19 minute read
CONSUMER GOODS
Tom Brennan
CEO School Outfi tters
Brennan founded the company that provides furniture, supplies, and support to schools in 1998. The firm, which works with 97 of the country’s 100 largest districts and many smaller ones, helps manage purchasing programs, offering co-op programs and stocking more than 300 products. Betsy Neyer, who joined the company as COO in 2004, has been president since 2018. The company reported almost $150 million in revenue in 2021.
J.B. Buse
CHAIRMAN AND CEO LOTH Holdings
Since 1990, Buse has led the company that traces its roots to1891 as an office furniture supplier. It’s grown into a firm that works with corporate, education, and healthcare clients to provide furniture, design, and technology products from more than 400 manufacturers in addition to supply chain logistics services. Keith Weyeler was named president in 2020 after roles as president of Loth Cincinnati and as chief financial officer.
Hometown: Cincinnati
Dan Busken
PRESIDENT AND CEO Busken Bakery
Busken is the third generation to lead the company founded by his grandfather Joe in 1928. The baked goods provider is one of the city’s iconic food businesses with Skyline and Gold Star chilis, Montgomery Inn ribs, and Graeter’s ice cream. Busken opened a walk-up window at the Hyde Park store in 2021 to offer people walking the Wasson Way trail a respite and a doughnut.
Hometown: Cincinnati
Mike Castrucci
PRESIDENT Mike Castrucci Automotive
Castrucci’s family has been in the car business since 1958. He had hopes of becoming a veterinarian, but went to work for his father after college graduation. The dealership has Ford and Chevrolet locations in Milford, Ford in Alexandria, and Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, and Ram on the Red Bank Road site of the former Swallen’s store in Fairfax. The dealership sold more than 6,000 vehicles in 2021.
Chris Cicchinelli
PRESIDENT AND CEO Pure Romance
Cicchinelli has led the company founded by his mother Patty Brisben since 2007. It’s the world’s largest in-home party company, with independent contractors selling intimacy products. In 2021, it began renovation of a three-building complex at Third and Main streets across from Great American Ball Park for its new headquarters. It is the largest woman-owned company in Greater Cincinnati and reported more than $280 in revenue in 2021.
Hometown: Milford Education: University of Mount Union (undergraduate)
Ken Cohen
PRESIDENT Cohen Recycling
The family-owned company, which was founded in 1924, is one of the largest metal recycling operations in North America, processing over 1.25 million tons annually. It employs more than 300 people at 20 facilities in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee and provides customer service around the world. Members of the fourth generation (Andrew Cohen and Adam Dumes) now work in management.
Toby Coston
GENERAL MANAGER Heidelberg Distributing
The company, founded by Al Vontz in Dayton in 1938, was sold to Maryland-based Redwood Capital Investments. Chris Rammel, who led the Dayton warehouse, was named president of the company in July, and Coston oversees the Greater Cincinnati operation with almost 1,700 employees distributing more than 18,000 beverages to 26,000 retailers.
Hometown: Middletown Education: Thomas More University (undergraduate) What’s the main way your business organization changed over the past two years of the pandemic? From working remotely, supply chain issues on goods and equipment, COVID policies, and a challenging labor market, we found new ways to support our retailers and suppliers. Compare your leadership approach today to how you led before the pandemic. We’ve always had strong core values at our company to lean on as a leader: teamwork, excellence, communication, integrity, pride, knowledge, family, and respect. During the pandemic, we embraced “grace and gratitude” as additional values.
Adam Greenberg
PRESIDENT Topicz
Greenberg is the grandson of Marvin Schwartz, who in 1983 acquired the convenience-store distributor that was founded in 1926 by the Topicz family. It serves more than 900 customers across Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, and West Virginia. The firm, which operates from a 120,000-squarefoot facility in Amberley Village, has 160 employees and posted $450 million in revenue for 2021.
Hometown: Highland Park, Illinois Education: University of Denver (undergraduate)
Michael Dever
CEO Performance Automotive
Dever has been in the automobile business for more than 45 years. The company has 18 dealerships in Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Salt Lake City as well as state-ofthe-art collision repair facilities and a motorsports dealership for motorcycles and ATVs. It’s the third-largest auto dealer in the region with more than 12,600 vehicles sold in 2021. It posted $2 billion in revenue for 2021.
