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Dear Fellow Business & Community Leaders, I humbly ask for a moment of your time to consider the following… Each of us comes from a different background. Our life experiences vary, providing unique lenses through which we view the world. Our combined diversity in this great City is what makes us so special, but have we harnessed this to its true potential? We have an opportunity to make meaningful change for our City, our communities, our colleagues, friends, and families. The decisions we make and the actions we take today will shape the world our children and their children will grow up in. Will you join me in committing to an intentional pursuit of meaningful change? We are learning. We are listening. But are we doing enough personally, professionally, collectively to eliminate bigotry and hatred within our community? If we are honest with ourselves, acts of racism and hate have always surrounded us in overt and covert ways. Are we calling attention to these acts? No longer can we be complicit by being silent. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves.” – Leo Tolstoy I have come to learn the only way for others to truly understand, gain insight, and perspective is to communicate; to have conversations. I learn the most about an individual’s struggles when they are courageous enough to share them. Are we centering their voices to recognize and acknowledge the detrimental challenges they have faced and working collaboratively to create a different culture? I believe now is the time, we as the leadership of this City, must move beyond statements of allyship and instead drive action. If we commit to reevaluating, reimagining, and restructuring elements of our organizations and our community, can we create a region in which EVERYONE can thrive? A region where EVERYONE can prosper? A region where EVERYONE is celebrated? No one has all of the answers, but we must start somewhere. We must motivate others to seek the same reflection and growth. If we are relentless and hold one another accountable, imagine what we can do to change the status quo. Our influence and resolve will dictate the speed at which real change can be achieved. We can be better, we can do better. Sincerely,
David Spaulding Vice President & General Manager Turner Construction Company
BUILDING THE FUTURE www.turnerconstruction.com
FOR 30 YEARS Customers Have Referred Family & Friends NOW, SWITCHING HAS NEVER BEEN EASIER. Long before a local legendary anchorman became our spokesperson or one of the region’s signature entertainment facilities changed its name to Heritage Bank Center - we flourished because our customers referred their family and friends. Pretty impressive when you consider what a hassle it has been to change banks – until now. makes it fast, easy and safe to make our bank your bank. Open a checking account, then reset direct deposits and recurring payments in as little as 10 minutes, in most cases. At Heritage Bank, you can enjoy all the convenience of modern banking, but still build the kind of relationship you tell your family and friends about. And it’s never been easier to make the switch.
www.OurHeritage.bank
TABLE OF C ONTENT S
BANKING & FINANCE p.5
EDUCATION & HEALTH p.33
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES p.61
BANKS
HOSPITALS
BRANDING & MARKETING
CREDIT UNIONS
MEDICAL SUPPLIES
INSURANCE
FINANCIAL ADVISORS
SCHOOLS
LEGAL & ACCOUNTING
CONSUMER GOODS p.13
MANUFACTURING & TECH p.43
REAL ESTATE p.73
AUTOS
ENTREPRENEURS
ARCHITECTURE
ENERGY
INDUSTRY
CONSTRUCTION
FOOD & BEVERAGE
LOGISTICS
HOME SALES
CULTURE & LEISURE p.23
NONPROFIT & GOVERNMENT p.53
ARTS
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
HOTELS & MEETINGS
FOUNDATIONS
RESTAURANTS
TRANSPORTATION
ILLU S TR ATI O N S BY (COV ER & THIS PAG E) Z AC H A RY G H A D ERI / PH OTO G R A PH S BY (COV ER) PHILIPP / S TO C K . A D O B E .CO M , (THIS PAGE) L ANCE ADKINS/ RETOUCHING BY ZACHARY GHADERI
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FROM THE EDITOR
T
P.O. Box 14487 Cincinnati, OH 45250 (513) 421-4300 CINCINNATIMAGAZINE.COM
PUBLISHER
Ivy Bayer EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
John Fox DESIGN DIRECTOR
T H E R E ’S N OT H I N G L I K E A O N C E- I N -A- L I F E T I M E
global pandemic to remind us of what really matters. Our personal lives have been upended by a lack of connection to friends and family and worries about our health, our jobs, and our kids’ schools. The business world has scrambled to keep employees and customers safe while figuring out new supply chains, new distribution methods, and new products on the fly. Perhaps a lesson we’ve relearned in these times is how every corporation, small business, healthcare institution, government body, and school is simply a collection of people working together. All of them—all of us—can get sick and spread the virus and are susceptible to doubt and fear, but mostly we just want to come home at the end of a workday and feel like tomorrow is going to be better. Keeping our confidence up has been a struggle. As we put together this year’s Cincinnati 300, we asked the region’s leaders to discuss some of the business issues they’ve dealt with during the pandemic, how they’ve tried to reassure employees, and how they think this community will come out of the COVID-19 crisis, whenever it ends. What struck me—and I think you’ll notice as you read through these pages—is how people-focused they’ve been. They care deeply about their employees’ safety and well-being, struggle with staff layoffs, and worry about customer service before any mention of the bottom line. Their humanity and humility is hard to miss. This is our second annual Cincinnati 300 collection of the region’s most powerful business leaders. We again studied the largest public, private, and nonprofit companies, knowing that those leading the most powerful businesses are powerful themselves. We considered those who serve on key business-related oversight boards at the Chambers of Commerce, REDI, 3CDC, United Way, and ArtsWave. We sought broad representation across the business community, so we limited the profiles to one person per organization, with rare exceptions, and highlighted similar numbers of companies in each of our eight categories. And we tried to remind you that, after all, CEOs are people too.
Brittany Dexter DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL OPERATIONS
Amanda Boyd Walters ART DIRECTORS
Zachary Ghaderi, Jen Kawanari ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR
Stephanie Youngquist JUNIOR DESIGNERS
Carlie Burton, Paisley Stone CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
Bill Thompson CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Lance Adkins PRODUCTION DIRECTOR & IT SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR
Vu Luong
SALES SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER
Maggie Wint Goecke ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVES
Paige Bucheit, Hilary Linnenberg, Julie Poyer SENIOR OUTSIDE ACCOUNT REPRESENTATIVE
Laura Bowling SENIOR MANAGER, SPONSORSHIP SALES
Chris Ohmer SPECIAL PROJECTS MANAGER
Cecilia Rose
BUSINESS OPERATIONS DIRECTOR
Missy Beiting BUSINESS COORDINATOR
Erica Birkle
CIRCULATION CIRCULATION MANAGER Riley Meyers
PUBLISHED BY CINCINNATI MEDIA, LLC CEO Stefan Wanczyk PRESIDENT John Balardo
J O H N F OX
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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BANKING & FINANCE BANKS
CREDIT UNIONS
P H O T O G R A P H B Y LT AK NFCREE EA LDAKNI NC ES R/ R E T O U C H I N G B Y Z A C H A R Y G H A D E R I
FINANCIAL ADVISORS
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BANKING & FINANCE
William Bahl
Timothy Ballinger
Jennifer Bennett
CO-FOUND ER AND CHAIRMA N Bahl & Gaynor
PR ESI D EN T A N D CEO General Electric Credit Union
S E NI OR V P, R E L AT I ON S H I P M A NAG E M E N T Fidelity Investments
Bahl and Vere Gaynor founded the investment advisory firm in 1990. Bahl has almost 45 years in the business, working previously for Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, Fifth Third in Cincinnati, and Northern Trust of Chicago. The firm has 50 employees who help manage or advise clients with almost $14 billion in assets.
Ballinger joined the company in 1994, was named President in 1998, and rose to CEO in 2015. GECU was chartered in 1954 as a not-for-profit institution for employees of GE Aircraft Engines. It has expanded its membership to almost 200,000 members across Greater Cincinnati and has $3.5 billion in assets. It bought a 40,000-squarefoot building in Blue Ash in 2019.
The Boston-based financial services giant has more than 2,200 brokers and about 4,000 employees in the region providing investment management, retirement planning, portfolio guidance, brokerage, and benefits outsourcing. Bennett has been with the company since 1993 and has held a number of management positions.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Florida (undergraduate), University of Michigan (MBA) Why did you choose this field of work? I have always had a fascination with the public equity markets. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “If you’re proud
of what you did yesterday, you must not have achieved much today.” Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: Cincinnati Zoo Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Deaconess Associations
Hometown: Springfield, Ohio Education: Carnegie Mellon Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati
University (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA)
(undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA), University of Delaware (master’s in banking) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Always do the right thing, and do it the right way. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? There were so many conflicting and confusing messages being communicated to consumers and businesses and so it was more than challenging to adapt. On balance, we believe everyone did a great job.
What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? While nearly all of our employees have been working
Archie Brown
Greg Carmichael
remotely, we’ve continued to serve tens of millions of customers by leveraging our technology and operating infrastructure. What gives you hope for better days ahead? My children and their friends. Young adults will emerge from these challenging times with so much resiliency!
Kelley Downing
P RES ID ENT AND CEO First Financial Bank
C H A I R M A N , PRES I DE NT, A ND CEO Fifth Third Bank
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Bartlett Wealth Management
Brown was CEO of MainSource Financial Group of Greensburg, Indiana, and became the leader of First Financial when the companies merged in 2018. First Financial is the fourth-largest bank in Greater Cincinnati with almost $14.4 billion in assets and $3.9 billion in local deposits in 2019. The bank signed on as FC Cincinnati’s first premium space sponsor for its new stadium.
Carmichael, who was named President in 2012 and CEO in 2015, became Chairman of parent Fifth Third Bancorp in 2018. It’s the largest locally based bank with almost $130 billion in deposits (almost $37 billion locally) in 2019. It is the 10th-largest consumer bank in the U.S. Fifth Third raised its minimum hourly wage from $12 to $15 in 2018, and then to $18 in 2019.
Downing, who joined the firm 1996, became the first woman to lead the company in 2007. Founded by Benjamin Bartlett in 1898, it joined New York-based Focus Financial Partners in 2018, then acquired Lodestar Investment Counsel of Chicago in 2019, which increased its assets to about $6 billion. Bartlett was one of two Cincinnati-based companies named on Barron’s list of the Top 50 investment firms in 2019.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Georgia (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) First job: Collector for The Cincinnati Post in the eighth grade Why did you choose this field of work? I wanted my career to
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Dayton
(undergraduate), Central Michigan University (master’s)
have a large impact, and banking afforded that possibility. I believe it’s a profession that not only provides valuable services to individuals and businesses while spurring economic growth, but one that significantly improves lives and communities.
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Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate), Thunderbird University (MBA) First job: Piano teacher in high school Why did you choose this field of work? I like the fast-paced nature of the markets and
learning about the underlying fundamentals that drive market action differently given the environment. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic?
Maintaining the same culture and level of communication while working remotely.
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BANKING & FINANCE
Timothy Elsbrock
Kay Geiger
Andrew Hawking
REGIO NAL PRESID EN T Fifth Third Bank
R EGI ONA L P R ES I DE NT PNC Bank
R EG I ONA L P R ES I DE NT BB&T
Elsbrock is in charge of the Greater Cincinnati operations of the region’s largest locally based bank. He joined the company in 1986 as a corporate treasury manager and served as Senior Vice President of the Wealth & Asset Management from 2007 to 2015. He served as interim chairman of the board of United Way of Greater Cincinnati in 2018-19. He reports to Group Regional President Mike Michael.
Geiger has led regional operations of the Pittsburgh-based bank since 2008. She managed a merger with National City Bank in 2010, which formed the region’s third-largest institution. PNC had $7 billion in local deposits in 2019 with more than 60 locations. Geiger began her career with Huntington and worked for U.S. Bank and LaSalle Bank before joining PNC.
Hawking joined Bank of Kentucky in 2008 as Chief Lending Officer and, when the bank was acquired by BB&T in 2015, was named to lead the regional operation of the North Carolina–based company. The bank, which holds the naming rights to Northern Kentucky University’s arena, completed its merger with Atlanta-based Sun Trust to become Truist.
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio Education: Miami University (undergraduate), Ohio State University (MBA) First job: Cashier at a JCPenney’s record department Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: Success cannot be achieved by working alone. As the African proverb says, “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “Never doubt a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” —Margaret Mead
Andrew Howell
Jason Jackman
Kevin Jones
PRESID ENT AND C EO Federal Home Loan Bank
PR ESI DE N T Johnson Investment Counsel
R EG I ONA L P R ES I DE NT Huntington Bank
Howell joined the bank in 1989 and since 2012 has led the regional wholesale operation that provides financial services to more than 650 member stockholders in Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The Federal Home Loan Bank system was created by Congress in 1932 to support financing for local housing; the downtown-based facility is one of 11 in the U.S. and posted income of $276 million in 2019.
Jackman is also Chief Investment Officer for the company, which he joined in 1993. Headquartered in Green Township, it has offices in Sycamore Township, Columbus, Cleveland, Dayton, and Detroit. The region’s fourth-largest money management company is ranked No. 19 on the prestigious Barron’s Top 50 registered investment advisory firms.
Jones joined Huntington in 2013 as a business development leader before taking over the Southern Ohio-Kentucky Region. He was previously director of financial institutions and managing director of corporate banking at Fifth Third Bank. The Columbus-based company is the fifth-largest local bank with $3.4 billion in deposits in 2019.
Hometowns: Howell, New York; Rochester, New Hampshire; Pittsburgh Education: Wittenberg University (undergraduate) First job: McDonald’s What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Stability
and flexibility. With so much economic uncertainty and businesses closing by the day, I wanted employees to know that their jobs were secure. We’ve needed them more than ever to provide financial peace of mind.
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Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate) First job: Delivering prescriptions and medical supplies for Besse Pharmacy Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “Success is not
final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.” —Winston Churchill What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Be prepared for rapid change and always be willing to listen.
Y
ou have a passion to follow. You have a world to explore. You have a desire to get more out of life. And at Fifth Third Private Bank, we’re here to help write your story. When you partner with us, we’ll provide you with a dedicated, local advisor, backed by a team of financial professionals and digital solutions. Together, we can achieve even more. Let’s write your story. 53.com/privatebank
Fifth Third Private Bank is a division of Fifth Third Bank, National Association. Member FDIC.
BANKING & FINANCE
Arthur Kremer
Michael McCuen
Eric Meilstrup
PRESID ENT AND C EO Sharefax Credit Union
M A R K E T P R ES I DE N T KeyBank
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO LCNB Bank
Kremer was Chief Financial Officer for Sharefax, which was founded in 1960 by employees of the Ford Motor plants in Sharonville and Fairfax. The Clermont County-based operation is the region’s fourth-largest credit union with more than $390 million in assets in 2019 and more than 32,000 members. The company began building a 30,000-square-foot headquarters and branch office in Union Township in January.
McCuen, who was the Cincinnati market leader for National City Bank from 2004 to 2009, took charge of local operations of Cleveland-based Key in 2017 after working at PNC Bank following its acquisition of National City. He is also the commercial sales leader for Key, which is the region’s ninth-largest bank with almost $960 million in deposits in 2019.
Meilstrup has been with the bank for more than 30 years and was named President in 2018, adding the CEO title when Steve Foster retired in 2019. The firm has made a number of acquisitions over the last five years, including banks in Brookville, Eaton, and Chillicothe, and moved into the Columbus market after acquiring Columbus First of Worthington in 2018. LCNB has more than $1.5 billion in assets.
Education: Northern Kentucky University (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Children’s Miracle Network
Hometown: Doylestown, Ohio Education: John Carroll University (undergraduate), University of Michigan (MBA) First job: Loading dock of a Kroger store Why did you choose this field of work? It’s rewarding to help businesses and individuals achieve financial independence and create growing communities. Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: Take the road less traveled and don’t chase the money early in your career.
Michael Prescott
William Morgan
Hometown: Dexter, Michigan Education: Bowling Green State University (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Keeping everyone informed and staying up with the constant daily changes to meet our customers needs. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: YMCA
Maribeth Rahe
MANAGING D IRECTO R JP Morgan Asset Management
R EGI O N A L P R ES I DE N T U.S. Bank
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Fort Washington Investment Advisors
Morgan has worked for 38 years in the financial services industry, all but two of them with JP Morgan. He leads the local office’s team of 30 employees that manages almost $35 billion in assets. Morgan is the senior portfolio manager for the high-yield team and is responsible for overseeing loan strategies.
Prescott has led the Cincinnati market of the Minneapolis-headquartered bank since 2011. U.S. Bank is the region’s largest bank by local deposits with almost $73 billion, and it employs more than 3,100 people in Greater Cincinnati. The company gave up its naming rights to the former U.S. Bank Arena, the riverfront sports and entertainment venue, after 17 years.
Rahe was president and a board member of United States Trust Company in New York when recruited in 2003 by John Barrett, chairman of parent Western & Southern Financial. Fort Washington, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and its subsidiaries manage nearly $60 billion in affiliated and external assets for international, national, regional, and local clients. Hometown: Evanston, Illinois Education: Bowling Green State University (undergraduate), Thunderbird School of Global Management (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Making sure everyone stays engaged, which is difficult when the interactions are mostly virtual. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Nothing is normal, yet we must forge ahead and keep the faith. It will get better, and we can help by being positive, staying busy, and encouraging others to do the same.
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BANKING & FINANCE
Jon Ramey
Rick Ross
Mark Ryan
MANAGING DI R EC TO R A N D M A R K ET H EA D UBS Wealth Management
C EO Summit Funding Group
OH I O VA L L E Y M A R K E T E X ECU TI V E Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Ramey is based in Kenwood and leads company operations in Cincinnati, Dayton, and Indiana. An industry veteran of 24 years, he joined UBS in 2011 from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, where he was Branch Manager in Dayton. UBS has 140 local advisors who manage about $20 billion in assets.
Founded by Ross, Harry Yeaggy, and Louis Beck (the latter two own Union and Guardian savings banks) in 1993, Summit is an equipment financing and leasing company that has a portfolio of more than $4 billion in equipment lease and finance originations. The firm focuses on the technology, material handling, and construction sectors such as cranes, forklifts, and scissor lifts.
Ryan joined the company, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of America, in 1995 and became head of the Ohio Valley office of its brokerage arm in 2016. He is also the Bank of America Market Integration Executive for Ohio and oversees about 270 financial advisors, analysts, and investment and client associates at offices in Kenwood, Ft. Mitchell, downtown Cincinnati, and Dayton, Ohio.
Hometown: Crawfordsville, Indiana Education: Wright State University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” —John Quincy Adams What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? The role our advisory teams play in clients’ lives becomes even more important now. I believe we’re in a noble profession that helps improve people’s lives and create legacies that matter.
Jay Sigler
Daniel Sutton
David Wallace
CEO Cinfed Credit Union
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Kemba Credit Union
CH A I R M A N A ND CEO Heritage Bank
Sigler joined the company in 2002 and was named to lead the firm in 2011. Cinfed provides traditional banking services such as mortgages, auto and business loans, checking and savings accounts, and credit cards, transitioning from a closed-membership to a community-based operation in 2013. It has more than $480 million in assets and more than 35,000 members.
Sutton has led the company since 2018, previously serving as Chief Operating Officer. The region’s second-largest credit union traces its roots to 1934, when employees organized the Kroger Employees Mutual Benefit Association (KEMBA). It now has 11 locations serving more than 96,000 members with more than $965 million in assets in 2019.
In July, Wallace was named to replace Chris Caddell, who died in April, at the Erlanger-based regional bank founded by Arthur Caddell in 1990. In 2019, the younger Caddell hired former Channel 12 news anchor Rob Braun as the bank’s spokesman, then signed a 10-year deal for the naming rights to the former U.S. Bank Arena, now Heritage Bank Center, downtown.
Hometown: Wooster, Ohio Education: Bowling Green State University (undergraduate and MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Adapting to changing governmental regulations and implementing operational changes to keep our employees and members safe. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? The company is financially strong and well-positioned to weather this storm. Continue to focus on serving our members’ needs, but take care of your own health and well-being.
Hometown: Indianapolis Education: Mount St. Joseph University (undergraduate and master’s) First job: Paperboy for The Indianapolis Star What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Kemba strives to uphold
Hometown: Princeton, Kentucky Education: University of Kentucky (undergraduate), Northern Kentucky University (J.D.) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? It’s very simple: Take care of our customers, and take care of each other. We’ve had to shift gears quickly, work efficiently, and remember that the best banking is built on relationships. Several customers told me it was reassuring to get a call asking them, “What can we do?”
the credit union philosophy of “people helping people,” so it’s been challenging when we’re unable to serve our members face-to-face. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Continue to stay positive and to know that your hard work and dedication are noticed and appreciated.
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CONSUMER GOODS AUTOS
PHOTOGRAPH BY LANCE ADKINS / RETOUCHING BY ZACHARY GHADERI
ENERGY
FOOD & BEVERAGE
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C ONSUMER G O OD S
Jeff Billingsley
Kirk Andreae
Chris Bateman
P RES ID ENT AND CEO Clarke Power Services
GEN ER A L M A N AG E R Amazon
G E NE R A L M A NAG E R DHL
Andreae became President in 2003, taking over as CEO from his father, Mark, in 2018. Clarke is a commercial vehicle maintenance provider that operates 23 full-service shops in nine states. It’s part of the Clarke Companies group, which includes Clarke Fire Protection Products, Clarke Power Generation, VEHICARE, and Clarke Heavy Duty. His grandfather, Clarke, started the company as Clarke GM Diesel in 1964. The company posted almost $310 million in revenue in 2019.
The giant online retailer employs 4,000 people in sales, fulfillment, distribution, and office tasks and is building a $1.5 billion Prime Air hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. CEO Jeff Bezos visited CVG in 2019 to unveil a rendering of the 3-million-square-foot building that will help move Prime delivery from two days to one day. The project calls for Kentucky to build a new interchange at I-275 and Graves Road, plus the expansion of Mineola Pike and Donaldson Road.
