer. I was surprised at all of the innovative technology banks are using to better serve their customers, including artificial intelligence.”

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C O N G R AT U L AT I O N S TO OUR FELLOW WEATHERHEAD 100 AWARD WINNERS WE’D LIKE TO GIVE A SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL OF OUR EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE DEDICATED THEIR CAREERS TO HELPING OTHERS IN NEED Thank you to our professional team for their support: Attorney Timothy J. Truby | Siebert Advertising | S&B Visionary Marketing

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NAVIGATING HEALTH CARE PAYMENT MODELS Vaibhav Khurana’s scholar experience at the Cleveland Clinic gave him a ground-level perspective of value-based innovation in health care

By KRISTEN HAMPSHIRE

Shoemaker Rigging would like to thank its employees for their hard work and dedication. They are the REAL heavy lifters of our company.

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W E A R E P R O U D T O B E A W E AT H E R H E A D 1 0 0 AWA R D W I N N E R !

Congratulations to the 2019 Weatherhead 100 winners and our celebrated client recipients.

Health care in India is “180 degrees opposite” from the U.S. system of insurance and government programs like Medicaid, says Vaibhav Khurana, 31, who left a hospital role in his home country to pursue an MBA and finance degree at Case Western Reserve University. After attending the Value-Based Innovation Summit in Cleveland last year, he learned about an internship opportunity at Cleveland Clinic’s Payment Innovation department, so he applied for the Weatherhead Health Scholars Program. “In India, most people are paying for health care out of pocket, and they are trying to build more systems around government reimbursement for care like we have here in the United States,” Khurana explains. “For me, unlearning that system and understanding how Medicare and Medicaid work was an initial challenge.” But Khurana dove into the role of analyzing alternative and proposed payment models issued by Medicare. Specifically, Khurana vetted a proposed radiation oncology rule — digesting the legal document, discussing its implication with a clinical team, gathering insight from other stakeholders at the Cleveland Clinic and providing comments. “We looked at the entire value chain, one link at a time,” he says. “The team I worked with came

from a plethora of different career backgrounds, and I got to learn the risk management aspect of the rule and how to assess risk based on the data,” Khurana notes, adding that this relates directly to his dual-degree program at CWRU. “I’m learning the concepts in school that I get to put into practice here.” Rachelle Brenner, a project manager with Cleveland Clinic Payment Innovation, says scholarship opportunities like this lay the groundwork for careers in a complex field. “Students come into a leading organization in a scholarship role, where they are supported and onboarded, so they are set up to be successful,” she says. “Our interns can become subject matter experts, and they leave here feeling very comfortable.” As for Khurana, Brenner says the team viewed him as a full-time team member. “We rely on him for major support on the initiatives we are working on,” she relates. “He came in with intellectual curiosity and a willingness to work hard and tear through everything he was given.” Khurana adds, “The experience drew in my finance and health care background as we looked at issues affecting patients.” He also developed a love for the city because of the team’s camaraderie and interest in showing him Cleveland. “I got the best of both worlds professionally and personally,” he says.

What surprised you the most about your workplace experience? In India, most of the decisions in hospitals are made by the physicians — they are the ones who drive the ball. Here as an intern, I had a say in every meeting. I had a viewpoint, and I would raise my hand and say, ‘This is what I think we should do,’ and my point was valued by the team. That was really different from what I’ve experienced before, and it was surprising for me.

Dependable, LLC Hileman Group iPlan Group Keene Building Products Northeast Factory Direct OnShift

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Congratulations! We believe it’s important to recognize the achievements of people who’ve had a positive effect on others and the communities where they work and live. KeyBank congratulates the 2019 Weatherhead 100, Upstart and Centurion winners on your achievements. We’re all proud of what you’ve accomplished.

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

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SPONSORED CONTENT

Weatherhead 100 Winners List

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Rock The House www.rockthehouse.com

Interactive entertainment and production company.

1999

1923.98%

Oakwood Village

Inﬁnium Wall Systems www.inﬁniumwalls.com

Manufactutuer of glass wall systems used as demountable partitions in ofﬁce buildings.

2003

1907.20%

Beachwood

Shoemaker Rigging & Transport, LLC www.shoemakerrigging.com

Heavy machinery moving and transport; plant relocations.

2013

1515.81%

Akron

Sgt. Clean’s Car Wash www.SgtClean.com

Veteran-owned and -operated, multilocation, express exterior car wash in Northeast Ohio.

2013

1366.27%

Westlake

Technical Assurance, Inc. www.technicalassurance.com

Nationally recognized building enclosure consulting ﬁrm.

1993

1304.49%

Willoughby

Crawford United Corporation www.crawfordunited.com

Publicly traded holding company serving diverse markets, including health care, education, aerospace and petrochemical.

1915

952.62%

Cleveland

275

Terves, LLC www.tervesinc.com

Leading manufacturer of dissolvable metals and polymers.

2003

924.09%

Euclid

VMI Group, Inc. www.thevmigroup.com

Concrete construction contractor focusing on commercial/industrial/structural site concrete work.

2012

757.27%

Macedonia

“We need someone who knows Northeast Ohio even better than we do.” People who know, know BDO.SM

BDO Congratulates this year’s Weatherhead 100 Class. BDO provides assurance, tax, and advisory services to a wide range of publicly traded and privately held companies. We offer a sophisticated array of services, as well as the resources and capabilities of our global organization, combined with the personal attention of experienced professionals. BDO Cleveland Downtown 1422 Euclid Avenue, The Hanna Building Suite 1500 Cleveland, OH 44115 / 216-325-1700

BDO Cleveland 32125 Solon Road Suite 200 Cleveland, OH 44139 / 440-248-8787

BDO Akron 301 Springside Drive Akron, OH 44333 / 330-668-9696

Accountants and Advisors www.bdo.com

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

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Weatherhead 100 Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Blink Signs www.blinksigns.com

National MBE certiﬁed exterior and interior signage and graphics company.

2007

692.07%

Cleveland

Midwest Home Care LTD www.midwesthomecareltd.com

Home health care agency.

2004

605.38%

Cuyahoga Falls

153

D. A. SURGICAL www.da-surgical.com

Develops and markets surgical table accessories designed to position patients securely and prevent injuries.

2012

583.25%

Newbury

Diamond Rooﬁng Systems www.DiamondRoofSystems.com

Full-service rooﬁng company that provides commercial services.

2013

544.56%

Richﬁeld

Amotec Inc. www.amotecinc.com

National executive search and stafﬁng ﬁrm with seven locations across the U.S.

2000

516.48%

Cleveland

Dependable, LLC www.ﬂoorprep.com

Manufacturer of professional ﬂoor products for repair, restoration and new construction.

1951

408.03%

Cleveland

Metisentry www.metisentry.com

SaaS company offering discovery, cloud and SaaS development service.

2006

404.70%

Akron

Adatasol, Inc. www.adatasol.com

Acquires SaaS solutions and ﬁnds hidden wealth drivers to improve them.

1993

393.23%

Highland Heights

Millstone Management Group www.millstonemgmtgroup.com

Commercial construction manager focusing on education and institutional construction.

2008

388.72%

Chesterland

VividFront www.vividfront.com

Full-service agency with a results-driven approach to branding, design, development, marketing and PR.

2009

377.77%

Cleveland

Crescendo Commercial Realty, LLC www.cc-realty.com

Commercial real estate services (consulting, leasing, investment brokerage and property management).

2008

347.62%

Independence

L E AV E

CONNECT

COMPLY

SIMPLIFY

PAYMENT PROBLEMS in the Past

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Get Payments Simplified ®

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

W16

SPONSORED CONTENT

Weatherhead 100 Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Universal Windows Direct, Inc. www.universalwindowsdirect.com

Residential remodeling of windows, siding and doors.

2002

322.74%

Bedford Heights

221

Calyx, LLC www.calyxit.com

IT solutions provider that focuses on delivering better business outcomes.

2004

306.66%

Westlake

Linkmedia 360 www.linkmedia360.com

Digital marketing and data science agency focused on local lead generation for occupancy-driven brands.

2004

300.62%

Independence

Five Lakes Dental Practice Solutions www.ﬁvelakespro.com

Helps dental practices attract and retain patients and maximize reimbursements.

2010

263.91%

Mayﬁeld Heights

Payroll4Construction.com www.payroll4construction.com

Full-service construction payroll provider that helps contractors eliminate the hassles of payroll.

2006

246.56%

Strongsville

Apex Dermatology www.apexskin.com

Medical, surgical and aesthetic dermatology.

2011

243.37%

Mayﬁeld Heights

103

Budget Dumpster www.budgetdumpster.com

Affordable and dependable waste removal solutions to customers nationwide.

2009

239.21%

Westlake

160

USA Firmware www.usaﬁrmware.com

Leverages its expertise in ﬁrmware and IoT to turn smart ideas into smart products.

2011

233.71%

Brecksville

OnShift www.onshift.com

Human capital management software and services to solve everyday workforce challenges in health care.

2008

233.58%

Cleveland

249

WHS Engineering Inc. www.whs-eng.com

Consulting engineering ﬁrm offering HVAC, plumbing, electrical and structural building systems design.

2005

222.38%

Cleveland

Northeast Factory Direct www.northeastfactorydirect.com

Furniture, kitchen cabinets and hot tubs through no-frills warehouse concept direct to public.

1999

221.61%

Cleveland

120

Futuri Media www.futurimedia.com

Leader in SaaS technology designed to drive audience and revenue growth.

2009

212.27%

Seven Hills

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

SPONSORED CONTENT

W17

Weatherhead 100 Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Ancora www.ancora.net

More than $7 billion in assets under management; offers institutional, family wealth and retirement plan solutions.

2003

209.94%

Cleveland

Safety Controls Technology www.sct.us.com

Woman-owned business enterprise delivering comprehensive occupational safety and health solutions.

1999

200.94%

Middleburg Heights

JCI Contractors Inc. www.jcibuilds.com

Commercial and industrial building ﬁrm.

2002

199.57%

Cleveland

PS Lifestyle www.salonps.com

Elevates the senior living experience, one service at a time.

2008

195.44%

Cleveland

124

Radcom, Inc. www.radcomservices.com

Combination of services including instructional design, performance improvement, and technical documentation.

1996

193.37%

Hudson

Great Lakes Cold Storage www.glcsinc.com

Frozen and refrigerated warehousing and distribution services for food, commodities, etc.

1999

191.99%

Solon

262

Aurum Wealth Management www.aurumwealth.com

Registered investment adviser in Cleveland, Akron and Tampa.

