Columbus CEO – November 2019 issue

Paying dividends

Equal representation

Ohio’s new BWC chief is leading a changed agency.

The Matriots are on the long march toward 50 percent female officeholders.

Page 24

Page 12

Best of Business Here’s who readers favor above all.

Page 53

Dave Rigo, left, and Greg Lehman found success in Watershed Distillery. Next?

High-end pork with Saddleberk.

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Contents

Photo by Rob Hardin

34

Berkshire pigs at Cockerill Farms.

From bar to barn, bourbon to bacon The duo behind Watershed Distillery is working on another venture—bringing high-end pork to Columbus’ top chefs. And this despite Dave Rigo’s initial annoyance at partner Greg Lehman for starting a pork company as Watershed was gaining steam.

Insider 12 Profile: Stephanie McCloud “Employers are always interested in you when you’re a hardship on them, and we have not been,” says Ohio BWC’s new CEO. Not lately, to be sure. Much has changed at the agency during the past decade.

Stephanie McCloud

12 Photo by Rob Hardin

Agenda 30 Connections VentureOhio annual dinner, Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation 25th anniversary celebration

November 2019 Cover photo by

Rob Hardin November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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Departments ColumbusCEO.com

VOLUME 28 / NUMBER 11 President

Bradley M. Harmon Publisher/General Manager

Ray Paprocki

Associate Publisher/Advertising Director

Rheta Gallagher Editorial EDITOR

Katy Smith

STAFF WRITER

Chloe Teasley Design & Production PRODUCTION/DESIGN DIRECTOR

Craig Rusnak ART DIRECTOR

Yogesh Chaudhary Digital EDITOR

Julanne Hohbach ASSISTANT DIGITAL EDITOR

Brittany Moseley

07 Editor’s Notes Welcoming the Future 50, a group of big-hearted innovators full of wonderful, crazy ideas to help people.

08 CEO Whiteboard Letters, social media buzz and developments since the October issue Three past CEO of the Year honorees share the top three non-technical skills they look for in new hires.

89 Leaderboards Accounting firms, SBA lenders, wealth management firms

Photography PHOTO EDITOR

Tim Johnson Associate photo editor

Rob Hardin Advertising

ADVERTISING Manager

Susan Kendall

Account Executive

Gail Fullerton

CLASSIFIED SALES

Terri Tribbie, Telana Veil, Amy Vidrick Digital Specialist

Steven Mace

SALES ASSISTANT

Samantha Belk Marketing

MARKETING MANAGER

Lauren Reinhard

LETTERS: letters@columbusceo.com PRESS RELEASES

The Matriots PAC wants to see 50 percent female representation in Ohio politics by 2028. Founder Sally Crane Cox is unequivocal: “We are determined and we’re going to carry forth.”

The Gravity development’s first business tenant gives its 17 employees a lightfilled space in which to feel inspired.

Custom Content

Sally Crane Cox

24 Spotlight: Nonprofit

96 Office Space: Pelotonia

26 Spotlight: Innovation

Insider

PROJECT MANAGER

Emma Frankart Henterley

24

28 CEO Corner

Photo by Rob Hardin

62 E. Broad St., P.O. Box 1289 Columbus, Ohio 43216 Phone: 614-540-8900 • Fax: 614-461-8746

As he prepares to retire, AMP’s CEO talks advances in green energy for municipal electric customers.

11 Breakdown See how many women are (er, aren’t) in elected office in Ohio.

Special Sections

18 Tech Talk

53 Best of Business

Acceptd makes it easy for young artists to share their portfolios; and a new ride option comes to Columbus from Ireland.

See who readers love the most across more than 75 categories.

20 Briefing

84 Intellectual Property

Cocktail king Travis Owens (the mind behind Curio) has an interesting new venture—artisan ice. It’s a clear success.

Vorys is helping big brands fight unauthorized online sales with a trailblazing practice.

22 Spotlight: Small Business

Advertising Section

ThePlan sees beyond client requests to foster success on a larger scale.

pressreleases@columbusceo.com

Columbus CEO (ISSN 1085-911X) is published monthly by GateHouse Media, LLC. All contents of this magazine are copyrighted © 2019, all rights reserved. Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited materials. Known address of publication is 62 E. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio 43215. Periodicals postage paid at Columbus, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Columbus CEO, 62 E. Broad St., P.O. Box 1289, Columbus, OH 43216.

SUBSCRIPTIONS

22 Jeff Stauffer and Matt Fox

Photo by Rob Hardin

ADVERTISING

advertising@columbusceo.com

A Celebration of TRUST! honors the 25th anniversary of the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Awards for Ethics.

Announcing the 2019 winners.

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Toll Free: 877-688-8009

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Introducing the inaugural class of Future 50.

We’re excited to convene Columbus’ most vibrant, creative leaders with a new program that challenges them to build a better community in accordance with a set of core values: achievement, altruism, boldness, creativity and inclusivity.

These are the people who will take Columbus into the pivotal time ahead.

Alex Anthony

Doug Arseneault

director, client delivery Aver

public affairs administrator

Central Ohio Transit Authority

Alex Frommeyer

B.J. Hicks

CEO and co-founder

OhioHealth Neurological Physicians and co-director,

Beam Dental

Ali Haque

partner, Bricker & Eckler

Comprehensive Stroke Program

Amanda Epp

Falon Donohue

Kierra Williams

head of talent management and organizational development, Shearer’s Foods Kimberly Sharp

Amanda Leclerc

Haley Boehning

Cardinal Health

Heather Whaling

Annalies Corbin

president and founder

Past Foundation

Jacquie Bickel

founder, president and CEO

Geben Communication

vice president, Improving

Autumn Glover

government affairs and community relations, Wexner Medical Center, and interim president, PACT

Jessica Fleming

radiobiologist

James Cancer Center John Comerford

president, Otterbein University

Bill Balderaz

president, Futurety

John Rush

president/CEO, CleanTurn

Brad Griffith

president, Buckeye Interactive

Jordan Davis

director, Smart Columbus,

Brett Kaufman

Columbus Partnership

founder and CEO

Kaufman Development

Josh Harrison

Brian Schottenstein

president, Schottenstein Real Estate Group

senior HR generalist

Women in Analytics

City of Hilliard

Ryan Wilkins

deputy city engineer Matt Miller

partner/attorney, Ice Miller Matthew Goldstein

head of solutions at Mobikit and founder

senior director of communications and facilities Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio

CEO, Besa

Shannon Hardin

Matthew Yerkes

Columbus City Council

founder and executive director

president

Cultivate

Sheri Chaney Jones

Megan Shroy

Measurement Resources

founder and president Approach Marketing

CEO

Michael Corey

executive director

CEO

South Side Early Learning

Barnes & Thornburg

Mindy Yocum

Derek Grosso

Kerstin Carr

Yocum Law Office and CEO, JusticeMobile

Columbus Young Professionals Club and president, City Venture Holdings

Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission

CEO and founder

LifeCare Alliance

Letty Schamp

ZoCo Design

Ohio Chapter American Academy of Pediatrics

director of planning and sustainability

director of advancement Rehgan Avon

diversity and inclusion coordinator and office administrator

Colin McGinnis

founder and CEO

founder and principal

Katie Doellman

Kelly Atkinson

Continental Office

Lacey Picazo

Melissa Wervey Arnold

RPT Realty

Chanel Nelson

global VP

president, Improving director of leasing

Nevin Bansal

Rebecca Hurd

City of Westerville

Kristin Harper

Huckleberry House

Choice Network

Outreach Promotional Solutions; founder and executive director of Small Biz Cares

CEO, VentureOhio

co-founder, Storyforge

founder and CEO

deputy director of planning and development

president, ScriptDrop housing director

Molly Rampe Thomas

Human Service Chamber of Franklin County

owner

founder and president

Stephen Maurice White

vice president of external affairs, strategic initiatives and business development, in-house counsel, COSI Timothy Wolf Starr

managing partner Atlas Partners

Zachary Woodruff

director of development and public service City of Whitehall

Special 13th issue of Columbus CEO coming January 2020.

ColumbusCEO.com/future50

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Editor’s notes * ksmith@ColumbusCEO.com

Welcoming a new decade with Future 50 Photo collage Lauren Reinhard

I

love surprises. Underdog wins, unlikely friendships, finding a tiny earring you mourned as lost three years ago.

Future 50 has been a wonderful surprise. For me, it’s a reminder that you never know what’s going to come back when you send something out into the universe. When we first began imagining a new Columbus CEO initiative that would convene some of the city’s most creative, trailblazing people to make a civic contribution together, we had no idea how much the message would resonate in the community. I clicked “publish” on the web story calling for nominations and cringed, hoping people wouldn’t find it terribly cheesy (as an incorrigible optimist, I don’t).

The response was outstanding. The inaugural class of Future 50 counts among its members a radiobiologist, a university president, HR professionals, startup founders, communications experts, attorneys, transportation planners, real estate developers, nonprofit executives and more. The group is brimming with big-hearted innovators who are not shying away

from tough issues. To them, no dream is silly. One of the class members, Alex Anthony, put it this way: “The Future 50 are altruistic innovators with the social capital and robust networks to drive meaningful change.”

See who else is in the class on the left-hand page.

Judging by the enthusiastic, heartfelt responses, the question we posed in the application process inspired them. “Please share an idea for something you and 49 others, if chosen for Future 50, could do together as an Annual Project within one year to create quantifiable, lasting, positive change in the community,” we asked.

Ideas included working toward affordable and high-quality childcare, a public mural festival, engaging artists in painting houses in Linden and the Hilltop, redesigning our educational models, community conversations addressing racism, and expanding opportunities in “tipping point” neighborhoods through rechanneled public funding, zoning and other changes.

The annual program kicks off in January with a special 13th issue of

the magazine celebrating the 2020 cohort and sharing their ideas for how to move the region forward.

We’ll gather early in the first year of the fresh decade for a cocktail reception and pitch session to set the agenda for their Annual Project—or projects? Up to them, as long as it embodies the Future 50 core values of altruism, achievement, boldness, creativity and inclusivity.

Indeed, the decade ahead is a critical one to the future of the Columbus region. We are preparing to welcome 1 million new neighbors and 600,000 new jobs by 2050, according to MidOhio Regional Planning Commission projections. Much change will happen here between now and then.

This group has the energy and the commitment to help make the most if it—for everyone.

I’ll close with a quote shared by cohort member Jordan Davis in her application that hit home with me.

“The first thing that comes to mind when I think of the group you are curating is the Steve Jobs quote, ‘Here’s to the crazy ones,’ she wrote.

‘Here’s to the crazy ones … You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.

Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.’

“I would presume this group is full of the crazy ones,” Davis wrote.

I’m thrilled to say that it is.

Katy Smith, Editor November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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Whiteboard

* Reader notes, digital buzz & Columbus CEO coverage updates

Linkedin Responses

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I write to express my gratitude to you for taking the time to correct the record on women’s pay in Columbus through the online story titled, ‘No, women in Columbus do not make 5% more than men’ published on Oct. 1. Pay equity for women is a critical issue that needs to be understood and addressed in order to provide women in our community with the jobs and pay to support their families and make our neighborhoods stronger. We can’t address gender-based pay disparity in Columbus if people do not recognize or understand that it is a problem. I truly appreciate your commitment to journalistic integrity and fact-based journalism on this important topic.

Elizabeth Brown, President Pro Tempore, Columbus City Council

Facebook responses

The Women’s Fund of Central Ohio: Thank you Katy Smith and Columbus CEO for setting the record straight with accurate data on the gender pay gap in central Ohio.

Apeks Supercritical: Thanks to Columbus CEO for letting us tell our story!

Deanna Archer: It would interesting to hold those accountable that have replaced a man in a role previously held by a woman to see the pay comparisons. (In response to Katy Smith’s web story about the very real gender pay gap.)

twitter responses @ColumbusCEOmag

@Rev1Ventures: Congrats to the @columbusceomag #ColumbusFuture50 winners. @CultivateSMB, @ScriptDrop, @SG_Hardin, @ColumbusGov, @SmartCbus, @zoco_design and many more mentors, services and corporate partners. #cbusproud GROWLickingCo: Be sure to check out the recent @columbusceomag and the write-up highlighting @JohnstownOhio’s own @ApeksFab!

Corrections Bailey Cavalieri was omitted from the Legal Guide listings in the October issue.

Bailey Cavalieri

10 W. Broad St., Suite 2100, Columbus 43215 614-221-3155 • baileycav.com Partners: 29, FTE Attorneys: 51 Practice Areas: Bankruptcy/debtor-creditor, corporate, litigation/trial practice Managing Partner: Robert Dunn

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Breakdown Compiled by KATY SMITH + Infographic by Yogesh Chaudhary

Women holding elected office-Ohio

Columbus-based political action committee the Matriots is working toward the goal of 50 percent representation by women in Ohio elected offices by 2028. Here are current percentages by government level, according to the most recent data (2017). More on the Matriots on page 24. Š2019 istock.com/PeopleImages

29%

Proportion of elected female officials by level of government.

Percentage of females elected across all levels of government in the state of Ohio

School boards

36%

Villages

33%

Judicial

31%

Counties

29%

Cities Townships State Federal

25% 22% 22% 17%

Source: The Matriots

November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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profile

By KaTY SMITH + Photos by rob hardin

Stephanie McCloud Administrator/CEO

Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Age: 49 Education: Juris doctor, Capital

University School of Law; master’s degree in political science and bachelor’s degree in journalism, Ohio University

Experience: Previously served as Truro

Township trustee; founder of McCloud Law; founder of lobbying firm Capitol Square Solutions; senior vice president with Sedgwick Claims Management; chief counsel for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro; assistant deputy legal counsel, Ohio Gov. George Voinovich; and staff attorney, Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.

Community involvement: Former board member, Maryhaven and Ohio Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board Personal: Resides in Reynoldsburg with

husband, Brad McCloud (mayor of Reynoldsburg), and son, Nick.

Running a new BWC Stephanie McCloud’s career began with a brief stint at the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, and it’s where she met her husband. The agency she now leads is very different from the troubled one where she started.

T

he checks have been arriving for Ohio employers during the past few weeks: The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is returning $1.5 billion in dividends thanks to lower claims and solid investment returns.

That’s on top of $1.5 billion returned in 2018—in fact, this year marks the fifth billion-dollar dividend to employers since 2013.

It’s a welcome boost for businesses, for whom workers’ compensation insurance represents a significant

expense, many times trailing only health insurance and salaries. As the chief BWC executive leading the 2019 return, Stephanie McCloud is upbeat. “Our goal, our hope, our prayer is that they are investing those back into their businesses for the economy, into their businesses to increase safety,” McCloud says. “And we love hearing what folks are doing with the return. We’ve been out scouring, asking for stories.”

Some employers, such as Columbus-based Reitter Stucco, are giving the money back to employees. The largest dividend payments in the state this year have gone to the city

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of Columbus, $20 million; the city of Cleveland, $6 million; and Columbus City Schools, $4.5 million. In Franklin County, 14,867 private employers were to receive a combined $118.2 million, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Reitter Stucco received a $39,000 rebate this year, owner Fritz Reitter says. “It’s kind of manna from heaven, if you will,” he says. “We aren’t expecting it.” Reitter plans to share the money with his employees, who have improved the company’s safety record dramatically since 20 years ago, he says. In the past, he says premiums were “a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. This past year, they were in the middle $50,000s.”

Since 2010, the state agency, which is the largest of its kind in the country, has decreased rates an average of 35 percent for private employers and 42 percent for public. It’s paid employers $5.7 billion in dividends since 2013.

Thanks to efforts around preventing falls and other campaigns by the BWC plus greater awareness of safety by employers, new injury claims dropped to 85,000 in 2018 from 262,000 in 2000, the bureau reports.

But the story hasn’t always been so happy at the bureau McCloud now runs. It was rocked by scandal in 2006 when Toledo coin dealer Tom Noe was convicted of theft, engaging in corrupt activity, money laundering and forgery and sentenced to 18 years in prison. An influential figure in GOP political life in the state’s capital, he was found to have stolen $13 million from a $50 investment fund in rare coins that he established for the BWC. Noe also was found guilty of campaign contribution violations. More than a dozen officials across the state were implicated in various corrupt dealings, which extended all the way to Republican Gov. Bob Taft and his chief of staff Brian Hicks, who admitted committing financial disclosure violations and were fined. Following the Coingate scandal, Democrats swept all statewide executive offices but one.

Times were tough at the BWC. Some of its more creative, riskier investment practices came under fire, such as those involving hedge funds and private equity. Then, in 2007, a group of thousands of businesses sued the Ohio BWC, alleging the fund overcharged them for premiums from 2001

through 2009. The bureau admitted doing so and settled the lawsuit for $420 million.

