Community Leaders Shine

Primm is Proper

Michelle Primm of the Cascade Auto Group has been chosen by her peers as the 2023-2024 chairwoman of the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association (OADA), taking over the post from Tim Glockner of the Glockner Family of Dealerships.

Primm has been active with the OADA for many years, serving the last four on the organization’s executive committee. She’s also no stranger to industry leadership, serving as the president of the Ohio Motor Vehicle Dealers Board. Primm has also been a champion of women in business for her entire career, currently serving on the National Automobile Dealers Association’s (NADA) Board of Directors representing all women dealers east of the Mississippi.

Primm is managing partner of the Cascade Auto Group in Cuyahoga Falls alongside her brothers Pat and Mike Primm. The dealership group has served the Cuyahoga Falls, Akron,

Canton, Hudson, Kent and Twinsburg areas for over 50 years.

While she started in the family business at 12, Primm is a graduate of Kent State University with a degree in finance and is also a graduate of the NADA’s Dealer Academy.

Diversity Center Honors Two

The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio will honor Robyn Minter Smyers, partner at Thompson Hine, and Christopher M. Gorman, chairman and CEO of KeyCorp with its Humanitarian Award during its 69th Annual Humanitarian Award Celebration at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel in November.

Smyers is a partner in Thompson Hine’s Real Estate, Construction and Corporate Transactions & Securities practice groups, as well as a co-chair of the firm’s Site Selection practice. She also is a member of Thompson Hine’s Executive Committee. She is the immediate past partner in charge of the firm’s Cleveland office and a former chair of the firmwide Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative. She focuses her practice on helping companies find and develop new plants, headquarters and facilities.

Smyers was honored as the 2018 Black Professional of the Year by the Black Professionals Association Charitable Foundation.

When Gorman assumed the role of chairman, CEO and president of KeyCorp in 2020, he brought more than 30 years of financial services experience to his role.

Gorman and his team are responsible for $198 billion in assets, more than 17,000 employees and 3.5 million clients.

Previously, Gorman was vice-chairman and president of Banking where he was responsible for KeyCorp’s businesses. He was responsible for leading Key’s integration of First Niagara Financial Group, which was the largest acquisition in Key’s 190-year history.

Gorman is a board member of the Business Roundtable and vice chair of the Ohio Business Roundtable. He also sits on the Executive Committee. He is a member of the Supervisory Board for The Clearing House and is an active member of both the Bank Policy Institute (BPI) and its technology policy division, the BITS Committee.

Gorman is also active in the Cleveland community, serving as a trustee of the Cleveland Museum of Art and on the board of the University Hospitals Health System, where he also is the Chair of the Audit & Compliance Committee. He is on the Executive Committee of the Greater Cleveland Partnership, and co-chair of its Equity & Inclusion committee.

BY CHRISTINA EASTER