Columbus CEO - June 2022 by The Columbus Dispatch/Dispatch Magazines

P A R T N E R S H I P Proyecto Mariposas Empowering Latina mothers and daughters. PAGE 18

I S S U E - 2 0 2 2

Skill building

Educators preparing workers for the Silicon Heartland. PAGE 22

Up-and-comers Region leaders tapped for Harvard program. PAGE 28

June 2022

KEYS TO THE REGION

Columbus Partnership CEO Kenny McDonald now leads the city’s most powerful business organization. Here’s how he’s faring. PAGE 8

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Contents

Photo ROB HARDIN

The 2022 Columbus Young American Leaders class, from left: Amy Taylor, Nikki Scarpitti, Joe Apgar, Barbara Benham, Yohannan Terrell, Erica Crawley, Rhoe Fields and Autumn Glover. Not pictured: Falon Donohue and LC Johnson.

28 22

The Intel

test

The chip maker’s grand plans for the Columbus region will require a talent pipeline stocked by the area’s educational institutions. They’re embracing the challenge.

Departments

A case in point Using case studies as a guide, a Harvard program aims to help leaders from 14 major cities, including Columbus, get to the heart of their communities’ challenges.

Columbus Partnership members The 82 individuals who make up the region’s most influential business organization.

06 Editor’s Note Celebrating new leaders.

47 Leaderboard Columbus region temporary employment agencies.

48 Breakdown The region’s business activity was robust last year.

JUNE 2022 Cover photo by

ROB HARDIN

June 2022 l ColumbusCEO

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Photos ROB HARDIN

Kenny McDonald

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

ColumbusCEO.com

VOLUME 31 / NUMBER 5 PUBLISHER/GENERAL MANAGER

Ray Paprocki E DITORIAL

EDITOR

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08 Profile

14 Tech Talk

With Intel’s blockbuster project starting to come together, new Columbus Partnership CEO Kenny McDonald says a “rolling adventure” is under way in the region. And he sees plenty of other big challenges ahead for its leaders, too.

The Rundown app helps horse trainers stay in the run for the roses.

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18 Spotlight: Nonprofit At Proyecto Mariposas, it’s all about empowering Latina women and girls.

42 Health Watch

H M c b b n

Hospital systems are striving to be more consumer-driven in their quest to better serve patients.

New twists in Ohio law have major implications for limited liability companies.

Photos ROB HARDIN

9 p

38 Business Law

Columbus CEO (ISSN 1085-911X) is published monthly by Gannett. All contents of this magazine are copyrighted © Gannett Co., Inc. 2021, 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, PO Box 460160 Escondido CA 92046

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It’s been quite an adventure for 5.Life’s owners in helping their business try to climb to the top.

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Celebrating Editor’s Notes new leadership C * ksmith@ColumbusCEO.com

Photo by ROB HARDIN

Kenny McDonald

hange in a city is a lot like change in an organization: It often happens slowly, and if left unplanned, can prove impotent in addressing the most critical needs well. And many times, the thing that makes the most difference in manifesting true change is new leadership. As the Columbus region prepares to welcome about 1 million new neighbors by 2050 (current estimates), we’re grappling with how to get crucial issues right. Will we be able to provide enough affordable housing, something we struggle to do even in 2022? Will the transportation landscape let people get where they need to go without stressful, excessive commute times? Will we adopt bold policies that combat the harmful effects of climate change? Will we ensure, in all of these decisions, to equally include and consider our most vulnerable neighbors from underrepresented groups? Will our existing industries such as automotive and financial services make the transition to the digital, electric future with resounding success? Will we be a place companies with good-paying jobs flock to, or not? These questions and more are on the minds of our leaders every day, especially Kenny McDonald, CEO of the Columbus Partnership. Kenny took the reins of the powerful civic organization of CEOs in January after several years at the forefront of the region’s economic development work with One Columbus. During those years, he struck me as an energetic, focused leader who was always working a solid strategy. He remains so in his new role, but these days I see something else in Kenny, too—a more reflective nature. Slightly more cautious. Even more frank about the challenges ahead.

I find these characteristics imminently reassuring that he is on the right path. I feel good we have him as our regional champion. Kenny is joined by newer leaders such as Autumn Glover, Falon Donohue, LC Johnson, Joe Apgar, Yogi Terrell, Erica Crawley and the all the rest of this year’s Young American Leaders Program class. They bring fresh perspectives—critical to effecting change. Like Kenny and the outstanding YALP classes who went before them, they are devoted to creating the best version of Columbus they can. Cheers, new leaders. My gratitude goes to you.

Katy Smith, Editor

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PROFILE By MARK WILLIAMS + Photos by ROB HARDIN

Kenny McDonald President & CEO

Columbus Partnership Age: 52 Previous: President & CEO of One Columbus, formerly called Columbus 2020 Education: Bachelor’s degree, Dickinson State

University in North Dakota; graduate degree at Georgia Southern University, the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma and Harvard’s Young American Leaders program.

Resides: New Albany Family: McDonald and his wife, Jennifer, have three children: Emma, a student at Ohio State University; John, a student at the University of Toronto; and Jayne, a student at New Albany High School.

Thinking bigger The Columbus Partnership’s newest president and CEO Kenny McDonald is challenging Columbus to be more ambitious than ever.

ntel’s $20 billion investment in Licking County is the biggest economic development project in state history—much less for Greater Columbus. If all goes well, the two factories the Silicon Valleybased semiconductor company will build on land to be annexed into New Albany could one day expand to a total of eight facilities and a $100 billion investment by Intel, making it one of the largest semiconductor sites on Earth. Beyond the 3,000 high-paying jobs that will be created by the first two factories, the project figures to include tens of

Kenny McDonald thousands of additional jobs. Even with all of that, new Columbus Partnership President and CEO and longtime Columbus economic development executive Kenny McDonald is wondering whether the region is underestimating the project’s potential. “Probably the biggest thing we took out of the Intel project is these moments in time when we and the company would both probably say we aren’t thinking big enough,” McDonald says. “It’s a global project. It’s a global solution. We happen to be a location that is serving as a solu-

tion for that. Man, we have to think really big. It’s not just the scale of the numbers, the jobs and the land. It’s all those things plus what you’re trying to achieve and why you’re trying to achieve it.” McDonald, 52, took over the top job on Jan. 1, replacing Alex Fischer, the Partnership’s longtime leader. The Partnership, made up of 82 CEOs, is the region’s most powerful civic and business organization. The Partnership dates to 2002, formed by retail giant Les Wexner and Dispatch Publisher John F. Wolfe. The two created what has

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turned out to be a powerful group of CEOs with a focus on improving the economy and creating betterpaying jobs. Fischer joined the Partnership in 2009 as its CEO and became one of the city’s top power brokers—in the middle of nearly every single major issue involving the city and serving on multiple public and private boards. He recruited McDonald to come to Columbus from Charlotte, North Carolina, to run One Columbus, then called Columbus 2020, in 2010. The two worked side by side for 11 years, with McDonald running One Colum-

bus, the region’s economic development arm, before taking over Fischer’s old office. Columbus 2020 was created in the fallout of the Great Recession, the steepest downturn since the Great Depression, with a focus on a regional approach to economic development and diversifying the economy. Greater Columbus has experienced sharp growth since then, adding more than 150,000 jobs, $8 billion in capital investment and a 30 percent increase in income per person, according to One Columbus. But the Intel project has taken the region to another level.

“To see it manifest itself in something like this is awesome,” McDonald says. “The way we talk about it, though, it’s not that we pulled it off, but we’re pulling it off. We are executing it. It’s a rolling adventure.” Given McDonald’s history with Fischer and the knowledge of the region, the transition in leadership hasn’t been as significant as to when it is happening and how fast the economy and jobs are changing. There’s Intel for starters. The Partnership and One Columbus will be counted on to help Intel with training, recruiting talent, building infrastrucJune 2022 l ColumbusCEO