McCloud says the timing of those scandals was actually kind of fortuitous. As the nation’s largest banks melted down in fall 2008 amid a housing crisis and a deepening Great Recession, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, stung by the Coingate losses, already had moved its investments into the safe harbor of bonds.

She experienced those troubles from her vantage point as deputy chief counsel for Attorney General Jim Petro, where she was responsible for helping to sell off the state’s portfolio of Noe coins. “There was a receiver appointed during that time, and they had counsel and I worked with the receiver and counsel,” she says.

“There was a strategy for which coins go out when—you don’t want to flood the market trying to get the maximum value out of the coins.” McCloud also worked on hedge fund investment litigation faced by BWC. “They were difficult times to get through, but the bureau came out much stronger, much better,” she says.

The Ohio General Assembly created the BWC’s board of directors, which adopted much more conservative investment policies that continue today. McCloud says half the agency’s $27.5 billion under management is in bonds, 30 percent is in traditional equities such as the S&P 500, and the rest in real estate. “It has allowed us year-over-year to produce some great returns, which not all the institutional investments have been able to do,” McCloud says. “The formula there has worked for us, and I don’t think there’s going to be any big push to change that.”

•••

When Gov. Mike DeWine took office in January, one of the first things he did was establish Recovery Ohio, an effort to address the state’s opioid addiction problems. He also appointed McCloud administrator of the BWC. The October before, the bureau had run a pilot of its new Substance Use Recovery and Workplace Safety Program in three counties hard-hit by addiction—Montgomery, Ross and Scioto. The idea is to support employers in hiring people in recovery by funding drug testing and training

Q&A

Ohio BWC CEO Stephanie McCloud has the agency focused on the opioid epidemic and workplace safety as claims and premiums fall.

How do you encourage employers to hire people in recovery?

“I was on the board of Maryhaven for 13 years, and having a job and a reason to get up every day and a purpose and a feeling of accomplishment is critical to recovery.

[For employers], it can be kind of a circular problem of not wanting to hire someone in recovery. And the person in recovery then struggles with abstaining from substance abuse because they can’t find a job. It’s very circular.”

What else is the bureau doing to combat the opioid epidemic? “[We are rolling out a new safe disposal bag for prescription drugs.]

The pharmacies will dispense it anytime someone gets their first opioid prescription because there are, as we know, injuries that create a legitimate need for opioids to manage pain. The disposable bag hopefully will [keep drugs] from falling into the wrong hands.”

The BWC had about 262,000 new claims a year in 2010. It had 85,000 in 2018. What happened?

“We are very encouraged by the new culture that’s being created in safety. Employers are taking the time to recognize— just like with wellness programs and your health insurance—that doing a little bit up front can pay a lot of dividends. As we educate people about the importance of safety equipment … employers are investing in and taking advantage of our [free] safety services. It’s also a changing culture. You know, sometimes the older generations, it was the tough thing to do your work without the safety equipment … ‘I don’t need that’ and ‘I’m the big strong person and I can do it without it.’ And those attitudes are changing. And I think that’s helping claims fall.” for managers and human resources departments about how to manage someone in recovery. The hope is to expand it to 12 counties and $15 million in state finding this biennium.

The bureau in June began to phase out the use of oxycontin and its generics in favor of a substitute that offers November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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Employers are always interested in you when you’re a hardship on them, and we have not been a hardship on them.

“abuse deterrent technology, meaning if you crush it and snort it or inject it, you don’t get the same kind of high that you do with oxy,” McCloud says.

“Within a month, we got a call from an injured worker who was on oxycontin who said, ‘I don’t know if I ever would have got off of this, but I’m going to take this opportunity to get the help you’re offering. And I’m going to get off of oxycontin because I want to get a job in the rail, and they have a zero tolerance policy for opioids.’ ” With 242,000 employer policies, the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation is the largest of 27 state-run workers’ comp insurance funds and among the top five single-line insurance carriers in the country. McCloud says she doesn’t think most people realize how large the fund actually is and that’s one reason the bureau is working on improving its communications strategy, including being more active on social media. “Employers are always interested in you when you’re a hardship on them, and we have not been a hardship on them,” McCloud says. “But we’re doing so much good stuff. We’ve increased our safety grant

program from $4 million to $20 million. That doesn’t include the [$15] million for the substance use recovery program. We have the safety intervention grants in the public sector for body armor for law enforcement, protective gear from carcinogens for firefighters, school safety programs. “[Gov. DeWine] had a quote early on that I really latched on to. He said, ‘I want to do as much good as I can with the time that I have.’ And we are working very hard—he moves fast. Keeping up with the governor has been a challenge because he moves very, very fast … trying to address the opioid epidemic, trying to be innovative with regard to safety and come up with new ways to protect injured workers.”

•••

McCloud’s life has, in a sense, come full circle with her current role—her first job out of law school was as a staff attorney at the BWC. She’d started there as an intern at 26 and was hired once she passed the bar examination.

The first fall she worked at BWC, 1996, an injured welder named James

and

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THANK YOU

to our 2019 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Columbus Marathon & ½ Marathon Mile Sponsors for giving kids hope!

To learn about 2020 sponsorship opportunities, go to: NationwideChildrens.org/Marathon

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Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Employees: 1,800 Assets under management: $27.5 billion

Dailey who had been denied benefits stormed into the William Green Building at 30 W. Spring St. with guns, gasoline and his two children. He took four hostages. About eight hours later, he was overtaken by one of them, a former FBI agent, McCloud says.

Security was enhanced after that.

“So when I go through security [now], I remember sitting and doing all the research on what we could do as far as searches,” McCloud says.

“We used to just be able to walk in and out of the building.”

McCloud also met her husband, Brad McCloud, while she was a staff attorney at the bureau. They did not begin dating until a few months after she left the job to work for Gov. George Voinovich. “It was my rule.

I didn’t date people I worked with,” she says. They married and had a son, and McCloud went on to serve in progressively more responsible roles in government. She launched two businesses, a law firm and a lobbying firm, and spent some years with a Memphis-based third-party administrator, Sedgwick Claims Management Services. She was on the board of Maryhaven for more than a decade and a member of Ohio’s Counselor, Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist Board. The year before she was hired as CEO at BWC, she was a Truro Township trustee. Her husband is mayor of Reynoldsburg.

“I usually spin about four or five plates at the same time and stay busy,” McCloud says. “I like it that way, which is one of the things I love about the governor, because he spins about 10 to 20 plates at the same time. I love working for somebody who keeps that kind of pace, because it forces everybody underneath of him to rise to the occasion.

“My husband would say everybody asks him how I’m doing, and his response is when he sees me, I seem

to be doing OK,” she says, only half laughing. “Stephanie is a force of nature,” Brad McCloud says. “I’ve never seen anyone that had that kind of vision to so quickly identify what the issue is and then just as quickly identify how we’re going to deal with it.”

Judge Michael Watson of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio worked with McCloud early in her career.

“I think she’s got a leader’s mentality,” Watson says. “She is willing to listen to people. And she listens first and then makes decisions after a full consideration of all the issues.”

The issues when McCloud was in college at Ohio University included a landlord who refused to give her and her two roommates their security deposit back. She took him to court and not only got the deposit back, but he was ordered to pay twice the amount in question, she says. “He wouldn’t pay it, and I ended up attaching his bank account. It’s funny, you talk about full circle—I used that money as my down payment on law school.”

Katy Smith is the editor.

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Tech talk

Acceptd

By Cynthia Bent Findlay

Founders taking Acceptd to next level

O

ne local tech firm has turned a passion for the arts and a talent for problem solving into a highly successful networking platform for artists and arts institutions—and also turned a profit.

Acceptd is now focused on a major rebrand, turning its sights on expanding its network of artists and helping them succeed from the beginnings of their educational jour-

neys through their working careers.

Co-founder Don Hunter says Acceptd’s model has been to move what once was an archaic and expensive in-person audition process into the 21st Century. Acceptd launched in 2011, creating a platform for student artists to post digital portfolios and auditions that colleges, camps and festivals could access, speeding the application process.

“Programs were starting to dabble in YouTube, but it was very expensive to audition for two-minute spots and inefficient for faculty to have to dwindle 2,000-person auditions to 100 students getting offers,” Hunter says.

He and co-founder Derek Brown put together a digital platform for portfolios and created a set of tools to

Don Hunter (inset), Acceptd

Photos courtesy Acceptd

App lets riders hail cabs While Uber and Lyft have the edge in the ride-for-hire industry, a new player in town is ready to help traditional taxicabs get their mojo back.

WINIcabs, a locationbased taxi dispatch software, launched in late August in Columbus. WINIcabs (When I Need It, Where I Need It) was

born in Ireland in 2010 and chose Columbus as its first U.S. market.

App users can hail any of Columbus’ traditional taxi fleets. Ride seekers get licensed, background-checked cab drivers and can track their rides, book trips days in advance and pay fares

through the app or by cash or credit card.

Some cab companies already offer their own app, but WINIcabs links all of Columbus’s traditional cab services under one app.

WINIcabs says app users get 20 percent off regular cab rates. -Cynthia Bent Findlay

getacceptd.com Business: Digital platform connecting students in theater, music and the arts with colleges, camps and universities.

Founders: Don Hunter, Derek Brown Employees: 29

help administrators seek exactly what they are looking for in students.

Schools, camps and arts programs join Acceptd’s network. Artists post their dance, music, acting and visual arts portfolios all at no charge, but students pay a $30 fee to fill out audition applications to programs— much lower, says Hunter, than what students traditionally have to pay for travel and in-person auditions.

Acceptd started with two clients its first audition season and grew rapidly to 125 the next. It now has more than 600 program clients, from storied arts schools to Carnegie Hall and the Sydney Opera House. More than 450,000 artists house portfolios on Acceptd’s platform.

Investors saw opportunity in the model. Acceptd raised $2 million from TechColumbus, the National Association for Music Education, Ohio TechAngel Funds, NCT Ventures and others. Hunter says the business turned profitable by 2016, and in 2017, he and Brown bought out other investors and now wholly own the company.

Hunter declined to disclose Acceptd’s projected revenue for 2019, but he did say the company has nearly doubled staff from 14 to 29 this year. New Creative Lead Derek DuPont came on in April to get to work on the business’s next move.

The company beta-tested online coaching in 2014 and now wants to add in-person coaching as part of a suite of expanded services to help artists succeed.

To that end, in October Acceptd acquired My College Audition, a theater arts coaching company in Boston, as a first step. Acceptd had been partnering with the small firm previously and already had a good relationship with its founders.

Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.

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briefing

By Chloe Teasley and KATY SMITH

You read that correctly. Curio’s Travis Owens is looking to open a shop selling ice. Stay alert for a new cocktail bar concept, too.

T

he man behind the former cocktail bar Curio in German Village (named one of the best cocktail bars in the U.S.) has way more up his sleeve.

Travis Owens has been busy with a cocktail and bar consulting business called Behind the Glass that’s helped to curate draft cocktails and other experiences at bars such as Antiques on High. He makes and sells ice as a side hustle. Perhaps you have noticed a perfectly square, crystal-clear cube in a cocktail you’ve had recently at Watershed Distillery or Vaso—it is Owens’ handiwork. Right now, his ice business operates out of his home.

He freezes large batches of totally transparent ice, and then cuts them with a band saw. Prices start at 75 cents per cube and go up to $1.50 for a branded cube, plus a delivery fee.

Photos courtesy travis owens and branch

Cocktail king turns to artisan ice Travis Owens mixing drinks with his craft cocktail cubes.

The beauty of this business model is that water has a preposterously low raw material expense and he only spends about 20 hours a week on it. It brings in about $45,000 per year and is on track to double, so Owens has decided to take out a loan and open a brick-and-mortar for his ice business.

“I’ve had so many people reach out in the last three or four weeks,” he says, including Canopy by Hilton, which recently opened on Nationwide Boulevard. He is looking for a spot within five miles of Downtown for his shop, and he wishes to open within the next two months with the addition of one or two employ-

ees. Curio fans will love to hear that he also is hoping to open a new cocktail bar, possibly in partnership with Kevin Wang, a local sushi chef formerly of Salt and Pine and owner of Akatsuki LLC, a private dining and catering business. Right now, the pair is collaborating on a pop-up sushi event called Sushi Pop at Vaso. Plans should be firm by wintertime.

“I know what my wheelhouse is, and it’s definitely in the liquid realm,” says Owens. “So that connection with Kevin was important.

I’m really hoping we can put our heads together and make something happen.”

Insurtech meets social enterprise

Steve Lekas

Columbus is now home to another insurtech startup. Branch began selling policies in August in Ohio with the goal of becoming a dominant player in the home-auto bundling market, and it launched in Arizona in October. It sets itself apart from the competition by offering rapid online pricing and sales, says founder Steve Lekas.

The former president with New Jersey-based Verisk Analytics also spent more than a decade

at Allstate. For now, Branch is licensed as an agency with the state, but is in the process of building an insurance company.

Its policies are being underwritten by Paris, France-based Scor, a global re-insurer. Branch has raised $8.5 million from New York-based Greycroft, Bay area VC Foundation Capital and Rise of the Rest, the bus tour by AOL co-founder Steve Case.

Branch also has a social enter-

prise component. Lekas and cofounder Joe Emison have pledged to direct a portion of premiums to a nonprofit they’re calling SafetyNest, which will offer grants to people who can’t afford insurance.

Branch has eight employees in Short North offices, and about 100 people have signed up for policies, Lekas says. He hopes to grow the company to $5 million in premiums and 40 employees within 12 months.

–Katy Smith

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spotlight

By Melissa Kossler Dutton + Photo by Rob Hardin

Small Business

Creating potential ThePlan founders see beyond client requests to foster success on a larger scale.

T

he founders of ThePlan don’t hesitate to pose tough questions to prospective clients. They regularly engage in conversations where they’re asking for detailed explanations about why the company is requesting a particular product or service. The answers often cause would-be clients to realize a greater need or lead them to alter their projects. The conversations also lay the foundation for an exciting working relationship, says Jeff Stauffer, who handles strategy for the company he co-founded in 2014.

Stauffer learned quickly that solving a bigger problem or forcing a client to figure out the long-term value of what they were asking his team to do made better business sense. “I tell people: ‘If you want we can take your money and do this, but I’d rather find a way to help you make money,’ ” he says. “Then they keep us around and ask us to do more. We like to take an incubator mentality with our clients whether they are big or small. We

ThePlan 36 N. Liberty St., Powell 43065 theplanworks.com Business: Digital commercialization

company that imagines, designs, builds, commercializes and sustains client brands.

Owners: Jeff Stauffer, Matt Fox Employees: 12 2018 revenue: Would not disclose.

Jeff Stauffer and Matt Fox want to make an impact on the way they’re doing business.”

The Powell-based firm calls itself a digital brand experience company and offers a range of services from mobile and app development to product design and management.

“That’s the part of the business that we love,” Stauffer says. “We’ve helped people write their business plan and, in some cases, find funding. Other times, we have helped clients with a proof-of-concept that they can give to their leadership team.

We help them answer questions like: How is this going to make money?

How will we sustain the tech? We want clients thinking about measurable results early on in the process.”

Chris Schultheis reached out to

ThePlan because he wanted to expand his software company, Emergency Networking, which created an app that lets fire departments track data about emergency runs. In early meetings with ThePlan, Schultheis was struck by how engaged they were in learning about his product and its potential application in the industry. “Jeff and his team are really good at seeing the bigger picture,” he says. “As we sat down and talked, it was clear they were envisioning big things for me.”

Stauffer and co-founder and CFO Matt Fox saw potential in the market.

“Instead of building him a very specific platform to track EMS runs, we built a flexible data collection system,” says Fox. The software allows

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“I tell people: ‘If you want we can take your money and do this, but I’d rather find a way to help you make money.’

Then they keep us around and ask us to do more. We like to take an incubator mentality with our clients.”

Jeff Stauffer, co-founder, ThePlan Emergency Networking to customize data collection for its clients—making it possible to offer a wider array of services to a larger pool of customers, Schultheis now has created products for tracking and analyzing fire runs, staff training and other tasks such as hydrant flushing. Emergency Networking expanded its client base to include a private ambulance company, and it’s in talks with a hospital. “[ThePlan founders] said, ‘We don’t want to pigeonhole you,’ ” Schultheis says. “It’s gone well beyond what I thought it would. Now I’m better able to compete. I’ve beaten out the biggest player in the industry.”

