Community Leader - November 2021

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INDUCTEES: JOE MARINUCCI + JACK SCHRON + ALEX JOHNSON

Jill Koski Jacob Nash Annette Blackwell John Habat Tony Sias

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Northern Ohio Area Chambers of Commerce | PO Box 3230, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223

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CON T EN TS

NOVEMBER 2021 69

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UPFRONT

BUSINESS

COMMUNITY

COLUMNS

59 A Vetting Process

49 Gone in a Flash

Local community colleges take an active role in helping military veterans transition into the workforce.

NEORSD addresses chronic flooding problems caused by climate change and what’s being done to prevent future destruction.

14 Lessons of 9/11

The 31st Annual Lorain County Community College Jack Nicklaus Scholarship Golf Benefit raises funds for prospective college students.

BY TERRY TROY

BY TERRY TROY

BY JILL SELL

64 Combining

53 Urban Harvest

5 In the Swing

8 Class Act Meet Sheffia Dooley, the new president and CEO for the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning.

BY JAZMIN JOHNSON

Compatible Cultures As HW&Co. and the Shealy Group merge, these companies highlight their shared client-based, personal culture.

10 La Dolce Vita

BY LINDA FEAGLER

Discover a premier community in Rocky River’s new 700 Lake development featuring an upscale Italian design.

66 An Eye on Energy

BY TERRY TROY

12 Capturing Change Get the scoop on Tri-C President Alex Johnson’s new book that examines transformation and continuous movement.

BY TERRY TROY

COVER STORY 26 Business Hall of Fame & Community Leaders of the Year

Alex Johnson, Joe Marinucci and Jack Schron showcase their passion for building and powering Northeast Ohio communities, while Annette Blackwell, John Habat, Jill Koski, Jacob Nash and Tony Sias reveal how they are making a difference one important initiative, big idea or creative endeavor at a time.

BY JILL SELL, COLLEEN SMITEK AND LYNNE THOMPSON

NOPEC highlights ways it saves Ohio consumers hundreds of millions of dollars on their energy costs.

16 Culture Matters

BY RHONDA CROWDER

During his last quarter as president of University Circle, Chris Ronayne highlights the importance of creating a culture of confidence in the workplace.

54 Partners Fight Poverty

18 Focus on Performance

Chateau Hough vineyard and winery highlights the many ways it serves the community.

Cleveland Clinic and KeyBank Foundation invest $4.5 million to help United Way tackle poverty.

BY JOANNE CAHILL

BY THERESA NEUHOFF

56 Streamlining Operations

67 Going Above and Beyond

First Mutual Holding’s new CIO Kathy Dockery implements Lean Six Sigma at First Federal Lakewood.

Ahola reveals strategies it has implemented to attract and retain top employees.

BY LINDA FEAGLER

BY JILL SELL

68 New Not-for-Profit Rules Maloney + Novotny offers advice on tax-exempt changes.

Lee Fisher showcases acts of strength, resilience and courage that take place during times of danger and uncertainty.

Take the first steps toward analyzing existing performance review systems with these tips from Pat Perry, former ERC president.

DEPARTMENTS 2 From the Publisher 21 Downtown Now! 72 1000 Words

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BY JILL SELL

69 A Towering Task Bedrock, a real estate developer with more than 100 properties in Cleveland and Detroit, reimagines Tower City Center.

BY BOB SANDRICK

70 Going Virtual Amid the pandemic, Goldfarb Weber dives into the virtual event business with roaring success.

BY THERESA NEUHOFF

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COMMUNITY LEADER 1

FROM THE PUBLISHER // BY LU TE HARMON SR .

Who Will Put Humpty Together Again?

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall All the King’s Horses and All the King’s Men Couldn’t Put Humpty Together Again

I

am guessing there are many people, mostly children, who have never heard of Humpty Dumpty. No wonder: After 200 years, he is a part of history. In generations gone by — mine for instance — we were raised on nursery rhymes like Humpty

Dumpty and Mary Had a Little Lamb. Every time my mother recited the tale of Humpty to me, I would feel sorry for him all over again.

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I think about Humpty a lot these days. To me, he represents a perfect picture of where our country finds itself: We have taken a great fall; we are broken into pieces; and our situation requires us to ask and answer the question: “Who will put us back together again?”

Today, the value of knowing history isn’t what it used to be. Yet, when asking questions about where we are and where we want to go, it can be a valuable companion. The best thing ever said about history is that it may not repeat, but it can instruct. In this case, history does instruct in providing an answer to the question raised

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in poor Humpty’s fall.

We must begin by admitting that the United States of America has never been united. We have always been divided by something: North versus South, women versus men, Black versus white, rich versus poor, Republican versus Democrat — the list is long.

Since 1776, America’s answer to divisive issues has been the same. We have put aside our differences to reach the higher ground of common purpose. Common purpose rises above party, nationality, skin color and income. The answer to who will put Humpty together again is us — united in common purpose.

Cleveland has been fortunate to learn firsthand about common purpose. For it was in 1969 that a group of civic leaders had enough of a polluted lake, race riots and a burning

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river to join together to create the longest period of growth in the city’s history. It is a history lesson I hope

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we never forget.

Chief Financial Officer George Sedlak

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COMMUNITY LEADER is pr o duc ed i n par t ner s hi p w i t h c om mu n i ty s ta k e h o l d e rs .

2 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

since

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UPFRONT HELPING EDUCATION // BY TERRY TROY

In the Swing The 31st Annual Lorain County Community College Jack Nicklaus Scholarship Golf Benefit welcomes back a local pro.

COURTESY LORAIN COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE

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y all accounts, the 31st Annual Lorain County Community College (LCCC) Jack Nicklaus Scholarship Benefit at Elyria Country Club was a rousing success, with 137 golfers taking to the links to raise money for prospective college students.

“We don’t have all of the financials in as of yet, but it was a full field. We were totally sold out,” says Don Knechtges, who co-chaired the event with Kent Hageman, managing director and part-owner of the Hageman Masters Group of Morgan Stanley, and Todd Sommer of Sommer’s Mobile Leasing.

It’s the only golf benefit in the nation to carry the legendary Jack Nicklaus name.

It has played host to PGA greats such as Nicklaus, Phil Mickelson and Mark Calcavecchia, among many others.

This year’s event was a homecoming of sorts for Robert J. Bourne, a graduate of Oberlin High School, former Ohio Amateur Champion and a PGA Master Professional. Since 1996, he has been the director of instruction at StoneWater Golf Club in Highland Heights.

“Bob is recognized as one of the most highly regarded instructors in our area and the country, and we were happy he was able to return home to Lorain County and join us to make this event special for our participants,” says Tracy Green, LCCC vice president for strategic and institutional development.

As in years past, PGA professional

Don Knechtges, Robert J. Bourne and Judge Joseph Cirigliano visit before the event.

and television personality Jimmy Hanlin helped with the scholarship fund event.

“Bob Bourne is one of the best teaching professionals in the country,” says Hanlin. “So, we had select golfers come in early and videotaped their swing.

Bob then offered a voiceover with a critique of their swing. People just loved it. They could take the video home and play it six months from now when they get back out on the course.”

Hanlin, who plays a perennial role with the event, set up on a par 3 and hit shots with the linksters.

“If I got a better shot, they could use it,” Hanlin says. “But if they got a

Martin M’tambo, manager of new business development, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC, heads for the green. clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 5

Tracy Green

Charlotte Wray, CNO of Mercy Health Lorain Market and president of Mercy Health Allen Hospital, hits a dead on approach shot.

better shot, they got a certificate showing that they had kicked my rear at the event.”

While it was all fun at the event, the LCCC Jack Nicklaus Scholarship Benefit plays a very important role for the college and the LCCC Foundation.

“This event is the foundation’s largest fundraiser, and we appreciate all of

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our sponsors and golfers who contribute to making education more accessible for our Lorain County residents,” says LCCC Foundation Director Lisa Brown.

Brown shares that all of the proceeds from the golf outing support the Jack Nicklaus Scholarship Endowment Fund. In addition to the Nicklaus Endowment Fund, the LCCC Foundation manages more than 185 scholarship funds, each year providing more than 850 LCCC and University Partnership students with an affordable chance to advance their education.

“This fund is by far one of the largest we manage, and it is due to the longstanding generosity of our community. Scholarship support is one of the most significant ways community members can have a direct impact on students,” adds Brown.

The longevity of this event is also

Select golfers had their swings videotaped and analyzed.

Don Knechtges and Jimmy Hanlin swap stories after the event.

important to the foundation and college.

“It is one of the longest-standing golf events in Lorain County and Northeast Ohio. Our goal through this event is to make sure students from all backgrounds have the ability to succeed in college,” Green says. “One of the

ways we are able to achieve this is through the generosity of the participants in this event. The LCCC Foundation plans to continue this tradition for many years to come.”

Major sponsors for the event included Morgan Stanley and Huntington Bank. 

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COMMUNITY LEADER 7

UPFRONT AFRICAN AMERICAN LE ADERSHIP Q& A // BY JA ZMIN JOHNSON

Class Act Sheffia Dooley takes the reins of the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning.

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ith an acting and theatrical resume that spans more than 20 years across Northeast Ohio — including work with Playhouse Square, Cleveland Play House, Karamu House, Cleveland Public Theatre and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District — Sheffia Dooley is the new president and CEO for the Center for Arts-Inspired Learning (CAL).

An experienced arts administrator and

leader, Dooley succeeds Marsha Dobrzynski, who retired this summer.

CL: What brought you to CAL? DOOLEY: I have always been a fan of the organization and how it works with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and other places of learning as a standard-bearer for quality, accessibility and sustainability. CAL has been leading the industry in arts education for 65 years.

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for me to take the leap and hopefully be a part of changing that dynamic. I am enormously proud of the many arts organizations in Cleveland that are beginning to activate their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion plans in this way. Black excellence includes artistic administration, as well. We must be at the tables, making those critical decisions on how the arts are developed and shared within our communities.

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CL: What does the mission of CAL mean to you?

DOOLEY: The CAL mission is to ignite student learning, creativity and success through the arts in Northeast Ohio. To me, that means offering arts integration to schools to help students be better learners, providing skills training to young artists to grow in their artistry and championing community arts enrichment to help us all see and hear

each other more clearly. Also, offering professional development to help teachers in their efforts to provide an exceptional education to our youth. The Center for Arts-Inspired Learning is a place where young people can explore the arts with arts professionals dedicated to nurturing, celebrating and supporting the artist within. I am thrilled and honored to be leading this charge.

CL: What are some barriers you have come across with keeping Black influence in art?

DOOLEY: To say that I have experienced obstacles of bias, conscious and unconscious, would not be surprising or new. I have experienced discrimination as a woman, Black woman, queer Black woman and artist to boot. As a result, many might question my ability to do all I do and have done. But I have been steeped in a long tradition of strength in the face of barriers. And

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with the support of so many champions, family, friends and mentors, I have been presented with many opportunities to learn, grow and imagine myself in ways far beyond what may have been expected.

CL: What new things can we expect for CAL for 2021, now that you are the CEO? DOOLEY: If you know CAL, then you know that we care about the arts. We are about education. We are about access and equity. Coming on board as the new CEO, I am committed to listening to the community and driving inclusive and intentional arts programming while fortifying the organization’s financial backbone. Sustainability is a top priority so that our community partners and youth can continue experiencing the high-quality programming they have come to depend on with CAL. 

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COMMUNITY LEADER 9

UPFRONT LIFE ST YLE // BY TERRY TROY

La Dolce Vita 700 Lake development brings upscale Italian design to Rocky River.

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ith the topping out of 700 Lake, Rocky River is one step closer to having one of the premier townhome/ condominium communities in Northeast Ohio. The team at Brickhaus Partners has developed an upscale property that will soon be the envy of developers, builders and real estate agents in all of Ohio, if not the country.

Yes, it’s just that good. As Zach Norton, development and sales associate at Brickhaus, says, “There’s simply nothing else like it.”

An exclusive lakefront community of eight three-story townhomes with rooftop decks and lake views, as well as 25 condominiums in a five-story building overtop a 50 parking-space, temperature-controlled garage, 700 Lake offers its residents the best in amenities and living spaces decked out in impeccable upscale Italian materials. And each parking space in the garage is wired to accommodate electric vehicles.

The property is being represented exclusively by the Kim Crane Group, Howard Hanna’s No.1 team in terms of real estate volume on Cleveland’s West Side.

The condos range in size from 1,800 to 6,700 square feet. While about half of the remaining condos are in the $1 million to $2 million price range, one of the four penthouses recently sold for $3 million.

Andrew Brickman, principal and developer of Brickhaus, expects to transfer the first townhome just after the first 10 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

700 Lake offers luxury amenities, such as an infinity pool.

of the year, with the condos coming online in the second quarter.

Andrew Brickman The townhomes are almost sold out, save one, while almost half of the condos are already spoken for. It’s a small wonder when you consider the effort that went into the design, materials and amenities.

“It is beautiful,” says Brickman.

“But I really shouldn’t be taking all of the credit. Our project manager, who is also the managing director and partner of our company, is Alexandra Yonkov. She has taken this project from its inception through completion, handling all of the planning and zoning and overseeing the general contractor and the rest of our consultants.”

The materials are nothing short of spectacular and are the result of intense focus groups with high-end consumers and business professionals.

“The tile comes from Italy,” says Brickman. “So do the hardwood floors. We went on tours of 15 different factories with architectural consultants, looking for the highest-quality materials. It was difficult because of COVID-19, but we’re actually ahead of

our construction schedule.”

Brickhaus is also using the same Aran Cucine kitchens used at the prestigious 432 Park Avenue in New York City, the tallest residential building in that city designed by the famed Rafael Viñoly.

“We are providing the same fit and finish that you would find at a multimillion-dollar condominium in New York City,” says Brickman. “Each condo has fully automated technology. You can control all of the lighting and the blinds. You can access the door with your phone and let in visitors. You can control the temperature and music.”

Best of all, every condo in the building has unobstructed lake views. “The building’s design and topography allowed us to do so,” Brickman explains, “because the building has two wings, and the eastern wing is longer by about 80 feet.”

There’s even an infinity pool on the roof that overlooks the lake. All of the condos also have floor to ceiling windows and huge, cantilevered, wraparound decks that are private and 10 feet deep — perfect for cocktail hours, entertaining guests or simply sitting and watching the sun dip down into the lake at the end of the day. 

UPFRONT BOOK RE VIE W // BY TERRY TORY

Capturing Change Tri-C president’s new book examines transformation and continuous improvement.

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f there’s one lesson to be learned from the pandemic, it’s that the only constant is change. Today, however, technological advancements, financial crises, supply chain disruptions and natural disasters also are forcing change in organizations across the globe.

It may seem that change is coming with unprecedented speed in these arduous times. However, leaders around the world and throughout history have needed to adapt to change and embrace it in order to be successful.

In his new book, Capturing Change: Creating Systems of Transformation Through Continuous Improvement, Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) President Alex Johnson looks at commonly held beliefs regarding change management, exposing counterproductive flaws in thinking and processes that cause many organizations to falter and fail in the face of change. Building upon the “Uninterrupted Cycle of Leadership Effectiveness (UnCLE)” introduced in his acclaimed 2018 book Change the Lapel Pin, Johnson offers new ideas and solutions to change management issues that challenge new and experienced leaders alike.

Johnson starts by examining the benefits of continuous improvement over change management, the former offering a more natural approach to leading ongoing change. He then goes on to offer an understanding of change and how it should be defined and categorized.

12 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

Later in the work, Johnson expands upon his UnCLE system introduced in his first work, embracing the reasons change itself is an important component of organizational development.

He further describes the natural leadership skills needed to structure change within an organization while further exploring how change leads to organizational excellence. Johnson even offers case studies presented in the framework of his UnCLE concept. At the end, there’s “something a little extra” in a section the author calls “Lagniappe” — a Creole term.

Capturing Change prepares readers to integrate change in a sustainable fashion, weaving it into the very fabric of an organization’s operations, in sync with all stakeholders. The lessons Johnson imparts provide a framework for becoming a leader of transformation — going beyond merely meeting and overcoming the challenges of change to harnessing it as a necessity for continuous improvement, essential to an organization’s long-term health.

The book has been extremely well received by Cleveland’s business, civic and community leaders. Despite its complex and scholarly theme, it’s a very easy read. It includes a foreword

by Rick Chiricosta, chairman, president and CEO of Medical Mutual of Ohio, and is endorsed by numerous other Cleveland business leaders, including Andrew Randall, president and

CEO of Cleveland Private Trust Co.; Beth E. Mooney, former chairman and CEO of KeyCorp; and John Skory, vice president of utility operations at FirstEnergy Service Co. Johnson has been a higher education administrator in a career spanning more than 40 years, including 28 as a college president. He has been president of Tri-C since 2013, leading the college to numerous awards, including the Community College Futures Assembly Bellwether Award, the Kisco Foundation Kohlberg Prize, the Aspen Institute STEM Award, the Aspen College Excellence Program Top 150 and eligibility for Achieving the Dream’s Leah Meyer Austin Award.

