Columbus CEO – October 2021 issue by The Columbus Dispatch/Dispatch Magazines

Legal Guide

Our annual directory of Columbus law firms.

All for mom

Phyllis Ann’s children surprised her — with a business based on her recipes.

Page 57

Page 12

COVID-tested

Tim Robinson steers Children’s transformation. Page 6

October 2021

An epidemic of no-shows is plaguing hiring managers. Employers set up interviews, even hire candidates ... and never hear from them again. Page 18

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Contents

Profile

Covidtested Tim Robinson is leading Nationwide Children’s Hospital through transformation.

Departments 03 Editor’s Note Step up, get the shot.

77 Leaderboards Columbus region womenowned businesses and private schools.

80 Office Space: ZoCo Design A surprising new use for an old restaurant space.

October 2021

Cover design by

Tim Robinson Photo Rob Hardin

YOGESH CHAUDHARY Cover illustration by Getty Images

October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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Photo Steve Helber/AP

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

ColumbusCEO.com

VOLUME 30 / NUMBER 10

No-show nation

Columbus Site Manager

Alan D. Miller Publisher/General Manager

Ray Paprocki

CONTRIBUTING EDITORs

Businesses with job openings increasingly find themselves being “ghosted” by candidates who just don’t show up for interviews or even the first day of work. Plus, restaurant hiring in particular remains dicey.

Jeff Bell, Linda Deitch

Page 18

EDITOR

Katy Smith associate eDITOR

Jess Deyo

D es i g n & P ro duct ion

PRODUCTION/DESIGN DIRECTOR

Craig Rusnak ART DIRECTOR

Yogesh Chaudhary Digita l

EDITOR

Julanne Hohbach ASSISTANT DIGITAL EDITOR

Jack Long

Insider

05 Breakdown Tracking COVID in Ohio.

10 Tech Talk 11 Briefing

Tim Johnson

FCBank’s Jenny Saunders is out to make banking more accessible.

Associate photo editor

Rob Hardin A dvert ising

Vice President of Sales

Eugene Jackson Senior Multimedia Sales Executive

Tia Hardman, Jackie Thiam CLASSIFIED SALES

Amy Vidrick Production designer

Rebecca Zimmer M arke t ing

MARKETING MANAGER

Lauren Reinhard PRESS RELEASES

pressreleases@columbusceo.com ADVERTISING

advertise@columbusceo.com Columbus CEO (ISSN 1085-911X) is published monthly by Gannett. All contents of this magazine are copyrighted © Gannett Co., Inc. 2021, all rights reserved. Reproduction or use, without written permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. Publisher assumes no responsibility for return of unsolicited materials. Known address of publication is 62 E. Broad St., Columbus, Ohio 43215. Periodicals postage paid at Columbus, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Columbus CEO, PO Box 460160 Escondido CA 92046

SUBSCRIPTIONS

760-237-8505 columbusceo@pcspublink.com

001-002_Contents.indd 2

Chris Conway’s mission is to help regular folks become IT pros.

Ph otog raphy

PHOTO EDITOR

Photo Rob Hardin

12 Spotlight: Small Business A family-run startup helps home cooks make dishes just like Phyllis Ann Carter has created for decades.

14 Spotlight: Nonprofit A Columbus agency hopes to rebound after four years of anti-immigration policies from the White House.

Photo Joshua A. Bickel

E d ito r ia l

16 Spotlight: Innovation With support from some big-time investors, Color Coded Labs works to help minority workers start on a technology career path.

16 Special ad section

In-Depth

57 Columbus Legal Guide Our annual directory of law firms.

72 Health Watch Delta variant has changed the COVID-19 landscape – and not for the better.

A region advances as strength gathers around technology and biotech. Inserted after page 24

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Editor’s Notes * ksmith@ColumbusCEO.com Photo John Locher/AP

The COVID vaccine is widely available and free.

Who is going to lead us out of this mess?

et the vaccine. It’s the same message medical professionals have been telegraphing since the shot became available last December. With 49 percent of Ohioans fully vaccinated — 53 percent in Franklin County — we probably have a long way to go in reaching so-called herd immunity, a level that varies by disease. Herd immunity for measles, for example, is estimated by World Health Organization epidemiologists at 95 percent of the population fully vaccinated. Polio is 80 percent — and the level for COVID-19 is unknown. With its unpredictable symptoms and somewhat mysterious longterm effects, the viral infection that had killed 21,154 Ohioans as of Sept. 11 is unlike anything healthcare professionals have ever seen. So it makes sense our economy, too, is behaving in ways we have never seen. A recession that came, like the virus, seemingly overnight. A long-lasting labor shortage and supply chain issues you wouldn’t wish on your top competitor.

While some companies have failed, particularly in the battered hospitality sector, others have thrived through the shift to work-from-home. Talent, especially tech talent, can be hired from across the country. But for establishments whose business models depend on in-person workers and customers, the lack of job candidates has led to closures, service cutbacks and a lot of pain. This month’s cover story by Dispatch business writers Mark Williams and Patrick Cooley goes in-depth on what employers are seeing — or not seeing, I should say. Job candidates, scarce to begin with, are agreeing to interviews, even accepting job offers, and then employers never hear from them again. It’s difficult not to see the irony in this situation, which follows years of employers routinely ghosting job candidates after interviews. This hiring shortage comes in addition to a wave of people quitting their jobs across the country, to remake their careers, start businesses, make side gigs their main gigs, care for children and sick family mem-

bers and a host of other reasons. What’s behind it all? Are workers fed up and choosing to leave jobs where the hours are bad, the pay is low, benefits are nonexistent and the work itself is unfulfilling? Are this many people able to survive on the expanded unemployment benefits that came with the coronavirus, which are meager by most standards? The questions — and the assumptions — are fast, while access to real data is slow. Amid a renewed mask mandate in Columbus and alarms being sounded by the state’s hospital systems that the situation is dire, our state legislature has removed the ability of Ohio officials to use health orders like the ones we saw in March 2020 to protect the public. And the vast majority of employers have not made vaccination or regular COVID testing a requirement for their work forces. Without some action, this health crisis will not come under control. That is what our health experts tell us. Who among our leaders will take it? I wondered that for months. In September, I got an answer. President Joe Biden’s vaccine-orweekly test mandate for companies with 100 or more employees could be the way we get out of this pandemic, which still feels to me a bit like an alternate reality, like we got thrown through a wormhole. It’s early, I’m thinking to myself as I write this not even midway through September. Biden’s rules will be challenged, to be sure. They might mutate as many times as the virus itself before they can be implemented. To be sure, the path out of this mess isn’t quite clear, save for one thing: Get the vaccine.

Katy Smith, Editor October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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Building Better Businesses Series: Supporting the Community

About BBB Building a better business starts with trust. When businesses work with us to build trust inside their organization, they develop a strong and lasting reputation that our entire community recognizes. Building a Better Business Series We believe that better businesses have the opportunity to impact people and communities positively. This series celebrates the teams that earned a BBB Torch Award. By putting intentional focus on character, culture, community and customers, they reach their goal to be a better business.

Innovation Creates Community Change What are some ways you encourage and empower your employees to give back to the community?

listen, no excuses, drive positive energy, and seek knowledge. By upholding these tenets, we empower staff to do what is right by our customers and ultimately become more than a

We are committed to supporting more than 160

bank but a friend in the community.

organizations and donate more than $200,000 to them, many times through sponsorships and donations to support events in our community.

How did the spirit of innovation help your organization give back?

Before COVID, we participated in more than one hundred events a year, producing more than

We have always been focused on how we can

sixteen ourselves. We also support a ten-year,

give back to our community intentionally and

one million dollar donation project to create

innovatively, so we reinvented lobby space with

senior assisted housing in our Central Ohio

purpose by creating Richwood Coffee. We don’t

footprint.

sell the lattes, mochas, and snowbanks in our

When staffing permits, we encourage staff to

thank you for donations made to our coffee shop

volunteer for events during the workday. If our

beneficiaries. One hundred percent of all the

coffee shops, however; we give them away as a Chad Hoffman, CEO

Richwood Bank

(The Richwood Banking Company)

staff volunteers for events after hours we match

money raised goes directly to the nonprofits we

their time donated hour-for-hour with PTO as

have identified in our community, and the more

a thank you for giving back to our community.

patrons give, the more drink credits they receive

We also encourage our employees to serve on

on a reloadable card.

boards if they are able and we have Richwood Bank employee representation on more than sixty-five boards or committees.

BBB Accredited Since 2010 2020 Torch Award Recipient: Community

We also have a dedicated training team that we call Richwood U that focuses on financial literacy, small business support, and internal processes

How have your internal practices translated into supporting your community?

and extend their expertise to our communities. We host several events annually for customers that include financial literacy classes and support for small businesses.

We have an acronym that embodies the ethics that we as a company hold ourselves accountable to, and it is DIAMONDS: do the right thing, innovate, always celebrate successes, make a difference, over-communicate and

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Breakdown Compiled by katy smith + Infographic by Yogesh Chaudhary

ses Source: Ohio Department of Health

y ess.

After plummeting in the months following the rollout of vaccines, daily cases of COVID-19 infection began to climb in Ohio again over the summer as mainly unvaccinated people contracted the highly contagious delta variant. As of Sept. 11, case levels in Franklin County were roughly where they were in January and higher than at any point last summer during the first wave. Franklin County leads the state in total case numbers and is the most-vaccinated major metropolitan county. (Neighboring Delaware County leads the state in the percent of residents fully vaccinated, with 63 percent.)

ith

hop

eive

acy,

Franklin County

Hamilton County

COVID spike

on’t

ore

Cuyahoga County

Franklin County

Cuyahoga County

Hamilton County

(Jan. 1, 2020-Sept. 11, 2021)

Total COVID-19 cases reported:

145,214

128,905

93,002

Hospitalizations:

4,208

7,765

3,591

Deaths

1,533

2,304

1,305

Fully vaccinated

53%

49%

port

October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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profile By Kathy Lynn Gray + Photo by Rob Hardin

Tim Robinson CEO

Nationwide Children’s Hospital Age: 63 In position since: July 2019 Previous: Chief financial officer, executive vice president, chief administrative officer, Nationwide Children’s; assistant treasurer, Nationwide Children’s; treasurer of shoe retailer Kobacker Co. Education: Bachelor’s degrees in psychology

and business administration from Indiana University Bloomington; certified cash manager, IU

Resides: Grandview Heights Family: Tim and wife Jane have three children, Lauren, Andrea and Jordan

COVID-tested Nationwide Children’s Hospital has a leader with expansive vision in Tim Robinson. And his steadiness has kept the hospital on target during an incredibly challenging past two years.

im Robinson had a huge legacy to live up to when he became Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s chief executive officer. He was following the beloved and well-respected Dr. Steve Allen, who retired in June 2019 after 13 years of explosive hospital growth that had positioned the facility as a national leader in pediatric health. As the hospital’s chief financial officer, Robinson was a key member of

Allen’s team and one of the expansion’s architects. But he wasn’t a physician, and many members of the search committee for Allen’s replacement were convinced that only a physician could fill Allen’s shoes. A nationwide search unearthed compelling candidates, some physicians and some not. And yet the committee and the hospital board selected Robinson, an accountant with deep knowledge and experience from 24 years in the hospital’s top tier of leadership. “It was so natural for the next leader to be Tim,” explains Dr. Mark Galantowicz, chief of cardiothoracic surgery, co-director of the Heart Center at Nationwide Children’s and a search-committee member. “I had zero concern about him not being a physician, because he’s been such a catalyst for so many of the elements of the hospital’s growth. He got the job because of the historical respect he’s continued to build in this institution.” Robinson, 63, had climbed the hospital ladder quickly, transitioning from 13 years with national shoe retailer Kobacker Co. to become an assistant treasurer at Nationwide Children’s in 1995. Two years later, he was promoted to senior vice president and chief financial officer and in 2008, he became executive vice president and chief financial and administrative officer, which included overseeing information technology, community relations and international affairs. One of his achievements has been to maintain an Aa2 bond rating for the hospital—the highest mark of financial performance—since 2001. “He’s been right in the middle of healthcare for a really long time, and he was a person who met all the criteria: being an innovator, being a change manager and being able to lead the hospital’s culture,” said search committee chair Alex Fischer at the time. Fischer, CEO of the Columbus Partnership and chairman of the hospital board, described Robinson as a humble consensus builder who clearly fit in

Tim Robinson with Nationwide Children’s “team sport” leadership tradition. Robinson took over as CEO on July 1, 2019. Just seven months later, news of the impending pandemic began circulating and hospitals, researchers and healthcare providers faced one of the most challenging times of their existence. Then, months into the pandemic, the nation—and the hospital system—faced a second crisis: the racial reckoning spurred by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in the summer of 2020. “It’s been a challenging time for sure, but always at the center we were trying to keep our patients and their families and our staff

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safe,” says Robinson. Perhaps the CEO’s biggest strength during these times has been his steadiness. “Tim Robinson has been a compelling leader, leading with great insight and boldness through two of the most substantial issues of our time: COVID and racism,” says Dr. John Barnard, president of the hospital’s Abigail Wexner Research Institute. “He’s led with great acumen, and I’ve only escalated my view of him these past two years.” Among the hospital’s pandemic efforts: A COVID-19 hotline answered more than 100,000 calls; telehealth visits that skyrocketed to more than 360,000 from March 2020 to March

2021; virtual meetings that grew from 40 in February 2020 to 291,000 in the first three weeks of February 2021; the development of in-house COVID-19 testing capabilities; and ongoing work to find the best treatments for children affected by the virus. The treatment efforts have grown more intense in the past two months as the delta variant of COVID-19 has become dominant and a greater number of children have gotten the virus. On top of that, other respiratory viruses that generally surface in the winter, such as RSV, have been surging in late summer, Robinson says. “The systems are being taxed significantly and it’s a marathon,” he says. At the same time, Robinson and

other hospital leaders have taken a deep dive into the country’s racial issues. They started, he says, by listening and learning. “This is not a time to be reactionary and shoot from the hip, and Tim hasn’t done that,” explains Barnard. “He’s steady, reliable, dependable and contemplative, all good characteristics for a leader at a time when one needs good decision-making.” To address racial inequities, the hospital-wide Stand Against Racism/ Stand for Health Equity initiative was established with goals that include employee education in bias, racism and inclusiveness; cultivating a diverse workforce; advocating for social justice; and finding and eliminating October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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Q&A

Tim Robinson talks strategy, the new inpatient tower and his Midwest roots.