Although Stauffer and Fox work on client development and managing the company’s 12 full-time employees and 20 freelancers, they continue to assign themselves projects and clients. The hands-on work forces them to maintain their tech skills and stay on top of industry trends, Fox says. “You can’t stop learning. This stuff changes every day, and you’ve got keep working to keep current.”

The company also takes a team approach to handling customer requests, meaning designers, product managers and engineers all work together—and in the same room—to brainstorm solutions and innovations. “Cross-team and client collaboration is critical to developing products that will resonate with our clients,” Stauffer says. “Having diverse skill sets around the table allows us to create better solutions and build long-lasting relationships.”

Melissa Kossler Dutton is a freelance writer.

DRIVING FORCES

C O NTE M PO R ARY ART F R O M TH E COLLECTION OF ANN AND RON PIZZUTI Nick Cave, Soundsuit, 2010, mixed media. On loan from Pizzuti Collection. ©Nick Cave.

Photo James Prinz Photography. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.

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C O LU M B U S M U S E U M.O R G November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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spotlight

Sally Crane Cox of the Matriots

By Peter Tonguette + Photo by Rob Hardin

Nonprofit

Putting more women in office The Matriots wants to see 50 percent female representation in Ohio politics by 2028.

R

egardless of your political convictions, 2018 is likely to go down as a year in which important, hard-fought campaigns were waged throughout Ohio. Undoubtedly, 2020 will be another such year in the Buckeye State and across the nation.

But what about 2019?

While the governor’s mansion will not change occupants, the members of the political action committee the Matriots consider this election cycle to be equally crucial.

“2019, of course, is an off-year in the sense that these are local and school board races,” says Sally Crane Cox, who co-founded the Matriots in 2018. The PAC provides funding to female candidates in Ohio.

“The political parties don’t go this low, like school board,” Cox says.

“This is not as important to them, and we feel it’s actually more important to us.”

The Matriots 65 S. Fourth St., Columbus 43215 matriotsohio.com About: Political action committee dedicated to providing funding to female candidates in Ohio.

Founders: Sally Crane Cox, Mindy Coffey,

Rebecca Ibel, April Zimmerman Katz, Cathe Kobacker and Sharon Steele.

Executive director: Elissa Schneider Employees: 3 full-time raised since launch: $2.1 million

Among the 76 candidates supported by the Matriots are women vying for spots on Columbus City Council and Columbus Board of Education.

The work done in such posts is important, Cox says, and it can open a path for women who wish to advance political careers beyond local races.

“We would love to build a farm team of women who share our values that will go on from being school board to county commissioner to township trustee to Ohio General Assembly.”

The Matriots was formed to address a deficit in Ohio politics: The state lags many others in the number of women serving in government. According to data gathered by the PAC, women represented only 22 percent of the Ohio General Assembly prior

to the 2018 election, while statewide, women accounted for just 29 percent of office-holders.

Cox, a native of Bexley who previously was publisher of an earlier incarnation of Columbus Alive, saw a chance to break through the impasse in January 2017, when she and a group of female friends attended the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. “Following the march, when we all came back so energized and really feeling dedicated to doing something more around women’s issues, I invited the five other women to come to my house for dinner,” says Cox, who found that none of the friends was interested in running for office.

Instead, they arrived at the idea of a PAC providing money to female

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“We would love to build a farm team of women who share our values that will go on from being school board to county commissioner to township trustee to Ohio General Assembly.�

Start your

COMPLIMENTARY S SUBSCRIPTION TODAY at columbusceo.com.

candidates at the state and local levels.

The Matriots—whose name suggests a combination of “patriots� and “matriarchs�—aimed to raise $400,000 when it began collecting donations in 2017. “We got to $750,000 by the end of the year and then, within the 12-month period, we had reached $1 million,� Cox says.

Female candidates who wish to be considered for support must complete an application that demonstrates alignment with the values of the Matriots. The PAC is nonpartisan, and it seeks candidates who agree with the idea of promoting a society in which women can prosper.

An endorsement committee of women and men who have political experience review applications to decide which candidates to interview. The final decision to endorse a candidate rests with the PAC’s board of directors.

Among the first class of 2018, 18 of 34 endorsed candidates are now in office, says Executive Director Elissa Schneider. “If you look at our list of donors and first-time candidates as well, many are people who were not involved in the political process,� Schneider says. “The fact that we’re bringing new power, new influence, new money into a political system to advance women is really exciting.�

All those things, along with more visibility, will be needed to achieve the goal the Matriots have set for themselves: 50 percent female representation in Ohio politics by 2028. “It is a little daunting,� Cox says, “but we are determined and we’re going to carry forth.�

Jazz has played a major role in bringing people together.

It’s a language, an expression of ideas, a means of communicating. When jazz speaks, it conveys thoughts.

It moves some intellectually and others emotionally.

of music, dance, visual arts, spoken word, etc. And for those who

and transcends barriers, so that it’s shared by all. I’m Bobby Floyd.

Music is my art and there’s no place I’d rather make it.

Learn more about Bobby’s story and other Columbus artists, performances, exhibitions, concerts, public art and more at ColumbusMakesArt.com.

Additional support from: The Sol Morton and Dorothy Isaac, Rebecca J. Wickersham and Lewis K. Osborne funds at The Columbus Foundation.

Photo: Stephen Pariser | Design: Formation Studio

Sally Crane Cox, co-founder, the Matriots

Peter Tonguette is a freelance writer.

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spotlight

By Lin Rice + Photo by Rob HARDIN

Innovation

Future of power AMP is keeping its eye on renewables, climate change, transmission to best serve its municipal electric members.

W

hen American Municipal Power CEO Marc Gerken steps down next year, he’ll be leaving a significantly different organization from the one he started leading two decades ago. While the challenges AMP and Ohio’s energy industry face may have changed, the organization’s mission remains one of advocating on behalf of its members to keep public power affordable and readily available.

Headquartered in Columbus, AMP is a nonprofit corporation that purchases or generates electric power to sell to its members, using pooled buying power to drive down rates for members, which are primarily municipalities. Founded in 1971, AMP had 82 members in three states when Gerken was named CEO in 2000; the nonprofit now includes 135 members in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Indiana, Maryland and Delaware.

American Municipal Power 1111 Schrock Road, Suite 100 Columbus 43229 amppartners.org Business: Municipal electric services in

nine states including Ohio.

CEO: Marc Gerken Employees: About 170 Electric sales 2018: $1.2 billion

Marc Gerken Increasing AMP’s electricity generation assets was one of Gerken’s top priorities. “When I took over, we were going from market-based rates to a commodity-based, open-market structure. And we were seeing where the organized markets, their prices were really starting to track up,” he says. “We were fairly asset-poor at the time, so our board came up with a pretty strategic resource generation plan to diversify that portfolio.”

At the time, AMP had only two generating assets—the Belleville hydroelectric plant on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River southwest of Marietta and the Richard Gorsuch Generating Station, a 1950s-era coalfired plant near Marietta. (The plant was retired in 2010.)

AMP built four hydroelectric plants on the Ohio River, generating about 313 megawatts of power, and purchased a combined gas cycle plant in Fremont from First Energy. It also signed a deal committing to buy about 23 percent of the output from the Prairie State coal plant in Illinois, representing about 368 megawatts.

Along with an emphasis on hydro, AMP has focused on increasing its percentage of solar and wind generation. “That’s one thing I’m really proud that we’ve accomplished—

our focus on renewables. I’d say we have probably one of the cleanest generation portfolios in Ohio,” Gerken says. “We had one of the first commercial wind turbine projects in the state, and we own and operate one of the largest run-of-the-river fleets in the country.”

The AMP board has established a search committee to find Gerken’s successor, and an executive search firm is assisting in the process.

Looking forward, an advisory council created in 2016 keeps tabs on the future of the electric utility sector and advises AMP members on how to prepare as the industry evolves.

That includes keeping renewables in the portfolio. “Having that eye on the future of our industry has been really beneficial, and is going to be critically important in the next five to 10 years,” says Chris Monacelli, chair of the council and electric utility manager for the city of Westerville, an AMP member. “Recently, AMP has been helping us with transmission, which is probably our fastest-growing cost. AMP has also been a really big advocate for us at the Statehouse, lobbying on our behalf.”

AMP’s voice is regularly heard at the national level as well, with Gerken testifying before congressio-

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PUTTING YOUR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT PLAN TOGETHER ONE PIECE AT A TIME Providing commercial property brokerage, management and maintenance throughout Central Ohio for more than 50 years.

“We had one of the first commercial wind turbine projects in the state, and we own and operate one of the largest runof-the-river fleets in the country.”

Marc Gerken CEO, American Municipal Power nal committees and federal agencies on issues affecting the wholesale power industry.

“AMP definitely has a role to play on the national stage in terms of helping my organization formulate its position on climate change as we discuss legislation here in Washington,” says Sue Kelly, CEO of the American Public Power Association, which represents more than 2,000 community-owned electric utilities across the country. “People are still having discussions and thinking about how to address these issues, and it’s people like Marc who help us figure out the membership consensus position.”

Lin Rice is a freelance writer.

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Agenda

CEO Corner

Compiled by Katy Smith

Up to the Challenge Labor availability was the No. 1 concern for CEOs who took the 2018 survey of economic conditions by Columbus CEO and Capital University. Three past CEO of the Year honorees share the top three non-technical skills they look for in new hires.

Darci Congrove Managing director, GBQ Partners

“The most important trait that GBQ seeks in a new associate is a strong desire to learn. Public accounting is a business where every day brings a new learning opportunity. Regulations and laws change frequently, so it’s important to be able to learn on the fly and apply that knowledge to solve problems. We also seek strong social and communication skills, as every team member has to interact with clients and colleagues constantly. Lastly, it’s important that new hires are adaptable. The profession is changing very quickly, so today’s job description is very unlikely to stay the same for long.”

Elizabeth Blount McCormick

Sandy Harbrecht Ratchford

President and owner Uniglobe Travel Designers

“Curiosity: Effective public relations means knowing what makes people tick. We look for inquisitive people who can use research and data to understand how audiences form opinions and what motivates them.

Original thinking: Clients expect us to help solve their challenges with new ideas, perspectives and creativity. We highly value the ability to see counterintuitive patterns and use them to inform communication strategies. Empathy: Our heroes are those who love helping a coworker, client or community member succeed. The ability to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes is vital to our firm’s success and to our community.”

“Maintaining a positive attitude. Operating with integrity. Taking initiative to achieve and exceed goals. I like to say that, ‘I don’t hire anyone I can’t have a meal with.’ I value and strive for diversity within the team, and with that comes a variety of interests and goals. But the common denominator needs to include those three factors to be the most successful within the Uniglobe Travel Designers family.”

President and CEO, Paul Werth Associates

The 2019 CEOs of the Year will be announced in the December edition of Columbus CEO. Sponsors of Columbus CEO’s CEO of the Year 2019

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Connections

Sept. 5, 2019 + Photos by Stephen Takacs

Hilton Columbus Downtown

Venture Dinner VentureOhio held its annual celebration for the state’s tech startup community.

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1 Zach Ellis and Cassie Dickerson 2 Rod Walton and Will Allen 3 Andy Effler and Travis Hedge 4 Liz Todia, Allie Esch and Jill Raderstorf 5 Arjin Harris, Alexandra Levick and Tony

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Santucci

6 Louisa Lee, Hannah Gray and Ray Jones 7 Mike Asem, Amelia Gandara and Alex

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Frommeyer

8 Nick Sadler, Ken Sahlin and Mark Kvamme 9 Terry Gore and Joe Needham 10 Warner Moore, Jacquie Bickel and Ben Kozberg 11 Rich Langdale, Bernie Moreno and Doug Given 12 Clayton Hall, Fred Brothers, Suzy Bureau and Stu Johnson

13 Scott Osborne and Katrina Cornish

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JOIN US IN CELEBRATING THE 2019

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13 RECEPTION: 5:30-8 PM PROGRAM BEGINS PROMPTLY AT 6:30 PM

ST. CHARLES PREP, WALTER COMMONS

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Agenda

Connections

Sept. 19, 2019 + Photos by Rick Buchanan Photography

National Veterans Memorial and Museum

Silver celebration The Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation held its 25th anniversary celebration with 200 attendees, announcing its name change to Ohio Access to Justice Foundation.

1 1 Kathy Maloney, Theresa Dean, Minerva

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Elizaga, Eugenio Mollo, Emily Brown and Sarah Stafford 2 Susan Choe and Diana Wiebe 3 Paula Boggs Muething and Jennifer Day 4 Robert Montgomery and Evelyn Stratton 5 Kathleen Trafford, Eleana Drakotos and Buzz Trafford 6 Mary Amos Augsburger, Jocelyn Armstrong and Yukiko Yee 7 Ukeme Awakessien Jeter, Dick Pogue and Yvette McGee Brown 8 Victoria Beckman, Jane Gleaves, David Snider and Liz Mote 9 Clark Kellogg, Kim Shumate and Angie Lloyd 10 Georgette Skrobot, Scott McComb and David Skrobot

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Thank you!

In a city filled with so many wonderful choices, thank you for voting Mills James BEST AUDIOVISUAL PRODUCTION COMPANY for the 11th year in Columbus CEO’s Best of Business reader poll.

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Dave Rigo CEO, Saddleberk Age: 40 Previous positions: Co-founder

and past owner of Watershed Distillery; previously employed by Ferguson Enterprises in a sales management role.

Education: Ashland University (degree in finance and accounting) Community involvement:

Coaches travel baseball and youth basketball Personal: Resides in Upper

Arlington with his wife Kori and his two children, Roxy and Shep.

By chloe teasley + Photos by Rob Hardin

Watershed Distillery founders Greg Lehman and Dave Rigo didn’t know their business ventures eventually would include a bunch of black and white pigs. Before Rigo became involved with Lehman’s Saddleberk Pork venture, he was a bit annoyed with his Watershed Distillery partner for giving attention to a side gig while Watershed was taking off in 2013. He certainly never expected to be leading that very side gig, although Lehman says he was always hovering around during tastings at Watershed of the special Berkshire pork.

Now, things are very different—Rigo sold his ownership interest in Watershed and has become Saddleberk’s CEO. With his people skills and salesmanship, Saddleberk is growing— twice as fast as expected in 2019.

Dave Rigo and Greg Lehman at Cockerill Farms

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Greg Lehman Co-founder of Saddleberk and co-founder and owner of Watershed Distillery Age: 41 Previous positions: Sold

pharmaceuticals to pig farms before starting Watershed and Saddleberk; played professional volleyball in Switzerland for the first two years out of college.

Education: Ohio State University Industry involvement: President

of Ohio Distiller’s Guild Personal: Resides in Upper

Arlington with his wife Leigh and his sons, Jack and Sam.

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t’s a cozy, cloudy day at Cockerill Farms near Washington Court House. Ripening corn hangs on rows of drying stalks. Cows stare, chewing in lazy circles. Two dogs, parents to a brood of puppies, zip around the grounds.

Pigs clamber over one another in mucky pens or stand oinking on beds of hay. This quintessential 1,000acre, fourth-generation Ohio farm is raising pigs once again—Saddleberk has given it that.

The Columbus region pork company was born from a merging of the right people with the right experience. And though you may not have heard of Saddleberk, you probably have heard of Columbus-based Watershed Distillery. Before Watershed, co-founder and CEO Greg Lehman was a pig pharmaceuticals salesman for Pfizer. He got to know two people in the pig feed business, John Sommers and Ed Hardin. It was Sommers and Hardin, now Saddleberk co-founders along with Lehman, who first suggested the idea for a high-end pork company.

“We sat down and started talking around this idea that chefs and consumers really wanted high-quality,” says Lehman. “They were trading commodity products for really highend products, not just in the meat world, but across the board. We saw the same thing in spirits, and that’s

Berkshire pigs at Cockerill Farms

Saddleberk Pork 4890 Richland Road NE Pleasantville 43148

saddleberk.com Business: Contracts with farmers to breed and raise Berkshire pigs, then sells to high-end restaurants and various grocery stores.

Founders: Greg Lehman, John

Sommers and Ed Hardin CEO: Dave Rigo Number of employees:

Two full-time, two part-time 2018 revenue: $813,000 2019 projected revenue:

$1.45 million

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“We were so busy at Watershed and I’m like, ‘Really? You’re going to go off and start another company?’ ” d a v e what made Watershed successful.”

Sommers and Hardin cited an Ohio State University study examining which pig genetics generated the best-tasting pork and thought of using those genetics to start a farm, marketing the pork to a more selective base of customers. What makes English Berkshire pork different from commodity pork is that it has more fat, and everyone knows fat is flavor. The meat also is a darker color—more a red meat that a “white” meat. It’s like Kobe beef, but pigs.