Billingsley follows in the footsteps of Joanie Arias, who is now Senior Director of Certified Programs, to oversee the shipping firm’s operation at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport that employs more than 3,700 people. The company opened an on-site health clinic staffed by nurse practitioners for employees to be treated during their shifts without co-pays. Hometown: Florence, Alabama Education: University of South Alabama (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “Well done is better than well said.” —Ben Franklin What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Managing our front-line and
management employees’ anxiety. Our key focus has been to be transparent in our communication and to take every opportunity to be with our people on the front line.
Bob Bonder
Tom Brennan
Dan Busken
P RES ID ENT AND CO -FO UND ER Rhinegeist
C EO School Outfitters
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Busken Bakery
Bonder opened Rhinegeist in the old Christian Moerlein bottling plant near Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine with partner Bryant Goulding and local investors in 2013. Rhinegeist announced an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) that will eventually transfer ownership to the workers. It’s the largest local craft brewery and second-largest in Ohio behind Cleveland’s Great Lakes Brewing, with more than 105,000 barrels sold in 2019.
Brennan founded the company that provides furniture, supplies, and support to schools in 1998. The firm helps manage purchasing programs for districts around the country, offering co-op programs and stocking more than 300 products ranging from lockers to microscopes to headphones. The company posted more than $100 million in revenue in 2019.
Busken, who took the top job in the 92-year-old company in 2007, describes the family operation as one of the city’s iconic food businesses with Skyline and Gold Star chilis, Montgomery Inn ribs, and Graeter’s ice cream. Busken ended 15 years of providing doughnuts to another local mainstay, United Dairy Farmers, when UDF began to make its own in 2019. That’s the way the cookie crumbles, as they say.
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C ONSUMER G O OD S
Mike Castrucci
Chris Cicchinelli
Ken Cohen
PRESID ENT Mike Castrucci Automotive
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Pure Romance
P R ES I DE NT Cohen Recycling
Castrucci worked for his father, Al, before buying the automobile dealership from him in 1994 and purchasing a Chevrolet franchise in 1997. The company, which operates Ford and Chevrolet dealerships in Milford and Lincoln Mercury in Alexandria, sold more than 6,600 vehicles and posted revenue of over $295 million in 2019.
Cicchinelli, the son of founder and owner Patty Brisben, joined the company in 2000 and became the top executive in 2007. The company sells intimacy products through independent consultants and has become the world’s largest in-home party company with events in the U.S., Australia, Puerto Rico, and South Africa. Pure Romance posted revenue of $225 million in 2019.
Founded in 1924, the family-owned company is one of the largest metal recycling companies in North America, processing over 1.25 million tons annually. It operates more than 20 facilities in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee and provides customer service around the world. The company employs more than 550 people and posted revenue of almost $440 million in 2019.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Xavier University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Holding an effective team together
throughout late March and April, when the employees’ fear of contracting the virus was palpable. It was something I’d never had experience doing. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? I was honest and told them I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I assured them I’d be with them on the job every day and the organization would provide every safety measure possible.
Michael Dever
Hometown: Milford Education: University of Mount Union (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Do all you can to leave the world better than you found it. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? We had to transition our 40,000 consultants to social selling and virtual Pure Romance parties. More than 90 percent of our business was done at home parties prior to the pandemic, so we had to quickly pivot our training and increase the communication to the field.
Hometown: Middletown, Ohio Education: University of Pennsylvania (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I am proud to have joined my family business as the third generation. Today, we’re now working toward our fourth generation of family ownership. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Jewish Federation of Cincinnati
Leigh Fox
Scott Farmer
CEO Performance Automotive
C EO Cintas Corporation
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Cincinnati Bell
Dever has been in the automobile business for more than 45 years. The company has eight dealerships in Greater Cincinnati and 10 more in Columbus, Dayton, and Salt Lake City, in addition to several repair shops and a dealership dedicated to motorcycles and ATVs. It is the fourth-largest privately owned company in the region, with revenue of almost $1.6 billion from more than 15,500 vehicles sold in 2019.
In 2003, Farmer succeeded his father, Richard, as leader of the public company that supplies corporate uniforms and fire-protection products and services, operates almost 400 facilities, and employs more than 42,000 people. It reported revenue of almost $6.9 billion in 2019. An early investor in FC Cincinnati, Farmer is one of the franchise’s managing owners.
Fox was named CEO in 2017 of the iconic local company, which announced this year that it will be acquired by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners for $2.9 billion. Fox said the deal is an opportunity to speed the buildout of Cincinnati Bell’s next-generation fiber network. The company also partnered with Cincinnati Public Schools, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, and other organizations to provide low-cost internet service to thousands of qualifying students. Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (MBA) First job:
Right out of college I worked as a geologist for Schlumberger, which allowed me to travel most of the Western Hemisphere. Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: You’ll never work harder than when you have to manage exponential growth, which I learned working in finance and operations for CBTS, our IT Services business.
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C ONSUMER G O OD S
Adam Greenberg
Robert Ginnan
Brian Habegger
PRESID ENT AND C FO Family RV Group
PR ESI DE N T Topicz
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Habegger Corp.
Ginnan added the title of President this year after joining the company as Chief Financial Officer in 2018. He worked for Standard Register in Dayton for more than 20 years, with extensive experience in mergers and acquisitions. The company, founded by Charles Jung as Colerain RV in 1968, has expanded through acquisitions to 11 locations in five states. Connecticut-based investment firm Kidd & Co. bought a stake in 2016.
Greenberg is the grandson of Martin Schwartz, who in 1983 acquired the convenience-store distributor that was founded in 1926. It is the 16th-largest wholesaler in its field in the U.S., serving 900 customers across Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The firm, which operates from a 120,000-squarefoot facility in Amberley Village, posted $400 million in revenue in 2019.
Habegger, the grandson of company founder Fred Habegger Sr. and the son of Fred Jr., leads the family-owned company founded in 1952. It’s the 10th largest HVAC distributor in the U.S. and the largest independent Bryant distributor in North America, with more than 500 employees and 40 locations in eight states. The company increased its revenue to $357 million in 2019 from $286 million two years earlier.
Hometown: Highland Park, Illinois Education: University of Denver (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.” —Arnold Palmer What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? As a family-owned business, we’ve operated under the principle that Family Finishes First. That’s never been more relevant than it is today.
Brian Hodgett
Tim Hardig
CHIEF O PERATING O FFI C ER G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers Hardig, who joined the company in 1988, works with third-generation founding family members T.R. Gross (Senior Vice President of Strategic Business Initiatives) and Steve Kaplan (SVP of Operations). Founded by the Gross and Jarson families in 1925, it’s the nation’s largest wholly owned Pepsi-Cola franchise bottler, operating 13 production and distribution centers in Ohio and Kentucky. Longtime owner Thomas Gross Sr. died in 2019 at age 83.
D I R EC TOR , G OV E R N M E N T R E L AT I ON S AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS Procter & Gamble Hodgett is the local investment face of the worldwide consumer products giant that has a long tradition of supporting multiple organizations and efforts in its hometown. He is a visible link to the local community as a member of the executive committees of REDI and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. Hometown: Middleburg Heights, Ohio Education: Ohio State University (undergraduate), Florida State University (master’s) First job: Paper boy for the now-defunct Cleveland Press Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: You are only as good as your word. If you breach that trust even once, you will never get it back and you might as well find a new career. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: Running, biking, and traveling the country watching my kids play sports.
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Ronald Joseph
C EO Joseph Auto Group Joseph is the majority shareholder in the family-owned business, founded as Columbia Oldsmobile in 1938 by his father. He took over in 1966, expanding the company to 19 dealerships in Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus. It’s the fourth-largest automotive dealer in the region with more than 14,720 vehicles sold in 2019.
C ONSUMER G O OD S
Kim Klosterman
Dave Klotter
Brian Kocher
CEO Klosterman Baking
C EO TSC Apparel
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO The Castellini Group
Klosterman has been CEO of the 125-yearold family-owned company since 2008. She and her brother, Chip, run the company that supplies bread to more than 4,000 restaurants, stores, hospitals, and schools in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana from 11 distribution centers. The company announced a deal with Kroger to provide products to more than 35 stores in Louisville, Lexington, and Columbus for the first time. It posted $203 million in revenue in 2019.
In 2018, Klotter replaced Bob Winget, who had led TSC since 2005. The wholesale supplier of T-shirts, hats, fleece, and other activewear that can be printed for promotional items has seven national distribution facilities, including one in Sharonville. TSC moved its headquarters from downtown Cincinnati to Blue Ash in 2019, relocating about 100 employees with an annual payroll of more than $6 million. It posted revenue of $263 million in 2019.
Kocher oversees the Wilder-based consortium, chaired by Reds Owner Bob Castellini, which employs about 1,550 people locally. It finished a $20 million expansion of its facility this year, bringing its Grant County Foods and Crosset Co. lines under the Castellini name. It posted revenue of $1.5 billion in 2019, making it the fifth-largest privately owned company in Greater Cincinnati.
Brad Lindner
Jeff Lykins
Tony Maas
CEO United Dairy Farmers
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Lykins Energy Solutions
C EO JT M Fo o d G ro u p
Lindner is the third-generation leader of the family-owned retail store chain that has more than 200 locations and employs about 2,900 people. UDF, which was founded in 1940 by Carl Lindner Sr., invested $11 million to convert a facility to make its own doughnuts, ending a long relationship with Busken Bakery. The company posted revenue of almost $615 million in 2019. Lindner is President of the Cincinnati Board of Park Commissioners.
Lykins is the third-generation leader of the family-owned company founded by his grandfather, Guy, in 1948. As part of a new corporate strategy, Greg Belisle was named COO, up from vice president of energy procurement and sales, in 2019. The Milford-based firm supplies independent service stations with Marathon, BP, Shell, and Gulf fuel products in addition to commercial fleet fueling, petroleum transportation, and residential heating oil and propane sales. It had revenue of more than $780 million in 2019.
Maas is the second-generation leader of the family-owned provisions company that started in a Delhi Township butcher shop in 1960. The seven children of Jack and Joann Maas and 15 grandchildren have been involved with the operation that’s evolved into a national company creating and selling more than 600 menu items to schools, military clients, grocery stores, and restaurants. JTM posted $220 million in revenue in 2019.
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C ONSUMER G O OD S
Rodney McMullen
Keith McCluskey
Kevin McNamara
CEO McCluskey Chevrol e t
C H A I R M A N A N D CEO Kroger Co.
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Ch e m e d
McCluskey runs the company founded by his father, Dan, in 1973. The new car showroom is at Kings Automall, with a used-car location on East Galbraith Road in Reading. McCluskey has been in the business for more than 40 years and recently completed a $7 million renovation in Mason. The company sold more than 8,700 vehicles in 2019, making it the sixth-largest automotive dealer in Greater Cincinnati.
McMullen, who began his career as a parttime stock clerk, was named CEO of the country’s largest traditional supermarket operator in 2014. Over the past year Kroger opened a downtown store at Court and Walnut streets, unveiled a new logo and branding tagline (“Fresh for Everyone”), began entry into package delivery, and launched a program to help customers buy vehicles. Kroger is the region’s largest company and largest employer with over 17,700 workers.
McNamara began his career with the company in 1980 as an attorney and was named President in 1994 and CEO in 2001. Chemed is the parent company of VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s largest hospice organization, and Roto-Rooter, North America’s largest plumbing and drain cleaning service provider. It posted almost $1.95 billion in revenue in 2019 and employs more than 16,000 people through its subsidiaries.
Hometown: Williamstown, Kentucky Education: University of Kentucky (undergraduate and MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge for your business during the pandemic? Providing a safe environment for our associates
and customers while meeting our societal obligation to provide open stores, e-commerce solutions and an efficiently operating supply chain.
Robert Reichert
Vail Miller Jr.
Daniel Rajczak
CEO He id e lb e rg D ist ributi n g
PR ES I DE NT A ND CEO To te s - I s o t o ne r
CH A I R M A N Kenwood Dealer Group
Miller is the fourth generation to lead the company that delivers more than 18,000 brands of beer, wine, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages to 26,000 retailers in Ohio and Kentucky from nine locations. Al Vontz started the company in 1938, driving beer from Heidelberg Brewery in Covington to Dayton, Ohio. Miller is the son of Al Vontz II’s daughter, Carol Miller. His father, Vail Miller Sr., and Al Vontz III are the company’s Co-Chairmen.
Rajczak, who held a variety of management positions during a 17-year career at Procter & Gamble, joined Totes in 2016. The easy-to-carry rubber rain boots that birthed an international company were first manufactured in Lockland in 1942, and the company introduced the first easy-to-fold collapsible umbrella in 1970. It’s the world’s largest manufacturer of weather apparel, with six facilities around the world. It posted revenue of more than $260 million in 2019.
Reichert bought Schenke Lincoln Mercury in 1975 and expanded it into the largest auto group in Greater Cincinnati. He opened Kings Toyota in 1987, the first dealership at the Kings Auto Mall, and now runs 14 locations with more than 1,000 employees in sales, service, and repair roles. The company sold more than 25,500 vehicles in 2019, posting revenue of more than $890 million. His son, Steve, was named President in 2016. Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate), Southland University (J.D.) First job: Car salesman Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Treat everyone with respect. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Keeping all customer contact areas sanitized and all employees safe. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Wear
masks, wash hands, and practice social distancing at work and away from work.
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C ONSUMER G O OD S
Jake Rouse
William Rumpke Jr.
Carl Satterwhite
CEO Braxt on B rewi n g
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Ru m p ke Wa s t e & R e cyc ling
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO RCF G ro u p
The Rouse family, including brother Evan and father Greg, created the beverage company after playing around with beer recipes in Evan’s garage. Braxton has three locations in Kentucky: its original venue at Madison/ Pike in Covington, Braxton Labs in Newport, and Braxton Barrel House in Ft. Mitchell. It has opened its first location in Cincinnati after buying the former Three Points Urban Brewery in Pendleton earlier this year.
Rumpke, the grandson of founder William Rumpke, replaced his father as CEO in 2014 after 12 years as COO. The company built a new $25 million headquarters facility at Colerain Avenue and Struble Road in 2019 and posted revenue of $694 million. This year, it struck an $8 million deal with the city of Covington to build its Northern Kentucky headquarters in Latonia.
Satterwhite and Scott Robertson, owner of Globe Business Interiors, formed RCF in 2003 to provide workplace solutions for office furniture, architectural services, and facilities maintenance. It acquired the office furniture division of Office Environment Co. of Louisville, a woman-owned firm, in 2019. The West Chester–based company posted revenue of $69 million in 2019, making it the fourth-largest minority-owned business in Greater Cincinnati.
Hometown: Union Education: Indiana University (undergraduate) First job: Starbucks barista Why did you choose this field of work? It was an easy choice to start
the company with my brother, who showed an incredible amount of talent home-brewing in our garage on Braxton Drive. When the company I was previously working with was acquired, the time was right to take the leap of faith.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.” —Babe Ruth What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Making certain our
customers received uninterrupted service at a time when waste removal became even more paramount to public health. Our employees worked harder and longer to keep neighborhoods clean and healthy.
Robert Slattery
Tom Sedler
Amy Spiller
CEO Hom e Cit y Ic e
C EO Sla t t s G ro u p
P R ES I DE NT, OH I O A ND K E NTU CKY R EG I ON Du ke E ne rg y
Sedler is the latest family member to run the company founded in Riverside in the 1890s. Home City, one of the three largest packaged ice manufacturers in the country, operates 50 plants and 55 distribution centers from New York to Arkansas that produce more than 7,000 tons of ice per day. The company posted revenue of $190 million in 2019 and employs about 1,400 people.
Slattery launched the company in 1978 with a single Valpak coupon franchise and now distributes in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. The company has diversified into digital, hospitality, pet-related fields, and event marketing, including 50 West Brewing and its new family-friendly Burger Bar. His Perimeter Technologies plans to move all out-of-state warehousing and fulfillment operations to Cincinnati in 2021.
Spiller, who has worked for the company and its predecessors for more than 15 years, replaced Jim Henning in 2018 to manage the regional operation of the Charlotte, North Carolina–based provider that serves about 870,000 electric customers and more than 540,000 natural gas consumers. Duke awarded $250,000 in grants to local environmental agencies and projects in 2019.
Hometown: Cleveland Education: Miami University (undergraduate and master’s) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “If you don’t have the time to do it right,
when will you have the time to do it over?” —John Wooden What gives you hope for better days ahead? At some point this pandemic will end and people will return to a changed world. When I think about that version of Cincinnati, I see a city where people are more empathetic with one another.
Hometown: Gaylord, Michigan Education: Albion College (undergraduate), Wake Forest University (J.D.) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: I’m continually challenged by the need to balance our customers’ expectations with Duke Energy’s obligation to maintain and modernize our infrastructure. Customers expect more control, choice, and convenience at their fingertips and to have their questions and concerns addressed in real time.
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C ONSUMER G O OD S
Michael Stagnaro
Mike Stuart
Robert Sumerel
PRESID ENT AND C EO Stagnaro Distributing
D I R ECTOR OF P EOP L E ST R AT EGY MadTree Brewing
C EO Bo b S u m e re l Tire
Stagnaro and his brother, Chris, who is Vice President, manage the business that their father, Arthur, started in 1975. It distributes more than 7 million cases of beverages annually to about 3,500 retail locations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana from facilities in Cincinnati and Erlanger. It signed a deal in 2019 with Queen City Hemp to distribute the Over-the-Rhine firm’s CBD Seltzer in Northern Kentucky.
Stuart is responsible for human resources at the company, founded in 2013 by Brady Duncan and Kenny McNutt. It partnered with coffee roasters in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Dayton to create a unique “coffee beer” in each city and introduced 42 Mile, its first hard cider, in 2018. After moving to Oakley in 2017, MadTree is the second-largest local craft brewery with more than 25,000 barrels sold in 2019.
Sumerel runs the family-owned operation founded in 1962. The company merged its retail tire sales and repair business with AAA in 2009 and maintains care and auto wash operations under the AAA Bob Sumerel name. It provides commercial clients with manufacturing, distribution, and service at 19 locations in Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, posting $115 million in revenue in 2019.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I
was fascinated by the blend of general business, economics, and psychology that play different yet connected parts of the employment relationship. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: You can’t be told “no” unless you ask first. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Stay safe, stay calm, and stay positive. We’re all rewriting the rules on the fly.
Jacob Sweeney
David Taylor
Bill Woeste
CEO Jake Swe e ney Auto m o ti ve
PR ES I DE NT A ND CEO Pro c t e r & G a m b le
P R ES I DE NT B e e c h m o nt A u t o m o t ive G ro u p
The Sweeney family celebrated its 100th year in the automobile business in 2017, a century after Jake Sweeney Chevrolet was founded. The group, which sells new and used cars at 11 locations, bought Bill DeLord Autocenter (a Buick, GMC, and Cadillac dealer in Lebanon) this year. It is the fifth-largest automotive dealer in Greater Cincinnati with almost 11,000 units sold and revenue of more than $405 million in 2019.
Taylor, who became CEO in 2015, navigated the 2017 proxy battle by activist investor Nelson Peltz by awarding him a seat on the board. Since that time, the company’s stock reached an all-time high of more than $130 this year. The second-largest company in the region posted more than $67 billion in revenue in 2019.
Woeste manages the dealer group that sold more than 6,300 vehicles in 2019 and posted more than $266 million in revenue. Since 1980, the company has grown to nine dealerships that sell and service Porsche, Maserati, Audi, Volvo, Toyota, Honda, and Alfa Romeo brands from locations throughout Greater Cincinnati and online at TheAutoMile.com.
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina Education: Duke University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Our top priority was and is to keep P&G people safe. We moved quickly and early based on learnings from our experience in China, putting robust safety measures in place for all employees working at a P&G location anywhere. What gives you hope for better days ahead? I’m a big believer in the power of the Greater Cincinnati community, which rallies together in tough times.
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C ONSUMER G O OD S
Jay Woffington
Chip Wood
Jeff Wyler
CEO Cincinnat i B eve rage Co m pa n y
CH A I R M A N Tire Dis c o u nt e r s
C EO Je ff Wy le r A u t o m o t ive Fa m il y
Woffington, who had been executive director of Cincinnati Shakespeare Company since 2012, now leads the Over-the-Rhine brewery that helped start the city’s craft beer boom when Greg Hardman acquired the Hudepohl-Schoenling Brewing Co. in 2004. Woffington, his wife Jodi, and Michael Graham join Hardman as owners of the operation that produces Christian Moerlein, Hudepohl, Burger, and Little Kings.
The company that Wood started as a one-bay shop in 1976 has 135 stores in six states, employs 1,400 people, and posted revenue of $300 million in 2019. It stocks more than 225,000 tires in its warehouses in Sharonville and Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and operates a 40,000-square-foot training center in Sharonville. The company plans to move its headquarters to a renovated six-story building at Fourth and Plum streets downtown.
Wyler began building his auto empire in 1973 with a Chevrolet dealership on Ohio Route 32 near Batavia, where he created his advertising catchphrase: “Cars, like eggs, are cheaper in the country.” He and 12 employees sold 180 cars that first year. Today, Wyler sells more than 20,000 vehicles annually with $1.5 billion in revenue as one of the top 50 U.S. auto dealers with locations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.
Hometown: Pittsburgh Education: Duke University (undergraduate), Northwestern University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? As a
beer company is an essential business, we were fortunate to keep producing 100 percent of the time with added precautions and no health issues to our team.
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C I N C I N N AT I 3 0 0 | 2 0 2 0 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 2 1
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CULTURE & LEISURE ARTS
HOTELS & MEETINGS
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C ULTURE & LEISURE
Scott Altman
Linda Antus
Jeff Berding
PRESID ENT AND C EO Cincinnati Ballet
PR ES I DE NT A ND CEO Cincinnati USA Regional Tourism Network
P R ES I DE NT A ND G E N E R A L M A N AGER FC Cincinnati
Altman joined Cincinnati Ballet in 2016 to lead the company with Artistic Director Victoria Morgan, who has attracted top-flight dancers to Cincinnati and choreographed local productions that received national praise. The Ballet is building the Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance near the entrance to Eden Park as its new headquarters, opening in 2021.