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ture and integrating the company into the corporate and local community. Then there’s the coronavirus and workers starting to return to the office, the war in Ukraine and its effect on the ongoing supply chain problems companies already are dealing with, and rapid technological changes that pose major challenges for companies in multiples sectors of the economy, McDonald says. Changes that normally would take place over years are happening faster, sometimes in months. “People’s lives are changing. Their companies’ trajectories are changing for good and great in some cases or are being really challenged,” he says. McDonald does have the advantage of once working closely with Fischer. He also has a network of economic development experts around the country who have been helpful over the years and are going through similar situations. But he’ll have to lead the Partnership without the old hands that Fischer depended on. Wexner stepped away as the top executive of the former L Brands that owned Bath & Body Works and Victoria’s Secret. Wolfe lost a two-year battle with cancer in 2016. “The organizations, institutions, our leadership has to be ready to do things differently,” McDonald says. “I tell the team changes that we had planned to make over a period of time are going to have to be compounded into months.” For now, One Columbus won’t fill McDonald’s old job, and he is counting on the veteran staff to run it. “I’ll still remain involved in all of the economic development efforts day to day,” he says. “One Columbus is a really important organization for us to continue to operate at a high level. It’s one of the best in the country mostly because we have a team that’s been there for the entire 11 years.” McDonald says he is finding that the economic development efforts of One Columbus have become more intertwined with the activities of the Partnership, which are more focused on policy and civic issues involving the major issues facing Columbus such as housing, education and transportation. Other cities are dealing with similar situations. “All are being accelerated and all are being asked to do more in the middle of this as the bridge

builder between the public sector and the private sector,” he says. Being able to see through all of this and into the future worries McDonald. “Our ability to think beyond the immediate urgency of the next crisis to think long term is such an incredible competitive advantage, to have the capacity, the leadership to think beyond — where is this going 20, 30 50 years from now? What do we want those headlines to be?” McDonald’s selection to lead the Partnership was the only choice that made sense, says Joe Nardone, CEO of the Columbus Regional Airport Authority that operates John Glenn Columbus International Airport and Rickenbacker International Airport. He’s also a Partnership member. “One of the things about Kenny is that he is authentic. He says what he means and means what he says. That’s why he can close the deal. He’s reliable,” Nardone says. “He’s really

good at assessing strengths and weaknesses, and things we have to attack to be better.” Nardone praises McDonald for being able to bring the 82 members of the Partnership together. “The fact of the matter is that it’s been a seamless transition,” he says. “He’s far ahead of anyone else.” Steve Steinour, Huntington Bancshares chairman, president and CEO, says McDonald is tireless. “He’s doing two very full-time jobs. He’ll grow into the role.” The advantage that the Partnership has is its relationships with leaders and businesses in Greater Columbus, Steinour says. “This highly engaged network of partners and advocates will work closely with Kenny to set him up for success and ensure he has the support he needs to help the region seize opportunities for substantial economic growth,” he says. Steinour, who co-chairs the Partnership with AEP’s Nick Akins, says Fischer and McDonald made a great one-two punch, and that he thinks McDonald needs a partner. “We’re now bigger,” he says. “Intel alone is a substantial job. “Kenny is currently adding to the team with a ground-up approach, including additional opportunities for existing associates, and we will be sure to reassess capacity,” which may result in bringing on select senior managers to round out the team eventually.”

Building prosperity

It’s a global project. It’s a global solution. We happen to be a location that is serving as a solution for that. Man, we have to think really big. Kenny McDonald, president and CEO, Columbus Partnership

When Columbus 2020 rebranded itself in 2019 as One Columbus, it set new economic development goals of creating 60,000 jobs with an annual payroll of $3.3 billion and investment of $10 billion. All are ambitious aims, bigger than the ones set for the prior decade. But it was another goal that was the most eye-catching: turning Greater Columbus into the most prosperous region in the U.S. Greater prosperity means improving the standard of living for more people and addressing health and wealth inequities along with having economic growth. “No metropolitan area did that ... at least in the last decade and I would argue they haven’t done that

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says. “That’s opening up the possibilities for millions of Americans at least. If anyone in the world can solve the problem, it’s the most diverse country in the world, which is us.”

Building bridges

in the last 50 years. Points in time, maybe they’ve had small successes here and there,” McDonald says. It means the Partnership will address issues in housing, education, labor force and transportation, among others. “The last 50 years have been an historic economic story. We should not be in the place we are right now when we’re talking about health inequities, wealth inequities and that’s where we are. We have to be sober about that.” Airport leader Nardone says it’s been great to see CEOs, often accused of being focused just on profits, embrace the effort. “We have CEOs that don’t just care about bottom line,” he says. “They care about raising people up. They care about diversity. They care about raising salaries. Making Columbus the most prosperous is about making sure everybody is on the bus.’’ Steinour says the Intel project may become to Columbus something akin to Ford’s value to Detroit. “It’s a very unique moment,” he says. “Different leaders stepping in and stepping up can make a huge difference to those who are marginalized.” Today’s middle school and high school students who obtain the right credentials, for example, could be among the early hires at Intel, ultimately earning salaries approaching $100,000. Intel has said the average wage for the 3,000 workers at the plant will be $135,000. What concerns McDonald is that change is happening so rapidly that making the necessary adjustments to address inequities will be harder. “Maybe I worry about this the most: Are we really going to do it differently than the leaders before us have done it so that we don’t end up in the same

situation where we have growth, we have positive balance sheets in our communities and our inequities either stay the same or get worse,’’ he says. “Where are we going to spend our time? How are we going to do even honestly very small changes, make these thousand small changes that need to happen across our systems and within our communities and companies to make the changes necessary so that the playing field is even whatever the goal line date is.’’

Building a labor force The unemployment rate for Greater Columbus has been near an all-time low in recent months. The 2.8 percent rate in December was the lowest this century. The rate was at 3.3 percent in March, the most recent month available. Employers routinely complain about how difficult it is to find workers, but at the same time the state has about 140,000 fewer jobs and workers than before the pandemic started. Then there are other groups of people who, for one reason or another, aren’t in the labor force or haven’t been able to get a better job. McDonald believes that removing obstacles on where workers come from, their background and credentials, along with those with disabilities can address at least some of the inequities. “I’m very confident we’re going to eliminate these barriers, get people either back in or into [the workforce] for the first time,” he says. Already, change is happening. Some companies, for example, are dropping requirements that workers have four-year degrees for some jobs. “You’re seeing a big shift in that,” he

McDonald’s first taste of economic development came while he was a student at Georgia Southern University and he landed an internship at the Savannah Economic Development Authority. He learned quickly that those in economic development are involved in some of the biggest issues facing a community, and that the work of an economic developer is a bridge between business and the public sector. Over the years, McDonald says he has learned the value of finding community leaders who are driven to make their local communities better. “I’m passionate about helping communities achieve their potential. Even when we were representing clients, it wasn’t a cutthroat game of you’re eliminated, this community wins and this one loses.” McDonald says it’s important for communities to know why their effort comes up short. “What did that community learn by losing? We would circle back with and talk with them about what is [it] going to take next time.” An example of that was the failed bid to win Amazon’s second headquarters in 2018. Columbus was one of 20 finalists for the project out of 238 regions of the country that sought the project. “HQ2 was a tipping point when it came to the pursuit of that, how they approach it and what we had to do to compete,” McDonald says. “It really sharpens your thinking about everything else.” Leaders in all communities want the same things, McDonald says. “How do we move forward? How do we move the economy forward? How do we move our civics forward? There’s people who care. ... Your job is get the potential out of those leaders and the assets you’re given.” “That’s the thing that resonated with me,” he says. “We’re all trying to get to the same place.” Mark Williams covers business for the Columbus Dispatch.

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TECH TALK By CYNTHIA BENT FINDLAY

Photo courtesy The Rundown

Chelsea Dexter

Stable condition Horse trainers can store and share health and care details using The Rundown app.

eed to know how your racehorse did in its last training session? Now there’s an app for that. And that app could represent some big business. The Rundown is the brainchild of Chelsea Dexter, a seventh-generation Indiana farmer who grew up in Upper Arlington with a love of horses.

The Rundown therundown.app BUSINESS: Racehorse stable management app CEO AND FOUNDER: Chelsea Dexter EMPLOYEES: 1 INVESTMENT TO DATE: Private angel investment

Dexter says her parents indulged her passion when she was only six by taking her to Scioto Downs, and she instantly fell in love with the track. “I wrote to the track manager to ask for a job at age six, and every year after that,” Dexter laughs. Dexter’s life didn’t work out that way. She did take riding lessons throughout her youth, did a stint at Ohio State after high school, didn’t feel a fit and moved to Seattle and began working in high-tech sales. But a life-changing bout with cancer in her 20s sent her back to Columbus for treatment. She discovered a connection with her oncologist—he owned racehorses. The two of them hit it off and shared long conversations about track life. Racehorses are typically owned by anywhere from one to 30 or more investors—but most never touch the horse. Trainers manage the horse’s day-to-day care and career, but in a typical week a single horse may require the care of dozens of people, all who require appointments and a paycheck. Trainers manage those connections and bill owners, and owners hope the horses win purses and can pay off all those bills. Dexter and her physician talked about how keeping up can be frustrating for owners, who often get

addicted to the sport and own shares of multiple horses. “Once, he said he found out one of his horses actually died and it took him three weeks to find out about it. His schedule just didn’t work out with his trainers, and they couldn’t get in touch with each other,” Dexter says. “We both said, ‘There should be an app for that!’ And then we decided – let’s do this!” Dexter’s physician became her first investor. Dexter got to work brainstorming and sat down with local consultancy Big Kitty Labs. The result: The Rundown. The app allows trainers to communicate about each horse’s career to everyone who needs to know in their network. Trainers can report training times, horse health stats, jockey fees, and so on. The Rundown launched May 5, 2020. It charges trainers and owners a monthly fee for use, plus Dexter keeps a small percentage of bills paid through the app. It’s growing fast, too—she says she’d estimate the Rundown is already used by something like 30 percent of the thoroughbred racing industry. As the platform grows, she is projecting a $750,000 raise in the next year. Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.