Brian Habegger
PRESIDENT AND CEO Habegger Corp.
Habegger, grandson of company founder Fred Habegger Sr. and son of Fred Jr., leads the family-owned HVAC company founded in 1952. It’s the largest independent Bryant brand distributor in North America and one of the largest distributors of HVAC products in the U.S., with more than 550 employees at 40 locations in eight states. The company posted revenue of more than $425 million in 2020, up from $380 million the previous year.
Leigh Fox
PRESIDENT AND CEO altafi ber
Fox has led the former Cincinnati Bell since 2017 and guided the company through its $2.9-billion acquisition by Macquarie Infrastructure Partners in 2021. In March, it became altafiber, a name he says reflects the firm’s focus on building its fiber network among customers in Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The company still owns Hawaiian Telecom and CBTS, its IT consulting business. More than 2,000 people work for altafiber in Greater Cincinnati.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate), University of Cincinnati (MBA)
Brian Hodgett
DIRECTOR, OHIO GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS Procter & Gamble
Hodgett is the community connection of the worldwide consumer products giant that has a long tradition of supporting multiple organizations and efforts in its hometown. He is the board chair-elect (2021–22) and member of the executive committee of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati and serves on 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)
Ronald Joseph
CEO 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 17 dealerships in Greater Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus. The company sells Acura, Audi, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Hyundai, Infiniti, Porsche, Subaru, Toyota, and Volkswagen brands.
Chris Larsen
CEO Castellini Group of Companies
Larsen, the former CFO, succeeded Brian Kocher earlier this year after he was named CEO of California-based Calavo Growers. Larsen worked for Chiquita and Fresh Express before joining the 125-year-old fresh produce distributor that also provides transportation, warehousing, and leasing services from its location in Wilder. Bob Castellini, Reds majority owner and CEO, is chairman of the company, which posted revenue of $700 million in 2021.
Brad Lindner
CEO United Dairy Farmers
Lindner is the third-generation leader of the family-owned retail chain that was founded by Carl Lindner Sr. in 1940. In May, UDF introduced Main Avenue Creamery, a super-premium brand of ice cream, its first new brand in 40 years. Named after the street of the first store location in Norwood, it comes in eight flavors. UDF has more than 200 locations, employs about 3,000 people, and posted revenue of more than $455 million in 2021.
Hometown: Cincinnati
Tony Maas
CEO JTM Food Group
Maas is the second-generation leader of the family-owned 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 employs almost 600 people. It’s built new manufacturing and distribution facilities at its Harrison location in the past five years, expanding its footprint by almost 200,000 square feet. JTM posted $250 million in revenue in 2021.
Hometown: Cincinnati
Keith McCluskey
CEO McCluskey Automotive Group
McCluskey runs the company founded by his father, Dan, in 1973. The new car showroom is at Kings Automall, with used-car locations in Reading and Groesbeck. The company, which employs about 500 people, sold almost 9,500 vehicles in 2021, making it the fifth-largest automotive dealer in Greater Cincinnati. Ohio’s No. 1 volume Chevrolet dealer posted almost $390 million in revenue last year.
Hometown: Cincinnati
Rodney McMullen
CHAIRMAN AND CEO Kroger Co.
McMullen, who began his career as a parttime stock clerk, has led the country’s largest traditional supermarket operator since 2014. It increased its quarterly dividend by 24 percent in June, the most in 10 years. Kroger is Greater Cincinnati’s largest company, reporting net income of almost $1.65 billion on about $138 billion in revenue. It’s also the region’s largest employer with 20,000 workers.
Hometown: Williamstown, Kentucky Education: University of Kentucky (undergraduate and MBA)
Kevin McNamara
PRESIDENT AND CEO Chemed
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 provider. McNamara, who has been with company for more than 40 years, is also chairman of VITAS. It posted more than $2.1 billion in revenue in 2021 and employs more than 14,000 people throughout its subsidiaries.
