Columbus CEO – March 2020 issue

Arena District Its dramatic makeover is nearing a triumphant finale.

Pharma ferry With ScriptDrop, there’s no excuse for not taking your medicine.

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Quiet giant Meet one of the largest black-owned businesses.

Page 10

March 2020 Healthcare Achievement Awards 2020

Daring to care Dr. Michael Para has spent four decades unraveling the mysteries of HIV/AIDS. The world is better for it.

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Contents Mimi Rivard

Agenda 28 Connections Columbus CEO’s first class of Future 50 honorees pitch their project ideas.

Departments 05 Editor’s Notes A routine chamber breakfast meets courageous vulnerability.

06 CEO Whiteboard Letters, social media buzz and developments since the February issue

67 Leaderboards Online degree programs, meeting and banquet facilities.

72 Office Space: Adept The fourth floor of the new White Castle headquarters building provides an open office concept as well as space for “quiet work.”

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30

Healthcare Achievement Awards 2020

Central Ohio has an impressive collection of caring people and institutions making a big difference in the health and well-being of the community. Inspiring stories ahead.

March 2020 Cover photo by

Rob Hardin March 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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

ColumbusCEO.com

VOLUME 29 / NUMBER 3 dmg interim general manager

Alan D. Miller

Publisher/General Manager

Ray Paprocki

Associate Publisher/Advertising Director

Rheta Gallagher Editorial

Photo by Rob Hardin

EDITOR

Katy Smith

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Jeff Bell

10

Design & Production PRODUCTION/DESIGN DIRECTOR

Craig Rusnak

Yogesh Chaudhary Digital EDITOR

Julanne Hohbach ASSISTANT DIGITAL EDITOR

Brittany Moseley

International cargo traffic is soaring at Rickenbacker.

24 Spotlight: Innovation ScriptDrop brings it home to help patients take their medications.

Moving from the gridiron to the plant floor, the owner of Modular Assembly Innovations has become a leading business figure in Central Ohio.

PROJECT MANAGER

Emma Frankart Henterley Photography PHOTO EDITOR

Tim Johnson

26 Spotlight: Commercial Real Estate The Arena District is heading toward the finish line with projects that will complete two decades worth of redevelopment in the downtown.

16 Tech Talk

Associate photo editor

Capture Collective’s technology could help save lives in a disaster.

Rob Hardin Advertising

ADVERTISING Manager

In-Depth

18 Briefing

Susan Kendall

CLASSIFIED SALES

Columbus’ first LGBTQ venture capital fund and small-business accelerator are in the works thanks to collaboration.

Terri Tribbie, Telana Veil, Amy Vidrick Digital Specialist

Steven Mace

SALES ASSISTANT

20 Spotlight: Small Business

Samantha Belk

The Image Gallery makes crowns and implants—and it hires artists to do it.

Marketing

MARKETING MANAGER

Lauren Reinhard

LETTERS: letters@columbusceo.com PRESS RELEASES

Lonni Thompson

pressreleases@columbusceo.com ADVERTISING

advertising@columbusceo.com

20

52 That pesky peanut Doctors are taking new approaches to help children cope with peanut allergies.

54 Egg price conspiracy?

Refusing to settle, a Columbus law firm helps a corporate client emerge a winner in a jury trial.

Advertising Section

Cybersecurity

Photo by Rob Hardin

SUBSCRIPTIONS

09 Breakdown

Columbus Works is helping the hard-toemploy find ways to join the workforce.

10 Profile: Billy Vickers

Custom Content

Columbus CEO (ISSN 1085-911X) is published monthly by Gannett. All contents of this magazine are copyrighted © Gannett Co., Inc. 2020, 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: Senzd address changes to Columbus CEO, 62 E. Broad St., P.O. Box 1289, Columbus, OH 43216.

22 Spotlight: Nonprofit

Insider

ART DIRECTOR

Roundtable Five Central Ohio tech experts offer their best advice on safeguarding your business from cyberattacks.

Page 59

Toll Free: 877-688-8009

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Editor’s Notes * ksmith@ColumbusCEO.com

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The courage to be who you are

’m going to hazard a guess that most people at the Columbus Chamber’s Annual Meeting Feb. 6, like me, didn’t at all expect what they were about to hear. We’d just finished our Greater Columbus Convention Center breakfast and the program had launched into three keynotes, the first by Columbus Zoo & Aquarium EVP for external affairs Janelle Coleman, who delivered a warm tribute to her Cleveland family’s staycations, which were filled with adventures on a modest budget.

Earlier in the morning, we’d heard from Chamber President and CEO Don DePerro, who beamed with pride as he shared his team’s success in growing memberships 65 percent to 2,139 from 1,288 over four years.

We’d applauded as Big Lots EVP Lisa Bachmann received the annual Columbus Award, joining a line of leaders that stretches back to the chamber’s 1964 founding.

We’d waited with anticipation as three small business owners were introduced as candidates for the annual Small Business Leader Award.

Many congratulations to Rachel Friedman of Tenfold, who took home the award; and to Brad Griffith of Buckeye Interactive and Lynsey Jordan of Permit Solutions for being named finalists.

And we’d breakfasted on some sort of apple pie accompanied by a sweetpotato casserole (it was dark, so I’m not completely sure what I ate).

Then real estate developer Brett Kaufman took the stage and things got very real.

He opened with, “I have to tell you, I have never given this speech before, and I have never spoken to an audience of this size, so I’m a little nervous.”

He thanked the crowd of 1,200, and rolled right into: “I’ve spent a lot of time in therapy,” (the crowd began to chuckle)—“and I’m not just talking about what it took to

Photos courtesy yarrington studio

Chamber chair Keith Stevens, from left, Rachel Friedman of Tenfold and Chamber CEO Don DePerro. Brett Kaufman, top right, and Lisa Bachmann, bottom right. get onstage today.”

Kaufman has made a name with his vision that physical spaces such as housing developments can nurture our spirits through art, community programming, design that encourages human interaction and chances to give back.

His desire to help others has, as of late, been funneled into selfexpression in blogs and other written pieces; a new podcast named after his most significant project, Gravity; and a venture called Innerspace that de-stigmatizes going to therapy and creates a place where wellness practitioners can work together.

All of these things led up to the moment Feb. 6 when he shared pieces of his most personal story with 1,200 of us at a chamber of commerce breakfast.

“I believe before we can start ‘leveling up,’ we have to go back and really look at who we are in our core,” he told us, referring to the event’s theme, “Level Up.” People are born pure, with a divine energy and purpose, he says, and then “life happens. Our societal expectations,

our parental programming, our childhoods, our traumas, they start to sink in and take hold and take us away from that purpose.”

In sharing his story of growing up with an abusive biological father, building up that robotic armor of conformity so many of us wear, and then spending decades trying to get back to the sensitive, artistic person he is at his core, Brett Kaufman was in that moment the foremost leader in a room full of formidable leaders.

Such vulnerability takes tremendous courage, and tomorrow’s leaders must be vulnerable—available, real, human, authentic—if they want to connect with their teams and truly inspire them to do great things.

Katy Smith, Editor March 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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* Reader notes, digital buzz & Columbus CEO coverage updates

twitter responses @ColumbusCEOmag

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@KeglerBrown: Our #globalbiz leader, Vinita Mehra, tells @columbusceomag about @CbusCCWA’s #GlobalScholarsDiploma, “The timing couldn’t have been better for this organization to grow.”

“Last night, the inaugural class of Future 50 leaders got together to share ideas for how we move Columbus forward in the next decade—how we address the hairy, human challenges that are facing our city—from the future of senior care, to supporting women and girls (heck yes, gender index), to building empathy for the experiences of others, and so much more. It was stimulating to be in a room with so many people I admire, openly sharing our moonshot ideas and getting supportive feedback and inspiration from others. Thanks to friends new and old for your ideas and connection.

Thanks Columbus CEO for the opportunity.”

@CoverMyMeds: @ columbusceomag just published their #Future50 list, and we just have to give kudos to these innovators dedicated to growing the community in which we live and work. Congrats! #CEOFuture50

Lacey Picazo, founder/principal, ZoCo Design

Top web Stories Columbus CEO hosts Future 50 kickoff event at Gravity Third generation joins Donatos To solve the workforce issue, business and education must work together—and they are Les Wexner may step down, sell Victoria’s Secret

@OhioInnoFund: Startups + students = a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. By connecting talented students with high-impact startups, we are fueling the growth of Ohio’s entrepreneurial community, OIF Managing Director Bill Baumel tells @columbusceomag

Facebook responses

“We love our neighborhood and all the established and forthcoming businesses focused on positive impact. Thanks Columbus CEO.” Bottoms Up Coffee, reacting to a story about a network of social enterprises in Franklinton published in our annual supplement, Giving.

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Compiled by katy smith + Infographic by Yogesh Chaudhary

Putting the international in “International” Cargo traffic at Rickenbacker International Airport has increased 86% since 2010, led by 465% growth in international freight since 2014.

301 m

286.7 m 256 m Fun Fact: As of last year,

Rickenbacker had moved more than 500 horses through the airport since 2015, when it received export authorization from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Officials also are seeking permission to import animals through Rickenbacker.

All cargo numbers are rounded off and in pounds.

n Total annual cargo n Domestic cargo n International cargo

202.2 m

198.6 m

179.8 m

171.4 m

141.4 m

169.4 m

133.1 m

129.1 m

122.9 m

121.4 m

121.2 m

117.3 m

80.8 m 69.5 m

Photo courtesy COLUMBUS REGIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY

ER

Breakdown

30 m

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

Source: Columbus Regional Airport Authority

March 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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profile

By Kathy Lynn Gray + Photos by rob hardin

Billy Vickers President and CEO

Modular Assembly Innovations Age: 62 Education: Bachelor’s degree in animal

science from North Carolina State University

Experience: Executive with Modular

Assembly predecessor TAG Holdings; former owner of Yale Inspection Services; general manager of New Haven Foundry; plant superintendent for the Ironton Iron Casting plant.

Community involvement: Board member of A Kid Again and the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association; Nationwide Children’s Hospital Ambassador Council Personal: Lives in Delaware with his

wife, Laura. The couple has three grown children.

Humble star Billy Vickers has quietly built one the largest black-owned businesses in the nation. We’re just getting to know him.

A

s the leader of a Dublinbased company with $1.2 billion in revenue, you’d think Billy Vickers might be pretty well-known in Central Ohio.

You’d be wrong. Despite the soaring success of Vickers’ Modular Assembly Innovations, its president and CEO is somewhat of an enigma both locally and nationally.

Vickers, 62, of Delaware, admits he doesn’t seek the limelight and wouldn’t have agreed to be interviewed for this profile without a nudge from his mentor, Detroit businessman Joseph Anderson Jr., as

well as his company’s sole customer, Honda. “He needs less humility,” chuckles Anderson, who’s known Vickers for 15 years and helped propel his success. “Did he tell you his company is in the top five of the Black Enterprise List of 100?”

No, he did not mention that Modular Assembly is ranked fifth in the list of the nation’s largest blackowned businesses for 2019. “He’s a stellar, outstanding business owner,” says Anderson. “He’s not content with doing OK or doing well; he has that thirst and hunger for continuous improvement, which is what good leaders are all about.”

Early days The seed for that work ethic, says Vickers, was planted on his grand-

father’s North Carolina cotton farm in Forest City near Charlotte and Asheville. It was the early 1960s, and everyone in the family pitched in with the hard work that began early each morning and ended late each night.

There were small pleasures, like riding a mule-drawn wagon into town for a Nehi soda and cookies and trying his first bite of pizza at age 10 in the segregated elementary school he attended. Church was a constant, with a deep faith in God instilled in him at an early age and more than a dozen family members immersed in the church as evangelists.

He doesn’t remember stories of racism, but does remember fifth grade when he attended his first integrated school. “The world opened up to me, and there were people who looked

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Q&A

Billy Vickers has built a $1.2 billion company.

Here’s how he got there.

How did your childhood shape you as a businessman?

I grew up in North Carolina near the foothills on a farm. My grandfather had the farm and we all had to help. We grew cotton, and you didn’t make a lot of money with cotton back then. But we were fortunate that he had land. The entire family kind of pitched in. I think my work ethic actually comes from that. When you’re on a farm, you get up early in the morning and you work all day, into the night. You’ve got to take care of the animals; you’ve got to take care of the crops. And then, you know, living in the South, it’s all about religion. You grow up with that faith in God, and it’s instilled in you at a very early age, and I’m very thankful for that.

different than me,” he says.

An “old ornery football coach” persuaded him to play football as a high school freshman, and he learned he could work well with a team, develop his athletic skills and play well enough to be courted by North Carolina State University –“my ticket out of rural North Carolina,” as he puts it, and the first in his family to attend college.

Vickers majored in animal science in college, but his real dream was to play in the National Football League.

Two months before graduating, he tore his MCL, but still was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1980. He never played and was released because of his knee. He was able to sign with another team, but reinjured his knee, ending his football career. “Then I had to get a real job,” he says.

Up the business ladder Vickers entered the business world as a management trainee at Corning Electronics in Raleigh, North Carolina, moved back to Forest City to work at a brass foundry, then was recruited to work at a steel mill in Ironton, Ohio, where he rose to plant superintendent. Eight years later he landed in Detroit running the largest minority-owned foundry at the time, making parts for Chrysler.

“It’s one of the best things I’ve ever done,” he says. “It introduced me to more of the automotive industry and I got the opportunity to run the plant and be the top guy.” Eventually, global competition became too stiff and, in 2003, Vickers helped shut the plant down.

By then he’d also established his

What does it take to run a large business in the U.S. when you are an African American male?

I think it’s just surrounding yourself with good people and surrounding yourself with people that don’t necessarily look like you or think like you. I don’t want people that think the same way that I think. I want people that think differently who will challenge me. I love having a different mix of people in the room.

I also think it’s about being a good business person, a good individual, someone that people respect, someone that they trust that if you make a commitment, you keep it. I think the key to my success is that my customer knows that. If there’s a problem, then we’re going to come up with a solution; we’ll find a way to make it happen. I think probably the biggest thing is trust. My customer trusts me because it knows I’m going to do the right thing.

How do you achieve a work/family balance?

I tell all of our associates: You’ve got to have a work/life balance, you’ve got to make sure that the time we put in here at work is efficient. I try to make sure that the time I put in here is efficient and the time I put in as a member of the boards that I sit on aligns with what’s important to me, because you have to sacrifice an amount of time for that from your family and work.

I try to make sure I have a good work and family balance, which is easy to say but harder to do.

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own business, Quality Engineering, which focused on work for automotive suppliers. Then, in 2004, Anderson came calling. An Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, Anderson gained fame in the 1960s as the commander of the infantry platoon featured in acclaimed documentary, The Anderson Platoon. After a 13-year military career, he moved into the private sector for a 13-year career with General Motors, eventually heading a business unit with 7,000 employees and $1 billion in revenue. By the mid1990s he had acquired a controlling interest in Chivas Products Limited, and a few years later started TAG Holdings LLC. As chairman and CEO, Anderson was always looking for talented men and women to manage the companies TAG Holdings was acquiring.

When he agreed to launch a modular assembly and supply chain management company as a joint venture with Honda, he searched for someone with the right background and found Vickers.