LOOKHUMAN LAUNCHES BLOCKCHAINBACKED LOYALTY PROGRAM Columbus-based LookHuman has launched a new blockchain-backed loyalty program: RFTee Rewards. Unlike your standard loyalty points program, RFTees are limited-edition, tradeable and redeemable tokens featuring top designs from the company’s catalog of iconic pop-culture products. Blockchain customer loyalty programs aren’t new— American Express with retailer Boxed announced one in 2019, for example;

Open-source blockchain network DigitalBits among others offer the turnkey ability to launch proprietary digital assets for brands. The NBA famously is issuing non-fungible tokens depicting exclusive video clips of some of its marquee players. Nike, Adidas and Prada have also gotten in on the NFT game. “We’re not aware of another program like it where you receive free NFT-based rewards with every purchase

that have real savings value embedded in them, can be collected towards free gifts and can be shared and traded in the open NFT space,” says Jim Keller, CEO of LookHuman’s parent company, Print Syndicate. “We were inspired by the legacy of rewards programs like Green Stamps and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and also by the new opportunities that NFTs open up for sharing, trading, and authentication,” he says.

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Small Business

Climb on Business and rock climbing are similar, Vertical Adventures is finding.

vercoming adversity and mapping a route to success are a few of the reasons Mardi and Matt Roberts and their four children fell in love with rock climbing. This led them to a friendship and eventual partnership with Carrie and Alexis Roccos, owners of the Vertical Adventures indoor rock-climbing gym. For Alexis Roccos, the fear factor is motivational. “If you never put yourself in a situation where you’re not a little bit afraid, it’s hard to grow,” he says. All these skills were needed as the entrepreneurial couples worked their way through the uncharted wa-

“If you never put yourself in a situation where you’re not a little bit afraid, it’s hard to grow.” ALEXIS ROCCOS, co-founder, Vertical Adventures

5.Life 5.life

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Alexis Roccos and Mardi Roberts ters of the COVID-19 pandemic and came close to a lockdown-induced free fall.

Vertical Adventures The Roccos opened Vertical Adventures, Columbus’ first indoor rock-climbing gym, in 1994. The timing was right, as climbing was becoming a thing, and the first wave of indoor facilities were opening. Throw in the proximity of Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, one of the nation’s top climbing destinations, and the gym took off. “We outgrew the space pretty fast,” Alexis says. “We knew if we wanted to grow, we had to build something bigger or someone else would come to town and build something bigger.” The Robertses discovered rock climbing during a 2008 family vacation in Colorado. When they returned home, they found Vertical Adventures. “You have mentors who teach

you,” Mardi Roberts says of the Roccos (who have two children). “They took us to Red River Gorge and were our guides.” Over the next few years, the couples began what Mardi calls a courtship. “We flirted, we started dating, we got engaged and, in April 2013, we made it official and got married,” she says. The new business partnership was rebranded 5.Life. The 5. refers to the Yosemite Decimal System that rates climbs, with 5.0 being the easiest. “It seemed like a good fit,” Alexis says. “They brought business knowledge—Matt is an agricultural economist and Mardi has a marketing background. We had the climbing background.” “Our role was business development,” Mardi says, adding Matt was the numbers cruncher. “Matt likes to say he works to get us into debt, and the rest of us work to get us out of debt.”

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Expansion The new, larger Vertical Adventures on Kingsmill Court opened in November 2014 and cost $2.4 million. The “old” Vertical Adventures, located about a quarter mile away, was initially used for youth classes. It closed in August 2021, “a victim of COVID,“ Mardi says. The new gym, with 44-foot-high ceilings and 15,000 square feet of climbing space, seems huge but is about average for a climbing gym. Once again, business boomed and there was a need to expand. 5.Life opened Chambers in June 2018 and Bloc Garten in May 2021. Both are indoor bouldering gyms. Bouldering is rock climbing without ropes, done at lower heights and with mats for the inevitable falls. A bigger launch was Climb Nittany, a full-scale, $4 million rock-climbing gym in the State College, Pennsylvania area. “We opened twice. The first time was November 2020, then there was a lockdown, and we re-opened in January 2021,” Mardi says.

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Pandemic problems It’s early 2020, business is booming, Bloc Garten and Climb Nittany are under construction, and then … “On March 15, we laid off everyone except for three employees,” Mardi says of the impact of the pandemic and statewide lockdown. “That was the hardest thing we ever had to do, but we knew if we didn’t, we wouldn’t have anything for them to come back to when we reopened.” The past two years have been a scramble for survival. “If it weren’t for the [Paycheck Protection Program and Employee Retention Tax Credit], we wouldn’t have made it,” Alexis says. Business is still off at Vertical Adventures by about 20 percent from pre-pandemic times, but the cash flow is once again positive, Mardi says. Plans to expand are on hold for now, but Mardi still dreams. “Columbus is vibrant and growing, there is definitely a demand,” she says. “This sport is about to explode, and we don’t have enough ropes in Columbus to meet the demand.” Steve Wartenberg is a freelance writer. June 2022 l ColumbusCEO

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SPOTLIGHT By STEVE WARTENBERG + Photo by ROB HARDIN

Nonprofit

All for Latinas Building safe spaces far from home. Connecting women. Creating community. That’s Proyecto Mariposas.

royecto Mariposas (Project Butterfly) doesn’t have an office or any paid employees, and it operates on a minuscule budget. And yet, led by a determined founder, it manages to connect with, teach and inspire hundreds of Latina mothers and their daughters. “When you have a passion to do something, you can empower Latina girls with the tools and skills they need to lead brave, strong lives,” says Yahaira Rose,

“When you have a passion to do something, you can empower Latina girls with the tools and skills they need to lead brave, strong lives.” YAHAIRA ROSE, executive director, Proyecto Mariposas

Proyecto Mariposas

2330 Airport Drive, Columbus proyectomariposas.org

MISSION: Empower, mentor and support Latina

women and girls with the tools, knowledge and leadership skills necessary to lead brave, strong lives.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Yahaira Rose EMPLOYEES: All-volunteer YEARLY BUDGET: $45,000

Yahaira Rose executive director of the nonprofit. Passion is the perfect word to describe what Rose shares with the Proyecto Mariposas community she’s created. “She inspires me to be a better person and to give back,” says Stephanie Diaz, 20. Diaz began participating in the program when she was 10 and recently opened steff.mexx, a catering company specializing in traditional Mexican candies and treats. “[Yahaira’s] someone you can trust and go to for anything.”

Getting started Rose traveled from her home in Puerto Rico to attend Ohio State University in 1992. She was 18 and didn’t speak English. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature, then a master’s degree in

professional studies with a specialty in leadership development from the University of Denver. She began a career in human resources, where she learned the leadership and organizational skills that would later help her create Proyecto Mariposas. “I didn’t have a community, any mentors. There weren’t that many Latinos here, and it was hard for me to connect,” Rose says, adding she sought out and talked to several Latina mothers. “I asked, ‘What do you need?’ and that’s how we started building a program.” Proyecto Mariposas began in a church basement in 2011. Rose met with and mentored four Latina mothers and their daughters. And when the church basement was no longer available, the growing group moved their weekly meetings to Rose’s home.

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Continued growth Rose filed for and attained nonprofit status in 2014 and began applying for and winning grants. The first was from the city of Columbus, for $3,000, and “helped us create a structured program, a book with all these activities we could follow with the girls,” Rose says. Subsequent grants from the city and other organizations have helped her add more programs and books. There are workbooks for younger girls, teenage girls, and a third book, in Spanish, for mothers, many of whom don’t speak English. The books follow a 10-week curriculum on nutrition, arts and crafts, design, cooking and leadership skills. There are field trips and Latina guest speakers from the community from a variety of professions. There’s a oneweek summer camp and an annual Day of the Girl event that includes a one-day conference organized by the girls in the program. Rose also has taken the Proyecto Mariposas curriculum into local schools: the Columbus Bilingual Academy-North, World Language Middle School and the Columbus Spanish Immersion Academy. After Rose began volunteering at the Martin de Porres Center of the Dominican Sisters of Peace on Airport Road, she accepted a full-time position as program manager in 2015. The sisters allowed her to bring Proyecto Mariposas with her, she says.

Overcoming obstacles The women, teens and girls of Proyecto Mariposas face many hurdles in their daily lives. “There can be legal issues if they’re undocumented,” Rose says, adding language, education and career opportunities are other issues, as well as the challenge of combining the heritage of their native countries with the culture of this country. Liliana Ivette Vasquez is a Columbus-based immigration attorney connected to Proyecto Mariposas. “Yahaira knows we can struggle with our identity … and have to carve out our own identity,” she says. “And she helps everyone carve that out on an individual basis, and she provides a safe place and a community.”