Kenny McNutt
CO-FOUNDER MadTree Brewing
Founded in 2013 with Brady Duncan, MadTree is the area’s second-largest craft brewery, selling more than 25,000 barrels in 2021. In addition to its taproom and production plant in Oakley, the company opened the Alcove on Vine Street in Over-the-Rhine featuring cocktails and a farm-to-table menu from Chef Stephen Williams.
What’s the main way your business organization changed over the past two years of the pandemic? In a time when companies were becoming defensive and reactive, MadTree hit the accelerator and experienced our own “Great Reawakening.” Our company and culture have shifted to really focus on growth and our social and environmental impact work. Compare your leadership approach today to how you led before the pandemic. We’ve become a much more nimble company because we had to look for creative ways to reduce some of our expenses, increase our revenue, and also invest in things for future growth.
Jon Moeller
CHAIRMAN, CEO, AND PRESIDENT Procter & Gamble
The new leader of the consumer products giant replaced David Taylor as CEO in 2021 and Chairman in July. It posted more than $76 billion in revenue for 2021 and employs more than 100,000 people around the world, including about 10,000 in Greater Cincinnati.
Hometown: Duluth, Minnesota Education: Cornell University (undergraduate and MBA) What’s the main way your business organization changed over the past two years of the pandemic? We have become more agile and fl exible and more willing to fi nd new ways of doing things constructively. Decisions that used to take weeks can now take days, and decisions that used to take days can now take hours. Compare your leadership approach today to how you led before the pandemic.I wouldn’t say it’s changed much, but it has confi rmed my belief that people are capable of amazing things. The best way I can lead is to generously give responsibility, establish clear expectations, and get out of the way and let them lead.
Mike Parks
CEO Rhinegeist
Parks was hired last year to oversee the brewing operation created by Bob Bonder and Bryant Goulding in 2013. Rhinegeist made 2,000 barrels in its first year and now produces more than 100,000 annually, making it the second-largest craft brewery in Ohio. It has 250 local employees in 10 divisions, from events to distribution. It began an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) in 2020 to transfer ownership of the company.
Adrian Melendez
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS Amazon Air
Melendez is Amazon’s top local official at its Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport operation. The online retailer opened its $1.5 billion hub in 2021. The 800,000-square-foot sorting building is the focal point of its presence at CVG that includes a seven-building complex covering more than 3 million square feet, plus a tarmac with parking for more than 100 cargo planes.
Daniel Rajczak
PRESIDENT AND CEO Totes-Isotoner
Rajczak, who spent 17 years at Procter & Gamble, became the top executive in 2016 after two years as president of Shaklee, Inc. The easy-to-carry rubber rain boots were created in Oakley in 1924, and the company introduced the easy-to-fold collapsible umbrella in 1970. It’s the largest manufacturer of weather apparel, with six facilities around the world and revenue of more than $175 million in its latest public posting.
Robert Reichert
CHAIRMAN Kenwood Dealer Group
In 1975, Reichert bought Schenke Lincoln Mercury in Kenwood and built it into one of the largest local auto dealerships with 15 locations. He opened Kings Toyota in 1987, the first at Kings Auto Mall, and now oversees a company with more than 1,000 employees in sales, service, and repair roles. Kenwood sold more than 26,200 cars in 2021, the most in the region, posting revenue of over $1 billion.
Jake Rouse
CEO Braxton Brewing
The Rouse family, including brother Evan and father Greg, created the company after experimenting with beer recipes in a garage. Greg Rouse parlayed a lifelong hobby of collecting sports cards into Hit Seekers, a store in Ft. Mitchell, and his personal collection numbers more than 2,000. Braxton was early to the hard seltzer craze, introducing Vive in 2019. It’s the third-largest local craft brewery with 17,500 barrels sold in 2021.
William Rumpke Jr.
PRESIDENT AND CEO Rumpke Waste and Recycling
Rumpke became the third-generation leader of the company when he replaced his father in 2014. It acquired more than 460 acres in Whitewater Township to expand its existing landfill and plans to build a $50 million facility in Columbus that will be the fifth-largest recycling center in the country. Rumpke posted revenue of almost $885 million in 2021.