File/Tessa Berg/Columbus Dispatch

Butterfly confetti rains down as Tim Robinson speaks at the dedication celebration of the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion

Was the new five-year strategic plan on the radar in 2019 when you took over as CEO? Many of these themes are a continuation of what we did in the last strategic plan such as our efforts in behavioral health and in genomics. Partners for Kids has been here a long time and we’ve continued to build out those capabilities. Then you see us taking those programs to the next level. That’s the work we’ve done over the last year: Looking at how we’ve performed and where there are new opportunities and where there’s the opportunity to invest more aggressively in areas where we can impact outcomes for kids. We’re defining and determining what true high-quality outcomes look like, which is relatively new work in the pediatric space. The new plan includes a new inpatient tower with about the same capacity as the current inpatient building. Does that mean you’ll be treating twice as many kids? No. What you’re going to be seeing are two things: We will definitely expand capacity. But you’re also going to see this becoming more of a critical-care tower. For example, we’ll be expanding the footprint of our neonatal intensive care units, both expanding the space and resources for existing populations while also growing space for new capacity. We are just in the throes of planning out the building and planning the logistics of where each area needs to be located. You grew up in Ohio and Indiana in a middle-class family. How did that lead you to Nationwide Children’s? I’m a Midwest guy. I grew up in Cincinnati and then my father, who was a fireman, retired early and moved to Indiana and I became a farmer, Green Acres style. I have four older sisters and one sister was the head of the YWCA in Cincinnati. Even though I started out in business and the retail industry, when I first came to the hospital I immediately fell in love with the mission and the people. I think that desire to serve our community and specifically our children—I can see that coming back to my father and my sister, who were very influential. It’s a big part of who I am.

gaps in equitable healthcare delivery. “Health equity has always been at the hospital’s core,” Robinson says. “With the murder of George Floyd, there was an awakening we all went through, and it became apparent there was so much more work to do.” He says that includes addressing disparities in all the work done at the hospital, removing any bias and educating the next generation of caregivers so that bias and inequity isn’t present. Galantowicz says Robinson “rolled up his sleeves and got knee deep” into the racial awakening, setting the tone for the institution as a whole to embrace the moment as a time of selfreflection and change. “He, like me, is an old white guy, and his depth of passion and empathy for diversity and tolerance and inclusiveness spills into the community in a remarkable way,” Galantowicz says. “Part of that reaction goes back to the fact that he comes at this job not so much as a leader sitting at the top and mandating down, but fundamentally his DNA is: ‘I am with you; you are all a part of this.’ And that resonated.” Galantowicz says Robinson’s ability to envision healthcare in a progressive way was one reason he came to Nationwide Children’s in 2002 to head the department of cardiothoracic surgery. “I had a vision for the hospital to

have this full heart center that would involve having all the people together who would touch a baby who had heart problems, so that everyone was truly under one umbrella,” Galantowicz says. “That was very different from how things were structured prior to that, and it was a whole different way of looking at strategic development. But Tim was a big, big piece of making that change.” Naysayers thought the new structure would be costly and wouldn’t work, but they were wrong, he says, noting that the Heart Center brings in more than $2 million in annual profit for the hospital now. “Tim’s always been right in the center of all that big strategy and big vision,” Galantowicz says. That vision continues with a new, $3.3 billion, five-year plan that hospital leadership announced in 2021. It includes a new in-patient hospital tower with 302 beds, a new orthopedic and surgery center and two more research buildings as well as $1.3 billion in new or expanded programs and research. Investment revenue, debt and donations will pay for the new plan. “If we do this well, we’re not only going to impact the children of central Ohio, but we’re going to truly impact children everywhere, whether it’s through treatment, new discoveries or

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teaching the next generation of providers that we can impact children across the globe,” Robinson says. Under the new plan, the hospital will double down on core services such as treatments for cancer and heart issues, so more children can be served, he says. At the same time, the hospital will expand care in areas such as fetal medicine by providing more physical space and expertise. “We really think we can improve outcomes by going upstream, if you will, with in vitro interventions,” says Robinson. That could include fetal surgeries for conditions such as spina bifida and other rare diseases. Overall, Robinson says, the new plan sits on a platform of quality and safety, “maniacally focused on making sure kids truly get the best outcomes.” With Robinson as CEO, two equity efforts already have been expanded. Partners for Kids, which Robinson spearheaded more than 25 years ago to improve healthcare access for children in southeastern and south central Ohio, has been extended to include west central Ohio, adding 94,000 children to the 325,000 who already are part of the program. It helps children covered by Medicaid, focusing on preventative care and managing chronic conditions. Healthy Neighborhood Healthy Families, which Robinson was instrumental in starting and maintaining, also is growing. Under the program, more than $20 million has been

His humble origins are deeply meaningful to him, and he hasn’t strayed from those roots in many ways even as he’s leading some of the most sophisticated child-health innovations in North America. Dr. John Barnard, president, Abigail Wexner Research Institute

invested in the neighborhood south of the hospital to improve living conditions, including home renovations, health assessment and employment help, since 2008. That effort, which spurred additional efforts by the city and community organizations, is being expanded to the Linden neighborhood as part of a drive to address social determinants of health, particularly in poorer areas. Robinson says it will include a new grocery store, housing initiatives, workforce development programs and other improvements community members are identifying. Galantowicz says Robinson’s support of the research arm at Nationwide Children’s also has impressed him. “It’s not common for a freestanding children’s hospital to invest so heavily in those missions,” he says. “It would have been very easy for a financial guy to say: ‘Show me how this makes sense financially.’” But Robinson understood that investment in research mattered because it was the right thing to do for children. “Even though he was an accountant nerd, this big picture of how it all fit in was part of his DNA,” Galantowicz says. “He was hugely in support of the research and it has grown and grown and grown.” One of the newest research efforts is a $1.1 billion project, announced in February, that pairs Nationwide Children’s, JobsOhio and Ohio State University to develop new gene and cell therapies to treat genetic disorders. The hospital has its own Center for Gene Therapy, a research arm that has been growing in recent years as researchers work to cure genetic childhood diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy. The work has drawn patients, researchers and companies to Ohio as progress is made. That includes Andelyn Biosciences, a biosciences company created through Nationwide Children’s research into cell and gene-based therapy. The company plans to open central Ohio’s first commercial-scale production facility for cell and gene therapies next year. Barnard says one reason Robinson works so hard on efforts to give every child an equal chance at good health is his Midwestern upbringing, in Cincinnati and then on a farm in Indiana.

“His humble origins are deeply meaningful to him, and he hasn’t strayed from those roots in many ways even as he’s leading some of the most sophisticated child-health innovations in North America,” Barnard says. “From those beginnings have come extraordinary leadership capabilities and a unique skill set.” Robinson himself isn’t one to dwell on his upbringing, except to say that he believes his core values were strongly influenced by his father, who was a fireman before he became a farmer, and an older sister, who headed the Cincinnati YWCA. At the hospital, he pointed to the work in behavioral health that Nationwide Children’s has done in the past few years as one of the things he is most proud of. He ticks off some facts: One in five children has a diagnosed mental health condition. Suicide rates among young people are rising. The pandemic has exacerbated mental health problems. Early last year, Nationwide Children’s opened the freestanding Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion with a psychiatric crisis department, a stabilization department, an inpatient psychiatric unit and an intensive outpatient program. “There’s some real challenges out there and to have that resource, especially in the pandemic, helps to bring mental health on par with physical health and breaks down the stigma of mental health issues,” Robinson says. “They’ve done a great job there with a continuum of care that we think is right, and we’ll continue to expand that.” Research into mental health in children is part of the effort, resulting in some world-class research funded by significant investments that Robinson hopes will provide better tools to diagnose and treat mental health in children in the future. “We always get back to that: finding what’s best for the children,” he says. His own three children and, more recently, his first grandchild, have only made him redouble his efforts. “You look at things through the lens of a child, and having a young, vulnerable child in your life reinforces the work.” Kathy Lynn Gray is a freelance writer. October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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Tech talk

Translating a need

IT Bootcamp matches people people with new careers as tech people.

hris Conway, founder of IT Bootcamp, says he’s helping meet a need companies sometimes don’t know they have. With the IT industry’s shift to agile, some roles—business analyst, scrum master and quality assurance analyst—have evolved, but they haven’t really been filled or executed well by many companies, Conway says. Business analysts help developers on a project blueprint, scrum masters

Courtesy Chris Conway

Chris Conway

IT Bootcamp theitbootcamp.com Founder/CEO: Chris Conway Business: Soft skills IT boot camp focusing

on non-technical roles

Employees: 1 Investment to date: Would not disclose Launch: 2018

make sure the project is executed efficiently, and quality assurance follows up to make sure it’s what the customer ordered. It’s those folks, rather than coders, who Conway wants to train. Often, he says, high-level business strategists and technical folks like coders get thrown into a room together when companies try to build software infrastructure, and communication difficulties ensue. “Your developer is tech savvy enough for everyone in the room, trust me. You need to balance them out with a real person,” Conway says. “You have to know enough to ask questions and go back and forth, but some of our best grads have been bartenders and nurses because they know how to talk to people.” Conway says the idea for IT Bootcamp came to him through helping a family member make a career change. His sister was unhappy in her paralegal career, and Conway offered to teach her what he knew from his years of running IT projects in agile and waterfall environments, which are two methodologies for getting things done in the tech world. After a bunch of talking and peering over Conway’s shoulder, she got a foot in the door as a quality analyst at Wendy’s and quickly rose through the ranks. She doubled her salary within a year. A couple of friends who witnessed her success asked if Conway could teach them, too, and he decided to start making a curriculum. He launched more formally in 2018, though the bootcamp was still a sideline to his regular career. By 2020, an investment from Revel IT’s Randy Dean and a spike in demand led Conway to go all in on the bootcamp with a goal to double in size this year. Conway also is working to make connections with government-funded programs and veterans service organizations to help students from the ranks of veterans and other underserved communities. Demand is being fueled, he says, as many companies are building

Courtesy Ohio State University

By Cynthia Bent Findlay

GrubHub delivery robots

Meals on selfdriving wheels If you happen to be on Ohio State University’s campus this fall, you’re likely to see what looks like a robot invasion. Fear not, they come in peace—with food. GrubHub and Ohio State have partnered to launch food delivery on campus using 50 self-driving “Rovers” provided by Yandex Self-Driving Group, a spinoff by Russian search engine powerhouse Yandex. That will expand to a fleet of 100 Rovers if all goes well, a spokesman says. Ordinary cars can’t reach the pedestrianonly areas of college campuses, but the little off-roading robots can, even in inclement weather. The Rover can truck along at up to 5 mph. Students order from OSU’s food service providers using GrubHub’s app, pay a $2.50 delivery fee and meet the robots at designated drop spots. customer-facing technology for the first time, and businesses realize development teams, or at least leads, are often more successful in house than off-shored. Graduates have gone on to work for State Auto, Abercrombie & Fitch, Bath & Body Works, Quantum Health and other large corporations. Tuition for the 12-week, one night per week online program is $12,500, but Conway insists on not taking payment until grads achieve an IT job. If that doesn’t happen for a full year after his course, he wipes out the student’s debt. “I want to change your life first,” he says. “For me, it’s still about giving people a second chance at a career.” Cynthia Bent Findlay is a freelance writer.

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briefing By Katy Smith And Jess Deyo

Relationships, not transactions

CBank President Jenny Saunders has a simple mantra when it comes to her work: Banking should be about the conversation, not the transaction. Saunders, who started in banking as a teller in 1984, didn’t expect to fall in love with the profession. But she soon saw the human side to the business. “Being in a position where you could help people really meet their financial goals and dreams was something that really excited me,” Saunders says. Saunders went on to work at Huntington Bank for nearly a decade and PNC Bank, where she served as senior vice president before becoming FCBank’s third president four years ago. With headquarters in Worthing-

Courtesy KDW Photography

FCBank President Jenny Saunders is reshaping the way we bank, with conversation being the focus.

Jenny Saunders

ton, FCBank is a division of Clearfield, Pennsylvania-based CNB Bank and has six locations in the Columbus region. Under Saunders’ leadership, some big changes have come to pass. Most recently, FCBank’s Grandview Heights-area branch celebrated its grand reopening, just a year after its grand opening in August 2020. Due to COVID-19, the bank’s lobbies have remained closed until recently. Instead of teller lines, the West Fifth Avenue branch features a “living room” with a couch and various areas to sit and talk. An enhanced teller machine, or ETM, allows cus-

tomers to video chat with a banker even outside banking hours. FCBank plans to open a seventh branch in Westerville in 2022 in the former Flowerama space on South State Street, marking the bank’s third branch with the new design. Saunders and her team also are working on a model for FCBank to travel to underbanked areas with its new “Fresh Start” checking account for those with low to moderate incomes. “We are committed to those communities, both from a financial perspective and a time perspective,” Saunders says. -Jess Deyo

Future 50 seeks funds for food access, digital literacy Projects to establish community refrigerators and digital literacy training are underway by Columbus CEO’s Future 50. Two groups of volunteers are working to raise money toward their causes. The community food access group led by Bridget Tharp and Anna Sanyal has a vision to place refrigerators filled with free food in key locations around Columbus. People who need the food can simply walk up and get it 24/7, reducing the stigma associated with visiting a food pantry. Project partners

include the Franklinton Board of Trade, Reeb Avenue Center and Star House. The food access project team has created a GoFundMe page at bit.ly/3k2PmJ2 with a goal to raise $2,500 per refrigerator. The second group is working to help close the digital divide keeping some community members without internet access. The project’s goal is to bring digital literacy skills to Columbus City Schools Region 2 in East, Far East and Southeast Columbus. The digital divide group, led by Tasha

Booker and Elon Simms, plans to hold a virtual pitch competition for nonprofits in November or December with a goal of raising $50,000. The winning nonprofit organizations can receive up to two years of support for literacy programming in the target area. To support this cause, make a donation to The Columbus Foundation’s Emergency Response Fund - Digital Equity Fund and mark it “Future 50.” To learn more, visit the group’s Facebook page at Future-50-Digital-Divide. -Katy Smith October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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spotlight By Jess Deyo + Photo by Rob Hardin

Rodrigues Carter, from left, Nicole Carter, Tanikia Carter-Camara, Katherine Carter-Sylva, Dawanna Carter and Tony Carter

Small Business

Her family to yours Phyllis Ann’s Family Recipe is bringing its homemade recipes to the marketplace.

olidays at the Carters mean a packed house, whether it be from the smell of savory dishes and desserts cooked from scratch, or the family members who comes to enjoy the feast. The mastermind behind the meals is Phyllis Ann Carter, a Columbus native and the face of the newly launched dry goods retailer Phyllis Ann’s Family Recipe that sells breading mixes, cake mixes and icing, pancake and waffle mix, rice, spices, grits and more.

“We put a lot of hard work behind [creating] a good product that we could offer to Columbus and the rest of the world.” Antonio Carter, co-owner, Phyllis Ann’s Family Recipe

Phyllis Ann’s Family Recipe

4225 Eastland Mall Food Court Columbus 43232 • thephyllisannbrand.com Business: Black-owned enterprise selling

specialty grocery items such as cake mixes, herbs and spices, fish and chicken fry, and more.

Employees: 6 Acting CEO: Katherine Carter-Sylva Revenue: Would not disclose.

“I’ve always enjoyed just cooking homemade from scratch for my family for years,” Phyllis Ann says. “I come from a cooking family—my grandma, aunties and my mom.” Phyllis Ann’s love for cooking has proved to be infectious. Her four adult children, Katherine Carter-Sylva, Tanikia Carter-Camara, and Antonio and Rodrigues Carter remember growing up and watching their mom bring recipes to life. As they started making Phyllis Ann’s recipes for themselves, Katherine realized the potential to bring their family’s food to kitchens everywhere. The idea came to her in 2019, and her siblings were quickly on board to go into business together. “We sat down and talked, had a family meeting and the rest is history,” Tanikia says.