2006

187.12%

Mayﬁeld Village

NOMS Healthcare www.nomshealthcare.com

Physician-owned, physician-led multispecialty group with over 250 providers across northern Ohio.

2001

182.81%

Sandusky

949

Nations Lending Corporation www.nationslending.com

Mortgage lender, helping families achieve dreams of homeownership.

2003

175.89%

Independence

599

TPI Efﬁciency www.tpiefﬁciency.com

Help organizations reduce operting expenses and acheive budget certainty.

2009

174.26%

Cleveland

ThenDesign Architecture, Ltd. www.thendesign.com

Planning, architecture and interior design services.

1989

170.77%

Willoughby

INSIGHT2PROFIT www.insight2proﬁt.com

Technology and services to enable clients to achieve incomparable, long-term growth.

2006

169.32%

Beachwood

101

PROUD TO BE PART OF 2019 WEATHERHEAD 100 BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS BUILDING REPUTATION, BUILDING INGENUITY

8251 Mayfield Road, Suite 100 I Chesterland, OH 44026 (440) 423.1116 I millstonemgmtgroup.com

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

W18

SPONSORED CONTENT

Weatherhead 100 Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Hileman Group www.hilemangroup.com

Digital agency specializing in health care and B2B industries.

2003

167.23%

Cleveland

Carnegie Investment Counsel www.carnegieinvest.com

SEC registered investment adviser providing ﬁduciary ﬁnancial guidance to help preserve and grow wealth.

1974

158.23%

Pepper Pike

Crimcheck www.crimcheck.net

Simpliﬁed pre-employment screening solutions that protect client brands.

1991

155.00%

Brunswick

1st Choice Rooﬁng Company www.1stchoicerooﬁng.com

Full-service rooﬁng company serving Northeast Ohio.

2006

153.98%

Cleveland

National Safety Apparel www.thinkNSA.com

Manufacturer of ﬂame resistant safety apparel for utilities, oil and gas, steel mills and more.

1935

153.71%

Cleveland

363

Checkpoint Surgical www.checkpointsurgical.com

Advancing the science and practice of nerve protection and repair.

2008

153.32%

Cleveland

Global Transport, Inc. www.globaltransportinc.com

Full-service logistics provider focused on growing with customers in Northeast Ohio.

2008

151.97%

Brook Park

KHM Travel Group www.khmtravel.com

Host agency empowers, educates, supports and promotes independent travel agents.

2005

150.84%

Cleveland

Legacy Rooﬁng Services www.legacyrooﬁng.com

Full-service rooﬁng company, servicing all of Northeast Ohio.

2012

149.23%

Akron

125

ON Partners www.onpartners.com

National executive search ﬁrm that builds C-level and board leadership teams.

2006

149.05%

Hudson

MediQuant, LLC www.mediquant.com

Creates health care IT efﬁciencies with intelligent applications for revenue and data life.

1999

147.14%

Brecksville

QualityIP www.QualityIP.com

Provides professional IT services to small and mid-sized organizations throughout Northeast Ohio.

2004

138.25%

Kent

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

SPONSORED CONTENT

W19

Weatherhead 100 Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Digital Print Solutions www.dpsamerica.com

Canon and Xerox sales and service dealer specializing in production print along with ﬁnishing/binding.

2009

135.83%

Richﬁeld

Event Source www.eventsource.com

Delivers special event rentals, including linen, furniture and tabletop accessories.

1979

135.50%

Cleveland

182

Banyan Technology www.banyantechnology.com

Provider of live carrier connectivity for freight and transportation management nationwide.

2001

134.79%

Westlake

Sky Quest www.ﬂyskyquest.com

Provides safe and reliable private jet charter services, aircraft management and aircraft sales.

2001

134.74%

Cleveland

North American Coating Laboratories www.nacl.com

Provides specialized optical coatings in the polymer and glass optics markets.

1974

134.20%

Mentor

Pure Water Technology, LLC www.purewaterohio.com

Providing industries with pure drinking water systems for employees’ healthy hydration and wellness.

2005

131.36%

Bedford

Findaway www.ﬁndaway.com

Develops innovative technologies for distribution of digital audiobooks.

2004

129.53%

Solon

115

Purebuttons LLC www.purebuttons.com

Custom promotional products.

2005

124.86%

Medina

MFS SUPPLY www.mfssolutions.com

National distributor of multifamily renovation materials and contractor supplies.

2006

118.47%

Solon

166

ReMax Haven Realty Property Management www.rentcle.com

Property management, sales and construction.

2010

118.10%

Bedford Heights

WTWH Media LLC www.wtwhmedia.com

B2B media company that produces more than 45 websites, seven print publications, online content and live events.

2006

117.73%

Cleveland

FIT Technologies www.ﬁttechnologies.com

Provides a full range of managed IT support services.

1999

117.56%

Cleveland

Where is your company on its digital transformation journey? “Technology is fundamentally transforming the way value is created and captured in the economy. Digital assets are the primary source of value creation.” —Professor Youngjin Yoo, Faculty Director, xLab Founder Digital Transformation is about aligning your legacy assets and deep expertise with new digital assets to outperform the competition. It’s a challenging journey. Having a common language and framework helps. xLab – a new initiative at Weatherhead – partners faculty experts and techsavvy CWRU students with legacy companies to adopt and implement new, digital-first strategies to compete in the changing digital economy. Using the “Digital First Framework”, learn how to optimize existing assets, offer end-to-end consistent customer experience, monetize data, up-skill employees, and more. Ready to position your company for success in a competitive digital world?

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Weatherhead.case.edu/xlab xlab@case.edu

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

W20

SPONSORED CONTENT

Weatherhead 100 Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Compass Self Storage www.compassselfstorage.com

Self-storage centers across United States.

2008

115.85%

Cleveland

217

ASMGi asmgi.com

Helps grow and protect businesses with cybersecurity, software development and cloud IT services.

2002

108.94%

Cleveland

Consolidus, LLC www.consolidus.com

Promotional products distributor that leverages the internet and technology.

2006

108.35%

Akron

Color 3 Embroidery, Inc. www.color3.com

National wholesale custom apparel decorator and service partner for promotional products industry.

1995

106.12%

Warren

Bellwether Enterprise www.bellwetherenterprise.com

National, full-service commercial mortgage banking company.

2011

106.07%

Cleveland

275

Risk International Holdings, Inc. www.riskinternational.com

Global risk management and beneﬁt services ﬁrm that’s 100% independent from the insurance industry.

1986

105.73%

Fairlawn

Concept Services, Ltd. www.conceptltd.com

Concept combines outbound calling, digital marketing and CRM services to develop custom sales solutions for clients.

2002

105.43%

Medina

108

Sequoia Financial Group, LLC www.sequoia-ﬁnancial.com

RIA that remains innovative in technology, ﬁnancial literacy and comprehensive planning.

1991

103.08%

Akron

Millennium Control Systems, LLC www.m-controls.com

Systems integrator specializing in engineering, design, manufacturing, commissioning, service, etc.

1997

101.71%

Eastlake

Sherlock Services, Inc. www.sherlockservices.com

Information technology data center infrastructure maintenance and support services.

1991

99.97%

Barberton

SecureData 365 www.securedata365.com

Operates Ohio’s most advanced data centers in Canton and Cleveland.

2009

96.88%

Canton

Blackburn OEM Wheel Solutions www.blackburnwheels.com

Privately owned OEM wheel distributor.

1983

89.64%

Macedonia

WEATHERHEAD 100 WINNERS:

TELL YOUR GROWTH STORY!

Interested in sharing your success story? Work with Crain’s Content Studio – Cleveland, the marketing storytelling arm of Crain’s Cleveland Business, to gather information from your leadership team and select employees in this new custom content feature. Your story will be featured as sponsored content in a 2020 issue of Crain’s Cleveland Business, highlighting your designation as a Weatherhead 100 honoree. As an additional bonus, the story will be housed for one year on the Weatherhead 100 landing page on CrainsCleveland.com.

PRODUCED BY:

For more information, contact managing editor of custom and special projects,

Amy Ann Stoessel at astoessel@crain.com.

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

SPONSORED CONTENT

W21

Weatherhead 100 Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Greenspace Construction Services www.gcsteam.com

Construction management at risk, general contracting and design-build services.

2002

89.08%

Cleveland

Osborn Engineering www.osborn-eng.com

One of the nation’s oldest full-service engineering ﬁrms.

1892

87.92%

Cleveland

170

US Freight LLC www.gousfreight.com

Transportation ﬁrm providing service nationally.

2009

87.79%

Rocky River

SC Fastening Systems LLC www.scfastening.com

Industrial and construction supply distributor specializing in value-added services.

1999

87.49%

Macedonia

Cotsworks, LLC www.cotsworks.com

Designs and manufactures rugged optical components to operate in harsh environments.

2006

85.10%

Cleveland

Foundation Software, Inc. www.foundationsoft.com

Develops and supports job cost accounting and project management software for the construction industry.

1985

84.62%

Strongsville

243

TLC Products, Inc. www.tlc-products.com

Innovative, environmentally beneﬁcial products for agriculture and puriﬁcation of aquatic systems.

1996

84.03%

Cleveland

Neptune Plumbing & Heating Co. www.NeptunePlumbing.net

Plumbing contractors serving Northeast Ohio, specializing in new construction, prefabrication and service.

1957

82.08%

Cleveland

MarshBerry www.marshberry.com

Provides strategic consulting and M&A advisory services to insurance agencies/ brokers.

1981

82.00%

Woodmere

SpaceBound, Inc. www.SpaceBoundSolutions.com

National provider of IT services and solutions and global supplier of technology products.

1987

81.27%

Lagrange

Grants Plus www.grantsplus.com

Helps nonproﬁts secure grant funding.

2007

80.35%

Cleveland

Millennium Capital and Recovery Corporation www.NationwideRecoveryManagers.com

Nationwide provider of asset recovery management, skip tracing, impound and transport services to the ﬁnancial services industry.

1999

79.37%

Hudson

115

LDA Architects, Inc. www.ldaarchitecture.com

Architectural, interior design, landscape, historic preservation design ﬁrm

1995

75.37%

Cleveland

Cornerstone IT, Inc. www.CornerstoneIT.com

Managed IT services and Microsoft cloud solutions in NE Ohio.

2003

73.96%

Mentor

Carver Financial Services, Inc. www.carverﬁnancialservices.com

Financial planning ﬁrm helping clients simplify their lives and enhance their standard of living.