Capturing Change is available online at tri-c.edu/capturing-change and through Tri-C campus bookstores. The cost is $17.50. Proceeds from the book will go toward student scholarships through the Tri-C Foundation. 

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COMMUNIT Y // BY LEE F ISHER

Lessons of 9/11 The perseverance we learned about 20 years ago still holds true today.

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14 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

not evacuated before the Aug. 31 U.S. troop withdrawal deadline set by the Biden administration. The only way out of the country was to get through the gates of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. After 20 years of an American presence throughout the country, the airport was now the only piece of Afghanistan still under the control of the U.S. I reached out to as many people as possible for help. Two people, in particular, Clevelander Don Graves, deputy U.S. commerce secretary and former KeyBank executive, and Liz Shrayer, president & CEO of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, went into action.

Shrayer contacted the U.S. Agency for International Development and arranged to have Maya’s family placed on the State Department’s refugee list.

Graves arranged for the State Department to email an airport visa to Maya’s mother. That documentation was a huge step forward. When they received the airport visa, the family felt safe enough to travel to the airport.

When they arrived at the airport gate, there was chaos. Without food or water, thousands of Afghans were fainting from dehydration, hunger and exhaustion. Maya’s mother and two daughters were beaten by the Taliban, who were attacking the crowds, trying to discourage them from leaving the county.

Finally, on Friday evening, Maya’s

mother and 15-year-old sister were able to get inside the gate, but the rest of the family could not. My sister-in-law got in touch with a U.S. marine who had a friend in the U.S. military at the Abbey gate. She shared photos of the family and information about what they were wearing. On Saturday, British troops helped the rest of the family get inside the gate. All five family members were given wristbands, and their documents were confirmed as valid.

But the good news was premature.

Early Sunday morning, there was a shocking turn of events. Some U.S.

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wenty years ago, on Sept. 11, our world changed in an instant. It was one of the saddest, darkest, most horrific days in history. From the ongoing pandemic to natural disasters throughout our country and the world to terrorism at home and abroad to senseless gun violence in our neighborhoods, we are reminded every day that we live in an uncertain world. In the midst of this uncertainty, we also witness acts of strength, resilience and courage.

During the recent evacuation of U.S. and Afghan citizens who risked their lives by supporting the U.S. mission in Afghanistan, I witnessed such courage. On Sunday morning, Aug. 15, 2021, the American withdrawal from Afghanistan became very personal for me and my family.

I received a panicked call from Maya, a young woman who became a member of our family six years ago when my brother and sister-in-law helped her escape from a life of violence in Afghanistan. Since she was admitted to the U.S. as a refugee, we have watched with awe as she has worked her way to college, where she is now a junior.

Maya told me that her mother, father, two sisters and aunt were in grave danger because of their work to support the U.S. mission in Afghanistan.

They stood in immediate danger of being killed by the Taliban if they were

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forces escorted the family out of the airport and back into harm’s way on the basis that they did not have proper documentation. This would have been cruel even if they did not have documentation, but it was incomprehensible given that they did. At this point, there were credible bomb threats, and Maya’s family, in a state of utter despair, was struggling deciding whether they should stay or give up and return home.

What happened next is still not clear.

But later that day, I received a call from a foreign journalist who had taken an interest in the plight of Maya’s family. He told me that some journalists who had befriended Maya’s family at the airport decided to take matters into their own hands. They explained to U.S. authorities that the family had proper documentation and should never have been ordered out of the airport.

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to their intervention, the family was let back into the airport.

Three days later, two suicide bombers and a gunman attacked crowds of Afghans at the exact same place outside of the airport gate where Maya’s family had waited for days. Thirteen U.S. troops and at least 90 Afghans were killed.

Later that week, Maya’s family boarded a flight to Qatar, and then to Germany. Eventually, they will make their way to the U.S. to live in safety.

For me, the lesson of Sept. 11 and the story of Maya’s family is to put our challenges, frustrations and setbacks in perspective. Think about those who would long for the chance to be free and alive and have such problems. Live in the moment, value our freedom and be thankful we live in the greatest democracy in the world. 

Lee Fisher is dean and Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler chair in law at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University. He is the former Ohio attorney general, lt. governor, director of the Ohio Department of Development, chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission, president and CEO of the Center for Families and Children, president and CEO of CEOs for Cities, state representative and state senator.

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COMMUNITY LEADER 15

CIT Y VIE W // BY CHRIS RONAYNE

Culture Matters Getting anything done within an organization or the civic sector starts with culture.

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his quarter, I will complete a 16-year run as president of University Circle Inc. (UCI). I will leave with the belief that any success we’ve had in University Circle traces back to our team and a culture of confidence at our workplace. My wife, Natalie Ronayne, who served for a decade as CEO of the Cleveland Botanical Garden and is now chief advancement officer for the Cleveland Metroparks, often says, “Culture eats strategy for lunch.” I believe it. To get anything done, your organizational culture has to be ready to tackle it.

Coming off of a term at Cleveland City Hall before joining UCI in 2005, there was a natural continuum of civic work. The RTA HealthLine was scheduled for completion in 2008, and we

important in the civic sector. Businesses depend on a culture of confidence in the public sector because the civic tone either attracts or repels market investment. Businesses need the basics from government. Governments must be reliable, transparent, efficient and effective. If the basics aren’t in place to build partnerships, malaise can creep in that erodes market confidence and a willingness to conduct business.

We’ve been dangerously close to that point in the public sector in Cuyahoga County, but fortunately, the strength of local organizations and local communities have carried us forward.

In times where there’s been a culture of confidence in the public sector, we have seen results.

In the mid-1970s a strong board of county commissioners helped bring forth a regional transit system we know today as the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. In the 1980s, a new mayoral team at Cleveland City Hall brought local area knowledge in the private and nonprofit sectors to spark new operational efficiencies at City Hall under the Voinovich administration, which in turn, sparked a new era of civic progress that won the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame for Cleveland.

In the succeeding administration of Mayor Michael R. White, White was the most literal about his narrative of confidence with his slogan “Cleveland Competes.” Looking back to the late 1970s when there were just a handful of residential building permits issued in a city enduring a mass exodus of population, White built off of a renewed

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16 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

realized at UCI that we could harness that momentum to advance a local plan in University Circle. We launched the Bring Back Euclid Avenue Campaign in 2007, along with six other campaigns that became our Seven Campaigns for 2007. These campaigns all had three things in common: a shared vision, deliberate collaboration and consistent communication. From there, we were able to build a culture of confidence.

Nearly 15 years after the campaigns were launched, we met the goals we set out to achieve, with 2,500 homes built or renovated on the Euclid Corridor, more than $4 billion in investment along the HealthLine and full commercial and residential occupancy in University Circle.

A culture of confidence isn’t just important at local organizations, it’s also

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civic confidence and invested in Cleveland neighborhoods with an unparalleled housing strategy using local community development corporations to find market investors. It all started with

the culture of confidence restored by Voinovich and distilled by White to set the tone for civic reinvestment.

A vision that transcended the Voinovich and White administrations was the seminal planning work called Civic Vision 2000. A related Downtown Plan was also launched to set the table for collaboration between the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County and the development of the Gateway Complex of Jacobs Field and Gund Arena. At his retirement party, County Commissioner Tim Hagan called out his collaboration with Mayor Michael White as one of his single greatest moves in public life.

Into the 2000s, a vision to connect Cleveland to its lakefront led Mayor Jane Campbell and her administration to collaborate with multiple public agencies to reimagine our region’s

relationship, with Lake Erie at its front door. I’m biased on this one, as I was the planning director that led this planning effort, along with project director Debbie Berry and the staff at Cleveland City Planning. We strove for communication and public input and achieved it — taking in and logging more than 5,000 public comments. That iterative communication emboldened our culture of confidence.

We knew where we were going.

Vision, collaboration and communication build a culture of confidence. With that culture in place, we’ll get things done again. It’s time that we do.  Chris Ronayne is president of University Circle Inc. and chairman of the Canalway Partners board of directors. He is the former Cleveland planning director.

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COMMUNITY LEADER 17

COMMUNIT Y // BY PAT PERRY

Focus on Performance It’s time to update your performance reviews to get results.

I

’m not sure that I have ever met anyone who enjoys the traditional sit-down, in-person performance review, including the managers who conduct them. Regardless of the system, timing or forms used, performance evaluations can be an emotional, complicated and an administratively tedious process.

The pandemic has not helped matters either. This is especially true for organizations whose employees worked from home and where the performance management programs relied on traditional indicators, such as attendance, tardiness, dress code and highly subjective and intangible characteristics, such as attitude. During the pandemic, results have become the key indicator of performance, as all of the other once observable traditional performance criteria is no longer in play.

Many companies have scrambled to assess their existing performance review systems and reinvent programs that make sense for today’s working conditions. A results-based performance review system, without all of the traditional fluff, may be in order. To ensure that your organization has the foundation for such a program, consider the following three steps:

Review Performance Expectations Once job descriptions have been updated, specific and measurable performance expectations should be developed for each position in the organization.

Update Your Performance Review Program With all of the changes occurring and expected to happen in the workplace, there may not be a better time to modify your company’s performance management program. Many employees have become happily accustomed to being reviewed based purely upon the results of their work during the pandemic. To revert to a traditional system with archaic forms may not work in this new era of how, when and where we work.

In addition to these three steps,

remember that a formal performance review should be a two-way conversation between the person conducting the review and the employee being evaluated.

In my career, I often found asking the following questions during the performance review was helpful in encouraging an open and honest conversation relative to an employee’s job performance: 1. How are you doing?

2. Do you really like your job? (Followed by why or why not?)

3. Is there anything you would like to see changed in your job? (Please be specific.)

4. What can I do better to help support your success? (Please be specific.)

5. Are you happy here? (Followed by why or why not?)

Update Job Descriptions

18 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

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This is the perfect time to review job descriptions and make sure they accurately reflect the duties and responsibilities of every position in your organization. To be successful, this process should be done with employee input.

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The answers to my questions were quite helpful to fully understand if the person being evaluated was engaged with their job and our organization and interested and willing to improve their job performance.

Lastly, keep in mind that a performance management program will only be effective in a workplace environment where nonmanagement employees trust the process and trust their bosses. Without that trust, virtually any program put forth by HR and organizational leaders is doomed to fail.  Pat Perry is host of the national Success Wave podcast, business book author, keynote speaker, former ERC president, columnist, NEO Business Hall of Fame member and was named to the 2021 Cleveland 500.

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COMMUNITY LEADER 19

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DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE

COMMUNITY LEADER

Resilient in the Face of Adversity DCA’S MICHAEL DEEMER DELIVERS HIS FIRST STATE OF DOWNTOWN ADDRESS.

COURTESY DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE

M

ichael Deemer, Downtown Cleveland Alliance’s (DCA) new president and CEO, recently took to the podium at the City Club to deliver his first State of Downtown address.

After being welcomed by Kristen Baird Adams, president of the City Club’s board of directors and Dan Moulthrop, CEO of the City Club, Deemer summed up the state of downtown in six words: “Resilient in the face of adversity.”

Naturally, Deemer took time to thank the City Club for supplying the venue and event sponsors PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland for their support, as well as the continuing support of the many community partners of DCA. He also took time to thank the staff and board of directors at DCA for their work.

“I would also like to recognize my predecessor, Joe Marinucci, our former CEO, who has been a terrific mentor to me over the years and who has done so much for this organization,” Deemer said.

Deemer, who took the reins as president and CEO of DCA this summer after Marinucci stepped down, also recognized the significant generational change that is taking place both within DCA

and the city.

“I would like to congratulate Kevin Kelley and Justin Bibb on their victories Tuesday evening in advancing to the next round of the general election,” Deemer said. “One of them will become the next mayor of Cleveland. And re- Dan Moulthrop and Michael Deemer gardless of the outcome, it will continue the generational change DCA will continue its mission of atthat is taking place in our civic culture tracting people, jobs and investment in Cleveland. I look forward to work- to the city’s core, Deemer said. This is ing with them over the next couple of at a time when downtowns across the months and next several years to con- country continue to face the unprecetinue to build our city.” dented challenges of the past year-andIn addressing the issue of resil- a-half, including those stemming from ience and adversity, Deemer took time the global pandemic.

“That certainly is the case here in to reintroduce the audience to DCA and its mission, while addressing the Cleveland, against the backdrop of an exwell-documented challenges posed by traordinary period of transition and opportunity,” said Deemer. “Picture what the pandemic.

“I will also speak to the legacy chal- comes to mind when you think of Downlenges that we faced before the pandem- town Cleveland. In your mind’s eye, you ic that are still with us today and will be think of bustling sidewalks, packed sports stadiums and live music and thewith us afterward,” he said.

As the only nonprofit that serves ater, a thriving foodie scene and busy ofas the voice and steward of Down- fice towers. All of these things in the past town Cleveland, which has the larg- year-and-a-half have been in jeopardy.”

In Cleveland, the pandemic has est concentration of jobs and is the largest residential downtown in Ohio, caused streets to be quieter. Shops and

By Terry Troy clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 21

were just waiting to welcome workers and visitors back to downtown. The inclusive media campaign, which included social and paid media, focused on the return of events like ball games and theater productions to the city’s core.

“We also reembraced our belief that everything good that happens in downtown comes from having a clean and safe destination,” said Deemer. “We invested in our ambassadors, who work 7 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, making our community safe, clean and welcoming. They have been on the job as essential workers, so we invested in them to raise starting wages to make sure we had a strong team in place to welcome workers and visitors back to downtown.”

As a part of that clean and safe strategy, DCA launched a co-responder

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22 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

COURTESY DOWNTOWN CLEVELAND ALLIANCE

restaurants have struggled with staffing and foot traffic. There has also been an uncertainty about the future of office work. The very density on which downtowns across the country thrive has been under attack.

“And those are just the pandemic challenges,” Deemer pointed out. “However, I believe in the strength of this organization. I believe in the foundation we have built in Downtown Cleveland and the momentum behind the revival that was taking place downtown prior to the pandemic, and it has really continued throughout.”

Starting with the NFL Draft held in Cleveland earlier this year, DCA sought to accelerate downtown’s recovery with its Welcome Back to Downtown campaign, which focused on new and old shops and restaurants that

pilot project with Medworks, which coupled DCA ambassadors with mental health professionals to respond to calls about people who were experiencing homelessness, mental health or addiction related crises, “and making sure people were being connected with the sheltering services that they needed,” added Deemer.

DCA also amplified its advocacy voice in the past year, getting involved in civic discussions surrounding the city’s mayoral race, publishing a voter education guide and educating downtown voters on how to register to vote, as well as where and when to vote.

“We also published our very first mayoral questionnaire that showed the voters where the candidates stood on issues that were important to downtown voters,” Deemer added.

These efforts have helped downtown in myriad ways.

“Throughout the summer, we saw increasing foot traffic in downtown,” said Deemer. “Compared to the same time in 2020, we have had a 90% increase in foot traffic. We see office workers returning. We see businesses continuing to invest in office space, whether it is Sherwin-Williams moving forward with their plans for a corporate headquarters, CrossCountry Mortgage relocating their corporate headquarters to downtown and bringing 600 jobs with them, or Rocket Mortgage adding 600 jobs to their downtown headquarters.”

There are also new projects on the books that should bring long-term investment and development, such as the new plans from Bedrock to rethink Tower

City and the Cuyahoga River waterfront, as well as the projects from the Cleveland Browns and the Haslams to revitalize the city’s lakefront.

“We see business and leisure travel picking back up,” added Deemer. “We see new projects getting under construction and new projects being planned.

And, very important from our perspective at the Alliance, our residential population continues to grow.”

Earlier this year, DCA surpassed its goal of reaching 20,000 residents downtown and is now marching toward its goal of having 30,000 residents by 2030.

But the continued growth is not going to happen by itself, said Deemer. DCA needs to do everything in its power to accelerate downtown’s recovery. For that, DCA has developed a three-part plan. 

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COMMUNITY LEADER 23

Building a Better City

A

THREE-PART STRATEGY ENHANCES THE QUALITY OF LIFE, RESTORES DOWNTOWN’S VIBRANCY AND ATTRACTS NEW BUSINESSES.

s a part of his State of Downtown at the City Club last month, Michael Deemer, president and CEO of Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA), outlined a three-part strategy to keep the downtown on a growth track. It involves enhancing the quality of life and pedestrian experience, restoring downtown’s vibrancy and “going back on offense in attracting new businesses.”

Enhancing the quality of life starts with creating a clean and safe environment for residents, workers and visitors alike.

“We will be focusing on increasing the visibility and responsiveness of our ambassadors,” said Deemer. “We are

going to build on the success of our co-responder pilot project with Medworks to make sure downtown is a model for connecting people experiencing homelessness or crises related to mental health or addiction.”

Restoring downtown’s vibrancy means making it an exciting place to be.

“That begins with bringing workers back downtown,” said Deemer. “We’re doing everything in our power at DCA to encourage that — whether it means encouraging people to get vaccinated or working with employers to identify best practices or how to communicate with their teams to make them want to come back to the office.

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“We are going to build on the success of our coresponder pilot project with Medworks to make sure downtown is a model for connecting people experiencing homelessness or crises related to mental health or addiction.”