Under co-ownership of Phyllis Ann’s children and two daughter in-laws, Nicole Carter and Dawanna Carter, the business came to life. The catch? Phyllis Ann had no idea. Instead, the family wanted to show her the finished concept, but they had to work hard to keep it a secret. “Once we came up with the concept of what we were going to do, I called my mom just to clarify all of the recipes. So, she thought it was odd that I’m asking for like 70 recipes,” Tanikia says. “I just made sure I had everything right.” The business plan came together over the next two years, and in July, Phyllis Ann’s Family Recipe had its official launch at Eastland Mall. At that point, they got Phyllis Ann, who expected a store closeout sale, to come to the mall. She was greeted by

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a storefront crafted in her honor. “Even my own grandkids, nobody said anything,” Phyllis Ann says. “My son [Rodrigues] came and got me and he said, ‘Ma there’s a going out of business sale [at Eastland Mall], I want you to come.’ So, we came up here expecting to find something and see what we could get, and it was Phyllis Ann’s… it was a wonderful surprise.” She never saw her recipes leaving the family, but now that she has, she says the sky’s the limit and feels confident the business will succeed. “People used to tell me, ’You ought to sell your cakes, they’re so good,’ ’’ Phyllis Ann says, “but I just say, ‘No, no, I’ll just keep it in the family.’ This is a wonderful idea. I think they’re going to do great.” Phyllis Ann doesn’t have a share of the company, but her family hopes to help support her and husband Willie Roy with the profits, says Katherine, the acting CEO. Customers can shop Phyllis Ann’s Family Recipe in-store or online, where they can place an order for pickup or have it shipped anywhere in the U.S. All products are also made in-house. The family has been happy with the profits they’ve made since their recent opening and hope to gain more traction. To help with building momentum, Antonio shares that they will continue rolling out new recipes and offer Sample Saturdays so potential customers can get hooked. In the future, they hope to expand and have their products for sale at other chains. “We put a lot of hard work behind making sure that we were able to package everything and get it together and have a good product that we could offer to Columbus and the rest of the world,” Antonio says. Some of the must-tries and family favorites include the German chocolate cake, southern pound cake and Willie Roy’s Southern Style Chicken and Fish Fry, a breading mix named after their father and Phyllis Ann’s husband of 50 years and counting, who she proudly admits is her best friend. Phyllis Ann can’t pinpoint just one favorite dish, but she offers a piece of advice: “Come in and try it,” she laughs, ”I’m sure you’ll like it.” Jess Deyo is associate editor. October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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spotlight By Jess Deyo + Photo by rob hardin

Nonprofit

Tara Dhungana

Surviving the storm Community Refugee and Immigration Services is on the rise again after a tough four years, but challenges remain.

ara Dhungana wasn’t born a refugee. He was born in Bhutan, a country in Asia, and shared a home with 12 family members including his grandparents. His parents are hardworking — they both worked on a farm, and his mother cared for the family.

“It’s devastatingly hard to have worked for decades trying to bring families together to have your work completely undone.” Angela Plummer, executive director, Community Refugee and Immigration Services

Community Refugee and Immigration Services 1925 E. Dublin-Granville Road, Suite 102, Columbus 43229 crisohio.org Mission: To help refugees and immigrants

reach safety and stability, sustain selfsufficiency and integrate into the community.

Employees: 42 2020 revenue: $2,680,176 Funding: 9% from donations; 89% from government; 1% from United Way, Columbus Foundation and others.

Dhungana was 12 years old when he and his family were exiled from Bhutan in the early 1990s and relocated to a Nepali refugee camp. His father and grandfather avoided being captured by hiding in brush for several months. They left with a hope to return soon, but the day never came, Dhungana says. Instead, he would go on to spend nearly 20 years in the refugee camp before resettling in Columbus in 2009 through a resettlement program with Us Together. His parents and other relatives joined him months later. After a short tenure with FedEx, Dhungana began volunteering with Community Refugee and Immigration Services in 2009. In 2013, he was promoted to associate director of career services where he has since placed thousands of refugees in jobs.

“I do not want newly arriving refugees to go through the same kind of situation I had to go through,” he says. “... It’s very difficult to navigate the system, let alone the language. If you don’t speak the language, it’s 1,000 times more difficult.” Career services is just one facet of all that Community Refugee and Immigration Services offers. It also provides mentorship opportunities, senior programs and legal aid, assists with transportation to jobs and helps refugees find a home. It partners with Airbnb for its Open Homes program, which provides temporary housing. Today, Dhungana faces new difficulties in his role at the nonprofit. Since 2017, the number of refugees he has placed into jobs each year has been cut in half. Typically, he was helping an average of 400 to 450 refugees find jobs each year, he says,

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but in the 2020 fiscal year, he was only able to place around 200. He doesn’t doubt his abilities, though. Despite the cut, the 90-day job retention rate for the refugees he has placed consistently sits around 90 percent, he says. He has nearly 100 employment partners locally and regionally. Angela Plummer, the nonprofit’s executive director, has seen years of highs and lows since she began working with the organization. In 1998 she began as a volunteer attorney and was promoted to her current role in 2003. Even so, she can’t begin to put into words how difficult the past four years have been. “It’s devastatingly hard to have worked for decades trying to bring families together to have your work completely undone,” Plummer says. “To have daily inquiries of, ‘When’s my family coming?’ to say, ‘No time soon,’ every single day.’” In 2016 the nonprofit resettled 833 refugees. In 2018, it resettled 325. By 2020, the number fell to 106. Struggles for the organization came following restrictive policy changes during the Trump administration and a lack of funding, she says. COVID-19 also forced the organization to adjust, but its services did not change. “Getting through the Trump years was a marathon,” Plummer says. “And we could see the finish line …. and then they moved the finish line. So, we just keep on running, and I think we’re all tired.” Currently, there are 42 employees with Community Refugee and Immigration services, but they are hiring with the potential to have 60—an impressive jump from the one dozen employees that began in 1995. Despite the hardship, things are looking up. The nonprofit is welcoming 250 inbound Afghanistan refugees to Columbus, Plummer says. She hopes the nonprofit’s efforts have made a lasting change for all residents. Next year it has proposed 959 refugees be resettled in Columbus. “I hope we’ve helped contribute to the vibrancy and the diversity of the city and have met the needs of refugees who have come here,” she says. Refugees are an added value, she adds, not only economically but as friends.

Who’s moving and shaking this Week? Find out when you become a Columbus Ceo insider sign-up today at ColumbusCeo.com

Jess Deyo is associate editor. October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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spotlight By Erica Thompson + Photo by Joshua A. Bickel

Innovation

Career starter The bootcamp is designed to help Black and brown workers gain a foothold in the tech industry.

oug McCollough has made a concerning observation. There are employers eager to find diverse talent for techjobs. And there are capable people looking for ways to change careers and increase their income. But their paths aren’t crossing. “We’re sitting in a community with thousands upon thousands of available people,” says McCollough, 54, of Reynoldsburg, who is the chief infor-

“The ideal person is someone who’s doing something else right now. They’re talented and capable, but they’re not making as much money.” Doug McCullough, founder, Color-Coded Labs

Color-Coded Labs 780 Mount Vernon Ave. Columbus 43203 colorcodedlabs.com Business: Black-owned tech and coding

bootcamp focused on training people of color for jobs. Employees: 8 acting ceo: Doug McCollough Revenue: Would not disclose

Doug McCollough

mation officer for the City of Dublin. “How do we get these companies and startups to cross the street and talk to these service providers and help desk or call center employees, and create a viable path for them?” McCollough and his partners channeled that concern into ColorCoded Labs, a culturally focused tech bootcamp preparing Black and brown workers for technology careers. It launched earlier this year in the historically Black King-LincolnBronzeville neighborhood and the first cohort of students is studying full stack JavaScript programming for 19 weeks. McCollough serves as CEO. His cofounders are venture capitalist Mark Kvamme, as well as entrepreneurs Branden Jones, Bruce Jones and Kevin Lloyd. Kvamme, along with

Rev1 Ventures and JumpStart, are investors. The company has received additional support from Columbus City Council and other organizations. The cost of tuition is $13,500, which includes a laptop. ColorCoded Labs lets students to pay the fee back in installments once they’ve secured a job. It also helps students secure scholarships. Classes are in the evening, Monday through Saturday. They have been virtual amid the pandemic, but Color-Coded labs is set up for inperson instruction in Venture Suite, a membership-based co-working space on Mount Vernon Avenue. The building serves as the headquarters for a “Black and brown ecosystem” of businesses, including entrepreneur support organization BLK Hack and Venture Combine, a startup/small

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business development program. And it’s a collaborative atmosphere, according to Branden Jones, who also is the co-founder of BLK Hack. “We would like someone to come in with an idea for a company,” says Jones, 36, of Bexley. “We help them with some wraparound services and tools and knowledge to help them get it off the ground. Then, they’re able to hire the people in our bootcamps and our members and offer those services back. So, it’s like this nonstop cycle.” Color-Coded Labs accepts adults with a high school education. “The ideal person is someone who’s doing something else right now,” says McCollough. “They’re talented and capable, but they’re not making as much money or using that talent and creativity in whatever job they may be in. We’re also targeting people who may have been displaced by COVID.” And they are especially interested in training women. “A lot of women dropped out of the workforce during COVID,” McCollough says. “A lot of women are paid less than men. Technology is the best part of the employment market. People are highly paid, highly mobile. We know when women in the community are stable economically, families are stable. Communities are stable.” In addition to the technical curriculum, students are instructed on topics like professionalism, building a LinkedIn profile and networking. Representatives from companies like Root Insurance, Branch Insurance and software company WillowTree have agreed to mentor students. Color Coded Labs student Daniel Henderson remodels buildings for a living, and hopes to apply his training in his field, and explore new opportunities. “I’ve acquired all sorts of knowledge as far as the actual inner workings of some tech companies,” says Henderson, 36, of the South Side. “What they’re doing is groundbreaking. I’m the target person because I absolutely have nothing to do with tech on a dayto-day basis. It just goes to show that if you set your mind to it and decide that you want to learn, it is possible. This the opportunity of a lifetime.” Erica Thompson writes about race, gender and the economy for the Columbus Dispatch.

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An epidemic of no-shows is plaguing hiring managers. Employers set up interviews, even hire candidates, and then never hear from them again. By Mark Williams and Patrick Cooley

Columbus MSA employment July 2019

July 2021

1,080,881

1,039,475

Job listings Columbus region* job listings at OhioMeansJobs, May 14-June 13: *Delaware, Fairfield, Franklin, Knox, Licking, Logan, Madison, Marion, Morrow, Pickaway and Union counties

May-June 2020

May-June 2021

52,637

66,167

13,530 more job listings than the same period a year ago

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Six-figure jobs $100,000 and more:

27.7%

job listings by salary Columbus region, May 14-June 13

Low-paying jobs less than $30,000:

15.4%

Middle income jobs $30,000-$49,000:

23.7%

Upper middle income jobs $50,000-$79,000: High income jobs $80,000-$99,000:

10.3%

22.9%

t the Columbus retailer Mutts & Co., just getting applicants or workers to show up for an interview or have newly hired workers ready to go on their first day can be considered a success some days. At least a dozen times the past few months, applicants or new workers have ghosted the pet supplies and grooming company for interviews or didn’t arrive for the first day of work. They don’t bother calling either. “Professional ethics seem to be lacking,” says Mark Vitt, who owns the seven Columbus-area stores with his wife, Deborah. As the economy reopens, restaurants, stores and other businesses say finding applicants and scheduling them for interviews is one thing. Getting them to show up is another. The same goes for newly hired workers who may decide that the job they just landed isn’t their gig even after going through interviews and screening. The result: Some restaurants have had to reduce seating capacity or cut hours, and businesses struggle to fill orders or provide customers the service they expect. In the case of Mutts, it may mean figuring out how to take care of customers when the new groomer doesn’t show up. “A customer expects their grooming services and bath,” Vitt says. “It’s a scramble to reschedule or have other staff work in these appointments. It’s one thing to miss a meeting. It’s another to impact the business and the customers of the company.” Is ghosting a way to fulfill job search requirements for unemployment benefits?

unemployment Columbus MSA

5.4% July 2021

Ohio

5.4% July 2021

U.S.

5.4% July 2021

Sources: OhioMeansJobs, Bureau of Labor Statistics

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The complaints about applicants ghosting companies come after the state began requiring Ohioans collecting unemployment benefits to resume searching for work as a condition of receiving those benefits. Undoubtedly, some workers are going through the motions of applying for jobs to keep their benefits, says Catherine Burgett, an employment law attorney with the Frost Brown Todd law firm in Columbus. “There are some who accept an offer and later change their minds because they’d rather stay on benefits,” she says. A more likely reason, though, is that applicants received a better offer, such as a higher wage or a signing bonus from another company and they don’t

Top 10 occupations with job ads May 14-June 13 in the Columbus region: Computer occupations, all other First-line supervisors of retail workers Retail salespersons Stock clerks and order filers Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers Management analysts Registered nurses Customer service representatives Marketing managers Maintenance and repair workers Accountants and auditors First-line supervisors of food preparation and serving workers First-line supervisors of office and administrative support workers

2,437 1,945 1,799 1,357 1,327 1,321 1,135 1,075 1,020 938 870 816

Managers, all other

770 727

Network and computer systems administrators

642

Market research analysts and marketing specialists Computer systems analysts Sales representatives, services, all other Financial managers

might still get ghosted. “You interview people, hire them and when they do come to work, they get their first paycheck and quit,” says Norm Blanchard, director of the Guernsey County Community Improvement Corp. and Port Authority in eastern Ohio. “Or if you do get someone to come to work, they want to dictate their wages, what hours they work and what times or days that they are willing to work.” Blanchard, who speaks with a variety of employers in his job, says the problem is impacting businesses across the spectrum. “You just can’t get people to come to work,” he says. “It’s really hard right now to keep people on the work rolls.”

Restaurants, retailers among many industries affected by ghosting Ghosting is widespread among industries, but restaurants and retailers appear most affected. Labor shortages are so severe that the Columbus pizza chain Late Night

772

635 622 620 582

Sources: OhioMeansJobs, Bureau of Labor Statistics

Photo Steve Helber/AP

Software developers, applications

contact the first company, Burgett says. “Many employers have reported that employees are vocally requesting special schedules or bonuses or higher rates of pay,” she says. Technically, applicants who don’t show up for the interview put their unemployment benefits at risk, if the state knew about it. But that continued entitlement to those the benefits is largely based on applicants self-reporting their good-faith job-search efforts, Burgett says. If an applicant ghosts a company, many likely would have an easy excuse if they did get in trouble, such as child care issues, transportation problems, mandatory vaccinations or inability to wear a mask. State workers who monitor unemployment beneficiaries are fairly liberal with the rules, stressed Tom Barnard, a retired employment attorney and an adjunct professor of employment law at Case Western Reserve University. Job seekers don’t need to set up job interviews to keep their benefits as long as they can prove they’re actively searching for work. “As a practical matter you would have to be doing virtually nothing” to lose your benefits, Barnard says. Even after workers start, companies

A now hiring sign at Palm Beach Tan.