Antus has led the unique collaborative agency that attracts visitors to the 15-county region of Greater Cincinnati since 2007, two years after it was created. She has worked in strategic marketing for more than 30 years, relocating to Cincinnati after working on the launch of the Branson Landing mixed-use development in Missouri.
Berding is the public face of the professional soccer team that began play in Major League Soccer in 2019. The team struggled in its debut season, firing coach Alan Koch 11 games in, and experienced Dutch coach Jaap Stam was hired in May to lead what’s become an off-again, on-again 2020 season. The club is wrapping up construction of its $250 million privately funded stadium in the West End, which opens in the spring at the start of the 2021 MLS season.
(undergraduate), Manhattan School of Music (master’s)
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Mount St. Joseph University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “Do not go where the path
What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? The limitations on mass gatherings essentially shut
may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson What you’d tell a recent
down our ability to perform in front of live audiences or provide training to students at our Otto M. Budig Academy. Through it all, we’ve been humbled by the community’s outpouring of support.
college graduate about entering your field of business:
Hometown: New York City Education: SUNY Purchase
Be an ethical leader who serves your team and your constituents, doing the right things for the right reasons. And be passionate about your work.
Ric Booth
Mike Brown
Julie Calvert
GENERAL MANAGE R Duke Energy Convention Center
PR ES I DE NT Cincinnati Bengals
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau
Booth has led operations at the region’s largest meeting and convention venue since 2006. The downtown venue hosts a wide array of events, from international and regional conventions to trade shows, charity benefits, and fund-raisers. The center occupies three city blocks, with three exhibition halls, 750,000 square feet of event space, and 30 deluxe meeting rooms.
Brown took over the city’s NFL team after the death of his father and franchise founder, the legendary Paul Brown, in 1991. Rookie coach Zac Taylor was hired in 2019 to replace Marvin Lewis, who led the team for 16 years. The team went 2–14, tying for worst record in the franchise’s 52-year history; the reward was the NFL’s No. 1 draft pick, quarterback Joe Burrow, who won the Heisman Trophy and NCAA championship at LSU last season and was elected a Bengals captain by his teammates.
Calvert created Source Cincinnati, an initiative dedicated to telling the region’s story to attract talent, investment, and positive media coverage, before returning to CVB in 2018. The college journalism major has been successful in telling the story of Cincinnati as a destination to a national and international audience. She was given the Apex Award for Distinguished Service from Black Meetings & Tourism magazine in 2019.
Hometown: Phoenix Education: Northeastern State University (undergraduate) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Stay positive, stay safe, and stay healthy. The meetings and events industry will be back to pre-COVID-19 levels, even though it may take some time. But people will always need face-to-face meetings and interactions; being social is fun, interesting, and who we are.
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Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate) First job: Managing golf carts at Clovernook Country Club What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Listen with the
intent to understand, not the intent to reply. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: St. Vincent de Paul
C ULTURE & LEISURE
Bob Castellini
Jon Coleman
Roger David
CEO Cincinnati Reds
G E NE R A L M A NAG E R Westin Cincinnati
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO GSR Brands
Castellini, who remains chairman of his family’s Castellini Group food company, led a group that acquired control of the team in 2006. New manager David Bell, the son of Buddy Bell and grandson of Gus Bell, both former Reds, led to team to a 75–87 record in 2019, good for fourth place in the National League Central. The team added high-profile players Mike Moustakas, Nick Castellanos, Shogo Akiyama, and Wade Miley before the 2020 season was shortened to a 60-game sprint.
Coleman, a veteran of more than 20 years in the hospitality industry, runs the high-profile downtown hotel with more than 450 guest rooms and 30,000 square feet of event space, including the Fountain Square Suite with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking downtown’s prime gathering spot. The Westin features Ingredients restaurant in its lobby and McCormick & Schmick’s on the corner of Vine and Fifth streets.
David’s father was one of four brothers who founded the Gold Star restaurant chain in Mt. Washington in 1965. He is the first family member to lead the company in 25 years. GSR Brands was created to oversee the operation of the chili parlors and Tom & Chee, the tomato soup/grilled cheese restaurants the company acquired in 2017. Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Making
the decision to furlough employees and trying to lead the business through this overwhelming uncertainty. I didn’t take the decisions lightly, knowing they’d have real consequences for those who put so much of themselves into our business. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Restaurant workers are among my heroes.
Jean-Robert de Cavel
Andrew DeWitt
James Downton
CHEF AND OW N ER JR Group
CH A I R M A N Dewey’s
E X ECU T I V E DI R ECTOR Sharonville Convention Center
The native of France came to Cincinnati in 1993 as Chef de Cuisine at the five-star Maisonette, and has spawned a new generation of star chefs and entrepreneurs in the region. He oversees operations at Jean-Robert’s Table, French Crust Café & Bistro, Le Bar a Boeuf, and Frenchie Fresh. He closed Restaurant L, the fine dining venue in the Queen City Tower, in March.
DeWitt discovered a love for the art of pizza-making in Seattle in the mid-1990s, then returned to his hometown and opened the first Dewey’s restaurant in Oakley in 1998. COO Chuck Lipp, who joined the company in 2003, was named President to oversee the day-to-day operations to allow DeWitt to focus on strategy and new initiatives for 24 restaurants in four states. DeWitt was elected chairman of the board at the Cincinnati Art Museum in 2019.
Downton has run the suburban facility since 2012. The hospitality service veteran came to Sharonville from the Duke Energy Convention Center after working at Belterra Casino, Kings Island, and the Omni Netherland Plaza Hotel. The venue received a grant from Hamilton County allowing it to double the exhibit space to 40,000 square feet and add a ticket office and kitchen, plus more restrooms and storage space to open in 2021.
Hometown: Lille, France Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Do what you love and enjoy every
step of the way. Enjoy your work so it doesn’t feel like an obligation. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Learn, learn, learn. Focus. Make goals to yourself and take time to reach them. I believe 70 percent of success is hard work, 20 percent is right time and place, and the last 10 percent is 100 percent pure luck. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: Findlay Market
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Denison University (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work?
When I was my early twenties, I was a cook and delivery driver for a local pizza shop in Seattle, my first restaurant job. I really enjoyed the high-energy atmosphere and work environment. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: The best restaurants are woven into the fabric of their communities.
Hometown: Ft. Mitchell Education: Northern Kentucky University (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I’ve been lucky enough to work in the hospitality, hotel, and convention center industry since high school, beginning with my time spent at the original Drawbridge Inn and Convention Center. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Find yourself a mentor. They can be game-changers. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: I love to read historical biographies and true crime stories.
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C ULTURE & LEISURE
Richard Eiswerth
David Falk
George Goldhoff
PRESID ENT, GENE R A L M A N AGER , A N D C EO Cincinnati Public Radio
C H EF A ND OW N E R Boca Restaurant Group
P R ES I DE NT Hard Rock Casino
For 22 years, Eiswerth has led the nonprofit radio group that operates classical music WGUC (90.9 FM), NPR affiliate WVXU (91.7 FM), and Miami University-affiliated WMUB (88.5 FM). The organization, which leases space from WCET-TV, won approval from City Council to acquire land at Ninth and Plum streets near City Hall to build its own facility.
After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, Falk opened Boca in Northside in 2001 when he was just 26. The venue was an immediate success, and he hasn’t slowed down since. The company has expanded to include the upscale Boca and Sotto restaurants downtown (both top 10 on Cincinnati Magazine’s Best Restaurants list for 2020) and Nada locations in Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, Nashville, and Bethesda, Maryland.
Goldhoff led the rebranding and renovation of the downtown facility from Jack Casino to its delayed reopening in June due to the coronavirus. He came from Edmonton, Alberta, where he ran PURE Canadian Gaming. He has worked at such iconic venues as the Bellagio in Las Vegas and New York’s Rainbow Room and Plaza Hotel.
Hometown: Williamsport, Pennsylvania Education: Syracuse University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Maintaining a
cohesive and positive work environment, along with fluid and open lines of communication between staff working remotely and those whose on-air duties required them to report to the station every day. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Years from now they’ll look back and realize this was the greatest challenge of their lifetimes.
Richard Graeter
Ray Harris
Hometown: Saratoga, New York Education: University of
Massachusetts - Amherst (undergraduate), Columbia University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? It’s reinforced the idea that the cohesion of our workforce is absolutely critical. I have learned to appreciate my team in new ways. What gives you hope for better days ahead? In my short time as a resident, I’ve witnessed first-hand how Cincinnatians adapt in the face of adversity and come together to support locally owned businesses.
Colleen Houston
PRESID ENT AND C EO Graeter’s Ice Cream
C H I EF OP E R AT I N G OF F I CE R Nederlander Entertainment
A RT I ST I C DI R ECTOR A ND CEO ArtWorks
Graeter is the fourth-generation family member leading the company that’s made and sold ice cream, candies, and baked goods since 1870. It has 55 retail locations that include expanded and renovated stores in the Fifth Third Center on Fountain Square and its flagship store on Beechmont Avenue in Anderson Township. The company consolidated its headquarters into a 7,000-square-foot space at the Cable House in Walnut Hills.
Heritage Bank of Northern Kentucky replaced U.S. Bank as the naming sponsor for the downtown venue that is home to the minor-league hockey Cincinnati Cyclones. Nederlander Entertainment and Anschutz Entertainment Group own and operate the facility and the Cyclones. The arena lost the opportunity to host NCAA basketball tournament games in 2022 because of fears it wouldn’t be upgraded in time.
Houston started as a youth apprentice at age 18 for the public art nonprofit founded by Tamara Harkavy in 1996 and served as Chief Programming Artist when the agency launched its award-winning public mural program. Houston also pioneered the Hero Design Company, which creates hero capes for children with medical issues.
Hometown: Indian River, Michigan Education: Walsh College (undergraduate) First job: Working at a Tastee Freez for $1 per hour What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Work hard
I believe by tapping into our creativity we can deepen empathy, strengthen social bonds, tackle tough issues, and unleash the potential of individuals and communities alike. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Each person who worked at ArtWorks this year is more resilient, and collectively our work is part of Cincinnati’s resilience. We steadfastly and safely produced 26 projects this summer and employed more than 100 artists, completing our 200th mural, an incredible milestone.
and be diligent, and someone will notice your effort and reward you for it. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: Golf, tennis, skiing, and sporting clays
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Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Warren Wilson College (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work?
C ULTURE & LEISURE
Alecia Kintner
Cameron Kitchin
Mike Koontz
PRESID ENT A N D C EO ArtsWave
DI R ECTOR Cincinnati Art Museum
G E N E R A L M A N AG E R Kings Island
Kintner has led the country’s largest united community arts fund since 2014. Its 2020 community campaign raised almost $11.7 million to help support 100 organizations. ArtsWave launched a concurrent Arts Vibrancy Recovery Fund drive for a vibrant return of the arts from the pandemic as well as to focus on sustainability, diversity, and innovation, funding it through emergency reserves and corporate donations.
Kitchin, who agreed to a new five-year contract in 2019, guided ArtClimb, a $20 million project that connected the building atop Eden Park to Walnut Hills via a grand staircase from Gilbert Avenue. More than 346,000 visitors attended the museum in the fiscal year, breaking a record set in 1973. Many came to see No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, which brought in more visitors than any exhibit in CAM’s history.
Koontz worked at the Mason amusement park from 2011 to 2015 and became the top executive in 2016 after spending a year at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. It is the largest amusement and water park in the Midwest with almost 3.5 million visitors in 2019, featuring 15 roller coasters, 13 family rides, and five thrill rides. It’s the largest employer in Warren County with about 5,000 workers.
Hometown: Los Angeles Education: University of California – Riverside (undergraduate), University of Redlands (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Keeping connected with stakeholders and with each other. Zoom meetings aren’t efficient for deep communication. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? We are fortunate to be among the helpers.
Hometown: Norfolk, Virginia Education: Harvard University (undergraduate), William & Mary (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? When Cincinnati has needed humanity and connection more than ever, we’ve worked to bring art and artists forward. The museum never truly closed; for three months we became an inspiration engine for Cincinnati both digitally and on our outdoor grounds.
Gretchen Landrum
Joe Lanni
Michael LaRosa
EXECUTIVE D I R EC TO R Northern Kentucky Convention Center
CO- OW NE R A N D CEO Thunderdome Restaurant Group
C EO LaRosa’s
Landrum joined the Covington venue as director of sales and marketing two years after it opened in 1998 and was named to the top job in 2006. Expansion of the 204,000-square-foot facility (110,000 square feet of meeting and display space) has been debated for years because the center is considered too small for events that have outgrown the space, and a feasibility study is underway. It is the second-largest venue in the region behind downtown Cincinnati’s Duke Energy Center.
Lanni joined his brother John Lanni and Alex Blust to start Currito in 2005, which now has 42 locations, and SoHi Grilled Sandwiches in 2010. In 2012, the three opened Bakersfield in Over-the-Rhine and formed Thunderdome, subsequently establishing The Eagle, Krueger’s, Maplewood, and City Bird. The group opened Pepp & Dolores, a casual sit-down Italian restaurant, in OTR in late 2019.
Michael and brother Mark, who is President, are sons of founder Buddy LaRosa and have worked at the family restaurant business for more than 40 years. In 1954, Buddy opened a West Side pizzeria that featured his Aunt Dena’s recipe, and the company has grown into an empire of 65 locations that feature more than 40 menu items, all of which are available for delivery. It had revenue of more than $170 million in 2019. Hometown: Cincinnati Why did you choose this field of work? Dad was such an inspiration to us, so we always
were attracted to the family business and wanted to help in any way possible. We both worked our way up from hourly positions and learned all aspects of the business and how to support its success.
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C ULTURE & LEISURE
Steve Loftin
Kevin McDonnell
Jonathan Martin
PRESID ENT Cincinnati Arts Association
C EO Skyline Chili
P R ES I DE NT Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Since 2000, Loftin led the organization that oversees the Aronoff Center for the Arts and Music Hall, which are home to the Cincinnati Symphony and Pops, Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival, Broadway in Cincinnati, and numerous smaller arts organizations. CAA’s mission includes educational programming, visual arts at the Aronoff Center’s Weston Gallery, and a presenting series of one-off events at the Aronoff’s three theaters and Music Hall.
In 1991, McDonnell joined the iconic restaurant chain founded in 1949 by immigrant Nicholas Lambrinides, gaining controlling interest in 2010 with other members of the management team. In 2019, the company posted $200 million in revenue from 150 franchise locations and company-owned stores in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Florida. McDonnell and his wife, Erica, created the Skyline Chili Fund to increase access to quality pre-school opportunities for low-income families.
Martin took leadership of the country’s sixth-oldest orchestra in 2017. He works with Symphony Music Director Louis Langree and Pops Conductor John Morris Russell to present performances at Music Hall and Riverbend Music Center in addition to providing music accompaniment for the May Festival, Cincinnati Opera, and Cincinnati Ballet. The CSO celebrated its 125th anniversary during the 2019–2020 season.
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: The revitalization effort for Music Hall, but what a wonderful outcome. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Trust your instincts. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: It’s a demanding but rewarding and fun
Hometown: Atlanta Education: Georgia State University (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I was planning to pursue a graduate degree in music theory when I was approached by the Atlanta Symphony about a job in their music library, which started my 40-year career in the orchestra field. I love music and advocating for music-making as a way to elevate our and our children’s lives.
business full of interesting, creative, and inspiring people.
Nader Masadeh
Thayne Maynard
D. Lynn Meyers
PRESID ENT AND C EO Buffalo Wings & Rings
EXEC U T I V E DI R ECTOR Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden
P R ODU CI NG A RT I ST I C DI R ECTOR Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati
Masadeh purchased Buffalo Wings & Rings with two partners in 2005, made improvements that included a chef-inspired menu, and took over as CEO in 2014. The company, which plans to build a new headquarters on Beechmont Avenue in Anderson Township, has 80 locations worldwide and posted more than $145 million in revenue in 2019. It hired Dan Admire, who has fine-dining experience in a number of restaurants, as its corporate chef.
Maynard, who has worked at the zoo since 1977, became the top executive in 2007. He has written more than a dozen books and hosted public radio’s The 90-Second Naturalist for more than 30 years. After reopening in the summer to again allow guests, the zoo unveiled its Roo Valley and African Penguin Point areas and welcomed a rare black rhinoceros calf.
Meyers’ determination to keep ETC’s Over-the-Rhine location open when the neighborhood was considered dangerous and the troupe was $1 million in debt has been rewarded. She arrived in 1996 to a staff of seven, a budget of $450,000, and 400 subscribers and now she manages a budget of more than $3 million. She won the Governor’s Award for excellence in arts education in 2019.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) Why did you choose this field of work? I was born into a family of
Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: When
Hometown: Winter Park, Florida Education: Rollins Col-
lege (undergraduate), University of Michigan (master’s)
restaurateurs, and my first job was working at Burger King. I started with Buffalo Wings & Rings helping my father at his location, but really fell in love with the brand. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: Paul Brown Stadium
things weren’t going well, I was once advised, “It sounds like you need to do your job.” What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business:
Jump in with both feet. Get an unpaid internship and keep your ear open for part-time employment. Read every day, learn every day, and ask people what they think. Stay flexible and willing to move to get a full-time job.
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Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Thomas More University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? The thrill of sharing a
moment in time that will never come again is lost without in-person performances. We reach 600 students per week with autism, and that reach can’t happen though a Zoom screen. We need to be “in touch.” What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Know the arts are essential and that you make a difference.
C ULTURE & LEISURE
Britney Ruby Miller
Christopher Milligan
Jeff Osterfeld
CEO Jeff Ruby Culinary
G E N E R A L DI R ECTOR A N D CEO Cincinnati Opera
C EO Penn Station
Named to her position this year, Miller started as a hostess in 1997 at Jeff Ruby’s Waterfront in Covington and has worked at every level with her father, the founder of the family operation that runs seven locations in three states, including Jeff Ruby’s Steakhouse, The Precinct, and Carlo & Johnny in Cincinnati. She is joined in the executive suite by brothers Brandon, who is Director of Talent Development, and Dillon, the Talent Acquisition Manager.
Milligan had been Managing Director since 2010 until replacing Patricia Beggs, who led one of the country’s oldest (founded in 1920) companies since 1997. Milligan joined the Opera in 1997 as marketing director, replacing Beggs then as well. The pandemic led to the summer’s 100th anniversary season being canceled, but donors stepped up to create a relief fund to help nearly 400 professionals who work onstage and backstage.
Osterfeld opened the first Penn Station featuring four sandwiches, fresh-cut French fries, and hand-squeezed lemonade in downtown Cincinnati in 1985, and the company has grown to more than 300 restaurants in 15 states. Osterfeld’s brother, Kevin, one of the original franchisees, sold his 18 stores to Quaker Hospitality Holdings in 2019. Fourteen of those locations are in Greater Cincinnati and four are in Dayton. The Milford-based franchisor posted revenue of more than $200 million in 2019.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I grew up in the restaurant business and believe I learned it from a true genius, my father. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Essentially we’ve had to reinvent ourselves while staying true to our core beliefs and values. It became a fight for our industry, and the fight continues.
Brian Isaac Phillips
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Begin with the end in mind. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Your work life will last 30 or 40 years, so make sure you love what you do. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Down Syndrome Association of Cincinnati
Elizabeth Pierce
Joe Pinto
PRO D UCING A RTI STI C D I R EC TO R Cincinnati Shakespeare Company
P R ES I DE N T A N D CEO Cincinnati Museum Center
G E N E R A L M A N AG E R Hyatt Regency Cincinnati
Phillips has provided creative leadership for the company since 2003 and was instrumental in its move to the $17.5 million Otto M. Budig Theater in Over-the-Rhine in 2017. He has appeared in more than 100 productions with the troupe while also acting at Playhouse in the Park, Ensemble Theatre, Children’s Theatre, and Know Theatre. During his tenure, CSC became one of the first five U.S. companies to produce every one of Shakespeare’s 38 plays.
Pierce led the 2014 tax levy campaign to secure funding for the $228 million renovation of the iconic venue that houses the Cincinnati History Museum, Duke Energy Children’s Museum, Museum of Natural History & Sciences, Robert D. Lindner Family OMNIMAX Theater, Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, and the Cincinnati History Library and Archives. She also oversees the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
Pinto, who has more than 35 years of experience in the hospitality business, moved to town from the Indianapolis Hyatt Regency in 2018. Located across the corner from the Duke Energy Center and attached to Saks Fifth Avenue, the hotel has 490 rooms, 14 suites, and 40,000 square feet of meeting space. The Red Roost Tavern features farm-to-table dining while the Market offers sandwiches, salads, and beverages.
Hometown: Pittsburgh Education: Morehead State University (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I’ve always loved stories: telling them, reading them, watching them, you name it. First job: Sales clerk at a baseball card and comic book shop What gives you hope for better days ahead? Cincinnati wants to be where the future happens. The growth and evolution of this city over the last 10 years alone is incredible.
Hometown: Mansfield, Ohio Education: Miami University (undergraduate), George Washington University (master’s) Why did you choose this field of work? I fell in love with museums as a child and during my study abroad program. I’m relentlessly passionate about the wonder and awe created by access to “the real thing” when exposed to historic and scientific objects.
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C ULTURE & LEISURE
Raphaela Platow
Rob Schutter
Mike Smith
D IRECTO R AND CHI EF C U R ATO R Contemporary Arts Center
PR ESI DE N T Coney Island
C EO Music and Event Management, Inc.
Platow has led the downtown arts center for 13 years, and her stamp includes popular exhibits by artists like Keith Haring, Patti Smith, and Vhils as well as introducing free admission in 2016. The newest addition to the Zaha Hadid–designed building at Sixth and Walnut streets downtown is Fausto, a restaurant operated by Cincinnati brothers Tony and Austin Ferrari.
Schutter changed the face of the venerable Anderson Township destination by shutting down rides to focus on the water park. He began in 2016 with the 16,000-square-foot Typhoon Tower and continued with a new bath house, bar, and entrance to Sunlite Pool. Opening of the new Challenge Zone, featuring the largest Aquaglide obstacle course in the U.S., has been postponed to 2021.