1990

72.50%

Mentor

Fire-Dex, LLC www.ﬁredex.com

Global manufacturer of personal protective equipment for firefighters and first responders.

1983

72.44%

Medina

152

Apple Growth Partners applegrowth.com

Accounting and business advisory ﬁrm.

1943

71.32%

Akron

Keene Building Products www.keenebuilding.com

Manufacturer for applications in noise control, building envelope and ﬂoor prep.

2002

68.68%

Cleveland

Accellis Technology Group, Inc. www.accellis.com

Managed IT Services, cybersecurity defense, application development and technology consulting.

2001

68.12%

Cleveland

Great Lakes Fasteners, Inc. www.glfus.com

Global purveyor of fasteners.

1958

67.02%

Twinsburg

100

Bialosky Cleveland www.bialosky.com

Design ﬁrm consisting of architects, interior designers, engineers, planners and graphic designers.

1951

65.49%

Cleveland

Upstart Winners List

These companies have met all Weatherhead 100 qualifications, employed 15 or fewer employees and/or had less than $5 million in net sales in 2018.

ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Clum Creative www.clumcreative.com

Video production company based in Northeast Ohio.

2011

1068.53%

Cleveland

Fusion Marketing Group www.fusion-brands.com

Promotional, entertainment, marketing and educational assembly development.

2014

366.66%

North Royalton

Woodside Health, LLC www.woodsidehealth.com

Medical ofﬁce building acquisition and management ﬁrm.

2011

351.98%

Independence

YellowLite www.yellowlite.com

Design and install solar energy systems for residential and commercial clients.

2009

306.74%

Cleveland

A & I Health Solutions, LLC www.aihealthsolutions.com

Environmental company specializing in asbestos and mold abatement and selective demolition.

2006

288.24%

Vermilion

Brakey Energy, Inc. www.brakeyenergy.com

Help industrial, commercial and institutional enterprises throughout Ohio cut energy costs.

1999

278.30%

Chagrin Falls

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

W22

SPONSORED CONTENT

Upstart Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

On The Other Side www.ontheothersidecle.com

Residential and commercial lawn fertilization company.

2010

265.12%

Chagrin Falls

M Genio Inc. www.mgenio.com

Boutique software development ﬁrm specializing in mobile, cloud and IoT.

2012

195.26%

Cleveland

CleanLife LED www.cleanlifeled.com

Custom LED lighting and IoT solutions and products for commercial, industrial and residential markets.

2011

194.22%

Cleveland

Request A Test requestatest.com

Affordable direct-to-consumer lab testing.

2001

176.25%

Breckville

iPlanGroup www.iplangroup.com

Self-directed IRA administrator helping clients invest IRAs in alternative assets.

2012

173.79%

Westlake

TinyCircuits www.tinycircuits.com

Designer and manufacturer of miniature electronic devices.

2011

165.21%

Akron

Ciresi & Morek, LLC www.ciresiandmorek.com

National executive search ﬁrm.

2012

140.52%

Brecksville

Pritt Entertainment Group www.prittentertainmentgroup.com

Brings brands to life through video, animation, photography, graphic design and live events.

2008

122.20%

Akron

Robert P Madison International Inc www.rpmadison.com

Architecture ﬁrm aiming to improve lives through innovative designs, mentoring and service to community.

1954

121.00%

Cleveland

Sculpt Fitness Gyms www.Sculptﬁtnesstraining.com

Private personal training, group ﬁtness and athlete performance.

2012

115.67%

Akron

the telos institute www.thetelosinstitute.com

Liberating greatness from leaders, leadership teams and organizations globally by harnessing the power of liminal space.

2006

114.82%

Chardon

River Rock Advisors www.riverrockadvisors.com

Boutique value chain management advisory ﬁrm.

2013

107.48%

Rocky River

Muse. www.museheadquarters.com

Branding and content marketing consultancy helping businesses communicate with clarity, intrigue and conﬁdence.

2011

103.96%

Cleveland

42connect www.42connect.com

Digital marketing ﬁrm specializing in generating leads through paid search and SEO.

2004

102.04%

Cleveland

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CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310 Cleveland 44113 Phone: 216-522-1383 Fax: 216-694-4264 www.crainscleveland.com

Managing editor, custom and special projects: Amy Ann Stoessel, astoessel@crain.com

CL_Cover Wrap2.indd 22 P013_P036_CL_20191216.indd 34

Production manager: Craig Mackey

Reporters: Judy Stringer Vince Guerrieri Barry Goodrich Kristen Hampshire

Graphic designer: Margaret Riedel

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12/2/19 8:14 PM 12/3/2019 7:48:04 AM

WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

SPONSORED CONTENT

W23

Upstart Winners List ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

Mortach Financial Services www.mortachﬁnancial.com

Specializing in safeguarding clients’ ﬁnancial goals so they can retire.

1993

100.66%

Cleveland

Everest Land Title Agency www.everestland.com

Full-service title and escrow company servicing local and national clients.

2006

100.53%

Cleveland

DMS Management Solutions www.dmsmgmtsolutions.com

Provides a wide range of accounting services to small and mid-sized businesses.

2003

99.29%

Westlake

E.A. Loxley & Associates www.loxleyassoc.com

Full-service accounting and tax ﬁrm specializing in small business management and taxation.

1995

96.42%

Stow

StandOut Stickers www.standoutstickers.com

Printer of custom stickers and vinyl decals.

2009

94.12%

Medina

The Gertsburg Law Firm www.gertsburglaw.com

Full-service business law ﬁrm aiming to improve the way businesses hire, pay and succeed with lawyers.

2012

84.19%

Chagrin Falls

Simplex-IT www.simplex-it.com

Managed and co-managed IT services provider for small-medium organizations throughout Northeast Ohio.

2007

75.93%

Stow

FORM www.theformgroup.com

Digital-ﬁrst creative agency for arts, culture and nonproﬁt organizations.

2004

73.19%

Shaker Heights

Planned Financial Services www.PlannedFinancial.com

Independent ﬁnancial steward for individuals, families and businesses seeking tailored wealth planning.

1994

72.56%

Brecksville

Centurion Winners List

# OF EMPLOYEES

These companies have met all Weatherhead 100 qualifications and had net sales of $100 million or more in 2018.

ORGANIZATION/WEBSITE

DESCRIPTION

YEAR EST.

SALES GROWTH

CITY

# OF EMPLOYEES

Providence Healthcare Management www.providencehcm.com

Provides management and consulting services for senior health care providers.

2008

801.46%

Pepper Pike

2863

LeafFilter Gutter Protection www.leafﬁlter.com

Installation on existing gutters, eliminating gutter cleaning forever.

2012

384.11%

Akron

1015

CrossCountry Mortgage, Inc. crosscountrymortgage.com/

Lending and reﬁnancing company with a team of licensed professionals dedicated to serving people.

2003

380.02%

Brecksville

2446

Union Home Mortgage www.unionhomemortgage.com

Independent mortgage banking company headquartered in Ohio with a network of branches throughout U.S.

1970

301.33%

Strongsville

1173

Park Place Technologies www.parkplacetechnologies.com

Post-warranty IT data center maintenance ﬁrm, providing storage, server and networking hardware maintenance.

1991

205.29%

Cleveland

1102

MobilityWorks www.mobilityworks.com

Largest retailer of wheelchair-accessible vehicles with 73 locations across the country.

1997

157.66%

Richﬁeld

1125

Jarrett www.gojarrett.com

Partner for transportation services, warehousing services and ﬂeet services.

1999

151.70%

Orrville

131

Echo Health, Inc. www.echohealthinc.com

Premier provider of payment solutions for the health care and insurance industries.

1997

150.07%

Westlake

TalentLaunch www.mytalentlaunch.com

Nationwide network of independently operated stafﬁng and recruitment ﬁrms.

2001

135.47%

Independence

215

OEC www.oeconnection.com

Leading global automotive technology provider for OEM distribution networks.

2000

131.41%

Richﬁeld

863

GEMCORE Health www.gemcorehealth.com

Offers a core set of solutions delivering products and services to provide better health care.

1992

125.47%

Hudson

278

Diversiﬁed Employee Soultions www.des4you.com

Professional employer organization offering outsourced payroll, beneﬁts, workers comp and human resources.

1998

119.85%

Medina

7000

ExactCare www.exactcarepharmacy.com

Long-term care pharmacy at home for high-risk patients to improve health outcomes and reduce costs.

2009

115.26%

Valley View

452

Garland Industries, Inc. www.garlandco.com

Manufacturer of high-performance roof systems, coatings and accessories.

1895

97.31%

Cleveland

1269

Mazzella Holding Company, Inc. www.mazzellalifting.com

Cleveland-based manufacturer and distributor of lifting and rooﬁng products.

1959

88.07%

Akron

747

Leppo Group, Inc. www.leppos.com

Construction equipment rental and distribution company focused on achieving customer success through trusted partnerships.

1945

76.19%

Kent

167

Valley Truck Centers www.valleytruckcenters.net

Customer-driven provider of the premier global vehicle brands through selling support solutions.

1964

74.94%

Cleveland

284

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WEATHERHEAD 100 | NEO’S FASTEST GROWING COMPANIES

W24

SPONSORED CONTENT

BY THE NUMBERS Oldest Company Osborn Engineering, founded

1892

Years on the Weatherhead 100 list 17 14

Most Employees Diversified Employee Solutions,

7,000

employees

Number of Employees (W100, Upstart, Centurion) Less than 5: 3 5 - 25: 45 26 - 50: 30 51 - 100: 28 101 - 150: 9 151 - 200: 7 201 - 300: 10 300 plus: 14

Decade established (W100, Upstart, Centurion)

1sttime winners

2 years

3 years

4 years

5 years

6 years

6 7 years

5 8 years

9 years

10 years

11 years

12 years

13+ years

Winners by county (W100, Upstart, Centurion) Cuyahoga - 95 Summit - 28 Lake - 6 Lorain - 2 Stark - 1

Medina - 6 Geauga -3 Wayne - 1 Portage - 2 Ashtabula - 0

Erie - 1 Mahoning - 0 Tuscarawas -0 Trumbull - 1

1800s: 2 1900s: 0 1910s: 1 1920s: 0 1930s: 1 1940s: 2 1950s: 6 1960s: 1 1970s: 4 1980s: 7 1990s: 29 2000s: 68 2010s: 25

Five-year growth rates – W100 50% - 99%: 24 100% - 249%: 53 250% - 499%: 10 500% - 749%: 5 750% - 999%: 3 1,000% - 1,999%: 5

Market Sectors of W100 Companies Automotive – 2 Business Products/Services – 10 Computer: 14 Construction: 12 Consumer Products and Services – 2 Distribution: 4 Electronics/Instrumentation – 1 Environmental – 3 Finance – 1 Financial Services – 6 Industrial/Energy – 1 Manufacturing – 16 Medical – 9 Other – 19 Professional Service - 21 Real Estate – 3 Service – 2 Telecommunications – 1 Note: Numbers do not add up to 100 due to winners being in multiple categories.