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Slice closed for lunch. Co-owner Jason Biundo says no-shows are a problem in normal times, but it’s gotten worse during the pandemic. “We were looking at something like half of them for a while, and it might even be more,” he says. “We were putting out [job openings] on every channel we could think of, social media, taking out ads. We wound up getting a few more applicants, but the rate of no-shows was about the same.” He says the Late Night Slice human resources staff squanders time setting up interviews only to have to people not show. “It’s a waste of resources, especially when their focus right now is onboarding people and staffing up the restaurants,” Biundo says. The Alcove Restaurant in Mount Vernon cut service and removed tables because it’s not getting enough serious applicants, Assistant Manager Donovan Rice says. “We have had applicants who don’t express much interest beyond the application phase,” he says. Alcove recently saw an uptick in serious applicants after offering a $1,000 sign-on bonus for full-time workers ($500 for part time), he says. Applicants have to stay for at least 180 days

to get the full bonus. Other restaurants are taking more drastic steps. The Lava Rock Grill and shop at the Unusual Junction in West Lafayette, near Coshocton, had to temporarily close thanks to a staffing shortage, according to the establishment’s Facebook page. At Cameron Mitchell restaurants, more than half of applicants don’t show up for interviews, says Amberlyn Heiney, regional director for the Columbus-based company. “We need people at almost all of our properties, and we don’t see a lot of people applying,” she says. “Prepandemic we didn’t have that issue. We got a steady flow of applicants.” Recently, the company added a $500 hiring bonus. Hiring for El Segundo, a Mexicanthemed restaurant in the Short North that Cameron Mitchell opened in September, has been especially tough, she says. “The first few weekends we had scheduled interviews for chefs and kitchen candidates and only about 25 percent actually showed up,” Heiney says. “It affects the operations of the overall restaurant, and it adds a level of stress on the team that nobody wants and there’s not a good solution.” Local credit unions say they, too, have been hurt by ghosting. Credit Union of Ohio scheduled six interviews on one day to fill an opening for a teller. Not a single person showed. “Over the past year it’s been a struggle,” says Jill Gerschutz, the credit union’s senior vice president. “It’s always questionable on whether [those being interviewed] will show up.’’ On top of that, the number of applications the credit union is getting for openings also are down, she says. “It’s definitely taking longer to fill openings,” she says. State Highway Patrol Federal Credit Union recently scheduled 10 interviews to fill an opening for a teller position. Only three applicants showed. CEO Becky Landis says credit unions, restaurants, stores and other businesses in the service sector are all competing for staff among the same group of applicants. “I’ve hired some great employees from restaurants,” she says.

Maren Roth is one of the fortunate ones. An applicant for a job at her upscale Short North clothing boutique called to cancel the job interview ahead of time. For the last several months, Roth, who owns the Rowe Boutique on North High Street, has been slowly hiring back the workers she let go after COVID decimated her sales. But revenue has been strong enough recently that she decided to search for an additional worker, only to have her promising first interviewee withdraw. “It was such a bummer, because it was a great prospect,” Roth says.

Impact of not calling or showing up: Ending up on a donot-hire list At the moment, applicants who ghost prospective employees don’t have much to worry about since companies are desperate for workers and there’s plenty of other places to go. Ohio needs about 270,000 more jobs to recover those lost in the early days of the pandemic. The labor force is about 300,000 workers short of where it was back then. Applicants who don’t show up may find themselves on a do-not-hire list should they ever seek employment again at that company, attorney Burgett says. “Many employers would not be willing to take a second shot at getting ghosted again,” she says. Conversely, most employers would be understanding if applicants called and said they were taking another job, she says. Vitt, co-owner of Mutts, says many of the applicants who have ghosted the company are younger and don’t have much work experience. “At first, we got worried that something catastrophic happened. Now we aren’t surprised and no longer concerned,” he says. “It’s just another instance of a lack of professional ethics.” Mark Williams and Patrick Cooley cover business for the Columbus Dispatch. Reporter Rick Stillion of The Daily Jeffersonian in Cambridge contributed to this story. October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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Battered industry As delta surges, restaurant owners know the drill—it’s back to masks and carryout. The to-go model doesn’t pay the bills like in-person dining, and the prospect of additional government help seems bleak, at least for now.

By Patrick Cooley

att Rootes, co-owner of several restaurants in Columbus, had a harsh reaction to Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther reimposing the city’s mask mandate in early September. “It’s just ridiculous,” he says. “We thought we got past this.” The city health department, not the police, will enforce the mandate through regular inspections and by taking complaints. To Rootes, that means the responsibility to enforce the rule falls on his workers at Pat and Gracie’s in Downtown Columbus and Matt and Tony’s in the Brewery District. “We have 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds working at our front desk who have to be the police,” he says. They’ll again face the wrath of angry customers who berated and even assaulted local servers and retail workers during last year’s statewide mask mandate, Rootes says. The delta variant of the coronavirus is causing consternation throughout Ohio’s restaurant industry, which was set for a comeback before the highly contagious strain of the deadly disease began sickening and killing Ohioans in large numbers this summer. Restrictions are likely here to stay as communities in the region plan to impose their own mask rules, and restaurateurs like Rootes worry sales are going to nosedive just as they are recovering from a pandemic that forced dozens of Columbus restaurants to close. Restaurant owners and operators had plenty of reason for optimism in the first half of the year as COVID infections and deaths fell, and Gov. Mike DeWine lifted constraints on businesses meant to stem the spread of the disease.

Downtown Columbus restaurants won back old regulars as a small number of workers returned to the offices they abandoned at the onset of COVID. “Lunches have definitely improved,” Rootes says. “That’s where we get most of our Downtown business.” Then came the delta variant in early August. Emergency room visits and deaths from the disease are on the rise again and the state’s restaurateurs worry their customers will return to eating at home. In a survey of restaurant owners, the Ohio Restaurant Association found

that 61 percent reported a sales drop of at least 5 percent in August compared to July. Visits to restaurants almost always fall in August as summer gives way to fall, vacations conclude and students prepare for another school year. “But that’s a bigger number than we expected,” Ohio Restaurant Association President and CEO John Barker says. To be clear, most restaurants still report strong sales, relative to last year. “Traffic has increased and consumer confidence seems to be back,” says Brian Swanson, who owns Bodega and Bristol Republic, both on North

Patrons enjoy happy hour at Bodega in the Short North.

File/Fred Squillante/ColumbusDispatch

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High Street in the Short North. “I think we’re back to pre-COVID levels.” But restaurant operators can’t help but feel a looming sense of dread as a virus that threatens their industry continues to infect Ohioans in large numbers.

Taking it one day at a time Bodega and Bristol Republic turned to cash reserves to get them through the winter and fall of 2020, when COVID infections and deaths were at their worst. Swanson is prepared to lean on that rainy day fund again. “We’re taking it one day at a time and obviously holding on to reserves just in case there is an issue,” he says. Erica Grigsby, who owns Amato’s Woodfired Pizza in Mount Vernon, was closely watching the Knox County school system. Mask policies at the local schools signal a growing concern over the spread of the virus, she says. “Most schools started without a mask mandate, then a couple days

after school started, the mandates came,” Grigsby says. “From a restaurant perspective, that’s definitely a concern for us.” Most Knox County districts moved to require masks after COVID infections hit a pandemic high in early September. Bob Szuter, co-owner of Wolf’s Ridge Brewing and its Downtown Columbus taproom, supports the city’s mask mandate, but acknowledges it will be difficult for his staff. Would the restaurant post signs, or will employees ask mask-less customers to cover their faces? “We’re still figuring it out,” Szuter says.

Is any more help coming from the government? COVID relief bills made millions of dollars available to Ohio restaurants through 2020, which kept many of them open, even as the coronavirus spread rapidly through the Buckeye state. But state and federal legislators seem unlikely to approve more stimulus money. What the fall and winter will bring without the possibility of more financial help? “We haven’t seen a tremendous drop in business,” Szuter says. “But if things continue to get worse and we can’t get a handle on it, there is no additional support coming down the pipeline.” Industry insiders are closely watching travel statistics, Barker says. If the delta variant keeps travelers at home, restaurants near tourist attractions like Cedar Point, King’s Island and Ohio Stadium could suffer, he says. “That’s an important part of our business,” he says.

Back to carryout and delivery Diners ordered carryout and delivery in large numbers at the height of the pandemic last year, keeping some struggling restaurants afloat. The majority of customers are again dining in-person, but the state’s eateries are ready to switch back to the takeout model. “If there is some type of a shutdown or more restrictions, we’ve done this before and we know how to

react,” says Paula Haines, the CEO of Freedom a la Cart, a café in Downtown Columbus. Around 60 percent of the cafe’s business is carryout, she says. “We do that and we do it really well,” Haines says. But to-go and delivery orders are generally less lucrative because customers are less inclined to order appetizers or high-profit margin items like cocktails, and servers can’t make suggestions to pad check sizes when customers order from their computer screens or smartphones. “People tend to spend a bit more money in-house on liquor, beer and wine. Plus we are not getting hit with the fees,” Rootes says, referring to third party delivery services like UberEats and Grubhub, which charge as much as 30 percent of the total bill when they deliver an order. While those services say the fees are necessary to offset their overhead costs, restaurant owners say the costs make it difficult to turn a profit. Barker says restaurant operators learned to adapt as increasing numbers of customers took their meals home last year. When restaurants created their own apps to offer carryout, they sent customers special offers or suggested pricey appetizers, he says. “They’re getting good at suggestive selling and bundling,” Barker says. “That’s how you get the average check higher.” Rob Chafin, who owns the Crunchwerks restaurant in the University District, has a message as Ohio’s hospitality industry prepares for an uncertain fall and winter. “I’m begging people at this point to get vaccinated,” Chafin says. “That’s the one thing that we can all do to make sure our economy keeps moving forward.” The quirky eatery inside the Cafe Bourbon Street rock ‘n’ roll bar on Summit Street sits in a residential neighborhood a few blocks north of campus and saw a steady increase in customers in the past year. But Chafin worries the delta variant might ruin everything. “Another shutdown would be devastating to us,” he says. Patrick Cooley writes about the business of food and drink for the Columbus Dispatch. October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

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Resilience and Growth

Continued Resiliency Throughout the past year we have continued to face challenging times, but the Columbus Region has remained strong and resilient. Companies continue to expand and evolve, new projects are breaking ground, and Central Ohio is growing. As we know from the recently released census data, we are constantly changing and diversifying, adding tens of thousands of new residents across our communities.

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This year brought transformational investment in our region, and emerging industries gained momentum. Throughout our 11-county region, our communities found new

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ways to innovate in order to remain competitive places in which to live and work. We have a location that provides unmatched market access, a talented population and a culture of collaboration. One Columbus, our regional economic development organization, is one of the best in the country. We must remain steadfast and focused on the vision to become the most prosperous region in the United States. Thank you to the investors that support the efforts of One Columbus. I am confident that we will continue to overcome challenges, find critical opportunities and remain a strong, growing region. Sue Zazon President and Executive Vice President, Central Ohio Region, Huntington; Chairman, One Columbus Board of Directors

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BEYOND A BUILDER ...A COMMUNITY MEMBER Our team is dedicated to contributing to the overall quality of life in all the communities we call home. At Gilbane, we’re building more than buildings, we’re building communities.

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LIVE TO PROGRESS. With a vibrant economy, young and educated workforce and abundance of highly diversified industries, the Columbus Region attracts bold and collaborative leaders with the vision and courage to live forward. columbusregion.com

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Resilience and Growth

On the Fast Track to Success Four companies exemplify how the Columbus Region acts as an incubator for startups.

By Laurie Allen For fast-growing, technology-forward companies, Columbus offers an ideal fusion of talent, knowledge and startup energy, coupled with publicprivate sector alliances and synergies among all the players to launch and cultivate young businesses. Four such businesses—Beam Dental, Lower, Olive and Upstart—are among the up-and-comers that have achieved notable successes in a relatively short time. Here’s a glimpse at each of them.

Beam Dental 226 N. Fifth St., Floor 4, Columbus, 800-648-1179, beam.dental Brush. Floss. Rinse. Rewards. That’s the concept behind Beam Dental, a fast-growing digital dental benefits provider that incentivizes dental hygiene. The company was founded in Louisville, Kentucky, by three engineers who designed a prototype Bluetoothconnected toothbrush with the idea of selling it to legacy dental insurers. When they couldn’t gain traction in that market, they decided to build their own carrier. Beam came to Columbus in 2014 with just four employees (it now has more than 260) and has raised more than $170 million in venture capital from firms across the county, including Columbus’ Drive Capital and Nationwide. Its growth rate has doubled an-

BEAM CEO and co-founder Alex Frommeyer

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nually, says Beam CEO and co-founder Alex Frommeyer. “There are 100 million Americans who don’t have dental insurance,” Frommeyer says. “We’re excited about what we’ve accomplished with our vision to modernize dental coverage and get that number to zero.” People who opt into Beam’s datasharing plan pay lower premiums and receive other incentives in exchange for practicing good dental hygiene like regular flossing and brushing, which is tracked on connected toothbrushes. The principle is that routine care now can prevent expensive problems later. Frommeyer calls Columbus “the Goldilocks zone of talent,” with just the right mix of tech and insurance expertise in concert with high-growth startups and established companies. Beam is available in 42 states around the U.S. and is accepted at more than 400,000 access points nationwide. The company also offers vision insurance through VSP and group term life coverage in partnership with Nationwide Insurance. Expansion plans include entering all 50 states and new product markets, such as disability insurance.

The Lower office’s main entrance

File/Rob Hardin/Columbus CEO

Lower 8131 Smith’s Mill Road, New Albany, 833-920-2273, lower.com Less than a year ago, Lower was a relatively unknown digital mortgage fintech. Then, along came naming rights to the new Columbus Crew stadium, and a brand was born. The timing was serendipitous, company CEO Dan Snyder says; earlier this year, Lower leadership decided to go big on getting the word out. The plan worked: “It created instant awareness,” Snyder says. That the name Lower.com Field is now known throughout the country is but one measure of the company’s meteoric rise in the past few years. Since its inception in 2018, the upstart has grown from a handful of people in a temporary office space to more than 1,700 employees in a new headquarters in New Albany. About 1,000 of the new hires came on board this year alone. Profitable from the beginning, the company has doubled its revenue each year and recently raised the largest

Series A in Ohio history at $100 million, led by Accel, a California venture capital firm that has invested in the likes of Facebook and Spotify. Lower has funded more than $16.5 billion in loans through its digital and in-person lending platforms. Previously known as Homeside Financial, Lower was bootstrapped for seven years before taking outside capital. Billed as a one-stop shop for homebuyers, services include refinancing, insurance and savings programs. The company has another office in Columbia, Maryland, and in-person retail branches across the country. Snyder says the Columbus Region is a natural fit for next-generation, tech-forward companies like Lower. “The cost of living is good, and there’s

a lot of young talent and outstanding universities in or within a couple hours of the city. And we have a forwardthinking business community.”

Upstart 711 N. High St., Columbus, 855-4388778, upstart.com Upstart, one of the nation’s first lending platforms to apply artificial intelligence (AI) to the multi-trillion-dollar credit industry, has found an ideal environment in Columbus. “There’s a level of depth and thoughtfulness in helping new businesses make connections that goes beyond quarterly and yearly goals and the number of hires out of universil

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Left, inside Upstart’s Short North office; right, Columbus HQ head Grant Schneider ties,” says Grant Schneider, Upstart’s vice president of machine learning and head of the Columbus HQ. “The city and its people are amazing,” he adds, citing One Columbus, JobsOhio and Ohio State University among those helping pave the way for success. Upstart uses sophisticated AI and machine learning to build credit models that use non-conventional variables at scale, rather than relying solely on backward-looking models like a FICO score. For example, job stability can be a more relevant predictor of credit risk than income alone, Schneider says. “Eighty percent of the population has never defaulted on their credit, yet only 50 percent have access to prime credit. Our mission is to close that gap,” he says. More than two-thirds of Upstart loans are fully automated and approved instantly. Founded in Silicon Valley by

ex-Google employees in 2012, Upstart went public last December (NASDAQ:UPST) and recently launched an auto refinancing product. Revenue and profits have risen substantially in the last year, giving the company a market capitalization of roughly $9 million. Most of its 900 employees are in Columbus, and the company is expanding its physical footprint to 15,000 square feet at its Short North location.