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“Over the course of the summer, we have collaborated with TeamNEO in launching an office attraction marketing project that was focused on the Erieview Historic District,” said Deemer. “We also launched a pilot project for retail attraction that was focused on Euclid Avenue. We’re going to build on those strategies and take them across downtown, and work with partners to attract more businesses, more retail growth for downtown.

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“We also know that in order to be successful in restoring downtown as a favorite place, we need to make our downtown a place that people love to be. We need to make it a place that inspires people to choose downtown over dull virtual experiences and 2D ‘Zoom fatigue.’”

How will DCA do that?

“We are going to animate downtown streets, parks and public spaces with arts, activities and energy,” answered Deemer.

In the third part of the strategy, “We are going to collaborate with our strategic partners to communicate with business leaders, entrepreneurs and investors why Downtown Cleveland is a great place to grow a business,” said Deemer.

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COMMUNITY LEADER 25

T

he best leaders are often the ones who do it naturally. Being successful in business and impacting the community in positive ways go hand in hand. We need people doing both in order to thrive as a region.

The Business Hall of Fame inductions started in 1996 as a bicentennial project with the city of Cleveland.

It was a hit with the community, so Cleveland Magazine's Community Leader has continued inducting leaders in the business sectors every year since then. When choosing honorees, we look for men and women who achieve career success that is impossible to overlook — the type that builds and powers our communities.

These are people who also have the drive to impact the greater good and demonstrate that leadership extends far beyond the boardroom.

The growth of our region depends as much on the leaders running our communities, nonprofit organizations and government entities as it does our corporate citizens.

That's what the Community Leader of the Year Awards celebrate. These recipients have made a significant impact in the categories of arts, education, public service/ government, diversity and inclusion and environment, nonprofit organizations and sustainability. These are leaders who are making a difference one important initiative, big idea or creative endeavor at a time.

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COMMUNITY LEADER 27

2021 BUSINESS HALL OF FAME

Head of the Class Alex Johnson has followed the same vision & passion for education during his entire career.

By Lynne Thompson

Alex Johnson’s vision of community college education is rooted in his Concord, North Carolina, childhood. His grandmother, who cared for him while his parents worked, ingrained in him the importance of schooling and enrolled him in church activities. That church community provided a bedrock sense of continuity and “great lessons of hope and commitment” for a young Black boy growing up in a segregated southern town. It also planted the seeds of what would become a commitment to promoting access to and equality in education, developing students’ leadership skills and promoting community outreach initiatives “so there is the intersection of civic engagement with educational delivery.”

“That experience has resonated with me throughout my career,” he says.

The vision has reaped multiple advances since the 71-year-old assumed the presidency of Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) in 2013. Graduation rates have risen to meet or exceed national averages. Financial giving to support 28 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

student scholarships and personal needs is up from approximately $39 million to more than $100 million. Medical Mutual of Ohio Chairman, President and CEO Rick Chiricosta, who just completed 12 years on the Tri-C Foundation’s board of directors, remembers feeling sorry for the unassuming man who would succeed the “iconic” Jerry Sue Thornton.

“We’ve had plenty of other organizations where a longtime leader has left, and the new one couldn't get accepted,” he observes. “I think the fact that he’s not only become so accepted, but also so well loved just says everything about him.”

Among Johnson’s first projects was increasing the percentage of students who graduated in a timely manner.

Johnson’s first job after graduating from Winston-Salem State University with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education in 1971 was teaching at a publicly funded early childhood center in New York City. At the same time, he worked on a master’s degree in early childhood education from Lehman College, spurred by the lack of programs for the children with developmental delays whom he encountered. A professor there moved him

to alter his career path by introducing tools such as screening measures.

“I wanted to be a college professor, too, and make a greater impact that would ultimately enrich the lives of young people,” he says.

Johnson earned a doctorate in early childhood and special education from Pennsylvania State University in 1978 and spent three years as an assistant professor at Bowling Green State University before returning to Winston-Salem State as an associate professor. By 1993, he was the university’s vice president for academic affairs. That year, then-Kent State University president Carol Cartwright, a former Penn State faculty member who’d served as Johnson’s adviser, called to see if he was interested in the Tri-C Metro Campus post Thornton was looking to fill. The job would put him and wife Daphne close to her ailing mother in Youngstown.

Under Johnson’s direction, the campus worked to ensure Cleveland Metropolitan School District students were prepared for college coursework. It implemented a program that improved district math curricula by providing in-service training for its teachers and established the High-Tech Academy, a still-thriving program that puts students in college classes for half of the school day. Community engagement initiatives included building computer labs in district buildings and public housing developments to help bridge the digital divide and sending nursing students into the community to perform screenings and provide referrals to health care

LAURA WATILO BLAKE

organizations for preschoolers.

In 2004, Johnson left Cleveland for New Orleans to head Delgado Community College. Four years later, he moved to Pittsburgh to become president of Community College of Allegheny County. In 2013, Tri-C called to ask if he’d like to interview for the retiring Thornton’s job. Cleveland Private Trust Co. president and CEO Andrew Randall, then on the college board of trustees he now chairs, recalls that Johnson not only was familiar with the school, having been president of the Tri-C Metro Campus, but also had the self-confidence and interpersonal skills needed to manage four campuses and build on the connections Thornton had established.

“No leader, whether it’s civic, college, business, whatever, can be successful in Cleveland if they don’t have an interpersonal connectivity,” Randall declares.

Among Johnson’s first projects was increasing the percentage of students who graduated in a timely manner. Today, he says the college is “well above” the national average of 25% of students earning a certificate in one-and-a-half years.

The school also established an “access agenda” to increase enrollment and retention that included expanded community outreach and putting a food pantry on every campus to assist students facing food insecurity. Money provided by voter passage of a $225 million construction bond in 2017 was used, among other things, to purchase and renovate a property that became the Transportation Innovation Center in Euclid and augment facilities for “centers of excellence” in the creative arts, hospitality management, nursing, information technology, manufacturing and public safety, the last three of which had been established under Johnson’s leadership. The developments reflect what Chiricosta describes as Johnson’s efforts to reach out to business leaders and identify workforce needs.

“There are leaders who come in, and

they think they know everything,” he says. “That’s not Alex.”

Johnson is facing the biggest challenge of his tenure in guiding Tri-C through the COVID-19 pandemic. Enrollment had increased prior to the pandemic, but has dropped to 20,000 since

the pandemic, despite the fact that past efforts to improve student access to information technology made it easier to transition to online learning.

“I don’t think I would be the most suitable president for Tri-C if I didn’t think about what we could do,” he says. 

2021 BUSINESS HALL OF FAME

Joe Marinucci led Downtown Cleveland Alliance through a city resurgence.

By Colleen Smitek

30 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

LAURA WATILO BLAKE

Downtown Cleveland has always been the place to be for Joe Marinucci.

It started with trips to the old stadium to watch baseball and to the Hippodrome Theater to catch the latest movies.

“I always experienced downtown over the years,” he says. “And Cleveland has always been a passion of mine.”

Once Marinucci launched his career, that passion became a mission, leading to four decades of development projects that transformed the city from Playhouse Square to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, while also attracting thousands of new residents.

Marinucci’s career began in 1980 working in community development for Cuyahoga County and just ended this year (officially, he still remains on a handful of boards) when he retired as president of Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA), a group he’s led since the nonprofit’s inception 15 years ago. He also served as executive vice president, then president and CEO, of Downtown Cleveland

Partnership from 2002 to 2006.

Downtown Cleveland was a very different place when he took the helm in 2006. At that time, the city had less than 10,000 residents — and office space had also taken a big hit.

“We had a portfolio of vacant office spaces,” he says, referencing the loss of British Petroleum and LTV Steel.

“That created a vacuum in terms of empty square footage.”

Marinucci and his team began a quest to convert old office spaces into residences and hotels. During his tenure, Euclid Avenue was wholly reimagined. “What you now have is nearly 4,000 residents who live on Euclid, as well as six hotels, which animate the space in a great way,” Marinucci says.

“When you overlay that with the improvements from the Euclid Corridor project, we were able to fully transform Euclid Avenue.”

Marinucci is also credited with helping secure $7.3 billion of investment for Downtown Cleveland, assisting in bringing the 2016 Republican National Convention to Cleveland and forming the Downtown Recovery Response Fund in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before joining DCA, Marinucci served in various roles for the Ohio Department of Development from 1983 to 1990, followed up by a four-year stint as director of economic development for the city of Cleveland under then-Mayor Mike White. Those were the years that laid the groundwork for landscape-changing projects like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Great

Lakes Science Center.

“It’s not often that you get to work on those kinds of things,” Marinucci says.

“Those were fun years.”

In 1994, Marinucci joined the Playhouse Square Foundation as vice president of real estate development. During that time, the foundation lifted its gaze from its theaters to the neighborhood surrounding them.

Joe Marinucci is credited with helping secure $7.3 billion of investment for downtown Cleveland.

“We recognized that the theaters were beautiful,” he says. “But the reality was that the neighborhood really had not seen much investment since the 1940s or ’50s. We recognized that we needed more vibrancy — and we needed to control more of the neighborhood.”

So the foundation got into the real estate game, buying buildings and opening a hotel on Euclid Avenue, as well as what’s now called U.S. Bank Plaza. “We created a mixed-use neighborhood,” Marinucci says.

Art Falco was the president and CEO of the Playhouse Square Foundation while Marinucci worked there and now serves as a senior adviser of special projects. He credits Marinucci with pushing for business improvement districts downtown.

“It has been very successful,” Falco says. “Joe is understated, but persistent, and clearly is excellent at executing a strategy. Joe gets it done. He’s a doer.”

Now, as the city faces an uncertain future yet again, Marinucci is able to take a step back — and stay calm. While it’s true that the pandemic has poured fuel

on the work-from-home trend, Marinucci knows the city can transition once again. “We’ve been through this before,” he says. “We have the foundation in place to recover.”

Specifically, that means housing.

“We have the expertise in place to take some of the underutilized spaces and transform them into additional housing,” he says. “We can pivot.”

Marinucci says 20,000 people living downtown — and the next goal is to bump that number to 30,000 by 2030.

Marinucci is confident that can happen because other people feel the same pull to downtown that he has felt his entire life.

“It’s a type of environment you can’t find any place else,” he says. “Because of that, companies will still want to be downtown. It’s still a place where I can live and work without getting in my car.

That’s the type of lifestyle that isn’t going to change because of the pandemic.”

That’s the kind of carefree exploring Marinucci plans to do himself now that he has more free time. He and his wife, Dani, have four grown children, all of whom live in the area. For his retirement present, they bought him a new bike and he’s out on two wheels at least four times a week.

Marinucci still serves on three boards — Global Cleveland, the Cleveland International Film Festival and the Cleveland Restoration Society. You can also find him watching the world go by with Dani at Collision Bend Brewing Co. along the Cuyahoga River in the Flats.

“There are a lot of cities that have a lakefront or oceanfront,” he says. “What they don’t have are the intersections of a river like the Cuyahoga. Those are experience you can’t have anywhere else in the U.S.” He’s able to relax some because, after years spent pushing to bring the best to Cleveland’s core, he sees that we have momentum — and a plan.

“I think that downtown is much better positioned than it ever was,” he says.  clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 31

2021 BUSINESS HALL OF FAME

Passion Projects Jack Schron has spent 40 years following and succeeding in what he loves.

By Colleen Smitek Jack Schron’s three life passions — his family’s manufacturing business, job creation and the future of Cleveland — have intertwined throughout the past 40 years and merged into a quiet, yet powerful, force for good.

Schron’s influence began with his family’s business, Jergens Inc., and continued to grow after he won a seat on the first Cuyahoga County Council in 2010.

He has also been a passionate advocate — and leader by example — for hiring both those with special needs and former inmates trying to build a new life.

Add to that nearly three decades of military experience and an ethos inherited from his elders, and you can see why Schron’s track record has been both free of controversy and full of accomplishments.

“What Jack says he’s going to do, he does,” says John Richards, president and CEO of Richards Communications, who has known Schron both socially and professionally for 40 years.

32 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

“He always looks to do whatever’s good for the community as a whole. He loves manufacturing. He believes it’s the key to the heart of Cleveland — to keep manufacturing strong.”

Schron grew up seeing how his father and grandfather ran Jergens, the manufacturing business they founded in the middle of World War II. A card was sent to each employee to mark birthdays, as well as other special occasions, totaling more than 10,000 sent throughout the years. Then, there were company picnics, holiday parties and special perks, such as reserved parking spots.

“The biggest challenge is that when you have the integrity of the two men who created something, you want to leave their legacy in a higher place,” Schron says.

Creating jobs and changing lives through employment is what Jack Schron considers his biggest accomplishments.

Schron took full control of Jergens nearly 30 years ago. He used the lessons he learned in the U.S. Army Reserve (he went on to serve 28 years, retiring as a

lieutenant colonel) to inform his leadership strategy.

“The military is the ultimate in organizations that says all folks are equal,” he explains. “You analyze projects and, ultimately, have to make a decision. You make your best decision and move on.”

Schron also looked at the structure of the business — and studied it from a military perspective, breaking the company up into platoons or units. “A platoon is where all of the action takes place,” he says. “We made a series of business units, all of which have grown.”

Specifically, Schron split the business into three units, creating one focused on selling industrial distribution products, one focused on high-end assembly tools used in fields like medical and computer assembly, and one focused on Jergen’s founding mission — products used to hold parts, lift parts and quickly connect items.

Schron’s life took an unexpected turn in 2010 when he received a phone call from a local party leader urging him to run for the newly formed Cuyahoga County Council. “We don’t just need community people,” he remembers being told. “We need businesspeople.

Would you consider running?”

Schron, a Republican, believed local government needed to head in a new direction after the corruption scandal that landed Jimmy Dimora, former Cuyahoga County commissioner, and others in prison. Schron decided to run,

LAURA WATILO BLAKE

was elected and took office in 2011. (His current term ends in 2025, and he says it will be his last.)

Creating jobs and changing lives through employment is what Schron considers his biggest accomplishments, both through Jergens and his role on County Council.

“I’ve been able to convey to some of my colleagues that the No. 1 social program of all social programs is a job,” he says. “It’s easy to think that government can be the solution, but there’s so much

more satisfaction by earning a paycheck.

This is the American dream. It’s the No. 1 thing we need to do. It rebuilds the family unit. It rebuilds the community.”

But Schron doesn’t just advocate.

He acts. Throughout the years, Jergens has hired more than 50 former inmates.

“We have not had one single case of recidivism,” Schron says.

In 2001, Schron helped launch Tooling University, which is now run by his son, Chad Schron. The school teaches in-demand manufacturing skills and currently

has about 8,000 students. “We have over 3,000 open shop requisitions right at this moment,” he says. “These are the good jobs. These are the jobs making stuff, growing stuff, building stuff.”

Even closer to Schron’s heart, Jergens works with 18 local school districts to bring around 20 high school kids with special needs into the workplace for job training. “My mind goes to their attributes, not their limitations,” Schron says. “They are such contributors.”

He tells the story of one young man who, on his first day, could not make eye contact with anyone. “Now, he has a driver’s license and is able to drive a forklift,” Schron says. “We found a place for him, and he is such a contributor.”

His message: If Jergens can do it, so can any business. “I want to tell the other companies who might be reading this that you can do this, too.”

It’s easy to see why Schron has been so successful, according to Ron Ambrogio, a friend of his and the Ohio regional president of BNY Mellon Wealth Management.

“Employees first,” Ambrogio says.

“He’s one of those individuals who puts everyone first. When you’re in his presence, you are the most important thing to Jack.”

Schron lives in Chagrin Falls with his wife, Mary Ellen, and his three adult sons and six grandchildren all live in the area as well.

No matter what his mission, Schron says his motivation is always the same.

“The core of it all is a faith-based life,” he says. “Giving back to others is where the foundation is. Faith says that you help that person who was formerly incarcerated. Faith says you help the disadvantaged. You find that one sheep that was lost in the 99. If you do that, all of the rest of the stuff takes care of itself.”  clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 33

2021 COMMUNITY LEADERS OF THE YEAR: PUBLIC SERVICE/GOVERNMENT

Leading with Compassion Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell delivers on her gifts.

By Jill Sell

The person on the other end of the phone line talking to Maple Heights Mayor Annette Blackwell suddenly hears sirens and commotion in the background.

“We are having an emergency — I’ll call you back in five minutes,” says Blackwell, rushing out of her office and into the hall to address the situation.

She does and is back in the time she promised. She says she stayed until everything was under control. Maple Heights is Blackwell’s city, and she guides it with intelligence, a steady hand and heart of gold.

Annette Blackwell is also focusing on diversifying the housing stock of Maple Heights.

34 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

Born near Selma, Alabama, to a family of sharecroppers, Blackwell was part of the end of the Great Migration of people who moved north for job and educational opportunities, ending in the early 1970s. She arrived in Cleveland at age 2 and initially lived in the Glenville neighborhood. She has lived in Maple Heights since 1997.

“You know what your God-given gifts are,” says Blackwell. “Leadership and compassion always came easy to me. I don’t have to go out of the country to help people. I can embrace a life of purpose right here.” 