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ALICE

From Page 1

Former Dallas police officer Greg Crane and his wife, Lisa, who was an elementary school principal at the time, developed the system shortly after the Columbine High School shooting in 1999. Victoria Shaw, director of marketing at the company, said the couple wanted to create an alternative to conventional lockdown drills that would provide response options in addition to “waiting for law enforcement to arrive.” The Cranes spread the methodology largely via grassroots training until 2013, when an investment group that included Medina entrepreneur David Mueller bought the company and moved it to Northeast Ohio. With Mueller as CEO, the company established a national network of trainers across the U.S. and developed onsite curriculum and technology-development expertise. Between 2014 and 2018, the company — which does not disclose its revenue — grew its employee base from about 20 to just under 60, according to Shaw. In 2018, it relocated to the far east side of Medina, tripling the size of its original headquarters. Today, the ALICE Training Institute employs roughly 100 people, including about 70 at its Medina site. Chief marketing officer Andrew Kraynak said 5,500 school systems are clients, out of “only about 14,000 total districts in the U.S. … So ALICE is one of the dominant — if not the dominant — methodology in the U.S. when it comes to active shooter response.”

Active shooter drills, like this one at Park High School in Livingston, Mont., have become common after the shootings at Columbine High School in 1999. | WILLIAM CAMPBELL/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES

Its Ohio footprint is especially large. More than 1,800 organizations across the state have received ALICE training, including 588 public, private and charter K-12 school districts. Other significant Ohio-based user groups include law enforcement (500), higher education (110) and businesses (308).

An ounce of prevention Kraynak equates the distinction between ALICE and its recent acquisitions to the difference between cough medication and a flu shot: The

former is a response to an event that the latter is designed to avoid altogether. While SafePlans did include a consulting practice with a similar process to ALICE, the company also has an online tool that helps organizations manage emergency plans and drills, and assess their intrusion-risk profile from a facility perspective. NaviGate, on the other hand, is more of a pure technology play. “It’s an emergency preparedness software that connects all these disparate dots that used to be contained in a manual on a shelf and in spread-

sheets,” Kraynak said. The NaviGate software allows organizations to not only track when drills are performed, but also identify what students might not be accounted for in a classroom during a drill or actual lockdown. In addition, it manages the reunification process, he said, and includes a behavioral threat assessment tool that seeks to identify “people in crisis” so administrators can respond with counseling and other programs “to help them recover and not be a threat to others.” According to Kraynak, more than 1,200 school systems nationwide use

the NaviGate platform, which, like ALICE, has a strong presence in Ohio. He said clients of the three businesses should not feel any effect as a result of the mergers, although executives do anticipate an opportunity to now offer the prevention platforms to members of its ALICE audience who might not have been aware of the products. Ken Trump, a Cleveland-based school security consultant, said the industry is largely made up of boutique consulting outfits and niche product companies. He added, though, that Raptor Technologies’ June acquisition of LobbyGuard Solutions — both those companies offer visitor-management solutions — might be another signal of impending consolidation. “It kind of fits a trend, or really the front end of a trend,” Trump said. Guilbault said the ALICE Training Institute does have its eye out for other targets. The lack of a commanding industry player is a big reason why an opportunity with the company was “interesting and attractive” to him. “I spent the last seven years at a technology education services company that really addressed the needs of the K-12 schools and nonprofit faith-based organizations,” he said. “These community-based organizations are often underserved and rely on fragmented, innovative entrepreneurs. This is where we see the opportunity to kind of put scale in place and put investment in place to keep that innovation thriving and bringing them together.” Contact Judy Stringer: clbfreelancer@crain.com

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December 16, 2019 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 37

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12/12/2019 2:10:56 PM

A CONVERSATION

FINANCE

BANKING ON TALENT

MARK DANE/ISTOCK

Rudy Bentlage, Northeast Ohio market executive for JPMorgan Chase Bank, shares his thoughts on the economy and what’s on the minds of his clients. PAGE 42

How the Great Recession has affected recruitment and retention for banks BY JEREMY NOBILE

A lingering, unanticipated effect of the Great Recession has been its impact on recruitment and retention of workers in the financial services industry. As firms compete more than ever for employees, negative stigmas that hang over the banking profession in general — some stemming from the mortgage crisis or rooted in bad press, like the Wells Fargo fake-accounts scandal, among other things — hinder efforts to not just draw top talent but to keep it aboard, particularly younger professionals who will be needed to carry these companies into the future. According to a February report by the ABA Banking Journal, employee acquisition and retention has become a critical priority for community banks in particular. The number of smaller community banks has greatly diminished through consolidation. There are 217 commercial banks operating in Ohio today, half as many as in 1994, while the roughly 4,700 banks nationwide marks a reduc-

tion of 40% since just 2002. For them, the play for younger talent is all the more challenging because they simply don’t have the size, scale and brand recognition of their larger competitors. Failing to excel on talent strategies could jeopardize their ability to stay independent. Ohio Bankers League president and CEO Mike Adelman said concerns like these are prompting his trade group, which runs manage-

“WHEN I THINK ABOUT THE LAST 10 YEARS POSTDOWNTURN, FINANCIAL SERVICE COMPANIES HAVE SORT OF HAD TO FIGHT THEIR WAY BACK TO HAVING A STRONG REPUTATION WITH SOME PEOPLE.” — Caitlin McLaughlin, director of talent and total rewards for PNC Financial Services

ment training programs for banks, to partner with Ohio colleges, like Kent State University and Wright State University, to develop banking-specific diplomas to increase student interest in the field and build up the future workforce. But nowadays, it’s simply more difficult to excite some people about the finance industry. “Banking is not sexy anymore. It’s not cool. That’s the perception at least,” observed Brian Rhonemus, CEO of Columbus-based Rhonemus Group, a talent management and recruitment firm for the banking industry. “So when it comes to getting some people interested in banking, it has been a challenge.” While there are always exceptions, Rhonemus said he sees more challenges for rural banks in particular finding workers, even prospects with a “minimum” level of skills. He noted recent challenges in filling a post for a client in Minster, a village roughly 35 miles north of Dayton, that in the past wouldn’t

have been hard. “You would think I was asking people to move to Siberia,” he said.

Aggressive recruiting Banks large and small are being more thoughtful in their recruiting strategies across the spectrum of experience, but particularly when it comes to younger recruits. Larger outfits tend to have a leg up on the competition, though. “When I think about the last 10 years post-downturn, financial service companies have sort of had to fight their way back to having a strong reputation with some people,” said Caitlin McLaughlin, director of talent and total rewards for PNC Financial Services, a company with close to $400 billion in total assets. She described the current landscape as one of “the most competitive markets we’ve ever seen” for employees. See TALENT on Page 40

38 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | DECEMBER 16, 2019

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12/12/2019 1:21:29 PM

Bank of America N.A. Member FDIC.

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FOCUS | FINANCE

Image problem Kevin Jacques, Boynton D. Murch Chair in Finance at Baldwin Wallace University, said that for kids coming into college, finance simply isn’t as popular a major as it once was. That’s possibly because of negative perceptions of the industry or even the fact

A PNC employee talks with students at the 2019 PNC Leadership & Education for Advancing Diversity Summit. | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

that students are less likely to be exposed to financial education in high school, reducing the odds of their considering work in the profession. Those who are interested in finance-related disciplines tend to pursue jobs with larger companies over community banks, often in specialized roles not available at smaller companies. Top finance students are also in high demand in other industries outside banking, increasing the likelihood of their recruitment elsewhere. “If you are a small community bank and you want to build a brand around what your banks does, well, these kids are hearing lots of noise from other great companies,” McLaughlin said, “and it’s hard to be just dipping your toe in the water versus having a long-standing brand.” Jacques said that, in his experience, smaller banks simply aren’t as

active in on-campus recruiting or directly talking with professors like him to source candidates. Those factors contribute to what feels like a talent shortage in banking that may hit community banks the hardest. “There is definitely a challenge to attract and retain talent, regardless of the age,” said Robert Palmer, CEO of the Community Bankers Association of Ohio. “This has been more impactful for the younger generation, though, for numerous reasons.” He defined that “younger generation” as those 40 years old and younger. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median age of employees in banking and related services in 2018 was 42. Palmer placed some blame for banking’s image problem on the media, which he says did a disservice to community banks — not unlike poli-

McLaughlin said PNC’s strategy is to sell potential workers, particularly young recruits, on careers. That means laying out clear paths for growth and raises, something which larger companies have done better. That’s in addition to conveying the company’s philanthropic efforts — which resonates with a more socially conscious and progressive millennial demographic — along with the usual perks and work-life balance. While recruiting on college campuses has picked up for the company, PNC, as of three years ago, also recruits new hires directly from high school through its PartnerUp program. The bank brings on about 500 people from colleges a year. Last year, it hired 28 right out of high school. Some are individuals who never planned on going to college but could take an entry-level role with the bank — as a teller, for instance. “We are looking at every talent pool we can possibly consider,” McLaughlin said. Community banks, however — which as a group tend to have less than $10 billion in assets, many less than $1 billion — may struggle to compete with a recruiting machine like PNC. And the industry’s image problems haven’t done recruiters any favors.

Preparing for the future Aware of this, companies like PNC plot out career paths more than ever to show candidates where their jobs could lead and what they could earn, which helps with long-term retention. PNC’s Grow Up Great initiative targeting childhood education is something McLaughlin said has been an asset in recruiting young people. Laying out career paths and opportunities for management training is something smaller banks — which lean on the OBL for management training programs — have also gotten better at in recent years. At community banks, Palmer said, the career path has historically been “keep your nose clean and there’s no reason you can’t be president” someday. “Banks are more and more realizing that there is a substantial investment of resources in development of personnel,” he said, “and they are being more conscientious about those resources. They’re doing a better job.” But competing against larger firms, while rowing against a tide of negative perceptions, makes that difficult. Smaller firms tend to naturally be at a disadvantage. Down the line, recruiting issues could possibly influence additional M&A, shrinking the banking market further and concentrating more market share at large institutions. “It’s a very real problem that community banks, especially those in more rural areas, are feeling,” said OBL spokesman James Thurston. “It would not be a stretch to say there will be consolidation in the future caused by the lack of talent coming into the industry if we don’t address this now. We want to get ahead of the issue and help prepare these banks for the future.”