Smith works for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, which owns Riverbend Music Center and PNC Pavilion. After a contentious political debate, work is almost completed on the Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center on The Banks, which will seat 4,000 inside and 8,000 in an outdoor configuration. Through the Symphony’s MEMI subsidiary, Smith oversees concert booking at those venues in addition to the Taft Theatre downtown and the Rose Music Center near Dayton.
Hometown: Munich, Germany Education: Albert-Ludwig University (undergraduate), Humboldt University (MBA) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: I think of myself as a people person, but I didn’t understand early in my career that I have to make time to invest energy in fostering personal connections with my work colleagues. I love to check items off my “to do” list, but I had to learn to make an effort to connect and to genuinely share in the workplace.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? The decision to open Coney Island when given the opportunity was easy, but the follow-through has been challenging. Operating an outdoor recreational facility, where social interaction is at the heart of the experience, has required us to focus on the health and safety of our guests and employees.
Adam Symson
Eddie Tyner
Jason Tyson
PRESID ENT AND C EO E.W. Scripps Co.
R EGI ONA L P R ES I DE NT The Cincinnati Enquirer
G E NE R A L M A NAG E R Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza Hotel
In 2017, Symson became the top executive at the media company that traces its local roots to the late 1800s, when Edward Scripps took control of the Cincinnati Penny Post. Scripps acquired more than 20 TV stations in 2019, increasing its portfolio to 59, including Cincinnati’s WCPO. Scripps sold its podcast division Stitcher to Sirius XM this year for $325 million.
Tyner joined the daily newspaper in 2017 after working for Cox Automotive in Atlanta, the Tribune Co., and The Washington Post. Owner Gannett merged with New West Investment Group, owner of newspaper chain GateHouse Media, in 2019 to create the largest U.S. newspaper company. The Enquirer has lost more than 30 percent of its print circulation since 2017, with readers migrating to its digital channels.
Tyson has been in the hospitality business since the late 1990s and took the reins of the downtown hotel in 2017. The iconic Art Deco building, which was built in 1931, is a National Historic Landmark, featuring the top-rated Orchids at Palm Court restaurant. It completed a multimillion-dollar renovation of its 560 rooms and corridors.
Hometown: Los Angeles Education: University of California – Los Angeles (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Scripps is
a journalism and entertainment company focused on engaging and informing our audiences, so the pandemic and other events have challenged our teams to be creative, committed, and entrepreneurial in our approaches. What gives you hope for better days ahead? Our region is big enough for great opportunity and yet small enough that people know their neighbors and look out for each other.
Hometown: Hurtsboro, Alabama Education: Columbus State University (undergraduate), University of Maryland (MBA) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: When people feel heard, they will be more likely to listen. Also, trust is the conduit to influence. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? The community needs us now more than ever to keep them informed. What gives you hope for better days ahead? The charitable nature of this community is incredible.
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Hometown: Marathon, Florida Education: Northwood University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? After 9/11 and the 2008 housing crisis, our industry knew how to respond and adjust quickly, but the pandemic is those events times 100 for us. Nearly every group booking from April through the end of 2020 cancelled its program. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? My biggest concern is the mental and physical wellness of people in our industry; it isn’t easy for hospitality workers to be away from people.
C ULTURE & LEISURE
Jason Vaughn
Buzz Ward
William Yung
CEO Frisch’s Restaurants
M A NAG I NG DI R ECTOR A ND CO- CEO Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Columbia Sussex
Vaughan has spent more than 25 years in the business and in 2015 became leader of the iconic Cincinnati restaurant chain that was acquired from the Maier family by NRD Capital. The company closed seven locations in July, including its Carew Tower restaurant, and converted seven more to drive-thru and carryout only. It reported revenue of more than $250 million in 2019 at more than 100 locations.
Ward joined the theater in Eden Park in 1992 and was named to his current position in 2012, when co-CEO Blake Robison replaced the legendary Ed Stern as Artistic Director. Work continues on an expanded footprint in Eden Park for the mainstage Rouse Theatre, which will replace the Marx Theatre in 2022. The organization also committed to a new 99-year lease with the park board and the city.
Yung founded the Crestview Hills-based company in 1972 with one hotel and has expanded to more than 40. In addition, it operates a number of full-service resorts throughout the country. It owned the former Bavarian Brewery complex near I-75 in Covington from 2008 until 2016, when it was sold to Kenton County. In 2014, Yung converted downtown Cincinnati’s former Bartlett Building into the Renaissance Hotel after a $33 million renovation.
Hometown: Haddonfield, New Jersey Education: Princeton University (undergraduate), Harvard University (MBA) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote:
Always maintain a walking fund so that if someone asks you to compromise your integrity or lose your job, you have three to six months of living expenses set aside so you can walk away with your integrity intact.
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YOUR PARTNER TODAY AND TOMORROW The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber® is your partner today and tomorrow. Throughout its history, the Chamber has been steadfast through good and bad times, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the businesses that sustain the Cincinnati region’s economy.
cincinnatichamber.com/yourpartner Serving as a bold voice for the interests of our nearly 4,000-member businesses, the Cincinnati Regional Chamber: Δ Δ Δ Δ Δ
Advances the adoption of inclusive practices in workplaces. Develops culturally competent leaders and more equitable region. Expands the region’s talent base with innovative solutions. Facilitates connections to industry leaders. Offers best-in-class leadership development programs to cultivate civic-minded, change agent leaders.
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Provides access to Cost Saving Programs. Produces favorite community events, like Asian Food Fest, Bud Light Tailgate Zone, BLINK™, Oktoberfest Zinzinnati®, and Taste of Cincinnati®. Serves as your advocate for policies that make our region more economically competitive. Supports minority business owners build wealth and uncover opportunities for growth.
EDUCATION & HEALTH HOSPITALS
PHOTOGRAPH BY LANCE ADKINS / RETOUCHING BY STEPHANIE YOUNGQUIST
MEDICAL SUPPLIES
SCHOOLS
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EDUCATION & HEALTH
Randy Brunk
Clyde Bell
Michael Carrel
CEO Cincinnati Eye Institute
H EA D OF S CH OOL Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO AtriCure
Bell, who took leadership of the Blue Ashbased group in 2005, launched CEI Vision Partners (CVP), an initiative with Revelstoke Capital Partners of Denver, in 2018. The subsidiary made five acquisitions, including Apex Eye of Fairfax, in 2018-2019. CVP has 90 medical doctors, 30 optometrists, and about 1,100 employees at 44 locations in four states. CEI has more than 600 employees at 17 locations.
Brunk has led the private institution’s Symmes Township campus and downtown building since 2003. More than 1,300 students from age 2 through grade 12 represent 140 area churches. CHCA has a robust international program with students from more than 25 countries bringing diverse cultures and customs to the school.
Carrel has almost 25 years in the healthcare and technology business and has led the Mason-based medical device company that provides solutions for Atrial Fibrillation (Afib) since 2012. Carrel has focused on innovation, clinical science, and education as the company has grown from 200 employees to more than 650 worldwide. In 2019, AtriCure acquired SentreHEART of Redwood City, California, a developer of percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) management solutions.
Hometown: Jackson Hole, Wyoming Education: Colorado
State University (undergraduate), Regent University (master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? The fluctuating nature of guidance made planning for an August opening very challenging. So, in late May, we devised a plan and stuck with it. Along the way we had to make a few adjustments, but for the most part we kept to the plan and are thankful that 98 percent of our students had in-person instruction in September.
Joseph L. Chillo
Mark Clement
Garren Colvin
PRESID ENT Thomas More University
PR ES I DE NT A ND CEO TriHealth
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO St. Elizabeth Healthcare
In 2019, Chillo became the 15th president of the Catholic institution in Crestview Hills founded in 1921 by the Benedictine Sisters as Villa Madonna College. He was president of Newbury College in Brookline, Massachusetts, from 2014 to 2018. Thomas More has more than 2,000 students, most of whom are from Greater Cincinnati.
Clement leads the healthcare provider that operates five Greater Cincinnati hospitals: Good Samaritan, Bethesda North, TriHealth Evendale, Bethesda Butler, and McCullough-Hyde in Oxford. It’s the fourth-largest employer in the region with more than 12,000 staff members, including more than 650 doctors and an independent medical staff of 1,800.
Colvin began working at St. Elizabeth a co-op student in 1983 and was named to lead Northern Kentucky’s largest healthcare provider in 2015. He has played an integral role in many of the mergers that have made the company the second-largest employer in Northern Kentucky with more than 9,000 workers. It opened a 65,000-squarefoot health center on U.S. 27 at the main entrance to Northern Kentucky University.
Hometown: Mahopac, New York Education: Binghamton
University (undergraduate), Long Island University (master’s), Northeastern University (DLP) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Financials and the uncertainty of what the future will bring. The level of disruption COVID-19 has brought into the national and local economy will have a profound impact for years. What gives you hope for better days ahead? The Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area has a bright future because of its people and focus on making life better for the next generation.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Xavier University (undergraduate and master’s) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? We are here to
support them, we will get through this together, and they are not alone. For those who experienced job losses or other significant hardships due to COVID-related circumstances, we established a Team Member Resource Center to help them manage household expenses, find childcare support, address mental health issues, and, if necessary, find other jobs within the system.
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Hometown: Ludlow Education: Thomas More College (undergraduate), Northern Kentucky University (MBA) Why did you choose this field of work? I believe strongly in St. Elizabeth’s mission to serve all patients. Improving the community’s health and wellness is a responsibility I take very seriously. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Surround yourself with talented coworkers you admire. In my experience, success and organizational strength come with teamwork.
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EDUCATION & HEALTH
Jonathan Cooper
Gregory Crawford
Bill DeVille
SUPERINTEND ENT Mason City Schools
PR ESI DE N T Miami University
C EO Health Carousel
Cooper, who has led the district since 2018, came to Mason in 2014 as the Chief Innovation Officer and helped develop the Experiential Learning and Personal Learning Device programs for the district, which has more than 10,200 students at five buildings. Its average teacher salary of more than $77,000 is one of the highest in the area.
Crawford became the 22nd leader of the school in 2016. Miami is one of the oldest public universities in the country, chartered in 1809 and opened in 1824. Enrollment for 2019-2020 was almost 20,000 at the Oxford campus, with more than 4,600 students at regional campuses in Hamilton, Middletown, and West Chester.
Hometown: Upland, Indiana Education: Ball State University (undergraduate), University of Dayton (master’s), Miami University (Ed.D.) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Be authentic, be yourself, and dream big. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Don’t get lost in the details; get lost in the people. Invest in each other and take care of each other.
Hometown: Elyria, Ohio Education: Kent State University (undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D.) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Care and gratitude. It’s important to me that our employees know that as we’ve been making decisions, the impact on our students, faculty, and staff is of paramount consideration. We have worked tirelessly together to advance Miami in a time like no other.
The co-founder of the Norwood-based healthcare staffing company has more than 35 years of experience in recruiting and placing workers with providers. In 2019, it acquired North Carolina-based Lucidity, a digital platform that connects doctors and medical practices looking for temporary assignments. It becomes part of Health Carousel Locums Network that includes NEXTLocums and Onyx M.D.
WE SALUTE DR. MONICA POSEY Thank you for your unwavering leadership as Cincinnati State begins its second 50 years of educating our region’s workforce. Never is this crucial role more needed than now, as our community works to recover from the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. The Students and Staff of Cincinnati State
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Hometown: Westerville, Ohio Education: Ohio State University (undergraduate and MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Our purpose as a company is to improve lives and make healthcare work better, both for healthcare organizations and their patients. Our greatest challenge was to prove we could fulfill that purpose fully in a pandemic.
EDUCATION & HEALTH
Fernando Figueroa
Andrew Ekdahl
Michael Fisher
PRESID ENT Ethicon
P R ES I DE NT Gateway Community & Technical College
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
Ekdahl was named in 2016 to lead the surgical products manufacturer that has more than 1,400 employees in Greater Cincinnati. It traces its history to the first use of sutures in the 1880s. Ethicon, which is part of Johnson & Johnson Medical Devices group, received FDA approval this year for new technology in robotic-assisted bronchoscopy to visualize the lung.
Figueroa, who came to Gateway in 2016, was vice chancellor of Dallas Country Community College. The school has grown to more than 4,000 students, almost half of whom also work full-time, on campuses in Covington, Florence, and Edgewood. A study by CareerBuilder reported that Gateway was responsible for adding $90 million to Northern Kentucky’s economy in 20182019.
Fisher leads the children’s hospital ranked third in the nation in 2020 by U.S. News & World Report. It received an $8.8 million donation from the Jack Rubinstein Foundation for Development al Disorders and named a building on the Avondale campus for the late doctor. Children’s raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour from $11, which will increase wages for about 3,000 employees.
Hometown: New Orleans Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: The hardest thing to accept is often the best thing needed to grow as a person. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Love the work, because it will open you up to the
bright and the dark of humanity. In that place only love will carry the day.
CHCA congratulates Head of School Randy Brunk and the several CHCA parents recognized as outstanding leaders in Greater Cincinnati!
CHCA students age 2—Grade 12 have MORE opportunities to: Engage in hands-on, experiential learning •
Deepen their understanding of faith •
Participate in independent research •
Pursue their passions •
Make an impact in our world
CHOOSE MORE. Find your place & pursue your gifts.
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EDUCATION & HEALTH
Christopher Garten
Michael Graham
Robert Hodgkins
HEAD O F SCHO O L Seven Hills School
PR ES I DE NT Xavier University
CEO A N D CH I E F F I NA N CI A L OF F I CER Dental Care Plus
Garten has led the private school for pre-K through grade 12 since 2009. More than 1,000 students attend classes at two campuses, Hillsdale on Red Bank Road and Doherty in East Walnut Hills. It received a $250,000 matching grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation in 2019 to develop seminars designed to immerse students in issues from war and poverty to disease and sustainability.
Graham announced he will retire in June 2021 after 20 years as the Jesuit school’s longest-tenured leader. Under his guidance, the university has raised almost $500 million to finance an ambitious agenda of new buildings and academic programs. Graham, who lives in a residence hall, presides over the popular 10 p.m. Sunday Mass on campus and is an active parish priest at Good Shepherd Church in Montgomery.
Hodgkins replaced Anthony Cook, who led the dental insurance provider since 2001. The company, acquired in 2019 by DentaQuest LLC of Boston for $41.5 million, was founded by a group of dentists in 1986 and grew to a holding company with more than 550 dentist shareholders. The firm offers access to 246,000 provider locations for more than 380,000 plan members.
Hometown: New York City Education: Princeton University (undergraduate), Columbia University (master’s) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty?
Hometown: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Education: Cornell College
Teachers are playing an especially heroic role in these times, and for many students and their families school provides much-needed consistency and routine. So we urged our teachers to continue to do what they always do: provide structure, support, and reassurance.
(undergraduate), University of Michigan (master’s and Ph.D.), Weston School of Theology (master’s in Divinity) Why did you choose this field of work? It kind of chose me. I decided I wanted to be a teacher, and my college teachers inspired me to do what they did. In grad school, I bumped into the Jesuits, which is when something else took over— or, better, when I realized that something else had actually taken over a long time before.
Tony Jaccaci
Gail Kist-Kline
Richard Lofgren
HEAD O F SCHO O L Cincinnati Country Day
PR ES I DE NT Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO UC Health
Jaccaci took over the top spot at the K–12 private school in Indian Hill in 2015 after serving as the executive principal of YK Pao School Secondary Division in Shanghai, China. CCD has about 850 students with an average class size of 16 at the upper school. Jaccaci has overseen the opening of an early childhood center, performing arts amphitheater, and refurbished athletic center.
Kist-Kline became leader of the college on the Mt. Auburn campus of The Christ Hospital Health Network in 2018. She’s been on the hospital’s board since 2012. The college, which was founded in 1902, offers degrees in nursing and healthcare administration and has trained more than 7,000 registered nurses since its inception. Each student accepted is guaranteed clinical placement upon graduation.
Lofgren, who took over leadership of the region’s third-largest healthcare provider in 2013, has more than 35 years of experience in the medical field. He oversees UC Medical Center, West Chester Hospital, UC Physicians Group, and Drake Center, which together employ more than 10,000 people. The organization has begun a planned sixyear, $220 million project that will fundamentally change the Clifton campus of UC Medical Center.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Harvard University (undergraduate), Tufts University (master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? The volatil-
ity and unprecedented nature of the situation makes planning uniquely challenging. We are certain about the uncertainty and will prepare accordingly. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? We will use the opportunity, as unusual as it is, to find new and safe ways to grow as a community, because together we’re undoubtedly stronger.
Hometown: College Corner, Ohio Education: Miami University (undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D.) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: My favorite quote
is an African proverb: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: I love the river, watching all the activities during the day and seeing the city lights and moon reflections at night. There are so many places to take a moment to appreciate this treasure in our town.
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Hometown: Royal Oak, Michigan Education: University of
Michigan (undergraduate and medical school), University of Minnesota (master’s) Why did you choose this field of work? I became interested in healthcare delivery systems early in my medical career when I began to realize how we organize affects patient outcomes. I learned that healthcare is a team sport, and it’s really about the systems that you build. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: Water skiing
EDUCATION & HEALTH
Alan Martin V ICE PRESID ENT PHAR M ACY O PER ATI O N S Humana Martin has overseen Humana mail-order and specialty pharmacy operations for more than 10 years, and its call center and distribution facilities in Springdale and West Chester employ around 2,500. Humana Pharmacy has received national recognition for excellence in customer service, including a Specialty Pharmacy Patient Choice Award from Zitter Insights for three consecutive years. Hometown: Independence, Ohio Education: Ohio Northern University (Undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? Because I like people! The pharmacy
sector of healthcare provides a tremendous amount of opportunity on the clinical and business sides. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: The Council on Child Abuse
Neville Pinto
Matt Miller
Laura Mitchell
SUPER I N T E NDE NT Lakota Local Schools
S U P E R I N T E NDE NT Cincinnati Public Schools
Miller leads one of the largest districts in the state with almost 15,000 students, 1,000 teachers, and 700 support personnel. He was given the Communication Technology Award in 2019 by the National School Public Relations Association for “leadership in refining, upgrading, and integrating cutting-edge communication technology.” Among his initiatives were the district’s first Twitter account, mobile app, and a program to provide free laptops for middle and high school students.
In 2017, Mitchell became the leader of the largest public-school system in Southwest Ohio, overseeing more than 36,000 students. In 2019, taxpayers voted to renew a $65 million levy over 10 years for emergency funding. She launched a podcast, Making Progress with Laura Mitchell, where she talks about strategic priorities, initiatives, and partnerships with host Clyde Gray.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate and master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Finding the safest way to
to see our young people be successful and happy. I want to help them discover their passion and chart a pathway to their dreams. First job: Zino’s Restaurant in Hyde Park
bring students and staff back to in-person learning while being continually challenged by health concerns and limited guidance from state legislators. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Circle Tail
What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Don’t rush to the next job or next
Arturo Polizzi
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Bennett College (undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (master’s) Why did you choose this field of work? I have no greater joy than
achievement. See each opportunity as a moment to learn and recognize the beauty along the way.
Monica Posey
P RESID ENT University of Cincinnati
PR ESI D ENT A ND CEO The Christ Hospital Health Network
P R ES I DE NT Cincinnati State Technical & Community College
Pinto, the first leader from the faculty since Herman Schneider in 1928, launched Next Lives Here in 2018, a 10-year plan for the school to become more responsive to a changing world with a focus on academic excellence, an innovation agenda and urban impact to help celebrate the 200th anniversary in 2019. UC announced a record enrollment of 46,800 students this fall.
Polizzi, who replaced Mike Keating in 2019, maintained the Mt. Auburn–based hospital as Greater Cincinnati’s top-ranked adult-care medical center by U.S. News & World Report for the sixth straight year in 2020. In 2019, Christ abandoned plans to build a $24 million ambulatory center in Ft. Mitchell on the site of the former Drawbridge Inn after a court battle with St. Elizabeth Healthcare.
Posey helped celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary in 2019 with a report showing the college has an annual impact of $657 million on the local economy through direct spending, spending by students, and spending by alumni, 85 percent of whom stay to work in the area. More than 8,200 students take classes through campuses in Clifton, Harrison, Evendale, and Middletown.
Hometown: Cleveland Education: Miami University
Hometown: Philadelphia Education: Cornell University
(undergraduate), University of Michigan (MBA), University of Toledo (J.D.) Why did you choose this field of work? Healthcare is a noble profession. I strive to create an environment where caregivers can take great care of people. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: FC Cincinnati
(undergraduate), University of Pennsylvania (MBA), University of Cincinnati (Ed.D.) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? We have a legacy of enduring challenges and times of uncertainty, and we’ll once again endure and come out a stronger institution. What gives you hope for better days ahead? A commitment to collaboration and innovation gives me hope that we will move from a “new normal” to a “better normal.”
Hometown: Mumbai, India Education: Indian Institute of
Technology in New Delhi, India (undergraduate), Penn State University (master’s and Ph.D.) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Delivering on our public mission of quality and access in higher education has been severely tested by the immediate need to protect our community from the pandemic. What gives you hope for better days ahead? When challenged, this city pulls together. We will emerge stronger and better because of the way we dealt with it.
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EDUCATION & HEALTH
Tim Reilly
John Starcher
August Troendle
PRESID ENT St. Xavier High School
C EO Bon Secours Mercy Health
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Medpace Holdings
Reilly, a 1976 graduate, is the first lay leader of the all-male Jesuit school, the largest private school in the area with more than 1,400 students in grades 9-12. At a school with a history of athletic excellence, the swim team stands out. The 2019 AquaBombers won their 40th state title and were ranked No. 1 in the country for the fifth straight year by National Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association.