“He was a person who had a business operations background, who had been responsible for employees and who I knew was competitive,” Anderson says. “And there was a level of maturity I saw that said he had the motivation and drive to succeed.”

In January 2005, Vickers became president and CEO of the new venture, Great Lakes Assemblies LLC, with TAG as the majority owner and Midwest Express Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honda, as a partner. The company produces automobile center console modules, tire and wheel assemblies, powertrain accessory modules, chassis components and engine components for Honda.

Modular Assembly Innovations 600 Stonehenge Parkway, Dublin 43017 Modularai.com Business: Modular assembly

manufacturing and supply chain management services for Honda of America.

CEO: Billy Vickers Employees: 360

I don’t settle anymore. Go after the highest thing and if you lose, at least you’ve tried.

Two years later, TAG Holdings and Honda created Gulf Shore Assemblies LLC, in Lincoln, Alabama, and a year later Indiana Assemblies in Greensburg, Indiana. Both produce tire and wheel assemblies as well as other products for Honda plants in those locations. “When I started out it was a $200 million to $300 million business in Ohio, and that grew to a $700 million operation by 2010,” Anderson says.

Creating his own legacy By that time Vickers was so successful that, with Anderson’s blessing, he bought out TAG and became the majority owner of three plants in January 2011, under the Modular Assembly Innovations name.

Anderson says his plan hadn’t been to sell the plants, but in Vickers he found someone who could further his ultimate goal: creating wealth and business ownership for black Americans.

“The black community is just beginning to be successful in wealth creation,” Anderson says. “Doing that has been part of my agenda, and Billy was the first (associated with TAG) to do that, but not the last.

Others have followed.”

Since Vickers took over, he has

expanded the products the plants produce for Honda and recently bought a new company in South Carolina. And although he isn’t finished expanding, he says growth has been so rapid that he’s decided to “settle down” for a time to concentrate on strategic planning.

As vice president of Honda of America Manufacturing, Pam Heminger oversees the company’s purchasing division and is responsible for developing the supply chain that supports Honda’s North America auto operations. In that position she’s worked closely with Vickers, who is one of the company’s top suppliers.

“We pride ourselves on working with some of the best in the nation, and he’s one of the best,” says Heminger. “What we saw in Billy was the ability to grow a business. We pride ourselves on working with a variety of businesses and our commitment to diversity is very strong. We saw that we could work with him and develop a long-term strategic partner with Honda.”

Vickers, she says, focuses on highquality products sold at a reasonable price and made in a timely manner.

He’s attuned to knowing any troublesome issues and addressing them quickly, and he understands both the challenges of manufacturing and those of running a business, Heminger says.

One business practice Heminger admires is Vickers’ dedication to developing his business associates.

“He’s provided opportunities for his high-talent associates to grow in the business so that individuals have multiple experiences and can work effectively in many areas of the company,” she says. “He wants to sustain this business beyond himself and to do that you need to be sure that others are prepared for those future roles.”

That includes a good training program that has been instrumental in helping Modular Assemblies weather the ups and downs of manufacturing. “He focuses on making sure his company is stable during any of those shifts in the economy,” Heminger says. “He’s given great opportunities for employment in this area and in his other locations.”

For his part, Vickers can’t say enough about what the partnership with Honda has meant.

“I can’t let this interview go without

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saying how good they are as a customer,” he says. “During the recession, Honda came to us and asked: ‘Are you OK?’ That was a big shock for me, but that’s the Honda way. They don’t want you to go out of business. That would be a failure on their part.”

The recession wasn’t easy for the supply plants, but Vickers says they survived by reducing expenses.

“We only bought what we needed, but we did not lay off a single person,” he says proudly. “We’ve never laid anyone off, and that’s part of being the type of company people want.”

Besides their Honda connection, Heminger and Vickers have worked together on the board of the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association.

“He’s very strategic, very passionate about manufacturing in Ohio,” she says. “I’ve gotten to know him in both a professional and personal level there and I’ve found he’s a visionary, a humble, compassionate person.”

Expanding his reach Eric Burkland, president of the manufacturers’ association for the past

31 years, says it was an honor when Vickers accepted an invitation to become a member of the organization’s board about a decade ago. “He brings a combination of visionary and strategic leadership,” Burkland says. “He’s the kind of leader who, when he joins, does so not just to take up a chair but to get involved.”

In fact, Vickers says he carefully researches every organization he’s asked to join to make sure he can make a contribution and feel that the time spent away from his business and family is important and valuable.

Burkland says Vickers helped spearhead the association’s Central Ohio Manufacturing Partnership, whose mission is to attract young people into manufacturing careers. He’s active in other association programs and soon will take over as chairman of the board.

“He’s thoughtful, listens well to others, ask questions and is curious,” Burkland says. “He’s reflective, and people gravitate to that kind of leader.” Vickers also is disciplined and methodical, which shows in the management and growth of Modular

Assembly, Burkland says. “Manufacturing operations are complex today, with all the technology involved, the just-in-time delivery and the demands on the supply chain,” he says.

“It’s not for the faint of heart. You have to be good at what you do, and it takes rigor.”

Still, Burkland says, Vickers makes time for his family and loves to share stories about them.

“I try to make sure I have a good work and family balance, which is easy to say but harder to do, especially when you own a company it is very difficult. It’s something that I work on continuously.”

His wife, Laura, works as Modular Assembly’s human resources manager, so talking about work at home can be hard to avoid.

“So we set some rules: We’re not going to talk about work at home unless it’s an emergency,” says Vickers.

A servant leader Burkland calls Vickers a “servant leader,” someone who leads by helping associates identify a shared pur-

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pose and common vision and, through a collaborative process, brings out the best in each person.

What excites Vickers about his business, besides having a solid customer in Honda, are opportunities for associates to move up. He pointed to one employee who started at the company just out of college in 2005 and soon will become a senior executive.

“It’s so rewarding to know that you played a part in that, to know that our company provided that opportunity.” he says. “I enjoy seeing our associates become empowered, that they feel like they’re part of the company. They take so much pride in it; this is their company also.”

The company strives for diversity.

“I was brought up to treat people as you would want them to treat you, and that’s the way we live,” says Vickers. “It doesn’t matter to me where they come from. I try to make sure we practice that value as a company. It’s enlightening to me to see that we bring everyone to work together.”

There’s another advantage.

“I don’t want just people who think the same way that I think,” he

says. “I’ve brought some really young people onto my staff who make us think, and I love having a different mix of people in the room as an African American businessman.”

His own family is equally diverse, what he calls a “rainbow family.” His wife is white and, including their children, “we’re all different shades.” He learned years ago in high school to get along with people of other races and

He brings a combination of visionary and strategic leadership. He’s the kind of leader who, when he joins, does so not just to take up a chair but to get involved.

Eric Burkland, president, Ohio

cultures and not to pigeonhole himself because he’s a black male.

“When I was in high school I was president of the Future Farmers of America, and for an African American to be president, well, that was a stretch. African Americans didn’t even join the FFA.” He also took a home economics class his junior year—bachelor living—where he learned to cook, sew a shirt and make gravy. He says it was one of the best classes he took, and to this day he—not his wife—does the cooking at home.

Vickers credits a high school English teacher for another important life lesson: never settling for secondbest. He had run for vice president of student council and was proud to win the title, he says, until his teacher told him she was disappointed in him.

“You should have run for president,” he remembers her telling him.

“I’ve taken that lesson with me and, since that time, I don’t settle anymore.

Go after the highest thing and if you lose, at least you’ve tried.”

Manufacturers’ Association

Kathy Lynn Gray is a freelance writer.

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Capture Collective

Tech talk

By Cynthia Bent Findlay

Capturing a new market

Capture Collective is in position to lead development of rapid radiation testing.

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Columbus startup is working on technology everyone hopes they’ll never have to use—but that someday may save lives. Capture Collective is innovating in the field of biodosimetry, creating tests to ascertain radiation exposure on-site, almost instantly.

Capture was born from the work of Naduparambil Jacob, an Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center researcher, says John D’Orazio, co-

Naduparambil Jacob Photo courtesy Capture Collective

Report: Columbus tech salaries soar A report by technology career site Dice.com found tech salaries in Columbus jumped 14.2 percent from 2018 to 2019.

It was the biggest increase in metro-area salaries measured by the Dice report, which found Columbus-area tech workers now earn an average salary of $92,017. The study recorded 38 percent year-overyear growth in local tech job postings. While Silicon Valley and industry hubs like Seattle

and Boston still boast sixfigure annual average salaries, growth was much slower

File/ColumbusCEO/Rob Hardin

there, Dice reported, hovering around 4 percent to 5 percent.

It was flat nationally.

Statewide, Dice found Ohio’s tech salaries rose 7.8 percent last year to an average of $87,019.

According to the report, “Columbus is growing into a full-fledged Midwestern tech hub,” citing employers such as JPMorgan Chase, CareWorks, IBM and Accenture as key drivers of the trend.

1330 Kinnear Road, Suite 200 Columbus 43212 Captured.co Founder: Naduparambil Jacob Top officer: Mario Morales, director of operations Business: Development of rapid tests for radiation exposure.

Investment to date: $1.5 million plus Launch date: 2019

founder of Ikove Capital.

The Columbus-based venture fund, which acts as a startup foundry, is translating Jacob’s research into solutions for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security in response to urgent requests for rapid, accurate, FDAcleared emergency preparedness tests in the field and hospitals.

In an emergency such as a nuclear accident or attack, there aren’t effective ways to quickly assess whether someone has been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. “These symptoms onset within an hour, and so time is of the essence,” D’Orazio says. Existing tests require multiple panels—27 or more—to produce an accurate diagnosis.

Jacob’s laboratory has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense and NASA. Down the line, his work could generate more accurate and rapid testing products in oncology treatment settings, D’Orazio says.

Columbus-based Ikove spent a year validating assumptions about the potential for Capture and helped raise a $1.5 million seed round for the company. D’Orazio says though it’s very early and there are hurdles to be overcome, including FDA approval within the next two to three years, there’s potential for a multibilliondollar market in the United States and even more expansive opportunities globally.

“But to me, the impact is thinking about human beings. The more we can get these tests into the hands of first responders, the more we can save their lives,” D’Orazio says.

Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.

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Advertisement

Thought Leader of the month

Define Your Own Work-Life Balance

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Finding a way to have it all, without losing your sanity

orking mothers don’t have it easy. The elusive work-life balance we seek yields only one thing: guilt. It is a feeling most women have but rarely discuss for fear of looking weak.

I am one of those women, but I recently realized the only way to create a better work-life balance for all working moms is to share our struggles and solutions.

As the co-founder of a successful digital marketing agency, wife and mother of three kids (Lane, 6; Graham, 3; and Sloane, 1), I initially failed to achieve balance. That’s because I envisioned balance to be a scale, perfectly aligned on both sides at all times—an exhausting endeavor. That was when I knew I needed to redefine what work-life balance looks like for my family and me.

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my team and clients. I attend meetings and events. My company is my first priority, and I get stuff done. I do touch base at home, but work is my focus.

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I book an hour in the morning on a weekday to play with my pre-schooler, and I schedule meetings around my 6-year-old’s kindergarten schedule. I have dinners with my family. I’m not off the clock, but my family’s needs drive the schedule.

In both modes, I feel connected, committed, authentic—and balanced.

I’m a mom who happens to have a job and a business owner who happens to have kids. Is it a perfect setup 100

“Instead of dividing my energy into two equal parts, I clearly define my time into two roles—and I decide the parameters.”

percent of the time? Of course not. But I found harmony when I permitted myself to define my own work-life balance, in my own way.

If you’re reading this and think the way I define balance may work for you, consider the following: Do you need to control everything all the time?

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While the quest for work-life balance certainly is a bumpy road, it’s pretty awesome that we live in a time when women can do both. My approach to balance may not be an option for all women, but it can serve as a thoughtstarter for how balance can be redefined so guilt can be left behind..

Danielle Walton

Co-Founder & COO, Adept Marketing

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briefing

Pride Fund preparing launch Advocates join forces to promote growth of LGBTQ entrepreneurs in Columbus with events, connections.

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Columbus-based venture fund to support LGBTQ entrepreneurs will roll out this year. Creating an LGBTQ fund long has been an aspiration of Pride Fund Managing Director Timothy Wolf Starr, CEO of Atlas Partners, a consulting group that travels the country evangelizing Columbus and seeking to connect ideas with resources that advance the community.

“I was raised by the LGBTQ community in Columbus—I grew up in the Short North before it was the Short North,” Starr says. “When I looked at how I could use this new set of resources in the venture space, LGBTQ was the first community where I knew I could make a real

Venture Out will take place Pride Weekend. impact, giving members the opportunity to participate in venture in a safe and fun way.”

Regulations prohibit the fund’s organizers from commenting on its potential size at this time.

The fund’s leadership team includes LGBTQ activists and allies Tom Grote, co-founder of the Grote Turner branding firm and adviser to his family’s Edge Innovation Hub; Michael Smithson, president of On Air Communications; Densil Porteous, a consultant, chair of the Create Columbus Commissions and Equitas Health board member; and June Gutterman, retired CEO of Jewish Family Services.

Another supporter is Columbusbased Loud Capital, co-founded by anesthesiologist Navin Goyal, who is Loud’s CEO. “We bring that same ethical intention to the company—to

Photo courtesy PATRICK LOCY

By Katy smith

do no harm, treat people well,” he says. “So things like the Pride Fund make sense to us. There’s a lot of power with money, and how you treat that money and who you invest in, we take very seriously, investing in various groups and communities.

Our intention is not only making a profit, but how we can impact people for good.”

The fund’s partners will attend Venture Out, which Starr organized last year for the first time as the intersection of the venture capital and LGBTQ spaces locally and nationally. The Pride weekend event was held at Drive Capital last year, but has outgrown that space, Starr says. Pride Weekend this year is June 19-21.

Legal support for the fund is being provided by attorney and VC expert Lindsay Karas Stencel.

Stonewall Columbus launches accelerator Columbus’ LBGTQ advocacy organization opened applications Jan. 20 for the inaugural cohort of its LEAP Accelerator. LEAP stands for “LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurial Accelerator Program.”

LEAP is the brainchild of Columbus entrepreneur Michael Smithson, vice president of the board of trustees for Stonewall Columbus. “I was mentoring various friends of mine, including a transgender member of the community, who was really struggling to find a place of employment where they felt

comfortable, where they could be fully authentic and open and be themselves,” says Smithson, who has started multiple companies. “And we talked about the idea of starting a business.

I decided to create an educational program to help folks in our community, especially those who are more marginalized, to start businesses or grow businesses they already have.”

LEAP will partner with another Columbus-based startup accelerator, SEA Change, for curriculum, and classes will be

held online and at Stonewall.

There were 22 applications as the Feb. 9 deadline neared, says Lauren Edwards, executive director of SEA Change. LEAP

Michael Smithson Photo courtesy MICHAEL SMITHSON

participants will have access to all her organization’s resources and be considered alumni of its program, she says.

The nascent Pride Fund is making LEAP one of its first projects, says Managing Partner Timothy Wolf Starr. His second annual Venture Out event, to be held during Pride Weekend June 19-21, will feature a pitch competition among LEAP Accelerator participants, who will vie for funding from members of the venture capital community in attendance.