Olive 99 E. Main St., Columbus, 800-501-3161, oliveai.com A local health care automation company that looks to have the same impact on its sector as Amazon and Uber have had on retail and transportation, respectively, is experienc-

ing fast-paced growth as it acquires new customers, capital and strategic partners to create “the Internet of Healthcare.” Olive AI, Inc., works to automate administrative processes such as billing so that providers, payers and patients can see the same data and share knowledge to reduce waste, drive transparency and ultimately improve outcomes. “People feel lost in the system today, and health care employees are essentially working in the dark due to outdated technology that creates a lack of shared knowledge and siloed data,” says Olive CEO Sean Lane. Lane co-founded the company in Columbus in 2012 under the name CrossChx, which later was rebranded as Olive. The company has raised about $902 million since its inception and is valued at $4 billion. Olive has more than 900 employees, known as Olivians, and is expected to grow to about 1,300 by year’s end. It has offices in cities across the country and works with more than 950 hospitals in 42 states, including 20 of the top 100 U.S. health systems. In the past 10 months, Olive has acquired three companies to expand its capabilities in supply chain and critical analysis, AI technology acceleration and developing a full-service clearinghouse for providers and patients. Lane feels thankful to grow Olive in a forward-thinking region like Columbus. “I’m proud to be from here and believe it’s one of the best places in the country to start a business.’’

Laurie Allen is a freelance writer based in Columbus.

Left, Olive’s open office in Downtown Columbus; right, CEO Sean Lane File/Kyle Robertson/Columbus Dispatch

Photo courtesy Olive

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Facebook, Google, Amgen, Lower and other innovators all saw the same thing in New Albany. The future. They saw a business park with a clear vision of tomorrow. They saw the strength of our technological infrastructure. They saw one of the nation’s most robust and affordable fiber optic networks, triple electric feeds and the power of tremendous bandwidth.

They saw what every company wants when looking for a new home. A place that delivers the resources they need to grow. To thrive. And look ahead with confidence. The New Albany International Business Park. Where will your business be tomorrow?

newalbanycompany.com | newalbanybusiness.org

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Resilience and Growth

Why Amgen Chose the Columbus Region—and Why It Matters The global biopharmaceutical giant’s $365 million investment will have far-reaching impacts. By Evan Weese Downtown Columbus

In June, biopharmaceutical giant Amgen said it would invest $365 million to build a cutting-edge manufacturing facility in New Albany. The 270,000-square-foot building will feature Amgen’s most advanced assembly and packaging capabilities for medicines to be distributed in the U.S., supporting a global supply chain network amid growing demand for Amgen medicines. The direct impacts on the Columbus Region are enormous, including the creation of 400 new jobs and an annual payroll of $40 million, but the ripple effects are just as exciting. With revenues of more than $25 billion in 2020, Amgen is a global pioneer in restoring health and providing therapies for those fighting serious illnesses. “There was a solid base and a lot of momentum, and then all of a sudden— boom—Amgen comes in and you’ve got this really strong, globally respected player,” says Matt McQuade, managing director of business development for One Columbus, who helped Amgen in its site selection process. “All of a sudden people say, ‘Wow, there is a lot going on in Columbus.’ So, it’s going to greatly enhance our ability to continue to grow the industry.”

Photo courtesy One Columbus

In a string of economic development wins for the Columbus Region, one stands out for its uniqueness and global prestige.

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Landing Amgen

Amgen’s facility in New Albany will feature advanced digital automation technologies.

Based in Thousand Oaks, California, with operations spanning the globe, Amgen searched for a new site that would provide access to a diverse and growing talent pool, allow favorable operating costs and be centrally located from a logistics perspective. Amgen started its six-month search process with about a dozen U.S. markets in consideration, says Sandra Rodriguez Toledo, vice president of site operations for Amgen, who will be overseeing the new facility. The Columbus Region, and New Albany specifically, checked those boxes and more with a highly accessible site on Route 161 within the New Albany International Business Park. But land readiness ultimately sealed the deal. Amgen credits the city of New Albany, The New Albany Company and their partners for having a shovel-ready site equipped with infrastructure that was zoned and prepared for competitive incentives. “We believe that prepared communities win,” says Jennifer Chrysler, director of community development for the city of New Albany. “Attracting biotech investment is something that One Columbus has foreseen over the last decade or more. We have been assessing our strengths, our weaknesses and what we need to do in order to win big projects—everything from the availability of land, utility infrastructure and relationships with community stakeholders. So, that level of preparedness is what brings a company like Amgen to a community like ours.” The collaborative spirit is continuing beyond the site selection process to keep the project on schedule. “Speed—that’s the other thing that is just so important about these companies in the biopharmaceutical industry,” says William Ebbing, president of The New Albany Company. “They have a schedule that they’ve got to hit. Having the infrastructure in place helps the city move at the speed of business, not the speed of government.” When it comes time to build out the workforce, Amgen will be supported by Ohio State University, which is codeveloping an internship program and other experiential learning opportunities. Amgen’s presence illustrates the growing demand for STEM students graduating from the region’s educal

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A rendering of the new Amgen facility in New Albany

tion institutions and underscores the importance of the new, $1 billion-plus Innovation District funded by JobsOhio, Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “We are collaborating to have a strong strategy for the recruitment process—by next year we should have around 150 associates already working on this project,” says Rodriguez Toledo, adding that Amgen is partnering with other local organizations in its workforce development efforts. “I haven’t seen this type of support [before]. It’s completely different, and it has been outstanding.”

A Novel Approach Amgen expects its facility to be up and running by the first quarter of 2024. With an expected annual payroll of $40 million, Amgen will be hiring technician, engineering, quality assurance, quality control, administrative and management positions with an average annual salary of about $100,000. Amgen’s facility will be far from the typical manufacturing operation, incorporating some of the most advanced digital automation technologies to make decisions based on real-time data. “It’s a very sophisticated type of manufacturing that enhances the market,” says One Columbus president and CEO Kenny McDonald.

The New Albany operation also will be the most sustainable facility in Amgen’s network, using innovative technology to reduce carbon emissions, as well as energy, water and waste consumption. The Amgen facility in New Albany will be built to exacting environmental standards—consistent with the company’s goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2027—and is expected to be LEED-certified. Diversity, equity and inclusion will be central to Amgen’s presence in the Columbus Region, as well. The company is a founding member of OneTen, a global coalition of large companies aiming to hire 1 million Black Americans into well-paying jobs over the next 10 years, with a specific focus

“Diversity, inclusion and belonging is an important part of Amgen culture. We believe that in order to hire the best talent, it’s important to consider candidates that are diverse in background and experience.” Sandra Rodriguez Toledo, Amgen site operations VP

on those without a four-year college degree. “Diversity, inclusion and belonging is an important part of Amgen culture. We believe that in order to hire the best talent, it’s important to consider candidates that are diverse in background and experience,” says Rodriguez Toledo, who, as a Latina woman from Puerto Rico, says she exemplifies the company’s emphasis on diversity. “So we are committed to having the best talent and implementing Amgen’s culture that honors diversity and promotes inclusion and belonging.” Adds McDonald: “You just see it when you look at the composition of their team in the room. They’re actually living it,” he says. “So we have a lot of respect for the company, their culture, how they have approached the project and what their priorities are.” Amgen plans to be a supportive member of the Central Ohio community, not merely a large company “helicoptering” in from out-of-state. Its Amgen Foundation has contributed more than $325 million to nonprofit organizations advancing excellence in science education and strengthening the communities where the company’s employees live and work. “They are very philanthropic,” Chrysler says. “They have invested back heavily in the communities they are located in, and they share some

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commonalities with us with respect to sustainability, health and wellness, and lifelong learning—that was just pretty remarkable and made them a great fit for us.” Those “soft” characteristics strongly factored into Amgen’s site selection process, unlike some searches that revolve only around the technical aspects of a project. “In the company’s last visit, before they made their decision, most of the conversation was about giving back,” Chrysler says. “They wanted to understand our philanthropic efforts here and what that environment was like. That was very unique from a site selection standpoint, to spend that last meeting not talking about the technical aspects of the project, but really focusing on the community efforts. And that is part of what makes them special.” McDonald says the approach will have a far-reaching impact in the Columbus Region. “One of the first things they asked when the project was about to become public was, ‘Who should we be talking to? Who are the community

organizations that we should start connecting with to actually become a part of the community?,’ ” he says. “The economic impact is great, but it’s certainly enhanced by who the company is, because their impact is not just going to be economic. “Over time, they’re going to become a major employer in our market,” McDonald says. “I think of all the great things that major employers do for us—their contributions are reaching nonprofits across the city and across the region.”

Feather in the Cap Amgen’s large investment is another feather in the cap of the Columbus Region’s growing profile in the industry. In the early 2000s, Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital laid the groundwork with academic research in the field of cell and gene therapy. Since then, a number of major investments and expansions have been announced, with most coming in just the past two years: Sarepta Therapeutics is expanding its Gene Therapy Center of Excellence,

AmplifyBio is focusing on the research and development of next-generation therapies from a lab in West Jefferson, Forge Biologics is setting up gene therapy manufacturing in Grove City and Nationwide Children’s launched Andelyn Biosciences to manufacture gene therapy products for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. (See Page 16 for more on these projects.) It all adds up to the Columbus Region being on the cutting edge of innovation in biotech. Amgen, being one of 30 companies making up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, brings a new level of visibility. The company employs nearly 25,000 people worldwide. “I think the best marketing we can do is through these success stories,” McDonald says. “Success begets success, especially in this market. These are more than just powerful testimonies; they’re a validation of some of the work that people have done in this region for decades.”

Evan Weese is a freelance writer based in Columbus.

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Resilience and Growth

Becoming a World-Class Biotech Hub Research, investment and collaboration put the Columbus Region on the map. By Evan Weese

wide Children’s Hospital planted the seeds years ago with academic research. The Abigail Wexner Research Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, a global leader in gene therapy, is prompting an outgrowth of related investment and spinoffs that are beginning to bear fruit. Nationwide Children’s formed Andelyn Biosciences, an affiliate company that will manufacture gene therapy

The Columbus Region has long been known as a hub for the financial services, insurance and retail business industries. Now, it is time to add biotech to the list. From West Jefferson to New Albany, from medical breakthroughs to cutting-edge technology, a series of large successes have made the region a major player in the rapidly growing cell and gene therapy space. Atop the groundwork laid 20 years ago, the Columbus Region has quietly become home to one of the most dynamic life sciences industries in the country. And finally, people outside the region are starting to take notice.

products for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. When it begins operating in 2023, the company’s $200 million, 140,000-square-foot facility will be the Columbus Region’s first commercial-scale Good Manufacturing Practices clinical manufacturing facility devoted to gene therapies. Sarepta Therapeutics, a leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, is expanding its Gene

The regional growth strategy laid out by One Columbus involves developing and attracting the world’s most competitive companies, growing a highly adaptive workforce, preparing communities for the future and inspiring innovation from corporate, academic and public sectors. Biotech, and specifically cell and gene therapy, is proving to be one of those bright spots of innovation. The emerging field, which involves transplanting human cells or administering genetic material to treat disease, could bring Columbus-made innovations to patients around the world. The Columbus Region, with its complete biotech value chain, is positioned to succeed in a way that few other regions in the country are. Ohio State University and Nation-

Photo courtesy One Columbus

All the Pieces

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Therapy Center of Excellence by opening a $30 million, 85,000-square-foot research facility near Easton Town Center. The Cambridge-based company has a long-term relationship with Nationwide Children’s and acquired the hospital’s Myonexus Therapeutics spinoff. Formed in May with $200 million in funding, the Battelle-founded startup AmplifyBio is focusing on the research

“It’s remarkable how much investment comes into the area. Not only do I find a real hotbed of activity and technology, but the most pleasantly surprising thing is really the people and culture of this area.”

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and development of next-generation therapies from a 210,000-square-foot lab in West Jefferson. Forge Biologics in June announced a $120 million capital raise, the largest Series B fundraise in the history of the state, to support gene therapy manufacturing in Grove City. “It’s remarkable how much investment comes into the area,” says J. Kelly Ganjei, president and CEO of AmplifyBio. “Not only do I find a real hotbed of activity and technology, but the most pleasantly surprising thing is really the people and culture of this area. There are so many other companies that are in a similar space to ours that are customers or partners.” From the manufacturing and distribution capabilities of Cardinal Health to the pool of investment capital available through Rev1, the Ohio Innovation Fund and Drive Capital, the region is flush with resources to support a growing industry. On top of all the infrastructure in place, One Columbus, JobsOhio and local governments are stepping up business attraction efforts to make large investments financially viable. “We’re a fully capable region,” says Kenny McDonald, president and CEO

“We’re a fully capable region, and we have people knocking on our door because of that.” Kenny McDonald, president and CEO of One Columbus

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of One Columbus. “And we have people knocking on our door because of that.” The global pharmaceutical giant Amgen is among those who came knocking. In June, Amgen announced plans to build a $365 million, 270,000-squarefoot manufacturing facility in the New Albany International Business Park. (See Page 12 for more on this project.) The shovel-ready site and cooperation among local stakeholders were among major selling points for the Columbus Region. “A collaborative spirit, ‘The Columbus Way,’ is something that I think is top of mind for a lot of people,” says Eddie Pauline, president and CEO of nonprofit trade group BioOhio. “When I’ve been involved in attraction projects, clients have appreciated the unified front that the region demonstrates when it’s attracting companies. It’s rare for a community to be so aligned when it comes to these types of projects. To have OSU, Nationwide Children’s, One Columbus, local governments, all activated very quickly to create an attractive package—that’s

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something unique and something that a lot of other communities cannot execute as efficiently.”

Despite its recent entry into the industry, the Columbus Region is firmly on the map as a national hub for biotech, with a particular specialty in cell and gene therapy. Still, the best days may lie ahead. “This is an emerging market. We’re in the early innings in this space,” says Michael Triplett, co-founder and CEO of ArmatusBio, who previously led Nationwide Children’s spinoff Myonexus Therapeutics. “And then, 10 or 20 years down the road, we may think of biotech like we think of financial services or

“This is an emerging market. We’re in the early innings in this space. And then, 10 or 20 years down the road, we may think of biotech like we think of financial services or banking here, and it becomes an economic pillar of this community.” Michael Triplett, co-founder and CEO of ArmatusBio

Photo courtesy One Columbus

A Growing Impact

banking here, and it becomes an economic pillar of this community. I think this is a generational opportunity.” Developing and attracting talent will be a focal point. In the last five years, colleges and universities in the Columbus Region have granted more than 8,700 degrees in biology, biomedical science, chemistry and pharmacy. There are plenty more jobs to fill, ranging from accounting, human resources and legal— and of course, bioengineers. With a $100 million pledge from JobsOhio, two area powerhouses— Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital—are building a new, Nationwide Children’s Hospital

“I think we’ve reached a point where the city and the state and the institutions should be really proud of what they have done,” says Matthew McFarland, vice president of commercialization and industry relations at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. “But in no way, shape or form do I think we have done everything we can do. I think we’re all still hungry.”