++ ++ +

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

From Page 38

cymakers — by aligning them with the large banks that ultimately created the last recession. Distinctions were seldom made between their respective business models coming out of the recession. One 25-year-old grad, in a 2016 report by eFinancialCareers, said she wouldn’t work in finance because it’s “a bunch of old white guys doing sneaky things in a conference room.” “There was constant reminding to those who would listen that the problems in the recession and the economy were due to banks, making banking a less attractive occupation,” Palmer said. “Now, there’s been an effort on the side of larger institutions to reposition themselves as good corporate citizens, even though they go through these hiccups with fake-account scandals, branch closures, acquisitions, layoffs. There is still a perception in the 40-and-under group that even if they go into the market, they don’t know if they’ll have long-term opportunities because of what’s happened.” Retention of younger employees can be challenging, agreed Thomas Caldwell, CEO of The Middlefield Banking Co. Caldwell, who’s been with the bank for more than 30 years, said some will leave for another 50 cents or dollar an hour. “I think the challenge for community banks is we need to show younger employees we’re growing so they know they have an opportunity to grow with the institution,” he said. “I think when you look at even smaller rural banks, that can be a tougher sell.” Caldwell added his bank often tries to counter perceptions that workers would prefer to be at larger companies by suggesting they would be small fish in a big pond. “Here, you can be a big fish in a small pond,” he said.

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40 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | DECEMBER 16, 2019

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FOCUS | FINANCE | ADVISER

What the phase-out of LIBOR means for business owners BY MICHAEL D. MAKOFSKY

If you’re a business owner and have a bank loan or other financial product, you have likely already been impacted by LIBOR, whether you know it or not. Banks frequently use LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) to calculate the interest rate on a variety of financial products. It's estimated that more than $300 trillion globally in loans, derivatives and other financial contracts is based on LIBOR pricing. It's an interest rate based on submissions from banks estimating the daily interest rate for each bank to borrow money from another bank. As a result, LIBOR can fluctuate as economic conditions change. LIBOR is currently used globally in a wide variety of financial contracts, including lines of credit, variable-rate mortgages, interestrate swaps and corporate bonds. By way of illustration, a borrower’s interest rate is often calculated based on a LIBOR-based index plus an applicable margin. If the onemonth LIBOR is 2.0% and the applicable margin is 1.5%, then the interest rate is 3.5%. If LIBOR increases, the corresponding interest rate increases by such change. Alternatively, if LIBOR decreases, the corresponding interest rate decreases by such change. In recent years, however, price-fixing scandals have undermined LIBOR, reducing it to a questionable

still many nuances that have to be considered. While some financial products are starting to incorporate SOFR, many others still use LIBOR as the reference rate. Makofsky is a Further, other principal at McCarthy, Lebit, U.S. dollar reference rates are Crystal & also being conLiffman Co. sidered. At this LPA. point, it remains to be seen how and when the banking industry will ultimately adopt an alternate reference rate. Discontinuation of LIBOR could have a significant impact on financial markets. It is paramount that an orderly transition to alternative reference rates is completed in a timely manner. Many financial institutions are already figuring out how to best transition away from LIBOR in loan transactions. Companies also need to determine their potential exposure and be proactive to mitigate possible risks.

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Businesses need to identify existing LIBOR-based contracts that mature after Dec. 31, 2021, and determine what impact the discontinuation of LIBOR will have on such contracts. Companies should review these contracts to determine whether BUSINESSES NEED TO IDENTIFY EXISTING there is a fallback LIBOR-BASED CONTRACTS THAT MATURE index to be used if AFTER DEC. 31, 2021, AND DETERMINE WHAT LIBOR ceases to be published. IMPACT THE DISCONTINUATION OF LIBOR Many older contracts have inWILL HAVE ON SUCH CONTRACTS. MANY terest-rate proviOLDER CONTRACTS HAVE INTEREST-RATE sions that didn't PROVISIONS THAT DIDN’T CONTEMPLATE THE contemplate the discontinuation DISCONTINUATION OF LIBOR. of LIBOR. In these situations, it's unstandard. As a result, the U.K. author- clear how interest will be calculated ity that oversees LIBOR has stated going forward. More recent contracts that by the end of 2021, reference contain fallback language, but these banks will no longer be required to provisions may not have been studied quote LIBOR. It's expected that many carefully at the time the contract was banks which report information used written. As a result, the post-LIBOR to set LIBOR will stop doing so after interest-rate adjustment may be in2021. As a result, the future of LIBOR consistent with a party’s expectations is clearly in doubt and it's likely to be or create unintended results. discontinued. Companies should discuss with If your business has a LIBOR-based their financial institution how interproduct, such as a line of credit, est will be calculated going forward mortgage or interest-rate protection on their financial products so there is agreement that will mature after clarity on both sides. Financial insti2021, your bottom line could be af- tutions will have to amend LIBORfected as a result of changing interest based contracts to implement or rates governing repayment. Similar- clarify a replacement rate. Compaly, if your company has issued or pur- nies need to understand the alternachases corporate or municipal tive rate, how it is calculated and how bonds, the LIBOR transition will af- it differs from LIBOR. Those differfect those instruments. ences could affect profitability, inThe proposed U.S. replacement for crease costs or introduce new risks LIBOR is the Secured Overnight Fi- for those contracts. Companies and nancing Rate (SOFR). It is linked to financial institutions may need to adthe cost of borrowing cash overnight just contracts to accommodate such secured by U.S. Treasury securities. changes. This rate is based on actual U.S. TreaGoing forward, all financial consury-backed repurchase transactions tracts should specify an alternate rate so, in theory, it's less subject to mar- to LIBOR and/or provide effective ket manipulation. However, there are fallback language.

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FOCUS | FINANCE | Q&A

Rudy Bentlage Northeast Ohio market executive, JPMorgan Chase Bank

``To set the stage here, tell me a little about your team in Northeast Ohio. I have 11 bankers on the team, basically five or six in Cleveland, the rest covering the Akron/Canton/Youngstown marketplace. We focus on the middle market, which is companies with between $20 million to $500 million in revenue. ``With JPMorgan simply being so large, I feel like many might assume you are typically interested in large relationships. So how much of your book of business is in the lower end of that spectrum? You know, that is probably the No. 1 thing we have to get over because there is that perception. Actually, 70% of our business is with companies with less than $100 million in revenue. A lot of people would’ve never guessed that. If you’re at another institution, it’s an easy poke at the big banks to say we wouldn’t be interested in you. But it’s just one of the biggest fallacies out there.

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As Northeast Ohio market executive for JPMorgan Chase Bank, Rudy Bentlage oversees a team of middle market bankers covering a region that stretches from Greater Cleveland through the Akron, Canton and Youngstown areas. His team — perhaps to the surprise of some because of his company’s size — largely focuses on businesses with less than $100 million in annual revenue. With his expertise in mind, Crain’s recently sat down with Bentlage to talk about his take on the economy and what he’s hearing and seeing among his clientele, as well as how his team simply approaches the market today. — Jeremy Nobile ``So what’s your pulse on how companies have fared through 2019? I think if you look at what might be the two big negative factors, those would be the tariffs and the GM strike. Those are two factors that, if you’ve been hit by them, are definitely having a negative impact on your business. If you take those out and look at the broader economy across Northeast Ohio, I don’t think anyone is standing up going, ‘This is the best time I’ve ever had.’ But they’re also not going, ‘Oh my God, this is terrible.’ I think what starts to cloud things is really the news that filters in. I think people are concerned about what happens with the tariffs and the election, or would Ford or Chrysler go on a strike because GM went on a strike. So I think it’s the overall news that starts to impact people’s feelings. But for the most part, people are performing well. I’m sure they would always like to make more money and be more profitable, but I think they’re performing well.

``The GM strike was certainly big in this region. Is that still having any lingering effects on manufacturers? So that strike has obviously ended. But as you look at companies that supply GM, there is a ripple effect. They days they were on strike were days products weren’t shipped to GM. So those days are lost. They might make up some of it. But for the most part, a lot of that is lost. Now, they have that negative hit, and they have to figure out how to get out of it by generating cash flow. For folks impacted by the strike, that’s what on their mind. And we had several borrowers impacted by that. We’ve had to go in and work with them to find solutions. `The ` last report from the National Center for the Middle Market found that revenue and employment growth rates have slowed, dipping below historical averages in the third quarter, resulting in more conservative plans and some downward movement in overall optimism. What do you see that’s making business wary nowadays? Tariffs are the big thing. That’s a long-term ramification where prices have gone up. So if I’m an importer and I’m selling to a domestic company, that’s one thing. If I export that and sell to someone not impacted by the tariffs, that country — let’s say Canada — they could sit back and say, ‘I don’t care what tariffs you have. You’re doing that to yourself.’ So it’s really impacted a lot of companies in that way. And there’s a lot of uncertainty with when that’s going to be resolved. Auto builds is a great example of that uncertainty. It’s a big driver in this sort of Great Lakes region because of the steel and stamped products. Now, there is no major decline in new builds projected. You could argue

it might get soft. But there’s not going to be a huge decline.

Well, it can be very episodic. You can have companies that have projects they’re investing in. Maybe they’re creating efficiencies. Or they may have got a new product from a customer and they need to invest in CNC machines or robotics, things like that. Companies continue to do that.

``What’s your pulse on how companies are feeling about the economy right now? And how might the tariff situation be impacting those views? Our view internally is 70% of the economy is still driven by consumers. The consumer is strong. Debt levels are low. People aren’t overly leveraged. So 70% of the economy is in pretty good shape. And then you look at things on the periphery. It’s the tariffs and things of that nature at play there. Speaking for myself, I worry if there could be more tariffs. Would I say my view of the economy is worse than it was in 2018? I would say it’s somewhat similar. And I would say, absent the folks who were heavily impacted by the strikes and the tariffs, I would say most of our clients feel equally comfortable with the economy. They might feel a little worried because of what might happen in the election. But I don’t think people feel things are terrible. Overall, I think they’re feeling good.