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spotlight

By Mary Sterenberg + Photo by Rob Hardin

Small Business

Dental artisans Image Gallery in Dublin makes art of creating crowns, bridges and more.

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onni Thompson recruits dental technicians in an unlikely place: the Columbus College of Art and Design. The artistry used at her boutique dental laboratory in Dublin, fused with a progressive and customized approach, helps Thompson and her team at Image Gallery provide dentists and their patients with the highest-quality products, from crowns and bridges to implant abutments.

Image Gallery celebrated its 40th year in 2019, and this year it will double to 2,000 square feet­—room for a design center, customer consultations and educational events.

From Thompson’s signature orange lab coat to the description of her five team members as dental artisans, Image Gallery treats its work as an art.

Thompson recruits at CCAD because she believes having an artistic eye and the ability to look at things differently puts her team at an advantage.

“Your smile is one of the most important things you have,” Thomp-

Image Gallery

5156 Blazer Parkway, Suite 110, ​Dublin 43017 imagegallerylab.com Business: Boutique dental laboratory

creating crowns, bridges and implant abutments.

President/owner: Lonni Thompson Employees: 6 revenue: $1.2 million (2019)

“I always wanted to build something that made me happy and other people happy. Your whole health is built on your teeth.”

Lonni Thompson, president/owner, Image Gallery son says. “You have to match all the colors. Home in on the color and shape of the teeth.”

Team member Justin Gray earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ceramics and sculpture from CCAD. At Image Gallery, he works in ceramics for dental products, and his paintings also hang on the walls of the lab.

Adam Gibson, a dentist who owns Gibson Dental near Hilliard and soon will open Short North Dental, says Thompson pulls artists into the dental world as a way to ensure top-quality work, and that’s what he’s seen, time and time again.

“They are truly artists,” Gibson says. “I have peace of mind knowing that I’m putting a quality product in my patients’ mouths.”

Though licensing isn’t required for dental labs or technicians, Thompson and several other Image Gallery employees are certified

dental technicians. She advocates nationally for stricter regulation of dental laboratories.

Promising her patients the latest in materials, techniques and technology, Thompson embraces change in the dental industry as a local and national leader. She is president of the Ohio Dental Laboratory Association and a director of the National Association of Dental Laboratories.

Image Gallery’s expansion will include an educational area large enough for 10 dentists or assistants to attend trainings. “We’re going to have all kinds of groups in there—[working on] things like moving forward laboratory procedures or materials,” Thompson says.

Gibson says Thompson urges dentists to adopt digital methods, but also leads the way with technology in her own lab. “Most labs still employ old-practice ways of making crowns

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Lonni Thompson and bridges,” he says, “but Image Gallery’s trying to go completely digital.

No more impressions anymore.”

If a patient needs a crown, Gibson now uses an intraoral scanner to take pictures of the tooth and email the images to Image Gallery to print a 3D model.

Thompson says 3D printing is “the new frontier” in the dental industry.

The 3D printer in the Image Gallery lab currently prints models to help dentists prep correctly for permanent devices. Patients also use the models as a trial run in case changes need to be made. Thompson predicts 3D printers will be creating final dental products within the next six years.

Dental patient Roy Bieber says the digital process was so much easier than the “goo” dentists have used to make impressions. “You can actually see what it’s going to look like—it’s kind of reassuring. That’s your smile.”

Thompson has owned the business for 40 years and still sees several patients a day. “I always wanted to build something that made me happy and other people happy,” she says. “Your whole health is built on your teeth.”

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spotlight

By Bob Vitale + Photo by Rob Hardin

Nonprofit

Hope, potential, future Columbus Works aims to help unemployed residents find— and keep—jobs.

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ven in times of “full employment” like these, more than a third of ablebodied adults are jobless. For one reason or another, they’ve given up working or even looking for work, and they’re no longer counted in government statistics.

Those are the people Columbus Works wants to lift back into the job market for good. The 4-year-old nonprofit agency does more than land jobs for chronically unemployed residents of Central Ohio. It works to keep them in jobs—and out of poverty—through long-term connections with employment coaches, life

“Our philosophy is everybody has hope.

Everybody has potential.

Everybody has a future.”

Beth Gifford, CEO, Columbus Works

Columbus Works 775 W. Broad St., Suite 270, Columbus 43222 columbusworks.org Mission: To provide training, job placement

and long-term assistance in removing barriers to sustained employment.

Founder and CEO: Beth Gifford Employees: 6 revenue: $500,633 (2019) Funded by: Grants

Beth Gifford coaches, legal assistance, financial counseling and other help.

“We work with people who not only are economically in poverty, but they’re impoverished of hope,” says founder and CEO Beth Gifford. “We don’t care why someone’s in poverty.

We just say if you come to us voluntarily and you want to change your life, we will journey with you.”

It’s a five- to seven-year process, so even the first cohort of Columbus Works participants who started in late 2016 is still part of the program.

But so far, so good: More than twothirds of clients who’ve signed up for the free services are still using them, and more than eight in 10 people who’ve gotten jobs through Columbus Works are still employed.

Gifford says 538 Columbus Works clients have earned about $5 million, and she has calculated a “payback”

of $1.5 million through the taxes they and their employers have paid and the government assistance they no longer need. In 2019, she says, more than half the agency’s clients earned twice the federal poverty level of about $12,000 for a single individual.

Central Ohio must re-engage its residents who’ve checked out of the workforce not just for their benefit but for its own as well, says Gifford, a former HR executive, whose experience includes carrying out corporate decisions about which communities got jobs and which communities lost them. “I traveled with consultants looking for sites to close and move to for no other reason than the local labor market. It wasn’t tax abatements.

It wasn’t space. It wasn’t local laws.

It was the labor market, available talent,” she says.

“If companies cannot hire, they

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will stop coming and they will leave.”

New Columbus Works clients spend their first five days in job-readiness classrooms—they’re in Franklinton, on the South Side, in Weinland Park and in South Linden—getting help with their resumes and interviewing skills. Participants must take drug tests and are referred to treatment if they need it. The program offers help with daycare, transportation and other needs. Coaches help people find jobs and guide them as they work in them.

Eighty employers have hired people through Columbus Works. All must offer health benefits that meet standards set by the Affordable Care Act. The organization’s own benchmarks include income levels that move clients off food stamps, Medicaid and other government assistance.

Rebecca Pyfrom had been out of work for three years with medical problems when she entered the Columbus Works classroom in October 2018. “I had just given up on finding a job,” she says, “and I had pretty much given up on myself as well.”

Within two weeks she had to choose between two offers and took a job with a JCPenney call center on the East Side. In March, she’ll start a new job as a driver with Greyhound. She’s off Medicaid and food stamps and recently bought her own car for the first time in four years. She has shared all the good news with the Columbus Works coach who has been with her since the beginning.

“They gave me my self-esteem back,” Pyfrom says.

Gifford calls the Columbus Works method “high-touch,” involving 100 hours of training and coaching during the first year of participation. It’s expensive, too, she acknowledges. It costs an average of $2,400 per year per client, and the money comes from donors such as the United Way of Central Ohio, the Columbus Foundation and other donors. The program also receives a small grant from Franklin County. But the community gets back $5,500 per employed person, she says.

“Our philosophy is everybody has hope. Everybody has potential. Everybody has a future,” Gifford says.

“They just might need somebody to ... help them realize that. That’s what we do.”

Photo by Experience Columbus

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Bob Vitale is a freelance writer.

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spotlight

By Cynthia Bent Findlay + Photo by Rob Hardin

Innovation

Drugs to the doorstep ScriptDrop, one of Columbus’ most promising startups, connects patients with meds.

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hen he was one of the early employees with Columbus health-care solutions provider CoverMyMeds, Nicholas Potts began to ponder a problem the pharmaceutical industry calls medication abandonment.

“I saw that when a patient drops off a prescription, if they don’t leave the pharmacy with it due to the pharmacy being backed up or insurance issues filling the prescription, about one in four times that patient never returns for that drug,” Potts says.

That’s a problem for the patient’s health and also for the pharmacy and potentially even the patient’s insurance provider, which could be on the hook for more expensive treatment or an emergency room visit down the line. So Potts launched ScriptDrop to improve the chances that patients would take their medications.

The company’s ability to solve that problem has taken it from its launch in 2018 to being one of the brightest stars in the Columbus tech scene, re-

ScriptDrop

855 Grandview Ave. #110, Columbus 43215 scriptdrop.co Business: Prescription delivery for pharmacies

via a network of professional couriers.

Founder/CEO: Nicholas Potts Employees: 90 Revenue: $11M (2019)

porting around $1 million in monthly revenue and still growing at a rate of 20 percent to 30 percent per month.

Potts leveraged his experience with pharmacy management systems at CoverMyMeds to create a highly efficient and deeply networked medication home-delivery system that now stretches across the country.

The key is ScriptDrop integrates into a pharmacy’s systems so that a pharmacist does not have to use a separate system—or even make a phone call. “We also source the courier for you. Rather than a one-to-one relationship with a single driver who may or may not show, ScriptDrop establishes those relationships with couriers to guarantee patients get the prescriptions they need,” Potts says.

ScriptDrop now serves more than 2,000 Albertsons pharmacy locations and thousands more independent stores and smaller chains. Its first relationships were with smaller and independent community pharmacies, which represent about 40 percent of the market in the U.S., Potts says.

They generate about 70 percent of ScriptDrop’s revenue and are the fastest growing portion of the business.

“Their delivery volume on a dayto-day basis is nine to 10 times that of a chain store,” Potts says. But serving

giants such as CVS and Walgreens always has been part of the plan. In fact, ScriptDrop’s seed investor says he wouldn’t have invested if ScriptDrop’s target was solely the community pharmacy market.

Vic Gatto, founder and CEO of Jumpstart Foundry, a health-care investment fund based in Nashville, had Kroger as a client. It was seeking solutions for medication abandonment when he came across the nascent ScriptDrop in 2016.

Jumpstart made a $150,000 seed investment in the startup. The larger chains needed the same back-room solutions to solve the same pain felt by the independent pharmacies, and Gatto says that was the promise he saw. He says the company’s

“I saw that when a patient drops off a prescription, if they don’t leave the pharmacy with it ... about one in four times that patient never returns for that drug.”

Nicholas Potts, CEO, ScriptDrop

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columbusalive.com

Your guide to what you can’t miss.

Nicholas Potts growth potential is enormous.

ScriptDrop began serving Albertsons patients in 2018. A Kroger launch is also in progress.

New avenues promise even more rapid expansion. ScriptDrop has begun working with hospital systems to deliver patient meds directly from a health-care center’s own pharmacy.

More hospital system partnerships are on tap for 2020, Potts says.

ScriptDrop also is competing for business with several insurers looking to offer delivery as a member benefit.

And the company works with mail order pharmacies to smooth the chain from pharmacy to shipper using ScriptDrop’s relationships with the U.S. Postal Service, UPS and FedEx. The ScriptDrop team grew from 14 to more than 90 last year, and Potts says it may double that this year. He projects revenue for 2020 of around $30 million. The company has raised between $9 million and $10 million and soon will announce another $20 million to $25 million in funding, with Jumpstart co-leading the round with the Ohio Innovation Fund.

“This is a $10 billion, $20 billion opportunity,” says Gatto.

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spotlight Commercial Real Estate

Manifest destiny

Rendering courtesy columbus crew

By Laura Newpoff

Columbus bird’s eye view

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Nationwide Arena

Photo courtesy NRI

The final pieces are falling into place in the 20-year transformation of downtown’s industrial western edge into the Arena District. n 1997, Alex Fischer was the deputy governor and chief of staff to Tennessee Gov. Don Sundquist. As part of his work to forge a new partnership between research giant Battelle and the University of Tennessee, he hopped aboard a small King Air plane to get to a meeting in Columbus. Afterward, his hosts took him to dinner at the old Rigsby’s Kitchen on North High Street in the Short North.

On that crisp fall evening as he left the restaurant, Fischer told the folks from Battelle he’d walk a few blocks south to get to the Hyatt Regency hotel. His host, however, had some rather blunt advice. “You can’t do that—it’s a war zone,” Fischer recalls him saying. Fischer also was struck by what was going on a few blocks west of his hotel. The old Ohio Penitentiary site was a walledoff demolition zone surrounded by a bleak mix of decaying industrial buildings and surface parking lots.

A poorly lit downtown. A war zone.

A prison in ruins. All within a few blocks of one another. It painted

Rendering of Columbus Crew Stadium

Photo courtesy NRI

quite a dreary picture of Columbus.

“You think about first impressions and what my first impression would be like today if I found myself in those exact same spots,” says Fischer, now CEO of the Columbus Partnership, the city’s influential civic organization of business leaders. “You look at the Arena District today and you see the vision Nationwide, the city and other leaders had.

At first, the district was just going to be a single area around the arena.

Now you see what Brian Ellis has accomplished in its expansion over 20 years and the economic impact that’s come from companies, the jobs and the residents who have moved there.

“You pinch yourself and say, ‘All this happened in my lifetime,’ ” Fischer says. “An entire part of the city was transformed. There’s no greater transformation that’s analogous to where our city has gone in the same period of time

“The designers gravitated toward a continuation of the brick that was in the area. It allows you to take advantage of the industrial feel that was already there.” dan hanes, architect who has worked on the Arena District

than the Arena District.”

Over those 20 years, more than $1.2 billion of development has occurred to make that old prison site and the surrounding area a premier office, sports, dining and entertainment destination. While the district is running out of land for new projects, Ellis— president and COO of Nationwide Realty Investors—and his team and other developers aren’t done yet. Three large projects are underway, and redevelopment of the old Municipal Light Plant at the western end of West Nationwide Boulevard is expected to be complete this year.

Expanding boundaries It was 20 years ago that Nationwide Arena opened at the corner of Nationwide Boulevard and Front Street as the home of the National Hockey League expansion team the Columbus Blue Jackets. Architect Dan Hanes describes the area pre-arena as “basically parking lots, with a few small buildings here and there.”

Hanes’ firm at the time, Heinlein Schrock out of Kansas City, partnered with NBBJ on the arena’s design, and Hanes set up shop in Columbus to help Nationwide Realty with offices, condominiums and apartments.

At the time, the master plan as conceived by Ellis and urban plan-

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New Arena District developments Parks Edge Phase 3

Rendering courtesy NRI

What: 10-story condo tower Details: 50 two- and

Parks Edge

Rendering courtesy NRI

de Arena

Headquarters for Chipotle

ning firm MKSK was 75 acres. But the district would expand because the projects were well-received from the beginning, Ellis says, not only from private users who would rent office space or people who would buy condos or rent apartments, but by government leaders. That affirmation came in the form of a $42.5 commitment by Franklin County in the mid-2000s for a new home for the Columbus Clippers, Huntington Park, on the west side of Neil Avenue, a site not in the original master plan.

In 2007, Nationwide Realty, as part of the original plan, opened the Condominiums at North Bank Park. Moving west would continue as a new frontier for the developer when, years later, it would buy part of the old Buggyworks complex and transform it into offices. Hanes, who worked on those projects, continues to be involved in three that represent hundreds of millions of dollars: As the architect of record for third phase of Nationwide Realty’s Parks Edge condominiums; as designer of the parking structure that will be part of NRI’s new Chipotle headquarters building and apartment project; and as part of a team of designers working on the new Columbus Crew stadium on West Nationwide Boulevard.