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BBB believes that when organizations operate with a foundation of trust and ethics, they develop a strong and lasting reputation that is recognized by their customers as well as the entire community. This series celebrates the organizations that earned a BBB Torch Award in 2021. By putting intentional focus on BBB’s four “Cs” of building trust - Character, Culture, Community and Customers - they reach their goal to be a better business.

How does Brady Ware intentionally enhance its internal and external culture? Co-CEO Brian Carr emphasizes, “Authentic leadership works on the principle that

BBB® Spotlight on 2021 Torch Award Recipient

A Champion with Character

leaders can prove their legitimacy, their credibility, by nurturing sincere relationships with whomever they’re leading. Our influence affects the trajectories of employees, clients and other consultants. By giving people something to believe in and setting an example, you fuel their purpose and spark their ambition. Therefore, it is the most important role we serve within Brady Ware.” The Brady Ware career development program was created to allow staff and leadership to gain perspective and inspiration. Employees are matched to a Career Counselor to encourage shared experiences, build trust, and cultivate a culture of character. This program is able to organically adapt to match the challenges teams face to improve Brady Ware internally and externally. CPAs are required to take an ethics class and

BBB recognized Brady Ware at the Torch Awards last November for their outstanding example of character in our business community. When it comes to professional service firms, the characteristics often found in strong leaders become pillars of a company. Brady Ware guides and advises their clients on personal, confidential, and impactful decisions- safeguarding their financial future for themselves and their businesses. The company exhibits high character, trust, integrity, and honesty as a necessity to its position as a trusted accounting firm. Brady Ware is also committed to honoring its employees as its greatest asset and providing ongoing support and innovation to its clients.

every team member receives an annual minimum of 40 hours of continuing professional education. How does Brady Ware empower employees to shape the character of their organization? Brady Ware recognizes women’s value in the community and workplace, which is supported by the firm’s internal Women’s Initiative. Brady Ware offers unique resources for our women to pursue top management positions and unleash their potential. One resource is matching female employees with mentors to help guide them throughout the different seasons in life and create a healthy work/life balance. The outcome has been exceptional with a noticeably higher performance throughout the firm and deeper satisfaction from the team. How does Brady Ware uniquely support its community? Brady Ware’s annual Women’s Leadership Conference has evolved into one of the largest events in Central Ohio during its nearly decade-long history. The Women’s Leadership Conference provides knowledge and skills that are instrumental in navigating the professional world while giving local professionals the opportunity to build a powerful network and learn from industry thought leaders. This year’s Women’s Leadership Conference will be held June 24, 2022 at the downtown Renaissance Hotel. For more information visit www.columbuswomensleadership.com This organization embodies all of BBB’s four “Cs” of building trust - Character, Culture, Community and Customers as they bring innovation to their team, to their clients and to the community!

About the Torch Awards About theCentral Torch Ohio Awards BBB serving established the annual Torch Awards for Ethics to publicly recognize local

BBB serving Ohio established annual Torch Awards Ethicsour to publicly recognize companies withCentral elevated commitment tothe ethical business. BBB hasfor distilled intentional focus onlocal trust and companies with elevated commitment to ethical business. BBB has distilled our intentional focus on trust and ethics into four C’s – Character, Culture, Customers, and Community. Visit BBBTorchAward.com to nominate into four C’s – Character, anethics outstanding business today! Culture, Customers, and Community. Visit BBBTorchAward.com to nominate an outstanding business today!

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How will Ohio build a workforce capable of staffing the ‘SILICON HEARTLAND’? BY VIRGINIA BROWN

n March 17, Intel delivered Ohio education leaders some exciting news. Joined by Gov. Mike DeWine and a host of community, business and education leaders at Co-

lumbus State Community College, the company announced a $100 million investment over the next decade in semiconductor education and research programs in order to staff its newly announced factory near New Albany. Fifty million of those funds will

go to Ohio higher education institutions, with an additional $50 million to be matched from the National Science Foundation for national funding opportunities. In January, Intel announced plans for a $20 billion investment in two Photo courtesy Intel

Intel personnel at work.

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What are Intel’s hiring needs in Ohio? Cindi Harper, Intel’s vice president of talent planning and acquisition, has worked with the company for 26 years and is no stranger to this type of challenge. Based in Arizona, she oversees hiring for Intel’s similar chip facilities in that state. “From the talent perspective, we definitely look at what we can tap into from the ratings of the schools within the surrounding areas …” she says. “What type of talent exists there, and what we can attract to that location.” According to Harper, of the 10,000 jobs Intel plans to create in Ohio, 7,000 of them will be outsourced to trade construction workers to get the factory running. Once the factory is built, Harper says it’ll take roughly 3,000 employees to maintain it.

File/ColumbusCEO/TIM JOHNSON

new chip factories in Licking County. To staff the factories, Intel will have to tap into an ecosystem of community, education and business partnerships. The semiconductor industry directly employs nearly a quarter of a million workers in the U.S. In 2020, industry sales totaled $208 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Powering everything from smartphones to drones, satellites and medical equipment, as demand continues to grow, the semiconductor manufacturing supply chain faces serious challenges. In 2017, SEMI, the global industry association serving the electronics manufacturing supply chain, conducted a survey that found 82 percent of semiconductor industry executives experienced a shortage of qualified job candidates at every skill and education level, from technicians to doctoral level engineers. To sustain and grow the invention and production of chip technologies, the U.S. has to increase the number of students enrolled in STEM-related courses at colleges and universities and increase the number of diversity of graduates into the industry. In Ohio, that means creating a talent pipeline that aligns with Intel’s needs over the next decade.

Kristina Johnson

“Seventy percent will be manufacturing technicians, which are truly the heart and soul of Intel,” she says. Manufacturing technicians typically hold a two-year degree in a STEM discipline and handle regular preventive maintenance. “That’s where a technician would start if they had no experience,” Harper adds. Another quarter of the 3,000 hires will be engineers, primarily process engineers in disciplines like electrical, mechanical, chemical and computer science engineering. About half of those will hold bachelor’s degrees, and roughly 35 percent will have a masters. Five percent will be a doctoratelevel hire.

The final 5 percent of total hires, Harper estimates, will fill support roles in sales, marketing, finance and human resources.

How will two and fouryear institutions collaborate? “We feel like we’re starting from a position of strength,” says David Harrison, president of Columbus State Community College. “Something Columbus State is good at is partnerJune 2022 l ColumbusCEO

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File/Columbus Dispatch/FRED SQUILLANTE

David Harrison

ing with companies and industries to build a community infrastructure for long-term growth.” He points to Honda and other companies with local talent needs in the past. “There’s kind of a family tree now that started with manufacturing,” he says. “Working with the employers, our students were working while going to school, getting hired at a really high-paying job and having a lot of support from both the college and the employer.” Over 30 companies are involved in the manufacturing pipeline today, he says. Columbus State used the same model for information technology needs, creating a flexible apprenticeship program with companies like Accenture, State Auto and Nationwide. “Students who didn’t have a career path from Columbus State before are now getting multiple job offers,” he says. “It’s where a lot of the diversity for these companies is coming from.” Though $50 million sounds like a lot of money, the investment is over 10

years and can take multiple avenues. “It’s not like any single institution is going to get a transformational investment, but we’re all looking for a way to build a statewide strategy and ecosystem, engaging all 23 community colleges in the state to build out a semiconductor manufacturing ecosystem that will serve both Intel and the supply chain.” And that ecosystem is already coming to life. For example, Central Ohio Technical College, in collaboration with Intel, recently announced associate degree pathways that could lead to careers with the company. Kristina Johnson, president of Ohio State University, shares a personal story about her experience with community college technicians. “When I was an undergraduate at Stanford, I learned about semiconductor processing in labs from technicians that were trained at a local community college,” she says. “They knew how to actually build things and make things and look at yield… Because I grew up

in that environment, I learned that it’s a continuum of educational opportunities that these companies need in order to build successful industries.”

What are Ohio’s educational institutions already doing? Roughly 2,000 Columbus State Community College students have already transferred to OSU as part of the college’s Preferred Pathway program, which guarantees admission. “[That partnership] is one of the things that attracted Intel to central Ohio to begin with,” says Harrison. “To have Columbus State and Ohio State in such close proximity really gave them confidence that the talent pipeline was going to be in good hands.” And given the changing nature

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of work, which has caused many employers to reconsider what formal credentials their jobs require, “That is playing right into our strength— building stackable credentials that are going to help people grow within their careers to meet needs,” Harrison says. “We really feel like Columbus State was purpose-built for this moment.” Coupled with the existing pipeline from two-year to four-year institutions, OSU is working to scale up its bachelor of science and engineering technology, which centers on process, packaging and systems studies. BSET is already available at OSU’s Lima and Mansfield campuses and it’s in development in Newark. “We’re fortunate that we can build on those existing programs,” Johnson says. “A couple of areas for future collaboration would be to develop joint labs. The infrastructure is what gets expensive, and it costs a lot to build out clean rooms and laboratories where you teach students … that any dust can create defects, and therefore, your yield goes down and that costs money.” In April, Johnson and nine other university presidents, including those at the University of Michigan, Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame, met to form the Midwest Semiconductor Network. This group will focus on workforce and manufacturing, research and innovation, and creating infrastructure for experiential learning. “We can work together as a network and not have to reinvent the wheel at each university” she says.