Starcher, who became the leader of the Cincinnati-based healthcare system after its 2018 merger, has continued to acquire assets. It added five hospitals in Ireland and three in Virginia in 2019, in addition to a majority stake in Roper St. Francis Healthcare in South Carolina. It operates five Mercy Health hospitals (including Jewish Hospital in Kenwood) in Greater Cincinnati and employs about 8,500 locally.
Troendle, founder of the clinical research company, led the company to record revenue of more than $860 million in 2019 and is on track to top that this year. The company’s $115 million expansion at Madison and Red Bank in Madisonville kickstarted Madison Square, which includes the Summit Hotel and a planned 23,000-square-foot food hall that is scheduled to open in 2021.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate), Xavier University (master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? We
Hometown: Mansfield, Ohio Education: Bowling Green University (undergraduate), University of Toledo (J.D.)
must focus on the physical, mental, social, academic, and religious well-being of all students, along with the risk associated with physical illness like COVID-19. It’s not an easy time to be a young man in high school.
What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Stay the course. We’re in this for the long
haul. While we can’t control the pandemic’s timing, severity or duration, but we can control our reaction and response to it.
WE KNOW HOW TO KEEP STUDENTS CONNECTED ON CAMPUS AND ONLINE.
WE’VE DONE OUR HOMEWORK. Few schools are better equipped to connect students both academically and personally, whether learning at school or at home. From 18 months to 18 years of age, we are uniquely designed to help cultivate a passion for learning and independent thinking that prepares children to become exemplary citizens, confident leaders, and the best versions of themselves. To learn more, call us at 513–979–0220.
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EDUCATION & HEALTH
Ashish Vaidya
Rich Wilson
H. James Williams
PRESID ENT Northern Kentucky University
P R ES I DE NT Mount St. Joseph University
H E A D OF S CH OOL The Summit Country Day School
Vaidya leads the region’s third-largest university with almost more than 15,000 students. He introduced Success by Design, a three-year framework for innovation: access, innovation, and career and community engagement. It will focus on improving affordability, ensuring real-world learning, and emphasizing entrepreneurship and innovation.
Williams, the former president of Fisk University in Nashville, runs the Delhi Township school founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1920 as the first Catholic college for women in southwestern Ohio. It became a co-educational institution in 1986. Williams implemented Transformation 2025, an initiative to upgrade campus facilities and infrastructure, and grew enrollment to 2,500 as the school celebrated its Centennial Anniversary.
Since 2010, the former Procter & Gamble executive has led the Hyde Park Catholic school founded in 1890 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. It has more than 1,000 students in Pre-K (Montessori) through grade 12. A full-time faculty of 112 provide a 1:9 ratio for a student body that has 100 percent college placement.
Hometown: Thousand Oaks, California Education: St.
Xavier’s College in Mumbai, India (undergraduate), University of California Davis (Ph.D.) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: After the tragic death of Earl Potter, president at St. Cloud State University for nine years, I served as interim president. I had to lead the campus and the community through the healing process while also moving the institution forward.
Hometown: Towson, Maryland Education: Davidson College (undergraduate), University of Chicago (MBA) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Feedback is a gift. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? This is our opportunity to show our families we can continue to deliver the mission with all students on campus while minimizing disease spread. We need to model the leadership and creative problem solving that we teach the students.
CONGRATULATIONS
to President Michael J. Graham, S.J., and the many Xavier alumni being recognized among the region’s 300 most powerful business leaders.
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CECO Environmental Congratulates Paul Gohr, Chief Accounting Officer on being named in the Cincinnati 300. “We’re extremely proud to see Paul recognized as a top leader in the Cincinnati 300! Paul is an outstanding leader, a developer of talent and teams, and a foremost expert in his field. We want to thank Paul for his 6+ years as CECO’s Chief Accounting Officer. It’s because of his leadership, change management and vision, that CECO Environmental is the success it is today!” — M AT T E C K L , C F O, C E C O E N V I R O N M E N TA L
Make the world a cleaner, safer and healthier place. CECO Environmental provides industrials around the world with clean, safe and more efficient environmental technology solutions.
CECO_P_Gohr_Cincinnati_Ad_FINAL.indd 1
www.cecoenviro.com
9/17/20 10:18 AM
MANUFACTURING & TECH ENTREPRENEURS
PHOTOGRAPH BY LANCE ADKINS / RETOUCHING BY STEPHANIE YOUNGQUIST
INDUSTRY
LOGISTICS
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MANUFAC TURING & TE CH
Mark Anderson
Scott Anderson
Dean Backscheider
P RES ID ENT AND CEO ProMach
PR ESI D EN T HBH Holdings
P R ES I DE NT BGR
Anderson, who has led the Covington-based packaging materials and machinery manufacturer since 2005, has continued the company’s rapid expansion. In 2019, it acquired Grip-Pak of Illinois, then purchased Jet Label & Packaging of Edmonton, Alberta. In 2020, it added Florida-based Pharmaworks and Modern Packaging of New York. Before these acquisitions, it posted revenue of $872 million in 2019.
Anderson was CEO of subsidiary Enerfab and was promoted to President of the parent company this year. HBH focuses on fabrication, maintenance, and construction for the heavy industrial and utility markets. During his tenure at Enerfab, Anderson started the Rising Star Management Program to identify and mentor the next generation of leaders. Aaron Landholt succeeded Anderson as CEO of Enerfab.
Backscheider, who runs BGR with brother Allen, has worked at the packaging company founded by their father, Al, since 1979. The company occupies more than 300,000 square feet in West Chester, had more than $120 million in revenue in 2019, and employs more than 180 people in five states. It acquired Laise Packaging of Louisville this year.
Hometown: North Benton, Ohio Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Our businesses were
deemed essential, so we had employees transition quickly to remote working environments as well as continuing to work in our plants and on customer job sites. Ensuring our team members were safe was priority No. 1, followed by implementing work practices that enabled everyone to be efficient and accurate.
Massimo Battaini
Pete Blackshaw
Jeff Boeh
P RES ID ENT AND CEO Prysmian Group North America
C EO Cintrifuse
M A NAG I NG DI R ECTOR The Brandery
Battaini oversees North American operations of Prysmian Group, the Italian company that acquired Highland Heights-based General Cable. He began his career at Pirelli Group, originally renowned for its auto tires. Following the formation of Prysmian in 2005 with the acquisition of Pirelli, Battaini was named CEO of Prysmian UK and became COO of the parent company in 2011.
Blackshaw heads the nonprofit created in 2012 by the Cincinnati Business Committee and supported by Kroger, Procter & Gamble, Western & Southern, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center to access cutting-edge technologies by leveraging its venture fund. He was named to Business Journals’ Influencers: Finance list of 100 leaders across the nation who impact business in their community.
Boeh has led the seed-stage accelerator since 2018. It has partnered with Gener8tor, a Milwaukee accelerator, to run a fourmonth program for up to seven startups, each of which receives a $100,000 equity investment, a year of free office space at Union Hall in Over-the-Rhine, and more than $200,000 in additional benefits.
Hometown: Varese, Italy Education: Polytechnic
University of Milan (undergraduate), SDA Bocconi in Milan (master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Maintaining a safe work environment, ensuring business continuity, and prioritizing customer care. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? In order to keep everyone employed, we asked for everyone to look for and implement key cost savings to help weather this pandemic.
Hometown: Pasadena, California Education: University of
California Santa Cruz (undergraduate), Harvard University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Pivoting again and again to stay relevant, engaged, and impactful. Startups have been hard hit, so figuring out how to continue supporting them has been an essential challenge. Our Union Hall co-working space can’t operate at anything near capacity, so bringing people together for events and workshops has been challenged.
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MANUFAC TURING & TE CH
Otto Budig Jr.
Pamela Butcher
Doug Cahill
CHAIRMAN Budco Group
C EO Pilot Chemical
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Hillman Group
Budig runs the transportation, logistics, equipment leasing, and venture capital firm that his father started as a trucking company in 1949. He has become one of the largest arts donors, mainly through the Otto M. Budig Family Foundation. His name is on the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company’s theater and the Cincinnati Ballet’s academy.
Butcher leads the world’s largest manufacturer of disulfonates to the manufacturing and personal-care industries. COO Mike Clark added the title of President in 2019 as the company moved its headquarters from Sharonville to West Chester as part of a growth strategy. In 2019, it acquired OSSA, based in Toluca, Mexico, to increase its footprint in Latin America.
Cahill replaced Gregory Gluchowski, who resigned in 2019. Cahill was Managing Director of CCMP Capital Advisors, which is the majority owner of Hillman, a hardware supplier to top home improvement and hardware retailers including Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Walmart. It acquired Sharp Systems of California and West Coast Washers in 2019.
Hometown: Newport Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by
accident. It’s not a matter of circumstance, but of choice. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Be prepared to pay your dues and
not assume that you will be president of the company in two years.
Hometown: Carmel, Indiana Education: Purdue University (undergraduate and master’s) Why did you choose this field of work? I always enjoyed science and the outdoors, plants and animals, which led me to study agronomy. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Keep your eye on the doughnut and not on the hole. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: Smale Riverfront Park
James Clark
Cris Collinsworth
Rich Corrado
P RESID ENT AND CEO LSI Industries
C EO Pro Football Focus
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Air Transport Services Group
In 2018, Clark joined the industry leader in lighting and graphic solutions for commercial and industrial buildings, petroleum and convenience stores, and retail customers. It employs more than 1,000 people in facilities in seven states. LSI posted revenue of more than $328 million in 2019.
The former Bengals receiver and current NBC Sunday Night Football commentator bought a majority interest in the analytics company founded by Englishman Neil Hornsby, who relocated to Cincinnati when Collinsworth moved the company to Overthe-Rhine in 2014. PFF has staff based in OTR and around the country to grade and analyze every play of every NFL and major college football game.
Corrado succeeds Joe Hete, who led the Wilmington-based company since 2003 before retiring this year. ATSG provides leased air cargo transportation for customers such as DHL, Amazon, and the U.S. military. It signed a new deal with Amazon in June to add 12 planes to its fleet for a total of 42 by the end of 2021. It posted revenue of more than $1.4 billion in 2019.
Hometown: Titusville, Florida Education: University of
Florida (undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (J.D.) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: My dad taught me there is no limit to the jokes you can tell as long as you’re the punchline. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “Stay humble.” That’s all my mom said after beating me in the backyard running a 50-yard dash. I’d come home from school that day bragging that I was the fastest kid at school.
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MANUFAC TURING & TE CH
Steve Cuntz
Todd Dickson
Chris Froman
PRESID ENT AND C EO BlueStar
C EO Champion Window
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Pomeroy
Cuntz leads the Hebron-based global provider of solutions-based electronics such as bar-code scanners and inventory tracking devices. BlueStar has tripled the size of its local warehousing facilities, upgrading it with robotics such as automated picking and sorting. It is the third-largest private company in the region with almost $1.7 billion in revenue in 2018.
Dickson has led the home improvement company since 2014. The company began in 1953 as a small manufacturer of aluminum screen doors, windows, awnings, and screen rooms. Today it’s located on a state-of-art headquarters and manufacturing campus in Sharonville, posted revenue of more than $280 million in 2019, and employs over 1,100 people with 50 U.S. showrooms.
Froman, who led Pomeroy from 2009 until it was sold to Getronics of the Netherlands in 2018, returned to lead the Hebron-based provider of IT infrastructure, staffing, procurement, and logistics services in 2019. The company was founded by in 1992 by David Pomeroy, who closed his ComputerLand franchise after winning contracts from Procter & Gamble for computer services.
Hometown: Miami, Florida Education: University of Florida (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? As an essential infrastructure company helping keep Americans moving during this time, keeping our employees and customers safe has been a challenge as we adapt to new lifestyles. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? I can’t thank our staff enough for their dedication on the front line of our business, especially our sales and factory team. I think of their health, safety, and welfare every day.
David Gelwicks
Michael Gilbert
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of North Carolina (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: The best you can ever be is average,
because you represent the average of the people you manage. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? The loss of day-to-day in-person contact with employees, partners, and customers.
Paul Gohr
PRESID ENT Hickman, Williams & Co.
C EO Aristech Surfaces
CH I E F ACCOU NT I NG OF F I CE R CECO Environmental Corporation
Gelwicks leads the employee-owned company that’s supplied raw materials—from carbon and steel production products to metals and alloys—to the foundry industry since 1890. The firm has five regional offices in North America, with its corporate headquarters in downtown Cincinnati. It posted revenue of about $190 million in 2019.
In 2018, Gilbert became leader of the Florence-based company that manufactures acrylic sheet and surface products for architects, designers, and fabricators in the construction industry. Aristech has a second manufacturing plant in Belen, New Mexico, and an international office in London, posting revenue of more than $115 million in 2019.
Gohr is the ranking company executive in the local office in Madisonville, which shares headquarter functions with the Dallas office. As Chief Accounting Officer, he oversees all aspects of the company’s global accounting function and compliance. CECO provides environmental technology expertise to improve air quality and engineer solutions for industrial partners in oil and gas, power generation, water and wasterwater, and chemical processing.
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MANUFAC TURING & TE CH
Gary Heiman
Stephen Hightower
Jim Jurgensen II
PRESID ENT A N D C EO Standard Textile
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Hightowers Petroleum
C EO Jurgensen Companies
Heiman is the third-generation leader of the business his grandfather Charles started as a linen distributor in 1940. In February, Standard announced plans to build a new distribution center and outlet store in Hebron that’s scheduled to open in 2021. It operates 24 manufacturing and distribution centers in 12 countries and posted revenue of more than $805 million in 2019.
Hightower founded the Middletown-based wholesale fuel distribution business that is the largest minority-owned business in Greater Cincinnati. It posted almost $500 million in revenue in 2019, up from $415 million in 2018, and added liquified natural gas and crude oil to its product line.
Jurgensen is the third-generation leader of the family firm founded by his grandfather John as a small construction contractor in 1934. It’s grown to more than 25 companies that provide an array of services from asphalt paving to tank, barge, and rail transloading. It posted revenue of more than $350 million in 2019.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Washington University
(undergraduate), Georgia Institute of Technology (master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? We manufacture PPE products such as reusable isolation gowns, so in the early days of the pandemic when the country experienced a critical shortage of gowns we led an urgent charge to increase production in order to support hospitals and healthcare workers. We revamped our operations in Texas to make face masks, and another facility was reassigned to make face shields.
Hometown: Middletown, Ohio What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? We are an essential busi-
ness and have not experienced much down time, though at the beginning of the pandemic several of our top clients did shut down and things were tight. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Remain vigilant in their efforts to be safe for themselves and their families. We have an excellent crew here that’s like family, and we all support one another. What gives you hope for better days ahead? This too shall pass.
Jack Kenny
Dan Kroeger
Jeff Lackey
CEO Meridian Bioscience, Inc.
CEO A N D CH A I R M A N Gold Medal Products
P R ES I DE NT CBTS
Kenny leads the company founded in 1976 that manufactures and distributes diagnostic test kits and biopharmaceutical technologies to hospitals, research facilities, and doctors. It acquired Exalenz Bioscience of Israel this year after buying GenePoc of Canada in 2019. Meridian posted revenue of more than $200 million in 2019.
Kroeger has led the family-owned manufacturer and distributor of concession food equipment and supplies since 1991, with Adam Browning becoming President in 2017. Founded by Dave Evans in 1931, the third generation of the family leads the firm now and works alongside the fourth generation. It posted almost $170 million in revenue in 2019.
Lackey succeeded Scott Seger, who retired in January. Lackey joined CBTS in 2016 and held a number of executive roles, including COO. He is leading the company’s evolution from an infrastructure and managed services company to a cloud, communications, and consulting provider. The company posted more than $378 million in sales in 2019 and employs over 800 people locally.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: When one of my mentors, Gold Medal President
Hometown: Bunker Hill, Indiana Education: Indiana University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Our company enabled and directly supported work-from-home and remote learning. The biggest challenge has been the high demand for our expertise in a condensed time frame, but it’s been rewarding to watch our people step up to the challenge.
Hometown: Southfield, Michigan Education: GMI Engineering & Management Institute, now Kettering University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? It’s turned everything upside down and led to constant change, which makes it challenging to ensure we’re doing the right things to protect our employees and build the strength of the business. What gives you hope for better days ahead? Stick to our beliefs and focus on what’s important, and the other side of this will be even better.
Bruce Evans, passed away unexpectedly in 1991. He left a void that was impossible to fill, yet the company came together. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “The only time you start out on top is when you’re digging a grave.” —JC Evans, another mentor
What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? I believe the real test of partnerships comes
during a crisis like this one and how we respond to it.
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MANUFAC TURING & TE CH
Jay Lambke
Doug Lang
John Mactaggart
PRESID ENT Government Acquisitions Inc.
PR ES I DE NT Meyer Tool
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Field Aerospace
Lambke has led the IT firm since 2013. GAI counts many federal government agencies as clients, including the IRS, USDA, Social Security Administration, and Army, providing and supporting capabilities such as cybersecurity, cloud computing, data center modernization, artificial intelligence, and robotic process automation. It increased revenue to $300 million in 2019 from $235 million in 2018.
Lang, who has been with the company since 1981, was named the top executive in 2016. Founded in 1951, Meyer provides precision components to the aerospace and gas turbine manufacturing sectors. It invested almost $16 million in 2019 to renovate a Boone County facility to add 100 jobs, and now employs more than 950 locally. It posted revenue of about $280 million in 2018.
Mactaggart is the top executive at the Kenwood-based aviation company that delivers special mission aircraft solutions to customers around the world from facilities in Oklahoma City, Toronto, and Calgary. Former Chairman Dan Magarian, one of five shareholders who acquired Field Aviation in 2012, sold his stake in the company to Trive Capital Partners of Dallas in July and became a founding partner in the Roebling Capital Partners private equity firm.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: U.S. manufacturing
is extremely challenging. To succeed you must constantly find a better way using vision, technology, patience, and good old-fashioned work ethic. What gives you hope for better days ahead? I see most everyone around Cincinnati trying to be safe and working together to keep others safe. We feel we’ve seen the bottom of the curve and are optimistic that things are getting better in our business.
Tom Nies
Joe Raver
Ken Oaks
CEO Cincom Systems
C EO A N D CH A I R M A N Total Quality Logistics
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Hillenbrand
Nies was working for IBM in 1968 when he decided that software was the future of business information technology. Cincom is one of the largest international independent software companies in the world, and Nies is the longest-serving CEO in the computer industry. It posted revenue of more than $80 million in 2019.
Oaks has grown the privately-held company he founded in 1997 into the largest in Greater Cincinnati and second-largest freight brokerage firm in the U.S. TQL has almost completed a $20 million expansion on its headquarters in the Eastgate area of Union Township. It had revenue of about $3.5 billion in 2019 and more than 1,800 local employees.
Raver led the diversified manufacturing firm’s almost $2 billion acquisition of Milacron Holdings in 2019. The merger of two iconic Greater Cincinnati businesses created a company that posted revenue of more than $1.8 billion in 2019. Hillenbrand sold Cimcool, which was acquired in the Milacron deal, to DuBois Chemicals for more than $220 million this year.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate and MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Developing and maintaining personal contact with new prospects. What gives you hope for better days ahead? Cincinnati’s well-bal-
anced economy and excellent cultural environment. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: Eden Park
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Dayton (undergraduate) First job: Butcher Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “The future is not some
place we are going, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made.” —John Schaar Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: FC Cincinnati Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Big Brothers Big Sisters
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MANUFAC TURING & TE CH
John Richardson
Ron Rosenbeck
Steve Shifman
CHAIRMAN SugarCreek
C EO Republic Wire
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Michelman
Since 1990, Richardson has led the food manufacturing business started by his father in 1966. In 2019, SugarCreek announced a $36 million expansion of its West Chester facility that will add more than 120 jobs to the company that has become a diversified manufacturing, packaging, and logistics company with more than 2,000 people at six facilities in three states.
In 1982, Rosenbeck was one of three founders of a copper wire wholesaler in a 3,000-square-foot building. After buying out his partners, he started to manufacture multiple kinds of aluminum and copper wire for distributors, utilities, and municipalities, then expanded to a 350,000-square-foot operation in West Chester. Republic posted revenue of more than $260 million in 2019.
Shifman took leadership of family-owned enterprise in 2003. The Blue Ash–based firm, founded in 1949, manufactures water-, vapor-, and grease-resistant coatings for the packaging industry. It had revenue of more than $210 million in 2019. Shifman was named chairman of the board of United Way of Greater Cincinnati in 2019.
Hometown: Washington Court House, Ohio Education: Illinois State University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? As an essential
Hometown: Springfield, Ohio Education: University of Colorado (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic?
Initially, changing our mindset to believe we could lead and nurture our employees remotely. As a company that depends on innovation, we had to balance their productivity and safety. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: United Way of Greater Cincinnati, where I was honored to take over as Board Chairman during this pivotal time.
business, we had to continue to serve our customers while also keeping our associates safe and shifted from food service production to retail to meet the rising needs of consumers eating at home. What gives you hope for better days ahead? I’m confident we will get through this pandemic stronger and better for it. It has certainly changed many of the ways we operate, possibly long-term.
John Slattery
James Stahl Jr.
Larry Stoddard
PRESID ENT A N D C EO GE Aviation
P R ES I DE NT CBT Co.
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO RelaDyne
Slattery, who led the commercial aviation business of Brazilian aerospace firm Embraer, succeeds David Joyce, who had been the top local executive since 2008; he’ll continue as non-executive chair through the end of the year and then become a strategic adviser. GE Aviation has about 9,000 employees at its Evendale headquarters and manufacturing facility, in support and services in Hebron, and at a testing site in Peebles.
In 1975, Stahl bought the distributor of electrical and mechanical products that began as the Belting Company of Cincinnati in 1921. Stahl grew the firm from five employees to more than 200 in three locations, including a central headquarters in Columbia Township that opened in 2016. It posted revenue of $205 million in 2019.
Stoddard, who’s led the company since 2010, has grown the Montgomery-based producer of lubricants, fuel, diesel exhaust fluid, and industrial reliability services to the second-largest private company in Greater Cincinnati with $2.1 billion in revenue in 2019. Much of the growth has come through acquisitions: seven in 2018 and seven more in 2019, including Louisiana-based Richard Oil and Fuel.