The 200-acre district now stretches

three-bedroom units with the majority of residences fronting McFerson Commons Park.

There will be private, secured parking, 24-hour concierge service and a rooftop pool, hot tub, sun deck and outdoor kitchen.

Developer: Nationwide Realty Investors When: 2021 Cost: Not disclosed Where: 225 John H. McConnell Blvd.

Chipotle HQ/ parking/residential What: 4-story office building with 132,000 square feet, a five-story, 596-space parking garage and approximately 150 apartments.

Details: The office building portion of the project will be built along Neil Avenue. The parking garage and apartments are planned behind the building to the east.

Developer: Nationwide Realty Investors in partnership with the Lewin family When: 2021 Cost: $200 million Where: 200 Vine St. is the

Chipotle office building’s address. The entire project will be built on land that has boundaries of Neil Avenue to the west, Spruce Street to the north, Kilbourne Street to the east and Vine Street to the south.

Crew Stadium/ Confluence Village What: 20,000-seat soccer stadium Details: The stadium will be built on 13 acres as the centerpiece of the mixed-use Confluence Village project.

The stadium project includes a 40,000-square-foot outdoor plaza that will be open to the public. Amenities include a soccer pub, Nordecke beer garden, field suites and concourse club seats and lounge.

There will be 100,000 square feet of playing field grass area that can be used for professional, collegiate and high school sporting events, concerts, fashion shows and other community events.

The surrounding Confluence Village is expected to include retail, office and residential space.

Developer: Columbus Crew SC

to I-670 on the north, the Olentangy River on the west, North High Street on the east and West Spring Street to the south. Parks Edge and the Chipotle building will continue a design tradition that emphasizes brick facades with a striking incorporation of glass.

“The designers gravitated toward a continuation of the brick that was in the area,” Hanes says. “It allows you to take advantage of the industrial feel that was already there.”

Healthy competition Ellis says the goal for the Arena District was to take a long-term view that was market-driven and focused on a high standard of quality. The new projects and the projects developed by others in the area are no exception.

When: 2021 (stadium) Cost: $300 million (stadium) Where: 650 W. Nationwide

Blvd.

Municipal Light Plant What: Redevelopment in two phases of the city’s first power plant that dates to 1903.

Details: Renovation of the 1903 portion of the structure was complete in 2019 with Garth’s Auctioneers & Appraisers opening a 16,000-squarefoot showroom and Red Architecture + Planning opening a 9,000-squarefoot office. Work is ongoing to renovate an adjacent seven-story structure that will have 36,000 square feet of office space and a parking structure.

Developer: Connect Realty Ownership: Connect Realty, Schiff Capital Group, GBX Group When: Second phase, December 2020 Cost: $23 million Where: 589 W. Nationwide Blvd. and 577 W. Nationwide Blvd.

“Competition is healthy when you establish a high bar and people are playing in that space,” Ellis says.

Architect Bob Loversidge has seen the Arena District projects up close as a longtime member of the Downtown Commission, the city’s review body.

And his firm, Schooley Caldwell, calls the district home, with a passion for historic preservation – Loversidge was instrumental in moving the old Union Station arch to McFerson Commons.

“I don’t think any other city in North America had the opportunity to essentially re-envision a quarter of their downtown,” Loversidge says.

“We have rebuilt the five-story, redbrick city.”

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

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Agenda

Connections

Jan. 30, 2020 + Photos by Dan Trittschuh

Gravity

Kickoff

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Columbus CEO’s inaugural class of Future 50 gathered for the first time to pitch Annual Project ideas.

1 Stephen White and Falon Donohue 2 Heather Whaling and Lacey Picazo 3 Molly Rampe Thomas and Megan Shroy 4 B.J. Hicks and Kristin Harper 5 Michael Corey and John Rush 6 Alex Anthony and Rehgan Avon 7 Josh Harrison, Jordan Davis, Brett Kaufman,

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Jessica Fleming, Jacquie Bickel and Alex Frommeyer 8 Kerstin Carr, Letty Schamp and Kimberly Sharp 9 John Comerford and Colin McGinnis 10 Matt Miller and Haley Boehning 11 Chanel Nelson, Rebecca Hurd, Autumn Glover and Kelly Atkinson 12 Melanie Corn and Matthew Goldstein 13 Sheri Chaney Jones, Bill Balderaz and Derek Grosso

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Friday, April 24, 2020 • 6:15 pm Hollywood Casino Columbus Benefitting the Alvis Family and Children’s Program

Join us for Evening of Light, which benefits the Alvis Family and Children’s Program. You won’t want to miss this inspiring evening filled with fabulous food, a complimentary wine and beer bar, one of a kind entertainment, amazing raffles, auctions and much more. Evening of Light is your opportunity to make a lasting impact on the families and children who are moving beyond past mistakes and building a happy, healthy future together.

For tickets, sponsorship, and more information

alvis180.org/events

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Honoring the Kellogg Family as our Family of the Year

2/13/20 12:41 PM

Healthcare Achievement Awards 2020

Stories by Kathy Lynn Gray, HEATHER BARR, LIN RICE and LAURA NEWPOFF Photos by Rob Hardin and Tim Johnson We are fortunate to live in a time and place where the health-care industry is so robust. The sector employs more than 45,000 people in the Columbus region at hospital systems that are among the best in the nation. So honoring our top researchers, care providers and innovators is a treat because their stories are so compelling. This year, among the standouts our panel of expert judges chose to celebrate are a groundbreaking AIDS researcher, a champion for medical provider diversity and a man with a fervent mission to deliver Meals-on-Wheels to as many vulnerable seniors as possible.

and United Way funding.

He came up with a five-prong approach: Expand the volunteer staff, increase donations, fund an endowment, merge with smaller social-service agencies and establish some way of making money.

“We’re a very basic-needs organization,” says Gehring, 63. “We didn’t want to say ‘no’ to people who needed our help. We wanted to figure out how we were going to continue to provide for everyone who needed us.”

Now, nearly two decades later, the 122-year-old alliance is financially

Executive of the Year

Charles Gehring LifeCare Alliance

When Charles Gehring took over the reins at LifeCare Alliance in 2001, it quickly became clear to him that the venerable social service organization was not in a good place financially.

“We had $250,000 to our name and about a month’s worth of work-

ing money on top of that,” says Gehring. “It was clear not all of our funding sources were going to continue and we just couldn’t keep up.

To continue to take clients we had to do something.”

He got to work.

Drawing from 15 years of experience in the for-profit sector at companies such as Anheuser-Busch and Sanese Services, as well as four years as chief operating officer at Catholic Social Services, Gehring concluded that LifeCare, which offered the Meals-onWheels program, community nursing services and in-home care, needed to reduce its dependence on government

Finalist

Dan Like Executive director, ambulatory services

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Like brings quality care to where patients need it most—near work or home. He provided the vision and leadership to develop a new joint venture—Ohio State Home Medical Equipment— that specializes in respiratory equipment such as home oxygen, non-invasive ventilation and CPAP machines. By also providing walkers, wheelchairs, adjustable beds and orthopedic supplies, the goal is to make sure patients leave the hospital or doctor’s office with the equipment they need. “We have partnered with a trusted, family-owned Central Ohio company, DASCO, whose sole mission is to provide high-quality home medical equipment products and services,” Like says. “By partnering, we now share an aligned purpose and vision to continue to provide the best home medical products to our patients.”

Charles Gehring

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stable and offering many more services than in the past.

“Chuck is a dynamic leader who blends a unique ability to care deeply about what impacts each of the clients we serve while also really seeing what the agency needs, often before it needs it,” says Rebecca Hurd, vice president of advancement for LifeCare.

During Gehring’s tenure, the alliance has expanded its volunteer base so that fewer paid Meals-onWheels drivers are needed. Many of the volunteers now come from 110 organizations and companies whose

workers deliver meals during their lunch hours, saving LifeCare Alliance money and allowing it to keep up with client needs.

Gehring began pursuing mergers with other organizations in 2003, when LifeCare assumed operation of Madison County Meals-on-Wheels from the Madison County Hospital.

Other mergers followed, including with Project OpenHand-Columbus, Columbus Cancer Clinic, Impact Safety, Meals-on-Wheels in Champaign and Logan counties and, in 2017, the Central Ohio Diabetes Association.

“The mergers allowed us to get to more clients and allowed clients to get more services,” Gehring says. “If we were going to stay in business we had to do something different. The predictions (for social service agencies) were dour. We were too dependent on the next $1 coming in from the government.”

Gehring also set in motion fundraising efforts that garnered $7.2 million to purchase and renovate a warehouse into a meals distribution center, food pantry, dining center, wellness center and storage space. And he set a goal to

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j u dg e s

H e a lt h c a r e Ac h i e v e m en t A w ar d s 2020 Columbus CEO is indebted to the five health-care leaders from diverse backgrounds who served as judges for our Healthcare Achievement Awards this year. The judges scored nominations based on specific criteria for each category. To avoid conflicts of interest, judges were not eligible to score in categories where they had affiliations with the nominees.

Accumulated results determine winners and finalists. With thanks for their invaluable contributions, we’re proud to partner with these judges:

Bill Hardy President and CEO, Equitas Health A primary-care provider for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning people. He received our Healthcare Trailblazer award in 2017 and the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the Health Care and Technical Services category.

Bridget Gargan Executive director, Ohio Association of County

Boards of Developmental Disabilities Serves people with developmental disabilities. She is a former vice president of government affairs for the Ohio Hospital Association and worked for longtime Ohio House Speaker Vern Riffe.

Reed Fraley Retired COO, PrimaryOne Health Recently retired chief operating officer of PrimaryOne Health, formerly known as Columbus Neighborhood Health Center. Fraley previously served as senior vice president of the Ohio Hospital Association and as CEO of the Ohio State University Health System.

Amy Rohling McGee President, Health Policy Institute of Ohio A nonprofit that provides health-care analysis and information for state policymakers. She previously was executive director of the Ohio Association of Free Clinics. She serves on the Ohio State University Alumni Council.

Dr. David Sabgir Cardiologist, OhioHealth The cardiovascular specialist at OhioHealth is founder and CEO of Walk with a Doc, now operating in communities worldwide, and 2016 Columbus CEO Pathway to Population Health award winner. In 2015 he was recognized as a CNN Hero.

“If we were going to stay in business we had to do something different. The predictions (for social service agencies) were dour. We were too dependent on the next $1 coming in from the government.”

Charles Gehring have a $20 million endowment by the end of this year, which the organization has nearly met with the help of an anonymous $5 million donation.

Perhaps his most audacious project, however, was figuring out a way for LifeCare Alliance to produce revenue itself. Those programs, which include a corporate wellness service and a catering service, now provide about 17 percent of LifeCare’s budget.

Hurd says LifeCare is lucky to have a leader in Gehring who’s willing to try new things while maintaining and expanding core services. One achievement he’s especially proud of is LifeCare’s senior pet care program, which began 12 years ago.

“What we saw was that a lot of (Meals-on-Wheels) clients were giving part of their meal to their pet because they couldn’t get to a store to buy pet food or couldn’t afford to buy it,” Gehring says.

Using a San Diego program as a model, Gehring convinced several large retailers to donate pet food that was nearly out of date or was being tossed because a bag had broken open.

LifeCare staff and volunteers deliver that food to seniors. “It’s crazy popular,” Gehring says. And it helps meet one of LifeCare’s missions: Helping older people stay in their homes.

“To be able to give a person later in life a little happiness and the ability to live in their home where they want to be, I don’t know how you put a price on that,” Gehring says. “I tell my employees that when they go home at the end of the day, I hope they recognize they’ve done something very important today: They’ve given people health and independence.”

Kathy Lynn Gray is a freelance writer.

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Dr. Michael Para

Lifetime Achievement

Dr. Michael Para

Equitas Health/OSU Wexner Medical Center As an infectious disease physician, Dr. Michael Para was accustomed to seeing patients with curious symptoms in his work at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

But a man in his 40s who was admitted in 1981 had more than curious symptoms. He had a rare lung infection that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control had begun to report was killing young men in Los Angeles.

That patient was Para’s introduction to what would become his life’s work—trying to find a cure for AIDS. For nearly four decades, Para— known as Columbus’ AIDS doctor—has fought the disease through research, patient care and education. “He literally helped change the course of history in treating and understanding HIV and AIDS,” says Bill Hardy, president and CEO of Equitas Health, formerly AIDS Resource Center Ohio, since 1993. “This was

the plague of our generation.”

Para, 71, calls the early days of treating AIDS “horrible.” Little was known about acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. No one knew how it was transmitted or how to stop its fatal march through a patient’s body.

But as a young OSU doctor researching unusual infections related to viruses, Para was uniquely trained to begin the battle against the scourge.

“I believed we were going to figure this out, and I had the hope that maybe I could keep patients alive long enough so we could have something that worked,” says Para.

And so began years of trial and error, of incremental successes building upon each other.

One giant step was when Para and others at Ohio State wrangled a $7 million federal grant for AIDS research in 1988, including testing with the anti-viral drug AZT, as part of a national consortium of 35 medical centers. That gave Para, as co-lead investigator, access to AIDS experts

“I believed we were going to figure this out, and I had the hope that maybe I could keep patients alive long enough so we could have something that worked.”

Dr. Michael Para

Finalist

Linda Howell NICU nurse manager

Nationwide Children’s Hospital/Mount Carmel East For the past six years, Howell has led the Mount Carmel East neonatal intensive care unit where she focuses on providing best-in-class care while sustaining employee engagement and expertise. She went back to school while working full time to earn a Master of Science in nursing degree in 2016 and continues to encourage her team to continuously learn by supporting them as they pursue their educational goals. “As a leader I feel it is my responsibility to encourage colleagues to continue their education,” she says. “I know as I encourage colleagues, I take the risk they may find a different career path in nursing, but I view that as a success story. Everyone should reach for their dreams. I am blessed I have reached my dream.”

nationwide who were fighting the disease, allowing him and his colleagues to share treatments and protocols for what worked and what didn’t.

“It was really like being at the very cutting edge of what was happening,” Para says. “The only way to get those drugs was to get into a national test, so that was an important thing.”

By 1996, AIDS patients could take a cocktail of drugs that would extend their lives; today, those infected with HIV—the precursor to AIDS—can take a single pill a day, live a normal lifespan and not transmit the virus to anyone else.

“I have one patient who said: ‘I just want to live long enough to see my kids graduate from high school.’ Now that patient is a granddaddy,” chuckles Para.

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Over the years Para has donned many medical hats: OSU director of clinical studies for the AIDS Clinical Trial Unit for 17 years; co-director of the East Central AIDS Education and Training Center for eight years; hospital chief of staff for three years; and associate dean for clinical research for 19 years, among others.

He says being involved in developing AIDS medications is his greatest achievement as a doctor.

But he is equally well known for his compassionate care of patients with the disease, beginning when cases first began showing up and some health care workers refused to even get near patients.

By 1994, Para had treated more than 600 persons with AIDS and seen 400 of them die.

“There was such a stigma to this disease,” he says. “Not only did you have a disease you’re going to die of, you were outed (as being gay) in many cases by this infection. What people feared was that they were going to die and nobody was going to be there with them because they were gay.”