LAURA WATILO BLAKE

Blackwell is the 16th mayor of Maple Heights, incorporated as a village in 1915 and a city in 1932. She is the first woman and African American mayor of the suburb, with its 23,700 people. This is the second year of her second term, which began in 2016.

Blackwell considers the Herculean effort of leading the city out of fiscal emergency to be (so far) her proudest moment

as mayor. Maple Heights was staring at a $2.79 million debt and facing bankruptcy when Blackwell took the mayor’s seat. Her background as a commercial property tax analyst and other career experience provided expertise.

“Getting out of that was what I came to do,” says Blackwell, who called for accountability when writing municipal purchase orders and protecting the city’s general fund.

Blackwell knocked on the doors of the 25 biggest employers in the city telling them she needed them and would do whatever she could to help them stay and expand. Last year, Sherwood Food Distributors created a number of new jobs, and GOJO Industries invested $25 million to open a facility in the community. GOJO Industries has committed to hiring 100 employees. The city also welcomed 10 new small businesses.

Blackwell is also focusing on diversifying the housing stock of Maple Heights. She hopes to attract more new home construction and housing styles that differ from the bungalows that were built post World War II. “If we are going to attract new residents from a variety of races, ethnicities and backgrounds, we need housing that meets their needs today,” says Blackwell.

This year, Blackwell has also zeroed in on helping her residents (about 74% of whom are African American) obtain “environmental justice” by improving the outdoor opportunities that are important to everyone’s health and well-being.

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2021 COMMUNITY LEADERS OF THE YEAR: NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

One Home at a Time John Habat knows how housing stability changes lives, families and communities.

By Colleen Smitek John Habat doesn’t have to wonder what it feels like to experience housing instability.

Habat, president and CEO of Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity, grew up in a family of 11 children that moved a dozen or so times before he left for a small Christian high school in Mt. Vernon and then college in Maryland, becoming the first in his family to earn a high school diploma and an advanced degree.

“I just knew from my own family experience the damage this could inflict on a family — not just for one generation but a legacy of harm for multiple generations,” he says.

When Habat took the helm in 2011, the organization had built only one house in the preceding year. That number is now up to as many as two dozen homes a year, which would not be possible without the help of more than 3,000 volunteers.

Currently, Habitat for Humanity is working primarily in two neighborhoods: building single-family homes in the Buckeye Woodhill area and rehabbing townhouses for smaller families in Euclid.

A common misconception, says Habat, is that families are given homes free and clear. The reality is that the organization

A common misconception is that families are given homes free and clear.

LAURA WATILO BLAKE

works with families to arrange a zero-interest mortgage with monthly payments tailored to their ability to pay. “Overall, we’ve had a 95% success rate,” he adds.

Habat launched his career with a fellowship with the Ohio Legislature where he advanced efforts to pass House Bill 378, which, for the first time, allowed the state to provide subsidies to families who adopt children with special needs.

He still considers this early achievement his “ticket into heaven.”

Next, he served as the policy director for George Voinovich, who ran successfully against Dennis Kucinich to become mayor of Cleveland in 1979.

Politics was followed by a long stint (1985-2000) as the vice president of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association and then eight years as a higher education executive.

Then he got the itch to get into grassroots, nonprofit work.

While Habat’s early struggles no longer haunt him, they will never leave him. “It’s why I’m so empathetic with the families I serve,” he says. “Because I walked those streets.”

And there are always too many people in those same shoes. “I know we could do 250 houses a year and still have a long waiting list,” he says. “The job has just begun.” 

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2021 COMMUNITY LEADERS OF THE YEAR: ENVIRONMENT & SUSTAINABILITY

Jill Koski Holden Forests & Gardens CEO Jill Koski believes in the power of trees to heal and inspire.

By Colleen Smitek

38 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

Jill Koski and her team want to push beyond the borders of the gardens with the new 2021 People for Trees. million ash trees in the U.S. Koski envisions neighborhoods where saplings are nurtured and grow into trees that will both consciously and subconsciously make a difference in the lives of those who encounter them — just like her white oak did for her growing up.

“I hope everybody can get connected at whatever level they want,” Koski says.

“Especially in the past 18 months, we all see how important nature is not only for our physical well-being, but also for our mental well-being.” 

LAURA WATILO BLAKE

Jill Koski grew up in the shadow of a towering white oak — and the impression it left on her is as mighty as that oak itself.

“It served a core purpose in our lives,” she says. “Growing up as a kid, I was just connected. I always loved living things.”

It’s no surprise then that Koski spent much of her career at Shedd Aquarium and the Morton Arboretum (both in the Chicago area) before coming to Cleveland in 2017 to serve as president and CEO of Holden Forests & Gardens.

What Clevelanders might not recognize, she says, is the innovation that takes place at the organization. In 2014, Holden Arboretum merged with Cleveland Botanical Garden to create Holden Forests & Gardens, which is the 14th largest public garden in the country. Each year, it draws nearly 400,000 visitors and boasts 17,000 members.

“There is nothing else that fits this model in the country,” Koski says. “We have two different faces — one urban and one rural.”

The result is a stunning array of opportunities to connect to nature, including a canopy walk amongst the trees, more than 20 miles of trails around lakes and through woodlands, two highly curated glasshouses, manicured gardens, a children’s garden, special events and more.

“There are so many possibilities,” Koski says.

Now, Koski and her team want to push beyond the borders of the gardens with the new 2021 People for Trees volunteer campaign to plant 15,000 trees in Northeast Ohio by 2025, which was made possible by a $200,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation. Participants can simply plant a tree on their own property or make a donation allowing a tree to be planted where it’s needed most.

“It really comes down to the benefits of health and wellness,” Koski says. “This is especially true in more urban areas.”

Koski has plans to plant two trees in her own yard — a river birch and a witch hazel. No sapling can replace the canopy formed by old-growth trees, of course, but it’s a start to repairing the devastation caused by the emerald ash borer, which has killed upward of 200

2021 COMMUNITY LEADERS OF THE YEAR: DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Opening Up Hope Jacob Nash opened Margie’s Closet as a comfortable shopping space for transgender, nonbinary or genderexpansive people.

By Jill Sell

40 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

Margie’s Closet was created by Jacob Nash of Akron and his wife, Erin, to give the transgender community a safe, affordable and comfortable place to shop.

“I like to say our story helped transgender to become more visible in our world,” says Nash, identifying himself as a man of faith.

But, admittedly, it hasn’t always been easy.

“Erin has identified as a lesbian since she was 15. When we met through a Yahoo Christian dating site, I was just transitioning. I stopped using ‘Pam’ as my first name, and my facial hair was coming in. It was hard on her. She lost a lot of good friends,” says Nash, who believes the couple’s personal experiences and struggles encouraged them to help others.

Margie’s Hope is Nash’s nonprofit umbrella organization founded in 2011 that now includes several support groups and educational programs. Nash’s TransAlive support group for adults began in 2007. Since then, Nash’s outreach has extended to Margie’s Kids for transgender youth and Margie’s Pride for parents of transgender individuals of any age. Trans Youth Allied Task Force is a partnership with Akron Children’s Center for Gender Affirming Medicine that began in 2019 at Akron Children’s Hospital to help facilitate communication between organizations that cares for transgender youth.

“I don’t get paid for what I do,” says Nash. “But I try to educate others about the transgender community and create safe environments.” 

LAURA WATILO BLAKE

Most people do not consider a dressing room their friend. It’s where, under the harshest of lights when you are trying on clothing, the bags under your eyes look huge and your muffin top appears massive. But, for the most part, you can walk into a dressing room and walk back out without anyone giving you a second glance.

It isn’t always that easy for individuals who are transgender, nonbinary or gender-expansive. It shouldn’t be this way, but some members of the communities worry about which dressing room they should use to avoid possible confrontations. Men’s? Women’s? Unisex? Will they get unfriendly stares or insensitive comments from other customers and sales reps? An alternative to in-person shopping is buying clothing online, but we all know what a hassle that can be.

Margie’s Closet, a nonprofit thrift boutique at 1384 W. 117th St. in Lakewood, opened this past June. The shop welcomes everyone, but in a very short period of time, it has become a refuge and resource for gender nonconforming

people. In addition to new and donated outerwear, dresses, jeans and wedding gowns, the shop also sells wigs, binders, gaffs (compression underwear) and other items not usually found at Target or Kohl’s.

Margie’s Closet was created by Jacob Nash of Akron and his wife, Erin, to give the transgender community a safe, affordable and comfortable place to shop.

In addition to clothing and accessories, Margie’s Closet also offers resource lists of doctors, lawyers, contractors, real estate professionals and more who are allies of the LGBTQ+ communities.

The couple calls itself “accidental activists.” They fought for years in three states — Ohio, New Hampshire (where Nash lived for a few years) and Massachusetts (where he was born and grew up) — to become legally married. After facing strict judges, red tape and, sometimes, hostile reactions, they got legally married in 2004. They’ve been together for 22 years.

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2021 COMMUNITY LEADERS OF THE YEAR: ARTS

Standing Center Stage Tony Sias leads the the country’s oldest African American producing theater.

By Jill Sell Sometimes, it’s like being a parent.

You have to know when to let go, even if it hurts a little. But in your heart and mind, you know it’s for the best.

In June, Karamu House, the country’s oldest African American producing theater, donated its priceless archives to Case Western Reserve University.

director and actor who counts the opportunity to play actor/athlete/activist/ singer Paul Robeson at Ensemble Theatre in Cleveland Heights among his favorite roles. Sias also has a special memory associated with his portrayal of Troy Maxson in “Fences” more than 20 years ago at Cuyahoga Community College, which was seen by playwright August Wilson.

“That production happened about a year after my father died. He was a contractor, specializing in fencing. The spirit of my father was on stage with me,” says Sias.

Tony Sias calls himself “an artist inside and out.”

Sias is a businessman who has kept Karamu House not just surviving, but also “Thriving,” — the theme of the theater’s most recent campaign. He is also razor sharp when it comes to relevance. Since the pandemic began, Sias has helped craft the ideas for Freedom on Juneteenth and Freedom After Juneteenth. Both were celebrations of Black culture and looked deeper at “policing and trauma in the Black community, as well as voter rights and power,” he says.

Sias is grateful to have provided “a small amount of jobs” for actors during the pandemic shutdown. He is especially proud that Karamu House found ways to keep audiences engaged with panel discussions and interactions, even if not in person.

“Cleveland’s a great city. Karamu House is one of its treasures,” says Sias. 

LAURA WATILO BLAKE

The special collection will be housed in the Kelvin Smith Library and open to the public for serious research and to those who appreciate Cleveland’s rich arts and cultural history. Photographs, playbills, posters, actors’ bios and images, stage documents, correspondence penned by the famous (including playwright and Karamu House alumnus Langston Hughes) and more will be preserved.

Preservation is a huge, and often expensive, task. In some ways, the donation frees Karamu House, in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood, to do what it does best — respect its 106-year-old history, yet guide Cleveland’s Black and multiracial theater and cultural arts community into meaningful and changing directions.

President and CEO Tony Sias has been at the helm of Karamu House since 2015, helping make decisions that are far-reaching and visionary. A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Sias first arrived in Cleveland because he needed a residency with a regional theater to earn his master’s degree from Ohio University. He landed at Cleveland Play House.

“I had no intention of staying in Cleveland. That was 30 years ago,” says Sias, who has also been director, department of arts education for Cleveland Metropolitan School District and artistic director for Cleveland School of the Arts.

Sias calls himself “an artist inside and out.” He is a versatile

Congratulations

JACK SCHRON and the rest of the 2021 Business Hall of Fame Inductees!

www.jergensinc.com

PAST INDUCTEES: BUSINESS HALL OF FAME

2019

Gilbert, David – Greater Cleveland Sports Commision and Destination Cleveland Lucarelli, Jason “Jay” – MinuteMen Staffing and HR Services Lucarelli, Samuel (posthumously) – MinuteMen Staffing and HR Services Moreno, Bernie – Bernie Moreno Cos.

2015

Fowler, Chuck – Fairmount Minerals Mooney, Beth – KeyCorp Nance, Fred – Squire Patton Boggs Snyder, Barbara – Case Western Reserve University

2014

2018

Conway, Dan – Great Lakes Brewing Co. Conway, Pat – Great Lakes Brewing Co. Perry, Pat – ERC

Dalton, Ray – PartsSource Howley, Nicholas – TransDigm Group Inc. Kohl, Stewart – The Riverside Cos. Morrison, Richard – Molded Fiber Glass Cos. Proenza, Luis M. – The University of Akron

2017

2013

Berg, Jodi – Vitamix Humphries, Thomas – Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber Kahl, Jack – ShurTech Brands LLC Maron, Rick – MRN Ltd. Richard, Ronn – The Cleveland Foundation

2016

Byrnes, Marc – Oswald Cos. Heinen, Tom – Heinen’s Grocery Store Heinen, Jeff – Heinen’s Grocery Store Moore-Hardy, Cynthia – Lake Health Oatey, Gary – Oatey Co.

Albanese, Virginia – FedEx Custom Critical Falco, Art – Playhouse Square Summers Jr., William B. – McDonald Investments Thornton, Dr. Jerry Sue – Cuyahoga Community College Bares, Jack (posthumously) – Milbar Corp.

2012

Church, Roy – Lorain County Community College Clark, Paul – PNC Bank Linsalata, Frank N. – Linsalata Capital Partners

Nottingham, John – Nottingham Spirk Smith, C. Robert – Spero-Smith Investments Advisers Spirk, John – Nottingham Spirk

2011

Briggs, Robert W. – GAR Foundation Chiricosta, Rick – Medical Mutual of Ohio Egger, Terrance E. Z. – The Plain Dealer Hambrick, James L. – The Lubrizol Corp.

Harmon Sr., Lute – Cleveland Magazine Pianalto, Sandra – Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

2010

Coleman, Lonnie – Coleman Spohn Corp.

Fedeli, Umberto P. – The Fedeli Group Ratner, Charles – Forest City Enterprises Strauss, Thomas J. – Summa Health System Woods, Jacqueline F. – AT&T Ohio

2009

Bishop, Paul – H-P Products Inc. Considine, William – Akron Children’s Hospital Conway, Bill – Fairmount Minerals Siegal, Michael – Olympic Steel Hyland Sr., Packy (posthumously) – Hyland Software

Congratulations to the

2021 Business Hall of Fame Inductees!

DR. ALEX JOHNSON

President Cuyahoga Community College

MR. JOE MARINUCCI

Former President & CEO Downtown Cleveland Alliance

MR. JACK SCHRON Chair & CEO Jergens Inc.

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44 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

2008

Keegan, Robert J. – The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Shearer, Robert J. – Shearer’s Foods Inc. Wolstein, Scott A. – Developers Diversified Realty Corp.

Zenty III, Thomas F. – University Hospitals

2007

Clapp, Kent – Medical Mutual of Ohio Connor, Chris – The Sherwin-Williams Co. Crawford, Ed – Park-Ohio Holdings Corp.

Hall, Brian – Industrial Inventory Solutions

2006

Alexander, Tony – FirstEnergy Corp.

Anderson, Warren – The Anderson-DuBose Co. Cosgrove, Delos “Toby” – Cleveland Clinic

2005

Covelli, Sam – Covelli Enterprises Gund, Gordon – Gund Investment Corp.

Heisler, Yank – Key Bank Wolstein, Bert – Developers Diversified Realty Corp.

2004

Burg, H. Peter – FirstEnergy Corp.

Cutler, Sandy – Eaton Corp.

Schwebel, Joe – Schwebel Baking Co. Smucker, Richard – J.M. Smucker Co. Smucker, Tim – J.M. Smucker Co.

2003

Ahuja, Monte – Transtar Inds. Inc. Brennan, David – White Hat Management Lerner, Alfred – Cleveland Browns Smith, Clarence – Compco Inds.

2002

Loop, Fred – Cleveland Clinic Madison, Bob – Robert P. Madison International Inc. Mahoney, Bob – Diebold Inc. Meyer, Henry – KeyCorp Tod, David – Civic leader

2001

Davey, John – The Davey Institute of Tree Surgery Lennon, Fred – Swagelok Machaskee, Alex – The Plain Dealer Nord, Eric – Nordson Corp.

Ong, John – The B.F. Goodrich Co. Timken, Tim – The Timken Co. Wean, Raymond John – Wean Engineering Co.

2000

Beeghly, Leon – Standard Slag Co. Debartolo Sr., Edward J. – DeBartolo Realty Embry, Wayne – Cavaliers/Gund Arena Co. Firestone, Harvey – Firestone Tire and Rubber Co. Flood, Howard – FirstMerit Corp.

Gault, Stan – The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. Hoover, William Henry – Hoover Co. Patient, Bill – Cleveland State University Payiavlas, John – AVI Foodsystems Inc. Tullis, Dick – Harris Corp./University Circle Inc. Walters, Farrah – University Hospitals

1999

Daberko, Dave – National City Corp.

Davis, James C. – Squire, Sanders & Dempsey Reavis, Jack – Jones Day Schey, Ralph – Scott Fetzer Co. Sullivan, Tom – RPM Inc.

