ALL IN PLAN
Members, Partners, and Friends...
Cleveland is on the rise.
The momentum over the last few years is undeniable. Cleveland is now ranked among the top regions for young professionals, the region has historically low unemployment and our companies are thriving and outperforming the market.
The world is taking note. In 2024, Cleveland earned numerous national nods as a must-visit destination—even The Wall Street Journal called us “the new center of the world”—and has emerged as a hub of opportunity.
How is this happening? It’s everyone being All In.
Three years ago, Greater Cleveland Partnership shared the All In Plan for Greater Cleveland towards becoming one of the Great Regions in the Great Lakes. The plan identifies key priorities, metrics, and most crucial, an “All In” approach and values that describe how private, public and philanthropic partners must work together to achieve the vision.
This annual report highlights progress on the plan and achievements across the civic system. With aligned leaders, inspired businesses and a community embracing an abundance mindset, the transformation is underway. An abundance mindset requires a “both-and” philosophy as we explore and pursue opportunities.
In 2024, we saw this mindset in action. Research institutions including NASA Glenn grew and small and large businesses expanded. College enrollment and graduate retention increased and the region welcomed more immigrants with new support initiatives. Multiple riverfront and lakefront projects secured funding and continued development, and the airport advanced major
transformation plans. And Cleveland hosted a trifecta weekend of the Women’s Final Four, total solar eclipse and Opening Day. And these are just a few examples.
While we celebrate our milestones, we also stay committed to measuring our progress towards our vision on three metrics of success—Business Growth, Income Growth, and Jobs Growth—and comparing our region’s performance against our Midwest peer set over the decade.
Greater Cleveland is making progress on business and income growth, but lags on jobs growth due to a lack of population growth. With businesses thriving and persistently low unemployment, our greatest growth challenge now is people. We need more people, in all sectors and at all skill levels, to support the region’s growth.
For 2025 and beyond, our vision and our priorities remain the same. At the same time, businesses and regions must stay attuned to and adapt to opportunities and challenges presented by market preferences, talent and workforce, technologies, policies and geopolitics.
GCP will be reviewing and adjusting strategies and initiatives based on these new developments and dynamics. In addition, for the people challenge, we will continue to develop our region’s talent and also scale efforts to attract talent from around the country and world to support the region’s growth.
Greater Cleveland has strong momentum entering 2025. With an abundance mindset and an All In approach, Greater Cleveland is becoming A Great Region on a Great Lake.
We thank you for your support and partnership,
Paul Dolan, Chair, Greater Cleveland Partnership Chairman and CEO, Cleveland Guardians
Baiju R. Shah, President and CEO, Greater Cleveland Partnership
Greater Cleveland Performance
The All In Plan sets a path for Greater Cleveland to be one of the Great Regions in the Great Lakes. GCP tracks the success of regional businesses and compares Greater Cleveland’s business, income, and jobs growth rates to Midwest peer regions. These metrics guide priorities and strategies of the All In Plan.
These three metrics track the region’s progress in accelerating growth and prosperity. The goal is for Greater Cleveland to rank in the top tier of the 11 Midwest peer regions for the rate of business, income, and jobs growth over the decade.
Dynamic Businesses
The strategies
Expand innovation at start-ups, corporates and research institutions through partnerships and increased funding.
Promote business expansions by connecting companies to growth incentives, real estate options and talent sources.
Grow small and middle-market enterprises by connecting them to business building resources, funding opportunities and cost-saving benefits.
The headlines
Ford starts $1.5B EV plant expansion; Schaeffler plans $230M EV axle plant
Polymer Tech Hub secures $100M+ in funding
Babcock & Wilcox invests $60M in hydrogen plant
Cleveland launches new $100M site readiness fund; Greater Cleveland sites awarded $100M+ in brownfields funds
Case Western breaks ground on $300M research facility and Cleveland Clinic builds two new research centers
NASA Glenn surpasses $1B in revenue
Ohio and Cleveland coalitions receive over $400M for solar energy development
Business incubators grow in Health-Tech Corridor
Entrepreneurial food businesses on a roll in Cleveland
Ohio ranked among best states to start a small business
Abundant Talent
The strategies
Increase degree and certificate completions and retain graduates.