Para’s patients had his home phone number so they could call him, day or night. He learned the importance of helping them not just with their disease, but with all the ways it affected their lives.

That’s one reason he became parttime medical director at Equitas in 2012, when the organization opened its first medical center.

“He was transformational for us,” says Hardy. Para helped Equitas develop a center in the Short North where

patients could receive multiple services beyond medical care all at one site and pay on a sliding-fee scale. The organization now has 13,000 patients, including about 5,000 HIV patients, and 17 offices in 11 Ohio cities.

Para retired from Equitas and OSU in January but hopes to keep his hand in medicine as a consultant, teacher and physician, perhaps in telemedicine.

He’s grateful for all the accolades he received on his retirement, but he wants to make sure that others—all the people he worked with over the years, including his patients—are recognized for their contributions.

“All of them provide the care,” he says, “and I get the credit.”

Kathy Lynn Gray is a freelance writer.

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Practitioner of the Year (tie)

Mimi Rivard Equitas Health

In the three years since Mimi Rivard, lead nurse practitioner at Equitas Health, launched the organization’s care practice for patients identifying as trans or gender non-conforming, Equitas has seen more than 300 percent growth in the number of trans clients it serves.

Her stewardship of the program is why Rivard is the co-winner of this year’s Healthcare Achievement Awards’ Practitioner of the Year honor.

A federally designated “community health center,” Equitas is a nonprofit regional health care system and one of the largest organizations in the country serving the LGBTQ and HIV/AIDS communities.

With a background in palliative care and serving the HIV/AIDS community, Rivard developed Equitas’ trans-care program by sitting with members of the community, listening to their needs and then listening some more, she says.

“I tried to engage the community, to just show up and create relationships organically and authentically in hopes of doing a good job,” Rivard says.

“We grew largely through word of mouth. And as I started seeing

Mimi Rivard

patients that first summer (of 2016), I ended up quickly going from one or two new patients a week to 10 or 12.”

Since that time, Equitas’ trans health program has grown to serve more than 1,000 patients; 11 additional providers also have been hired and trained.

“We were then really able to hear patients’ stories and what they wanted in terms of care by asking what’s important to you, how do you want to live, how can we help with the symptoms you’re having?”

Rivard says. “To apply (that palliative model) to gender dysphoria is really a no-brainer—asking how do I use these tools to live at peace and feel whole. And surprise surprise, people really responded to it.”

Equitas Chief Operating Officer Peggy Anderson says Rivard spearheaded the development of new medical services, such as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis medication that prevents HIV transmission), that have been critical to improving health outcomes in the populations that Equitas serves.

“Recognizing the power of word of mouth, she met with community

“We were then really able to hear patients’ stories and what they wanted in terms of care by asking what’s important to you, how do you want to live?”

Mimi Rivard

Finalist

Martha Simmons Certified nurse practitioner

LifeCare Alliance Martha Simmons has worked at the Columbus Cancer Clinic as a certified nurse practitioner for four years. She cares for those who have no insurance or are underinsured and treats patients with compassion. “Our health care team provides high-quality, low-cost cancer screening services to detect or prevent selected cancers,” she says. “We strive to help eliminate cancer disparities in our community. No one is denied care due to inability to pay.” Simmons says her nursing career has gone through multiple evolutions since she graduated from college in 1967. “But who wants to retire when I can be a part of a professional compassionate team that has had such a positive impact on the lives of the patients we serve?”

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members and young leaders in the prevention movement, and worked to build connections in key neighborhoods and social circles,” Anderson says. “She made herself a regular face at community events and showed herself as someone who cared.

“To this day, Mimi Rivard is a household name among the Columbus LGBTQ community, known as a caring, competent provider who values patient autonomy and promotes patient dignity.”

Rivard says the practice has focused on helping patients overcome classically American medical problems as well.

Of the trans-care patients at Equitas Health, 96 percent now have healthy blood pressure, 80 percent of those with diabetes have controlled their blood sugar levels and of those living with HIV, a staggering 87 percent have achieved viral suppression (when one’s viral load has reached an undetectable level). The national average for HIV patients who’ve reached viral suppression is 49 percent, according to Equitas.

“We look at health outcomes for trans people and there’s just really not a lot of data. This is probably the most marginalized population in the United States,” Rivard says. “Once people are treated with dignity and respect, and listened to, and seen, they do amazingly well.”

Mikayla Robinson, a staff member with the Mozaic program and also a client of Rivard’s, says Mimi’s support is vital.

“Mimi Rivard is a life savior and a great provider that goes beyond the general care,” Robinson says. “She was a great addition to my medical team. She has helped me in my HIV care to become adherent and gain greater health.”

Rivard’s drive to help clients improve their overall wellness is a great support, Robinson adds.

“Not only is it the raw love and care during medical appointments, but the push of support to just be your best self, even outside the appointments, (that’s) the most rewarding,” Robinson says. “She is a star and a great honoree for such amazing selfless care and honesty to greater health and life outcomes.”

Lin Rice is a freelance writer.

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Practitioner of the Year (tie)

Dr. Darrell Gray II

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center For Dr. Darrell Gray II, being a doctor is more than just showing up in a white coat. It’s about making a difference by listening, promoting diversity and meeting patients where they need care.

Gray is a gastroenterologist at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center who attended medical school at Howard College of Medicine in Washington, D.C. Although he believed he would become a cardiologist, he realized he could make a difference as a gastroenterologist.

A large part of Gray’s mission is his commitment to promoting diversity in medicine, which he says has the ability to save the lives of vulnerable populations who are at risk due to implicit bias, overt institutional racism and lack of opportunity in the field of health care. He says one way these problems can be addressed is by promoting diversity in medical schools and hospitals across the nation.

“It’s really important that the face of our health care looks more like the face of America,” he says.

On a national level, Gray is chair of the American College of Gastroenterology’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. He’s also the medical director for the national African American Male Wellness Initiative.

“It’s really important that the face of our health care looks more like the face of America. That’s what health equity is about.”

Dr. Darrell Gray II

Dr. Darrell Gray II

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Locally, Gray serves as a medical director for Healthy Community Day, which provides free health screenings to Central Ohioans each summer, and he serves on diversity committees for the James Cancer Hospital and the Wexner Medical Center. In 2014, he created the Provider and Community Engagement (PACE) program for health equity in colorectal cancer prevention.

The program screens uninsured or underinsured patients for colorectal cancer, which is especially important for black men. According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancerrelated deaths, and African American men had a 25 percent higher incidence rate for colorectal cancer and a 50 percent higher mortality rate from 2006-10 compared with Caucasians.

So far, the program has offered 194 free or low-cost colonoscopies to uninsured or underinsured individuals in the area. “We’ve found hundreds of polyps. We even detected in one of our earlier years an early-stage rectal cancer that was removed,” Gray says.

He says the program has required

the time and dedication of many doctors, nurses, staff members and patient advocates who donate their time to make it a reality. Although the program has been mostly focused in Central Ohio and only in the month of March, he hopes to expand the program year-round and throughout Ohio. “It’s just one small thing in the ocean of things that need to be done,” he says. “But I’m just happy to play a part in that.”

As part of these projects, Gray hopes to provide equal care and opportunity to patients and increase diversity in the medical staff.

“That’s what health equity is about,” he says. “It’s about ensuring that everyone has a just and fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible. And that’s part of my mission.”

Gray says he’s seen the impact diversity can have in interactions with his own patients. During a recent colonoscopy exam, he met a new patient, a middle-aged African American man, who asked Gray if he was old enough to be a doctor, something he says he hears often.

“He also expressed how proud he

was that I was in this field and I was in this position because he hadn’t had a black physician before, and being a black male that meant something to him,” Gray says. The interaction was one of many such exchanges he’s had with patients.

Trinita Weaver, a patient of Gray’s, has been an information associate with Ohio State for 23 years and a Columbus resident all her life. After meeting Gray at a Healthy Community Day, she’s been his patient for two years. Weaver says she hopes he never retires.

“He is just such a wonderful person inside and out,” she says.

Even when he fusses at her for not following his advice between visits, “he does it caringly.”

Gray says it’s his calling to love his neighbor, and the combination of community service and health care is just one way he shows that.

“This is where I feel like my talent, my time and my treasures lie,” he says “And I’m giving it all I’ve got.”

Heather Barr is an intern for Columbus CEO.

Nationwide is proud to recognize Kathleen Herath, Associate Vice President, Associate Wellbeing & Safety, as a recipient of Columbus CEO’s 2020 Healthcare Achievement Awards: Pathway to Population Health.

Kathleen is a true advocate for our associates, their families and the communities that we serve.

Our company — and our people — are better for her innovative approaches, endless compassion and tireless dedication to doing what’s best for everyone.

Nationwide, the Nationwide N and Eagle and Nationwide is on your side are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. © 2020 Nationwide CPO-1410M1 (02/20)

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Trailblazer - Individual

Rebecca Jackson

Associate dean of clinical research, Ohio State University College of Medicine; director, Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science Over the course of her 34 years as an endocrinologist at Ohio State University, Dr. Rebecca Jackson has advanced research that’s improved people’s lives. Her focus has been on conditions that disproportionately affect women’s health, and her extensive clinical trials have sought better ways to treat cardiovascular disease and bone fractures.

About 16 months ago, however, an opportunity came to immerse herself in the fight against the opioid crisis.

As part of the National Institutes of Health HEAL initiative (Help End Addiction Long-term), the National Institute on Drug Abuse released a request for research applications for a national study that aims to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths by 40 percent in three years. Because Ohio is at the epicenter of the crisis with nearly 4,300 residents dying from overdoses in 2017, Jackson decided to pull a team together to respond to the funding opportunity.

“From a personal perspective, I felt so strongly that we have a moral imperative to address the opioid crisis,” she says. “As a land grant institution, there is a social sacred compact to

“From a personal perspective, I felt so strongly that we have a moral imperative to address the opioid crisis.”

Dr. Rebecca Jackson

Dr. Rebecca Jackson ensure that we study health issues that create the greatest burden on human health and then disseminate the knowledge gained through our scientific studies to communities and others for the betterment of us all. There’s no greater public health problem than the opioid crisis, which has disproportionately affected the citizens of our state. We had to develop a response.”

Jackson pulled the grant proposal together using collaboration. She built a team that included communities highly affected by the crisis, academic partners and state government through RecoveryOhio. She also ensured that

the study would rely on data and evidence-based medical reporting to drive results and allow—much like in the startup world—quick pivots that can have a meaningful impact. The flexibility would allow communities not to be hamstrung by red tape.

Six months later she learned Ohio State was awarded a $65.9 million federal research grant that hopes to be a game changer in the way the crisis is approached. Three other universitycommunity-state partnerships also were awarded grants under the initiative, resulting in the inclusion of 67 communities in four states, including

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

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

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Today, Jackson is actively part of the consortium of academic medicine institutions—Ohio State, University of Kentucky, Boston University and Columbia University—that are overseeing the HEALing Communities Study grant.

The heart of the opioid problem isn’t that treatment doesn’t work; it often does. It’s that effective treatments aren’t reaching the people who need them most.

As such, the study will focus on three areas: • Introducing a community engageMarch 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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ment model based on “Communities that Care,” a nationally recognized program that provides the groundwork and assessments to begin and track evidence-based approaches to community health initiatives.

• Implementing practices for immediate impact: While this is a study, the practices are geared to make an impact on opioid-related deaths quickly.

This will be done by introducing and

expanding the availability of the medicine naloxone and training around its use along with the adoption of medications for opioid use disorder. It’s also expected that services will be offered for those who are particularly vulnerable to risk of overdose and death.

• Communication and media campaign: Programs will be implemented that reduce the stigma associated with opioid addiction, and there will

Finalist

Evan DuBro Founder and CEO

Our Family Home DuBro founded Our Family Home in 2007 based on a belief that small homes, well-trained staff and connection-based care could make a difference in dementia care. The model runs counter to the one-size-fits-all, large facility model. “I believed that smaller homes in residential neighborhoods would create a sense of warmth, familiarity and community for our residents and that providing two caregivers for five residents would dramatically change the level of care and attention,” DuBro says.

“I was determined to change the model of care for people affected by memory disease, because I wasn’t just starting a business, I was creating a home for my mom. My mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2005 and was a resident in my first house.”

be increased awareness about the practices, medications and programs that are available and can save lives after an overdose.

According to nomination materials submitted by Ohio State, the research will produce a repeatable, sustainable prevention and treatment toolkit that can be disseminated to communities across the country. It’s expected the lessons learned from the study could help address other substance abuse disorders.

Phase one of the study involving roughly half of the communities started in January.

“We are thinking more broadly about how we take the science we are doing in the lab and using that knowledge to change the way we deliver health care for some of the greatest public health challenges that we have,” Jackson says. “By facilitating this translation of data to knowledge to implementation, you get the value of all the scientific advances that have been made over the last two decades to benefit society.”

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

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Trailblazer - Organization

OhioHealth A new program aimed at improving the long-term health of one of Central Ohio’s most vulnerable populations has earned Columbus-based health system OhioHealth this year’s Healthcare Trailblazer Award.

Each year, Columbus CEO magazine recognizes outstanding health care professionals and organizations for making a difference in the lives of their patients, colleagues and community. The Healthcare Trailblazer Award recognizes a company or individual for innovative or entrepreneurial health-care initiatives that improve the practice of medicine or delivery of care to patients.

And while it’s only been off the

ground for a few months, a new partnership between OhioHealth and primary-care provider ChenMed aimed at serving elderly patients has been improving the delivery of care to some of Central Ohio’s most-needed areas.

Launched in October, the partnership has opened three medical centers specifically for seniors—one each in Whitehall, Northland and the West Side on North Wilson Road.

Available to Medicare-eligible patients over the age of 65, the centers are designed with wellness in mind.

Rather than treating people only after they get sick, the centers provide preventative care before major health concerns get worse.

The centers design personalized care to improve trust and communica-

Finalists

Orthopedic ONE

Dr. Michael Rerko

Each year, physicians at Ohio’s largest and busiest private orthopedic group donate more than 2,000 hours to the education and training of future orthopedic surgeons, family medicine physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. This investment of time is not a corporate mandate, but rather an extension of the practice’s mission to keep the patient at the center of all it does. “The vast majority of my partners choose to give a considerable portion of their time teaching,” says Dr. Michael Rerko, a partner at the practice. “As a resident I was able to benefit from the teaching of my now-partners, and being able to continue this education was one of the reasons I joined Orthopedic One.”

Central Ohio Primary Care

Dr. Bill Wulf

Central Ohio Primary Care was founded in 1996 when a group of 33 physicians joined together to focus more on patient care than administrative duties. Today, it has more than 70 practices and 400-plus physicians who serve more than 400,000 patients. “By remaining uniquely independent we are able to focus solely on the best course of prevention or treatment for our patients and refer those patients to the highest quality specialist in the region regardless of affiliation,” says a statement from CEO Dr. Bill Wulf and Director of Nursing Cathy Cleary. “We are leading the nation with a new care delivery process that offers higher quality patient care with greater efficiency and fewer unnecessary costs.”

tion between patient and doctor, and they work to remove the barriers that some elderly patients face to accessing health care, such as transportation, says Dr. Jim O’Brien, OhioHealth vice president of population health.