Once it became a functional business, Saddleberk purchased 50 sows that collectively produced 12 pigs per week.

Early on, Saddleberk’s customers included Bill Glover, executive chef at Gallerie Bar & Bistro in the Hilton Columbus Downtown and former owner of Sage American Bistro; Jonathan Olson, a former chef at Latitude 41 who’s now executive chef at The Keep inside the LeVeque Tower; and Wolf’s Ridge Brewing.

At the same time Saddleberk was starting, Lehman and Watershed cofounder Dave Rigo were neck-high in business at the distillery. Rigo wasn’t part of Saddleberk. It was actually a source of annoyance for him.

r i g o “The irony of it all,” says Rigo, who now is Saddleberk’s CEO, “is the fact that when he started Saddleberk five, six years into us starting Watershed, it was a little point of contention because we were so busy at Watershed and I’m like, ‘Really? You’re going to go off and start another company?’ ” “We weren’t allowed to talk about Saddleberk at Watershed,” says Lehman.

Rigo says in hindsight, it didn’t affect Watershed too much and Lehman says he understood Rigo’s frustration. When Lehman and his business partners, Sommers and Hardin, met together at Watershed, Rigo would listen in, realizing his interest was piqued. Another aspect of the pork company that piqued Rigo’s interest was when bacon or sausage needed to be taste-tested. “He was always there,” says Lehman.

•••

Farmer Bryan Cockerill, 55, who works the farm with his son, Troy, 29, says although raising pigs is his favorite farm job, it wouldn’t have been economically viable for him without the arrangement he has with Saddleberk.

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knew I couldn’t do what I used to do years ago on a small scale,” he says. “So it had to be some kind of a niche market.”

Just on this farm (one of five for Saddleberk), 100 of 550 total Saddleberk Berkshire sows birth 500 to 600 pigs per year (all 550 produce about 3,000). All the pigs going to market will be purchased by Saddleberk and sold directly to groceries or restaurants. About 70 pigs are born each week (6 to 10 per sow versus the 12 or more from a commodity pig), and take about seven months to become ready for the market, which is a little bit longer than a commodity pig depending on the season. The colder it is, the more the pigs will eat. Their diet is mostly ground corn and soybeans with some added vitamins and minerals—on Cockerill Farms, the pigs are fed corn that is already growing there.

Since all of Saddleberk’s farmer partners have another source of income, they are not under pressure to rush the growth process.

Rich Deaton, Ohio Pork Council past president and National Pork Board member, says Saddleberk’s operation is a bit of an anomaly in the pork world. The norm is for a farmer to sell its pigs to a packer or other producer that will prepare and sell the commodity meat to places such as grocery stores. As a farmer, doing direct marketing is extremely difficult. Saddleberk does the marketing for its farmers. “They’re filling this niche that the market is not able to,” Deaton says.

It’s something that benefits both the farmer and the consumer.

“Hats off to them,” he says. “When you go off what’s normal, you’ve just got to be intelligent and [have] a lot of market savvy to make that happen.”

Of all Ohio’s small-scale Berkshire pig producers, of which there are several, Deaton says Saddleberk is the largest. The other farms also do direct marketing through farmers markets and other means. It’s really the only way to be successful with a product like Berkshire pork.

Deaton thinks the shift away from commodity pork will continue. Right now, the National Pork Board is working on a way to track pork from the farm to the table so that consumers can know where their food is coming from. “It seems like our consum-

“I just knew I couldn’t do what I used to do years ago on a small scale. So it had to be some kind of a niche market.”

B r ya n

c o c k e r i l l

ers—especially millennials—are more concerned about how their food is raised and the whole process from the farmer to the time it ends up on the plate,” he says. “As we go forward, there will be more opportunities for niche marketers—it’s just finding the right people to fill them.”

•••

Before either Saddleberk or Watershed existed, and before Lehman and Rigo decided to become entre-

preneurs together, they were buddies who met when their wives introduced them. They played golf and volleyball together. “I thought I was really good until I started playing with Greg,” Rigo says of Lehman, who played volleyball professionally. Likewise, Rigo taught Lehman a thing or two on the golf course. They often found themselves discussing potential business ideas, neither one of them seeing themselves working in a corporate job forever. They came up with about 20

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Bryan Cockerill, left; Cockerill Farms pig barn; and Dave Rigo, Bryan Cockerill and Troy Cockerill

different ideas ranging from barber shop to brewery. The thing that kept them from opening a brewery was the (wrong) notion that maybe craft beer would die down in popularity. In 2008, the idea of a distillery in Ohio began to take hold, since neither of them had really ever heard of one in Ohio. They knew nothing about distilling and weren’t even that passionate about whiskey or gin.

But they became passionate about it.

All the other stuff—it’s just science.

“The science was definitely hard at first, but it wasn’t too hard, you know, to relatively, somewhat intelligent people,” says Rigo. Having done their research and stoking the fire of their passion for spirits, they took the plunge in 2010.

“It was all fun and games until all

of a sudden we had to write a check to the still manufacturer, then it got really serious,” says Lehman. “Having the face-to-face conversation, ‘I’m ready to leave my job, are you ready to leave yours?’ It’s like, ‘You go first.’ It was one of those things that when you jumped in and started going, you had to figure out how to make it work.”

At one point early on, Watershed’s account dwindled to $8,000. Neither of them were taking paychecks yet.

“We said we either need to go out there and sell or we’re going to have to go back and beg for our jobs back,” says Rigo. “We didn’t want the jobs back.” So they buckled down. Today, Watershed Distillery generates nearly $6 million a year in revenue, has 50 employees and sells more than

100,000 bottles annually in 7 states.

But in 2018, after about a decade together at the distillery, the two realized they had different visions for Watershed. While Lehman was interested in hiring more people and growing larger, Rigo was more conservative. He says for a while, that balance worked well—until Watershed matured enough that they could really consider which direction they would take with it. At that point, the difference in vision was slowing them down. It wasn’t that they were arguing, just at a stalemate, Rigo says.

They decided the best course of action was for one of them to keep leading the company and for the other to move on. On Aug. 28, 2018, Lehman and a group of investors bought Rigo out of Watershed for “enough to celebrate but not enough to stop working on a daily basis,” Rigo says.

“I thought, ‘As soon as he’s bought out, he’s going to be like, here’s what I’ve been working on.’ But no, I respect him so much for being all in with Watershed until he was out,” says Lehman. “It worked out really well. You know, it could have gone south at any time during those talks and that negotiation, but we were able to stay friends. It’s still to be determined who came out ahead on that deal, we’ll see,” he adds, laughing.

The duo continued to get lunch together, unwinding aspects of the deal they had made and chatting business ideas, as usual. One day after lunch Lehman joked that Saddleberk needed a CEO, and would Rigo do it? Since all three of the partners in Saddleberk also had full-time jobs, it was difficult to devote to Saddleberk the time it needed. And they needed someone to lead it that had a good understanding of how to create relationships and sell.

“He called me the next day and said, ‘Hey, I know that was kind of a joke but if there’s any seriousness, let’s talk about it,” says Lehman.

Rigo says part of his decision was made based on memories of starting Watershed and how stressful and anxiety-ridden it was. He didn’t want to do that again. “Salary wasn’t exactly tremendous,” he says, “but we were able to work something out and we haven’t really looked back since.

I saw the fact that there was a big opportunity and there was a lot of room November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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for growth.” Because Lehman, Hardin and Sommers all had other jobs, there wasn’t a lot of leadership happening on a day-to-day basis and Saddleberk was kind of on the back burner. With Rigo using well-practiced skills and making Saddleberk his primary concern, growth happened quickly—75 percent in one year.

“It was just kind of on autopilot,” says Lehman. “I think we were right at this point where it was going to go one of two ways. Someone was going to go all in and take it to where Dave’s taking it right now, or it was going to go the other way and the couple customers we had would realize that we didn’t have what it takes to really commit to it.”

When Rigo signed on, Kroger was Saddleberk’s only large and established customer, along with a handful of restaurants that were sometimes purchasing Saddleberk meat. There were many untapped opportunities of which to take advantage. Six months ago, it struck a deal with Heinen’s, a high-end grocery store in Cleveland, and Cameron Mitchell Restaurants’ M began offering Saddleberk pork belly on its menu, using two to three pork bellies per week. In June 2019, the company formed a partnership with meat distributor Michael’s Finer Meats and Seafoods, a Columbus provider for many local buyers that has a national presence. Saddleberk sausage also is in student dining facilities in universities throughout Ohio, including Ohio State. Soon, Saddleberk pork chops will be in Cameron Mitchell’s Ocean Club restaurant in Columbus and about five Ocean Primes throughout the country. Guild House is preparing to put Saddleberk pork on its menu, and there are already dishes at The Keep in the LeVeque Tower and at Watershed.

“It’s been snowballing a little bit, you might say, into more and more, because their product is so amazing,” says Ian Rough, a Cameron Mitchell regional chef.

The company’s relationship with Saddleberk grew out of its existing relationship with Watershed, which sells to more than 1,000 bars and restaurants in Ohio. To be sure, the distillery has helped Rigo generate more than one Saddleberk customer.

File/Columbus CEO/Tim Johnson

• ••

Dave Rigo and Greg Lehman at Watershed Distillery in 2015

“Working together so long, it’s really easy for us to just be completely honest without offending the other one.” g r e g “Instead of backing up a truck to a restaurant with a cooler in the back, [now] we’re like legitimately selling to restaurants,” says Rigo.

That is a far cry from the beginning, when Lehman, Sommers and Hardin were just starting to test their idea with a couple of pigs they had purchased. They discovered early on that one of the biggest headaches about their new venture was having to wait for their product to grow up.

One of their first potential custom-

l e h m a n ers, Kroger, was given a side-by-side taste test with a Kroger pork chop.

Everyone was wowed by the marbling of the Berkshire chop and the flavor.

“The Kroger pork chop wasn’t bad,” says Lehman, “but ours was delicious.” Kroger was ready to sign. It wanted a certain number of pigs per week, which means Saddleberk had to get more sows, those sows had to grow, they had to have babies, and then those babies had to grow. “That takes almost a year to do all that,”

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says Lehman. Fast-forward to about a month before the requested pigs would be ready to sell: Saddleberk and Kroger were finalizing details when Kroger asked to double its pig order to launch the new offering.

“We didn’t know what to say at first,” he says. “One of us finally broke the silence, and we were like, ‘Well, you know what, we could do that. But it’s going to take another nine months.’ ” Rigo says this is still one of the most challenging aspects of his job as Saddleberk’s CEO. The company’s growth works like this: Once it has obtained a certain amount of business, it gets more pigs, even before anyone knows who is going to buy them. As clients become more numerous, this model of purchasing more pigs first and then working to sell them becomes more complicated.

“But we are fortunate that all of Saddleberk’s owners [Lehman, Sommers and Hardin] have worked with Ohio farmers for decades,” Rigo says.

“They each have enough connections within this group to continue our growth for the next few years.”

Now, Saddleberk’s relationship with Kroger is in full-swing. Twentyfive stores sell Saddleberk’s full assortment of products, including ham, roasts and ribs. Seventy-five stores sell Saddleberk sausage in their meat cases. Since Rigo has been CEO, the past 18 months, the number of Kroger stores offering Saddleberk products has jumped from about 20 to 90.

Chris Beal, Kroger’s meat merchandiser since January 2018, has seen the growth of this relationship.

“Dave entered the business with a lot of background in business but not a lot of knowledge in pork, or in agriculture,” he says. “He’s brought a different dynamic, and I think he’s helped both parties grow our businesses and really connect more customers in Columbus with local products. When I got here, I wanted to grow the brand, but it was moving a little bit slower. Since Dave’s been there, we’ve had the opportunity to grow a little bit faster.”

Just in time for the holidays, Kroger will sell Saddleberk’s first spiral-cut hams—a honey-glazed version and a Sriracha honey version. It also will start to sell bacon. The bacon will come in hickory maple and a couple

other seasonal flavors. Rigo says the garlic and herb bacon Saddleberk will sell in the summer is the best BLT bacon he has ever encountered.

As the year comes to a close, a huge part of 2020 will be about finding more farmers so Saddleberk can sell more. “We’re pretty close to being maxed out,” says Rigo. But, “I don’t see Saddleberk ever being a gigantic company in the next couple years,” he says. “We love working with smaller farms. You can ensure quality that way.”

•••

Pigs and alcohol are two very different things, but they have at least one commonality—they are both part of the food and drink industry, a place where Lehman and Rigo have been for a long time. Rigo says being successful in the service industry is harder than, say, the tech industry, where there are “millions and millions of dollars flowing in from venture capital and everything else.”

Another thing that makes success more elusive is the ease with which one can fall too hard into the late nights, parties and excess. “You’ve got to be really focused on business and getting up in the morning,” says Rigo.

“It’s a lot of fun, as long as you can temper the fun.”

Lehman loves the idea that his businesses are offering people a chance to share moments and memories together. When someone eats at Watershed, they are probably celebrating and expect to have a good time together. And when people purchase a Watershed spirit or a Saddleberk product, the same thing is probably true.

“Your customers are coming into the restaurant and having a great time; they’re looking for a great evening,” says Lehman. “Or if they’re buying a bottle of bourbon or a pack of bacon.

When they enjoy that, it’s going to be with friends, with family around a breakfast table, around the dinner table—the bacon around the breakfast table, the bourbon around the dinner table, hopefully.”

Lehman and Rigo complement each other. Lehman is focused on how things are running—making sure operations are as smooth as possible.

Detail-oriented, forward-looking. Rigo is a relationship-maker, a charismatic

salesperson; someone who is interested in making money today. The process guy and the people guy.

“The candor that we have between each other, working together so long, it’s really easy for us to just be completely honest without offending the other one,” says Lehman. “I think we see how much effort we both put into something, so we know that the other guy’s coming from a good spot and just trying to move the ball forward.

You start a business together, you’re going to have some fights along the way. But we’ve definitely gotten to a point where we understand each other well enough to have those really candid conversations.”

“That and you just don’t have to ask as many questions so you can go a little bit faster,” Rigo adds. “There’s so many times in newer business relationships, especially with partnerships, you’re constantly having to second guess or ask, ‘Are you OK with me doing this?’ And we really just don’t even have to ask.”

The two have made an indelible mark in Central Ohio’s service industry and beyond. Looking into the future, Lehman and Rigo speculate that it could include another partnership. “We’re only 41 [Lehman] and 40 [Rigo],” says Rigo.

“They seem like brothers that get along and are excited to share some great products with their people,” says Cameron Mitchell’s Rough.

“When you look at Watershed, what [they did], they’re obviously artists.

The same thing happened at Saddleberk. They’re extremely excited to share what they’ve got, and they’re proud of what they do. And for good reason—they should be.”

Working together for a decade also means the invaluable process of learning from one another’s strengths. Both Rigo and Lehman feel they have been able to adopt some of the strengths they see in the other. They agree Watershed wouldn’t have made it without them combined. Now, Lehman says, they are more fit than ever to strike out on their own—essentially what they are doing now. Lehman at Watershed, Rigo leading Saddleberk.

“I see what he’s doing with Saddleberk and I just try to stay out of the way,” says Lehman.

Chloe Teasley is staff writer.

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A Celebration of

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Special Advertising Section

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25th Anniversary of Torch Awards for Ethics Presented by better business bureau® serving central ohio

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S pec i a l A d v e r t i s i n g S ec t i o n

The Power of Trust BBB’s TRUST! Framework is designed to help guide business leaders, nonprofit executives and community leaders to take an intentional, introspective look at how they operate their business relative to the six TRUST! principles.

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e at BBB believe in the power of trust, and our mission is to advance trust in business.

We believe that businesses who embrace trust as a core value in their organization will see that it leads to growth in employees, customers, community and their bottom line.

Through evaluation and Accreditation, education and training, and celebrating great role models, BBB builds a community of like-mind-

Profiles by Emma Frankart Henterly Design by Yogesh Chaudhary Torch photos by Tim Johnson, Rob Hardin Other photos courtesy BBB BBB Celebration of Trust is published by GateHouse Media, LLC. All contents of this magazine are copyrighted © 2019, all rights reserved.

Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.

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ed businesses that then have the opportunity to impact people and communities positively. It’s a family relying on a contractor to repair the roof that will keep them dry, warm and safe. It’s the small family business depending on its employees to do what’s right for its customers as they have done for generations, and as consumers it’s why we return to and refer those businesses that uphold the trust we put in them.