``So they’re maybe not buying that one big piece of equipment to ramp up production, but investing in efficiencies, indicating there is still generally some demand out there. It just looks a little different right now. No doubt about it. And some are saying they just need to go into a new facility because they’re busting at the seams. I think for the stable business that, absent a major product opportunity where you have a customer asking you to expand, I don’t know that they’re saying, 'I’m going to expand because I think the volume is going to come.' So, absent that big new customer launch, I think borrowing will be stable, maybe even down a little bit because companies are generating cash and paying down debt.

``What’s the appetite for credit like right now? So when you take a look at net borrowing, and let’s say the number of clients has stayed static, the level of borrowings is down. People are borrowing less. And I think that goes to show companies are making money, they are trying to de-lever.

``With credit appetite slowing, what’s keeping you and your folks busy? You mentioned earlier working with companies and “finding solutions.” Does that just mean working with them if they can’t make a payment on their loan? So when we talk about how we work with companies, there are two sides of it. If things don’t go the way the company thought they would go and times are tougher, we would definitely work with the business. We had a client in the metal-bending industry impacted by the GM strike very negatively, and their profitability was about one-third of what they had projected. And they did everything they should do. They

``Is that not an indication that companies are perhaps feeling leery about the future versus expanding or investing in big new pieces of equipment or generally leveraging up? Yes, but I also think it’s the way prudent people operate businesses. ``Do you see credit demands picking up at all in 2020?

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42 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | December 16, 2019

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FOCUS | FINANCE | ADVISER

Picking the right time to sell a company can’t control GM went on strike, but they were proactive in making sure their business was positioned to get through it. So that’s some of the things we do with borrowers.  What’s a solution you commonly work on stemming from something clients are regularly asking about today? As you look at companies and what their needs are, it’s a lot to do with their payment systems. And one of the major issues happening right now is fraud. If you look at hacking, I can’t tell you how many times someone gets an email from a CEO who happens to be in Boca Raton, and the emails says, ‘The weather here is awesome. Can you wire $300,000 out?’ We are working heavily with companies to make sure there is fraud protection and that there are systems in place so they don’t send that wire out inadvertently.  So cybersecurity is something you regularly hear about? That is really the biggest risk right now. And malware or ransomware.  We sort of danced around this earlier, so I’ll ask it flat out: What’s your view on the likelihood of a recession in the near future? So there are two things here: a recession and a slowdown. Will there be a slowdown? Sure, I think that could happen any time. But I don’t see markers in the economy where you would say, 'Yeah, there’s a recession coming.' Across our entire firm, we don’t state that we think there’s a recession coming. Now, do we have to be prudent and talk to clients and say, 'Look, if there’s a slowdown, how do you plan for that?' Absolutely. We get asked a lot: 'Across the portfolio, what are you seeing?' I can’t say we’re seeing big waves. Going back to automotive builds, those are not projected to be way off. Consumer is strong. Debt levels aren’t high. So, absent a major change in politics and policies, I could see a slowdown, but not to the magnitude of a recession.

BY MARK A. FILIPPELL

Business owners work for years to build value in their enterprises, so when they want to sell or recapitalize, the timing of the transaction is important to maximize value. But when contemplating this life-changing activity, many fail to realize that, as the seller, they have one enormous advantage in the typical sale process: The seller decides when to take the company to market. Factors affecting when to sell fall into two categories: external and internal. External factors, over which a seller has little control, include: 1. THE OVERALL STATE OF THE ECONOMY. Buyers’ valuation thinking is more aggressive when the overall economy is strong. Their mentality often becomes “Don’t miss this opportunity!” instead of “What could go wrong?” A stronger economy drives competitive bidding, favorable deal structure and higher multiples. 2. THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY IN THE SELLER’S MARKETS. Even more important than the overall economy is the health of the seller’s market segment. What difference does it make if the Gross National Product will increase 4% if the seller’s market is in steep decline?

ger results. Along with consistently healthy financial results, other performance measures should be considered:  The backlog. If the seller’s current performance Filippell is a is marginal, a managing healthy backlog of director at business suggests Citizen Capital performance will Markets. improve.  The investment base. If the seller is making a major capital investment (e.g., a new facility), then the company’s performance should improve. But the value of such investments generally factor into the sale price only after the investment is made and achieving impact in the market.  The forecast and its feasibility. Forecasts without support are worthless. A seller must be able to explain the underlying forecast assumptions (e.g., sales growth from new products, margin improvement from lower-cost suppliers).

2. THE SELLER’S MANAGEMENT TEAM. If there are holes in the management team, fill them before the sale process begins. After that, it’s extremely difficult to recruit the sharp people that appeal to buyers. 3. POSITIVE PUBLICITY. If the seller is going to be introducing a new product or receiving an important new contract, either of which would be covered by the media, let these things happen. This type of news gives the seller added credibility. 4. THE TRADE-SHOW SEASON. Maintaining confidentiality is critical in most sale processes. One of the easiest ways to compromise this is to go to market right before a major trade show. Why? Once the camaraderie takes hold and the libations start flowing, many buyers find sharing the latest information irresistible. Once rumors start, they can spread like wildfire. 5. THE AUDIT CYCLE. The seller must present its financial situation, either in an audited, reviewed or quality-of-earnings report format.

Go to market after the audit has confirmed the company’s financial performance, as well as uncovered any issues that need to be rectified. 6. HOLIDAYS AND VACATIONS. If possible, sellers should not approach buyers in August or December, when many buyers’ minds are on vacations or holiday celebrations. As a result, the seller’s confidential information will be on multiple desks, getting more stale by the day. Finally, when deciding on the best time to sell, the only thing worse than going to market too early is going to market too late. If sellers want to attain liquidity and the company is well-positioned for a sale, it's usually best to go ahead. The calendar is the enemy, as myriad unexpected events can happen to make the company less marketable. Downturns come, key executives quit and new competitors arise. It generally takes at least five to six months to sell a company, and its valuation can fluctuate by 10%, 20% or 30% based on when it goes to market.

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AKRON TECHNOLOGY

Local businesses excited about UA’s cybersecurity program New test facility, degree are helping prepare in-demand graduates for growing industry BBY DAN SHINGLER

The University of Akron might be onto something with its cybersecurity major and related test bed that’s designed to enable students and others to study malevolent software in a quarantined environment. UA says it is the first school in Ohio to offer a cybersecurity degree and the only one to develop an on-site test bed for students so far. The university unveiled its test bed on Dec. 9. It includes 40 workstations, all networked together and able to simulate working networks in businesses and other workplaces. But the facility is completely cut off from the internet, which means students and others can use it to conduct research on viruses, malware and other malicious software without the risk of it escaping and causing harm elsewhere. Those already working on the front lines of cybersecurity say they welcome both UA’s degree program and the test bed, because the industry needs more experts who can protect businesses, governmental entities and other targets from ransomware and other attacks. “The last time I checked, we were about 500,000 jobs short in the cybersecurity industry, and average pay is pretty significant, too,” said Mike Valentine, CEO of Binary Defense, a Stow business that specializes in the field. “But, unfortunately, we only see that number growing because output from the nation’s universities just can’t keep up.” That might be bad news for large companies looking to hire highly trained cybersecurity experts and only make such specialists less affordable for some smaller companies to retain in-house. But it could be good news for the students enrolled in UA’s major, which it rolled out in fall 2017 with 68 students. Valentine and others in the industry said the new test bed should be a valuable resource to those enrolled in UA’s degree program and for the

INSURANCE

From Page 4

“It’s just one piece of the puzzle,” Klonk said. “You do still have driving costs of the hospitals and facilities and technology and drugs — all of that feeds into it. But at the end of the day, it’s going to force people to start focusing on things we’ve tried to have them focus on for years: things like more narrow preferred networks, finding the providers who have the best quality and best price of care, centers of excellence around things like orthopedics, heart surgery, so on and so forth.” Historically, when providers pass higher prices to insurers, insurers in turn pass those on to employees in the form of higher premiums. That trend, which has been ongoing for roughly the past decade, is not sustainable, Radley said. Krieg said that it’s gotten to the point — and he believes it’s been there for a number of years — where costs are “clearly causing financial

Students in the University of Akron’s cybersecurity degree program work in the school’s new test bed, which is used for training. The facility was unveiled Dec. 9. | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Ohio Army National Guard, which will use the site to help the state and its businesses with cybersecurity issues. It will give them hands-on experience that many job candidates lack. “Hiring students who have seen it, experienced it and played around with it is a big plus for employers. … Finding someone with real-world experience is always key,” said Dave DeSimone, chief security officer for Binary Defense. “There was a time not long ago when we would interview candidates out of college, and others, and their knowledge of cybersecurity was very limited.” He added he’s been following the test bed development closely after working with the university to help it develop its degree program. DeSimone and Valentine predicted UA’s new graduates will have little trouble finding jobs, and said their company will be one of many eager to interview them. Techcrunch.com recently reportdistress to employees.” Employers need to understand their workforce’s financial exposure and then challenge themselves to create an affordable health plan, he said. Radley pointed to some data points in the report that he said may indicate that the cost-shifting strategy has run its course. The growth rates for both premium contributions and deductibles have come down in recent years, he noted. Though they’re still growing faster than wages, they’re not growing as rapidly. “To us, that suggests that the strategy of passing these higher costs down to employees, you know, maybe we’ve hit our limit,” Radley said. “Maybe employees really just can’t take very much more of it. And we’re going to have to find new strategies to figure out how to get health care prices down.” What exactly those strategies will be remains the trillion-dollar question, he added. But there are several things that could address the ballooning costs. For instance, Radley

ed that “global spending on cybersecurity is expected to surpass $133 billion by 2022 and that venture capital firms invested a record $5.3 billion in cybersecurity enterprises in 2018.” “We’re experiencing significant growth in cybersecurity,” Valentine said, noting that Binary Defense went from 35 employees to a staff of 90 over just the past year. “And we’re projecting to add another 50 jobs next year,” he added. Binary Defense is not alone, either. Other companies specializing in cybersecurity are expanding, and other service providers are realizing that their clients need help in the field. Among those is Sikich LLP, an Illinois-based accounting and technology consulting firm that in 2016 acquired Akron’s Brockman, Coats, Gedelian & Co. The local operation in 2017 moved into a new 34,000square-foot regional headquarters on White Pond Drive. In June, Sikich hired Christopher Hartley, who previously worked with

IBM and large consulting firms, as director of cybersecurity to build up its practice in that area. He was definitely watching the test bed and degree program at UA. “I was aware of it,” Hartley said. “My son is in the cybersecurity program at the University of Akron.” He added he’s glad to see the test bed open, because of the need for experienced graduates. “If you’ve got a solid program and get kids through it with tangible skills than can be applied on Day One, that’s only going to benefit them,” Hartley said. “So I’m super excited about what’s going to come out of the University of Akron with this new lab.” He’ll also be hiring, he added, though not quite as rapidly as Binary Defense. He’s brought on three people since coming aboard, bringing the firm’s cybersecurity practice to about 40 people. Sikich is looking for two more now, he said, predicting that more will come as the practice grows.