“These are all patients with a variety of health issues. For them, making a trip and paying for each individual issue doesn’t make sense for their needs,” O’Brien says. “By contrast, doctors at these centers meet with their patients, who are enrolled as members, once a month. It’s a more affordable model for that population.”

Staffed by primary-care physicians, the centers offer qualifying patients unlimited visits, walk-in appointments, on-site cardiology, medication dispensing, imaging, labs, healthy lifestyle classes and even give patients their physician’s cell phone number.

Most costs of care are covered by fixed reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid, along with Medicare Advantage supplemental insurance.

Karen Morrison, president of the OhioHealth Foundation and senior vice president for OhioHealth, says

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“To say that OhioHealth is optimistic about this revolutionary approach to senior care would be an understatement.”

Karen Morrison, president of the OhioHealth Foundation and senior vice president for OhioHealth

Dr. Paul Hicks and Tom Shanahan of ChenMed with Dr. Jim O’Brien of OhioHealth, center. the health system is excited about the model’s potential to help an aging Central Ohio population that greatly needs it.

“To say that OhioHealth is optimistic about this revolutionary approach to senior care would be an understatement,” Morrison says. “Truly, it’s the way health care should be delivered to improve the health of seniors,

ChenMed’s Dedicated Senior Medical Center in Whitehall.

especially those who find themselves in difficult circumstances. Many are housing insecure and without insurance or transportation of their own, leaving them with few to no options to receive the care (including medications and treatment) they need—in some cases to simply survive to see another day.”

O’Brien says the centers are in the

process of screening and signing up members; 550 were enrolled as of Dec. 20. It will take a few years for the centers to reach full capacity, but OhioHealth anticipates about 8,000 patients will be served in all, with the potential to open additional sites serving up to 20,000 in the future.

By focusing on preventative care, OhioHealth anticipates the program will result in 50 percent fewer hospital admissions compared with the standard primary-care practice, and 28 percent lower costs per member.

“I think what everyone recognizes is that the costs associated with health care aren’t sustainable, in terms of how they’re growing,” O’Brien says. “As a country, we have to face the fact that the costs are getting higher, while people are getting better results in other countries.

Something’s got to give.”

Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts says the partnership is providing care to some of the city’s residents who need it most.

“OhioHealth and ChenMed are trailblazing a new approach to health care, making it significantly easier for seniors to receive the quality care they need by reducing barriers,” Roberts says. “I believe this game-changing endeavor between OhioHealth and ChenMed will be replicated nationwide to help vulnerable elderly people all across the country.”

The model helps physicians as well, she says.

“They’ve found a much better way to take care of our own, building a model that works for patients and their providers alike,” she says.

“It is a privilege to have them in our community as they transform geriatric medicine.”

Lin Rice is a freelance writer.

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Volunteer of the Year

Rhonda Wallace LifeCare Alliance

In 1997, Rhonda Wallace was participating in a women’s group at her church that had decided to welcome representatives from LifeCare Alliance. She listened as they talked about the services the nonprofit performs in the community, including its Meals-onWheels program, and decided she’d like to help. More than two decades and a career retirement later, she’s still involved and her role has expanded beyond her original weekend route.

LifeCare Alliance is one of the largest Meals-on-Wheels providers in the country, producing more than 4,000 meals for seniors and medically challenged and disabled individuals and 2,000 “Meals-for-Kids” each day.

The organization says volunteers like Wallace are instrumental in the fight against senior isolation, a problem that is silently rampant in communities.

“One of my friends at the time wanted to join, so we joined together,” Wallace says. “I just heard that you would be helping the elderly people and I had time in my life to help. Initially I just enjoyed going out into the community and having the people we were helping tell me that they were so thankful that we would come. It felt good that you

“Initially I just enjoyed going out into the community and having the people we were helping tell me they were so thankful that we would come.

It felt good that you could help somebody out.”

Rhonda Wallace

Rhonda Wallace could help somebody out.”

LifeCare Alliance, however, is more than Meals-on-Wheels. Founded in 1898 as the Instructive District Nursing Association, the nonprofit was the city’s first in-home health care agency and Ohio’s first visiting nurse association, services that continue today.

The organization has several other programs, including a senior farmer’s market, Project OpenHand that helps

people living with HIV/AIDS and the Columbus Cancer Clinic. The clinic, which has the same founder as the nonprofit, Catherine Nelson Black, was merged into LifeCare Alliance in 2005. It provides low-cost or free head-to-toe cancer screenings, mammograms and prevention and education services to vulnerable individuals in Central Ohio.

After she retired from a career in

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food service at Upper Arlington City Schools, Wallace decided she could become more involved. She volunteered in the Meals-on-Wheels office, then in LifeCare Alliance’s wellness department and then by taking on office work at the cancer clinic.

Wallace now splits her time between the wellness department and the cancer clinic, helping with tasks like making copies of documents, filing, handling spreadsheets, setting up file space and cleaning donated supplies. The nonprofit says she does a “great job of keeping both offices organized and on-task.”

“Rhonda is always willing to assist and will come to a clinic or wellness center to register clients,” Margaret Rembert, office manager for LifeCare Alliance’s wellness department, says in nomination materials. “She will fill in when someone calls off and she will do the jobs other shy away from, like maintaining the office area. We appreciate Rhonda and all the tasks she performs. She always has a smile and a great attitude. She is a great asset to us.”

In addition to her volunteer service,

Internal Medicine Family Medicine Pediatrics

File/Columbus Dispatch/ADAM CAIRNS

LifeCare Alliance Wallace and her husband, Lane, are consistent donors to the agency.

According to LifeCare Alliance, the Meals-on-Wheels program is an important service because many of its clients are elderly and homebound and are unable to prepare meals for themselves. Many clients also are poor and consider the service a lifeline.

“Having volunteers like Rhonda who are able and willing to cover

open routes is a huge asset to LifeCare Alliance,” Rebecca Hurd, the nonprofit’s director of advancement, wrote in nomination materials. “This reduces the need for paid drivers—saving thousands of dollars per route per year—allowing the agency to direct more of its limited funding to core wellness and nutrition services.”

The agency says it takes a reliable force of volunteers to keep Meals-onWheels rolling. The meals are delivered every day, including holidays, and the delivery driver often is the only person a client sees or speaks to each day. Volunteers like Wallace are vital to the clients’ independence and well-being.

“Rhonda is a compassionate person who believes in LifeCare Alliance’s mission to ‘take care of those no one else pays attention to,’ ” Hurd wrote.

“In addition to her contributions to LifeCare Alliance, Rhonda is active with her church and volunteers with Holy Family (Church soup kitchen and food pantry) and the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.”

Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

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Pathway to Population Health

Kathleen Herath Associate vice president of well-being and safety, Nationwide Insurance

If you ask Kathleen Herath what she does for a living, she’ll say she’s made a career out of solving problems for people.

Both in her time as a nurse and in her current position, where she’s in charge of Nationwide Insurance’s well-being program, she’s helped people get back on track after disaster.

Herath says her interest in a career in health care started when she was hit by a car at 8 years old and spent most of fourth grade recovering in a hospital room. Many of the nurses made this time easier, she says, but she remembers one in particular who didn’t seem to understand what it was like to be a kid.

“I can remember pointing at her and telling her I would be a nurse who would be so much nicer to kids,” Hearth says.

As an adult, she kept her word and began a career as a pediatric burn and rehabilitation care nurse at Shriners Hospital for Children.

After seven years in a field she loved, a latex allergy forced her to move on from nursing into a new job with a subsidiary of Nationwide Insurance. Later, she was promoted and moved on to a field focused on what

she says feels like her personal ministry: total well-being for employees, including a focus on mental health and addiction.

In 2006, the company was interested in revamping employee health programs, hoping to tackle problems that other employers weren’t talking about at the time—things like domestic violence, depression and financial stress—even though it was cautioned against it.

Herath says other companies were focused on getting employees to drink

more water, exercise more and eat healthier at the time, but she knew sustained changes in health will happen only if employees are also mentally healthy. In her words, you have to “get the brain right and the body will follow.”

“If I’m clinically depressed, it’s not about steps, water and vegetables,” she says.

Herath says employees who participated in programs that addressed mental health went on to take part in additional programs for other aspects of full-body health. It’s not a matter of willpower or discipline, she says.

“Get the brain right and the body will follow. If I’m clinically depressed, it’s not about steps, water and vegetables. To sustain that real behavior change, you have to understand your brain.”

Kathleen Herath

Kathleen Herath

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It’s an understanding of what healthy means and knowing when to get help.

“To sustain that real behavior change, you have to understand your brain, you have to understand what motivates you, and you have to understand what healthy feels like,” Herath says.

She also has placed a special focus on helping employees with addiction and bringing attention to the opioid crisis across the state. Nationwide’s Second Chance at Work program allows employees to seek help for addiction and eventually return to their jobs. Herath says 60 percent of

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employees make it to a point where they can come back to work, and 100 percent of those who come back stay sober in the years following.

Although this program was already in place when she took on her current role, she has worked to spread its benefits to other companies and bring attention to Ohio’s opioid crisis through her work with the Ohio Opi-

oid Education Alliance and its Denial, Ohio campaign, which is funded in part by Nationwide.

“One, it’s the right thing to do, and two, it has really good results and makes financial sense, but it’s also just the way you should be treated,” Herath says.

Her efforts have made a significant impact on the lives of employees and

Finalist

Central Ohio Pathways Hub Healthcare Collaborative of Greater Columbus The HUB provides Central Ohio’s most vulnerable populations with access to social and health services via a “pathway” to comprehensive services that improves physical health and mental and social well-being. To provide this support, the collaborative has partnered with 10 Central Ohio care coordination agencies. “Community partnerships are the cornerstone of (the collaborative) as an organization and especially the Pathways HUB model,” says Carrie Baker, the collaborative’s president and CEO. “The idea of helping a person attain their ultimate, optimal health and health-care goals isn’t new and sounds easy, but our multiple, high quality systems are often difficult to navigate for all of us, especially our most at-risk neighbors.”

their families, says Gale King, executive vice president and chief administrative officer at Nationwide.

“Her passion for well-being and her passion for the associate experience from a well-being perspective is really what drives her, and because of this we’ve been able to really create a difference here at Nationwide,” King says of Herath’s work. “We hear stories all the time from our associates. I think it’s a point of pride that we focus not only on their health; that it’s a holistic look at them.”

Many of Herath’s programs have become best practices for other companies in Ohio, winning awards.

She says it all comes back to her company’s commitment to its employees, which she says is Nationwide’s “unfair competitive advantage.”

“We want people to be able to empathize. That’s how you do extraordinary customer service,” Herath says.

“So we’ve got to replenish them so that they can go out, day after day, and give that extraordinary service.”

Heather Barr is an intern for Columbus CEO.

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Health Watch: Allergies

Peanut protection The dangerous allergy is getting more common, but treatments are making it manageable.

By Laurie Allen

F

or decades, the common peanut—staple of sandwiches, sauces and snack packs—has struck fear into parents of children with peanut allergies. But new therapies and some myth-busting are helping abate that anxiety, local allergy specialists say.

Peanut allergies affect about 1.25 million children in the United States, and that number is rising, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. A 2017 study found such allergy cases have risen by more than 20 percent since 2010.

Peanut allergy facts • Peanuts are the most prevalent allergy in children. Other top allergies include milk, shellfish, eggs, wheat and soy.

• Peanuts are not nuts, but legumes, like soybeans. Walnuts and almonds are examples of tree nuts, which also can cause allergies.

• Peanut allergy risks are nearly double among African-American children.

• The prevalence of peanut allergies has risen by more than 20 percent in the last decade.

No one factor explains the increase, but the “hygiene theory” says conditions in developed populations now expose children to fewer dangerous antigens, so their immune systems evolve and attack everyday foods and plant pollen.

Source: American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology

Photo istockphoto.com/Reptile8488

One in five children eventually outgrows the allergy, but for the rest, there is no cure. Children and parents have to go to great lengths to avoid exposure and prevent serious and potentially life-threatening reactions.

That takes a toll on families, says Dr. Andrew Dang, an allergy and immunology specialist at Premier Allergy & Asthma. “Parents are afraid the next thing their 5-year-old eats may kill them,” he says. “It has a huge impact on their social lives and living with misunderstanding. You fear most what you don’t understand.”

“There are real risks to worry about with food handlers and in restaurants and schools,” says Dr. David Stukus, director of the Food Allergy Treatment Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “Families want to do something.”

While the rule has been to strictly avoid peanuts until children are 3 to 5 years old, recent studies have suggested that exposing children to peanut protein as early as 4 to 6 months of age is a better path.

In a landmark study called LEAP (Learning Early About Peanut Allergy), high-risk infants who were exposed to peanut protein at age 6

months were about 80 percent less likely to develop allergies at ages 1 to 5, Dang says. Experts believe immunologic “memories” made in infancy have a protective effect going forward, he says.

That study and other information helped change treatment guidelines for physicians. Exposing babies to peanuts rather than completely avoiding them “is a complete shift in mindset—the idea that we may be able to prevent these cases from occurring,” Stukus says. “I’ve changed my views.”

Some Columbus allergists are using the early exposure approach, which involves gradually exposing children to larger amounts of peanut so they may eventually safely consume a small amount without fear.

In January, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved a drug to help lessen or prevent severe reactions that may occur within seconds of accidental exposure to peanuts.

The drug, known as Palforzia, is started in children 4 to 17 years old. It comes in a capsule containing a product made from peanut that is mixed into a small amount of semisolid food such as applesauce.

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Capsules are color-coded to signify dosages, which increase with time.

Children still cannot consume peanuts and must carry injectable epinephrine with them.

As with other oral immunotherapy, children must be observed in a health care setting after consuming the product and return for follow-up doses.

Other treatments on the immediate horizon include a patch worn on the skin and a treatment that is dissolved under the tongue. Both work on the same principle of gradual exposure to the allergen and carry pros and cons.

For example, capsules may allow more precise dosing, while patches or sublingual delivery methods carry fewer side effects but don’t deliver the same dose as orally administered medications, Dang and Stukus say.

Stukus says oral immunotherapy “can be a life-changing experience for many families” who’ve lived in a state of fear for years. Parent advocacy has spurred changes in school cafeterias, classrooms and even restaurants. “Ten years ago, these kids and their parents were pioneers in their school districts.

As that has changed, so has public

“There are real risks to worry about with food handlers and in restaurants and schools.

Families want to do something.”

Dr. David Stukus Director of the Food Allergy Treatment Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital

awareness,” Stukus says.

It’s not just at school but at restaurants and other communal eating places where parents express concern.

Asking about ingredients “absolutely is a trend,” says John Barker, president and CEO of the Ohio Restaurant Association. Most menus at larger restaurants carry warnings that items may have been in contact with peanuts prior to being served, and chefs and management should be able to answer questions about cross-contamination.

“Being careful about your sourcing is what culinary is all about. It’s the right thing to do,” Barker says.

More restaurants offer nuts and salad dressing in separate packaged containers to avoid accidental exposure, he says, but “to some extent, it is the consumer’s personal responsibility ... to understand the inherent risk.”

With the rise in online ordering and food delivery, the picture is murkier, Barker says. “If you can’t determine online whether (a menu item) contains peanut, you probably shouldn’t order it.”

Laurie Allen is a freelance writer.