Diversity must play an important role. “One of the opportunities for us is to ensure that students from all backgrounds have a shot at these wellpaying jobs at Intel,” Johnson says. A collaboration between OSU, the city of Columbus, Columbus City Schools and Columbus State, STEAMM Rising (science, technology, engineering, arts, math and medicine), works to grow the innovation pipeline through programs like a two-week summer institution in which teachers get to develop modules and experi-

Photo by ROB HARDIN

Land being cleared on a Licking County lot near the site of the future Intel plant.

ence hands-on learning that they can bring back to the classroom. “We’ve got to connect with people from communities that may not have been connected before,” says Harrison. “We know we have structural issues around income inequality and economic mobility, and the ability to reach into neighborhoods that haven’t had access to a path to a six-figure job is something that … has gotten me excited about Intel’s attitude and intelligence toward a diverse workforce.” Intel plans to increase the number of women in technical roles to 40 percent and double the number of women and minorities in senior roles by 2030. “They have targeted efforts for people of color, and it aligns directly

with what Columbus State has been focused on for the last decade or more. To have an employer partner of the scale that Intel is, who’s also making investments in those spaces, I think can be a transformational moment for the community.” Intel also plans to tap into the pool of roughly 60,000 veterans who live in Franklin County. “We definitely have a high footprint for veterans, and veterans have comparable skills that work really, really well in our manufacturing technicians,” Harper says. “It’s a big enough project that everybody can see a role for themselves and everybody needs to play a role,” Johnson says. Virginia Brown is a freelance writer.

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A tale of

(14) cities

A Harvard Business School leadership program allows Columbus to bond with executives across America.

very year since 2015, Harvard Business School professor Jan Rivkin has put dozens of America’s changemakers in one room and asked them the same question: Is Columbus a successful city? “As you can imagine, the answers are all over the place,” Rivkin says. “Some point to great outcomes, some point to poor outcomes, some point

BY JESS DEYO • PHOTOS BY ROB HARDIN to great processes, some point to poor processes in the community.” But such an open-ended question immediately begs for others to be asked: What makes a city successful? What does success mean? The oftentimes passionate discussion is part of Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program, meant to challenge city leaders to answer those exact questions by using the “Colum-

bus way” as a focal point. And as often as Rivkin asks such a question, he’s spent several years searching for an answer of his own. He didn’t know it at the time, but the Young American Leaders Program would be born from another project Rivkin co-chairs—the U.S. Competitiveness Project, a research-led effort founded in 2011 to analyze and grow the competitiveness of America. While

The 2022 Columbus Young American Leaders Program class, from left: Harvard’s Jan Rivkin, Amy Taylor, Nikki Scarpitti, Joe Apgar, Barbara Benham, Yohannan Terrell, Erica Crawley, Rhoe Fields, Autumn Glover and Columbus Foundation CEO Doug Kridler. Not pictured: Falon Donohue and LC Johnson.

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working on the project, he recalls hitRivkin was one step closer to launch“Instead, it happened that we were ting what felt like a dead end. ing the program. looking for two things: One was cities “We dove into this data and quick“Alex Fischer was critical to buildwhere we felt we knew some critical ly concluded that the U.S. economy ing that relationship,” Rivkin says. individuals, and second, cities that was doing half its job. Large com“I spoke with Alex before we ran the seemed committed to moving forward panies and the people who run and first program, when it was nothing especially on the issue of the lack of invest in them are doing quite well, more than an idea. He and I took a shared prosperity in the country.” but a lot of working-class Americans long walk around campus thinking The Columbus Partnership, now led are struggling, including many small about how it can be designed to be by Kenny McDonald, and the Columbusinesses,” Rivkin says. “We started beneficial for cities like Columbus.” bus Foundation, led by President and asking ourselves, what might we do As for the other eight cities that CEO Doug Kridler, sponsor the trip at the federal policy level to address helped launch the program, stretching and select all 10 participants each shared prosperity in the country?” from Boston to Seattle, the selections year for the program, with the help of Rivkin and other faculty members were made with a simple criterion: recommendations from past cohorts. put together a set of policies aimed “I wish I could say that we had a Participants could be from public or at improving the lives of the workscientific-based search,” Rivkin says. private sectors, nonprofits or for-profing class and took it to its—there’s Washington D.C., but no restriction. Seattle to no avail. At the Such a program same time, he was is vital to CoBoston also analyzing efforts lumbus’ growMilwaukee Minneapolis at a local level— ing economy and Pittsburgh Salt Lake City there, a bit of hope population, Kridler Detroit had been restored. says. Columbus is the “We found lead14th largest city in the Columbus San Jose nation and continues ers across sectors to expand, and with bigcoming together to Nashville name companies like Intel get things done and Chattanooga being recruited to Ohio, restore shared resources leadership opportunities also that we rely upon for San Antonio Birmingham have the potential to grow. citizens and companies The Young American Leadand communities to ers Program is meant to be be productive and another way for the comresourceful,” he says. Miami munity to lift and support But at that level, emerging leaders, Kridler says. innovative ideas “It’s not the only way, but it’s an addioften move slowly. What benefits one YOUNG AMERICAN tive. Leadership in Columbus is more city could benefit another, if only the LEADERS PROGRAM distributed than in the past, which two had a stronger connection—cue CITIES INVOLVED: means efforts like [the program] are the Young American Leaders Program, Boston, MA sound investments by distributing which has since evolved into an aneven further and in different ways.” nual event that brings together leadChattanooga, TN The Young American Leaders proers from various cities to Harvard’s Columbus, OH gram takes place over four days each campus. The goal is to get those good June. In May, participants who accept ideas flowing quicker. Detroit, MI the invitation receive a binder packed Rivkin was joined in creating the with case studies written about the program with three additional HarMiami, FL cities involved in the program. vard faculty: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, MN Some past participants include Karen Mills and Mitch Weiss. Since Frederic Bertley, president and CEO its creation in 2015, the Young AmeriNashville, TN of COSI; Brett Kaufman, founder and can Leaders Program has grown from Salt Lake City, Utah CEO of Kaufman Development; Shanhosting 90 leaders across nine cities non Hardin, Columbus City Council to now include 140 leaders across 14 Seattle, WA president; and Kelley Griesmer, presicities (10 per city). dent and CEO at The Women’s Fund From the initial idea to create the Birmingham, AL of Central Ohio. program, Columbus has been part of Milwaukee, WI Rhoe Fields, a member of the 2022 the conversation. It was during the cohort, says taking part in such a Columbus Partnership’s 2014 retreat Pittsburgh, PA program is her duty. As the assistant to Harvard that Rivkin caught word vice president of community relations the group would be in town. After San Antonio, TX and philanthropy at Bath and Body meeting with then Columbus PartnerSan Jose, CA Works Foundation, she is constantly ship President and CEO Alex Fischer, June 2022 l ColumbusCEO

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Eight of 10 Columbus Young American Leaders Program 2022 attendees met in May to discuss the program. looking for new ways to give back. “I want to do my part to grow our city in a sustainable and equitable way.” Fields is excited to come back with skills she can utilize in her day-to-day practices. “I think being a curious person is really important and I think my takeaway from [the program] will allow me to be a more effective leader,” Fields says. The remainder of the 2022 cohort include: Joe Apgar, Pelotonia; Barbara Benham, Huntington National Bank; Erica Crawley, Franklin County Board of Commissioners; Falon Donohue, Narya Capital; Autumn Glover, OhioHealth; LC Johnson, Zora’s House; Amy Taylor, Columbus Downtown Development Corporation; Yohannan Terrell, Columbus Fashion Alliance/Warhol & Wall St.; and Nikki Scarpitti, The Walter Foundation. Throughout the week, all 140 members spend early morning well into the evening in the classroom— that’s where those case studies come into play. All participants will rely on them, similar to how Harvard Business School typically leads its students, to learn about various challenges the participating cities have faced. The attendees share how they would have handled the issue, initial responses or new ideas. For example, Rivkin’s newest case study, debuting at this year’s program,

is about Chattanooga, Tennessee. Set in 2020 as the pandemic shut down schools, 28,000 kids didn’t have an internet connection and weren’t able to work remotely. One superintendent juggled possible solutions, ranging from little involvement to a whole new plan. In the end, free internet access was granted for a decade to any family of a public-school student who got free or reduced-price lunch. The conversation about the case could be joined with participants noting similar challenges or providing criticisms, compliments and ideas. As a case study is discussed, leaders

“Here you’ve got an organization called the Columbus Partnership, which has been effective in economic development, and in a community-spirited way it got involved in public education and it hasn’t gone well—what do you do?” JAN RIVKIN, professor, Harvard Business School

from that city are challenged to simply listen to all responses before contributing—which may pose a challenge for some more than others.