To us, trust is the glue that holds communities together; it’s the principle BBB was founded on, and it’s what continues to motivate us today.

The basis for the Torch Awards entry process is BBB’s TRUST! Framework, which outlines six guiding principles and provides benchmarks on which organizations can reflect, evaluate and determine what core values drive their mission and goals. We are excited to announce the upcoming launch of the BBB Trust Score, which is built around this framework. This new tool will allow trust to be an internal performance metric within an organization and, based on the scores, will offer specific programs and resources customized to the needs of the organization. More details on the BBB Trust Score will be shared at the 2019 Torch Awards for Ethics luncheon.

We are excited to celebrate our 25th anniversary of the Torch Awards this year and, most importantly, to honor our three newest recipients of the Torch Awards for Ethics. These organizations have demonstrated that they are committed to advancing trust in our community.

Each of our 2019 Torch Awards for Ethics winners—which are profiled in the upcoming pages—have taken intentional steps to establish a culture based on trust, and we are delighted to share their best practices with you. At the luncheon, BBB will also award 10 future leaders, high school seniors who are the winners of our 2019 Students of Integrity award, with scholarships sponsored by Columbia Gas. And, BBB will recognize the three young organizations that were presented with BBB Spark Awards earlier this year. Ron Price, an internationally recognized business advisor, executive coach, speaker and author, will be our keynote speaker for the afternoon, and Laura Borchers from Consumer 10/WBNS 10TV will serve as our emcee.

We hope that you will join us in this Celebration of Trust. Because when trust rises, business soars; teams outperform in their industry; and in the end, businesses and communities grow.

Kip Morse

President & CEO Better Business Bureau Serving Central Ohio

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Emphasis on Ethics Students and young business leaders receive recognition.

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ach year, Better Business Bureau’s Center for Character Ethics recognizes two additional cohorts of ethics leaders through its Spark Awards and Students of Integrity scholarship.

BBB Spark Awards are given to entrepreneurs age 35 and younger or businesses that are less than three years old and demonstrate an intentional focus on Character, Culture and Community.

The fourth cohort of Spark Awards winners was recognized earlier this year and includes Acceptd, which connects artists with recruiters and decision-makers; Agility Partners, an IT professional

resourcing and consulting firm; The Columbus Book Project, which creates coffee table books about the city; and Warrior Wear, a men’s yoga apparel company. All four were selected by an independent panel of judges for their intentional focus on the three Spark attributes of Character, Culture and Community. For more information on the awards, including how to apply in 2020, visit bbbSparkAward.com.

For more than 15 years, BBB’s Center for Character Ethics has bestowed Students of Integrity Scholarship Awards on area youth who show exemplary leadership, community service,

Proud to Support the BBB Torch Awards

The Spark Awards class of 2019 overall personal integrity and academic accomplishment.

An independent panel of judges selects 10 winners to each receive a $1,000 scholarship, generously provided by Columbus Gas, to the college or university of their choice.

Congratulations to this year’s winners: Emma Garee, Northridge High School; Cheyenne Gluckle, West Liberty-Salem High School; Madeline Huff, Adena High School; Eleanor

Jeffers, Columbus Academy; J.K. Kearns, Alexander High School; Madelyn Meiser, Coshocton High School; Adwoa Nkansah-Amankra, The Arts and College Preparatory Academy; Aaron Sharp, Amanda-Clearcreek High School; Abigail Tolliver, Sheridan High School; and Julia Wysocki, Newark High School. Learn more about the scholarship program at bbbStudentsofIntegrity.com.

11 NICHE MAGAZINES 16 DYNAMIC WEBSITES & APPS 21 COMMUNITY WEEKLY PAPERS 19 BIG ANNUAL EVENTS And, of course, 1 AWARD-WINNING, WATCHDOGGING, ICONIC, 148-YEARS-AND-STILL-GOING-STRONG DAILY NEWSPAPER

Subscribe to The Dispatch today by calling 1-877-734-7728 or visiting dispatch.com/subscribe.

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Special Advertising Section

25 Years of Celebrating Trust in the Community The TRUST! Principles Transformation at the “Top”

Leaders are reflective and intentionally work to increase manifestations of their own high character in the culture.

Reinforce and Build

Leaders reinforce and build a culture of high character ethics.

Unite the Team

Leaders unify the organization around a clear purpose and compelling convictions.

Steer Performance

Leaders guide organizational performance by implementing high competency management practices.

Treasure People

Leaders prize the intrinsic value of people.

Enthusiastically Reinvest!

Leaders generously support the community that supports them.

4

BBB honors three local organizations for their ethical best practices.

F

or 25 years, the Better Business Bureau Serving Central Ohio’s Center for Character Ethics has recognized local businesses and nonprofits that go above and beyond when it comes to running their organizations with ethics and integrity. And, during the last 25 years, the Torch Awards for Ethics— BBB Serving Central Ohio’s highest honor—have been presented to more than 100 such organizations across Central Ohio, including this year’s three new honorees. Local winners go on to compete for the International Torch Awards through the International Association of Better Business Bureaus.

Torch Award Winners are selected by an independent panel of judges for their intentional focus and best practices in upholding the BBB TRUST! Principles (see sidebar, left).

You can learn more about the Torch Awards, including how to nominate your organization or one you admire for the 2020 awards, by visiting bbbTorchAward.com.

Ability Matters 425 Metro Place N Dublin, Ohio abilitymattersohio.com Owner/CEO: Dr. Kristyn Butler Employees: 244 Founded: 2008 About: Agency that emphasizes community inclusion for adults and youth ages 16 and up through programs that meet the varied social and behavioral needs of individuals.

“A

ll staff members, including myself as CEO, must demonstrate ethical character and behaviors in our care to our customers,” writes Dr. Kristyn Butler in a letter that was part of Ability Matters’ Torch Awards application.

“Our stated vision, to ‘shape the future by providing the highest quality of care for individuals with disabilities,’ reflects my lifelong career devotion to ensure

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that persons with disabilities are treated with care and love.”

Torch Awards judges appreciated how the company has taken its vision and mission from idea, to workshops, to personal examples of how staff are “walking the walk,” so to speak.

Cathy Sankey, leadership consultant at Ability Matters, wrote in the company’s application that Butler “has worked extensively to create a culture and climate that fosters and develops a caring, accepting and inclusive environment for each of the consumers Ability Matters serves.” Sankey goes on to say that this mission can only be achieved in an ethical environment—and that communications from Butler and her team demonstrate their dedication to a high ethical culture.

“Our fervent hope at Ability Matters is that not only will our consumers’ and families’ lives change positively by our ethical practices, mission and vision, but that our society’s ethics toward the treatment of individuals with disabilities will improve, leading to a better world,” more information, visit ButlerFor writes.

Columbia Cares for Ohio Congratulations to the 2019 Student of Integrity Award Winners.

For more information, visit ColumbiaGasOhio.com

ColumbiaGasOhio.com

Dr. Kristyn Butler, CEO 2019 BBB Torch Awards for Ethics l ColumbusCEO

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Special Advertising Section

Chad and Keri Hubbs, owners

Hubbs Heating & Air Judges for the 2019 Torch Awards Tim Burnham Salas O’Brien, managing principal Shannon Lee Relá, executive director Marchelle Moore Encova Insurance, SVP, chief legal officer & corporate secretary Parag Shah Nationwide, chief ethics officer Scott McComb Heartland Bank, chairman and CEO Cathy Blackford Columbus Builders Exchange, executive director (retired)

Tom Welch Grange, CEO (retired) Joe Cole TRC, global brand & marketing leader

6

545 E. Main St., Lancaster, Ohio hubbsheating.com Owner/CEO: Keri Hubbs Employees: 17 Founded: 2009 About: Family-owned HVAC company providing residential and commercial services and installations.

I

n the evaluation process, the judges homed in on Hubbs Heating & Air’s best practice that centered around the second Torch Award criteria, Reinforce & Build.

In her application, owner and CEO Keri Hubbs writes about developing her company’s policy for maintaining its Code of Ethics while “providing the best quality of service that upholds our core values such as honesty, quality, and integrity” to both homeowners and home warranty companies. Ultimately, they developed a simple, transparent and honest solution.

“Our new policy required us to provide a copy of our findings and our recommended solution to both the homeowner and the payor source,” Hubbs writes. “All parties involved would see the same information, and the homeowner would be fully aware of what was approved and what was

recommended by our professional technicians.” She adds that the homeowner also has the choice to decline or approve the repair that Hubbs recommends.

“Committing to treating two stakeholder groups ethically is not always an easy path—but it is possible,” wrote one judge.

The practice worked in the company’s favor. Despite initial concerns, Hubbs Heating & Air has found that both customers and the warranty company appreciate the change. “Being upfront and ethical works out best for all,” Hubbs notes.

Pickerington Pets and Supplies 1514 Stonecreek Drive S Pickerington, Ohio petlandpickerington.com Owner: Richard Curnutte Sr. Employees: 20 Founded: 2010 About: Locally owned retail pet store that sells pets and pet supplies.

W

hen asked on the Torch application about her company’s ethical practices, general manager Christina Wood’s responses were “very thorough and

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demonstrated growth in ethics and integrity, not only for [her]self but for the whole company,” wrote one judge.

Another added, “Strong efforts for such a small business!” The selection committee also took note about the intentionality of the company to avoid bad breeders and the policies they have in place to do so.

The company’s mission statement— Our Pet Counselors are dedicated to matching the right pet with the right person and meeting the needs of both.

To our customers who already own pets, we are dedicated to enhancing the knowledge and enjoyment of the human/ animal bond.—was a key point in much of Wood’s application. That statement is written on one full wall of the store, she notes, for all to see and be reminded of.

A rigorous, in-house, five-day training program for new hires ensures that all employees are prepared to fulfill this mission to its fullest, she writes, adding that employee recognition practices and ongoing training support continued staff success in this area.

“No matter what position an employee holds, there are many opportunities for training and development,” Wood writes.

“Our goal is to provide as much education as an employee is willing to do to become the best possible person in their position.”

Congratulations to the 2019 Torch Awards Recipients!

newlooksidings.com

Proud Sponsor of the 2019 Torch Awards for Ethics

Congratulations to the recipients of the

2019 Torch Awards for Ethics Your outstanding commitment to building honor and trust in the marketplace is truly appreciated.

www.sheakley.com

Congratulations!

USI & My Benefit Advisor sends our congratulations to the recipients of the 2019 Torch Awards for Ethics

2019 TORCH AWARDS FOR ETHICS Encova Insurance, formerly Motorists Insurance Group, is proud to support an organization that promotes trust in the marketplace. Congratulations to all 2019 Torch Awards for Ethics recipients.

Christina Wood, general manager

encova.com

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Special Advertising Section

Thank you to our 2019 Torch Awards for Ethics Sponsors

Artina Promotional Products, CPMedia & Marketing, Custom Air Conditioning and Heating Co., Grange Insurance, Storyforge, ScottsMiracle-Gro, The Waterworks

START WITH TRUST

®

Better Business Bureau is a community based resource, a trusted advisor, and a partner in business. At the core of a better business is trust - and soon BBB will launch the Trust Score, a program that presents trust as a performance metric.

“We were an early adopter of the Trust Score, and it has become embedded into our business...it’s now a competitive strength and it’s part of our culture.”

Scott McComb, Chairman/CEO, Heartland Bank

When trust rises, business soars.

To find out more about the Trust Score program, or to schedule the Trust Score for your organization, visit bbb.org/centralohio/bbbtrustscore

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2019 Photo courtesy GRAHM S. JONES/Columbus Zoo

Photo courtesy BELLE COMMUNICATION

Photo courtesy City of Dublin

Belle Communication

Dublin

Columbus Zoo

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e are proud to be in our second decade of recognizing the region’s best-in-class businesses.

For the 12th year in a row, our Best of Business poll is shining a light on the insurance companies, restaurants, law firms, dentists, educational institutions, orthopedists and more that have earned the admiration of our community.

It’s our longest-running and most far-reaching recognition program, as well as the only one in which our readers get the final say.

This year’s poll attracted a record 68,000 votes, with readers weighing in on 80 categories in 11 sections: business support services, education, financial, food and beverage, health care, legal, meetings and events, personal perks, real

estate, workforce and Best of the Rest. Voting occurred from May through July.

If you’re a regular reader of this magazine, you’ll notice some familiar names in our list—perennial winners we’ve celebrated since our poll launched in 2007. You’ll also see a handful of new names in the list, as well as a few who’ve vaulted from the runner-up position to claim the

top prize in their respective categories.

How do you get on the list in the first place? many ask. We add top write-in vote getters from year to year, and you can also request new categories—we added florists this year. Want to get on the list next year? Email Katy Smith at ksmith@columbusceo.com with your contact information and we’ll consider.

Photo courtesy FOCUS 3

COPC Photo courtesy COPC

Mills James

Focus 3’s Tim Kight

Photo courtesy MILLS JAMES

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M+A Architects

B

2019

BUSINESS SUPPORT SERVICES Expedient

Based in Columbus

Based in Pittsburgh

Runners-up:

Runners-up:

Architectural Firm

2 Cologix 3 WeConnect

Energy Company

M+A Architects

IGS Energy

Based in Columbus

Based in Dublin

Runners-up:

Runners-up:

2 Moody Nolan 3 Design Collective

Automotive Services

Safelite Autoglass Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Roush 3 Ricart

Photo courtesy M+A Architects

Fahlgren Mortine SBC

2 Hart 3 Adept Marketing

B

Commercial Data Center

EMH&T

2 AEP 3 Columbia Gas of Ohio

Engineering Firm

EMH&T Engineers Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Moody Engineering 3 Paul J. Ford & Co.

Photo courtesy EMH&T

Ad Agency

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BEST OF BUSINESS REQUIRES BETTER BROADBAND

Horizon understands that in order to be the best, you have to have the best. Horizon designs and builds custom fiber network solutions to provide you piece of mind in security, redundancy and reliability. Horizon's innovation and flexibility continues to help businesses do what they do, better.

Symmetrical speeds designed to scale as your needs increase.

Redundant and diverse Unmatched reliability

Over a dozen connected data centers Local Network Operations Center monitoring your network 24/7/365 right from our Columbus office.

Come see us at the Best of Business Awards Event!

Better Broadband for Columbus.

Explore Horizon today.

Horizonconnects.com | 866.418.8126 |

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2019 Graphic Design/Branding Agency

Fahlgren Mortine Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 ZoCo Design 3 treetree

HR Services

GO-HR Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Insperity 3 Willis Towers Watson

GOOD, SMART PEOPLE EFFECTIVELY MANAGING

Information Technology

Fusion Alliance Based in Indianapolis Runners-up:

2 Revolution Group 3 Leading Edje

THE ENTIRE HEALTH CARE DOLLAR.

Insurance Brokerage

Bazemore Insurance Group Based in Westerville Runners-up:

2 Overmyer Hall 3 Hylant

HEALTHIER EMPLOYEES. LOWER CLAIMS COSTS.

Insurance Company

Nationwide Insurance Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 State Farm 3 Erie Insurance

Nationwide Insurance

McGOHANBRABENDER.COM

•

614.210.1124

P

Photo courtesy Nationwide

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS CONSULTING COMPLIANCE HEALTH RISK MANAGEMENT

M

M

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PROUD TO BE YOUR BEST LOCAL CREDIT UNION + Best Business Lender and Commercial Mortgage Lender

• Personalized Service • Outstanding Rates • Individual Solutions Call 800.282.6420 or visit us at kemba.org

Personal & Business Checking & Savings • Personal & Commercial Auto Loans • Workplace Banking Mortgage & Home Equity Loans • Personal & Business Credit Cards with Rewards • Personal Loans Money Markets & Certificates • Business Term Loans & Lines of Credit • Student Loans & Refinances Commercial Real Estate Loans • Financial Literacy & Counseling Resources • And more!

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2019 Internet Service Provider

Spectrum Based in Stamford, Connecticut Runners-up:

2 WOW 3 AT&T

Logistics Provider

UPS Based in Atlanta Runners-up:

2 FedEx 3 USPS

Manufacturing Company

Worthington Industries Based in Worthington Runners-up:

2 Honda of America

Manufacturing

3 T. Marzetti Co.

Mobile Phone Service Provider

Verizon Based in Basking Ridge, N.J. Runners-up:

2 AT&T 3 Sprint/Boost Mobile

Office Furniture

Continental Office Based in Columbus Runners-up:

Photo courtesy Continental Office

2 Dupler Office 3 King Business Interiors

Continental Office

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We’re honored to be recognized as Columbus CEO magazine’s Best Private Flight Service for the eighth consecutive year, and for the first time, Best Executive Transportation.