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COMMUNITY LEADER 45

PAST INDUCTEES: BUSINESS HALL OF FAME

1998

Austin, Samuel – The Austin Co. Bruening, Joseph M. – Bearings Inc. Gillespie, Bob – KeyCorp Harrison, H. Stuart – Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. McCartan, Pat – Jones Day Ratner, Albert – Forest City Enterprises

Eaton, Henry F. – Dix & Eaton Inc. Jacobs, David H. – Richard E. Jacobs Group Jacobs, Richard E. – Richard E. Jacobs Group Lewis, Peter – Progressive Corp.

Malley, Adele – Malley’s Chocolates Malley, Bill – Malley’s Chocolates Maltz, Milton – Malrite Co. Mandel, Jack C. – Premier Industrial Corp.

Mandel, Joseph C. – Premier Industrial Corp.

Mandel, Morton L. – Premier Industrial Corp.

McCormack, Mark – IMG Mixon, A. Malachi – Invacare Corp.

Miller, Samuel H. – Forest City Enterprises Inc. Pogue, Richard W. – Jones Day Robinson, Larry – J.B. Robinson Jewelers Stone, Irving I. – American Greetings Corp.

Strawbridge, Herbert – The Higbee Co. Wain, Norman – WIXY 1260

1996

Historical

Baker, Richard T. – Ernst & Ernst Gorman, Joe – TRW Inc. Hoag, Dave – LTV Corp.

McDonald, C. Bert – McDonald & Co. Investments Ratner Miller, Ruth – Forest City Enterprises Walker, Skip – M.A. Hanna Co.

1997

Bell, Jess – Bonne Bell Inc. Biggar, Jim – Glencairn Bonda, Alva “Ted” – Cleveland Indians, APCOA Brandon, Edward B. – National City Corp.

Breen, John G. “Jack” – The Sherwin-Williams Co. de Windt, E. Mandel – Eaton Corp.

Andrews, Samuel – Standard Oil Co. Baker, Newton D. – Baker & Hostetler Beaumont, Louis D. – May Co. Boiardi, Hector – Chef Boyardee Bradley, Alva – Cleveland & Buffalo Transit Co. Brush, Charles F. – Inventor Carter, Lorenzo – First Cleveland settler

Case Sr., Leonard – Commercial Bank of Lake Erie Chisholm, Henry – Cleveland Rolling Mill Cleaveland, Moses – Founder of Cleveland Cox, Sr., John D. – Cleveland Twist Drill Crawford, Frederick C. – Thompson Products Inc. Doan, Nathaniel – Cleveland’s first industrialist Eaton, Cyrus S. – Republic Steel Co. Eaton, Jr., Joseph O. – Eaton Corp.

Ernst, Alwin C. – Ernst & Ernst Fawick, Thomas L. – Fawick Clutch Co. Flagler, Henry M. – Standard Oil Co. Foster, Claud H. – Gabriel Co. Girdler, Tom M. – Republic Steel Co. Goff, Frederick H. – The Cleveland Foundation Grasselli, Caesar A. – Grasselli Chemical Co. Grdina, Anton – Slovenian Building and Loan Association Gund II, George – Cleveland Trust Bank Halle, Samuel H. – Halle Bros.

Halle, Salmon P. – Halle Bros.

Handy, Truman P. – Merchant National Bank Hanna, Marcus A. – M.A. Hanna Co./U.S. Senate Harshaw, Wiliam A. – Harshaw, Fuller & Goodwin Co.

2021 BUSI N E SS – HALL OF FAME –

“THANKS, JOE.” – 372,624 CLEVELANDERS, EVERY TOURIST, THE 20,000 PEOPLE WHO MOVED DOWNTOWN, AND US.

FallsAndCo.com

46 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

INDUCTEE Dr. Alex Johnson President, Tri-C

On behalf of the Tri-C Foundation Board Chair, Lou Joseph, and The Brewer-Garrett Company, we would like to congratulate Dr. Alex Johnson on his induction into the 2021 Business Hall of Fame.

Thank you for all that you do for Tri-C and our community!

Holden, Liberty E. – The Plain Dealer Holmes, Allen C. – Jones Day Humphrey, George M. – U.S. Dept. of Treasury/National Steel Corp.

Jack, William S. – Jack & Heintz Inc. Johnson, Tom L. – Civic leader Kelley, Alfred – Civic leader Lincoln, James – Lincoln Electric Lincoln, John – Lincoln Electric Lindseth, Elmer – Cleveland Electric Illuminating Co. Mather, Samuel – Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. Mather, William G. – Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co./Republic Steel Corp.

Metzenbaum, Howard – Sun Newspapers/APCOA/U.S. Senate Morgan, Garrett – Inventor Myers, George – The Hollenden Barbershop Otis Jr., Charles A. – Otis & Co. Parker, Arthur L. – Parker Appliance Co. Pile, Lionel A. – Hough Bakery Ratner, Leonard – Forest City Materials Co. Ratner, Max – Forest City Materials Co. Richman, Charles L. – Richman Bros.

Richman, Henry C. – Richman Bros.

Richman, Nathan G. – Richman Bros.

Robinson, J. French – East Ohio Gas Co. Rockefeller, John D. – Standard Oil Co. Saltzman, Maurice – Bobbie Brooks Inc.

Sapirstein, Jacob – American Greetings Corp.

Sherwin, Henry A. – Sherwin-Williams & Co. Shulman, Bernie – Revco/Bernie Shulman’s Smith, A. Kelvin – The Lubrizol Corp.

Smith, Harry C. – The Cleveland Gazette/civic leader Smith, Kent H. – The Lubrizol Corp.

Smith, Vincent K. – The Lubrizol Corp.

Squire, Andrew – Squire, Sanders & Dempsey Stone, Amasa – Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad Stouffer, Vernon – Stouffer’s Strong Taylor, Sophie – William Taylor & Son Co. Swasey, Ambrose – Warner & Swasey Co. Tankersley, Jack – Consolidated Natural Gas Taplin, Frank E. – North American Coal Corp.

Taylor, William O. – Taylor Chair Co. Thompson, Charles E. – Cleveland Cap Screw Co. Van Sweringen, Mantis – Real estate and railroad tycoon Van Sweringen, Orris – Real estate and railroad tycoon Wade, Jeptha H. – Western Union Telegraph Co.

Warner, Worcester R. – Warner & Swasey Co. Wellman, Samuel T. – Wellman-Seaver-Morgan Co. Westropp, Clara – Women’s Federal Savings Bank Westropp, Lillian – Women’s Federal Savings Bank White, Rollin H. – Cleveland Tractor Co. White, Thomas H. – White Sewing Machine Co. Wills, Sr., J. Walter – House of Wills Winton, Alexander – Winton Motor Carriage Co. Worthington, George – Cleveland Iron & Nail Works

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COMMUNITY LEADER 47

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COMMUNITY Gone in a Flash

With climate change on the horizon, can we stop future floods? by jill sell

COURTESY CUYAHOGA SOIL & WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT

I

t’s no fun to find dead fish on your bedroom floor. Or bedding covered with gray slime after the flooding of a nearby creek has receded. And the smell. It’s always the same — musty and pungent — like the bodies of 100 decomposing crayfish.

Climate change is creating a problem with flash floods in cities across the nation. How is Cleveland prepared to handle it?

This summer, a number of cottage owners who often spend part of their summers in a private summer camp outside of Solon scrambled to find construction contractors to raise their cottages on additional cinder blocks or create other foundation solutions to keep their small seasonal dwellings safe from flooding.

Many of the family-owned cottages have experienced flooding in the area for generations. But certainly not every year and often only in the early spring, when melting ice jams made things worse. Vacationers have learned when they close up their cottages in the fall to remove most things off of the floor and take valuables with them.

But over the past several years, flooding has gotten much worse, occurring almost every year and, sometimes, more than once a year.

“We’ve seen increased rain events over the past decade, and the quick,

heavy storms inundate sewer systems across Northeast Ohio, flood streets and streams and can cause flash flooding,” says Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, CEO of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD). “In addition to addressing chronic flooding problems, the Regional Stormwater Management Program is uniquely positioned to rapidly respond to our member communities’ post-storm cleanup issues by removing debris and restoring stream flows.”

Unofficial speculation points to recent industrial development (think big parking lots and huge buildings) in the area with its creation of additional impervious surfaces that don’t absorb stormwater runoff, interference with Tinkers Creek and climate change.

“We do have changing rainfall patterns, there’s no doubt about it,” says Frank Greenland, director of watershed programs for NEORSD. “The wettest year on record in Cleveland

Volunteers from the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District give a street tattoo to a local storm sewer.

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COMMUNITY LEADER 49

was 2011, with 60 inches of rainfall.

The second wettest was 2020, with 54 inches. This year, we are tracking about normal, but we’ll see. We still have a couple of months to go.”

Together, that volume, plus the “spikiness” of the rain (intensity in a short time), added to overburdened and aged culverts and sewage pipes that lead to streams and created, well, the perfect flood.

“Streams can only take it for so long and get beat up. They want to move.

They do move. And they create problems,” says Greenland, whose division is responsible for about 476 miles of the region’s stormwater network, some of which is open and some which is culverted. “We want to prioritize and solve stormwater drainage problems in the areas we service.”

(Stormwater is rain, melting snow and ice that flows over land surface to sewers, lakes or streams.)

It’s not pleasant scraping dried mud off of walls, throwing out soggy couches or replacing rotting floorboards. But those cottage owners in southeast Cuyahoga

50 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMEBR 2021

“Streams can only take it for so long and get beat up. They want to move. They do move. And they create problems. We want to prioritize and solve stormwater drainage problems in the areas we service.” — Frank Greenland

in a year or two. It’s estimated that three or four of the master plans require more than $1 billion in needed construction to get to that 100-year level of service.

And we’ll need additional money for the new Lake Erie plan.”

Greenland believes when the master plan began, it was easier to quickly identify “erosion of a hillside that led to flooding roads.” But now the NEORSD is facing projects on the $20-, $30- and $40-million scale, and he says, “we don’t have $40 million a year.”

NEORSD is funded by the communities it serves, an action that some local government officials still consider somewhat controversial. The regional utility district was initiated in 2013, halted by lawsuits, cleared by the Ohio Supreme Court in 2015 and resumed its programs in 2016. Thirteen Northeast Ohio communities did not initially support the funding action. That number has dwindled, says Greenland.

Twenty-five percent of fees collected from individual communities are also held by NEORSD and are earmarked for local stormwater management. Projects must be approved by NEORSD and can include such things as complying with regulations or educating residents about stormwater.

NEORSD also cooperates with the Ohio EPA, FEMA, Ohio Emergency Management Agency, Ohio

COURTESY NORTHEAST OHIO REGIONAL SEWER DISTRICT

Frank Greenland and Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells

County have yet to face the loss of life, injury and billions of property destruction other Northeast Ohio areas have suffered throughout the years.

Significant Northeast Ohio local flood years include: 1913 — The Flats were basically destroyed, along with the Ohio and Erie Canal; 1959 — Cleveland Metroparks Zoo lost its entire reptile collection to a Big Creek flood; and 1969 — a storm killed 41, damaged 10,000 businesses and homes and pretty much terrified everyone in Cleveland’s Edgewater Park who was watching July 4 fireworks.

Some water watchers add 2020 to that list. The National Weather Service called it a 1% flood, or a 100-year flood, meaning statistically, the flood has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. Last year, you needed a kayak in the Village of Valley View to navigate Canal Road, which was covered by high water.

Flooding is the most expensive natural disaster in Ohio and the U.S., according to Flood Factor, a resource tool developed by the nonprofit First Street Foundation.

Flood Factor gives online users the opportunity to determine a home’s flood risk, which can be used in tandem with FEMA’s flood maps.

NEORSD, a quasi-governmental entity, launched its Regional Stormwater Management Program Master Plan in 2016. Four planning areas were identified: Cuyahoga River North; Cuyahoga River South; Rocky River; and Chagrin River and Lake Erie tributaries.

The planning studies for the first three areas have been completed, and the fourth is scheduled to be finalized by the end of this year.

“We try to achieve what we call a 100year level of service to prevent flooding.

That’s a lofty goal and unachievable in many areas,” admits Greenland. “Because of the lay of the land and because Northeast Ohio was built out over a couple hundred years, we can’t reverse it

COURTESY NORTHEAST OHIO REGIONAL SEWER DISTRICT

Department of Natural Resources, Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District and others to fight both rapid flooding events (including flash flooding) and slow-rising floods. FEMA has mapped about 2,777 square miles of flood hazard area in the state.

Being flooded by proposed projects (as well as water) is daunting, but Greenland says the last piece of the master plan will provide an overview of what must be done first in the area.

Regional cooperation has also made a difference, he says, because “flooding in one community may have begun six communities away.

“Some people are flooding annually or several times a year. Their level of service is less than one year. We’d like to push that up to 10 years. That’s a big step,” says Greenland.

Urbanized areas with more impervious surface, which doesn’t absorb stormwater like a grassy or wooded area does, can cause many of the worst problems, says Greenland. He

Christina Silea, stormwater inspector III for NEORSD, inspects a culvert in Olmsted Falls for debris after a storm.

What You Can Do Picking up dog poop in your backyard can help Lake Erie. Really. So can refraining from dumping old gasoline from your lawn mower into the sewer and fertilizing your evergreens less or not at all.

“Even if you don’t live two blocks from the lake and live in southern suburbs like Strongsville or Parma, you can still have a connection to the lake and can make a difference,” says Amy Roskilly, conservation, education and communications manager for the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District. “Everyone lives in a watershed, so eventually, everything that you do affects the rivers and Lake Erie.”

(A watershed is an area of land that separates flowing water into different basins, rivers or larger bodies of water.)

Roskilly says it is sometimes difficult getting people to be activists or even care about the quality of the oceans or lakes because “they just don’t understand how water moves in our environment,” she says.

“But if I can get them to care about their own property, that is enough, because the cumulative effect of that thinking about the runoff from their property will really help our lakes and not harm them,” says Roskilly.

She adds that too many people are

willing to just blame their city for a clogged storm drain when “safely using a broom and a bucket” will just as easily eliminate the problem if it’s caught early enough.

“Cities will come by, sweep the streets and get rid of debris, but they don’t do it very often. Let’s see if the citizens of Northeast Ohio can give them a little help. It will help the streets from being flooded and keep roads open.”

And remember, stagnant, non-flowing water from blocked drainage areas also can cause proliferation of disease-carrying mosquitoes, which can lay eggs in just a tiny amount of water.

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COMMUNITY LEADER 51

We try to achieve what we call a 100-year level of service to prevent flooding. That’s a lofty goal and unachievable in many areas. Because of the lay of the land and because Northeast Ohio was built out over a couple hundred years, we can’t reverse it in a year or two. It’s estimated that three or four of the master plans require more than $1 billion in needed construction to get to that 100-year level of service.

And we’ll need additional money for the new Lake Erie plan. — Frank Greenland

declined to say which communities have the most stormwater drainage concerns. But he did note “all of our drainage basins have these problems,” and “there isn’t a stream, including Doan Brook, Euclid Creek, Plum Creek or others, that shouldn’t be on the list for improvement.”

Matt Scharver, NEORSD’s deputy director of watershed programs, credits the organization’s “robust maintenance management program” for helping eliminate or lessen flooding in some areas. Regular removal of large woody debris and sediment along the stormwater network has allowed for more free flow, Scharver explains.

That’s a “ big deal” when it comes

to “high intensity, long duration rain events,” he says.

NEORSD also takes complaints from individuals and communities it serves if blockage of stormwater is observed. It’s better, of course, to clear the problem before an actual flood because high water will complicate getting rid of the problem and can be dangerous. NEORSD also attempts to eliminate problems using the most ecological-friendly solutions possible.

Jeff Jowett, NEORSD’s senior watershed team leader, reminds customers that stormwater fees are generally determined by the amount of impervious surface the property owner has.

But 25% off of the stormwater fee can

52 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMEBR 2021

COURTESY NORTHEAST OHIO REGIONAL SEWER DISTRICT

Cold weather can’t stop NEORSD stormwater inspectors Anne Roberto and Nicole Velez from making their rounds.

be achieved if single-family homeowners manage stormwater by including rain barrels or rain gardens on their land, removing impervious surfaces, disconnecting downspouts or averting that stormwater to a grassy or vegetated area. (Applications are online at neorsd.org.)

Of course, stormwater runoff and flooding don’t just cause water damage. They also carry pollutants to streams and lakes. That is particularly concerning in the city of Cleveland and some inner-ring suburbs that have combined sewers built around the turn of the 19th century. Both stormwater and sewage flow through the same culverts and pipes, complicating clean water efforts and adding to Lake Erie pollution. Road salt, fertilizers, car fluids, driveway sealants and more contribute to the toxins found in the region’s source of drinking water.