Photo courtesy One Columbus

270-acre, $1 billion Innovation District that will bring together students, researchers, city leaders, Fortune 500 companies and new startups to spur growth in the STEM community. Companies are not just making investments, but also putting down roots in the area. “We’re not just a Boston company that’s dabbling in Columbus,” says Dr. Louise Rodino-Klapac, senior vice president of gene therapy for Sarepta. “We’re here to stay and build our genetic center of excellence here in Columbus for a long-term opportunity. It’s definitely been seen as a growing hub for biotech and [is] well-recognized for the talent.” The Columbus Region has an opportunity to establish an even stronger identity in the space. After all, it was only about 20 years ago that Nationwide Children’s launched its Center for Gene Therapy.

Evan Weese is a freelance writer based in Columbus.

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Resilience and Growth

The Region at a Glance Explore the 11 counties of the Columbus Region and how they’re thriving amid economic uncertainty. By Laurie Allen

county’s residents have a bachelor’s degree. Despite its inland location 25 miles north of Downtown Columbus, it has 140 miles of shoreline along its rivers, lakes and reservoirs—the most of any county in the state.

With a population of more than 2.2 million people, the Columbus Region is a dynamic metropolitan area experiencing unprecedented growth. As home to one of the youngest and most educated populations in the country, its 11 counties are helping shape the future of commerce, technology and education. The Region is diverse, with a combination of global companies and home-grown businesses, land use ranging from rural to industrial, and an abundance of educational opportunities and natural resources. In the face of an unprecedented pandemic and uncertainty, these counties have demonstrated resilience and innovative thinking and are poised to prosper.

Population

214,124

Of note In the last year, Delaware County deployed financial resources, professional expertise and forward thinking to help sustain small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Small Business Protection Program provided $15,000 in grants to 130 businesses with fewer than 25 full-time employees who were affected by the pandemic. Another 21 businesses with 50 or fewer employees took advantage of free consultation services offered through the Small Business Assistance Program, which provided counseling on human resources, financing, legal and Small Business Administration grants.

D EL A W A R E

Median age

38.8

Households

69,985

Median household income

$106,908

Knowledge is an asset in Delaware County, which is home to three institutions of higher education: Columbus State Community College (Delaware Campus), Methodist Theological School and Ohio Wesleyan University. More than half of the

Photo courtesy One Columbus

Small businesses in Delaware County benefited from local government support during the pandemic.

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Photo courtesy One Columbus

FRANKLIN

Fairfield County residents enjoy 5,000plus acres of parkland.

As the fourth-fastest-growing county in Ohio over the past decade, Fairfield County is home to more than 3,000 businesses amid a wide range of community surroundings, both metropolitan and rural. Fairfield County is home to more than 5,000 acres of parkland and preserves, as well as the scenic Hocking Hills and a rich history in farming and manufacturing.

million in the center, which focuses on certificates that lead not only to jobs, but also potentially to college degrees. It’s a resource for local businesses interested in ramping up employees’ skills and has space for expanding and new businesses that are looking to call Fairfield County home.

The A&F Challenge in New Albany

Population

158,921

Median age

39.2

Photo courtesy One Columbus

fairfi e l d

Franklin County is at the epicenter of the state’s political, economic and social presence. Ohio’s capital city, Columbus, is located in Franklin County, which is home to thriving businesses, outstanding educational institutions and strong public-private sector alliances. Rapidly becoming known as a tech hub, Franklin County attracts renowned researchers, entrepreneurs, millennial talent and forward-thinking leaders.

Of note

With an eye toward developing a robust workforce, the Fairfield County Workforce Center opened its doors in 2021. The county, in partnership with Ohio University (Lancaster Campus) and Hocking College, transformed a 72,000-square-foot building into a center that provides training for in-demand jobs at local companies, with a focus on manufacturing, skilled trades and health care. The state of Ohio invested $1.25

Franklin County’s initiative to provide more affordable housing kicked off this year with the commitment of $4 million to fund four developments that would create 273 apartments for lower-income residents. It’s part of the county’s plan to allocate more than $65 million over the next decade for developing 2,000-plus affordable housing units.

Households

56,339

Median household income

$67,609

(Franklin County cont. on p. 24) l

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To receive the seed money, developers must obtain a federal 4 percent Low Income Housing Tax Credit, plus whatever additional capital is needed to make their projects viable. Funding for the developments comes from a Magnet Fund program established in Franklin County’s Economic Development and Planning office last year.

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the Columbus metro area. The county seat, Mount Vernon, is the largest city and is surrounded by development-minded communities. Knox County is an educated community, with highly ranked schools and higher education centers, including Kenyon College in Gambier and Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

Population

62,721 Population

1,323,807 Median age

39.4 Median age

34.1

Photo courtesy One Columbus

Franklin County (cont.)

Mount Vernon Nazarene University

multifunctional complex with both manufacturing and office space. The site is being re-branded as Cooper Progress Park, a reference to the property’s first occupant, C&E Cooper Iron Works, established in 1833.

LICKING Households

23,248 Households

511,447 Median household income

$57,749 Median household income

$61,305 KNOX

Gifted with some of the finest landscape views in Ohio, Knox County offers a rural lifestyle while being deeply connected to

Of note A 47-acre property that sat vacant for three years came back under local control last year when the Knox County Land Bank took possession of the former Siemens Energy facility in Mount Vernon. “This is a triumphant day in the history of Knox County manufacturing,” said Land Bank president Jeff Gottke at the time of the agreement. “We have a real possibility, for the first time in three years, to have manufacturing activity back on this property.” The facility had been under outside management for several years before being shuttered in 2018. Planners envision a multi-tenant,

The perfect mix of small-town charm and big-city benefits, Licking County offers a high quality of life and low cost of living. The county’s strong infrastructure, diverse workforce and incentives for new and growing businesses are assets for economic growth. Three universities (including the private, liberal arts college Denison University), two technical schools and more than 20 public and private schools help create a diverse and talented workforce.

Of note For more than a year, a diverse public-private collaborative has pooled time, talent and funding resources to help build a highly competitive workforce in Licking

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County. The consortium worked with a consultant to conduct a workforce needs assessment study and used data specific to Licking County to create toolkits for career pathways targeting health care, IT, manufacturing and warehousing. The consortium includes GROW

Licking County Community Improvement Corp., Licking County Educational Services Center, Central Ohio Technical College, the Licking County Chamber of Commerce, Career and Technical Education Centers of Licking County, and OhioMeansJobs – Licking County.

Population

178,519

Median age

39.7

Households

64,035

Median household income Denison University File/Doral Chenoweth III/The Columbus Dispatch

$64,589

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LOGAN

46,150

Home to thriving communities like Indian Lake, West Liberty and Bellefontaine, Logan County is situated at the highest point in Ohio, 60 minutes from Downtown Columbus. Industry is expanding and continuing to invest in the county; nearly 10,000 people commute here daily to work. The county is home to the Transportation Research Center Inc. (TRC), the largest independent vehicle test facility and proving ground in the country.

Of note Coworking space isn’t just for urban entrepreneurs. Bellefontaine now has its own state-of-theart professional coworking site, called BUILD CoWork + Space. The 8,000-square-foot facility is designed as a place for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs to connect, collaborate and thrive. Small Nation, a Bellefontaine company that works to develop, revitalize and build business solu-

Median age

41.4

File/Shari Lewis/The Columbus Dispatch

Population

Farming is a major industry in Madison County.

MADISON Households

18,677

Median household income

$56,754 tions for small towns, opened the flagship BUILD location in March. The facility has both private offices and executive suites, plus such shared resources as on-site business training, conference rooms, office equipment, Wi-Fi and a rooftop patio. Membership levels include a daily “drop-in” fee.

Madison County is a rich combination of agricultural heritage, a growing business and residential sector and a strong sense of community. With 88 percent of its land being operated as farms, Madison County ranks fourth in Ohio for both corn and soybean production. It’s also home to strong local school districts and successful companies in a variety of industries.

File/Fred Squillante/The Columbus Dispatch

Of note

The Transportation Research Center in East Liberty

Madison County is evolving. In addition to industrial growth, the county continues to see more interest and development in the single- and multi-family housing industry. School and community leaders are watching the growth and planning for an influx of students, as residential housing in Plain City has the potential to grow by 1,400 units in the next three to five years. The proposed developments include: • 500 to 700 units on 335 acres along State Route 161 (M/I Homes)

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•2 50 single-family homes and condominiums on 104 acres along Lafayette-Plain City Road (Highland Real Estate Group/DR Horton) • 235 single-family homes on 98 acres along State Route 42 (Plain City One LLC/Evergreen Land Co.)

Population

48,824

Median age

40.8

Households

15,013

Median household income

$68,022 Marion

Marion County is an innovative and evolving community with a key focus on workforce development. With numerous educational offerings such as RAMTEC, an indus-

(Marion County cont. on p. 28) l

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Marion County (cont.) try leader providing robotics and advanced manufacturing certifications, and a collaborative business environment, Marion is a place where both companies and families can prosper.

Revitalization continues in Marion County, which has attracted more than $500 million in business investments and welcomed new businesses and expansions that have created more than 700 higher-paying jobs since 2015. In 2020, Jaguar Transport Holdings, a transportation and logistics service company headquartered in Joplin, Missouri, acquired the Marion Industrial Center, renaming it the Marion Industrial Rail Park to reflect an enhanced focus on rail infrastructure and client services. The company is investing in the rail park’s physical infrastructure by repairing and replacing fixed components and is working to meet the needs of new and exist-

Population

65,093

Photo courtesy One Columbus

Of note

Marion Industrial Center Rail Loop

Median age

41.3 ing clients. Company leaders are enthusiastic about the growth they’ve seen at the park in several industries, including lumber, metals and automotive parts. The 500-acre site has 8 miles of rail infrastructure, 1.55 million square feet of distribution facilities and transloading operations, as well as rail switching and railcar maintenance. Another 200 acres are available for future development.

Households

34,737

Median household income

$47,498

MORROW Population

34,950

Home to global employers and local companies, Morrow County continues to strengthen its employment and economic base.

Median age

42.2

Of note Morrow County is home to a regional distribution center for Dollar Tree, North America’s leading operator of discount variety stores with 15,000 outlets in the U.S. and Canada. The $1.2-million distribution center, which opened in Marengo in 2019, serves Dollar Tree and Family Dollar stores in Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West

Households

14,400

Median household income

$59,452

Photo courtesy One Columbus

Mount Gilead State Park in Morrow County

Virginia. The project brought 400 jobs to Morrow County and made Dollar Tree the second-largest employer behind Cardington Yutaka Technologies, Inc. Lubrication Specialties, Inc., (LSI) in Mount Gilead has grown over the past 17 years from a home-based business to a recognized brand, selling its products directly to major retailers and distributors nationwide. The company produces industry-leading performance additives and oils for the lubrication and automotive industries, including its Hot Shot’s Secret brand, which is among the fastest-growing performance lubricants in the country.

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Subscribe to

Columbus Monthly is among the best city magazines in the country. Don’t take our word for it. Ask the national City and Regional Magazine Association, which honored Columbus Monthly with first-place honors for general excellence in 2018 (we were among the top five magazines in 2020, 2019 and 2017) for our circulation size. Subscribe and you’ll get 12 issues of Columbus Monthly, plus six niche pubs. That’s a lot of award-winning journalism for $1.50 a month.

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

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Downtown Circleville

P I C K AWAY

With a current population of more than 58,000, Pickaway County is poised to grow by more than 16,000 residents by the year 2030. The area has a rural charm and strong work ethic, yet with all the comforts of being situated in a large metropolitan area.

Photo courtesy One Columbus

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Of note Pickaway County businesses received a boost during a year of challenge and uncertainty with the help of a new inclusion grant program that awarded $175,000 to eligible companies. Pickaway Progress Parkway partnered with JobsOhio and One Columbus to provide financial support to five local companies for improvements or expansions. Companies that received the funding are American Wood Fibers, EG Industries, FORJAK Industrial, TriMold, LLC, and Utility Truck Equipment. The JobsOhio Inclusion Grant provides financial support for eligible projects in designated distressed communities and/or for businesses owned by underrepresented populations across the state.

Population

62,784

Median age

Households

22,410

union Median household income

$86,715 File/Fred Squillante/The Columbus Dispatch

Honda’s Performance Manufacturing Center in Marysville

Population

58,539

Median age

39.7

Union County is the secondfastest growing county in Ohio, with a strong emphasis on economic diversification and vitality. Union County provides businesses with many advantages, including a diverse and highly skilled workforce, growing population and low cost of living and doing business, plus direct access to surrounding metro areas.

Of note Households

21,683

Median household income

$63,633 30

In a turbulent year dominated by COVID-19, Union County pivoted its priorities to business triage, advocacy and recovery. The Union County 3R (Reconnect, Rebuild, Recover) Emergency Relief Grant Program provided more than $220,000 in emergency financial assistance to 44 small businesses. The program was developed to

provide relief to businesses that suffered economic losses and hardship as a result of COVID-19. Contributions for the program came from across Union County, including private businesses, individuals, community organizations, the Union County commissioners and the city of Marysville. Virtual Q&A sessions for the business community, a new COVID-19 resource website, social media campaign and e-newsletter kept businesses and the public informed and involved throughout.

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Electrion Co-Founders

Anita Nti, Jacob Buaful, Jr., Danny Freudiger and Caleb Buaful Class of 2022 Student Entrepreneurs

Championing human potential through talent and innovative startups At Ohio State, we’re accelerating new partnerships and inspiring the next generation of innovators to build more vibrant futures in central Ohio — like Electrion, a sustainability startup bringing affordable battery packs to market. Together, we’re moving the Columbus region forward.