To learn more, visit netjets.com or call a Private Aviation Concierge at 1-877-JET-5633.

NetJets is a Berkshire Hathaway company. Aircraft are managed and operated by NetJets Aviation, Inc. NetJets is a registered service mark. ©2019 NetJets IP, LLC. All rights reserved.

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Education Continuing Education Offerings

2019

Ohio State University Based in Columbus

Photo by anusha chaudhary

Printing Company

Runners-up:

2 Columbus State Community

Watkins Printing

College

Based in Columbus

3 Ohio University

Runners-up:

2 Hopkins Printing 3 West Camp Press

MBA Program

OSU Fisher College of Business

Public Relations Firm

Belle Communication

Based in Columbus

Based in Columbus

Runners-up:

2 Franklin University 3 Ohio University

Runners-up:

2 Fahlgren Mortine 3 Bowers PR

Private Schools (K-12)

Signage Company

Columbus School for Girls

FastSigns

Based in Bexley

Based in Carrollton, Texas

Runners-up:

Runners-up:

2 Columbus Sign 3 DaNite Sign

Watkins Printing

2 Columbus Academy 3 Saint Charles Preparatory

School

Einstein Law received Best of Business by Columbus CEO readers in both Family Law and Employment Law Categories Why choose Einstein Law? Dianne Einstein and Mary Lewis Turner, the experienced attorneys at Einstein Law, are unique in the following ways: • They provide practical advice and try to resolve your problems quickly and cost efficiently

615 Copeland Mill Road, Suite 1H Westerville, OH 43081

• Theyy listen to you and are compassionate, understanding, caring car and non-judgmental non-judgme • They practice in Central Ohio courts court

(614) 734-0000 00

einsteinlawoffice.com .com

ey have extensive training • Th They exte mediation in media ation and collaborative that processes so tha h t clients control outcomes their out Paw Clerks • They have P

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Libertas is Honored to be Voted Top Private Wealth Management Company So many companies focus on what they do, what they’ve accomplished, or what products they sell.

We take a different approach. We focus instead on you, who you are,

how we can help you reach them.

2019

LibertasWealth.com

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(614) 543-1350

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2019

FINANCIAL Accounting Firm (Up to 20 CPAs)

Wolf Financial Group Based in Canton Runners-up:

2 Whalen & Co. 3 HW & Co.

Accounting Firm (20-plus CPAs)

GBQ Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2019 “It’s not just about filling vessels with lots of content knowledge. It’s about helping students to take that content knowledge and do something important with it.

CSG girls learn from a very early age that what they do is more important than just what they know.”

Business Lender

Kemba Financial Credit Union Based in Gahanna Runners-up:

2 Huntington National Bank 3 Heartland Bank

Commercial Mortgage Lender

Kemba Financial Credit Union Based in Gahanna 2 Heartland Bank 3 Pathways Financial Credit

Union

Credit Union

Admission

Kemba Financial Credit Union

Open

Based in Gahanna Runners-up:

House

2 BMI Federal Credit Union 3 Pathways Financial Credit

Union

NOV.

1:00pm

Private Wealth Management

Columbus School for Girls Age 3 to Grade 12 • RSVP Today!

www.columbusschoolforgirls.org

Libertas Wealth Management Group Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Budros, Ruhlin & Roe 3 Morgan Stanley

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Esta How fam pro

The alon Hom

Runners-up:

- Jennifer Ciccarelli Head of School

3 2019

B

2 Rea & Associates 3 Plante Moran

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Best of Business 2019: Custom Home Builder

The Diyanni Difference Established in 1979, Diyanni Homes has built over 2,5000 custom new homes in Ohio on clients’ lots.

However, the Diyanni Difference is more than just our long history in the industry or our strong family values. We believe that our customer focus and ability to deliver an accessible and professional experience differentiates us from other custom home builders in Ohio.

The Diyanni Homes mission encompasses the same integrity and values our father instilled in us, along with a high standard for home building. We take pride in building our family legacy of Diyanni Homes just as much as take in building your new home, one wooden beam and roof shingle at a time.

Build On Your Lot Cincinnati - Cleveland - Columbus - Delaware or any surrounding counties, we can help.

Visit DIYANNIHOMES.COM or Call 1-855-DIYANNI 053-083_BestofBusiness2019.indd 63

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Power Lunch

Cap City Fine Diner and Bar Based in Columbus

2019

Runners-up:

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Outdoor Dining

2 Northstar Café

3 Lindey’s

Lindey’s

Happy Hour

Based in Columbus

Condado Tacos

Runners-up:

Based in Columbus

2 Milestone 229 3 Barcelona

Runners-up:

2 Pins Mechanical 3 Lindey’s

Place to entertain a client

Hyde Park Prime Steakhouse Based in Beachwood Runners-up:

2 Lindey’s 3 Mitchell’s Ocean Club

Power Breakfast

First Watch Based in University Park, Florida Runners-up:

Condado Tacos

2 Northstar Café 3 Fox in the Snow

Photo courtesy Condado Tacos

Family Medicine Internal Medicine Pediatrics Wellness Education

Restaurant

Cap City Fine Diner and Bar Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 City Barbeque 3 Cooper’s Hawk

Healthcare Cardiac Practice

OhioHealth Heart & Vascular Physicians Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Ohio State Heart and

Vascular Center

3 Heart Center at Nationwide

Children’s Hospital

Physical Therapy Radiology/Imaging SameDay Centers Orthopedic Urgent Care

You You n n the th the th You n You n fee-o fee-o the th the th you you ff fee-o fee-o you f 1801 you 1801 fW W

Thank you Central Ohio for naming us Best Family Medical Practice. At Central Ohio Primary Care we pride ourselves on the COMPREHENSIVE CARE our doctors offer to our 400,000 patients in over 75 practices across Central Ohio. Our INDEPENDENT PROVIDERS sole focus is what’s best for our patients; which is why we are THE BEST FOR PRIMARY CARE. Find a COPC doctor in your neighborhood at copcp.com/FindMyDoctor or call (614) 326-4646.

Budros, 1801 W Budros, 1801 W Columb

Columb

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LIVING THE LIVING THE GOOD LIFE GOOD LIFE isn’t just about the numbers. isn’t just about the numbers.

You You need need an an advisor advisor who who will will help help you you transform transform your your money money into into the things that mean the most to you.

Someone who is independent, You need an advisor who will help you transform your money into the things that mean the most to you.

Someone who is independent, You need an advisor who will help you transform your money into You need an advisor who will help you transform your money into fee-only and a true fiduciary.

At Budros, Ruhlin & Roe, we the thingsand thatamean the most toAt you.

Someone who & is independent, fee-only true the fiduciary.

Budros, Ruhlin Roe, we put put the things that mean most to you.

Someone who is independent, You need an advisor who will help you transform your money into the things that mean the most to you.

Someone who is independent, you first — every time. fee-only and a true fiduciary. At Budros, Ruhlin & Roe, we put you first — every time. fee-only true fiduciary.

Budros, Ruhlin Roe, the thingsand thataamean the most toAt you.

Someone who & is independent, fee-only and true fiduciary.

At Budros, Ruhlin & Roe, we we put put you first — every time. you first — every time. fee-only and a true fiduciary.

At Budros, Ruhlin & Roe, we put 1801 Watermark Drive, Suite 300, Columbus, OH 43215 | (614) 481-6900 you — every time.Suite 300, Columbus, OH 43215 | (614) 481-6900 1801 first Watermark Drive, you — every time.Suite 300, Columbus, OH 43215 | (614) 481-6900 1801 first Watermark Drive,

Budros, Ruhlin & Roe,Drive, Inc. is anSuite independent, fee-only, SEC registered investment advisor,481-6900 located in 1801 Watermark 300, Columbus, OH 43215 || (614) Budros, Ruhlin & Roe,Drive, Inc. is anSuite independent, SEC registered investment advisor,481-6900 located in 1801 Watermark 300, fee-only, Columbus, 43215 (614) .

Columbus, Ohio. For more disclosure information, please visit: OH www.b-r-r.com/disclosure/ .

Columbus, Ohio.

For more disclosure information, please visit: www.b-r-r.com/disclosure/ Budros, Ruhlin & Roe,Drive, Inc. is anSuite independent, SEC registered investment advisor,481-6900 located in 1801 Watermark 300, fee-only, Columbus, OH 43215 | (614) Columbus, Ohio. For more disclosure information, please visit: www.b-r-r.com/disclosure/.

053-083_BestofBusiness2019.indd 65

Building Building money money towards towards meaning. meaning.

Building money towards Building money towards meaning. meaning.

B-R-R.com B-R-R.com Building money towards meaning.

B-R-R.com B-R-R.com B-R-R.com

10/17/19 2:48 PM

Orthopedic Practice & Sports Medicine

Orthopedic One

2019 Dental Practice

Dr. James Hutta Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Dental Reflections Dublin 3 Dugas Dental

Oncology Medical Practice

OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center, James Cancer Hospital Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Nationwide Children’s

Dermatology and Skin Care

Hospital Oncology 3 Zangmeister Center

OSU Dermatology Based in Columbus

The James Cancer Center

Runners-up:

Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 OhioHealth Primary Care

3 Mount Carmel Medical Group

File/Columbus Dispatch/CHRIS RUSSELL

Central Ohio Primary Care

Runners-up:

2 OrthoNeuro 3 OSU Sports Medicine

Physical Therapy Practice

Orthopedic One Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 OrthoNeuro 3 OSU Sports Medicine

Legal

2 Central Ohio Skin & Cancer 3 NorthEast Dermatology

Family Medical Practice

Based in Columbus with nine offices in Central Ohio

Business Law Firm

Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Bailey Cavalieri 3 Porter Wright

Na

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COULD WE REALLY HAVE BEEN NAMED

BEST SUBURB TO DO BUSINESS? ( YEP, 9 YEARS IN A ROW.)

EVERY THING GROWS HERE.

Named “Best Suburb to do Business” for 9 consecutive years by Columbus CEO

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Subscribe to Subscribe or renew your annual subscription to Columbus Monthly for $18..

2019 Family Law Firm

Einstein Law Based in Westerville Runners-up:

2 AlerStallings 3 Grossman Law Offices

Go to columbusmonthly.com or call 877-688-8009.

Labor & Employment Law Firm

Einstein Law

Thank you for choosing us as central Ohio’s

Based in Westerville Runners-up:

2 Vorys Sater Seymour

& Pease

best contractor

3 Bricker & Eckler

seven years in a row!

Law Firm (Up to 50 attorneys)

AlerStallings Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Grossman Law Offices 3 Carlile Patchen & Murphy

Law Firm (50-plus attorneys)

Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Bailey Cavalieri 3 Bricker & Eckler

Litigation Firm

Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease Based in Columbus Runners-up:

Courtesy Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease

2 Bricker & Eckler 3 Ice Miller

Vorys, Sater, Seymour & Pease

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2019

Meetings & events Attraction for Visitors

Columbus Zoo & Aquarium Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Franklin Park Conservatory 3 Columbus Commons and

the Scioto Mile

p

Audiovisual Production

Mills James Productions Based in Columbus Runners-up:

T

2 Live Technologies 3 Brainstorm Media

Caterer

Freedom a la Cart Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 L.A. Catering 3 City BBQ Catering

BBB Helps Protect You Against

Scams

Consumer scams are part of the marketplace, but they don’t have to be part of your life.

Country Club

Scioto Country Club Based in Upper Arlington Runners-up:

2 Muirfield Village Golf Club 3 New Albany Country Club

Meeting Space (Conference Center)

Sparkspace Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Greater Columbus Convention

Center

TH PR

3 Hilton Columbus at Easton

Private Golf Course

140 888

Muirfield Village Golf Club

bbb.org/scamtracker ÂŽ

Based in Dublin

Wa req

Runners-up:

2 Scioto Country Club 3 Pinnacle Golf Club

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“T H E W A T K I N S

P R I N T I N G C O M PA N Y and family are humbled to be voted the Best of Business award winner for the printing industry. Sincere appreciation to our clients, vendors and friends.“ Tamara Green

William Green

Brock Clary

Emily Lust

CEO

President/COO

VP Operations

VP Finance

T H E WAT K I N S P R I N T I N G C O M PA N Y 1401 East 17th Avenue, Columbus OH 43211 888-276-1307

WatkinsPrinting.com requestaquote@watkinsprinting.com

g n i t a r b e l Ce

100

WOMEN OWNED

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2019 Promotional Products Company

Leaderpromos Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Artina Promotional Products 3 Idegy

Public Golf Course

Golf Club of Dublin Based in Dublin Runners-up:

2 Safari Golf Club

3 Blacklick Woods Golf Course

GO HR

PERSONAL PERKS

You can’t GO without HR! | go-hr.biz

Auto Dealer

Roush Auto Group Based in Westerville Runners-up:

2 Ricart Automotive Group 3 Lindsay Auto Group

THANK YOU READERS

Executive Transportation

NetJets Based in Columbus Runners-up:

Voted best outdoor dining by CEO Magazine for 2019

2 Cardinal Transportation 3 Lane Aviation

File/Columbus Dispatch/JONATHAN QUILTER

NetJets

72 ColumbusCEO l November 2019

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To be named to Columbus CEO magazine’s Best of Business list is indeed an honor for all of us at GBQ. Our sincere thanks to the central Ohio business readers, clients and friends who believe we are the very best at what we do.

230 West Street Suite 700 Columbus, OH 43215

053-083_BestofBusiness2019.indd 73

Tax Accounting Consulting

www.gbq.com

10/16/19 3:27 PM

2019 Fitness Facility

Planet Fitness Based in Hampton, N.H. Runners-up:

Striving to earn this recognition every day.

2 YMCA 3 LifeTime Fitness

Florist

DeliveringSolutions.

Connells Maple Lee Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Griffin’s Floral Design 3 North Market Blooms

emht.com Engineers Surveyors Planners Scientists

Jeweler

Diamonds Direct Based in Charlotte, North Carolina Runners-up:

2 Diamond Cellar 3 Worthington Jewelers

Private Flight Service

MICHAEL J. STEVENSON

NetJets

Managing Partner, Clarus Partners

Based in Columbus

I am not accustomed to being in the passenger seat when numbers are being discussed. However over the past four years I have seen our digital media presence reach numbers I never thought possible for an accounting firm. Columbus CEO and ThriveHive not only get you in front of the right audience but ensure you stay there, driving home your message within a cost-effective strategy.

2 Lane Aviation 3 Wheels Up

Columbus CEO's sales solutions can help you reach your target demographic.

Call 614-540-8900 or email adverting@columbusceo.com.

Runners-up:

Spa & Salon

Penzone Salons + Spas Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Kenneth’s Hair Salons and

Day Spas

3 Salon Lofts

O w

W W he is

Penzone Salons + Spas

©

Courtesy Penzone salons + spas

74 ColumbusCEO l November 2019

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WE DON’T NEED ANY APPLAUSE WITH THE AWARD.

WE PREFER A HEALTHY THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP, THUMP-THUMP.

OhioHealth Physician Group Heart and Vascular was voted “2019 Best Cardiac Practice in the City.”

We’re proud and humbled to earn this prestigious honor from the readers of Columbus CEO magazine.

We admit this recognition made our hearts skip a beat, but our true reward is working to keep the hearts of our patients beating for a long time to come. To see why our award-winning cardiac practice is also the top choice for you, visit OhioHealth.com/HeartandVascular. © OhioHealth Inc. 2019. All rights reserved. FY20-381300. 10/19.

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2019

REAL ESTATE KEITH STEVENS PSI

NOV. 13 • 8 - 9 A.M. PROGRAM Join us for CEO Insights as we welcome Keith Stevens, founder, chairman & CEO of PSI. Keith founded PSI in 1992 with a loan of $500 and has since grown the company to a multi-million-dollar business technology firm.

Commercial Developer

Crawford Hoying Based in Dublin Runners-up:

2 Nationwide Realty Investors 3 Kaufman Development

Commercial Interior Design Firm

M+A Architects Based in Columbus REGISTER TODAY:

Runners-up:

2 KP Designs & Associates 3 Moody Nolan

Commercial Roofing Company

Able Roofing Based in Westerville Runners-up:

2 Feazel 3 Phinney Industrial

Custom Home Builder

Diyanni Homes Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 3 Pillar Homes 3 Bob Webb Group

Diyanni Homes Courtesy DIYANNI HOMES

76 ColumbusCEO l November 2019

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Nationwide is proud to be recognized in our hometown of Columbus.

Nationwide is honored to be named a winner in the 2019 Columbus CEO Magazine Best of Business reader poll.