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Business Litigation

Egg producers v. grocery giants

Porter Wright partner Jim King

Defense prevails in rare antitrust jury trial.

By Lin Rice + Photo by Rob Hardin

A

ntitrust court cases don’t usually make it in front of a jury—in most instances, the parties settle out of court. However, a recent win by Porter Wright Morris & Arthur marks the second favorable jury decision for one of the firm’s clients in the past two years.

In a case brought before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, a group of 12 supermarkets alleged that Indianabased Rose Acre Farms (Porter Wright’s client), United Egg Producers, United States Egg Marketers and other egg producers conspired to reduce the supply of eggs on the market, resulting in increased prices for the buyers. Plaintiffs sought about $1 billion in damages. Following a six-week trial, a jury found for the defendants on Dec. 12.

“The firm’s very happy for our client—you don’t see this kind of case

“Our client felt like they had no choice. (Their) largest customers indicated that ‘You need to get involved with the program’ if you want to sell them eggs.”

Jim King, partner, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur

(

tried very often,” says Porter Wright partner and trial team member Jim King. “We had a really good group of people working together on this case with a great breadth of knowledge in the antitrust world.”

The verdict is the second jury win for Rose Acre. A jury also found in favor of the company in 2018. King says the plaintiffs in this recent decision were some of the grocery store chains (including Kroger and Giant Eagle) that didn’t join the previous classaction case. The case itself has been argued in court off and on since 2008, when the class action lawsuit against 13 egg producers was initially filed.

As part of the initial class action, the group of buyers claimed Rose Acre and others conspired together by creating an animal welfare

program ostensibly to create better living situations for their chickens. But plaintiffs claimed the egg producers actually just wanted to increase prices.

King says buyers had required their producers to sell only eggs produced in compliance with animal welfare standards. After groups like PETA targeted the fast food industry in the 1990s and early 2000s, they turned their attention to supermarket chains.

As a result, the larger chains decided to get in front of the issue and designated standards for animal welfare, King says. Producers adhering to the standards could package their products with a certification logo.

“Our client felt like they had no choice,” King says. “(Their) largest customers indicated that ‘You need to

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get involved with the program’ if you want to sell them eggs.”

As the case has continued over the years, most of the other defendants have settled, King says. Jim Wilson, a partner with Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease whose practice focuses on antitrust litigation, says the balance of risk and reward is a main factor in most antitrust cases settling out of court.

“There’s a lot of incentive on both sides to settle these kinds of cases, particularly if they get past summary judgment,” Wilson says. “Frankly, the class of plaintiffs will often settle for a reasonably small amount, and the defendant doesn’t want to risk the potential for huge damages.”

The plaintiffs in the egg producers case planned to seek about $1 billion in damages, which can be tripled in antitrust cases. The 2018 class action case also sought about $1 billion in damages.

Wilson says there has been an

“Personally, I enjoy trying to take very complex ideas and facts and summarize them for a lay jury in a way that will resonate with them.”

Jay Levine, partner and trial team member, Porter Wright Morris & Arthur

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prices by enacting common animal welfare standards.

Jury finding: Plaintiffs failed to prove

conspiracy.

Trial team leads: Porter Wright attorneys Jim King, Don Barnes and Jay Levine

increase in antitrust litigation in the past 15 years. “That’s for a couple of reasons, but especially in price-fixing cases, the Department of Justice has been very aggressive in investigating that kind of conduct,” he says. “There have been a lot in the agricultural sector, in eggs, poultry, potatoes, mushrooms, in many cases where defendants thought they were being lawful and want to defend what they did. No one wants to admit they violated the antitrust statutes.”

While antitrust statutes and contract disparities might seem overly complicated at times, Porter Wright partner and trial team member Jay Levine says cutting through the jargon to make a clear argument is a favorite aspect of the job.

“As with all complex trials, especially antitrust trials, trying the case was intellectually stimulating,” Levine says. “Personally, I enjoy trying to take very complex ideas and facts and summarize them for a lay jury in a way that will resonate with them.”

The rulings in both cases involving Rose Acre Farms have been appealed, King says—the initial class action will be argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for Third Circuit sometime in the spring. An appeal for the most recent ruling will be argued probably around the end of this year or early 2021. King says he would expect a decision before the end of the year on the class action case, and that Porter Wright will continue to represent Rose Acre Farms.

Levine says the outcome could quite possibly have an impact on future antitrust or agricultural cases.

“Most antitrust defendants assume that a jury’s natural inclination will be to believe that something happened and therefore shy away from going to trial,” Levine says. “This case shows that whether or not that assumption is correct, antitrust defendants can demonstrate that ‘nothing happened.’ And agricultural producers can take heart that their activities with their cooperatives will not necessarily expose them to antitrust liability.

“So, while every case and every defendant is different, this could help tip the scales when an antitrust defendant is considering between settling and going to trial.”

Lin Rice is a freelance writer.

56 ColumbusCEO l March 2020

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Special Advertising Section

Cybersecurity

Roundtable Photography by Rob Hardin

Threats facing businesses right now

How executives should prepare

What’s next?

March 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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I

Special Advertising Section

t seems almost commonplace to read news stories about companies and governmental bodies suffering from a data breach or getting hacked for ransom. As more commerce and information moves online, cybersecurity gains a growing importance for executives leading enterprises of any size.

Columbus CEO discussed key issues involving cybersecurity with representatives from Affiliated Resource Group, Blue & Co., Grange Insurance and Horizon Telecom, which hosted the roundtable at its Columbus offices on Jan. 16.

Here is an edited and condensed version of that conversation. Transcript provided by PRI Court Reporting.

Ray Paprocki (Columbus CEO): What are the most common cybersecurity threats that businesses need to be aware of today?

Timothy Cunningham (Grange):

From my experience at Grange most recently, phishing seems to be the highest threat. It’s characterized by low effort and high value and usually to take advantage of gaining credentials for monetary gain.

That’s followed by the introduction of malware.

Third would be the misconfiguration of cloud assets. So protecting assets in the cloud, which in many cases is new to a variety of organizations.

And then, finally, I think a low risk that is sometimes unnoticed and not frequently reported is vulnerabilities in third-party service providers, where the standards and controls and risk practices that you have internally you assume that your third-party service provider is operating at least at that level, but you oftentimes find that they’re not for a number of reasons.

Tom Skoog (Blue & Co.): I think one

of the other threats that companies are really starting to face now is as the Internet of Things really starts to explode, it takes your network from, let’s call it, three or four access points from the outside and makes three or four thousand access points from the outside. We see this a lot in health care, with medical devices getting put on the network, and they are notoriously full of bugs, security bugs.

Craig Drinkhall (Horizon Telecom):

Another thing we haven’t talked about is things that are sometimes as troublesome but maybe not as direct, something like a denial of service, where they’re not actually stealing something or getting bad info, but through that mischief you can take all the systems offline by creating problems, which is

“Security has got to become part of your DNA.” Michael Moran, Affiliated

just as good as them not being there.

So that becomes a big problem, too.

CEO: What are some of the fundamental things that businesses should be thinking about on these topics?

Michael Moran (Affiliated Resource): In smaller companies, the

executives are focused on driving the business and doing what they do because everybody has to wear multiple hats. Not that you don’t necessarily have to do that in a larger company.

But the challenge really is to get the executives to pause and really think about what’s important to them, get them to do that governance step of what’s important to us, what are we trying to protect.

And then once you’re doing it, what are the threats to the business? It’s getting them to think about that so that you can start looking at it and then getting something like a threat assessment, understanding where are we.

Because if you don’t really know, you can’t do it.

The idea of user awareness—usersecurity awareness training—is so important. And I can’t tell you how many people just look at you kind of like, yeah, we did that once a year.

That’s not going to do anything.

Security has got to become part of your DNA. And I think it starts with the leaders really thinking about that.

Skoog (Blue & Co.): If they got

Resource Group

P a r t i c i p a n t s

Tom Skoog Principal and IT risk and advisory practice leader, Blue & Co.

Craig Drinkhall Director of products and sales engineering, Horizon Telecom

Glenn Lytle Chief revenue officer, Horizon Telecom

Timothy Cunningham Chief information officer, Grange Insurance

Michael Moran Co-founder and president, Affiliated Resource Group

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Special Advertising Section

religion about patching, if they got religion about things like using stronger passwords, that doesn’t cost anything.

Patching doesn’t cost anything.

Then testing the effectiveness of that training through internal phishing campaigns that you can launch against your own company and see who needs extra training because they continually are the ones that are clicking on an email that they shouldn’t have clicked on.

Drinkhall (Horizon Telecom): I would say one generic description would be to always think of security as one of the first things that you do.

We hear that all the time. But many times it’s not done.

When you say I’m going to build this new application or I’ve got these new devices, it’s going to make our business—our core business—run a lot better, and you get so enamored with that that you don’t start to think about security until maybe a bad incident happens or maybe later in the game.

If you can build that security and think of it up front, usually it’s less expensive to do, and it probably avoids a lot more problems.

Cunningham (Grange): When you think about, it’s more likely a matter of when you get compromised in some fashion, not if. So then how have you protected or limited your blast zone of exposure?

Once you get in the front door, does it give you access to traverse through the whole network? You segment things and you partition it off. You then have to make sure that you limit the damage control area, and that’s really important.

You want to be a little bit stronger than the competitor, ideally. You don’t have to be the fastest runner in the woods when the bear is after you; you just don’t want to be the slowest. Because the easy targets are going to be taken advantage of.

CEO: How do you get executives on board because so much is at risk?

Moran (Affiliated Resource): There were two senior partners in CPA firms, and we were talking about this, and I

Affiliated Resource Group is a technology advisory firm that provides cybersecurity compliance and IT support services for small- and mid-market companies.

Aresgrp.com Blue & Co. is a regional accounting firm with 10 offices in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky that focuses on health care, manufacturing, construction and nonprofits, as well as offering audit, tax, financial consulting and IT risk and security services.

Blueandco.com Grange Insurance is a regional insurance company based in Columbus that offers auto, home, life and business products to customers in 13 states.

Grangeinsurance.com Horizon Telecom is a fiberbased broadband carrier based in Chillicothe (with a Columbus office) that serves seven states.

Horizonconnects.com

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they start paying attention.

Glenn Lytle (Horizon Telecom):

I would even add that the total cost of ownership goes beyond the lost revenue. I think that there’s a long-term impact when you look at the brand and what’s associated with what just happened.

asked, what’s it going to cost if you had a data breach at your organizations and you were attacked with ransomware?

And both of them just shuddered and said, it’s going to be ridiculously expensive. I said, well, how do you feel about your preparations as an organization and where you are today? They said, we both recognize that we’re not where we need to be. I said, why is that? They both said, until you have an incident, you don’t know exactly how much you should be spending or what you should be doing until you get it. It really was an issue of awareness.

Part of it is helping them sit down in a room and recognize what their value is. We’ve done this for years—helped people with a disaster recovery planning process where you go through and you ask them what’s important, what’s of value to the business.

When you sit there and have that conversation with an executive and then you talk about the results from different surveys and things that say the average organization could be down for three days or longer, a small business, when they get hit with ransomware, you’re looking at real dollars, and then

Moran (Affiliated Resource): So you’re a professional services firm and you can’t file a claim or you can’t file a motion for your most important client.

What does that cost you? Because in a legal field everything is done electronically today. You’re an engineering firm and you can’t turn in an RFP electronically that’s worth a half million or more dollars. You’re a medical practice and

“If you can build that security and think of it up front, usually it’s less expensive to do.”

Craig Drinkhall, Horizon Telecom

3 Critical Questions Every Company Executive Should Ask About Your IT Systems…Today Are our IT systems at risk of a cyber-attack, natural disaster, or meltdown?

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Special Advertising Section

you can’t see patients for one, two or three days, what happens?

Skoog (Blue & Co.): We’ve had three

of our clients that have been impacted by ransomware. One of them was fairly public in the press. And they paid right away. But as I visit with CIOs at critical access hospitals or community hospitals, I’m still astonished at the lack of effort and the lack of focus that cybersecurity is getting in hospitals.

The HIPAA rules are very strict on how there are 34 or so specific things that hospitals need to do. And we ask about things like training in internal phishing, which is very affordable, you know, a couple thousand bucks a year to get a license to do that. I asked one CIO about doing that, and he said, our management said we just can’t afford that.

Cunningham (Grange): They can’t

afford not to do it.

Skoog (Blue & Co.): I’m kind of

surprised at how many companies are still thinking that, well, this just isn’t going to happen to me, even though

hospitals received 90 percent of the ransomware attacks in the United States in 2017.

Lytle (Horizon Telecom): I think it’s

really how you position it. It’s really not going upstream and saying, what if the event happens? It’s more when the event happens. Because I think they say it’s not going to happen to me. My answer to that is always: Hope is not a strategy. If you approach it as we need to be prepared for when we have this type of an event, you’re a lot more prepared.

Cunningham (Grange): We do exercises at the executive level to say let’s run through our crisis-management plan because you have to communicate to your customers and future customers of how you handle that situation.

And we’ve seen all the examples— there’s a litany of them—where that has gone poorly in the lack of timely communication and lack of timely notification.

Then the aspect of the regulatory landscape continues to change, the new laws that are trickling down to all sizes

of industries. It’s the essence of your personal identity and, in the digital age, how important that is to that individual to protect it for their lifetime.

Regardless of the service provider, they have the same responsibility to protect that to the highest level that you’d want to protect it for yourself.

Anyone that’s not doing that, I think is going to be self-selected out. They’re not going to be able to be compliant and they will go out of business.

Drinkhall (Horizon Telecom): Especially with an incident. There’s some kind of large percentage of people after a certain number of days who actually don’t recover and the business can just fold.

CEO: So a lot of things have been addressed, but then we’ve always got to prepare for what’s coming next. So what’s coming next?

Cunningham (Grange): The pace at which attacks are occurring is just con-

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tinuing to increase. It’s less brute force and more the use of sophisticated tools and analytics. It’s kind of like an arms race. And thinking that you can win the battle just by throwing people at it is not likely going to be a long-term successful strategy.

I do think that we’re at a point where we’ll have to continue to invest in preventative controls. The greatest vulnerability continues to be human oversight or mistakes. So even though you may have gotten everything configured right, if someone makes a bad decision, you have to have your other aspects to limit the blast zone, recover from it, get out there and prepare for how you would respond and make sure that you’re in a good position. But it’s going to continue to be a threat profile that gets more complex, more sophisticated versus easier.

Moran (Affiliated Resource): The

emails, the phishing is going to become significantly more personalized and more risky. I think that—once they get in—they’re potentially in your systems for months. People are going to start dropping bombs where they’re

Drinkhall (Horizon Telecom): I think the one thing that worries us, something that we’re going to be seeing in the future, is that people are moving more things to the internet. That’s accelerating. The internet is becoming the more risky place to do business.

And two things really accelerating are 5G technology and then this Internet of Things is going to explode.

And those two kind of vulnerable areas . . . again, going back to being enamored with the business benefit. I can make all this work. Isn’t this great.

But if you haven’t built that security it’s just going to multiply. Instead of like three or four places you’re worrying about, it could be thousands of places.

So we’ll see that happen in those two technologies.

doing things today. You clean it up, but you don’t necessarily clean it all up, and it’s there again and again.