Hometown: Pittsburgh (born) and Cincinnati (raised) Education: University of Notre Dame (undergraduate), University of Virginia (MBA) First job: Waiter at Walt’s Coffee Shop in Mt. Lookout Square Why did you choose this field of work? I was chasing the American Dream and wanted to have my own business. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Be
a better listener than a talker.
Hometown: Atlanta Education: Auburn University (undergraduate) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: In the face of adversity, stay focused on the goal, keep others calm and on task, and accomplish the objective. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: If we really want to make a difference and create a company that’s lasting culturally and opportunistically, you must be bold and create change.
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MANUFAC TURING & TE CH
Mike Venerable
Matt Ventura, Pete Ventura, James Steger
CEO ProAmpac
C EO CincyTech
OW NE R S Integrity Express Logistics
Tucker leads the Springdale-based flexible packaging company owned by Pritzker Private Capital. He oversees an operation with 32 manufacturing centers on three continents with 4,200 employees serving customers in 90 countries. Since Tucker’s arrival in 2015, annual revenue has grown from $446 million to almost $1.4 billion in 2019.
Venerable leads the firm that galvanized the growth of high potential startups in Greater Cincinnati. His fingerprints are all over the seed fund’s mission of working with entrepreneurs, investors, research institutions, and community stakeholders to fund technology and life science startups. Stacey Browning, former President of Paycor, joined the company as Managing Director of Digital Portfolio this year.
The partners founded Integrity Express Logistics in 2007 and have built it into the third-largest logistics company in Greater Cincinnati with locations in Ohio, Tennessee, and Florida. In late 2019, it announced an expansion of its Tampa operation that will create 50 new jobs. It posted revenue of more than $392 million in 2019.
Greg Tucker
Hometown: Hamilton, Ohio Education: University of Dayton (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I can’t think of a better job than helping bring new technologies to market. Working across the digital and healthcare sectors, you are seeing what the world might look like 10–20 years from now. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Opportunities emerge in challenging times, and we need to find those and help our portfolio companies find those as well.
Paul Verst
Nigel Vinecombe
Mahendra Vora
CEO Verst Logistics
C EO Multi-Color Corp
F OU NDE R A N D M A NAG I NG DI R ECTOR Vora Ventures
Verst has led the family company since 1993 and helped it to grow into a multi-faceted fulfillment, packaging, transportation, and warehousing operation with more than 7 million square feet of space. Todd Johnson joined the company last year as President and COO, allowing Verst to concentrate on strategic planning and key customers. It had almost $229 million in revenue in 2019.
Vinecombe, who was Executive Chairman since 2016 and President and CEO from 2010 to 2016, is back in charge of the Batavia-based label manufacturer after it merged with Platinum Equity’s WS Packaging of Wisconsin. The combined company has 86 plants in 26 countries with more than 10,000 employees. Platinum paid $2.5 billion for Multi-Color in 2019.
The equity group specializes in building IT companies and consulting with clients from startups to large corporations. It includes more than 10 companies that provide technology services and solutions brands. In 2019, it acquired Hinge, a digital commerce company based downtown. Vora posted revenue of more than $105 million in 2019.
Hometown: Cold Spring Education: Xavier University (undergraduate and MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Since we’re an essential business , it’s maintaining high service levels while providing a safe working environment for our employees. What gives you hope for better days ahead? When I’m out in public, I see most people taking COVID-19 seriously and adhering to the policies and directives of our elected officials. We live in the Midwest where people have a strong work ethic, Christian values, and do the right thing.
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MANUFAC TURING & TE CH
Jeff Welsh
Stephen West
Ronald Wittekind
PRESID ENT A N D C EO DuBois Chemicals
M A NAG I NG PA RT NE R Ahead/RoundTower Technologies
P R ES I DE NT Hawkstone Associates
Welsh leads the Sharonville-based chemical manufacturing company founded in 1920 as the DuBois Soap Company. Its parent firm, Jordan Co. of New York, sold it to Atlas Partners of Toronto in 2019. DuBois bought Cimcool, which makes fluids for machining, grinding, metal forming, parts cleaning, and specialty applications, from Hillenbrand this year for $224 million. It had revenue of $465 million in 2019.
West and Stephen Power started RoundTower, a technology systems integrator and solutions provider, in 2007 with four employees. In 2019, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority awarded it an eight-year, 2.5 percent credit to add almost 130 jobs by the end of 2021. It is the region’s third-largest IT consulting firm with more than $395 million in sales in 2019, up from $250 million in 2017. In September, RoundTower announced it would be acquired by the Chicago-based digital services company Ahead.
Wittekind runs the Harrison-based petroleum wholesaler and retailer founded in 1981. The company represents the Shell, BP, Sunoco, and Marathon brands by operating or supplying nearly 100 gas stations in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton. It posted $224 million in revenue in 2019.
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We saved a seat for you And there's never been a better time to ride - new buses, free Wi-Fi and Transit with EZFare for contactless fare payment, trip planning and real-time information right on your smartphone. Coming in September: the new Northside Transit Center. To learn more about how Metro can drive your business, contact Ridership Development Manager Karlyn Wade-Richardson at 513-632-7568.
ReinventingMetro.com
NONPROFIT & GOVERNMENT ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
PHOTOGRAPH BY LANCE ADKINS / RETOUCHING BY STEPHANIE YOUNGQUIST
FOUNDATIONS
TRANSPORTATION
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NONPROFIT & G OVERNMENT
Andrew Aiello
Jeff Aluotto
Patty Brisben
GENERAL MANAGE R TANK
A D M I N I ST R ATOR Hamilton County
F OU NDE R The Patty Brisben Foundation
Aiello has led the Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky since 2010 and is working to adapt the system of more than 130 buses to a new reality as the number of rides has dropped almost 10 percent since 2012 (3.9 million to 3.2 million in 2017). It added EZFare in 2019 to allow people to pay and track route times from smartphones.
Aluotto, who has been the top administration official since 2016, has worked for the county for 20 years, first managing the Solid Waste District and then as Assistant Administrator. He is responsible for coordinating elected and independent agencies as well as overseeing the management of departments such as finance and budgeting, community development, and all social services functions.
Brisben began selling intimacy products to women at in-home parties in 1983 to support four children as a single mother. Ten years later, she founded Pure Romance and built it into a multimillion-dollar company. She created the foundation in 2006 to enhance women’s sexual health and has raised almost $4 million, including $270,000 at its 14th gala in 2019, to fund research and initiatives.
Hometown: Dayton, Ohio Education: Miami University (undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (MBA) Why did you choose this field of work? Effective public transportation creates economic opportunity, makes cities run more efficiently, improves the environment, and provides freedom of mobility for thousands of people every day. What’s
Hometown: Cincinnati First job: Medical assistant Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Surround
yourself with great people, and your business will continue to grow. That way you can focus on what you do best. What gives you hope for better days ahead? I love Cincinnati, I love bringing our Pure Romance consultants here for our conventions, and I love raising my family here. This town will bounce back because its leaders care deeply about its success and we will never give up.
been your message to employees during this uncertainty?
Outside of continually thanking our employees for their amazing work, we’ve declared that there is “no going back, only going forward.” We all have to work together to chart a new path.
Brent Cooper
John Cranley
Lee Crume
PRESID ENT AND C EO NKY Chamber of Commerce
M AYOR City of Cincinnati
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Northern Kentucky Tri-ED
Cooper, founder of C-Forward Information Technologies in Covington, became the chamber chief in 2017. The organization advocates for and provides services to more than 1,500 businesses with more than 200,000 employees in the region. It led the NKY Bourbon Barrel Project, a public art initiative that put barrels on the street for several 2019 public events.
Cranley, who won his second term in 2017, has been involved in much of the city’s renaissance since taking office in late 2013. Cincinnati’s population is growing, reaching more than 300,000 after dropping below that in earlier in the decade. He was in the middle of major projects such as FC Cincinnati’s new stadium and acquiring downtown’s Millennium Hotel and led the city’s efforts to address both COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter issues.
Crume was hired in April 2019 to lead the Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corporation, which markets and promotes Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties to businesses. The veteran of more than 25 years of business development had been Global Director of Business Development for JobsOhio. His goals include a more active role in regional economic development and creating a better ecosystem for entrepreneurs.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: John Carroll University
Hometown: Owensboro, Kentucky Education: Western Kentucky University (undergraduate and master’s) What’s
Hometown: Covington Education: University of Kentucky (undergraduate) First job: Working the fountain at my father’s drugstore. I still make an awesome milkshake. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Trying to convince local, state, and federal
officials that helping businesses survive is not charity but an investment in our collective future. Had the CARES Act not passed, we would have gone into a depression. As Winston Churchill once said, “If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
(undergraduate), Harvard University (master’s and J.D.) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Working to ensure we can continue to deliver basic services when employees were understandably concerned about their safety. What gives you hope for better days ahead? Our city is filled with such tremendous people, businesses, nonprofits, and Cincinnati pride.
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been your message to employees during this uncertainty?
Stay safe and serve our community. We supported our primary industry companies over the last six months but also helped launch the NKY Restaurant Relief Fund.
NONPROFIT & G OVERNMENT
Marc Fisher
Jeanne Golliher
Darryl Haley
CEO Mayerson JCC
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Cincinnati Development Fund
G E NE R A L M A NAG E R A ND CEO Metro/SORTA
Fisher oversees the organization that celebrates Jewish life and welcomes people regardless of race, religion, or ability. JCC offers multiple programs for students, seniors, and people with special needs, among others. It plans to invest more than $20 million in an expansion of its facilities, including the day camp, outdoor pool, playgrounds, and basketball and tennis courts in Amberley Green.
Since 1998, Golliher has led the organization created by local financial institutions to share risk on innovative real estate financing for under-served and emerging neighborhoods. Its projects include financing for conversion of the First Church of Christ Scientist in Walnut Hills into apartments and office space.
Haley was promoted in late 2019 after serving as interim CEO. He has worked for the transit organization providing bus service in Hamilton County and commuter routes from Clermont, Butler, and Warren counties into Cincinnati since 2006. SORTA turned operation of the streetcar project over to city of Cincinnati and worked to pass Issue 7, a Hamilton County sales tax increase to fund the bus system’s overhaul.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Xavier University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Uncertainty around COVID’s long-term
impact on start-up businesses that took the chance to be pioneers in our struggling communities and for clients who own and manage multi-family housing, given such high unemployment and stress on rent payments. What gives you hope for better days ahead? I hope that this time for deeper reflection results in our greater commitment to preserve and promote what’s really important in our communities.
Ellen Katz PRESID ENT A N D C EO Greater Cincinnati Foundation Katz has helmed the leading community foundation that brings together donors, nonprofits, and changemakers to improve the region since 2015, following a decade at Children’s Home of Cincinnati. It received $18 million, the largest endowed gift in its history, from the family of James Nethercott, a former CFO of Procter & Gamble. The organization is moving into new offices in the Sawyer Point Building on East Pete Rose Way. Hometown: Greenwich, Connecticut Education: University of Vermont (undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (master’s), Xavier University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Rapidly raising resources and deploying them for the greatest impact requires all hands on deck. It’s a critical time for us to be listening, learning, and inspiring others to address the inequities laid bare by the pandemic.
Eric Kearney P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO African American Chamber of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky The former Ohio state senator leads this organization, which advocates for African American–owned businesses with a variety of programs, events, and resources. In 2019, the organization was selected by the Ohio Development Services Agency as one of seven partners to operate Minority Business Assistance Centers in every county. Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Dartmouth College (undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (J.D.) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic?
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? We hung banners at our facilities
and at our major hub that read, “Not all heroes wear capes, some wear Metro uniforms.” I think during the pandemic people really saw just how much our region depends on public transportation. What gives you hope for better days ahead? I’m excited as we gear up to roll out the Reinventing Metro plan in 2021.
Eddie Koen P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio In 2019, Koen succeeded Donna Jones Baker, who led the organization for 15 years. He was previously chief impact officer for United Way of Denver after a holding management positions at a private equity firm and Denver Public Schools. He was instrumental in organizing the Black Lives Matter mural at City Hall in June, and announced a $1 million gift from Phil and Gail Holloman to establish the Center for Social Justice at the agency.
Seeing highly successful and longstanding businesses face tough times and decisions. The number of businesses that have requested advice, counsel, and support has been overwhelming at times. What gives you hope for better days ahead? It’s refreshing to see economic development and social service organizations working toward common solutions, which hasn’t always been the case.
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NONPROFIT & G OVERNMENT
Peter Landgren
Kimm Lauterbach
Gary Lindgren
PRESID ENT UC Foundation
PR ES I DE NT A ND CEO REDI
E X ECU T I V E DI R ECTOR Cincinnati Business Committee
Landgren has led the university’s chief philanthropic operation since 2017. The foundation is spearheading Next Now: The Campaign for Cincinnati, the school’s ambitious fund-raising campaign, which has a goal of $2 billion by 2024. More than half of the money has been raised to provide scholarships, fellowships, research, and healthcare initiatives that help the region and to attract top talent to UC and UC Health.
The former executive director of the Warren County Port Authority leads the Regional Economic Development Initiative (REDI), launched in 2014 to advocate for companies locating or growing in Greater Cincinnati’s 15-county region. It helped bring new operations such as Amify, Satco, and Precision Castparts to the region and was involved in multimillion-dollar expansion projects with SugarCreek, TQL, Boston Beer, and Kroger, among others.
Lindgren directs the business community’s collective efforts to identify and provide leadership on issues important to the economic vitality of Greater Cincinnati. Members are executives of local companies who often collaborate with agencies and organizations such as the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, 3CDC, REDI, and the Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority.
Hometown: Rochester, New York Education: University of
Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? What can be better than leading the organization that’s the conduit to providing philanthropy that will impact students, faculty, patients, and the community in which we live and work? What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Follow your passion.
Hometown: Dayton, Ohio Education: University of Dayton (undergraduate), Indiana University (master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic?
Face-to-face meetings and site visits with key decision makers considering our region for their growth strategies has always been a fundamental part of our economic development success. We needed to quickly figure out how to continue leading in the midst of the uncertainty.
Patrick Longo PRESID ENT AND C EO HCDC Longo, who has worked at the Hamilton County Development Co. for more than 20 years, was promoted in 2018. The organization helps build businesses and create jobs by providing incubation, lending, and economic development services. Theresa Sedlack replaced Longo as head of the HCDC Business Center, which was named one of the 10 top business incubators in the world by UBI Global this year. Hometown: Cincinnati Education: John Carroll University (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I
love coaching and connecting entrepreneurs and business people to quality resources. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Managing an ever-changing budget situation as revenue continues to be a variable. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charities: People Working Cooperatively and Freestore Foodbank
Candace McGraw C EO Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport McGraw, who has led CVG since 2011, helped finalize a lease with Amazon for a cargo hub in a $1.5 billion deal that is expected to bring more than 2,000 jobs to the airport. It is the region’s third-largest employer with more than 14,500 employees, a number expected to grow as investment by Amazon, DHL, and others fuel new business. Airport Experience News named McGraw Director of the Year in the medium airports category. Hometown: Pittsburgh Education: Duquesne University (undergraduate and master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? The airport has operated
throughout the pandemic, with cargo numbers booming and year-end passenger levels likely to be at 30–40 percent of our prior year’s activity. We’re trying to manage limited financial resources for a multi-year recovery.
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Peter McLinden E X ECU T I V E S ECR E TA RY-T R E AS U R E R Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council McLinden has served on the board of the labor organization since 2006 and was elected to lead it in 2014. The Cincinnati AFL-CIO represents more than 100,000 members of almost 130 local unions throughout Ohio with the goal of obtaining economic justice in the workplace and social justice for working families. He serves on the city’s Civil Service Commission and is a member of the SORTA board.
NONPROFIT & G OVERNMENT
Tim Maloney
Jill Meyer
Joseph Meyer
PRESID ENT A N D C EO Haile/U.S. Bank Foundation
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber
M AYOR City of Covington
Maloney leads the private family philanthropic foundation that’s a founding partner of BLINK, the nation’s largest art, culture, and light event, as well as numerous entrepreneurial and community programs. Maloney was the 2019 recipient of Film Cincinnati’s Lori Holladay Founder’s Award, honored for his work to help bring movie production to Greater Cincinnati.
Meyer has led the chamber, which advocates for almost 4,000 businesses in Greater Cincinnati, since 2015. She collaborates with public officials to develop plans on issues such as transportation, health care, and education that fuel economic growth and sustain the area’s momentum. The former Member-in-Charge of Frost Brown Todd is a board member of 3CDC, Cincy Tech, and the Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Meyer, who was elected in 2016, served as Kentucky’s Secretary of the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet, where he instituted reforms to unemployment insurance and reorganized the secondary career and technical education program. Meyer and his wife, Dale, were among the city’s first urban pioneers who helped to revitalize Old Seminary Square in the 1970s.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Mount St. Joseph
(undergraduate), Northern Kentucky University (J.D.) What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Be resilient, be curious, work hard, say yes. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Loss of revenue and thereby staff at a time
Hometown: Covington Education: Bellarmine University (undergraduate), St. Louis University (master’s), Northern Kentucky University (J.D.) Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: I spend time with my grandchildren, rehab houses, and serve as an international elections observer, which I’ve done for 15 years in countries such as Bosnia, Albania, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan.
when our members and community needed us the most. As a 501(c)(6), we were among the very few organizations not eligible for PPP funding from the CARES Act.
Beth Robinson
Dennis Schnurr
Brian Tome
PRESID ENT A N D C EO Uptown Consortium
A R CH B I S H OP Archdiocese of Cincinnati
S E NI OR PASTOR Crossroads Church
Since 2009, Robinson has led the organization created in 2004 by leaders of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, UC Health, TriHealth, and the University of Cincinnati to collaborate on transportation, safety, economic development, and inclusion in the city’s “Uptown” area. She’s involved in projects totaling $400 million, including the Innovation Corridor near the Martin Luther King interchange on I-71.
The Most Rev. Schnurr oversees an archdiocese of almost a half-million Catholics that has a tradition of faith, education, and healthcare in 19 counties of Greater Cincinnati and Dayton. The archdiocese opened Fenwick Hall at Athenaeum of Ohio/ Mount St. Mary’s Seminary of the West in Mt. Washington to handle the increase of seminarians from 37 in 2010 to 90 in 2019.
Tome, who founded the nondenominational congregation in 1995, oversees an operation that’s run with an entrepreneurial zeal on 12 campuses. Crossroads also operates Prison Ministry at seven facilities in Ohio and Kentucky. Outreach Magazine called it the fastest-growing church in America twice in the past five years. Tome has written four books, created OCEAN, the first faith-based business accelerator, and hosts The Aggressive Life podcast.
Hometown: Georgetown, Ohio Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate and master’s) What gives you hope for better days ahead? Uptown is the region’s center for future-facing medicine, research, and innovation that will continue to attract top talent and high-growth sectors to the city, while serving as a source of hope for those who need it most.
Hometown: Sheldon, Iowa Education: Loras College (undergraduate), Gregorian University (master’s), Catholic University of America (Ph.D.) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? I’ve focused on both physical and spiritual health to prioritize the safety and well-being of themselves, their family members, and everyone with whom they come in contact. What gives you hope for better days ahead? The world’s medical research community is united in a way I’ve never seen in my lifetime toward the challenge of overcoming this virus.
Hometown: Pittsburgh Education: Robert Morris College
(undergraduate), Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (master’s) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? The church was never designed to be limited to buildings. Look all over the world and history, and you’ll find people of faith who have thrived without haze machines, free coffee, or a parking team. This is the most exciting time to be in ministry.
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NONPROFIT & G OVERNMENT
Moira Weir
Allen Woods
PRESID ENT AND C EO United Way of Greater Cincinnati
M A N AG I NG PA RT NE R MORTAR
Weir led Hamilton County Jobs & Family Services for 12 years until replacing interim director Ross Meyer in March. She is the first female leader of the United Way, which is adjusting its focus to concentrate on the more than 100,000 families in the 10-county tristate area who live in poverty.
Woods, Derrick Braziel, and William Thomas II created the organization in 2014 to help marginalized entrepreneurs find resources and partners. Its Entrepreneurship Academy is a 15-week course that covers multiple topics for people who want to start a business. In its first five years, MORTAR helped train and support more than 200 new businesses in fields from arts and entertainment to retail, services, and food.
Hometown: Philadelphia Education: Simmons College
(undergraduate), Thomas Moore (MBA), Bryn Mawr College (master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Restructuring to ensure that community needs drive our work and our organizational structure. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? We must listen to individuals and families and let them drive our response, programming, and advocacy. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Down’s Syndrome Association of Cincinnati
5 8 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M C I N C I N N AT I 3 0 0 | 2 0 2 0
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C I N C I N N AT I 3 0 0 | 2 0 2 0 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 6 1
PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
Michael Allen
John Barrett
Jeffrey Cail
CEO ALLEN+ASSO CIATES
C H A I R M A N, P R ES I DE NT, A ND CEO Wester n & So u t h e r n Fina nc ia l G ro u p
CH I E F OP E R AT I NG OF F I CE R Ip s o s
Allen founded the company in 1994 as a search firm for clients seeking senior executives in home goods, building products, consumer goods and services, retail, and nonprofit organizations. It was ranked the fifth-largest executive search firm in Greater Cincinnati in 2018 with 18 local C-Suite placements and 28 permanent placements.
Barrett, who joined the firm in 1987, has transformed the life insurance company founded in 1888 into a national financial services enterprise. It’s the title sponsor of the W&S Open professional tennis tournament and the Western & Southern/ WEBN Fireworks extravaganza over Labor Day weekend. It has signed a lease on the top seven floors of the renovated Columbia Plaza (formerly Chiquita Center), and its Eagle Realty Group subsidiary developed the Lytle Park Hotel on Fourth Street.