Our recognition in the Insurance category reflects how much our city means to us. Protecting our members and making a difference in our communities has always been at the forefront of the way we do business.

We couldn’t be the company we are without you.

Nationwide and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Š 2019 Nationwide CPR-0795AO (10/19)

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Real Estate Agency (Residential)

HER Realtors

2019

Based in Columbus

General Contractor

Real Estate Agency (Commercial)

Corna Kokosing Based in Westerville

HER Realtors

Runners-up:

Based in Columbus

2 Ruscilli 3 Elford

HVAC Company

Atlas Butler Based in Columbus

Runners-up:

2 Crawford Hoying 3 NAI Ohio Equities

HER Realtors

Runners-up:

2 Keller Williams Greater

Columbus Realty

3 Associa Real Property

Management

Residential (Multifamily Developer)

M/I Homes Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Schottenstein Real Estate

Runners-up:

Group

2 Custom Air 3 Columbus Worthington Air

3 Kaufman Development

Landscaper/Nursery

Retirement Community

Oakland Nurseries

Kensington Place

Based in Columbus

Based in Columbus

Runners-up:

Runners-up:

2 Strader’s Nursery 3 Hidden Creek Landscaping

Courtesy HER REALTORS

2 Friendship Village Columbus 3 Wesley Communities

Go to Dispatch.com/rewards to enter and save today.

Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Philadelphia Flyers Wednesday, November 27 Nationwide Arena

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WIN FOUR TICKETS, A TEAM SIGNED STICK AND WATCH WARM-UPS FROM THE PENALTY BOX

College Football Road Game November 29-30 Ann Arbor, Michigan

WIN A TRIP FOR FOUR Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith Sunday, December 1 Nationwide Arena

WIN TWO TICKETS

Courtesy of

www.ReynoldsTravel.com

Andre Bocelli with The Columbus Symphony Orchestra Saturday, December 14 Schottenstein Center

WIN TWO TICKETS AND A TOUR MERCHANDISE PACKAGE

A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder Sunday, December 22 Jewish Community Center

WIN TWO TICKETS

78 ColumbusCEO l November 2019

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FO R TWO DE C ADE S , W E ’ VE BE E N O N A MI S S I O N T O FO REVER TRANSFORM THE WAY PE O PL E E X PE R I E NC E HE ALTH C A R E .

WE’RE HO NO RED TO JO I N THI S Y E AR ’ S BE S T O F BUS I NE S S RECIPIENTS W O R K I N G TO MAK E CO L U MBU S A VIBRANT PL A CE TO L I VE A N D W O R K .

THANK YOU, COLUMBUS CEO!

quantum-health.com

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2019

WORKFORCE Employee Benefit Firm

McGohan Brabender Based in Dayton Runners-up:

2 ClearPath Benefit Advisors 3 Willis

Employer (upto 500 employees)

BMI Federal Credit Union Based in Dublin Runners-up:

2 Fahlgren Mortine 3 KEMBA Financial Credit Union

Nationwide Arena, 12.12.19 Tickets: harmonyproject.com

Employer (500 plus employees)

Quantum Health Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Ricart Automotive Group 3 Safelite AutoGlass

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Executive Coach Firm

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2 Gallagher Consulting Group 3 Synergy Consultants

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www.thurberhouse.org Year of Thurber Supporters

Year of Thurber Media Sponsor

The Center for Charitable Giving

Courtesy renata ramsini

80 ColumbusCEO l November 2019

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Your love.

Our passion.

1330 Polaris Pkwy, Columbus, OH 43240

053-083_BestofBusiness2019.indd 81

(614) 516-0515

www.diamondsdirect.com

10/16/19 3:31 PM

Date night deals without the download.

2019 Executive Search Firm

Cochran Executive Search Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Acloche 3 Dawson

Temporary Employment Agency

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to opt-in today for great local deals sent via text!

Runners-up:

Based in Columbus 2 Acloche 3 Portfolio Creative

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Large Nonprofit (Annual revenue over $7 million)

Bridgeway Academy Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Ronald McDonald House

Charities of Central

3 YWCA Columbus

Small Nonprofit (Annual revenue under $7 million)

Your guide to what you can’t miss.

columbusalive.com the Arts the Eats the Community and more

Huckleberry House Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 A Kid Again 3 Habitat for Humanity-Greater

Columbus

Startup

Bold Penguin Based in Columbus Runners-up:

2 Root Insurance 3 Beam Dental

Suburb to Do Business

City of Dublin Stay up to date by signing up for our newsletter @columbusalive

Based in Dublin Runners-up:

2 Westerville 3 Gahanna

82 ColumbusCEO l November 2019

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It’s our people. It’s that simple.

Team Safelite!

2018 220 0 18 18

2019

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Vorys eControl group helps protect Otterbox

Law: Intellectual Property

By Laura newpoff

A

few years ago, a consumer who went online to buy her favorite flavor of Yogi Tea on a marketplace like Amazon.com had a chance of receiving a product from a third-party seller that was either expired, not packaged properly or suffering from water damage because it wasn’t elevated off a warehouse floor.

Or, in some cases, all of the above.

That lack of quality control, usually the result of practices by an unauthorized seller, prompted the Oregon herbal tea company to turn to

Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease 52 E. Gay St., Columbus 43215 vorys.com Business: Law firm Managing partner: Michael Martz Based: Columbus Other offices: Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. Attorneys: 354 Total employees: 654 Econtrol practice: An interdisciplinary

group of 50 attorneys helping brands maintain control of the quality of their goods sold online. Econtrol combines intellectual property, distribution, consumer, competition and litigation law plus cyber investigations, data and analytics and channel management consulting.

a Columbus law firm to help it come up with a plan to have more command of its brand. It needed a legal strategy to keep the tea out of the wrong sellers’ hands and establish quality standards for authorized sellers. The effort paid off.

“We have much less of a gray market of unauthorized sellers than we did 18 months ago,” says Robin Gabel, a national account manager at East West Tea Co., the maker of Yogi Tea. “What that allows us to do as a business is to lean in to our authorized partners and channels and allow them to be more competitive and successful while preserving the customer experience.”

With online sales projected to reach $645 billion in 2020, according to FTI Consulting’s 2019 U.S. Online Retail Forecast, those who practice in Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease’s burgeoning “eControl” group expect to help more companies with products sold online protect the significant investment they make in brand reputation and the loyalty they’ve forged with consumers.

of quality control, counterfeiting and price erosion. Food and beverage companies like East West Tea were especially vulnerable, not only because their consumables expire but that improper storage and distribution could make the product flat-out taste bad.

“If a product listing doesn’t match what they receive, that’s a problem, and it was happening quite a lot,” Gabel says. “That impacts brand integrity and dilutes the relationship with customers.”

Gabel’s research and contacts led her to Whitney Gibson, a partner in Vorys’ Cincinnati office and the person who created the eControl group’s three-step program that combines

Preserving relationships Vorys eControl group emerged out of the firm’s intellectual property, trademark and copyright practice about five years ago as more consumers flocked to online marketplaces and companies ran into problems that tarnished their brands—unauthorized sales, a lack

Photo courtesy YOGI TEA

A new practice at Vorys is helping the world’s biggest brands fight unauthorized online sales.

Photo courtesy OTTERBOX

Gaining control

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legal, technological and investigative tools and services to control online sales, eliminate channel conflict and protect brand value.

The law firm performed a business assessment that highlighted areas of opportunity and challenges. The firm also helped the company draft and disseminate sales policies to East West Tea’s authorized distributors and retail partners who would be expected to uphold a set of required quality standards. The goal was to maintain the integrity of the product throughout the supply chain.

Once that foundation was laid, Vorys then became the company’s enforcement counsel to remove unauthorized sellers or those who weren’t upholding those standards through a variety of legal tactics. The result, Gabel says, was moving a lot of the online business that was unauthorized to authorized partners.

“It’s benefitted our business in terms of growth but also in managing and preserving relationships with valuable retailer and distributor partners,” Gabel says. “I was particularly impressed with the firm’s respect for and understanding of how to apply a legal framework in a business environment that intends to be supportive of existing relationships.”

The new policies also have been helpful to smaller sellers that don’t have the resources of larger sellers but can use the guidance to meet Yogi’s expectations.

Patents - Trademarks - Copyrights - Litigation - Trade Secrets Non-Disclosure Agreements - Licensing and Royalty Agreements Software and Computer Law - Intellectual Property Valuations Unfair Competition and False Advertising

6300 Riverside Drive, Dublin, Ohio 43017 - 614-792-5555 - www.standleyllp.com

Brand erosion Third-party sales channels have exploded on online marketplaces like Amazon.com. According to a recent report in industry publication Retail Dive, the percentage of sales by thirdparty sellers on the site rose from 3 percent in 1999 to 30 percent in 2008, and then to 58 percent in 2018.

So what happens when a company loses control of its online sales channels?

According to Vorys, the brand equity is eroded, sales are lost, negative reviews surface and authorized channel partners that follow the rules can become upset.

To help its clients gain more control of the process, the eControl group uses intellectual property, distribution, consumer, competition and November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION (Required by 39 USC 3685)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

Publication Title: Columbus CEO Publication Number: 1085-911 Filing Date: October 1, 2019 Issue Frequency: Monthly Number of Issues Published Annually: 12 Annual Subscription Price: None Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 62 East Broad Street, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio 43215.

Contact Person: Brad Harmon.

Telephone: (614) 461-5000.

Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: Same as Above.

Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor and Managing Editor: Publisher - Ray Paprocki, 62 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215; Editor – Katy Smith, 62 East Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215; Owner: New Media Investment Group, Inc., 1345 Avenue of the Americas, 46th Floor New York, NY 10105.

Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or holding 1 percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages, or Other Securities: Ci tizens Bank 28 State St. MS 1500 Bost on, MA 02129 Tax Status (For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at non-profit rates). Does not apply.

Publication Title: Columbus CEO Issue Date for Circulation Data below: September 2019

Extent and Nature of Circulation

Average No. No. Copies of Copies Each Single Issue During Issue Preceding Published 12 Months Nearest To Filing Date

a. Total Number of Copies (Net Press Run) 22,512 22,685 b. Legitimate Paid and/or Requested Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Outside County Paid/Requested Mail Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 5,802 5,899 (2) In-County Paid/Requested Mail Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 15,783 15,946 (3) Sales Through Dealers and Carriers; Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Paid or Requested Distribution Outside the U.S.P.S. ® 122 117 (4) Requested Copies Distributed

by Other Mail Classes Through the USPS 0 0 c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation (Sum of 15b (1), (2), (3) & (4)) 21,707 21,962 d. Nonrequested Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail) (1) Outside County Nonrequested Copies stated on PS Form 3541 0 0 (2) In-County Nonrequested Copies Stated on PS Form 3541 0 0 (3) Nonrequested Copies Distributed Through the USPS by other Classes of Mail 0 0 (4) Nonrequested Copies Distributed Outside the Mail 75 75 e. Total Nonrequested Distribution (Sum of 15d (1), (2), (3) and (4)) 75 75 f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and e) 21,782 22,037 g. Copies not Distributed 730 648 h. Total (Sum of 15f and g) 22, 512 22,685 i. Percent Paid and/or Requested Circulation (15c divided by f times 100) 99.66% 99.66% Circulation on PS Form 3526-X Worksheet. N/A 17. Publication of Statement of Ownership for a Requestor Publication is required and will be printed in the November 2019 issue of this publication.

18. Signature And Title Of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner.

Brad Harmon President and Publisher I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including civil penalties).

litigation law combined with cyber investigations, data and analytics and channel management consulting. The team has 50 members across several offices who have worked with hundreds of brands across just about every product vertical.

“When products are able to be taken out of authorized distribution channels, the brands lose the ability to maintain quality oversight,” says Daren Garcia, a Vorys partner and member of the eControl team. “Poor quality creates problems for brands … so just about every manufacturer is evaluating today, ‘How do I step in and assert better control over my distribution networks and over who is able to resell my product?’ They want to do so in a way that’s going to preserve the (brand) value that they’ve worked so hard to build up.”

Brands spend millions of dollars and years of work building up their name, yet in seconds their reputation can be tarnished by bad online reviews or counterfeit products. Unauthorized sales channels also can lead to consumers receiving products that

“I was particularly impressed with the firm’s respect for ... how to apply a legal framework in a business environment that intends to be supportive of existing relationships.” robin gabel national account manager, East West Tea Co.

may be used but had been marketed as new.

That’s what led Kevin McPherson, senior director of brand protection and corporate counsel at Otter Products in Fort Collins, Colorado, to contact Vorys about a year ago. The company that makes the OtterBox drop-resistant cases for mobile devices had hundreds of unauthorized resellers on several marketplaces selling counterfeit or used Otter products.

“Those products are not up to our quality standards and a poor customer experience leads to negative reviews,” McPherson says. “If something is defective, they’ll call our customer service department and ultimately the company, not the random unauthorized reseller, takes the brunt of their frustration.”

The company worked with Vorys on an aggressive plan that started with cease-and-desist orders, then secondary letters and federal lawsuits. About 98 percent of the cases ended up being settled out of court. A year after hiring the firm, the number of unauthorized sellers has dropped from 400 to a handful that pop up every now and then.

“They are pioneers in this field,” McPherson says of Vorys. “In just a year we’ve been able to move into maintenance mode because things have improved dramatically and consumer feedback is so much better on all the marketplaces.”

Martha Motley, a partner in Vorys’ Columbus office and a member of the eControl team, says the eControl issues touch on other legal disciplines the firm can help clients address, including franchise licensing, anti-trust advice and litigation.

“We get to do a really deep dive and understand a client’s entire business,” she says. “It ranges from different food products, manufactured goods, different accessories—really anything in your pantry, refrigerator or garage.”

Vorys plans to bring in brand and ecommerce professionals from across the U.S. for its first eControl360 Summit that will be held Nov. 6 at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel. It will feature speakers from some of the world’s best-known brands, including Procter & Gamble, Otter Products and Macy’s.

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

86 ColumbusCEO l November 2019

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SIGN UP NOW

COLUMBUS 11.17.19

Learn more at: hotchocolate15k.com t 15 5k com 5 om

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“Who can handle quarterly filings across three continents?”

People who know, know BDO.SM

1

2

3

4

5

6 BDO provides assurance, tax, and advisory services to a wide range of publicly traded and privately held companies. We offer a sophisticated array of services, as well as the resources and capabilities of our global organization, combined with the personal attention of experienced professionals.

Meet our growing team of leaders in Columbus:

7

8 Mike Voinovich

Ryan Hecht

Jeff Tubaugh

Maggie Gilmore

Matt Morel

Office Managing Partner

Assurance Partner

Tax Partner

Tax Managing Director

Tax Managing Director

9

10 Jason King

David Rice

Sarah Dmytryk

Tony Huckeby

Jodi Hatherly

Assurance Director

Assurance Director

Private Client Services Tax Managing Director

Business Services Outsourcing Managing Director

Forensic Insurance Recovery Services, Sr Manager

BDO Columbus, 300 Spruce Street, Suite 100, Columbus, OH 43215, 614-488-3126 Accountants and Advisors

www.bdo.com

© 2019 BDO USA, LLP. All rights reserved.

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Central Ohio Accounting Firms Ranked by number of central Ohio CPAs

DO.SM Firm

800 Yard St., Suite 200 Grandview 43212 • 614-224-5678 ey.com

2 PricewaterhouseCoopers 41 S. High St., Suite 2500 Columbus 43215 • 614-225-8700 pwc.com

very r

3 Deloitte

180 E. Broad St., Suite 1400 Columbus 43215 • 614-221-1000 deloitte.com

4 KPMG

191 W. Nationwide Blvd., Suite 500 Columbus 43215 • 614-249-2300 kpmg.com

5 GBQ Partners

230 West St., Suite 700 Columbus 43215 • 614-221-1120 gbq.com

6 Crowe

155 W. Nationwide Blvd., Suite 500 Columbus 43215 • 614-469-0001 crowe.com

rray nals.

or

1 Ernst & Young

7 Kaiser Consulting

34 Grace Drive, Powell 43065 614-300-1088 kaiserconsulting.com

8 BDO USA

300 Spruce St., Suite 100 Columbus 43215• 614-488-3126 bdo.com

9 RSM US 250 West St., Suite 200 Columbus 43215 • 614-224-7722 rsmus.com

10 Clark Schaefer Hackett 4449 Easton Way, Suite 400 Columbus 43219 • 614-885-2208 cshco.com

CPAs

CONSULTANTS Accountants

Total Employees

MAJOR SERVICES OFFERED

LOCAL TOP OFFICER

143

167

27

349

Assurance, advisory, tax, transaction advisory services, internal operational support with HR and IT services.