This summer, NEORSD completed the Doan Valley Storage Tunnel, a combined sewer tunnel designed to reduce pollution entering waterways. Located about 100 feet underground, the almost 2-mile-long tunnel is wide enough to accommodate a subway train. The $142.3 million project is the third of seven storage tunnels to be built as part of Project Clean Lake, beginning in 2010. The $135 million Westerly Storage Tunnel is expected to be completed in 2022. NEORSD says the tunnels will help reduce combined sewer overflows from 4.5 billion gallons to 500 million gallons annually by 2036. Combined with other Project Clean Lake endeavors, the effort will help prevent sewer backups and flooding. n

Urban Harvest

Chateau Hough grows grapes, people and community.

RHONDA CROWDER

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n a sunny Saturday morning, volunteers who were young, old, Black and white came from as close as around the corner and as far away as the West Side suburbs to Chateau Hough vineyard and winery, located at 1650 E. 66th St. and Hough Avenue to pick grapes during the vineyard’s 10th annual harvest. The vineyard has been operating for 10 years and the winery for four. The yearly harvest typically yields about 1,800 bottles of wine.

Throughout the years, Chateau Hough has become quite an attraction.

Actor Michael Jai White and his wife, Gillian, visited Chateau Hough during a tour of Cleveland.

Founded by community stalwart Mansfield Frazier and his wife, Brenda, Chateau Hough’s mission is to use innovative educational and entrepreneurial strategies to encourage, prepare and assist at-risk youth, veterans and those who have returned to neighborhoods after incarceration. The project’s goal is two-fold: introduce a broader audience to the Hough community by establishing a chic, upscale and innovative venture; and improving the economics of a community, which goes hand-and-glove with improving public safety.

Kathy Wanek of Parma says she’s

BY RHONDA CROWDER

wanted to volunteer during the harvest would volunteer at the vineyard. When for the last five years, ever since she Frazier began to recruit workers, Fosvisited during a tour led by the Nat- ter decided to give it a try. Before comural History Museum, but other com- ing on board, he performed odd jobs, mitments always prevented her from such as rehabbing houses, yard work, doing so. Last year, the pandemic was etc. But Chateau Hough provided him the culprit. This year, she saw the post with steady pay. on Facebook and made plans to attend.

“I like the work. It keeps me active,” Sheree Green-Bland, on the other Foster says, while feverishly processhand, has been coming to the harvest ing buckets of grapes as volunteers for the past six years. The main reason bring them into the winery. He does she keeps coming back is Frazier. the bottling and labeling, as well. “My ”He’s a good man,” says Green-Bland, co-worker taught me the format, and I who credits Frazier for changing the caught on to it.” life of her son, Marvin Foster, 31, ChaFrazier says he’s seen Foster mature teau Hough’s foreman and winemaker. as an individual. “He’s more dependGreen-Bland says she also loves to give able,” he says. “He knows quite a bit back to the community. She brought more about what we need to do to her grandson and daughter, Le’Ajan work and repair the machinery. As a Green, who is 12 years old, to the har- result, he’s become self-sufficient. vest. Le’Ajan has been coming since she “The hope for Chateau Hough is to was 5. build a bigger building to allow for the “I wanted to teach her to give back growing of more grapes,” says Frazier, to the community and learn to work. adding that Chateau Hough acquired And, she loves it,” says Green-Bland, the abandoned structure next door. as Le-Ajan clips clusters of grapes Chateau Hough has served about 50 from the vine. at-risk youth, veterans or returning citSeveral of the other volunteers work- izens throughout the years. Frazier is ing the harvest credit Foster for them most proud of what it has done for the being there. Foster, who’s been at Cha- young people, particularly Marvin. teau Hough since 2010, says he lived in “We’ve helped them move on and stathe neighborhood, and his little brother bilize their lives,” he says.  Author, Journalist, Community Activist and Vintner The subject of this story, Mansfield Frazier, lost his battle with cancer on Oct. 9. He leaves behind a wife and two daughters. Frazier was known for his community activism, as well as his work in print and radio. However, his greatest legacy may just be Chateau Hough, which has become a source of pride for Cleveland’s Hough community. Cleveland Magazine’s Community Leader decided to print this story as a tribute to the man and his work. Frazier has left an indelible print upon the city.

As volunteers prepare to pick grapes during Chateau Hough’s annual harvest, Mansfield Frazier, founder of Chateau Hough vineyard and winery, gives them a quick tutorial on how to clip the grapes from the vine. clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 53

Partners Fight Poverty Cleveland Clinic and KeyBank Foundation invest a combined $4.6 million to United Way. BY JOANNE CAHILL

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54 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

lead safety efforts. “The coalition has drawn from the experiences, needs and assets of residents, landlords and experts to develop comprehensive policy recommendations that address lead exposure at its source — Cleveland’s housing stock.”

Thakur explains that lead poisoning cannot be reversed once detected. Small children living in older homes are at the greatest risk of exposure, which can lead to lifelong damage, including cognitive impairment, developmental delays, hearing and speech problems, inattention and lowered IQ. At the highest levels, lead exposure can damage kidneys and blood and nervous systems, as well as lead to a coma, convulsions or death in the worst cases.

“The take-home message here is clear,” she adds. “Primary prevention is critical.”

The Lead Safe Home Fund provides families and property owners with the resources they need to make homes lead safe. With the Cleveland Clinic gift, along with investment from the public sector, private sector and other philanthropic partners, the funds raised to

date total $45 million. The estimated cost to reach the goal of making Cleveland lead safe is $99 million.

August A. Napoli Jr., president and CEO of United Way of Greater Cleveland, says that the Lead Safe Coalition is a good example of what he views as an essential role for United Way — being a leader, convener and partner.

“We are uniquely suited for this role,” he says. “We are an objective partner and in a unique position to build trust and develop relationships.

“In two years, the coalition has already raised nearly half of this money,” he says. “It is within reach to raise the remaining funds and solve the lead problem.”

Napoli says the harm caused by lead is just one of many hurdles in the fight against poverty. He views the $2.1 million gift from KeyBank as a critical opportunity for real progress.

He also praises KeyBank’s longstanding leadership in the community, with nearly $23 million in support to United Way since 2000.

“Our teammates have a long history of supporting the United Way here

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arge donations to United Way of Greater Cleveland from Cleveland Clinic and KeyBank Foundation are earmarked for two widescale efforts aimed at tackling poverty and its long-term effects.

A $2.5 million, five-year commitment from Cleveland Clinic will support the Lead Safe Cleveland Coalition, a public/private partnership among local organizations and individuals dedicated to removing harmful sources of lead exposure from area homes. At the same time, KeyBank Foundation announced its three-year $2.1 million investment in United Way’s Community Hub for Basic Needs, established to uplift those living in the deepest poverty across Greater Cleveland.

Collaboration and partnership are common denominators among both projects.

“It’s a really phenomenal achievement to unite so many voices from public, private, corporate and philanthropic sectors in an effort to prevent lead poisoning in our community,” says Dr. Roopa Thakur, a Cleveland Clinic pediatrician who is heading up the clinic’s

He explains that the Community Hub will invest in a smaller network of agencies who agree to partner with United Way in meeting specific community goals, established standards and metrics of measuring outcomes.

“We will be funding 12 to 15 agencies — much fewer than in the past,” says Napoli. “We are driving collaboration and consolidation. The previous delivery system was overbuilt and underutilized.”

Economic mobility programs are one of the top priorities. Skill building, workforce placements, transportation, financial literacy and workforce readiness programs are in the works for people living in low-income communities.

KeyBank will also continue its support of United Way’s 2-1-1 helpline, which serves about 300,000 people annually. It provides free and confidential 24-hour help with everything from food and shelter to assistance with utilities and transportation, just to name a few.

“While a caller may reach out looking for food or shelter, our call center professionals attempt to identify their greater needs and often end up helping them navigate to other critical services,” explains Napoli.

Educational programs about poverty and its effects also fall under the KeyBank

“We have refocused our attention on what our north star is — the person in need. We had drifted away from this by funding a vast delivery system of agencies.

The Community Hub model brings the focus back to the person in need.”

— August A. Napoli Jr. donation. To that end, United Way plans to open a Poverty Lab — a unique physical location where visitors can virtually explore what it means to live in poverty.

In addition, a curriculum for corporate and nonprofit partners focused on learning racial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) skills is under development.

“It is so important to demystify poverty,” says Napoli. “This is how we move from awareness to understanding to commitment.

“We all can be empathetic, but we are only going to make that commitment if we understand it,” he says. “The beauty of philanthropy — and offering a hand up — is that everyone can participate, and we invite them all to do it.” 

COURTESY UNITED WAY OF GREATER CLEVELAND

in Cleveland and across our footprint,” says Randy Paine, KeyCorp executive vice president and president of Key Institutional Bank. “United Way is focused on bringing meaningful change to all members of our community while finding ways to reimagine how we serve those in need.”

Paine says KeyBank’s most recent gift reflects its priority of supporting efforts that prepare people for thriving futures.

“These priorities align with United Way’s Community Hub, given its focus on analyzing our region’s needs to identify ambitious and specific poverty reduction goals,” he says. “This grant not only helps United Way examine poverty, but it also helps the organization provide all people with the education and opportunities they need to break out of poverty.”

With a goal of being a leading voice for those living in poverty, United Way’s Community Hub is a new model that moves the organization to more of a focus on the individual person in need.

“We have refocused our attention on what our north star is — the person in need,” says Napoli. “We had drifted away from this by funding a vast delivery system of agencies. The Community Hub model brings the focus back to the person in need.”

August A. Napoli Jr.

Randy Paine

Dr. Roopa Thakur

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COMMUNITY LEADER 55

Streamlining

OPERATIONS

New CIO of First Mutual Holding implements Lean Six Sigma at First Federal Lakewood.

By Linda Feagler

Expediency. Efficiency.

Excellence.

56 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

principles are a driving force to meet those objectives. In order to remain competitive, Dockery explains, an organization must be continuously striving to improve in ways that increase innovation while lowering costs, streamlining processes and adapting new technology.

LSS is not a new concept. It combines Lean and Six Sigma approaches to create an organized solution for process design. Lean is focused on minimization of waste, errors and delays.

Six Sigma focuses on quality and consistency through process improvement and reducing variations. Combining both into LSS delivers customer value through efficient operations.

Although applying Lean thinking to

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Kathy Dockery, SVP, chief information officer of First Mutual Holding Co. (FMHC) — the parent company of several mutual banks, including First Federal Lakewood — is excited about bringing Automation and Lean Six Sigma (LSS) to the organization.

As leader of FMHC’s IT division, she’s in the process of developing a digital strategy that will streamline operating systems at First Federal Lakewood and FMHC’s other affiliate banks. Before joining FMHC in July, Dockery was a technology director at Fifth Third Bank. For two decades — prior to joining Fifth Third — she served in a variety

of technology roles at Key Bank, including spearheading the development of a Digital Business Automation Center of Excellence. Dockery received her bachelor’s degree in organizational development from Baldwin Wallace University, earned an associate degree in computer science from Cuyahoga Community College and completed the Women in Stem Leadership Program at Case Western Reserve University.

“My focus is on delivering technology business solutions in partnership with key business units and affiliate banks to meet objectives, create agility and improve the employee and customer experience,” she says.

Employing Automation and LSS

“ From a business standpoint, you’re saving hours of an employee’s time.

From an employee’s standpoint, you’re taking the bot out of the human.

You’re taking tasks away from them that can be numbing and mundane and replacing them with strategic items to work on.”

design processes was born out of manufacturing, it is used in all verticals now.

Today, Lean means working smarter.

It is, Dockery adds, a tool that’s rooted in systems thinking — a methodology based on studying the system and each of its individual parts in order to make decisions that enable the organization to do its best work.

Another tool in the toolbelt is Robotic Process Automation (RPA). RPA is an automation technology that emulates human action on a keyboard, creating digital workers referred to as bots. RPA makes work more efficient and effective by automating employees’ repetitive tasks, including transferring of data from one system to another.

The bots also eliminate human error, thus ensuring the work’s error rate is greatly reduced. Combining the benefits of RPA with the benefits of LSS creates a powerful duo in reducing overall business costs.

“Let’s say I’m a bank employee working through an account dispute with a customer,” Dockery says. “When a dispute happens, there’s a lot of information that needs to be gathered about the case. The old-school way to handle this would be to have the employee investigate the case by gathering information from a variety of places. But once you automate, the bot can gather all of the information and place it in a folder overnight. When the person in charge of evaluating the dispute comes in the next morning, all of the information will be in one spot. The bot

has done the research and saved the employee from spending hours of time digging through files. And the customer is happy because the problem has been resolved faster and in a more consistent manner.

“From a business standpoint, you’re saving hours of an employee’s time,” Dockery continues. “From an employee’s standpoint, you’re taking the bot out of the human. You’re taking tasks away from them that can be numbing and mundane and replacing them with strategic items to work on.”

Dockery and her team have begun determining which automation system will work best for the bank. She adds that embracing automation at First Federal Lakewood is key to not only keeping valuable employees engaged, but attracting top candidates now and in the future.

In the past, corporations have had separate LSS and Automation teams. Discovering the synergies between LSS and Automation, the latest trend is to combine these into one team, thus taking advantage of the powerful duo to utilize the methodologies in the redesign of the selected processes before automation.

This is not a one-and-done initiative.

In order to be successful, you need to cultivate the mindset of Lean process and automation throughout the corporation. If effective, ideas on which processes to target will begin to come from the ground up and result in a cultural change that sticks.

The first step is to put together the team or Center of Excellence. This team

— Kathy Dockery

will lead the change throughout the organization and create the framework for process selection and automation. They will be the governing body determining the guardrails and embedding the methodologies deeply and effectively into the organization. The next step is to create a committee of leaders across the different lines of business. These leaders will be the champions throughout the organization and determine the potential target processes within their departments.

“They will be the ones who will evangelize and help those within the organization get behind the process as they see the benefits firsthand,” she states.

The third step is picking your automation platform and selecting processes that are ripe for these practices. Learn from companies in your vertical that have gone before you. Find out what processes they have Leaned and Automated to determine which are easy fruit on the ground for you to start with and which ones have had the highest return on investment to add to your list.

Once the system is up and running, it is important to get a couple of quick wins early. The champions can take these quick wins and show the benefits within their departments so the employees can see how it not only helps the corporation, but also helps them. This is where the cultural shift begins to happen.

“Lean Six Sigma and Automation isn’t just for large or mid-size companies, any business can benefit, no matter the size,” she concludes.  clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 57

WHERE BUSINESS GOES TO GROW

BIZ A VETTING

Process Community colleges ease the transition from military to workforce. B Y T E R R Y T R O Y

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eaving the military and transitioning to civilian life can be a tricky proposition, especially when it comes to finding gainful employment. Veterans face a host of impediments, including access to earned education benefits, preconceived notions on the part of would-be employers and a lack of training in a specific civilian career field or job.

Yet workforce development is the key to the region’s economic future. It seems these two issues could be addressed with one proverbial stone.

Luckily, Northeast Ohio is home to some great post-secondary education institutions well-equipped with advisers and counselors who specialize in helping veterans. While every four-year

Jessica Ales and her service dog Penny Lane

college in the area offers veterans services, local community colleges have stepped up when it comes to taking an active role.

At Lakeland Community College, the Student Veterans of America Chapter was named one of the top five chapters

in the nation — out of more than 1,500 chapters nationwide — earlier this year.

It marks the second time the Lakeland chapter has been a finalist.

“The Lakeland Student Veterans of America (SVA) is standing strong in its mission to empower student veterans

“Our student veterans have such vast experiences to build upon and share with other students. The student veterans we work with provide an important perspective on leadership and teamwork, which has greatly added to our discussions.” — Christina Corsi clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 59

HIRING HEROES VETS ARE STEPPING INTO NEW ROLES. W

hile local community colleges offer myriad programs to help returning veterans re-enter the workforce, veterans themselves often feel displaced.

Over time, many not only find new civilian careers, but also become business leaders in their own right. Here, they offer some valuable insights on available programs.

“When you transition out of the military, you feel like an outcast,” says Marine Corps veteran and Lakeland student Nick Slattery. “You’re four years older than the average student, and you have real-life experience. The veterans program gives you a place where you really belong.”

“As a nontraditional student, I found the Lakeland Veteran Center very inviting and a break from the rush of college,” says Navy veteran Lovii Marie Hicks. “After meeting other veterans young and old, you establish a camaraderie of sorts, and that is where the magic happens. The Veteran Center helped me to engage with like-minded people who were on the same path.”

Experience and patience are key to any

professional success story. Air Force veteran Steve Bevan offers some advice for other veterans thinking of starting their own business.

His biggest challenge?

“For me, it was getting a job utilizing my Air Force training as a hydraulic tech,” says Bevan. “My wife was an RN already, working and raising her two daughters. She was already in the Army Reserves before I met her, so she did her weekend thing and yearly active duty.”

“When I decided to join the military, I was already a divorced 39-yearold working professional and mother of two daughters ages 15 and 18,” says Bevan’s wife, Elizabeth “Liz” Simonson.

“The oldest was away at college and the younger one still in high school. I loved my hospital nursing job as an intensive and coronary care nurse, but felt I was becoming stagnant. I looked into the Army Reserves as a way to enhance my experience and not feel so ‘in a rut.’”