Hometown: Cincinnati Education: Miami University (undergraduate) What’s the main way your business organization changed over the past two years of the pandemic? The waste and recycling industry was designated an essential service by the federal government early in the pandemic, so we had to rethink protection for our team. We launched a campaign to educate customers not only about the value of the work we do but also about the opportunities customers have to improve safety by exercising proper disposal and recycling practices.
Carl Satterwhite
PRESIDENT AND OWNER RCF Group
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 in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Louisville. RCF posted revenue of almost $44 million in 2021, making it the sixth-largest Black-owned business in the region. Satterwhite and Robertson will co-chair ArtsWave’s 2023 fundraising campaign.
Todd Schneider
CEO Cintas Corporation
Schneider, who has worked at the company since 1989, took over the top job last year from Scott Farmer, who remains executive chairman. The Mason-based uniform and workplace supply giant reported more than $7 billion in revenue in 2021 and employs more than 40,000 workers, including 1,335 in Warren County. Schneider, like his predecessor, is a graduate of the Farmer School of Business at Miami University.
Education: Miami University (undergraduate)
Tom Sedler
CEO Home City Ice
Sedler is the latest family member to run the company founded in Riverside in the 1890s and bought by the family in 1924. It’s one of the largest packaged ice manufacturers in the U.S., operating plants and distribution centers from New York to Arkansas that produce more than 7,000 tons of ice per day. The company posted revenue of more than $240 million in 2020 and employs about 1,400 people.
Robert Slattery
CEO Slatts Group
Slattery’s entrepreneurial empire covers advertising and publishing, hospitality, pets, and manufacturing. The company produces ValPak coupons in six markets and HouseTrends in Cincinnati. It operates 50 West Brewing in Cincinnati and Chillicothe and Slatts Pub in Blue Ash. Perimeter Technologies includes Pet Stop (dog fences) and Wagspark, a private dog park in Newtown.
Hometown: Cleveland Education: Miami University (undergraduate and master’s) What’s the main way your business organization changed over the past two years of the pandemic? Most of our non-hospitality businesses shifted to a work-fromhome model, and we’re in the process of re-balancing that with continued effi ciency and sustained work-life balance. Compare your leadership approach today to how you led before the pandemic. Taking a page from Phil Knight, “Hard work is critical, a good team is essential, brains and determination are invaluable, but luck may decide the outcome.”
Jake Sweeney Jr.
CEO Jake Sweeney Automotive
The family has been in the automobile business launched by Walter Sweeney, the city’s first licensed used-car dealer, for more than 100 years. Jake Jr. joined the business in 1971 after teaching junior high at the former St. Margaret Mary School in North College Hill. The group sells new and used cars at 11 locations, including a Jeep dealership in Springdale that opened in 2021. The company sold more than 11,100 vehicles in 2021.
Amy Spiller
PRESIDENT, OHIO AND KENTUCKY REGION Duke Energy
Spiller has worked for the company for more than 15 years and has led the local operation since 2018. The North Carolina-based provider serves about 910,000 electric customers and more than 545,000 natural gas consumers. She joined the board of Port of Greater Cincinnati Development Authority this year and was a YWCA Career Women of Achievement honoree in 2021.
Hometown: Gaylord, Michigan Education: Albion College (undergraduate), Wake Forest University (J.D.)
Tim Trant
CEO G&J Pepsi-Cola Bottlers
Trant has worked at Pepsi for 25 years and took over the top job from Tim Hardig in 2021. G&J is the largest family-owned and operated product franchise bottler in the U.S. and employs more than 1,600 people at 13 locations in Ohio and Kentucky, including production facilities in Columbus and Portsmouth, Ohio, and Lexington and Winchester, Kentucky. It posted almost $440 million in 2021 revenue.
Michael Stagnaro
PRESIDENT AND CEO Stagnaro Distributing
Stagnaro and his brother, Chris, who is vice president, manage the business that their father, Arthur, started in the 1970s when he bought Hamilton Distributing. It annually distributes more than 7 million cases of beverages from breweries and other manufacturers to about 3,500 retail locations in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana from facilities in Cincinnati and Erlanger. It posted revenue of $115 million in 2021.