115

40

75

249

Audit, tax, mergers and acquisitions, estate planning.

Michael Petrecca

104

237

55

430

Audit and assurance, tax, risk and financial advisory.

John McEwan

283

Audit, tax, mergers and acquisitions, information technology, business valuation.

Matt Kramer

96

67

120

73

13

28

141

Assurance, tax, valuation, forensic and dispute advisory, information risk management, cybersecurity.

64

24

57

161

Audit, tax, advisory services, consulting and applied technology.

46

7

22

77

33

29

72

134

managing partner

Columbus managing partner

managing partner

Columbus managing partner

Darci Congrove managing director

Chris Barrett

Columbus managing partner

Outsourced accounting, controller/business analyst Lori Kaiser functions, compliance, internal control review and CEO recommendations.

Assurance, advisory, tax, transaction.

28

24

9

67

Audit, tax, technology, consulting, transaction advisory, technology assessments.

26

11

14

58

Accounting, tax, workforce, operations and tech solutions.

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The February Leaderboards will feature Central Ohio general contractors and commercial real estate leases—a new category for 2020. The deadline for inclusion in those surveys is Nov. 15. If you want your Central Ohio company to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Columbus CEO at 614-461-5109 or cteasley@columbusCEO.com.

Information included in this survey was provided by companies listed and was not independently verified.

Daniel Valerio

Mike Voinovich

Columbus managing partner

Roger Prough

managing partner

Edward Walsh

shareholder-in-charge

M&A = mergers and acquisitions na = not applicable Source: Survey of Accounting Firms Information compiled by chloe teasley

November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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Community Banks Build Relationships Local reinvestment is essential for small business growth and a catalyst for community well-being. At Heartland Bank, our relationship-banking philosophy is the foundation for the way we build our business – one customer, one loan at a time.

CCDC Project of the Year Award

1

2

Land Grant Brewing Company

Community Capital Development Corporation and Heartland Bank partnered together to assist Land Grant Brewing Company with their expansion in 2018 by utilizing the SBA 504 program. Land Grant’s commitment to creating jobs, giving back to their community, and focusing on their future earned them the CCDC 2018 Project of the Year.

Congratulations Land Grant!

SBA Rising Star of the Year

3

4

We are proud of our dedication to helping small businesses grow and honored to be awarded the 2018 SBA Rising Star of the Year.

5

6

Pictured L-R: Michael Kinninger with OSDC joins several members of the Heartland Bank commercial banking team: Marc Ridgway, Bob Crow, Laurie Pfeiffer, Maria Avradopoulos Collins, and Kelly Law

7

OSDC Bank of the Year Ohio Statewide Development Corporation recognized Heartland Bank as the 2018 Bank of the Year for their collaboration with the SBA 504 program. As this program boosts growth potential, small businesses now have the opportunity to succeed while having a meaningful impact in the communities they serve.

We want to learn more about you!

Call today to start building a business relationship with Heartland Bank (614) 490-7387 Proudly serving Central Ohio since 1911 Member FDIC

NMLS# 440231

090-091_Leaderboard_SBA-Lenders.indd 90

Equal Housing Lender

Heartland.Bank #FeelGoodBanking

10/16/19 3:40 PM

8

9

10

ity on

SBA Lenders

Ranked by total amount loaned by Central Ohio operations in 2018

BANK/LENDER

1

Huntington National Bank 41 S. High St., Columbus 43215 huntington.com

TOTAL AMOUNT LOANED BY CENTRAL OHIO OPERATIONS FOR 2018

TOTAL NUMBER OF SBA LOANS

$96 m

403

2 Ohio Statewide

Development Corp.

1650 Lake Shore Drive, Suite 380 Columbus 43204 • 614-481-3214 osdc.net

$17 m

33

$13.9 m

47

$11.6 m

51

$8.1 m*

77*

$7.1 m

35

3 Heartland Bank

430 N. Hamilton Road, Whitehall 43213 614-337-4605 heartland.bank

4 Park National Bank

50 N. Third St., Newark 43055 740-349-8451 parknationalbank.com

5 U.S. Bank

10 W. Broad St., Columbus 43215 614-232-8079 usbank.com/sba

6 Telhio Credit Union

96 N. Fourth St., Columbus 43215 614-221-3233 telhio.org

7 State Bank and Trust

4080 W. Dublin-Granville Road, Dublin 43017 614-336-7779 • yourstatebank.com

8 United Midwest Savings Bank

6460 Busch Blvd., Suite 200, Columbus 43229 800-792-2265 • umwsb.com

$6.9 m

8

$4.4 m

5

9 PNC Bank

155 E. Broad St., Columbus 43215 614-463-7789 pnc.com/sba

$1.8 m

13

$128,500

2

10 Pathways Financial Credit Union

5665 N. Hamilton Road, Groveport 43230 614-416-7580 • pathwayscu.com

7(A) LOANS

504 Projects

Loan Amount available

Total Amount

Total Amount

Minimum

Number of Loans

Total Projects

Maximum

CENTRAL OHIO SBA LENDING OFFICER

$93.5 m

$2.5 m

402

1

$5,000 $5 m

Maggie Ference

na

$17 m

na

33

$25,000 $5.5 m

Michael Kinninger

$10.6 m

$4.1 m

39

8

$10,000 $5 m

Laurie Pfeiffer

$7.3 m

$4.3 m

51

7

$10,000 $5 m

Eric Sideri

$8.1 m*

wnd

77*

wnd

$25,000 $11.2 m

Jason Wells

$7.1 m

na

35

na

$10,000 $5 m

Derrick Bailey

$6.9 m

na

8

na

$50,000 $5 m

David Tedford

$156.1 m

na

640

na

$20,000 $5 m

Craig Street

$705,100

$1.1 m

11

2

$20,000 $5 m

Kristen Brant

$436,708

$2 m

8

8

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The February Leaderboards will feature Central Ohio general contractors and commercial real estate leases—a new category for 2020. The deadline for inclusion in those surveys is Nov. 15. If you want your Central Ohio company to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Columbus CEO at 614-461-5109 or cteasley@columbusCEO.com.

Information included in this survey was provided by companies listed and was not independently verified.

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wnd wnd

Deanna Barzak

m = million, wnd = would not disclose na = not applicable *Total volume in Columbus SBA district office Source: Survey of SBA Lenders

Information compiled by Chloe Teasley

November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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1

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5

THE FACES OF WEALTH MANAGEMENT

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Shortcuts don’t lead to the best financial planning, and that’s why Chornyak & Associates doesn’t use them.

Developed over 40 years, Chornyak uses proprietary processes and systems to research, analyze, select and monitor recommended investments. With a thorough understanding of each client’s financial picture, Chornyak builds comprehensive planning strategies to help achieve their dreams.

It takes more time to ask lots of questions, gather detailed information and act as a true partner, but Chornyak believes that’s the best way to be sure every financial decision supports their clients’ goals and desires with broad diversification and proper investment allocation. This disciplined approach is based on one simple belief: investors rarely reap above-average returns by taking unnecessary risks.

Chornyak manages over $1 Billion in assets for over 1,000 individuals and businesses nationwide.The Columbus firm grew its business through referrals from satisfied clients who recommended its customized, comprehensive financial planning to friends and colleagues.

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CHORNYAK & ASSOCIATES 716 Mt. Airyshire Blvd., Suite 200 • Columbus, OH 43235 (614) 888-2121 • chornyak.com Robert A. Mauk, CFP® • Joseph A. Chornyak, Sr., CFP® - Managing Partner • Joseph A. Chornyak, Jr., CFP®

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Central Ohio Wealth Management Firms Ranked by total assets under local management, and for ties, by Central Ohio clients TOTAL ASSETS

Firm 1

Diamond Hill Capital Management 325 John H. McConnell Blvd.

Columbus 43215 • 614-255-3333 diamond-hill.com

2 Huntington Bank

41 S. High St., Columbus 43287 614-480-2265 huntington.com/privatebank

3 Meeder Investment Management

6125 Memorial Drive, Dublin 43017 614-766-7000 meederinvestment.com

4 Lifetime Financial Growth 8425 Pulsar Place, Suite 450 Columbus 43240 • 614-785-5100 lifetimefinancialgrowth.com

5 Budros Ruhlin & Roe 1801 Watermark Drive, Suite 300 Columbus 43215 • 614-481-6900 b-r-r.com

6 Hamilton Capital 5025 Arlington Centre Blvd., Suite 300 Columbus 43220 • 614-273-1000 hamiltoncapital.com

7 Edwards Group

4449 Easton Way, Suite 300 Columbus 43219 • 614-473-2401 morganstanleyfa.com/ theedwardsgroupsb

8 Summit Financial Strategies

7965 N. High St., Suite 350 Columbus 43235 • 614-885-1115 summitfin.com

9 Chornyak & Associates 716 Mt. Airyshire Blvd., Suite 200 Columbus 43235 • 614-888-2121 chornyak.com

10 Johnson Investment Counsel

50 W. Broad St., Columbus 43215 614-365-9103 • johnsoninv.com

Under management as of Dec. 31, 2018

Number of CENTRAL OHIO CLIENTS

Number of CENTRAL OHIO CFAs

Number of Offices

TAX-DEFERRED ASSETS

PORTFOLIO MANAGERS

OTHER mgmt. STAFF

Firmwide

$19.1 b $3.9 b

165 13

47 35

$16.8 b* $3.8 b*

wnd 5

$16.2 b $350 m

Central Ohio

COMPENSATION

SENIOR INVESTMENT OFFICER

1 1

2000

Chris Bingaman

Fee only

Chris Welch

2 na

78 856

1866

Sue Zazon

Fee only

John Augustine

20,000+ 5

4 11

1 3

1974

Bob Meeder

Fee only

Dale Smith

$4.6 b $1 b**

65,769 9

na 42

1 13

2014 Fee and commission

Thomas Wyatt

$2.6 b $1.1 b

729 18

2 8

1 1

1979

Scott Rister

Fee only

Daniel Roe

$2.3 b $217.2 m

2,108 4

3 3

1 2

1997

Matthew Hamilton

Fee only

Antonio Caxide

$1.2 b $200 m

1,200 wnd

na 3

1 1

1989 Fee and commission

Brian Edwards

$1.1 b wnd

769 13

2 13

1 1

1995

Samantha Macchia

Fee only

Liam Hurley

$1.1 b wnd

1,000+ 3

na 8

1 1

1976

Joseph Chornyak Sr.

Fee and commission

Joseph Chornyak Jr. & Robert Mauk

$961.6 m $16.2 m

217 4

2 2

1 5

2009

Daniel Gusty

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The February Leaderboards will feature Central Ohio general contractors and commercial real estate leases—a new category for 2020. The deadline for inclusion in those surveys is Nov. 15. If you want your Central Ohio company to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Columbus CEO at 614-461-5109 or cteasley@columbusCEO.com.

Information included in this survey was provided by companies listed and was not independently verified.

092-093_Leaderboard_WealthManagement.indd 93

YEAR FOUNDED

CENTRAL OHIO TOP OFFICER

Fee only

*Includes all assets under management across Huntington footprint, **Estimated wnd = would not disclose, na = not applicable

Source: Survey of Wealth Management Firms Information compiled by Chloe Teasley

November 2019 l ColumbusCEO

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This is the best benefit I’ve ever received from an employer, aside from vacation and health care itself. I don’t know how it could be better.�

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TouchCare Member

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TouchCare is a healthcare concierge service. We take care

Visit: www.touchcare.com/CEO

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Wouldn’t you like to be looking at your home?

Ask your Realtor to market your home in the Executive Living section of Columbus CEO Magazine!

East of I-71 call Telana Veil at (614) 469-6106 or e-mail at tveil@dispatch.com West of I-71 call Amy Vidrick at (614) 461-5153 or e-mail at avidrick@dispatch.com

RE/MAX METRO PLUS GERMAN VILLAGE

RE/MAX METRO PLUS GERMAN VILLAGE

Al Waddell (614) 832-4079 al.waddell@ remax.net

Al Waddell (614) 832-4079 al.waddell@ remax.net

440 MEDITATION LN – THE WOODS AT JOSEPHINUM - Experience breathtaking ravine views from walls of glass in the 2 story Great room or from 2 entertainment sized outdoor living areas. Striking contemporary style designed by Gene Milhoan and built by Bob Webb. Over 5,000 sf offers 3 BRs, a gracious owner’s suite, family rm, lg eat-in kitchen, FDR, and fin. LL with 2nd WBFP, 3 car garage. www.440Meditation.com $599,000

1616 HAWTHORNE PARK – Spectacular American Shingle Style mansion in historic Woodland Park, 9 BR; 7 Bath. Over-sized owner’s suite with sunroom, en-suite, 3 closets. New kitchen, Separate carriage house, total reno in 2015, with 2 BR apt. + 4 car garage. Perfect for family oasis or family BnB business. Ideal location. www.1616Hawthorne.com $965,000

MICHAEL SAUNDERS & COMPANY

GENE P. JOHNSON REALTY

Leslie Emery & Aaron Corr (941) 400-9710 www.beach2barn.com

Oleta Johnson (614) 595-4362 Oleta629@ hotmail.com

689 S. 3RD STREET COLUMBUS - CENTER OF GERMAN VILLAGE historic 2/3 BR home 2700 sq. ft. (1880 original build) is a spectacular combination of historic and modern finishes with original ash wood floors, high ceilings, center hall, along with the ultimate in modern features – large gourmet kitchen, luxury bathrooms and the best of everything throughout.

From sand to sunsets and live oaks to acreage, Florida is calling to you.

Team Beach2Barn is your Buckeye connection to your new Florida dream home and lifestyle! Our passion for hands-on service provides you a knowledgeable and trustworthy experience, before and after closing. For new construction or re-sale, we look forward to working with you.

Grant Dolven (614) 306-1157 Gdolven@oliver jameshomes.com

Grant Dolven (614) 306-1157 Gdolven@oliver jameshomes.com

1105 RUTH CROSSING - Upscale modern farmhouse by Oliver & James Custom Homes nestled on 1+Ac wooded lot with ravine and stream views! Stunning open floor plan with grand master suite, 5 bd, 4.5 bath, and walkout! Minutes away from 315 and U.S. 23, off Hyatts Rd. $998,500.

Grant Dolven (614) 306-1157 Gdolven@oliver jameshomes.com

Grant Dolven (614) 306-1157 Gdolven@oliver jameshomes.com

17 HAWKSMOOR, NEW ALBANY - STUNNING grand estate In New Albany’s upscale Hawksmoor Neighborhood. 1st and 2nd floor master suites add to this 5 bed, 5 full/ 2 half bath beauty! The perfect home for entertaining: Spacious floor plan boasts open kitchen, banquet, 2 full bars, finished LL and much more! Steps from walking path! $2,885,000.

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5416 RUTH CROSSING - New Build craftsman by Oliver & James Custom Homes is the perfect family home! Wooded lot w/ walk out offers privacy, minutes from schools, shopping and dining! Open floor plan with 5 bed, 5 bath, study/swing room with upstairs 2nd floor laundry! $975,500.

CLIFFSHIRE - Newly Developed Estate lots in Southern Delaware offer a serene escape with woods, streams and ravines throughout!

Located off Hyatts Rd between 315 and U.S. 23, Cliffshire is just minutes away from groceries, retail, and dining! Don’t miss this opportunity to build your dream home. Olentangy Schools

10/16/19 3:42 PM

Office Space

By chloe teasley + Photos by Rob Hardin

Pelotonia 450 W. Broad St. Columbus 43215 pelotonia.org

The popular nonprofit was the Gravity development’s first business tenant.

Bizarre bike

This crazy contraption is a focal point in the office—it is a bike for many to pedal at once. This room holds all 17 employees and offers pods (on the right) that drown out noise for focused work. None of the employees has an individual office.

The merch

Those who visit Pelotonia’s new Gravity HQ can also shop. Displays were donated by local retailers.

Let there be light

The light in this office is a game changer. Employees were used to way fewer windows in their other space.

One direction

A wall of decorated Pelotonia arrows illustrates the strong community present at the nonprofit.

Bright booth

This spot is so popular, they are thinking of building another one to accommodate more breaks or meetings.

Convene

A sturdy table supports company meetings.

Visit columbusCEO.com for a full article on the space.

96 ColumbusCEO l November 2019

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SHINING T0GETHER A community is only as strong as every life that shines within it. We strive through each season to lift up lives, build strong futures, light up communities. Together we can make our community shine brightly for us all.

aep.com

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