Expand internships, co-ops, and apprenticeships.
Increase incumbent worker training and up-skilling via tech credentials.
Broaden career awareness and pathway programs for high school students.
The headlines
Greater Cleveland a Top 10 city for new grads, No. 2 to start careers and No. 12 for young professionals
Summer in the Land hosts 1,700+ interns
College enrollments rise in Greater Cleveland
Lincoln Electric adopts VR welding training
MAGNET program promotes manufacturing careers
Post-Secondary+
WSCC Culinary Academy, Driftwood launch restaurant apprenticeship programs
Greater Cleveland Career Consortium expands to 10 school districts
Passport to IT Careers attracts >1,000 students from across region
Great Lakes Region 10th
Inclusive Opportunity
The strategies
Scale minority business enterprises through advisory services and access to customers.
Expand diversity in leadership positions by attracting talent, sharing best practices and developing networks.
The headlines
Ohio MBDA clients secure $110M in contracts
20+ groups sign Community Benefits Ordinance MOU
More women enter construction pipeline
Greater Cleveland welcomed 8,000+ immigrants
Nearly one-third of Ohio’s refugees settled in Greater Cleveland last year
Cuyahoga County opens Welcome Center to aid job placement, settlement
CentroVilla25, a $14M hub for Hispanic community, opens
Regional women-owned business openings rose 33%
Appealing Community
The strategies
Enhance downtown, waterfronts, and city neighborhoods.
Invest in neighborhoods for residential and commercial corridor development.
Expand recreational amenities including parks, arts and culture, and sports.
Transform airport and recruit more airlines and flights.
The headlines
City of Cleveland sets record $3B in new construction
Irishtown Bend transformation underway
Bedrock secures $1B city incentive package and significant state incentives for Riverfront, breaks ground on Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center
City secures $150M in grants for downtown lakefront connector
Metroparks gets $19.5M for trails and announces $15M sailing center on Lake Erie
Cuyahoga Arts & Culture levy overwhelmingly passes; Art Museum ranked #7 by The Washington Post; city spotlighted by ABC News for theater
CLE crosses 10M passengers as United, American, Delta, Frontier and Aer Lingus expand service; secures $175M towards $2B+ transformation
Superman filmed in Cleveland
Total solar eclipse, Women’s Final Four, Rock Hall induction headline epic CLE weekends
Cleveland ranked as Top-50 Must-Visit Destination and top arts & culture destination
Greater Cleveland Partnership is the region’s leading economic development organization and with over 12,000 members, the largest metropolitan chamber of commerce in the nation. It includes the Council of Smaller Enterprises and Cleveland Development Advisors, a real estate development affiliate. Guided by a board of corporate and entrepreneurial CEOs, the organization focuses on strategic initiatives, business services, and advocacy to propel Greater Cleveland towards being one of the Great Regions in the Great Lakes.