Case study: The Columbus Partnership The first case study written by Rivkin for the Young American Leaders Program had Columbus as its subject. The well-known study is set in 2014 after the Columbus Partnership’s controversial attempts to strengthen the public school system following the investigations of Columbus City Schools in 2012 for reportedly wiping out poor attendance and test scores. It was that same year that then Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman and then Columbus City Council President Andrew Ginther announced the formation of the Columbus Education Commission—a group the Partnership was deeply involved in. Along with other recommendations, the commission spearheaded two ballot initiatives: Issue 50, which would raise property taxes by $76.6 million and call for an independent auditor for the school system; and Issue 51, which would define the selection and powers of that auditor.

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“Diversity, equity and inclusion are foundational to who we are at Cardinal Health. In our workplaces and in our communities, DE&I means ensuring that all people — no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, socioeconomic status, language, abilities, age or religion — feel welcome, included and valued.” — Mike Kaufmann CEO, Cardinal Health Co-Chair, Columbus Partnership DE&I Steering Committee

cardinalhealth.com/diversity © 2022 Cardinal Health. All Rights Reserved. CARDINAL HEALTH and the Cardinal Health LOGO are trademarks of Cardinal Health and may be registered in the US and/or in other countries. Lit. No. 5PR22-1973968 (05/2022)

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Doug Kridler (left) and Jan Rivkin. On Nov. 5, 2013, voters shot down both issues—with 69 percent and 61 percent opposition, respectively. “Here you’ve got an organization called the Columbus Partnership, which has been effective in economic development, and in a communityspirited way it got involved in public education and it hasn’t gone well— what do you do?” Rivkin says. “And first, why did that happen? What do you think about it?” Christie Angel, a 2018 cohort member and president and CEO of YWCA Columbus, knew this case was coming, she says. Angel, who is stepping down from her role this year, remembers being briefed by past participants before arriving—and was highly anticipating the conversation. Angel worked for Mayor Coleman at the time and was knee-deep in the education reform initiative, she says, including serving as a government relations lead to help get the ballot issues passed. “Of course, it failed miserably, and the rest is history. Everybody told me you have to be ready for that [discussion] because the criticism is going to come.” And it came. “I’m sitting there like, ‘Oh my gosh we’re reliving his whole thing… ouch,’” she says. “You hear people talk about the business community being too involved, they shouldn’t have been involved, or this should have been led by the people and that’s why it failed.” Though, as the program continues and other case studies are discussed, some are revisited, Angel says. It also gave her the chance to see new perspectives not only of Columbus, but

also other cities involved. “Throughout the course of the week as we workshopped these case studies, people started to say, ‘Well, wait a minute. Maybe Columbus had something going on,’” she says. “... people’s opinion, which started so negatively around how we handled that initiative, started to change.” Participants also take part in group projects within their respective cities. Angel recalls her group discussing ways developers could take advantage of President Donald Trump’s proposed Opportunity Zones, part of his 2017 tax plan, to create social good. The idea was never fully hashed out, but some used it as inspiration, she says. Another participant, in 2019, was Janelle Coleman, vice president of community engagement and diversity, equity and inclusion at American Electric Power. Coleman, who is married to the former mayor, was recommended for the program while she was at L Brands, where she worked for 12 years, but participated when

“Building a social and civic cohesion is a critical effort in building a strong community and in pursuit of common good.” DOUG KRIDLER, president and CEO, Columbus Foundation

she was executive vice president of external affairs at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium. Bringing so many diverse perspectives together in one room yielded a lesson she still relies on today, she says. “One of the [takeaways] is that sometimes you just have to sit and listen, no matter how uncomfortable it might make you, no matter what your opinion may be, it’s just really important to create space for open, honest dialogue whether you agree with it or not and ultimately come together at the end of that dialogue with a solution to move forward.” For Coleman, attending the Young American Leaders Program also instilled a sense of joy, proving that communities often experience and overcome similar struggles and offering her several new connections. “There’s a bonding there of folks who are on the ground really trying to solve these audacious issues that you think may be too big and then you discover something, or you have an unlocking of thinking from someone from Nashville and it inspires you. It gives you hope. It gives you someone to pick up the phone and call.” Coleman hopes more programs like it could exist in Columbus. The opportunities from the Young American Leaders Program don’t end in June. The Columbus Foundation and Columbus Partnership encourage past Columbus participants to stay in touch, and at least once a year, Kridler invites them to a private event to hear from key thought leaders. Last September, for example, he hosted New York Times best-selling author Heather McGhee, who wrote “The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.” “My hope is that folks feel encouraged and inspired by the opportunity and encouraged to think about what we have and what we can build on,” Kridler says. “Building a social and civic cohesion is a critical effort in building a strong community and in pursuit of common good.” Rivkin hopes the program can also grow to include more cities. “We are taking people who are already doing extraordinary things and trying to add a little bit more to them,” he says. “It’s clear that magic happens here.” Jess Deyo is associate editor.

32 ColumbusCEO l June 2022

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Members of

Columbus Partnership Nick Akins

Michael Kaufmann

Chairman, President and CEO, American Electric Power

Leslie Wexner

Jack Kessler

CEO, Cardinal Health

Co-Founder and Chairman, New Albany Co.

Lewis Von Thaer

Kirt Walker

Formerly Chairman Emeritus, L Brands

President and CEO, Battelle

Jane Grote Abell

Jeffrey Edwards

Dee Haslam

Brent Crawford Principal, Crawford Hoying

Michael Martz

Bradley Campbell

David Harrison

Joseph Nardone

President, Columbus State Community College

President and CEO, Columbus Regional Airport Authority

Stephen Markovich

Thomas Feeney

John Ammendola

Molly Kocour Boyle

Brett Kaufman

Corrine Burger

Chairman, and CEO, Huntington Bancshares

Owner-Operator, Columbus Crew

Managing Partner, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease

Mary Auch

Stephen Steinour

Co-Founder and Partner, Drive Capital

President and CEO, Crane Group

President, and Chairman, Installed Building Products and Edwards Cos.

President, AT&T Ohio

Chief Evangelist, IBM iX

Mark Kvamme

CEO, Nationwide

CPO & Executive Chairwoman of the Board, Donatos Pizza

President and CEO, Grange Insurance

Nancy Kramer

CEO, Kaufman Development

David Ciesinski

Tanny Crane

Chairman, President and CEO, Dispatch Printing

Melanie Corn President, Columbus College of Art & Design

Frances Henry

President and CEO, OhioHealth

Executive Chairman, Safelite Group

Lorraine Lutton

Traci Martinez

Regional President, PNC Bank, Columbus

Managing Director, JPMorgan Chase Bank

President and CEO, Lancaster Colony / T. Marzetti

Regional President, Fifth Third Bank Central Ohio

President and CEO, Mount Carmel Health System

Office Managing Partner, Squire Patton Boggs

Heather Brilliant

Mark Howard

Cameron Mitchell

Jay Schottenstein

President and CEO, Diamond Hill Capital Management

Timothy Robinson

Christopher Calamari

CEO, Nationwide Children’s Hospital

Sr. Vice President, U.S. Nutrition, Abbott Nutrition

Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Nationwide

Donald Barbour

Roger Rawlins

Lori Gillett CEO, Corna Kokosing Construction

President and CEO, Advanced Drainage Systems

CEO, Designer Brands

Founder and CEO, Cameron Mitchell Restaurants

Chairman and CEO, Schottenstein Stores

Doug Kridler

Lisa Ingram

President and CEO, Columbus Foundation

President and CEO, White Castle System

James Hagedorn Chairman and CEO, Scotts Miracle-Gro

34 ColumbusCEO l June 2022

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James Merkel Founder and CEO, Rockbridge Holdings

Kristina Johnson President, Ohio State University

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Thomas Obrokta Jr.

Richard Langdale

President and CEO, Encova Insurance

Managing Partner, NCT Ventures

David Meuse

Andrew Rose

Senior Advisor, Stonehenge Partners

President and CEO, Worthington Industries

Jack W. Nicklaus

Craig Rogerson

Founder and CoChair, Nicklaus Cos.

Jack Nicklaus II Vice Chairman, Nicklaus Cos.

Curtis Moody Chairman of the Board, Moody Nolan

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Chairman, President and CEO, Hexion

Mark Johnson Managing Partner, Deloitte

Tom Schmid President and CEO, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

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Robert Nelson Executive Vice President, Honda Development & Manufacturing of America

Andrew Thomas Interim Co-Leader and Chief Clinical Officer, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

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Arthur Scherbel

Kara Trott

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Founder/Board Chair, Quantum Health

Rockbridge Capital LLC is a federally registered investment advi v ser underr the the Investment me Adv Ad isers Act of 1940, as amended. This does not constitute an offer to o buy or sell securities es or any y o ther er offer of investment advice. Dollars capitalized and number of inv nvestm ments abo above ve are are across s multip multiple investment structures.