Scan to explore ways to partner with Ohio State

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WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE BEEN NAMED A TOP WORKPLACE TH FOR THE 7 YEAR AND A TOP WORKPLACE USA 2020

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File/Fred Squillante/Columbus Dispatch

Ohio Supreme Court

Columbus Legal Guide Compiled by LINDA DEITCH KEY: Partners

Number of partners in the Columbus region FTE attorneys

Number of attorneys (including partners) in the Columbus region Practice area(s)

Primary area(s) of practice limited to three Managing partner

Managing partner in the Columbus region

Allen Stovall Neuman & Ashton

Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 7 Practice area(s): Family

17 S. High St., Suite 1220, Columbus 43215 614-221-8500 ASNAlaw.com Partners: 6 FTE attorneys: 10

law; criminal defense; personal injury Managing partner: Amy Levine

Practice area(s):

Bankruptcy; litigation; taxation Managing partner: na

Amy M. Levine & Associates Attorneys at Law 3 S. High St. New Albany 43054 614-224-5291 ohiowvlaw.com

Artz Dewhirst & Wheeler LLP 560 E. Town St. Columbus 43215 614-221-0944 adwllp.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 7 Practice area(s):

Domestic law; estate planning; civil litigation Managing partner:

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Barnes & Thornburg LLP

Columbus Legal Guide Bailey Cavalieri LLC 10 W. Broad St. Suite 2100, Columbus 43215 614-221-3155 baileycav.com Partners: 29 FTE attorneys: 54 Practice area(s): Corporate; litigation/trial practice; probate/ estates/trusts

41 S. High St. Suite 3300 Columbus 43215 614-628-0096 btlaw.com Partners: 15 FTE attorneys: 24 Practice area(s):

Healthcare; litigation/ trial practice; real estate/construction Managing partner:

Bill Nolan

Barr Jones & Associates LLP 150 E. Mound St. Suite 200 Columbus 43215 614-702-2222 barrjoneslegal.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 4

Managing partner:

Michael R. Becker

Behal Law Group LLC 501 S. High St. Suite 200 Columbus 43215 614-643-5050 behallaw.com Partners: 5 FTE attorneys: 7 Practice area(s):

Domestic relations; business law/ litigation; probate and estate planning Managing partner:

Bob Behal

Benesch 41 S. High St. Columbus 43215 614-223-9300 beneschlaw.com Partners: 19 FTE attorneys: 33

Bricker & Eckler LLP 100 South Third St. Columbus 43215 614-227-2300 bricker.com Partners: 71 FTE attorneys: 113

Bridges Jillisky Streng Weller & Gullifer LLC 302 S. Main St. Marysville 43040 937-403-9033 cfbjs.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 4 Practice area(s):

Domestic relations; bankruptcy; criminal law

Practice area(s):

Health; construction; litigation

Managing Partners:

Managing partner:

Andrew Jones, Jason Barr

Frank Carsonie

Matt Weller

Bergman & Yiangou

Brosius Johnson & Griggs LLC

Practice area(s):

Litigation; healthcare; labor and employment Managing partner:

Gary Wadman

Barkan Meizlish DeRose Wentz McInerney Peifer LLP 4200 Regent St. Suite 210 Columbus 43219 614-221-4221 barkanmeizlish.com Partners: 7 FTE attorneys: 10 Practice area(s):

Wage and hour; personal injury; workers’ compensation Managing partner:

Bob DeRose

7259 Sawmill Road Dublin 43016 614-210-1840 ohiocounsel.com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 8

Practice area(s):

Probate; bankruptcy; domestic relations

475 Metro Place South Suite 150 Dublin 43017 614-469-4778 beckerlilly.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 3 Practice area(s):

Estate planning; probate; corporate

Derek Shaw

Carlile Patchen & Murphy LLP 950 Goodale Blvd. Suite 200 Columbus 43212 614-228-6135 cpmlaw.com Partners: 12 FTE attorneys: 33 Practice area(s):

Business law; litigation; family wealth/ estate planning Managing partner:

Jane Higgins Marx

Carpenter Lipps & Leland LLP 280 N. High St. Suite 1300 Columbus 43215 614-365-4100 carpenterlipps.com Partners: 21 FTE attorneys: 36

1500 W. Third Ave. #310 Columbus 43212 614-340-3895 clarkandlowe.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 3 Practice area(s):

Estate planning; probate; commercial litigation Managing partner:

David K. Lowe

Colley Shroyer & Abraham Co. LPA 536 S. High St. Columbus 43215 614-228-6453 colleyshroyerabraham. com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 7 Practice area(s):

Wrongful death; personal injury; medical malpractice Managing partner:

Daniel N. Abraham

Collins & Slagle Co. LPA

Calvin “Tom” Johnson Jr.

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Michael H. Carpenter

Calfee Halter & Griswold LLP

Chappano Wood PLL

Probate litigation; domestic relations; civil litigation

Real property tax/ valuation appeals; real estate transactions; probate

1200 Huntington Center 41 S. High St. Columbus 43215 614-621-1500 calfee.com Partners: 7 FTE attorneys: 20

1625 Goodale Blvd. Columbus 43212 614-228-4422 cwpll.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 4

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Charles L. Bluestone

Government relations

Business; international;

Robert D. Bergman

Becker & Lilly

Managing partner:

Clark and Lowe LLC

Litigation; energy; public policy

Managing partner:

Estate planning; commercial transactions; civil litigation David C. Barrett Jr.

1600 Dublin Road Suite 100 Columbus 43215 614-464-3563 BJGlaw.net Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 4 Practice area(s): Real estate/construction; local government; condo/HOA/planned community

Bankruptcy; employment; discrimination

Managing partner: Perry M.

351 W. Nationwide Boulevard Columbus 43215 614-228-1144 collins-slagle.com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 3

Practice area(s):

Managing partner:

Calig Law Firm

Practice area(s):

Robert Dunn

3099 Sullivant Ave. Columbus 43204 614-279-8276 byattorneys.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 3

Chappano

Leah Pappas Porner

Jim Flynn

Workers’ compensation; Social Security; estate planning/administration

Barrett Easterday Cunningham & Eselgroth LLP

Managing partner:

Public sector and finance; litigation; energy and education

Practice area(s):

200 Civic Center Drive Suite 200 Columbus 43215 614-228-1541 bakerlaw.com Partners: 29 FTE attorneys: 68

intellectual property

513 E. Rich St. Columbus 43215 614-252-2300 caliglaw.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 2

Practice area(s):

Managing partner:

BakerHostetler

and legislation; corporate and finance; litigation

Bluestone Law Group LLC 141 E. Town St. Columbus 43215 614-220-5900 bluestonelawgroup. com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 2 Practice area(s):

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Managing partner:

Ehren Slagle

Colllins Roche Utley & Garner 655 Metro Place South Suite 200 Dublin 43017 614-901-9600 cruglaw.com

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Donahey Law Firm LLC

Fishel Downey Albrecht & Riepenhoff LLP

Partners: 26 FTE attorneys: 49 Practice area(s):

Golden & Meizlish Co. LPA

Corporate; probate/ estates/trusts; real estate/construction

495 S. High St. Columbus 43215 614-224-8166 donaheylaw.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 7

Government services; labor & employment; business litigation

923 E. Broad St. Columbus 43205 614-258-1983 golmeizlaw.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 3

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

7775 Walton Parkway Suite 200 New Albany 43054 614-221-1216 fisheldowney.com Partners: 7 FTE attorneys: 6

JamesVonau

Personal injury

Practice area(s):

Managing partner:

Litigation; labor & employment; workers’ compensation

Columbus 43215 614-242-4242 DeckerVonau.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 4 Practice area(s):

Columbus Legal Guide Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 7 Practice area(s):

Personal injury; motor vehicle accident; insurance coverage Management committee

Connor Kimmet & Hafenstein LLP 2000 W. Henderson Road Suite 460 Columbus 43220 614-779-0675 ckhlaw.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 7

Dickie McCamey & Chilcote 250 Civic Center Drive Suite 280 Columbus 43215 614-258-6000 dmclaw.com Partners: 5 FTE attorneys: 10 Practice area(s):

Richard Donahey

Dreher Tomkies LLP 2750 Huntington Center 41 S. High St. Columbus 43215 614-628-8000 dltlaw.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 7

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Darrell L. Dreher

Employee discrimination & harassment; corporate compliance & governance; litigation

Managing partner:

Eastman & Smith Ltd.

Managing partner:

150 E. Gay St. Suite 2400 Columbus 43215 614-744-2570 dickinsonwright.com Partners: 17 FTE attorneys: 32

100 E. Broad St., Suite 2400 Columbus 43215 614-564-1445 eastmansmith. com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 8

Kenneth Hafenstein

Practice area(s):

Corporate; real estate; cannabis Managing partner:

Environmental; labor & employment; litigation

Scot Crow

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Workers’ compensation; Social Security; personal injury

Crabbe Brown & James LLP 500 S. Front St. Suite 1200 Columbus 43215 614-228-5511 cbjlawyers.com Partners: 7 FTE attorneys: 10

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

Mark A. Shaw

Emens Wolper Jacobs & Jasin

Managing partner:

191 W. Nationwide Boulevard Suite 300 Columbus 43215 614-628-6880 dinsmore.com Partners: 42 FTE attorneys: 88

Larry James

Practice area(s):

Decker Vonau LLC

Corporate; healthcare; litigation/ trial practice

Practice area(s):

Managing partner:

Stacey Borowicz

Beatrice Wolper

Practice area(s):

Corporate; insurance defense; business litigation

620 E. Broad St. Suite 200

Fisher & Phillips LLP

Banking/financial services

Practice area(s):

Dickinson Wright PLLC

Melanie J. Williamson

250 West St. Suite 400 Columbus 43215 614-453-7606 fisherphillips.com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 7

Commercial litigation; medical malpractice; transportation litigation Joseph J. Golian

Managing partner:

One Easton Oval Suite 550 Columbus 43219 614-414-0888 ewjjlaw.com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 5 Family business; oil & gas; estate

Managing partner:

Steven M. Loewengart

Friedman & Mirman Co. LPA 1320 Dublin Road Suite 101 Columbus 43215 614-221-0090 friedmanmirman.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 8 Practice area(s):

Family law; mediation Managing partner: Denise

Mirman

Frost Brown Todd One Columbus Center 10 W. Broad St. Suite 2300 Columbus 43215 614-464-1211 frostbrowntodd.com

Managing partner:

Noel Shepard

Gallagher Kavinsky & Burkhart LPA 8740 Orion Place Suite 200 Columbus 43240 614-885-9022 gkb-law.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 3 Practice area(s):

Commercial real estate; commercial litigation Managing partner:

Terence L. Gallagher

Gallagher Gams Tallan Barnes & Littrell LLP 471 E. Broad St. 19th Floor Columbus 43215 614-228-5151 ggtbl.com Partners: 8 FTE attorneys: 10 Practice area(s):

Personal injury; medical malpractice; litigation Co-managing Partners: Belinda Barnes and Mitchell Tallan

Gittes Law Group 723 Oak St. Columbus 43205 614-222-4735 gitteslaw.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 3 Practice area(s):

Civil rights; labor/ employment; litigation/trial practice

Practice area(s):

Business law; family law; general litigation Managing partner:

Keith E. Golden

Gordon Bibart LLC 450 W. Wilson Bridge Road Suite 340 Worthington 43085 614-410-9051 gordonbibart.com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 5 Practice area(s):

Corporate; taxation; estates & trusts Managing partner:

John Gordon

Griffith Law Offices 522 N. State St. Westerville 43082 614-890-4543 griffithlaw.org Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 2 Practice area(s):

Real estate; civil trials; estate planning Managing partner:

Charles R. Griffith

Grossman Law Offices 32 W. Hoster St. Suite 100 Columbus 43215 614-221-7711 grossmanlawoffices. com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 9 Practice area(s):

H M c b b n

Family law

Managing partner:

Frederick M. Gittes

Andrew S. Grossman

60 ColumbusCEO l October 2021

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Harris McClellan Binau & Cox

Columbus Legal Guide Hahn Loeser & Parks LLP 65 E. State St. Suite 1400 Columbus 43215 614-221-0240 hahnlaw.com Partners: 7 FTE attorneys: 12 Practice area(s):

Complex commercial litigation; corporate law; employment law/immigration Managing partner:

Leslie S. Johnson

37 W. Broad St. Suite 950 Columbus 43215 614-464-2572 www.hmbc.com Partners: 5 FTE attorneys: 9 Practice area(s):

Managing partner:

Isaac Wiles

Jones Day

Practice area(s):

Edwin J. Hollern

2 Miranova Place Suite 700 Columbus 43215 614-221-2121 isaacwiles.com Partners: 17 FTE attorneys: 39

325 John H. McConnell Boulevard Suite 600 Columbus 43215 614-469-3939 jonesday.com/en/ locations/unitedstates/columbus Partners: 17 FTE attorneys: 50

Family law; civil litigation; estate/ probate

Hrabcak & Co. LPA 67 E. Wilson Bridge Road Worthington 43085 614-781-1400 hrabcaklaw.com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 5

Business litigation; real estate; construction

Practice area(s):

Managing partner: na

Managing partner:

Hollern & Associates 522 N. State St. Suite A Westerville 43082 614-839-5700 ejhlaw.com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 2 Practice area(s):

Insurance coverage; personal injury litigation; criminal defense

Practice area(s):

Business; estate planning/probate; labor & employment

Litigation; business; real estate

Managing partner:

Mark Landes

Johrendt & Holford

Michael Hrabcak

Ice Miller

Practice area(s):

Corporate; litigation/ trial practice; intellectual property Managing partner: Elizabeth

Kessler

250 West St. Columbus 43215 614-462-2700 icemiller.com Partners: 34 FTE attorneys: 74

250 E. Broad St. Suite 200 Columbus 43215 614-464-0082 No website Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 2

Practice area(s):

Corporate transactions; litigation; real estate

Litigation; trust and estates; taxation

8101 N. High St. Suite 370 Columbus 43235 614-882-3100 ohiocondolaw.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 8

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Catherine Strauss

Michael J. Johrendt

Community association law; condominium law; homeowners’ association (HOA) law

Kaman & Cusimano LLC

Managing partner:

Jeffrey Kaman

Kegler Brown Hill + Ritter 65 E. State St. Suite 1800 Columbus 43215 614-462-5400 keglerbrown.com Partners: 41 FTE attorneys: 68 Practice area(s):

Corporate; litigation; government affairs Managing partner:

Chris Weber

Kemp Schaeffer & Rowe Co. LPA The Ohio Supreme Court building was renovated in 2004. File/Fred Squillante/Columbus Dispatch

88 W. Mound St. Columbus 43215 614-224-2678 ksrlegal.com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 8

Managing partner:

Julia Leveridge

Knisley Law Offices 1111 Dublin Road Columbus 43215 614-486-9503 ohiobwclawyers.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 4 Practice area(s):

Ohio workers’ compensation; Social Security disability; personal Injury Managing partner:

Douglas C. Knisley

Kravitz Brown & Dortch LLC 65 E. State St. Suite 200 Columbus 43215 614-464-2000 kravitzllc.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 4 Practice area(s):

Litigation Managing partner:

Michael Dortch

Lane Alton 2 Miranova Place Suite 220 Columbus 43215 614-228-6885 lanealton.com Partners: 20 FTE attorneys: 15 Practice area(s):

Litigation/trial; administrative; real property/construction Managing partner:

Gregory D. Rankin

Lawrence Law Office 496 S. Third St. Columbus 43215 614-228-3664 lawrencelawoffice. com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 7 Practice area(s):

Family law; wills and

62 ColumbusCEO l October 2021

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Jake Blake Litigation

Danny Bowen Intellectual Property

Mike Bowen Government Relations & Litigation

Michael Campbell Intellectual Property

Maryellen Corbett Government Relations & Public Law

Jerry Eichenberger Aviation Law

John Fisher Litigation

Chris Jackson Intellectual Property

Gretchen Jewell Litigation

Chris Jones Environmental Law

Steve Karzmer Corporate and Finance

Al Lucas Litigation

Andrew Mason Intellectual Property

Leah Pappas Porner Columbus Partner-in-Charge; Government Relations

Adam Pretty Corporate and Finance

Billy Raulerson Intellectual Property

Chris Ward Environmental Law & Workers’ Compensation

Steve Wiley Corporate and Finance & Real Estate

Dan Reinhard Josh Sanders Hayley Thomas Government Relations Government Relations Corporate and Finance & Energy and Utilities

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telemarketing law Managing partner:

Michele Shuster

Manos Martin & Pergram Co. LPA

Columbus Legal Guide

50 N. Sandusky St. Delaware 43015 740-363-1313 mmpdlaw.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 6 Practice area(s):

trust; corporate Managing partners: Rodd Lawrence and Linda Lawrence

Lawyers with one mission: to advance yours. Discover the modern law firm. Taftlaw.com

Littler Mendelson 41 S. High St. Suite 3250 Columbus 43215 614-463-4201 littler.com Partners: 12 FTE attorneys: 18

Labor & employment; real estate; probate & estate planning Managing partner:

Stephen D. Martin

Marshall and Forman LLC

Practice area(s):

250 Civic Center Drive Suite 480 Columbus 43215 614-463-9790 marshallforman.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 5

Labor/employment

Practice area(s):

Managing partner: Kevin E.