Greater Cleveland Partnership Board of Directors
CHAIR
Paul Dolan* Cleveland Guardians
TREASURER
Sean Richardson Huntington National Bank
SECRETARY
Eddie Taylor Jr * Taylor Oswald
DIRECTORS
Chris Adams Park Place Technologies
Christine Alexander-Rager** The MetroHealth System
Craig Arnold* Eaton
Nic Barlage* Rock Entertainment Group
Chad Barnhill JACK Entertainment
Michael Baston Cuyahoga Community College
Trina Bediako* New Horizons Baking
Chris Bellamy Cohen & Company
Rudy Bentlage JPMorgan Chase
Fernando Bertero Fully Promoted – Cleveland
Shane Bigelow Champ Titles
Laura Bloomberg Cleveland State University
Brent Blouch Swagelok
Claude Booker Simply Southern Sides
Kevin Campbell Moen
Brandon Carrus McKinsey
Fiona Chambers Deloitte
Lonnie Coleman Coleman Spohn
Michele Connell* Squire Patton Boggs
Bill Cosgrove* Union Home Mortgage
Shakorie Davis Next Generation Construction
Severine De Wagheneire* Accenture
Jill Dietrich Mellon** VA Northeast Ohio Healthcare System
Tim Dimoff SACS Consulting & Investigative Services
Fred DiSanto Ancora
Deborah Donley Vocon Design
Gregg Eisenberg Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff
Pat Espinosa Sus Abogados Latinos
Taylor Evans* Rust Belt Recruiting
Karen Fanger K&D
Roger Frank Little Jacket
Hiroyuki Fujita Quality Electrodynamics
Lourenco Goncalves Cleveland-Cliffs
Christopher Gorman* KeyCorp
Stanley Gorom, III Hahn Loeser & Parks
Adam Graves* Nestlé USA
Sally Gries Gries Financial
Jerry Grisko CBIZ
Beth Hammack** Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Dee Haslam* Haslam Sports Group
Steven Hedlund Lincoln Electric
David Heller The NRP Group
Tony Helton* Medical Mutual
Chris Howse Howse Solutions
Kevin Johnson* NexGen Interactive
Margaret Judd Executive Arrangements
Elizabeth Juliano Litigation Management
Eric Kaler* Case Western Reserve University
James Kenyon** NASA Glenn Research Center
Ariane Kirkpatrick The AKA Team
Robert Klonk Oswald Companies
Lillian Kuri The Cleveland Foundation
John Langell Northeast Ohio Medical University
Ed Largent, III Westfield Insurance
Steve Laserson Vitamix
Rebecca Liebert* Lubrizol
Zhao Liu Flynn Ming
Jay Lucarelli Minutemen Family of Companies
Anthony Manna M7 Holdings
Rick Marabito Olympic Steel
Jeneen Marziani Bank of America
Bonnie Matthew Food for Thought
Dave McClain BDO USA
Darrell McNair MVP Group of Companies
Cliff Megerian University Hospitals
Kyle Merrill Gilbane Building Company
Tomislav Mihaljevic Cleveland Clinic
Marcia Moreno AmMore Consulting
Joseph Morford Tucker Ellis
Scott Mueller Dealer Tire
Gregg Muresan PricewaterhouseCoopers
Heidi Murphy Warwick Communications
Jim Mylen KPMG
Sundaram Nagarajan Nordson
Timothy Opsitnick* Technology Concepts and Design
Jennifer Parmentier* Parker Hannifin Corporation
Patrick Pastore* PNC Financial
Cheryl Perez* Cheryl C Perez Enterprises
Heidi Petz* Sherwin-Williams
Tony Pietrocola AgileBlue
CeCe President Presidential Consultants
Neal Restivo* Oatey
John Saada, Jr. Jones Day
Vijay Shankar Kichler Lighting
Robert Smith Cerity Partners
Kevin Stein TransDigm
Laura Steinbrink Emerald Built Environments
Kathy Sterio Savant Technologies
Frank Sullivan RPM International
Tameka Taylor Compass Consulting Services
Matt Tenerowicz BakerHostetler
Adrian Thompson Taft Stettinius & Hollister
Brian Tierney* FirstEnergy
Michelle Tomallo FIT Technologies
Gareth Vaughan Higley Construction
Jugal Vijayvargiya Materion
Tony Weber Goldfarb Weber Creative Media
Daniel Weekley Enbridge Gas Ohio
Thomas Welsh Calfee, Halter & Griswold
Tony White Thompson Hine
Vanessa Whiting AES Management
Chas Withers Dix & Eaton
Ryan Yost Avery Dennison
John Young Speed Exterminating