“TO US, THAT SUGGESTS THAT THE STRATEGY OF PASSING THESE HIGHER COSTS DOWN TO EMPLOYEES, YOU KNOW, MAYBE WE’VE HIT OUR LIMIT.” ——David Radley, senior scientist for the Commonwealth Fund

noted, in Maryland, health care providers, insurance companies and state commissioners get together to set prices for health care services in a fixed payment model. While it wouldn’t necessarily translate to every state, it’s “something to think about,” he said. Also, insurers and employers could come together to be a bit tougher when it comes to negotiating prices with local providers. Radley recognizes, though, that employers are in a bind. Even if the strategy to negotiate better prices is relatively obvious, he said, it’s not quite clear where the lever is to do so. Krieg said that it’s time to look at the waste and inefficiencies in health

insurance plans, weeding out excess costs, such as unnecessary fees and expenses, that aren’t driving value to the offered plan. That comes from a lack of effective supply-chain management. Employers need to challenge these inefficiencies within the cost structures, he said. “Wherever they can find improvement, hopefully that puts them in a position of not having to shift additional cost burden to employees,” Krieg said. Though he considers this an “easy” step every employer can address, he said many are “comfortably numb” with the status quo. “They unfortunately have been conditioned to accept really poor

“There are a lot of people I know that are hiring now” in cybersecurity, Hartley said. It’s not impossible to find good people today, Hartley maintained, but there are not enough to go around, especially for small to midsize businesses that might seek to hire their own internal experts. Getting all that they need in one person is like “trying to hire spotted unicorns,” Hartley said, with such individuals rare today and expensive to hire. All of this has not gone unnoticed by the potential students UA seeks for its program — if anything, they seem to be ahead of the curve. What started as a program with fewer than 70 students already has grown to enroll 200, noted professor John Nicholas, who was also the project director for developing the test bed. “Every phone call we’re getting now is about the cybersecurity program,” Nicholas said of inquiries to UA’s Computer Information Systems Department from potential new students. He said he’s already been told by the university’s administration that there’s support for the hiring of new professors — which is good, because Nicholas predicted five more professors will soon be needed. The work is challenging and interesting, he added. More importantly, he said students perceive cybersecurity as a career where jobs are in demand and pay is high — and they’re right. Nicholas said starting pay in the field ranges from more than $50,000 per year to $90,000 per year for new grads, and corporations in Northeast Ohio have told him they are eager to hire his graduates. “From the moment we announced the new program, I got contacted by about every big company in the area,” Nicholas said. Dan Shingler: dshingler@crain.com, (216) 771-5290, @DanShingler outcomes, and then when other solutions are put in front of them, they want to question it,” Krieg said. “Why wouldn’t one want to pursue something that can be more effective instead of staying within such a broken approach?” Klonk said he doesn’t think presidential candidates’ proposals will be effective, adding that he believes “Medicare for All” would increase costs “astronomically,” while a public option would push more people into a system subsidized by the private insurance program. “So when you pull people out of the private insurance market and put them into that system, who’s left to subsidize the private insurance system? And that whole circle soon explodes,” he said. There is no easy solution, Klonk added, but if all stakeholders (drug companies, hospitals, doctors, government, etc.) truly work together, “I believe we can get there.” Lydia Coutré: lcoutre@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @LydiaCoutre

DECEMBER 16, 2019 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 45

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Advertising Section

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To place your listing, visit www.crainscleveland.com/people-on-the-move or for more information, please call Debora Stein at (917) 226-5470 or email dstein@crain.com. CONSTRUCTION

INSURANCE

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Josh Budi has been promoted to ironworkers superintendent for Rudolph Libbe Group’s northeast Ohio operations. His primary focus will be developing field leaders and implementing account Budi growth strategies. Before joining the Rudolph Libbe Group in 2017, Budi was site superintendent for ArcelorMittal in Cleveland. Mike Sousaris has been promoted to senior client manager at the Rudolph Libbe Group’s North Ridgeville location. In this new role, Sousaris will focus Sousaris on identifying and developing new customer accounts. He joined the company as a safety team member in 2010 and also served as an account manager. Sousaris holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Toledo and OSHA 500 certification.

Gallagher Benefit Services is pleased to announce that Joey Ellwood is joining the Ohio team as an Area Vice President, Employee Benefits Consultant. Joey has over 10 years of industry experience including work in supplemental benefit solutions, in addition to employee benefits. He will be a great asset in building and maintaining our corporate partnerships.

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LAW

Walter | Haverfield LLP Walter | Haverfield LLP is pleased to announce that Lisa Mack has joined the firm as an associate in its Public Law group. Mack has extensive experience representing political subdivisions and public utilities in northeast Ohio. She previously served as Assistant Director of Law and Chief Assistant Director of Law for the City of Cleveland and Assistant Director of Law for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. For more information, visit www.walterhav. com.

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Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP

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Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP has hired seasoned energy lawyer Phillip A. Casey to co-chair Calfee’s Public Utility Regulatory practice group, which exclusively focuses on the unique issues faced by public utilities, their customers and market competitors. In his role as a partner of the firm and partnerin-charge of the Indianapolis office, he leads legal, regulatory and business strategy relating to energy matters.

Amy Crossman was named ESPN Cleveland’s new Marketing Director this past month, after most recently serving as the Director of Partnerships for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Her experience and knowledge in marketing, working at high levels of various publishers including Time, Inc. and The New York Times, as well as others, qualifies her as the perfect person to lead the ESPN Cleveland team in the planning, development and execution of strategic marketing for our dedicated fans and partners.

Spire’s 177 acres feature top-notch facilities, but the majority of the property remains undeveloped. | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

SPIRE

From Page 1

Meekma said the “core driver” of Axxella’s plan is to significantly grow Spire Academy, a high school and postgraduate institution that has basketball, swimming and track and field programs. The academy’s enrollment, according to a source, is about 40 — 87 below the level that would be necessary for Spire to make a $200,000 to $300,000 profit, according to a 2018 estimate by Waronzof Associates. “Our goal would be to grow that in the next five years into the 250-300 range,” Meekma said. That could be realized, the consultant said, with the addition of sports programs and academy activities, plus a much more “robust marketing plan.” Meekma acknowledged an objective that ambitious is far from a guarantee, but he believes it’s possible once the residential situation at Spire improves. The vast complex has a handful of houses adjacent to Spire’s facilities, but the institute doesn’t have dorms. The houses could serve as a temporary solution, and Odell said his upcoming visit to Spire will include meeting with an architect. “The idea is they’ll do that fairly quickly,” Jeff Orloff, Spire’s chief operating officer, said of the addition of dorms. Another key will be ramping up Spire’s camp business, which can include the traditional (summer activities focusing on sports) and some items that are more outside the box (weekend and vacation-type gatherings). “And when we talk about kids, we’re talking people from the ages of 9 to 99. There isn’t a cutoff at 18 or 21,” said Odell, who created the Pendleton School at IMG Academy in 1999. “This needs to be full service across the spectrum of ages.”

LAW

‘A value play’

Gallagher Sharp LLP

Axxella’s acquisition of Spire was months in the making and included meetings with Ashtabula County and Northeast Ohio officials. “They really did it the right way,” said Colliers senior vice president Mark Abood, who, along with Brian Hurtuk, had listed the massive property for sale in March. Abood couldn’t disclose a purchase price, and, as of Thursday, Dec. 12, Ashtabula County property records hadn’t reflected the sale, but the Colliers principal said it was “significantly less” than the $100 million-plus that Clutter had invested in the property. A source told Crain’s that the purchase price would be divided between the expansive real estate, which includes more than 100 acres of undeveloped land, and the facilities. The facilities, the source added, are part of the Geneva Area Recreation, Education and Athletic Trust, a

Gallagher Sharp LLP is pleased to announce that Nicholas G. Anhold, Esq. has joined the firm as an Associate. Nick is a member of the firm’s Professional Liability, Business & Employment, and General Litigation Practice Groups. He is a Northeast Ohio native who joined Gallagher Sharp as a law clerk while completing his degree. Nick received his law degree, magna cum laude, from ClevelandMarshall College of Law and his undergraduate degree in Kinesiology from Rice University.

NONPROFITS

Brentwood Foundation David Krahe, DO, an orthopedic surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic, has been named Chairman of the Brentwood Foundation Board of Trustees. Dr. Krahe fills the role left open when Board Chairman Roger F. Classen, DO, passed away unexpectedly in October. The Foundation is a not-for-profit, private foundation dedicated to the promotion and advancement of medical education, research and patient care in the field of Osteopathic medicine.

nonprofit established by Clutter. The new owners, as part of an agreement Clutter struck with Ashtabula County to cover back and future taxes, also are responsible for annual tax payments of $396,000 for the next 10 years. “I think it was a very favorable price to both the seller and the buyer,” Abood said. “It was certainly a value play by Axxella. They can deploy additional capital elsewhere on the property.”