Cail has led the local office of the Paris-based market research firm since 2011. He previously worked for Nielsen, a top competitor, on two different occasions and for Ipsos one other time. It partnered with Livability.com on two surveys that showed Cincinnati on the rise: The city ranked No. 3 for first-time homebuyers and No. 25 (up from No. 91) in the nation’s best places to live.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) First job: Trainee at the Bank
of New York on Wall Street, where I stayed for 16 years. Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: Changing
your business and your culture so that your company is relevant, forward-thinking, and capable of prospering in all economic and political environments.
Michael Comer
Hometown: Eaton, Ohio Education: Miami University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Someone long ago told me that if you spend 10 minutes each week thinking about what you might do differently, you would be in the 99th percentile of thoughtfulness. I try do to this at the close of every week and write down specific ideas for personal change. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Embrace the chance to learn.
Tony Desjardins
Marshall Dosker
MANAGING PARTN ER KPMG
M A N AG I NG DI R ECTOR Grey M id we s t
P R ES I DE NT S t ra u ss Troy
Comer joined the international accounting firm in 1992 and has been the Cincinnati office leader since 2007. He’s been responsible for the firm’s tax practice in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Michigan since 2011. Comer manages more than 180 employees, which include 18 partners, 75 CPAs, and almost 130 tax professionals, making it the fifth-largest accounting firm in the region.
Desjardins was named in 2018 to lead the new marketing hub of New York-based Grey Group advertising and communication firm. Grey Midwest includes partnerships with Grey, a full-service advertising agency; Grey Commerce, dedicated to making brands buyable; Possible, a leader in performance marketing through its digital, data, and ecommerce expertise; and Townhouse, a full-service creative production agency. It has more than 100 employees in Cincinnati.
Dosker heads the office of 50 attorneys that was founded in 1953 by Orville Troy; his son Ken; Eugene Ruehlmann, who was Cincinnati mayor from 1967 to 1971; and Lucien Strauss. As a teenager, Dosker worked as a bookkeeper for his family’s floral business and earned his college degree in accounting. He uses that background to focus on business and tax law. He went to work at Strauss Troy during school and was named president 24 years later.
Hometown: Wilmington, Delaware Education: Virginia Tech (undergraduate and master’s) First Job: A book store Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.” —Winnie-the-Pooh What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Be curious. Listen and ask the next question. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: United Way
6 2 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M C I N C I N N AT I 3 0 0 | 2 0 2 0
PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
Chris Evans
Crystal Faulkner
Jack Greiner
CEO Bare f oot Prox i m i ty
PA RT NE R A N D CI NCI N N AT I M A R K E T L E A DE R M CM CPAs & A d v is o r s
M A NAG I NG PA RT NE R G ray d o n
Evans joined Barefoot Proximity in 2005 after co-founding Ethos Interactive and leading Eviciti, and was named CEO in 2013. Barefoot, the third-largest marketing, advertising, and branding firm in the region with 150 local employees, work with clients such as Procter & Gamble, Bayer, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and has partnerships with Microsoft and Adobe Marketing Cloud. Barefoot is part of the Omnicom Precision Marketing Group (OPMG).
Faulkner was a co-founder of Cooney Faulkner & Stevens in 1999 and became a key member of this Louisville-based firm after a 2016 merger. MCM has more than 300 employees in five offices, including more than 60 in the Cincinnati office. Faulkner and Tom Cooney write the BusinessWise column for The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com. She was named chair of the Ohio Society of CPAs this year.
Greiner replaced Thomas Prewitt, who led the firm for eight years. He is recognized as an authority on communications and media law and has been counsel for Enquirer Media for almost 25 years. He has represented ESPN, the Associated Press, and NBCUniversal, among others, and has been an adjunct professor at UC Law School.
Adam Hall
Hometown: Proctorville, Ohio Education: Marshall University and California State University – Fullerton (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? CPAs are the most trusted business advisors to our clients, helping them solve problems and seize opportunities. During COVID-19 they needed us for advice on so many issues beyond the math and numbers.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate), University of Notre Dame (J.D.) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: The last thing my dad said to me, “Keep your feet on the ground.” What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Maintaining connections among our work force. What gives you hope for better days ahead? Cincinnati people
have a healthy mix of common sense, optimism, and empathy. We care about each other and our city, and will look out for each other.
Matthew Jessup
Robert Hoffer
CEO Frost B rown To dd
M A NAG I NG PA RT NE R DB L L aw
M A NAG I NG PA RT NE R G ra nt T h o r nt o n
Hall leads the second-largest local legal firm, which has more than 160 lawyers and 300 employees across offices in downtown, West Chester, and Florence. Frost Brown Todd’s presence in Cincinnati dates to 1919. The company has 13 offices with about 525 lawyers from Columbus to Dallas. Hall previously chaired the firm’s business and commercial litigation practice group.
In 2019, Hoffer replaced James Dressman III as leader of Dressman Benzinger Lavelle, the firm that began in Covington more than 60 years ago. It has offices in Cincinnati, Crestview Hills, and Louisville, and is a member of Geneva Group International, one of the world’s largest alliances of independent firms. Hoffer has specialized in employment law in his 35-plus-year career, litigating many cases in federal and state courts.
Jessup has led the national accounting firm’s Cincinnati operations since 2017. Jessup, who has worked for the firm for 15 years, has experience in audits, mergers and acquisitions, and debt and equity offerings. He is responsible for audit quality in the office, which has more than 90 local employees including more than 40 CPAs.
Hometown: Grove City, Ohio Education: Ohio State Univer-
sity (undergraduate), Case Western Reserve University (J.D.) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: A good leader spends more time listening than speaking. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Stay in frequent communication with our
clients to ensure their needs are being met and make an extra effort to make personal connections with their team members. We’re in the business of problem solving.
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PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
Steven Johnston
Lance Kwasniewski
Nathaniel Lampley Jr.
CHAIRMAN AND CEO Cincinnat i Financi a l
C EO Be l c a n
M A NAG I NG PA RT NE R Vo r y s , Sa t e r, Sey m o u r a nd Pe a s e
Johnston has been the top executive of the publicly traded parent company and President and CEO of its lead subsidiary, Cincinnati Insurance Company, since 2011. He added the title of Chairman this year when Ken Stecher retired after nine years in the position. The Fairfield-based property and casualty insurer had almost $8 billion in revenue in fiscal 2019 and $2 billion in net income.
Kwasniewski leads the engineering, consulting, and technical recruiting firm where he’s worked for more than 20 years. It consolidated its global headquarters in Blue Ash with plans to add more than 400 jobs over five years. It also acquired three companies in 2019, two in the UK and one in Washington, while posting revenue of more than $8.5 million and employing about 1,100 people in Greater Cincinnati.
Lampley has led the local office of the region’s seventh-largest law firm, which has more than 75 attorneys and over 100 employees, since 2006. A member of its litigation group, Lampley is an accomplished civil trial lawyer who represented the University of Cincinnati in its settlement with the family of Samuel DuBose, who was killed by university police officer Ray Tensing in 2015.
Hometown: Pittsburgh Education: University of Pittsburgh (undergraduate and master’s) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: Moving to multiple new cities early in my career. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Find a great leader
and go to school on what makes them great. Experience is more important than you think.
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6 4 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M C I N C I N N AT I 3 0 0 | 2 0 2 0
PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
Carl H. Lindner III
S. Craig Lindner
Sean Loring
CO -CEO Am e rican Fin a n c i al G ro up
CO- CEO Am e r ic a n Fina nc ia l G ro u p
P R ES I DE NT Tr u s ta ff
Lindner and his brother, Craig, have led holding company AFG, the parent of Great American Insurance Group and one of Cincinnati’s largest public companies, since 2005. He also serves as CEO of Great American Property and Casualty Group. He is the majority owner of FC Cincinnati, which began play in Major League Soccer in 2019 and whose privately financed West End stadium is scheduled to open in spring 2021.
Lindner and his brother, Carl III, have led holding company AFG, the parent of Great American Insurance Group, since 2005. It formed in Cincinnati in 1959, with roots going back to 1872 with the founding of Great American Insurance Company. Craig also serves as CEO of Great American Insurance Group Annuities, overseeing its investment portfolios.
Loring and Doug Dean co-founded the company in 2002 with a focus on providing healthcare professionals to fill staff shortages. Since then, the firm has grown to more than 350 employees at its Blue Ash headquarters and more than 1,400 internal and external workers nationwide. After posting revenue of $1.6 million in its first year, Trustaff brought in more than $290 million in 2019.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) First job: Scooping ice cream at Norwood United Dairy Farmers What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: The busi-
ness of insurance is underappreciated as a great career opportunity for ambitious, bright college grads. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Back2Back Ministries
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work?
I have always had an interest in investing funds and creating value. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: The Cincinnati Zoo Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Lindner Center of HOPE
Powerful Leaders Build Powerful People. Thanks for your leadership, Mike.
www.hgcconstruction.com
C I N C I N N AT I 3 0 0 | 2 0 2 0 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 6 5
PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
Clement Luken Jr.
Milen Mahadevan
Jason McCaw
SENIO R PARTNER Wood He rron & Evan s
C EO Be l Fl ex S ta ff ing Ne t wo r k
P R ES I DE NT 8 4 . 51
Luken joined the region’s largest intellectual property firm when he graduated from law school in 1986 and is a member of its executive committee with David Fitzgerald, Greg Ahrens, and Stephen Gillen. The practice has about 40 lawyers and works with 150 independent associates in more than 50 countries.
The son of founders Candace and Mike McCaw joined the company in 2014 as Director of Corporate Development after a stint as Assistant Vice President at Fifth Third Bank. BelFlex provides workforce solutions with more than 25 locations across the country, working with client partners that include Crocs, DHL, Pioneer Electronics, and Wayfair. It had revenue of more than $130 million in 2019.
Mahadevan was Chief Operating Officer before moving to the top spot at the Kroger data analytics company after Stuart Aitken was promoted to Chief Merchant and Marketing Officer for the country’s largest supermarket operator. 84.51 serves Kroger and more than 1,250 other companies. Mahadevan joined DunnhumbyUSA in 2000 and held several positions before it was acquired by Kroger and changed its name.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Xavier University (un-
dergraduate and master’s), Northern Kentucky University (J.D.) First job: Polisher at a metal plating shop What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Be flexible, understanding that business needs change more frequently than in the past. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
Paul Muething
Steve Martenet
Gus Perdikakis
PRESID ENT Ant he m B lue Cross an d Bl ue Shi e l d O hi o
CHAIRMAN Ke ati ng M u e t h ing & K le k a m p
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Gu s Pe r d ik a k is Ass o c ia t e s
Martenet, who has worked in the insurance industry for more than two decades, leads Anthem’s commercial business and strategy in Ohio, serving more than 4 million customers. The company launched Blue Connection, a value-based employer healthcare plan with TriHealth, one of the largest employers in the region.
Muething, who was Managing Partner from 1995 to 2017, became Chairman in 2018. He is the son of founding partner John Muething, who started the firm in 1954 with William and Charles Keating; Donald Klekamp was added to the company’s name in the mid-1960s. Managing Partner Alan Fershtman oversees about 125 attorneys. William Keating, who was also a U.S. Congressman and publisher of The Enquirer, died this year at 93.
Perdikakis founded the eponymous staffing company in 1979 with his wife, Jo Ann. The original staff of three has grown to more than 350 with a regional office in Los Angeles. He is one of only two people to serve two terms as president of the American Staffing Association.
Hometown: Mansfield, Ohio Education: Bowling Green State University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Focus on being the best at
what you are doing now, because it will open up opportunities and make you a happier and more effective parent, friend, spouse, leader, and employee. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: No day is ever the same, and you get the opportunity
to help people during their time of need.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Xavier University (undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (J.D.) First job: Caddy at Losantiville Country Club Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “The harder I work the luckier I get.” —Carl Lindner What gives you hope for better days ahead? The people of Cincinnati are reliable
and compassionate. They know that nothing changes overnight and you must keep trying.
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Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: I love the movie Dave, about an uncanny
lookalike recruited to become a momentary stand-in for the President. Dave is an owner of a staffing company, and during a press conference promoting a jobs bill he says, “Did you ever see the look on somebody’s face the day they finally get a job? They look like they can fly.” What gives you hope for better days ahead? Faith in God that we’ll recognize life is precious and our health is the first priority.
PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
Jim Price
Jay Rammes
Kerry Roe
OWNER AND C EO Em p owe r Me di a
M A NAG I NG DI R ECTOR B a r ne s De nnig
P R ES I DE NT Cla r k Sc h a e f e r H a c ke t t
In 2019, Price bought the firm from his mother, Mary Beth Price, who created the company in 1985. He has been CEO since 2009. Rob FitzGerald, who led We Are Social in New York, was named President and COO in 2018. It received Ad Agency magazine’s Agency A-List Standout award as a result of its revenue growth over three years, reaching $500 million in 2019.
Rammes leads the region’s fifth-largest accounting firm, which has more than 140 employees at three offices (downtown, Crestview Hills, and Indianapolis). In 2019, it acquired Lucarelli Tactical Group, which advises clients on mergers and acquisitions and raising capital, and Ducks in a Row, which provides bookkeeping and consulting services for small companies.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Presbyterian College (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? To be separated physically in a business that requires collaboration. What gives you hope for better days ahead? Cincinnati is a fabulous live/work/ play city that will be highly attractive to businesses and families coming out of the pandemic.
Hometown: Dayton, Ohio Education: Miami University (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Maintaining culture and connections. We were fortunate that we’d continually invested in technology and were already experienced in remotely working at client sites. What’s
Since 2017, Roe has led the largest locally based accounting firm, headquartered downtown with offices in West Chester; Northern Kentucky; Dayton; Cleveland; Columbus; Toledo; Springfield; and Lansing, Michigan. The firm has made seven acquisitions since 2014 and now has more than 80 CPAs locally, ranking as one of the country’s 100 largest CPA and advisory firms. Roe, who has been with company for more than 25 years, led the Government Services Group before being promoted.
been your message to employees during this uncertainty?
To be as honest and transparent as possible. We all have insecurities and fears about this pandemic, and I feel my role is to minimize that as best I can.
Todd Schild
James Sowar
Larry Sheakley
PARTNER-IN -C H A R GE Thom p son Hi n e
C EO S h e a k ley
M A NAG I NG PA RT NE R De lo it t e
Schild replaced Shane Starkey this year as leader of the Cleveland-based law firm’s local office. Schild worked as a clerk in 2006 before earning his law degree and joining the firm. He oversees 65 attorneys here, the second-largest location of Thompson Hine. Starkey, who led the office for 10 years, will continue to practice, advising clients on executive compensation.
Sheakley has spent almost 50 years with the family-owned human resources firm that provides benefits management services. The company represents more than 50,000 clients and had revenue of nearly $700 million in 2019. The family’s gift to Cincinnati Ballet’s new home in Walnut Hills will be honored with the Rhonda and Larry Sheakley Premier Studio.
Sowar joined the global accounting firm in 2002 and became the top Cincinnati executive in 2013. The local office is the largest in Greater Cincinnati with more than 200 CPAs and almost 550 employees. Sowar is the company’s national tax leader for the Health Care Provider sector. He worked for Arthur Andersen for 17 years before joining Deloitte.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Tufts University (undergraduate), University of Louisville (J.D.) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Maintaining
connections among our personnel and with our clients while trying to keep everyone safe and healthy. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty?
Focus on doing what you need to do to keep yourself and your family safe, and do your best to provide excellent client advice and service. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Holocaust & Humanity Center
Hometown: Coldwater, Ohio Education: University of Notre Dame (undergraduate) What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? The challenge with working remotely is being too available. Our people are working a lot because there isn’t as much else to do, so we’re asking them to set aside time for themselves. What gives you hope for better days ahead? I think United Way did a tremendous job of quickly addressing those impacted the hardest by the pandemic, and it’s great to see our business community figuring out how to deal with this uncertainty.
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PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
Gerald Sparkman
Diane Surette
Adryanna Sutherland
CEO D.E. Foxx & Associates
PRESI DENT AND CEO Burke, Inc.
PR ES I DENT Gyro
Sparkman, who was President and COO of Foxx subsidiary Versatex, became CEO of the parent company in 2017. Versatex is one of three divisions and provides facility and construction management, manufacturing services, warehouse management, and sourcing and supply chain management. Foxx is the region’s second-largest minority-owned business with more than $320 million in 2019 revenue.
Surette replaced Jeff Miller, who retired in 2019 after more than 30 years with the company, the last 10 as CEO. He will continue as a consultant and remain in the board. Surette has been with the region’s third-largest market research firm since 1996 and was named President in 2018. She becomes the employee-owned company’s first female CEO since founder Alberta Burke retired in 1964.
Sutherland added the title of Chief Operating Office for Gyro U.S. in 2017. The business-to-business advertising agency’s local office, one of 17 Gyro locations around the world, moved to Over-the-Rhine earlier this year from Kenwood and has been named a Best Place to Work eight years in a row by its 60 employees. Sutherland’s achievements include the launch of the company’s content marketing practice, Gyro:fuel, one of its top revenue drivers.
Hometown: Chicago Education: Anna Maria College (undergraduate), University of Notre Dame (MBA) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: Balancing family, aca-
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PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
Sarah Tomes
Raul Villar Jr.
Jeremy Vaughan
CEO LPK
MANAGI NG PARTNER Ernst & Young
CEO Paycor
Tomes, who joined the company as an intern in 1996, leads strategic vision, business processes, and organizational design for the largest independent, employee-owned brand design firm in the world. The company was founded in 1983 by five employees in the local office of Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s largest marketing firms, who set out to make Cincinnati a branding center. LPK has five locations worldwide.
Vaughan replaces Julia Poston, who led the local office of the international accounting firm for 11 years. Vaughan, who like Poston joined Ernst & Young from Arthur Andersen, moved to Cincinnati from England in 2010. He manages more than 400 employees who moved into new offices on the top two floors of the Atrium Two building from its previous Scripps Center location in 2019.
Villar replaced founder Bob Coughlin, who remains as chairman to focus on strategic direction for the company that provides payroll and human resources services to small and medium-sized companies. Villar had been CEO of AdvancedMD of Utah since 2015. Paycor revenue grew to $300 million in 2019 from $207 million in 2017. The company has about 2,000 employees and 40,000 clients.
9155 Governors Way Cincinnati, Ohio 45249 | 513.583.0900
C I N C I N N AT I 3 0 0 | 2 0 2 0 C I N C I N N AT I M A G A Z I N E . C O M 6 9
PROFE S SIONAL SERVICE S
George Vincent
Joe Willke
Melissa Wasson
M AN AG I N G PARTNER Dinsmore & Shohl
MID WEST MARKET MANAGING PARTNER PwC
PR ES I DENT The Nielsen Co.
Vincent, who joined the firm in 1982, oversees the region’s second-largest law practice, with more than 220 attorneys among its more than 475 employees. In 2019, it acquired Dawson & Associates, a four-lawyer firm specializing in workers’ compensation, doubling the size of its Columbus operation. Vincent won the Charter Committee’s 20th annual Civic Gumption award this year.
Wasson replaced Sue McPartlin as leader of the local office of the international accounting company PricewaterhouseCoopers, which is the third-largest accounting firm in Greater Cincinnati with more than 100 CPAs and 242 total employees. Wasson, who has been with the company for 26 years, was based in Louisville but works out of the Cincinnati office and commutes from her home in Georgetown, Kentucky, to oversee operations in 11 locations.
Willke has been in charge of the local office of the market research and measurement firm since 2012. He added the title of President of Nielsen Innovation in 2018 when the company reorganized BASES into an autonomous unit to focus on new technology. In 2018, it opened a $1 million neuroscience lab at its downtown headquarters to help track consumers’ reactions to advertising.
Hometown: Detroit Education: University of Michigan (undergraduate and J.D.) Why did you choose this field of work? For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be an attorney. First job: Detroit Free Press paper boy Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: American history, spending time with my grandchildren, travel, and Michigan football.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Notre Dame (undergraduate) First job: Parking lot attendant at Kings Island Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned:
In 2012, I took on a nascent, cutting-edge business within Nielsen that was applying neuroscientific techniques to market research. That taught me a lot about how to shepherd marketplace disruptions from start-up to global establishment. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: Playing piano and listening to classical music
Mary Zalla
James Zimmerman
M AN AG I N G DI R EC TOR Lan d o r C i n ci n n at i
PA RT NER -I N-CH AR GE Taft St et t iniu s & H ollist er
Zalla is Global President of Consumer Brands for WPP, an international branding firm with 26 offices in 19 countries, managing the Chicago and Cincinnati offices. She is a frequent author and speaker on topics such as strategy, innovation, and organizational leadership in the business, including a presentation at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity.
Zimmerman oversees the local office of the now-national firm that traces its roots to 1885 and once included Robert and Charles Taft, sons of President William Howard Taft. The firm, which merged with Minneapolis-based Briggs and Morgan this year, has about 120 lawyers in Cincinnati, making it the city’s fourth largest, and nearly 600 in its 11 offices.
Hometown: Covington Education: Northern Kentucky University (undergraduate and master’s) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Our staff are highly collaborative beings who draw energy and inspiration from each other and share ideas in early stages, so we’ve had to adapt to our new virtual reality. What’s
Hometown: Atlanta until 14, then Cincinnati Education: Vanderbilt University (undergraduate and J.D.) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic?
been your message to employees during this uncertainty?
We’re grateful for our people who are doing double duty, working for Landor and taking care of and often educating family members in their homes.
Staying focused on our long-term goals as an organization. There is a lot of stress in the present moment and the future is uncertain. What gives you hope for better days ahead? Cincinnati has a diverse economy and had a lot of positive momentum before the pandemic hit. I’m confident we’ll pick up where we left off.
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Paycor is proud to build HR —and we software for couldn’t do it without our visionary leader, Raul Villar, Jr.