Skoog (Blue & Co.): I think in the

future the middle market and below are going to become even more of a target. Because above that Mendoza line they’re able to invest more in preventative measures and detection mechanisms. The bad guys are going to realize there’s easier fish to catch so let’s start focusing. There may not be as many assets to monetize, but we can hit 10 companies in the same amount of time it takes us to try and hit this one company, and it’s going to be a lot easier and we’re going to be successful 10 times.

I think in the future, medium and small businesses have got to frankly wake up and realize, one, they have assets that are monetizable, they are targets of these guys. If they don’t have assets that are monetizable, then their business itself is, through a ransomware attack. And they have to start doing a number of the same things that bigger companies are doing to thwart these attacks.

I think it’s a continual chess match.

CEO: Is there anything that we haven’t covered that you’d like to add?

90 YEARS SOLVING

Drinkhall (Horizon Telecom): Mission accomplished if we convinced the business owner to be more aware.

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CENTRAL OHIO ONLINE DEGREE PROGRAMS Ranked by fall 2019 Central Ohio undergraduate enrollment

INSTITUTION 1 Columbus State

Community College 550 E. Spring St., Columbus 43215 614-287-5353 • cscc.edu

Undergraduate

Undergraduate

Full-Time

Graduate

Graduate

Part-Time

11,306

12,183

232

online faculty members

na

312

2,490

88,524

4,287

1,080

32,924

na

1,713

3,196

49

702

1,324

407

University

700

1,761

50

1476 Lancaster Pike, Circleville 43113 877-762-8669 • ohiochristian.edu

232

410

234

446

15

3

308

60

81

University

249

75

31

1216 Sunbury Road, Columbus 43219 614-251-4500 • ohiodominican.edu

178

267

31

197

227

230

600

764

49

104

130

12

14

18

9

96

5,560

81

4,297

600 Total

13

561

407

104

1,468

318

325 McConnell Blvd., Suite 375 Columbus 43215 • 866-903-0108 ohio.wgu.edu

3 Franklin University 201 S. Grant Ave., Columbus 43215 614-797-4700 franklin.edu

4 Ohio Christian

logy

FALL 2019 TOTAL ONLINE ENROLLMENT

na

2 WGU Ohio

S

Fall 2019 central Ohio Online Enrollment

5 Mount Vernon Nazarene University

800 Martinsburg Road Mount Vernon 43050 740-397-9000 • mvnu.edu/gps

6 Ohio Dominican

7 Ohio State University 281 W. Lane Ave., Student Academic Services Bldg., Columbus 43210 614-292-6446 • online.osu.edu

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127 S. Davis Ave., Columbus 43222 614-234-5800 • mccn.edu

9 Indiana Wesleyan University 3455 Mill Run Drive, Suite 550 Hilliard 43026 • 614-529-7550 iwueducation.com

10 Kent State University 800 E. Summit St., Kent 44240 330-672-3000 kent.edu

wnd = would not disclose, pch = per credit hour, na = not applicable, nav = not available, HLC = Higher Learning Commission, CCNE = Commission on Collegiate Nursing ,IACBE = International Accreditation Council for Business Education, UG = undergraduate, G = graduate, D=doctorate Source: Survey of Online Degree Programs. Information compiled by heather barr Information included in this survey was provided by institutions listed and was not independently verified.

066-067_Leaderboard_OnlineDegree.indd 67

Studenttofaculty ratio

Annual tuition

15:1

$4,738

28:1

$6,450 (UG), $7,980 (G)

ACCREDITATION

11:1

$398 pch (UG), $670 pch (G), $748 pch (D)

14:1

$250-$530 per credit hour

FIRST YEAR university ACCREDITED

Higher Learning Commission

1973 Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities

2001 HLC, IACBE, CCNE, CAHIIM

1976 HLC, Association for Biblical Higher Education, Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, Ohio Department of Higher Education

DEGREES GRANTED Associate, Certificate

Bachelor’s, master’s, certificate

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, certificate

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s

1976

10:1

$6,360-$11,952

13:1

$31,100 (UG) $9,684$10,800 (G)

nav

$424.88 pch (UG), $722.50 pch (G)

6:1

varies

ACBSP, CAEP, CCNE, CSWE 1993 Higher Learning Commission

1934 Higher Learning Commission

1913 Higher Learning Commission, Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education

1995

15:1

$299 pch-$595 pch

19:1

$10,700$12,200 (UG) $8,000$15,300 (G)

Higher Learning Commission

1966 Higher Learning Commission

1915

Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, certificate Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, certificate Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, certificate Bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, certificate Associate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate, Certificate Associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctorate, certificate

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March 2020 l ColumbusCEO

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1,500 1,000 1,500

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✓

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✓

3900 Chagrin Drive, Columbus 43219 614-414-5000 hiltoncolumbus.com

1,500 850 1,200

wnd

wnd

24%

$10, $20 valet

405 Neil Ave., Columbus 43215 614-461-5483 promowestlive.com

1,500 450 1,000

na

$7,000$17,000

20%

$5

Stage, lights, sound, dressing rooms, catering room, conference room

1,069 1,069 1,100

$21

$200

20%

na

Simple, elegant décor with updated sound and audiovisual capabilities

✓

✓

na

20,000 square feet of meeting/banquet space, restaurant, bar, fitness center, business center, pools

✓

✓

na

Free parking, free Wi-Fi, shuttle service, executive level rooms, exclusive executive lounge

✓

na

Open-air event space, free W-Fi, catering on-site, mascot appearances, ballpark tours, field access.

✓

at Easton

6 Express Live

7 Villa Milano 1630 Schrock Road, Columbus 43229 614-882-2058 villamilano.com

8 Crowne Plaza Columbus North-Worthington

6500 Doubletree Ave. Columbus 43229 • 614-885-1885 crowneplaza.com/columbusnorth

9 Hilton Columbus/ Polaris

8700 Lyra Drive, Columbus 43240 614-885-1600 columbuspolaris.hilton.com

10 Huntington Park

330 Huntington Park Lane Columbus 43215 • 614-462-5250 clippersbaseball.com

1,000 630 1,000

$35

varies

1,000 600 1,000

$500$45-$55 $10,000

1,000 300 5,000

$200$3,000

$28

23%

23%

18%

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The June Leaderboards will feature Central Ohio banks/savings and loans and temporary employment agencies. The deadline for inclusion in those surveys is March 23. If you want your Central Ohio company to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Columbus CEO at ksmith@columbusCEO.com.

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

068-070_Leaderboard_Meeting.indd 69

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

na = not applicable Source: Survey of meeting and banquet facilities Compiled by: Heather Barr

March 2020 2019 l ColumbusCEO

69

2/11/20 2:19 PM

CENTRAL OHIO MEETING AND BANQUET FACILITIES Ranked by reception capacity and for ties, by banquet capacity

Maximum Capacity

Facility 11 Exchange

Reception Banquet Theater

AVERAGE DINNER PRICE

ROOM RENTAL CHARGE

STANDARD GRATUITY

CATERER ON PREMISES

OFFLICENSED PREMISES TO CATERER SERVE PERMITTED ALCOHOL

PARKING FEE

AMENITIES

✓

✓

700 500 700

$45

$500

varies

na

Open event space, hardwood floors, raw stone details, views of historic downtown Dublin and Scioto River, AV capabilities

100 Green Meadows Drive South Lewis Center 43035 • 614-880-4300 nwhotelandconferencecenter.com

600 432 600

$40

Up to $4,000

23%

na

Pools, exercise room and studio, pub

✓

✓

333 W. Broad St., Columbus 43215 614-629-3136 cosi.org/host-event

500 600 700

$6

Family restrooms with changing tables, sensory-friendly room, accessible rooms and exhibits

✓

✓

at Bridge Park

6520 Riverside Drive, Dublin 43017 614-793-2263 cameronmitchellpremierevents.com

12 Nationwide Hotel and Conference Center

13 COSI

14 Bryn Du Fieldhouse

537 Jones Road, Granville 43023 740-587-7053 bryndu.com

15 Fawcett Event Center 2400 Olentangy River Road Columbus 43210 614-292-1342 fawcettcenter.com

16 Franklin Park

Conservatory & Botanical Garden

1777 E. Broad St., Columbus 43203 614-715-8100 • fpconservatory.org

17 Conference Center at OCLC

6600 Kilgour Place, Dublin 43017 614-761-5077 conference-center.oclc.org

18 L.A. Catering

670 Harmon Ave., Columbus 43223 614-358-5252 la-catering.com

19 Columbus Zoo and Aquarium

4850 W. Powell Road, Powell 43065 614-724-3785 columbuszoo.com

20 Wexner Center

for the Arts Performance Space 1871 N. High St., Columbus 43210 614-292-6500 • wexarts.org

na

varies

na

na

Several buildings, lawns, patios and gardens, choose your own caterer and bring in your own alcohol.

500 300 496

varies

$275$2,500

20%

na

Adjacent patios, free Wi-Fi, wedding packages

✓

500 250 250

varies

varies

na

na

Tables and chairs, security, self-guided tours

✓

450 200 300

$40

$250$900

22%

na

All A/V included in room rental, free Wi-Fi and dedicated tech support

✓

✓

430 430 600

$20

$30$250 / hour

na

na

Audiovisual, tables and chairs, house linens.

✓

✓

375 400 500

$40

$300$4,000

21%

up to $10

Views of African Savanna and Scioto River, bridal suites.

✓

✓

varies

$1,000$2,000

350 150 250

Source: Survey of meeting and banquet facilities Compiled by: Heather Barr

068-070_Leaderboard_Meeting.indd 70

21%

500 400 700

na = not applicable

70 ColumbusCEO l March 2019

$500$30-$50 $12,000

na

$5-$15

Black box performing arts space can be set up for performances, banquets, theater, jazzcabaret.

✓ ✓ ✓

✓

✓

✓

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The June Leaderboards will feature Central Ohio banks/savings and loans and temporary employment agencies. The deadline for inclusion in those surveys is March 23. If you want your Central Ohio company to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Columbus CEO at ksmith@columbusCEO.com.

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

2/11/20 2:19 PM

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

MICHAEL SAUNDERS & COMPANY

SORRELL AND COMPANY

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

Ben Goodman (614) 537-4867 ben@ sorrellandco.com

MUIRFIELD CUSTOM REBUILT HOME (2006) on the 17th green of the Muirfield Village championship course! Big, bright open concept kitchen that overlooks the stunning great room with walls of windows & doors that open to the 17th green. Lg Owner’s suite with walk-in closets & spacious bath. Finished bsmt and 3 car garage. $624,900

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.

VIP REALTY

VIP REALTY

Greg Skinner (614) 537-1994 Greg@soldby gregskinner.com

Greg Skinner (614) 537-1994 Greg@soldby gregskinner.com

1434 CLUB VIEW DR - Luxury condo located on the 18th hole of the prestigious Pinnacle Golf Course. Stunning open concept floor plan. Captivating Master offers lg walk in closet, luxe bath & private office overlooking the course. Great room shows off custom upgraded fireplace. Open kitchen w/ SS appls, granite, eat in bar. $569,900

7512 VERN PLACE - First flr master w/ luxe bath, soaking tub, dual sinks, lg walk in closet. Chefs dream granite & stainless kitchen looks out into the eating area, as well as the soaring great room.

Great room w/ floor to ceiling custom frplc, just steps into your own private oasis w/ inground pool, patio/entertaining areas. $739,900

COLDWELL BANKER KING THOMPSON

COLDWELL BANKER KING THOMPSON

Neil Mathias (614) 580-1662 neil@neilmathias.com

Neil Mathias (614) 580-1662 neil@neilmathias.com

DEER RUN - A limited number of building lots available in this exclusive private gated community. Deer Run is a secluded, private lush wilderness in the heart of Dublin. Bring your own builder and design your dream home in one of the last centrally located communities in the city of Dublin. Acreage from 2-3+ Acres and Pricing starting at $825,000/lot. www.deerrunoh.com

11314 WINTERBERRY - This stunning 5BR 4.1 bath home is full of natural light that pours in through the many windows. 10’ ceilings & dark hdwd flrs lead you through the open floor plan & into the white chef’s kitchen w/beautiful quartz counters, lg island, SS appls & walkin pantry. $885,000. www.11314winterberrydrive.com

COLDWELL BANKER KING THOMPSON

COLDWELL BANKER KING THOMPSON

Neil Mathias (614) 580-1662 neil@neilmathias.com

Neil Mathias (614) 580-1662 neil@neilmathias.com

8625 DUNBLANE COURT - Located on the Muirfield Tournament Course.

This ranch with walk-out LL boasts sweeping views of the nearly ¾ acre lot and no. 2 green. Updated w/ newer carpet, fresh paint, large master & professional kitchen. Newer roof, 3 car garage, 2nd kitchen in LL are all added bonuses not often found at this price point. $975,000 www.8625dunblanect.com

071_ExLiv.indd 71

8866 VENTURA WAY - This Corazon home is full of custom unique features with breathtaking views of the the lake from every room & well over 5000+ sq ft. Rich walnut hardwoods lead you into the great room w/fireplace. LL w/ theater, exercise & MIL.$1,395,000. www.8866venturaway.com

2/12/20 11:59 AM

Office Space By laura newpoff + Photos by Rob Hardin

Adept 555 Edgar Waldo Way Columbus 43215 adeptmarketing.com

The fourth-floor space in the new Reach on Goodale combines open office with places to create in peace.

Huddle rooms

Remote client meetings can be held in them, or the marketing agency’s employees can get some solo space.

Side by side

Founders Danielle Walton and Justin Spring work in a shared office in the new space, which is 10,000 square feet on the fourth floor of the new White Castle System Inc. headquarters building. The space was furnished by Dupler Office and Canton-based Laura of Pembroke, with design led by Walton.

Quotable

Inspirational messages, such as “From there to here, and here to there, opportunity is everywhere,” adorn walls.

City views

The large conference room has space for 20 people and 360-degree cameras for video conferencing.

Room for more

The company’s 35 employees moved in January from space on Grandview Avenue. It now has enough room to double.

Social hub Focus time

This space is designed for heads-down work in a closed environment where there’s also a nursing chair.

Where the team spends its energy on fun, not focus.

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

72 ColumbusCEO l March 2020

072_OfficeSpace.indd 72

2/11/20 2:25 PM

AT THE HEART OF COLUMBUS In a city pulsing with commerce and culture, Barnes & Thornburg is at the center of it all, providing sophisticated legal services at an uncommon value.

Uncommon Value

ATLANTA CALIFORNIA CHICAGO DELAWARE INDIANA MICHIGAN MINNEAPOLIS OHIO TEXAS WASHINGTON, D.C. btlaw.com

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2/11/20 2:26 PM

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center congratulates

Darrell Gray, II, MD, MPH

Rebecca Jackson, MD

Medical Director, Endoscopy and Gastroenterology Services, Ohio State East Hospital

Associate Dean for Clinical Research, Ohio State College of Medicine

Deputy Director, Center for Cancer Health Equity, OSUCCC-The James Cancer Hospital

Director, The Ohio State University Center for Clinical and Translational Science

Practitioner of the Year

Dan Like, MHA Executive Director, Ambulatory Services The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Executive of the Year Finalist

Healthcare Trailblazer

and all 2020 Healthcare Achievement Award winners!

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2/11/20 2:26 PM