Tom Wiedemann
CEO AAA Club Alliance
Wiedemann leads the country’s thirdlargest AAA club that added repair and retail operations to its traditional membership services more than a decade ago when it bought Bob Sumerel Tire & Service. Craig Sumerel, who was president of the family operation for almost 10 years before it was sold to AAA, is president of the Club Alliance’s car care and auto wash divisions. The company bought Glenway Auto Center in Florence and Delhi Auto Service in 2021, bringing its number of local locations to 29.
CHAIRMAN Tire Discounters
Chip Wood
Wood started the company as a one-bay shop in 1976 and today operates 150 stores in six states, posting revenue of $400 million in 2021. In June, it struck a deal with Butler Tire and Wheels of Atlanta, which focuses on highend sports cars, SUVs, and trucks that provides a new niche for the company. Tire Discounters plans to open a 75,000-square-foot warehouse, distribution, and training facility in the Georgia capital.
Jeff Wyler
CEO Jeff Wyler Automotive Family
The company that began by selling 180 cars at a Clermont County Chevrolet dealership in 1973 has grown into the second-largest in the region, selling almost 18,000 vehicles in 2021. After buying Mercedes Benz of Louisville in December 2021, Wyler acquired Superior Automotive Group’s seven locations in Cincinnati and Dayton in February. It reported revenue of more than $1.8 billion in 2021 and expects the Superior deal to add about $400 million annually.
Michael McDonald
SUPREME LEADER Doobie Brothers, Attorneys at Law
Lambcke is deeply tanned, rested, and retired, but drags around a bad hip and knee after standing on a factory fl oor for 38 years. Baskin is sitting out on a recumbent bike, reading Lee Child paperbacks, after getting therapy on his elbow and back. This past year I bookmarked mayoclinic.com, acquired a cardiologist and sleep doctor, and blew through my deductible before March Madness. Plus one more tk line goes here.
Michael McDonald
SUPREME LEADER SUPREME LEADER Doobie Brothers, Attorneys at Law Doobie Brothers, Attorneys at Law
Michael McDonald
Lambcke is deeply tanned, rested, and retired, but drags around a bad hip and knee after standing on a factory fl oor for 38 years. Baskin is sitting out on a recumbent bike, reading Lee Child paperbacks, after getting therapy on his elbow and back. This past year I bookmarked mayoclinic.com, acquired a cardiologist and sleep doctor, and blew through my deductible before March Madness. Plus one more tk line goes here. Lambcke is deeply tanned, rested, and retired, but drags around a bad hip and knee after standing on a factory fl oor for 38 years. Baskin is sitting out on a recumbent bike, reading Lee Child paperbacks, after getting therapy on his elbow and back. This past year I bookmarked mayoclinic.com, acquired a cardiologist and sleep doctor, and blew through my deductible before March Madness. Plus one more tk line goes here.
Hometown: Anderson Township Education: Miami University First job: Painting houses Toughest challenge faced Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Begin with the end in mind. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering your fi eld of business: Your work life last 30 or 40 years, so make sure you love what you do. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: Hiking, fi shing, golf, reading Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Down’s Syndrome Association of Cincinnati
Hometown: Hometown: Anderson Township Education: Anderson Township Education: Miami Univer Miami University sity First job: Painting houses Toughest challenge faced First job: Painting houses Toughest challenge faced Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote:Best advice received or favorite inspirational quote: Begin Hard Rock Cincinnati is your Ultimate Entertainment Destination with Fine-Dining, Begin with the end in mind. What you’d tell a recent college graduate about entering with the end in mind. What you’d tell a recent college First Class Gaming and LIVE Concerts happening right now! #DiscoverYourRhythm graduate about entering your fi eld of business: Your work life last 30 or 40 years, so make sure you love what you your fi eld of business: Your work life last 30 or 40 years, so make sure you love what you do. Favorite hobbies or leisure cincinnati do. Favorite hobbies or leisure activities: Hiking, fi shing, activities: Hiking, fi shing, golf, reading Favorite Greater Cincingolf, reading Favorite Greater Cincinnati charity: Down’s nati charity: Down’s Syndrome Association of Cincinnati Syndrome Association of Cincinnati MUST BE 21 OR OLDER TO GAMBLE. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-589-9966.