Four months after swearing in, Elizabeth found herself deployed with a combat support hospital in Arabia during Operation Desert Storm, living in a

for academic support and professional ,career development,” says Jessica Ales, SVA chapter president. Ales is also a veteran and a graduate of Lakeland and is now continuing her education at Lakeland’s Holden University Center.

“The SVA includes officer positions available for students to develop their leadership skills, plan programs and fundraisers, and build community among the membership,” explains Christina Corsi, assistant dean of students at Lakeland. “Our student veterans have such vast experiences to build upon and share with other students.”

While returning veterans are contributing to their own retraining and adjustment back to civilian life, they still face challenges.

“Some of the biggest issues veterans face when seeking retraining are preconceived ideas,” says Rhonda Osagie Erese, veterans program coordinator at Lakeland. “For example, with job training, a veteran may expect to be trained until they are proficient and have exemplified almost mastery competence and can replicate consistent results — as is the case in the military. The civilian world allows for variances and nuances in approaches, techniques and

60 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

Nick Slattery

16-person tent in the desert.

“We were located about 30 miles from the Iraq/Kuwait border,” Elizabeth recalls. “This experience not only tested my professional and leadership abilities , but it also showed me what I never thought I was emotionally, physically and socially capable of.

“Returning from active duty was challenging, as I had to resume a ‘normal’ life of living privately in my own space and being responsible for things like paying bills, deciding what to eat, what to wear,

outcomes. This can be very distressing and frustrating to the veteran who is operating from a mastery and consistency seeking paradigm.

“Another issue veterans face when seeking retraining is trying to find a skill set or program that is either comparable or equally fulfilling. Some military jobs simply do not have a civilian equivalent. Job fulfillment is an important aspect of life, for most, and if your military career ended sooner than expected and the military job does not exist in the civilian world, feelings of displacement, misplacement and inadequacy can arise. This can create or

what to do and a myriad of other decisions that had been made for me for eight months while deployed,” she adds.

“I found myself frantically grabbing for my gas mask whenever a siren sounded and my heartbeat increasing at the least bit of a loud bang or noise.”

Today, Bevan and his wife own a company called Gold Star Awards in Elyria, which they purchased 24-plus years ago after they both left the military.

“We were going in blind and didn’t really check it out before giving them a down payment and signing a contract to pay them monthly payments for the next five years,” Bevan recalls. “They were in Vermilion, and we were in Elyria.

We started with virtually no customers, some old equipment and a bunch of obsolete parts for trophies.

“We eventually bought our business property in downtown Elyria and started to build our business one client at a time while we both worked full time,” Bevan adds. “Over the next 24-plus years, we put lots and lots of money back into it without taking a dime for ourselves. Now, it pays for itself, and we have someone running the day to day things.”

So what advice would they give a

Steve Bevan and his wife Liz

Don DiDomenico

veteran getting out of the service?

“Use the training you received in the military and have a plan,” Bevan says.

“Go to school and get the paperwork you need to get a good job.

Don DiDomenico, president of Elyria Metal Spinning Co., parlayed his military experience into a second career before leading a company business.

“When I got discharged from the military in 1990, I went back to school using the GI Bill and educated myself in Applied Health Science at Northeastern University, securing a job as a full-time working paramedic,” says DiDomenico.

“After three years of working for a hospital based system, I was hired by the town

of Abington as a professional firefighter/ paramedic with the fire department.”

DiDomenico retired in early 2013, returning to his native Ohio to take over the family business founded by his grandfather. With his father struggling with Alzheimer’s, the company needed someone to oversee the business. So DiDomenico, representing the third generation of family ownership, stepped in. When his father passed away a year later, his mother handed over the business to DiDomenico, but he, in turn, bought the buildings and property from her.

Today, even with supply chain challenges caused by COVID-19, Elyria Metal Spinning continues to grow.

— TT

exacerbate mental health issues.”

“Transition is one of the things we emphasize most,” adds Marjorie Morrison, collegewide director of veterans and military connected services at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C), and previous director of the college’s Upward Bound programs. “We want our students to be able to compete. We want them to move into the workforce.

We want them to get a degree using their military benefits.”

Tri-C earned its 12th consecutive Military-Friendly School designation this year in recognition of its commitment to serving veterans and active military students,

as well as their families. While more than 8,800 schools were eligible for the award, only 27 in Ohio received the Military-Friendly designation. For the fourth consecutive year, Tri-C was named a Military-Friendly Spouse School.

But even with help of forward-thinking institutions, a veteran can have a problem spotting good career opportunities, says Rhonda Butler, director of career services at Lakeland.

“It is my opinion that the biggest problem facing veterans when they seek retraining is their difficulty translating their enlisted occupation to a career and/or occupation that exists in the

civilian workplace,” she says.

Other times, veterans are impatient about finding an appropriate job.

“Veterans have a sense of obligation and service,” adds Morrison. “They are often anxious to get a job to support their family, but it might not be in their best interest long term. If they can spend a few more months getting a certification or degree, it would likely be for a higher paying job and a more stable position.”

One of the biggest challenges facing veterans attending Lorain County Community College (LCCC) is underemployment, says Marisa Vernon clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 61

White, Ph.D., vice president of enrollment management and student services.

“We know veterans, as well as our general student population, are experiencing mental health challenges, financial strains and juggling multiple roles while attending college, as well as caring for others with illness/COVID-19 impact,” White says. “Veterans have highly trained and applicable skills coming from military experience, but these experiences are not easily understood by civilians and may lead to challenges in securing employment that matches their level of competency and skill.”

This is one of the reasons LCCC works hard to understand military experience and map it to give credit where possible, thus honoring students’ military contributions and service and helping them accelerate in academic and career pathways after service.

FINDING FUNDS & SUPPORT Obviously, it takes a lot of homework just to know all of the financial support that is available.

“There are a host of special internships available to veterans who major in certain programs or through many government entities such as the U.S. Department of Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) and NASA Glen Research Center,” says Butler. “There are also local companies such as Astro Manufacturing & Design Co., that have specific candidate recruitment campaigns targeting veterans.”

At LCCC, veterans are offered concierge services regarding military-affiliated educational benefits from the point of entry at the college, all the way through the completion of a program or degree, says White. There is also help for new military-affiliated students to understand the scope of their benefits and any potential gaps in funding.

We have “generous, veteran-specific scholarships and emergency aid funds 62 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

Rhonda Osagie Erese

Marisa Vernon White

(from private donors and local military-affiliated organizations) to cover gaps in education costs and/or address emergencies while enrolled,” adds White.

Perhaps even more importantly, many schools assist veterans with the unseen educational costs. For instance, LCCC has a Veterans’ Book Borrowing program, a partnership with the LCCC Bookstore. Books that cannot be bought back are kept as academic resources for veteran students and are accessible in the veterans services office.

“We want our students to be able to compete. We want them to move into the workforce. We want them to be able to get a degree using their military benefits. Let’s face it everybody, whether they are a veteran or not, wants to be purposeful.”

— Marjorie Morrison

Veteran students at LCCC can also take advantage of its expansive holistic student support services. These include access to food assistance through LCCC’s Commodore Cupboard, which is hosted in partnership with Second Harvest; access to services provided by the ARC (Advocacy and Resource Center), which includes legal assistance, food, housing assistance, domestic violence support, drug/ alcohol recovery support programs through the CARE Center on campus and coordinated

referrals to local community agencies and programs.

There is even proactive engagement from faculty members to identify courses that are directly aligned to Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) opportunities.

Like other community colleges in the area, LCCC’s veterans services office is primarily staffed with individuals who were in the military themselves. They provide personal examples of how to make these transitions successfully.

“LCCC’s ARC recognizes some military-affiliated students may benefit from connecting with someone with service experience,” says White. “The ARC has recently implemented a new portfolio of mental health support services students can use to identify support services that align with their identities and mental health needs, as well as an app subscription that is free to students and promotes self-guided mental health/transition support.”

Veteran students using military education benefits often balance their academic progress with access to important resources for basic needs, such as housing, living expenses and costs of attendance, adds White. This requires them to navigate both the college system and the requirements of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, from which their education benefits are facilitated. In addition, many individuals during and after the pandemic are also accessing medical benefits, food assistance and other forms of support — each of which has specific requirements and nuances.

While it may seem that local community colleges are going to the extreme when it comes to helping veterans, the business community must realize that because of their service, they are different than the average student. Yet, they are a valuable resource in building the region’s future workforce. 

GREATER CLEVELAND PARTNERSHIP

CONGRATULATES THE 2021 COMMUNITY LEADER AND BUSINESS HALL OF FAME RECIPIENTS THANK YOU FOR HELPING OUR REGION GROW AND THRIVE

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COMBINING COMPATIBLE

Cultures

W

The Shealy Group and HW&Co. share people-based ideals.

64 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

Miller’s experiences with HW&Co. when he was a student strengthened his dedication to teamwork on all fronts.

On Oct. 31, 2020, HW&Co. merged with the Shealy Group.

“The No. 1 factor we look for in a merger is to make sure the culture of the firm operates the same way we do, which means having the technical knowledge and expertise to service clients the right way. There are a number of firms out there that just pull up a tax return form or financial statement, complete it, talk to their clients once a year, then it’s out the door. Like us, the Shealy Group is a strong, reputable company that forms strong bonding relationships that last year-round.”

Miller is also impressed with the Shealy Group’s client base, which adds to HW&Co.’s storied reputation throughout the state.

“The Shealy Group’s top 10 accounts include manufacturing and distribution, medical practices and clients in the agricultural field,” he says.

HW&Co.’s burgeoning fields of expertise began when the firm was founded in 1990 as Howard, Wershbale &

Co. Eleven years later, it established a Columbus presence by merging with Cummins, Krasik & Hohl before rebranding as HW&Co. two years later and merging with Mentor firm Deimling, Forbes & Associates, known for expertise in construction and real estate. Last year, HW&Co. added to its depth in manufacturing and distribution, construction, real estate and health care by merging with Finkler & Co. in Middleburg Heights.

“With our newest merger with the Shealy Group, we’re adding eight talented employees to our staff who will help us continue to attract new and young talent,” Miller says.

He cites communication as the key to his company’s success in that endeavor.

“If you think about it, it’s all of those conversations, relationships and constant contact with people who make a difference in any business because when you don’t communicate with people, they feel like they’re not important,” Miller says. “The company followed that philosophy when I was here as an intern, and we instill it in everyone working with us today.”

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ith its recent merger with the Shealy Group, a Mansfield-based CPA firm, HW&Co has not only expanded its services and client base, but also has matched up with a company that has a similar client-based, personal culture.

Brandon Miller, president and CEO of HW&Co., a mid-size CPA and advisory firm with offices in Greater Cleveland and Columbus, remembers what it’s like to be a college intern. While earning his bachelor’s degree in business administration accountancy at John Carroll University, Miller interned at the firm he now leads.

“I did quite a few internship interviews my junior year,” he recalls. “But when I interviewed here, I really appreciated the personal interaction I experienced.

Two of the partners who are John Carroll graduates — tax principals Don May and Mary Eileen Vitale — took the time to come and meet me. That meant a lot.”

When the internship ended and it came time to seek a full-time job, Miller knew where he wanted to be. After graduating in 1997, he joined HW& Co. In 2020, he took the reins.

BY LINDA FEAGLER

In addition to creating a mentoring program that pairs new hires with seasoned staffers and hosting lunch-andlearn sessions for the entire staff — interns included — Miller and his team also ensure a work-life balance is maintained. It’s a tenet the CEO admits can be a challenge, especially during tax season.

“It’s a concept that is both good and bad,” he says. “Although there’s so much work to get done, we’re very, very careful to make sure our employees don’t burn out.”

HW&Co. is proud that nearly 100% of the interns — represented by more than 30 colleges and universities — who are offered full-time positions accept them.

“Many larger firms are willing to churn and burn their people, and constantly flip them,” Miller says. “We want our employees to be here for the long term and grow within the company.”

Kim Zagar, HW&Co.’s director of entrepreneurial services, joined the firm in 2020 and exemplifies that mission.

“My department is the quarterback,” she says. “We help clients identify existing pain points or ones they haven’t thought of in their business, prioritize them and find solutions.”

After graduating from Lake Erie College with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Zagar spent 24 years with a large firm in Cleveland. Throughout the years, as the company merged into a national firm, she explains, it became more about numbers and less about people.

“I was impressed by the fact that HW&Co. is people-driven,” Zagar says. “The firm doesn’t just grow for the sake of growth. They are doing it strategically. You know the old saying, ‘If you take care of your people, they’ll take care of their clients?’ That is definitely our motto here.”

Aseem Uppal, a manager of HW&Co.’s audit department, joined the company in 2015 after earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting from The Ohio State University. He appreciates

“The No. 1 factor we look for in a merger is to make sure the culture of the firm operates the same way we do, which means having the technical knowledge and expertise to service clients the right way.” — Brandon Miller the firm’s mentoring program and the guidance he receives from the CEO and other members of the staff.

“Straight out of college, I took an unconventional route by working in the auditing department for a publicly traded company,” Uppal says. “After I obtained my CPA certification, I realized I wanted to move into public accounting.

I had heard both good and bad about it, but I knew I wanted to give it a shot.”

While researching firms that would be a good fit, Uppal focused on regional ones where he would be able to build relationships with a variety of clients. He quickly adds that HW&Co. was clearly the right choice.

“The Big Four companies are great, and great people work there,” Uppal says. “But a lot of them have a main client, which means they only have that one exposure. Yes, they’re getting great experience and learning the ins and outs of the industry with that client, but they’re almost like an employee. I got lucky with HW&Co.” He’s grateful for the ease in which the staff communicates and answers questions.

“Brandon and the partners are very easy to talk to. They’re not old-school types who are intimidating. They guide you through your mistakes and make sure you’re not making them over and over. They want us to learn and be successful.”

HW&Co. principal Steve Anderson looks back on the internship he served there with fondness. During his junior year, while earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting at Case Western Reserve University, he attended a Meet the Accountants Breakfast that would change his life.

“I happened to sit with representatives from HW&Co., which, at that time was Howard, Wershbale & Co.,” he recalls.

“It was the first time they’d recruited on campus at Case. I went through the interview process with them and once I completed it, I knew it was the place I wanted to be. I also interviewed with the Big Four, but they just didn’t appeal to me.”

Anderson joined the firm full-time in 2005 after earning his master’s degree in accounting from Case Western Reserve University. The following year, he received the prestigious Elijah Watt Sells Award from the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) for having a top 10 score across the nation on the uniform CPA exam after completing it on the first try.

“I like the atmosphere of a mid-size firm,” Anderson says. “As the company did when I interned here, we continue to treat interns as staff. And I am still impressed with our open-door policy that applies to everyone. Whether it’s someone who’s been here for a while or an intern on their first assignment, they can walk into a principal’s office and ask questions.

Every answer they receive is more than an answer — it includes a description of why.

We want our staff and interns to be more than button pushers. We want them to be critical thinkers who are able to look at something and say, ‘That doesn’t quite make sense.’ Everyone, including our interns, makes our company successful.”  clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 65

AN EYE ON

streetlights to energy-efficient LED technology, which has reduced street light energy consumption by 14%.

Other projects, which may be funded

by NOPEC grant dollars include electrical upgrades, energy-efficient windows and air conditioners, generators, insulation, solar-power LED stop signs and traffic signal upgrades.

“We are member-driven, and we are made up of the communities we do business in,” Jankowski says. “Every community in NOPEC has a seat at the table, and they help to legislate us. We like to give our members the credit.”

Along with grants for energy-related community projects, NOPEC offers small business loans. A Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loan is for commercial property owners who are looking to complete a $100,000 to $500,000 energy efficiency or renewNOPEC customers. able energy project. By placSince 2001, NOPEC has ing assessment on the real saved Ohio consumers hunproperty, PACE will extend dreds of millions of dollars on financing anywhere from five their energy costs. It has also to 20 years with interest rates awarded over $40 million in as low at 2.5%.

NOPEC community energy “This is a great economefficiency grants, which are ic-development tool that we used to achieve greater enermake available to our small gy efficiency and/or expand businesses,” Jankowski says.

Dave Jankowski energy infrastructure.

“When businesses find out “Community leaders know about us, about it, they want to get involved. The but most residents do not,” Dave Jan- initial investment can lead to large savkowski, NOPEC’s chief marketing and ings over time on energy bills.” communications officer says. “We proJankowski says he is pleased to work vide grants to communities based on for a company that brings a peace of their average enrollment for one year. mind to its customers by negotiating We give $1 in grants per account en- lower energy rates, advocating for conrolled. We provide dollars for capital sumer-friendly legislation, educating improvements that often communities residents on ways to conserve energy and providing a safe alternative from struggle to find.”

Take, for example, the city of Lake- predatory for-profit retail suppliers.

“We pride ourselves in taking the wood. According to Jankowski, Lakewood has used $542,263 in NO- seasonal peaks and valleys out of enPEC grants over four years toward its ergy costs,” Jankowski says. “We are streetlight upgrade project. To date, the safe choice. We watch the market so Lakewood has converted 72% of its you don’t have to play the game.” 

Energy NOPEC watches the market for price changes.