June 2022 l ColumbusCEO

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Sandy Doyle-Ahern

Ole Rosgaard

Dan Snyder

Doug Ulman

Scott White

Chad Delligatti

President, EMH&T

President and CEO, Greif

CEO, Lower.com

President and CEO, Pelotonia

President and CEO, IGS Energy

CEO, InnoSource

Robert Johnson

Matthew Scantland

Lewis Smoot Jr.

Bruce Thorn

Manuel Guzman

Elizabeth Kessler

CEO, Vertiv

Founder and CEO, AndHealth

President, Smoot Construction

Billy Vickers

Kimberly Zavislak

Robert Schottenstein

Office Managing Partner, KPMG

Chairman and CEO, M/I Homes

Co-Founder and CEO, Root Insurance Co.

Joel Pizzuti

Daniel Valerio

Daniel Sullivan

President and CEO, Modular Assembly Innovations

Kenny McDonald President and CEO, Columbus Partnership

CEO, Pizzuti Cos.

Office Managing Partner, Ernst & Young

President and CEO, Big Lots

Alex Timm

Executive Director, Memorial Tournament

President, CAS

Partner-in-Charge, Jones Day

Renee Cacchillo

Jonathan Price

President and CEO, Safelite Group

CEO, CBC Cos.

Ralph Andretta

Adam Weinberg

President and CEO, Alliance Data

President, Denison University

T 36 ColumbusCEO l June 2022

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Business law Photo courtesy Bricker & Eckler

Guide to Ohio’s new LLC rules

Christopher Gordon

The Ohio Revised Limited Liability Company Act changes the way we do business. By LAURA NEWPOFF

Rebecca Schrote

contains several important new provisions: • Imposes new fiduciary duties on members and managers of LLCs. These changes may alter the ability of the company or its members to recover for breached duties. • Provides default rules enforcing equal per capita distributions among members and equal per capita votes by members on ordinary business matters. • Lists certain specific statutory requirements that cannot be changed by the provisions in an operating agreement. • Allows for the formation of “series” LLCs within one LLC, which operates similarly to a corporate, parent-subsidiary structure.

Justin Cook

Photo courtesy Bricker & Eckler

Photo courtesy Steptoe & Johnson

he concept that undergirds America’s most popular business entity can be traced to a court case called “The Rebecca” that began more than 200 years ago. IncNow reports that this was the first time U.S. courts established the principle of limited liability. If you invested in a shipping sailboat that was about to cruise across the ocean and problems like running into another ship arose, you would be liable for paying only up to the amount of your investment—no more. The goal was to encourage commerce by limiting risk. It would take until 1977, however, for the limited liability company to be birthed out of the Wyoming state legislature. It was conceived as an alternative to the corporation, which taxed both corporate profits and profit distributions to shareholders. As pass-through entities, LLCs became a way for their members to avoid double taxation. In Ohio, LLCs have been around since 1994 and their growth has been exceptional. According to the Ohio State Bar Association, more than one million LLCs have been formed; just over 130,000 were created in the first 10 months of 2021 alone. As a result, the original LLC Act has become one of the most referenced statutes for business lawyers. Those rules got a refresh when the Ohio Revised Limited Liability Company Act became effective Feb. 11. According to Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, the Ohio Revised LLC Act

• Permits the management of an LLC to be structured in ways other than only member-managed or manager-managed. • Provides a framework by which a dissolved LLC may bar creditors’ claims after a certain period if certain statutory requirements are followed. • The act enables an operating agreement to provide penalties that will apply if a member violates certain provisions in the operating agreement. Rebecca Schrote, an associate at Steptoe & Johnson, says the act gives business owners more flexibility. New options like series LLCs allow them to form subsidiary-like entities, or a “series,” instead of having to create a separate LLC for multiple

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Rebecca Schrote

companies. If one series gets sued, the other series under the LLC are shielded from liability. Ohio is now one of just 16 states that allow the formation of series LLCs. While the new act doesn’t necessarily invalidate existing LLC operating agreements, those agreements can harm the LLCs in litigation if they fail to address issues that are subject to new rules in the act, like fiduciary duties, voting and distributions. The act also provides new features like the management structure and penalty provisions. To take advantage of those new features, LLCs should have their operating agreements updated by an attorney.

“If your operating agreement is unclear or doesn’t have something in it that it needs to have and then litigation happens, you are stuck with whatever is spelled out in that agreement.” REBECCA SCHROTE associate, Steptoe & Johnson

“Even before the [Ohio Revised LLC Act], a LLC’s governing business documents should get checked regularly,” Schrote says. “If your operating agreement is unclear or doesn’t have something in it that it needs to have and then litigation happens, you are stuck with whatever is spelled out in that agreement.”

Dissociation and indemnification rights As a litigator at Bricker & Eckler, Christopher Gordon foresees some changes in the scope of litigation among feuding LLC members. For example, the new act replaces the concepts of withdrawal, expulsion or removal of a member under the former LLC statute with the concept of “dissociation.” Dissociating a member means the member can no longer participate in the activities and affairs of the LLC but is still entitled to receive distributions. While many circumstances for dissociation remain unchanged, the new law’s rule provides for dissociation through litigation. There are several circumstances where an LLC can ask a court to dissociate a member of a LLC, including when “the person has engaged, or is engaging in wrongful conduct that

has adversely and materially affected, or will adversely and materially affect the limited liability company’s activities.” He says this could be a prime spot for litigation in the fight for control of businesses where the members have an intractable dispute. For example, the statute permits anyone with authority to act on behalf of the LLC to ask the court to dissociate a member. “You need to address in your operating agreement how those disputes will be resolved because while using this tool in litigation may be your only option, it will be more cost-effective to deal with these issues when drafting or amending the operating agreement,” Gordon says. The new law also says “a person shall not voluntarily dissociate from a limited liability company,” a default provision that is different from the old law that allowed a member to withdraw at any time. Under Section 1706.411 (A), however, an operating agreement can create an avenue for voluntary dissociation. Justin Cook, a tax and corporate attorney at Bricker & Eckler, says operating agreements also may need to be adjusted to spell out the details of indemnification rights for members, managers, officers and other agents. “While providing indemnification rights in organizational documents is important for attracting qualified people to manage your company’s activities, it is equally important to understand the scope of your commitments,” he says. Default statutory rules under the old law required that individuals seeking indemnification from a company for liability incurred while acting on its behalf to have acted in a manner that is “not opposed” to the best interests of the company. The new law eliminates this standard and simply states that limited liability companies may provide indemnification. As a result of this law change, trouble may arise for existing LLCs formed under the old law if their operating agreements require that they provide indemnification to the fullest extent permitted by Ohio law. The new law would result in substantially greater indemnification obligations for the company and potentially lead to liabilities. Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

40 ColumbusCEO l June 2022

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Health Watch

How central Ohio’s hospital systems are meeting consumer expectations for access, convenience and low prices. By LAURA NEWPOFF

hen Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center decided to embark on its next big facilities expansion, it put shovels in the ground 18 miles away from its main hospital on West 10th Avenue. The new Outpatient Care New Albany was created to give residents high-quality care and easy access to the university’s research and nationally ranked experts right in their own neighborhood. The project is symbolic of an ongoing push by health systems across the U.S. to meet the rapidly changing expectations of health care consumers. Sometimes referred to as the “retailization” of healthcare, it’s a shift from a physician-centric model to a consumer-driven one, much like retailers are focused on serving their customers. Consumers, management consulting firm Kaufman Hall reports, want access, convenience and low prices and, increasingly, they are shopping for that outside of traditional hospital settings. Fortysix percent of hospitals and health systems surveyed by the firm “have a thoughtful approach to becoming more consumer-centric, investing in infrastructure and initiatives that are being expanded system-wide.” OSU Wexner Medical Center has 46 outpatient care locations, the first of which opened in 1993 in Dublin. The $137.9 million, 251,000-square foot New Albany facility opened in August 2021 at the corner of

Photo courtesy OSU Wexner Medical Center

Retailization of health care OSU Wexner Medical Center New Albany outpatient care center.

Route 161 and Hamilton Road. It’s a one-stop-shop for patients to have multiple appointments with different healthcare providers across the range of their needs, from prevention to surgery. Amenities include an onsite pharmacy, the BistrOH café and an outdoor courtyard. An Advanced Immediate Care center gives patients access to emergency medicine specialists without the cost, wait times or travel to a traditional emergency department. Legally, the new facility could have been set up as a hospital-based center. Because it wasn’t, it is more affordable for patients. Similar facilities are planned for Dublin and Powell. Dr. Arick Forrest, president of OSU Physicians, which provides outpatient care, says in today’s technology driven world the hospital has several different ways to engage with patients. But when they need to come for an in-person visit, they want to come to a place that feels comfortable and is affordable, close to home and easy to access. “Consumerism is more of a thing in health care than ever before,” Forrest says. “This [new facility] is a onestop-shop for complete care instead of having to go to multiple sites. You can do physical therapy, have your imaging done and fill your prescription all in one place.” The push toward consumerism also gives hospital systems a chance to get involved with their communities. Upper Arlington, for example,

selected Wexner Medical as its wellness partner as part of a new community center initiative, says Dan Like, chief administrative officer of ambulatory services at the health system. He told the Columbus Dispatch last year that the hospital will be able to complement the city’s vision by providing “cancer survivorship and integrative medicine programs, an outpatient physical therapy clinic and a variety of complementary interdisciplinary health and wellness programs in collaboration with the city and its program and services.” The focus on consumers also applies to inner-city communities. OSU Wexner Medical Center has opened Advanced Immediate Care East on Taylor Avenue, for example. The university also is turning the former Columbus Metropolitan Library Martin Luther King Jr. branch into a healthy community center for the Near East side. “We want to become a part of communities and embrace them,” says Forrest, who also is an ear, nose and throat physician at Wexner Medical Center. “You don’t do that just by throwing a building up. You do that by getting involved.” OhioHealth and Mount Carmel Health System also have spent years bringing outpatient facilities into communities. OhioHealth has more than 200 different offices, clinics and medical campuses while Mount Carmel has more than 100 different practice locations outside of its hospitals.