‘It’s the destination’ With 750,000 square feet of Olympic-grade facilities, Spire is often busy in the evenings and on weekends. “It needs an anchor during the day,” Meekma said. “That’s what we’ve been brought here to do.” But it’s not just about bulking up the academy and camp businesses. Spire has hosted a plethora of significant events, including NCAA and conference championship meets. Its slate in the first few months of 2020 features the Big Ten men’s and women’s track and field championships, the Atlantic 10 men’s and women’s swimming and diving meet and the NCAA Division II swimming and diving championships, with another big collegiate event to be announced soon, Orloff said. The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission is finalizing its bids for the next four-year NCAA championship cycle, and several of those involve Spire, sports commission president and CEO David Gilbert said. The location, because it’s 50 miles from downtown Cleveland and the “number and types” of hotels within a short drive of Geneva is limited, is “always a challenge,” Gilbert said. But Spire’s elite track and swimming facilities make it a natural for prominent NCAA events in those sports, the sports commission president and CEO added. In his first week on the job, Meekma was already contemplating a different step when it comes to events held at a complex, which also has two full-sized indoor soccer fields, the potential for six basketball or 12 volleyball courts, an outdoor field in a stadium setting, plus recreational, fitness and events centers. “It would be nice to own or partner on a wide variety of events, not just host things,” the consultant said. “Spire is the draw. It’s the destination.” And despite its myriad challenges, all involved say the pieces are in place for Spire to succeed. Axxella is bringing some additional resources, and Meekma and Odell can share what they’ve learned in a combined eight decades of working with schools and academies. “I’ve been doing this my whole life,” said Meekma, whose time at IMG included a four-year stint in Cleveland in the 1990s. “You don’t see too many places like this.” Kevin Kleps: kkleps@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @KevinKleps

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SOURCE LUNCH

If you just looked at his title as executive director of NOPEC, you might think Chuck Keiper is a bit on the dry side, maybe even boring. After all, working in the field of energy aggregation is a pretty wonkish way to make a living. But you’d be very wrong. Just take a look at his left wrist, which usually sports a very cool wristwatch, another of Keiper’s passions. When we last saw him he was wearing a Frédérique Constant moon-phase watch with a back that opened to expose its movement. More interesting yet, Keiper’s got a long and interesting history, not only in public service at NOPEC and before that with Portage County government. He’s also a talented singer, guitar player and songwriter along the lines of classic folk-styled stars from the 1970s heyday of the singer-songwriter. — Dan Shingler ``Most folks know NOPEC negotiates energy rates for its members, but how do you describe it? Very simply put, we are a group of 237 governments who work together to make sure that the citizens and small businesses of our communities get fair pricing, fair terms and conditions and someone who makes sure they don’t get harmed by their relationship with utilities. ``And how long have you been running it? Eight years. ``Most of NOPEC’s work is in FirstEnergy’s territory. In light of their bankruptcy and the bailout charges for their nuclear plants, is your job getting easier or more difficult? I would say that the model for delivering utilities in Ohio has shifted, making my job more important. The model now is to get people to sign up by offering a prize or something, but we’ve found that when the initial deal runs out — and people don’t tend to watch that — they raise the rates as soon as they can. So, our job has become more important. ``Do you see any end to the need for what NOPEC does? People who do what I do wonder when the Amazons of the world are going to say, “Let’s bundle all of these delivery things with electricity!” which is probably just around the corner. So, what happens then? But we were formed to make sure the average Jane and Joe Citizen had some voice at the table and some opportunity to have negotiated on their behalf a fair price and a reasonable set of terms. Until

we’re 100% confident that’s going to happen without us, we’ll keep doing what we do. We’re now 900,000 accounts strong, and that’s about 2.4 million people. We’re in 19 counties.

performing around here and the Great Lakes region my whole life. I started playing in bars when I was about 15, and I have a global following of a couple hundred people. They’re mostly relatives.

``Before NOPEC, you were a Portage County commissioner. Yes. ``For how long? A lot of people would say way too long — but 17 and a half years.

``You’ve shared some great CDs of your music with us in the past. Do you record a lot? Of the 500-plus copyrights I have, I’ve probably recorded 100 of them. … I could make a lifetime’s worth of albums if I strung them together.

``There’s more to you than just government work and aggregating electricity, though. I try to have good and happy pursuits in my life. I love playing guitar, singing and writing music. I probably like that as much as I like breathing. I’ve been

``Is this a genetic thing? Do you come from a musical family? My mother had a terrible voice … and loved to sing. She always sang to her kids, and I couldn’t wait to sing with her. It was the sweetest voice I’d ever heard! The rest is history.

THE KEIPER FILE

LUNCH SPOT

Favorite guitar Martin — various models

Chicago Deli 34390 Aurora Road, Solon 440-248-8018

 Favorite guitarist Chet Atkins Favorite local concert venue Beachland Ballroom

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Favorite watchmaker Breitling

crainscleveland.com

NOPEC

Chuck Keiper

“I TRY TO HAVE GOOD AND HAPPY PURSUITS IN MY LIFE. I LOVE PLAYING GUITAR, SINGING AND WRITING MUSIC. I PROBABLY LIKE THAT AS MUCH AS I LIKE BREATHING.”

The meal  One had a grilled cheese with fries, the other had a turkey club sandwich with chips; drinks were iced teas and a coffee. The vibe It’s the kind of real local restaurant with home cooking that some chain restaurants pretend to be but can’t usually pull off. The bill $20.23, plus tip

``When did you get your first guitar? When I was 15. ``And you were out playing professionally in bars that same year? Yeah, that’s true. Well, actually I played in bars when I was 13 and 14, but I was a trumpet player. … We had a band called Banned in Boston. That was when big-band music was still popular, at least with the older crowd. ``Do you still play out? I don’t play out as often as I used to. I do a lot of corporate stuff now, believe it or not. I hate to admit it, but companies pay musicians a lot better. ``Did you play when you were a county commissioner? Yeah, I played out a lot then: Kent, all over Cleveland and Akron, Columbus. I played a lot in those days. ``Did you once want to be the next Bob Dylan? I probably wanted to be the next Paul Simon, though I love Bob Dylan. But I really think Paul Simon was the songwriter of his generation. ``You grew up in Mantua? Yes, with three sisters who are all still living in Mantua. ``Were your parents musicians? Or energy aggregators? Ha, no. My dad worked at Chrysler in Twinsburg. He spent the vast majority of his career there, took a buyout at 55 and had a nice retirement. … My mother was the quintessential Italian homemaker of the ’60s.

THE WEEK INSPIRED: The Spire Institute — a massive, Olympic-caliber sports complex in Geneva that has been riddled by financial problems — was acquired by a Baltimore investment firm. Axxella, which launched in 2018, said Dec. 9 that it had bought the 177-acre complex from Ron Clutter, who had invested more than $100 million in the property, which has 750,000 square feet of facilities. It also has more than 100 undeveloped acres, and its remote location in Ashtabula County has limited some of its event-drawing power. (See story, Page One.) AROUND THE BLOCK: As the second annual Blockland Solutions conference wrapped up on Dec. 11, promoter Bernie Moreno already was looking ahead to next year’s edition. Blockland 2020, he said, probably will be

Google Cloud, Google’s cloud computing service, and Amy Brady, chief information officer of KeyBank.

Cedar Point’s new boat ride, Snake River Expedition, is designed to evoke memories of the park’s former Western Cruise and Paddlewheel Excursions boat rides. | CEDAR POINT

two days instead of four, and will be broadened to cover other emerging technologies beyond blockchain, such as artificial intelligence. The

conference was expected to attract about 1,500 people. Among the most-attended events was a “fireside chat” with Thomas Kurian, CEO of

GET TO THE POINT: Cedar Point will celebrate its 150th anniversary next year with a big new boat ride — and a giveaway of 150 tickets for life. Officials at the iconic Sandusky amusement park unveiled their plans for 2020 during an event on Dec. 11. The boat ride, called Snake River Expedition, is “a nod to the park’s former Western Cruise and Paddlewheel Excursions boat rides,” Cedar Point said. Starting in February, guests can register to win what Cedar Point calls a “Ticket of a Lifetime,” which will afford 150 winners free admission beginning with the 150th anniversary season and lasting the rest of their lives. Winners will be chosen throughout 2020.

Publisher/editor Elizabeth McIntyre (216) 771-5358 or emcintyre@crain.com Group publisher Mary Kramer (313) 446-0399 or mkramer@crain.com Managing editor Scott Suttell (216) 771-5227 or ssuttell@crain.com Sections editor Michael von Glahn (216) 771-5359 or mvonglahn@crain.com Creative director David Kordalski (216) 771-5169 or dkordalski@crain.com Web editor Damon Sims (216) 771-5279 or dasims@crain.com Associate editor/Akron Sue Walton (330) 802-4615 or swalton@crain.com Assistant editor Kevin Kleps (216) 771-5256 or kkleps@crain.com Senior data editor Chuck Soder (216) 771-5374 or csoder@crain.com Editorial researcher William Lucey (216) 771-5243 or wlucey@crain.com Cartoonist Rich Williams REPORTERS

Stan Bullard, senior reporter, Real estate/ construction. (216) 771-5228 or sbullard@crain.com Jay Miller, Government. (216) 771-5362 or jmiller@crain.com Rachel Abbey McCafferty, Manufacturing/energy/ education. (216) 771-5379 or rmccafferty@crain.com Jeremy Nobile, Finance/legal/beer/cannabis. (216) 771-5255 or jnobile@crain.com Kim Palmer, Government. (216) 771-5384 or kpalmer@crain.com Dan Shingler, Energy/steel/auto/Akron. (216) 771-5290 or dshingler@crain.com Lydia Coutré, Health care/nonprofits. (216) 771-5479 or lcoutre@crain.com ADVERTISING

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Crain’s Cleveland Business is published by Crain Communications Inc. Chairman Keith E. Crain Vice chairman Mary Kay Crain President KC Crain Senior executive VP Chris Crain Secretary Lexie Crain Armstrong Chief Financial Officer Robert Recchia G.D. Crain Jr., Founder (1885-1973) Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr., Chairman (1911-1996) Editorial & Business Offices 700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 (216) 522-1383 Volume 40, Number 50 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except for the last week of December, at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2019 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, OH, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $2.00. Postmaster: Send address changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207-2912. 1 (877) 824-9373. Subscriptions: In Ohio: 1 year - $64, 2 year - $110. Outside Ohio: 1 year - $110, 2 year - $195. Single copy, $2.00. Allow 4 weeks for change of address. For subscription information and delivery concerns send correspondence to Audience Development Department, Crain’s Cleveland Business, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207-9911, or email to customerservice@crainscleveland.com, or call (877) 824-9373 (in the U.S. and Canada) or (313) 446-0450 (all other locations), or fax (313) 446-6777.

47 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | December 16, 2019

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CRAIN’S

C-SUITE AWARDS

THANK YOU Crain’s Cleveland Business held its third annual C-Suite Awards on Dec. 5 at the Westin Cleveland Downtown. The event honored 17 C-suite executives not only for their contributions to their particular enterprises, but also their commitment to Northeast Ohio. Sari Feldman, retired executive director of the Cuyahoga County Public Library System, Randell McShepard, vice president of public affairs and chief talent officer at RPM International Inc., and Bernie Moreno, founder of Blockland Cleveland and chairman of Ownum, each received additional recognition as the 2019 Champion Award Winners.

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