BY THERESA NEUHOFF

A

66 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

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t a recent community festival in Northeast, Ohio, NOPEC (Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council) was at the top of the list of sponsors, which donated funds to make the one-day festival feasible.

Electricity was hooked up in the community’s local park to provide amplifiers for bands, lights for tents and power for vendors to keep their pretzels and other goodies warm.

In 242 communities across 19 counties in Ohio, NOPEC is there even though you may be unaware. As Ohio’s largest governmental energy aggregator, the nonprofit energy supplier purchases gas and electricity in bulk to help lower utility bills.

If your community is a NOPEC member, you may already be enrolled. All eligible residential and small business accounts with a NOPEC member community are automatically enrolled in NOPEC’s natural gas and/or electrical aggregation program. Unless you chose to opt out, you are receiving exclusive utility rates negotiated specifically for

GOING ABOVE

and Beyond

Ahola uses proactive HR to help with recruiting and retention.

Y

BY JILL SELL

our dog is your family. You’d do anything to make sure he is healthy and well. But then you get that vet bill for your dog’s X-rays or cancer treatments and reality hits.

Having pet insurance may help soothe your pain, as well as that of your companion animal.

Pet insurance is just one of several offerings that can make up an employer’s total rewards package (incentives outside standard compensation) for workers. Others include bonuses for performance, phone and/or car allowances, life insurance, investment plans, child care and mental health assistance. Total rewards are more important than ever as employers struggle to recruit and retain employees.

“A lot of our clients think compensation, such as hourly wages, is the only way to entice people. But, sometimes, a candidate just wants consistency and security,” says Corinne Saliba, a human resources consultant specializing in proactive HR for Ahola, which offers HR solutions and payroll services. “I have a good family friend who was with the same company for 25 years until she lost her job during COVID-19. She’s not a job hopper. She just wants to find her next place and to feel appreciated.”

Proactive HR was added to Ahola’s toolbox about two years ago. The strategy is now changing the way client companies (most with 15 to 50 employees in the areas of hospitality, manufacturing and professional services) are ahead

of the game in finding and keeping topnotch performers. Predicting which employees will leave and which will stay also gives client companies an edge in this competitive climate.

In addition to offering a fair and impressive total rewards package, Saliba suggests companies have an active social media presence to make their name known. But it goes beyond Facebook, LinkedIn and a website. She recommends an online Glassdoor account that makes a company’s reputation “more searchable” and where employees (both former and present) are empowered to be honest and evaluate their experiences.

Saliba also recommends companies partner with local vocational high schools or colleges to find recruits. Encouraging existing employees to refer other potential employees from their alma mater is also an idea, she says.

“We always tell our clients there are a lot of benefits to stay interviews to determine how employees are feeling right now. It’s a good benchmark to see what kind of things a company needs to improve on.” — Corinne Saliba

One recruiting mistake many employers make is “wasting too much time on a job candidate,” according to Saliba.

She recommends that an initial phone screening before a formal interview should be not more than 15 minutes.

That first call is just a basic introduction, which Saliba compares to dating.

“You don’t need to talk about the wedding at that first meeting,” says Saliba.

Ahola can also help clients navigate the tricky and, sometimes, risky process of questioning a candidate during a job interview. What questions are job-related and legal, and which are too personal, discriminatory or generally off-putting to a potential employee?

Retention is another area that can benefit from proactive HR. Saliba encourages “stay interviews” that are typically conducted two weeks into employment or when a worker is leaving the company.

“We always tell our clients there are a lot of benefits to stay interviews to determine how employees are feeling right now. It’s a good benchmark to see what kind of things a company needs to improve on,” says Saliba. “These are usually just general questions, but they allow employees to give feedback unprovoked.”

Ahola also helps client companies be baseline compliant with all legal requirements. It can update company handbooks (to add inclusion and diversity clauses, etc.) and helps create accurate job descriptions.

“It’s usually difficult to work with clients who don’t have a handbook.

You need somewhere to start. Sometimes, we see handbooks that just need a few policy changes. Others haven’t been changed since the company was founded,” says Saliba. “And most companies don’t have job descriptions, but that is so important. When we gather information for job descriptions, people sometimes get nervous, worrying about their jobs. But we are there to help the company and employees be more professional.”  clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 67

NEW NOT-FORPROFIT Rules

Maloney + Novotny offers advice on tax-exempt changes.

T

BY JILL SELL

hirty years ago, when Christopher Anderson, now a shareholder with Maloney + Novotny, began his tax and consulting career, not-for-profit entities pretty much kept a low profile when it came to tax exemption status.

“But a lot more attention has been paid to not-for-profits over the past 10 to 15 years. Unfortunately, a lot of it was because of the scandals that came out with the very large organizations involving executive compensations or someone having a private jet that was paid for by donations from the rank and file,” says Anderson, who also serves as the vice chair of the American Institute of CPAs Exempt Organizations Tax Resource Panel. “With all of the media attention, Congress and the IRS got involved.”

The result has been more regulations for not-for-profits and tax records, which are “open to public inspection and widely available on the internet, including on the IRS website,” according to Anderson.

“I tell my not-for-profit clients that we have to pay a lot of attention to what I call an organization’s ‘most important public relations file’ because tax information is so widely available. An organization might have done a report to its constituents or to a community that, by definition, has a limited distribution. But now, anyone with a computer who goes to the right places can look at an organization’s Form 990.”

Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, designed primarily to 68 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

reduce tax rates for businesses and individuals. Anderson believes the act also made it possible to see not-for-profit organizations as “revenue raisers” making up for the loss of taxes elsewhere. Those entities that had taxable income already could face higher tax bills with the Silo Rules of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Anderson points to the Silo Rules for some of the changes that particularly affected medium to large companies, although not many small not-for-profits that were fundraisers for one cause.

“A not-for-profit is tax-exempt on things it does for its exempt purposes.

When a college takes in fees for student tuition, it’s not taxed on that income.

But if it does things that are outside of its exempt purposes, then it pays the taxes on that just like corporations do. An example is if a college or university allowed the community to buy a pass to use its athletic facilities that are really meant for students and non-students used it,” explains Anderson, adding, that to complicate matters, auxiliary services, including things such as parking and concessions, also come into play.

Not-for-profits were once able to

offset income from silos, which made money with silos that were losses, so the tax bill might not have been as great, if anything. But when the tax law changes ended that action, suddenly the tax collector stepped forward. To the credit of the IRS, Anderson says the classifications and number of silos categories eventually were reduced, making it less traumatic for not-for-profits who encountered tax filing nightmares.

“But it’s still difficult. Keep in mind that not-for-profit organizations are the only taxpayers that are not allowed to net losses and income together from one activity or several activities against the other actions,” warns Anderson, adding that not every not-for-profit entity is completely aware of the fine print or the nuances of tax laws. “Right now, notfor-profit organizations have to figure out pandemic-related tax questions and have the added burden of having to pay taxes for the first time. In addition, they have to pay advisers to help them figure it all out for them.”

But doing taxes right the first time can obviously save frustration, time and money in the long run. Anderson often suggests not-for-profits go back three years if they are concerned about their tax records to determine if adjustments are necessary.

“I can only make suggestions,” says Anderson. “But I’d use every tool available to me if I was a not-for-profit, including attending tax seminars and viewing information on websites such as ours. And always, always, ask questions of any kind of your advisers.” 

“A not-for-profit is tax-exempt on things it does for its exempt purposes. When a college takes in fees for student tuition, it’s not taxed on that income. But if it does things that are outside of its exempt purposes, then it pays the taxes on that just like corporations do.” — Christopher Anderson

A TOWERING Task will shape this landmark’s next chapter as it plays host to a series of world-class events like the NBA All-Star Game (in 2022) and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction,” Bonner says.

Bedrock is doing more than signing tenants for Tower City. The company also is working with Chain Reaction, an economic development project launched four years ago by Greater Cleveland Partnership’s Council of Smaller Enterprises, in partnership with JumpStart, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and Cleveland Development Advisors.

Bedrock reimagines downtown’s premier indoor mall. B Y B O B S A N D R I C K Chain Reaction is an annual competition in which aspiring Cleveland entreower City Center, like other Also, Bedrock plans to preneurs pitch small-business indoor malls throughout the recruit local and minoriproposals. The top five procountry, has struggled to keep ty-owned businesses as tenposals are financed with cash tenants and remain financially viable. ants in Tower City. New prizes. Chain Reaction, now COVID-19 didn’t help matters, with stores and/or restaurants in its fourth year, also shows Brooks Brothers and Cleveland Cine- were scheduled to open this budding entrepreneurs how mas both closing their Tower City loca- fall, including three Black, fetheir businesses can benefit tions due to the pandemic. male-owned businesses: Jaxthe community.

A real estate developer with a port- on’s Closet, a custom clothier Bedrock will mentor parfolio of more than 100 properties in for young men; Peach Fuzz, a Kofi Bonner ticipants in the Chain ReCleveland and Detroit is undeterred. threading and waxing salon; action program and provide The company has purchased Tower and MiAmour, a seller of contemporary top competition winners free brickCity and is reimagining the property as clothing and footwear for women. and-mortar spaces in Tower City for a more modern retail space.

At a September press conference, Kofi 21 months.

Bedrock, based in Detroit, says the Bonner, CEO of Bedrock and former “Bedrock’s focus on communinew Tower City will include pop-up chief administrative officer with the ty and economic development is perretail, dining, entertainment and art Cleveland Browns, says he would soon fectly aligned with our mission to help experiences. Pop-up businesses, a rel- announce the signing of 10 more ten- small businesses grow and to bring inatively new trend, open suddenly and ants for Tower City. vestment into the city of Cleveland and operate for just a few days or weeks be“In addition to recruiting nationally its neighborhoods,” says Megan Kim, fore moving on. recognized tenants, we are excited to be COSE executive director In October, Bedrock hosted its first working with all of our local hometown Bedrock, owned by Cleveland Cavaentertainment event at Tower City, a tenants to help reimagine Tower City,” liers owner Dan Gilbert, bought Towmusical competition called Battle of the Bonner says in a press release. er City in 2016. The mall has 366,000 Land, which was capped off by a per“We know that Clevelanders treasure square feet of space and 75 retail units. formance by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. their memories of Tower City, and an “Tower City is not going anywhere,” More live acts are being lined up. infusion of local entrepreneurial spirit Bonner says. “We’re excited to have it.” 

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clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 69

GOING Virtual

Goldfarb Weber pivots to new market in trying times. B Y

N

70 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

(Sherwin-Williams was a GW client prior to the pandemic.)

Along with video messaging from Morikis and Grisko, GW has produced more than 30 virtual events, including the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland fundraiser, Northeast Ohio Medical University commencement, Shoes & Clothes for Kids fundraiser and the YWCA Greater Cleveland virtual Women of Achievement event.

During one week in November 2020, GW worked three live events: Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio fundraiser, Christ Child Society fundraiser and the Achievement Centers for Children event. COO Vic DiAngelo says the team “flawlessly navigated” all three events.

The Achievement Centers commemorated its 80th anniversary with 80 hours of celebration, which included agency updates, client stories, entertainment, raffles, a silent auction and more. Prior to the pandemic, GW’s average video

length was three to four minutes.

“I remember when it started, we were really busy, and I felt guilty about it because we had friends and peer companies that weren’t busy and restaurant owners whose businesses were being completely shut down,” Goldfarb says. “We kept it to ourselves how busy we were. We didn’t want to brag about it because everyone else was in a weird spot. We just kept our nose down and stayed busy.”

Goldfarb and Weber say they could not have executed the pivot without the help and technical expertise of their longest tenured employee, DiAngelo.

“The virtual event business could not have happened without Vic at the helm,” Weber says. “He has a background in switching live television and a broadcast background from news. He hadn’t used it in over 20 years, but he pulled the knowledge to help keep us in business.”

DiAngelo worked his way from an entry-level position at GW in 1999 to

“These live-stream events are a bell that is not going to un-ring. If you are doing an event in person, to me, anything that goes up on the big screen that everyone is watching at the event, can be streamed live to anyone who was unable to attend the event. They can sit in their living room and watch.” — Ron Goldfarb

ISTOCK

ot knowing whether their business would sink or sail during the pandemic, Goldfarb Weber Creative Media (GW) President Ron Goldfarb and CEO Tony Weber faithfully went into work every day in their downtown office.

While editing projects were still being done from home by employees, no new work was coming in. Goldfarb and Weber, who formally took over ownership of GW in 2009, were weathering the storm when an unexpected pivot took place.

The pivot started with a call from Sherwin-Williams Chairman and CEO John Morikis, who wanted to come into the GW studio to record a message to his employees.

“They were the first client that helped keep us in business during that time,” Goldfarb says. “Once John realized how easy and effective it was to communicate with his employees who were starved for information, he started coming in every week to tape his message.”

Morikis told his friend Jerome Grisko, president and CEO of CBIZ, about his successful video messaging. CBIZ, a financial and employee business service with corporate headquarters in Cleveland, was GW’s first pandemic client.

THERESA NEUHOFF

COURTESY GOLDFARB WEBER CREATIVE MEDIA

“running the show,” according to Goldfarb and Weber. DiAngelo spent one week working from home in the midst of the pandemic, and the remainder of his time in the office with his bosses.

“It’s exciting to get involved in the live event space and virtual events because it was kind of like working a system that I hadn’t used in a while,” DiAngelo says. “I enjoy being able to react to anything that can happen live.

“I had already purchased the software to do this because one of our clients was using it, but we were working with a much smaller audience. It was just a matter of, ‘Hey, we have this software, and we can do this quickly.’

I think we only had to buy one or two adapters to put into my computer and we were ready to go.”

With each event, GW says it’s learning and improving as the virtual event business grows. Weber says GW's nonprofit clients have especially seen the positive effects since their fundraising efforts can now be broadcast to a global audience. With no overhead expenses at the events, such as catering, entertainment or valet services, donations have remained the same or increased. Costs for some events have decreased.

Take for example the Sherwin-Williams Women’s Club (SWWC), a philanthropic and professional development club with more than 850 global members, which is celebrating its 110 year anniversary this year.

This year, it held its first virtual Sherwin-Williams Women’s Summit. More than 2,900 employees from across the globe attended the three-day summit, which included two panel discussions and a keynote discussion. All of the content was digitally published and available in 10 languages. SWWC partnered with GW to film, edit and package the content.

“GW brought ideas on how to film in a virtual environment while still

Ron Goldfarb

Tony Weber

delivering an engaging event,” Sherwin-Williams Product Manager Dani Neumann, the 2021 president of SWWC, says. “We relied on their expertise for filming locations, zoom techniques and more. They worked with us to follow our company’s COVID-19 protocols and achieve our goals for the event, bringing to life a professional, global and virtual event.”

Like Neumann, Cuyahoga County Public Library communications and external relations director Hallie Rich is pleased with GW’s ability to create compelling video storytelling to an expanded audience.

“When the pandemic forced all of us to transition from in-person events to virtual, GW was naturally positioned to help us engage our audience remotely,” Rich says. “They helped us conceptualize our first live interactive Flourish fundraising event in ways that were entertaining, engaging and, most importantly, effectively conveyed the library’s story.”

Cuyahoga County Public Library’s Flourish fundraiser was held this summer. The event, backed by culinary literacy ambassador chef Rocco Whalen of Fahrenheit restaurant, raised thousands of dollars for library programs.

Whalen and chef Matt Mytro, partner of Flour restaurant, presented a live cooking demonstration at Vitamix’s test kitchen in Olmsted Township for event ticket holders who purchased Flourish food or party kits.

“These live-stream events are a bell that is not going to un-ring,” Goldfarb says. “If you are doing an event in person, to me, anything that goes up on the big screen that everyone is watching at the event can be streamed live to anyone who was unable to attend the event. They can sit in their living room and watch.”

With a text to give telephone options for in-person guests and those at home, bids can be made and funds can be raised.

“That’s one thing about having a small business and having 10 employees — you are able to shift and pivot,” Weber says. “We couldn’t have done that if we were a huge company. Our employees are used to wearing multiple hats.

We are fortunate we have employees who are willing to do that.”

Goldfarb, Weber and DiAngelo agree the company’s reputation, expertise and can-do attitude gave clients the confidence to come to GW for assistance during uncertain times.

“Virtual events weren’t in our business plan, but now they are,” Goldfarb says.  clevelandmagazine.com/cleader

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COMMUNITY LEADER 71

Fall in Northeast Ohio

By Laura Watilo Blake

72 COMMUNITY LEADER | NOVEMBER 2021

People don’t really care about what I do. They care about whether or not I understand what it is they do and what they need.

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Dana Allender Sun Management & Consulting

Before Sales Concepts, we didn’t have a formal system.

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One thing’s for sure, I wouldn’t be as successful as I am now. That’s 100% guaranteed.

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It works so well that we quickly became the number one center in the country.

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Jodi Lombardo Custom Paper Tubes

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But at some point I came to realize we couldn’t afford not to do it.

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We are architects, not sales people.

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Jeff Stohr Trevor Stohr Conveyer & Caster

Sell More.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2021 NORTHEAST OHIO BUSINESS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES AND COMMUNITY LEADER OF THE YEAR RECIPIENTS!

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