Leaders
Congratulations to Raul and to all of Cincinnati’s 300 most powerful business leaders. VISIT PAYCOR.COM
RECRUITING • HR • LEARNING • TIME • PAYROLL • ANALYTICS
REAL ESTATE ARCHITECTURE
PHOTOGRAPH BY LANCE ADKINS / RETOUCHING BY STEPHANIE YOUNGQUIST
CONSTRUCTION
HOME SALES
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REAL E STATE
Daniel Baker
Jeffrey Anderson
Adam Bortz
PRESID ENT AND C EO Jeffrey R. Anderson Real Estate
C H A I R M A N A N D CEO Baker Construction Enterprises
C EO Towne Properties
Anderson founded the firm in 1975 to focus on building locations for Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and other restaurant chains, and expanded in recent years to develop Rookwood Commons, Hyde Park Station, Alexandria Village Green, Kenwood Pavilion, and Union Centre Pavilion. The company, which is the leasing and management agent for The Banks, submitted a proposal for a restaurant on Freedom Way near the Yard House.
Brothers Dan, Ken, and Jim formed Baker Cement Contractors in Oxford in 1968. More than 50 years and a name change (to reflect its growth in services) later, the Monroe-based firm has worked on projects from The Banks to Arlington National Cemetery to ExxonMobil Headquarters in Texas. It has 12 regional offices, making it one of the nation’s largest specialty concrete contractors, with $1.2 billion in revenue in 2019.
Bortz joined the company in 1991 and followed his father Neil as CEO. Neil and Marvin Rosenberg founded the real estate empire in 1960 to begin the Mt. Adams renaissance, buying buildings and renovating them into apartments on St. Gregory Street. Today the company manages more than 12,000 apartments, 115,000 condominium units, and 600,000 square feet of commercial space, making it one of the largest local developers and managers.
Hometown: Oxford, Ohio Why did you choose this field of work? Concrete construction is the only field I’ve ever
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Kenyon College (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “Be tolerant with others and strict with yourself” —Marcus Aurelius What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? By staying flexible in our business
worked in, so in a way it chose me. I started apprenticing with my grandfather, who was a stonemason, and then joined my brothers to start our own business. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: I was taught to keep the customer happy and if, on those rare occasions, you screw up, you make it right. That’s honor.
approach and working collaboratively, we’ll get through this together and be a stronger company as a result. Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Leukemia Lymphoma Society
Sarah Close
William Butler
Kent Dailey
CHAIRMAN Corporex Companies
O PERAT I N G PA RT N E R Keller Williams Advisors Realty
OW NE R / B R OK E R RE/MAX Affiliates
Butler founded the W.P. Butler Construction Company in 1965 and grew it into Corporex, a diversified real estate firm with more than $1 billion of assets that include Corporex Development and Construction Management, Commonwealth Hotels, Five Seasons Sports Clubs, Corporex Realty and Investment, and Corporex Capital. It’s building the $40 million music venue for PromoWest near the Newport riverfront. Daniel Sink was hired as CEO in 2019.
Close was one of five people who created the first local Keller Williams office in 2005 in Mason. The main office moved to Columbia-Tusculum a few years later, then added offices in Mariemont, Anderson Township, and downtown. The company has 250 agents and closed 2,290 transactions worth more than $566 million in 2019.
Dailey opened the RE/MAX Affiliates office in Northern Kentucky with partner Rod Fussinger in 1990. It was the eighth-largest residential real estate firm in Greater Cincinnati in 2019 with more than $363 million in sales on 1,830 transactions, capturing an average home price of almost $200,000. Dailey, a RE/Max Hall of Fame Realtor, was the No. 3 commercial agent in the Ohio Region in 2019.
Hometown: Centerville, Ohio Education: Miami University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: The quote on my white board right
now is, “Don’t let a good crisis go to waste.” —Rahm Emanuel What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? As the headlines will tell you, home sales have remained strong, so our challenges thus far have been mild in comparison to other industries. Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the rest of the economy and the eventual sunset of policies, I suspect our toughest days are in front of us.
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Hometown: Taylor Mill Education: Northern Kentucky University (undergraduate) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: You can’t control what happens to you, only how your respond to what happens. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Adapting to new online business models for meetings and keeping our staff engaged. What has been your message to employees during this uncertainty? This too shall pass.
REAL E STATE
John Danis
David Drees
Monica Gerhardt
CEO Danis Building Construction
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Drees Homes
M A NAG I NG DI R ECTOR FRCH Nelson
Danis became Midwest chairman and CEO in 1997 when the Danis Companies firm, which also operates in Florida and North Carolina, was restructured to become one of the nation’s largest builders of healthcare facilities. In 2019, it renovated the Women’s Health Center at St. Elizabeth in Edgewood, finished Mercy Health’s office building in Liberty Center, and worked on the St. Elizabeth Physicians project at the gateway of Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights.
Grandson of founder Theodore Drees, David is the third member of the family to lead the homebuilding company that started in Wilder in 1928. He took over the Ft. Mitchell–based firm from his father, Ralph, in 2000. The third-largest homebuilder in Greater Cincinnati, the company posted revenue of more than $1 billion in 2019 and this year purchased land for a 22-homesite development in Green Township called Hampton Ridge.
Gerhardt replaced James Tippmann as head of the Cincinnati operation that merged with Minneapolis-based Nelson Worldwide in 2018. It’s the largest local architectural firm with more than $30 million in billings in 2019 and more than 30 registered architects. Gerhardt oversees the new workplace studio that will leverage Nelson’s resources of more than 1,100 employees in 25 offices worldwide.
Hometown: Crescent Springs Education: Trinity University (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? We trans-
formed the way we operated in record time, transitioning to virtual work arrangements and safe field setups. Then this summer the housing industry experienced a surprising boom, so we had to focus on meeting the demand for new homes while maintaining exceptional customer service.
Melvin Gravely
Michael Habel
Louis Guttman
CEO TriVersity Construction
C EO Hills Properties
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO BHDP
Gravely has led the ninth-largest general contractor in Greater Cincinnati since 2011. TriVersity posted more than $82 million in revenue in 2019. Gravely is also founder of the Institute for Entrepreneurial Thinking, has written eight books, and was an assistant professor at Thomas More University.
Guttman leads the family-owned real estate company, founded by his father in 1958. Hills specializes in the development, construction, financing, and management of single-family homes, apartment communities, and commercial buildings. In 2019, its Blue Ash-based Inverness Homes division sold about 700 home sites in Dayton, Cincinnati, and Louisville to Fischer Homes.
Habel oversees a very different architecture firm from the one that Cyrus Baxter opened in 1937 when he hired Jack Hodell, Jim Donnelly, and Jim Preston (BHDP). Today’s company offers services such as architecture, interior design, and master planning with six offices in the U.S. and projects in more than 20 countries. It was the second-largest local firm in 2019 with almost $30 million in billings.
Hometown: Canton, Ohio Education: University of Mount Union (undergraduate), Kent State University (MBA), Union Institute and University (Ph.D.) First job: I started a cleaning company, and our best customer was a funeral home. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Show up and try to make a difference. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Consider every little thing as a test. Your job is to pass them all. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction:
Playhouse in the Park. I’m looking forward to the new renovations.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Maintaining our company spirit and culture. Providing hands-on coaching and development of our talented staff. Keeping our employees healthy, connected, and engaged during these uncertain times. Having frequent impromptu and informal conversations, which is a critical component of our creative design process.
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REAL E STATE
Robert Hawksley
Jim Huff
Mike Huseman
CEO Fischer Homes
CHAIRMAN EMERITUS Huff Realty
P R ES I DE NT HGC Group of Companies
Hawksley, who has worked for Fischer Homes for 25 years, was President and COO before succeeding founder Henry Fischer in 2014. Hawksley has spent his career in the homebuilding business working for his father, the owner of Royal Homes, and Ryan Homes. The Erlanger-based company posted $700 million in revenue in 2019 and sold 1,570 homes in the first six months this year, an increase of 38 percent over 2018.
Huff founded the eponymous real estate company in 1975 before selling to Warren Buffett’s HomeServices of America division of Berskshire Hathaway in 2006. Brad DeVries runs day-to-day operations of the Ft. Mitchell-based company that’s the fourth-largest residential firm in Greater Cincinnati with more than $1 billion in sales in 2019 with an average sale price of more than $200,000.
Huseman is the third generation to lead the family construction company founded in 1931. The firm is involved in the conversion of the Ingalls Building at Fourth and Vine streets into a Courtyard by Marriott and is renovating the former Greater Cincinnati Foundation building at Fourth and Plums streets into the headquarters for Tire Discounters. It acquired Stewart Iron Works of Erlanger, which designs and fabricates ornamental iron, in 2019.
Hometown: Fort Myers, Florida Education: University of Florida (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? My father was in the homebuilding business, and
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Xavier University (undergraduate) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned:
I enjoyed working with customers to deliver exceptional experiences and a well-built home. Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned: Respect, hard work, commitment to principles, and an attitude to succeed produce team results. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: The riverfront, a spectacular setting for all types of activities.
Transitioning from being a highly reactive manager focused on getting quick results to being a more proactive leader who could move the company toward bigger goals and establish a strong workplace culture. Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Vision without execution is a hallucination.
Joe King
Steve Leeper
Elizabeth Mangan
GRO UP PRESID EN T Coldwell Banker West Shell
PR ES I DE NT A ND CEO 3CDC
C EO Miller-Valentine Group
King was named the parent company’s President for Ohio, St. Louis, and Minnesota in 2017, after serving as President and COO for Greater Cincinnati since 2005. CBWS is the third-largest residential real estate firm in Greater Cincinnati with more than $1.92 billion in 2019 sales on more than 7,800 transactions, with an average home price of almost $245,000.
Leeper has led the private nonprofit Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation since 2004, a year after its formation. Collaborating with the city, state, and corporate community, 3CDC has been a major force behind the renaissance of downtown and Over-the-Rhine, investing more than $1.3 billion in projects. In addition to its development arm, it programs events at Washington Park, Fountain Square, and Memorial Hall.
Mangan joined the fifth-largest contractor in Greater Cincinnati in 2008 and took over the top spot in 2018. Since then the company has more than doubled its revenue from construction and development while selling ancillary business lines. Mangan and her new executive team now own the company that was founded in 1963. It posted revenue of more than $220 million in 2019.
Hometown: Pittsburgh Education: Ohio University (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? The loss of vibrancy in downtown
and OTR, which has had a negative social and financial impact. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? We’ll get through this uncertain time, and our urban core will come back stronger than it was before.
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Hometown: Nitro, West Virginia Education: West Virginia
University (undergraduate), Georgetown University (JD) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Continuing to build certainty for customers while managing unprecedented uncertainty in our own personal and professional lives. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? I’m a firm believer that adversity reveals leaders.
REAL E STATE
Mark Meinhardt
Gary Mitchell
Shenan Murphy
PRESID ENT Star One Realtors
C EO Divisions Maintenance
CEO A ND P R I NCI PA L Colliers International
Meinhardt took over the top job in 2011 after the death of his father, George, who was a founding partner of the firm in 1990. Mark began his career with his father at West Shell, then moved with him to Star One, which ranked No. 6 among local real estate agencies with more than $500 million in sales in 2019 on 2,200 transactions and an average home price of more than $227,000.
Mitchell started the company in 1999 and has been the driving force behind its growth to $300 million in revenue in 2019, up from $260 million in 2018. The firm, which leased more than 7,500 square feet of space at Newport on the Levee in 2017 after outgrowing its headquarters at One Riverfront Place, added another 3,600 square feet at the Levee in 2019 to house its IT group. Its services include landscaping, snow and ice removal, plumbing, electrical, general construction, and parking lot care for retailers and property managers across the U.S.
Murphy leads the Greater Cincinnati and Dayton operations for the global commercial real estate company, which manages 185 properties, No. 3 in the region. Colliers entered the local market when it acquired West Shell Commercial in 2010. Joe Wiles, who was senior director of sales at Cincinnati Bell, joined the firm in 2019 as Managing Director to lead sales, marketing, new business development, and recruitment.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) First job: Delivering The Cincinnati Post and Times Star Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: There is no such thing as luck. Luck is where preparation meets opportunity. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business:
Always do the right thing, do the best you can, care and show it, and enjoy the process. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: I’ve taken up mountain biking and love it.
Hometown: Cold Spring Why did you choose this field of work? My company began with a complaint, when I
overheard a store manager lamenting difficulty in finding maintenance vendors. I knew I could get the jobs done while unburdening the manager. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: I enjoy the outdoors, hunting, and fishing.
Robert Myers
Scott Nelson
Dan Neyer
CHIEF O PERATI N G O FFI C ER Phillips Edison
C EO Comey & Shepherd
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Neyer Properties
Myers runs the Cincinnati headquarters of one of the nation’s largest owners and operators of grocery store-anchored shopping centers. The company, founded by Mike Phillips and Jeff Edison in 1991, manages more than 330 locations in 32 states.
Nelson became CEO in 1990 at the firm that traces its origins to 1946, when Harold Comey started his commercial real estate company. It added residential sales when Edward Shepherd joined in 1950. Nelson and President Terry Hankner own and operate the business, managing the second-largest residential firm in the region with $2.2 billion in sales on almost 9,500 transactions and an average home price of more than $230,000 in 2019.
Neyer grew up in the family business of commercial real estate and construction, then formed his own company in 1995. He’s been personally involved in more than 500 building and development projects that total more than $1.5 billion. The company is working with $100 million-plus developments in Oakley (Oakley Yard) and Montgomery (Montgomery Quarter). To celebrate his 60th birthday in 2019, Neyer walked 50 miles and did 2,000 pushups as a fund-raiser for cancer research.
Hometown: Van Wert, Ohio Education: Huntington College (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Trying to help our 5,500-plus neigh-
bors, our term for “tenants.” They’ve found ways to adapt and successfully operate within the rapidly changing state and local mandates and health guidance. Of the 2,100 businesses that temporarily closed, we’ve helped over 97 percent reopen. What’s been your message to employees during this uncertainty? Safety first.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate) Toughest challenge faced or lesson learned:
Life has many twists and turns, and many obstacles can become opportunities to a new path and better result. The toughest challenges for me were when my daughter became ill with Leukemia at age 15 and my wife battled two rounds of breast cancer.
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REAL E STATE
Molly North
Jeremy Raby
Matthew Schottelkotte
PRESID ENT AND C EO Al. Neyer
PR ES I DE NT A ND CEO ERA Real Solutions
C EO GBBN
North, who has led the company since 2015, was named 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year for Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction by Ernst & Young. Al. Neyer was founded in 1898 and became employee-owned in 2014, and North has helped triple its revenue since then, to more than $260 million in 2019. It focuses on built-tosuit office, medical, industrial, mixed-use, and residential projects from its headquarters in Cincinnati and offices in Pittsburgh, Nashville, and Raleigh, N.C.
Raby founded the residential real estate company as a sole broker in 2007 and has developed it into a multi-office firm with more than 200 employees. ERA posted revenue of $300 million on 1,425 transactions in 2019 with an average home price of $210,000. It acquired Right Choice Realty in Ft. Myers, Florida, in 2019, part of its strategy to create a “pipeline of business from Ohio to Florida.”
Schottelkotte has led the city’s third-largest architectural firm since 1995, also holding the title Director of Architecture. The firm has several high-profile projects in the works, including the Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center on The Banks, Cincinnati Ballet’s Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance in Walnut Hills, and the Uptown Gateway buildings in Avondale. Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Preparing for the unknown. It’s hard to know where to look to gain an understanding of how to best navigate the firm through all of these issues, including unprecedented numbers of people in the streets protesting for justice (a hopeful thing), a looming recession, and a contentious election cycle.
Hometown: Wilmington, Ohio Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) First job: Cashier at Nationwide Auto Parts What gives you hope for better days ahead? I’m very excited about the momentum building around minority business ownership, from the great work that MORTAR is doing to the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber’s Minority Business Accelerator.
Robin Sheakley
Kevin Schutte
Steve Smith
MANAGING D IRECTO R CBRE
PR ES I DE NT Sibcy Cline
P R I N CI PA L Model Group
Schutte joined CBRE in 2016 after working for Skanska, Duke Realty, and Paul Hemmer Companies. He leads the local office of the commercial real estate company that’s one of the largest in the world. It manages more than 17.5 million square feet of property in 75 buildings locally, including the GE Global Operations Center, First Financial Center, and Ohio National.
Sheakley is the fourth generation to lead the family business, founded by her great-grandfather in 1930. In 2018, she replaced her father Rob Sibcy, who is Chairman of the largest residential brokerage in the region with sales of more than $2.3 billion in 2019 on 8,940 transactions, with an average price of more than $255,000.
Smith founded the commercial real estate development firm in 2001 and currently focuses on business development, with Bobby Maly serving as CEO. The company develops, builds, and manages properties in Over-the-Rhine, Pendleton, Walnut Hills, and other urban neighborhoods.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: University of Cincinnati (undergraduate) First job: Washing dishes on third shift at Perkins What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: If you aren’t naturally
inquisitive and don’t like to network, choose another line of work. Favorite Greater Cincinnati attraction: Smale Riverfront Park Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: The Ronald McDonald House
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate) What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your field of business: Our professional
life is everyone else’s personal life. If you enter real estate today and treat each client as a friend, helping them enjoy living in their home and not just buying and selling it, they’ll value your help and always work with and refer you. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Maintaining safety protocols and balancing individual comfort levels while showing properties and marketing them has been a challenge.
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Hometown: Cold Spring Education: Northern Kentucky University (undergraduate) Why did you choose this field of work? I grew up working in construction and knew how buildings went together, but when I began to understand how our renovation efforts were impacting the communities where we worked, a light bulb switched on for me. That’s when we discovered our mission of “positively transforming communities.” What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Uncertainty, especially whether or not we’d be considered an “essential business” that was allowed to operate during the shutdown.
REAL E STATE
David Spaulding
Albert Smitherman
Tim Steigerwald
PRESID ENT A N D C EO Jostin Construction
V I CE P R ES I DE NT A ND G E N E R A L M A N AG E R Turner Construction
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO Messer Construction
Smitherman started Jostin Concrete Construction in 1998, then added construction management and general contracting in 2010. Its projects include Phase II Apartments at The Banks, 84.51 at Fifth and Race streets, and the University of Kentucky Champions Court at Haggin Hall. It’s currently partnering with Turner Construction on FC Cincinnati’s soccer stadium in the West End.
Spaulding joined the company in 2008 as legal counsel and became leader of the local operation in 2016. The company’s projects include Great American Tower, the Union Terminal renovation and restoration, and renovation of the former Bavarian Brewery in Covington into the home of Kenton County government offices. Turner is currently building the FC Cincinnati soccer stadium in the West End.
Steigerwald became President and CEO in 2018 and added the title of Chairman when Thomas Keckeis retired in 2019. Steigerwald joined Messer in 1984 as a co-op engineer. The company posted revenue of almost $1.2 billion in 2019, completed an expansion of the Fetal Care Center at Children’s Hospital this year, and is building the first new dormitory at Northern Kentucky University in 17 years.
Hometown: Ft. Mitchell Education: Marshall University (undergraduate), Northern Kentucky University (J.D.) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: “Be sure where you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that life’s a great balancing act.” —Dr. Seuss What gives you hope for better days ahead? What I love about Cincinnati is our focus on community and innovation. Our families and businesses have been resilient and have come together in ways we never thought was achievable.
Hometown: Lawrenceburg, Indiana Education: Purdue University (undergraduate), Xavier University (MBA) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Never get the idea that I have all the good ideas. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Supporting our employees as they face family challenges, while keeping our projects on schedule. As an essential business, we’ve had to find ways to do both well.
Steve Steinman
Greg Williams
Tom Williams
CEO Sims-Lohman
A R E A P R ES I DE NT M/I Homes
P R ES I DE NT A ND CEO North American Properties
Steinman leads one of the country’s largest providers of granite and quartz countertops and kitchen cabinets for building professionals. In 2019, the firm added 8,000 square feet to its Carthage headquarters to house its sales team and a new showroom. It also acquired Canton Cut Stone and Cleveland Cut Stone, giving it seven countertop manufacturing facilities in addition to three distribution centers and 20 showroom locations in six states.
Williams became the top executive at the homebuilding firm in 2011, with responsibility for operations in Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, and Northern Kentucky. M/I bought an additional 27 acres at its Madingley Falls development near Loveland, where it will eventually build almost 100 new homes. The company was founded in Columbus in 1976 by cousins Melvin and Irving Schottenstein.
Williams leads the family commercial real estate business that was founded in 1954 and helped expand operations by opening offices in Ft. Myers, Florida; Dallas; and Atlanta. North American acquired Newport on the Levee at the end of 2018 and plans to invest more than $100 million to renovate the 360,000-square-foot property. Williams is Vice Chairman and a principal owner of the Cincinnati Reds.
Hometown: Denver Education: Brigham Young University (undergraduate) Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: We’re a problem solving business, so I have a plaque from author Elbert Hubbard: “A man with no problems to solve is out of the game.” I never want to be out of the game. What’s been your toughest challenge during the pandemic? Continuing to function the business in all aspects meant for a few months we had to switch to virtual appointments. We now offer both in-person and virtual meetings.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Georgetown University
(undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (J.D.)
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Joseph B Beshear uses LiveWell Capital as a marketing name for doing business as representatives of Northwestern Mutual. LiveWell Capital is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, insurance agency or federal savings bank. 07-1002 © 2020 Northwestern Mutual is the marketing name for The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company (NM), (life and disability insurance, annuities, and life insurance with long-term care benefits) and its subsidiaries in Milwaukee, WI. Joseph B Beshear provides investment brokerage services as a Registered Representative of Northwestern Mutual Investment Services, LLC (NMIS), a subsidiary of NM, broker-dealer, registered investment adviser and member FINRA and SIPC. Joseph B Beshear is a District Agent(s) of NM. Joseph B Beshear provides investment advisory services as an Advisor of Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company®, (NMWMC) Milwaukee, WI, a subsidiary of NM and a federal savings bank. There may be instances when this agent represents companies in addition to NM or its subsidiaries.