42 ColumbusCEO l June 2022

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At OhioHealth, the shift toward the consumer began in earnest about seven years ago when the health system decided it would try to put freestanding emergency departments within a seven- to 10-minute drive of everyone in central Ohio. There are eight of them now. The health system has implemented a slew of other measures to make sure it is giving its patients what they want, including opening locations in retail centers, increasing access to digital tools and telehealth services, introducing curbside care and building new facilities in a sustainable manner with pleasing features like natural lighting and nature settings. OhioHealth also is revamping its Westerville Medical Campus to bring in more oncology services to make them easier to access for people who live in that part of the region. “We are as intensely focused on listening to the voice of our customer as we are identifying access points, designing buildings and looking at the services we offer,” says Johnni Beckel, senior vice president and chief admin-

Photo courtesy OSU Physicians

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Subscribe or renew your annual subscription to Columbus Monthly for $18. Go to columbusmonthly.com or call (760) 237-8505.

“Consumerism is more of a thing in health care than ever before. This [new facility] is a one-stopshop for complete care instead of having to go to multiple sites.” DR. ARICK FORREST, president, OSU Physicians

istrative officer at OhioHealth. “We are designing and developing programs with them so we meet them where they are and are providing services for what they want.” And the outcomes? Patients’ satisfaction means they are likely to seek treatment more proactively, which impacts the quality of their health and also allows them to avoid costs associated with emergency room visits or hospital stays, says Michael Krouse, senior vice president and chief transformation officer at OhioHealth. “If we truly connect with patients, provide them with the best care and meet them where they are in their health care journey, their loyalty will become an outcome of the consumerfocused approach rather than an input into our philosophy about how we move in this space,” he says. At Mount Carmel, there’s also been a push to increase access to care by bringing more free-standing emergency rooms to central Ohio, including its second such facility that opened in Reynoldsburg in 2021. Health care consumerism, however, isn’t just about outpatient locations, says Mike Moran, president of Mount Carmel Medical Group. The “digital front door” is a strategy for engaging patients at every major touchpoint of their journey using technology that they have already adopted for everyday use. A strong digital front door strategy leverages technology to expand patient access, improve productivity and drive higher patient satisfaction. Through their own devices and technology they’re already familiar with, patients can schedule appointments and check in online, keep track of follow-up appointments, apply for pre-authorizations, view test results, make payments and more. “It’s akin to the type of service that the travel and hospitality industries offer you when you book rental cars, airline tickets and hotel rooms,” Moran says. “Health care, through this consumer-focused approach, is trying to offer that level of service in the same way. How can patients find, schedule, register and get authorized prior to arrival at their appointment so that when they step into the clinic all they have to do is say, ‘I’m here.’” Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

44 ColumbusCEO l June 2022

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TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT AGENCIES Ranked by 2021 Columbus region hours billed

AGENCY

2021 CENTRAL OHIO HOURS BILLED

1 Reliable Staffing Resources

1922 Bethel Road, Columbus 43220 614-528-9900 RSRtemps.com

2.15 m

2 Express Employment Professionals

1065 Bethel Road, Columbus 43220 405-441-3403 expresspros.com

1.96 m

3 Remedy Intelligent Staffing

2700 E. Dublin-Granville Road, Suite 180, Columbus 43231 • 614-448-0255 remedystaffing.com

4 Dawson

1114 Dublin Road, Columbus 43215 614-255-1400 dawsoncareers.com

1.65 m 1.62 m

5 Acloche

1800 Watermark Drive, Suite 430 Columbus 43215 614-824-3700 acloche.com

1.02 m

6 Nesco Resource

7965 N. High St., Suite 210, Columbus 43235 614-389-4603 nescoresource.com

979,434

7 Staffmark

2844 Stelzer Road, Columbus 43219 614-475-2250 staffmark.com

915,000

8 Employment Solutions

355 E. Campus View Blvd., Suite 145, Columbus 43235 614-785-7015 employmentsolutions.com

600,000

9 ProLink Staffing

4700 Lakehurst Court, Suite 200, Dublin 43016 • (866) 777-3704 prolinkstaffing.com

140,000

10 TRC Staffing Services 510 E. North Broadway, 4th floor, Columbus 43214 • 614-229-7999 trcstaffing.com

101,953

TEMPORARIES LISTED WITH SERVICE

CENTRAL OHIO Offices

LOWEST-HIGHEST HOURLY RATE

FTE Employees

5,000+ $10-$47.94 20,418 $20.85-$130.35 10,000 $18-$75 3,700 $12.75-$150 15,000 $14-$99.75 1,350 $18-$150 30,000 $13-$25.50 10,000+ $15-$25 17,655 wnd 200+ $22.77-$33

PLACEMENT SPECIALTIES

TRAINING AVAILABLE TO TEMPORARIES

6 50

Light industrial, warehouse, logistics

Resume, forklift, machine operation

6 35

Office/administrative support and call center; light industrial, including logistics, assembly, manufacturing and hospitality; skilled trades

MS Office; customer service and phone etiquette; safety training; ExpressLearn online learning program

Blake Garner, Paul Gor, Scott Johnson, Brian and Kelly Carpenter

4 28

Manufacturing, logistics, light industrial and high-end administrative functions

Career-focused online skills development courses in partnership with Penn Foster

Kevin and Brigitte Mills

3 60

Office, customer service, warehouse/distribution, marketing/creative, accounting/finance, information technology, legal, healthcare (non-clinical)

Forklift certification program; programs in contact center/customer service, manufacturing, and logistics in partnership with Columbus State Community College

13 60

Customized workforce solutions including contingent staff, direct hire professionals, executive search, project labor

Interview skills, basic computer, soft skills and safety training

4 36

Information technology, engineering, finance/accounting, light industrial, manufacturing, administrative, customer service

Free and paid training as needed by service line

3 18

Admin/clerical, accounting/ finance, call center/customer service, distribution, light industrial, logistics, skilled trades, drivers

Software package tutorials

Light industrial and warehousing

Client dependent

1 40

Resources, healthcare, allied, and engineering industries

Compliance training, continuing education

1 2

Administrative, clerical, customer service, general office

None

2 300

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The September Leaderboard will feature women-owned businesses in the Columbus region. The deadline for inclusion in that survey is July 18. If you want your Columbus region company to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Linda Deitch at ldeitch@columbusCEO.com. Information included in this survey was provided by companies listed and was not independently verified.

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OWNER MANAGER Rocky Gasbarro Sr. Alio Gasbarro & Rocky Gasbarro Jr.

Natalie Jordan

Brenda Nolan

David DeCapua, Chris DeCapua Jeff Miller

Ruch Corp. Kimberly Shoemaker

John Tomsich Randy Wilcox, Doug Schultz

Staffmark Group Todd Casler

Charlie Carter Charlie Carter

Tony Munafo Brent Wallace

Brenda Davidorf Bruce Johnson

m = million wnd = would not disclose Source: Survey of temporary employment agencies Information compiled by LINDA DEITCH

June 2022 l ColumbusCEO

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Breakdown

Compiled by KATY SMITH + Infographic by YOGESH CHAUDHARY

Illustration/Gettyimages.com

8,152 Jobs created

$493 million New payroll created

Expansions and new locations

Busy 2021

$2.7b Investment

The Columbus region saw robust business activity in 2021 — Intel’s January 2022 announcement that it would build two semiconductor chip plants in Licking County brought even more good news. Here’s what One Columbus recorded for 2021. 48 ColumbusCEO l June 2022

048_Breakdown.indd 48

Source: One Columbus

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Advancing Ohio’s research and talent pipeline through partnerships What do artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced materials and clean technologies have in common? These game-changing innovation areas are fueled by the convergence of research, talent and partnerships. Ohio State is partnering with industry and the higher education community to develop the skilled workforce and spearhead research needed now to support transformative economic development investments such as Intel. Together, we’re moving the Columbus region forward. Interested in partnership opportunities? Visit: go.osu.edu/corporate-partnerships © 2022 The Ohio State University

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