Civil rights; employment law

Griffith

Managing partner: John S.

Lumpe Raber & Evans 37 W. Broad St. Suite 1140 Columbus 43215 614-221-5212 ohioliquorlaw.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 2 Practice area(s):

Liquor license Managing partners: David Raber Jacob Evans

Mac Murray & Shuster LLP 6525 West Campus Oval Suite 210 New Albany 43054 614-939-9955 mslawgroup.com Partners: 5 FTE attorneys: 12 Practice area(s):

Consumer protection law; privacy/data security; TCPA/

Marshall

Mason Law Firm Co. LLC P.O. Box 2160 Westerville 43086 614-734-9450 maslawfirm.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 2 Practice area(s):

Labor law; employment Law Managing partner:

Ronald L. Mason

Massucci Law Group LLC 250 Civic Center Drive Suite 600 Columbus 43215 614-358-4477 massuccilawgroup. com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 3 Practice areas:

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Practice area(s):

A CIVIL APPROACH TO FAMILY LAW

Managing partner:

Matthew Pritchard

Columbus Legal Guide

• Collaborative Family Law • Divorce • Dissolution • Parental Rights Sowald, Sowald, Anderson, Hawley & Johnson

400 S. Fifth Street, Suite 101, Columbus, OH 43215 • 614.464.1877 • www.sowaldlaw.com

Family/ juvenile; mediation

Firm is AV-rated, the highest designation under Martindale-Hubbell’s peer review rating system.

Managing partner:

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Mazanec Raskin & Ryder Co. LPA

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175 S. Third St. Suite 1000 Columbus 43215 614-228-5931 mrrlaw.com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 7 Practice area(s):

Litigation/trial practice; labor/ employment; local government Managing partner:

Doug Holthus

McDonald Hopkins LLC

Practice Areas Include:

250 West St. Suite 550 Columbus 43215 614-458-0025 mcdonaldhopkins. com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 3

Juvenile Custody

LGBTQ+ Family Formations

General litigation; construction litigation

Grandparents Rights

Managing partner:

Shared Custody Agreements

Dissolution/Divorce

Post-Decree Modifications

Visit us at www.MassucciLawGroup.com

Practice area(s):

Pete Welin

McNees Wallace & Nurick 21 E. State St., 17th Floor, Columbus 43215 614-469-8000 mcneeslaw.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 7

Mowery Youell & Galeano Ltd. 485 Metro Place South, Suite 220 Dublin 43017 614-764-1444 myglaw.com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 5 Practice area(s):

Labor/employment; litigation/trial practice; family/ juvenile Managing partner:

Judith E. Galeano

Newhouse Prophater Kolman & Hogan LLC 3600 Riverside Drive Suite 103 Columbus 43221 614-255-5441 npkhlaw.com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 6 Practice area(s):

Small business/ employment/ insurance defense Managing partner:

William H. Prophater Jr.

Onda LaBuhn Rankin & Boggs Co. LPA 35 N. Fourth St. Suite 100 Columbus 43215 614-716-0500 olrblaw.com Partners: 5 FTE attorneys: 10 Practice area(s):

Corporate general; mergers & acquisitions; commercial real estate transactions Managing partner:

Robert J. Onda

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9/16/21 5:07 PM

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Columbus Legal Guide Petroff Law Offices LLC 140 E. Town St. Suite 1070 Columbus 43215 614-222-4288 petrofflawoffices.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 5 Practice area(s):

Family law; divorce; child custody Managing partner:

Ronald R. Petroff

300 E. Broad St. Suite 590 Columbus 43215 614-629-3000 plunkettcooney.com Partners: 4 FTE attorneys: 6

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Robert J. Tannous

Commercial litigation/trial; probate/estates/ trusts

R.F. Meyer & Associates

Managing partner:

Banking; title insurance; employment

450 W. Wilson Bridge Road Suite 380 Worthington 43085 614-407-7900 elderLaw.us Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 2

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Christina Corl

Probate/estates/ trusts; elder law; Medicaid/Medicare

5115 Parkcenter Ave. Suite 275 Dublin 43017 614-760-1801 rrpg-law.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 5

Practice area(s):

Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP 41 S. High St. Suites 2800-3200 Columbus 43215 614-227-2000 porterwright.com Partners: 61 FTE attorneys: 117 Practice area(s):

Corporate; litigation; labor & employment

Managing partner:

Richard F. Meyer

Reminger Co. LPA 200 Civic Center Drive Suite 800 Columbus 43215 614-228-1311 reminger.com Partners: 18 FTE attorneys: 24

Ronald Fresco

Resch Root Philipps & Graham LLC

Practice areas:

Estate planning; special needs planning; business planning Managing partners: Bill Root Logan Philipps Derek Graham

(Law Offices of) Robert A. Bracco

energy; white collar; litigation

1170 Old Henderson Road Suite 109 Columbus 43220 614-442-1953 braccolawoffice.com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 2

Michael A. Snyder

Practice area(s):

Domestic, business and civil litigation Managing partner:

Robert Bracco

Roetzel & Andress LPA 41 S. High St. 21st Floor Columbus 43215 614-463-9770 ralaw.com Partners: 10 FTE attorneys: 20

400 S. Fifth St. Suite 101 Columbus 43215 614-464-1877 sowaldlaw.com Partners: 5 FTE attorneys: 6 Practice areas: Dissolutions/divorce; custody; probate/ estate planning Managing partner:

Heather G. Sowald

Squire Patton Boggs (US) LLP

Litigation; probate/estates/ trusts; corporate/ transactional Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Erika Haupt

Corporate; litigation/ trial practice; public policy

Practice area(s):

713 S. Front St. Columbus 43206 614-444-3036 splaws.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 4

Managing partner:

Traci Martinez

Standley Law Group LLP

Domestic relations; criminal; OVI

6300 Riverside Drive Dublin 43017 614-792-5555 standleyllp.com Partners: 7 FTE attorneys: 11

Managing partner:

Practice area(s):

Jon J. Saia

Patents; trademarks; copyrights

Practice area(s):

Shumaker Loop & Kendrick LLP

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Sowald Sowald Anderson Hawley & Johnson

2000 Huntington Center 41 S. High St. Columbus 43215 614-365-2700 squirepattonboggs. com Partners: 30 FTE attorneys: 65

(Law Offices of) Saia & Piatt Inc.

Ohio Supreme Court

Managing partner:

41 S. High St. Suite 2400 Columbus 43215 614-628-4438 shumaker.com Partners: 7 FTE attorneys: 10 Practice area(s):

Environmental &

Managing partner:

Jeffrey S. Standley

Stebelton Snider LPA 109 N. Broad St. Suite 200 Lancaster 43130 740-654-4141 stebelton.com Partners: 7 FTE attorneys: 11

68 ColumbusCEO l October 2021

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Columbus Legal Guide Practice area(s): Civil

litigation; family law; transactional law Managing partner:

Todd D. Pechar

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC Huntington Center 41 S. High St. Suite 2200 Columbus 43215 614-221-5100

steptoe-johnson.com Partners: 10 FTE attorneys: 15

law/probate/estate planning

Practice area(s):

Ken Goldberg

Litigation; labor and employment; corporate and transactional

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Managing partner: J.

Kevin West

Strip Hoppers Leithart McGrath & Terlecky Co. LPA 575 S. Third St. Columbus 43215 614-288-6345 columbuslawyer.net Partners: 8 FTE attorneys: 14

Managing partner:

65 E. State St. Suite 1000 Columbus 43215 614-221-2838 taftlaw.com Partners: 24 FTE attorneys: 38

Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 4 Practice area(s):

Elder law including Medicaid planning, estate planning and probate Managing partner:

Richard Taps

Thompson Hine LLP

Managing partner:

41 S. High St. Suite 1700 Columbus 43215 614-469-3200 thompsonhine.com Partners: 17 FTE attorneys: 38

Janica Pierce Tucker

Practice area(s):

Corporate; healthcare; litigation/ trial practice

Practice area(s):

Taps & Sutton LLC

Bankruptcy/ insolvency; business representation/ litigation; family

713 S. Front St. Columbus 43230 614-443-8000 ohioseniorlaw.com

Corporate transactions & securities; business litigation; investment management

Weston Hurd LLP

65 E. State St. Suite 1100 Columbus 43215 614-229-0000 ulmer.com Partners: 6 FTE attorneys: 14

101 E. Town St. Suite 500 Columbus 43215 614-280-0200 westonhurd.com Partners: 5 FTE attorneys: 7

Practice area(s):

Business litigation; intellectual property; business law

Insurance; litigation/ trial practice; real estate/construction

Managing partner:

Alexander M. Andrews

Kevin R. Bush

Vorys Sater Seymour & Pease

Managing partner:

52 E. Gay St. Columbus 43215 614-464-6400 vorys.com Partners: 94 FTE attorneys: 168

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(Law Offices of) William L. Geary Co. LPA 155 W. Main St. Columbus 43215 614-228-1968 columbusfamily lawyer.com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 3

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Michael Martz

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175 S. Third St., Suite 290, Columbus 43215 614-246-2150 walterhav.com Partners: 8 FTE attorneys: 13 Practice area(s):

Business services; healthcare and dental; tax and wealth management

Family law

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250 Civic Center Drive Suite 220 Columbus 43215 614-341-7775 wolinetzlaw.com Partners: 3 FTE attorneys: 5

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Managing partner:

Vince Nardone

Dennis E. Horvath

Weis Law Group LLC

Yavitch & Palmer Co. LPA

22 E. Gay St., Suite 401, Columbus 43215 614-732-5566 woclaw.com Partners: 2 FTE attorneys: 4

511 S. High St. Columbus 43215 614-224-6142 ohiolegaldefense.com Partners: 1 FTE attorneys: 2

Practice area(s):

Family law litigation; collaborative family law

Criminal defense; OVI/DUI defense; white collar crime

Managing partner:

Amy Weis

Stephen E. Palmer

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Health Watch

COVID-19 update Doctors stress importance of vaccines as the powerful delta variant surges. By Laura newpoff

Photo franckreporter/Getty Images

espiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a common virus that causes cold-like symptoms for most people but can lead to bronchiolitis and pneumonia in babies. Dr. Octavio Ramilo has been researching RSV for 26 years and says it’s not uncommon for pediatric hospitals to treat about four or five children afflicted with RSV over any given summer month. This July, Nationwide Children’s Hospital saw 320 cases. Ramilo, the chief of infectious diseases at the hospital, expects the measures people took to ward off COVID-19, including social distancing and mask wearing, suppressed the circulation of certain viruses like RSV and influenza. That changed when Americans began to gather again in late spring and early summer as people began getting vaccines and mask mandates were lifted. The unexpected rise in RSV added more pain to an already strained American healthcare system that caught barely any break from the alpha version of COVID-19 before the delta variant became the predominant strain over the summer. Nationwide Children’s has seen its fair share of COVID patients, and some have been as young as two days old. The rise in RSV and a surge of children in hospital beds because of the delta variant is symbolic of the topsy-turvy nature of the pandemic and the unprecedented situations doctors have faced over the past 18 months. Ramilo, like his peers at other local health systems, says there’s only one way out of the crisis. “We need to vaccinate, we need to vaccinate, we need to vaccinate,” he says.

What is delta? Viruses evolve as they spread and replicate. Flu viruses, for example, constantly change and that’s why its vaccine is updated every year. Delta is the predominant strain of the COVID-19 virus in the U.S. In late June, the seven-day moving average of reported cases was about 12,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By the end of July that number rose to more than 60,000. Dr. Andrew Thomas, chief clinical officer at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, says delta is far more contagious than the original Alpha variant with viral loads in a person’s nose that can be 1,000 times higher. Fully vaccinated people with delta breakthrough cases also can spread the virus to others, according to the CDC. Those factors prompted the CDC to issue new guidance in July that recommended fully vaccinated people wear masks indoors in areas of substantial or high transmission,

which includes Franklin County and most of Ohio. “Delta was a game changer because of its contagiousness,” Thomas says. “Compared to the alpha variant, a smaller amount of droplets need to go from the mouth or nose of an infected person to an exposed person for that person to become infected because of the higher concentration of the virus. Masks are important because people who are vaccinated may not know they have it and now we know they can transmit it.”

Fighting delta While vaccinated people can get the delta variant, the jab has proven effective in terms of hospital stays and death. With nearly 60 percent of our state’s adult population fully vaccinated, most hospitals, Thomas says, are reporting that 85 percent to 90 percent or more of their COVID admissions are patients who are not fully vaccinated. That’s why in addition to his administrative duties and treating patients, Thomas

72 ColumbusCEO l October 2021

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9/16/21 10:47 AM

Consumer Evolution aims to bring together decision-makers and business leaders across Central Ohio to discuss the progression of consumers. Take your business into the future, learn from disruptive newcomers and established brands in the industry, and better understand the changing landscape of logistics, marketing, and workforce.

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spends countless hours educating others about the vaccine, including visits with businesses, media, school districts and other healthcare professionals and public policy makers. Key to fighting vaccine hesitancy, he says, is dispelling the wave of disinformation that’s pumped out to the public by some news outlets and social media channels. Dr. Joseph Gastaldo, who specializes in infectious diseases at OhioHealth, thinks so, too. He has produced hundreds of hours of education about the pandemic and continues to host Facebook live events and podcasts, authors provider communications and conducts media interviews anytime he’s asked. Now that the vaccine is available, he talks with businesses, schools and universities and sports teams about the importance of the shot. “When I hear people are not vaccinated, the first thing I ask them is, ‘Hey, this is what I do for a living, tell me what you have heard. Teach me something that I don’t know,’” he says. He has been able to convince some who were among the hesitant, includ-

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“We need to vaccinate, we need to vaccinate, we need to vaccinate.” Dr. Octavio Ramilo, chief of infectious diseases, Nationwide Children’s Hospital

ing family members from Tuscarawas County, to get the shot. In mid-July he says there were only two COVID patients at Riverside Methodist Hospital. By mid-August there were 33, and 18 were in the intensive care unit. The vast majority were unvaccinated. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer vaccine on Aug. 23. Unfortunately for children under the age of 12, vaccines aren’t an option right now, and Ramilo says they can get very sick from the disease. “Children do get infected. They can have a huge amount of the virus and they can transmit it to others,” he says. For children who are eligible, the hospital’s role is to educate families and “to vaccinate every single opportunity we can.” In addition to vaccines, there are treatments: • A nasal cannula device can deliver high-flow supplemental oxygen to a patient or increase airflow to a person who needs respiratory help. This has allowed Wexner Medical Center, for example, to place fewer people on a ventilator, which reduces the risk of infection and injury and allows it to free up intensive care unit beds. • Remdesivir has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization. In a class of medications called antivirals, it stops the virus from spreading in the body. • Monoclonal antibody treatments have FDA emergency use authorization to be used for patients who are at high-risk for severe disease and hospitalization. If these infusions are given early during a patient’s illness, it can reduce the risk of admission to the hospital by 70 percent. And several drug makers are racing to produce a pill akin to Tamiflu that people could take at the early stage of the illness. “A year and a half into this we have practice guidelines along with treatments and vaccines,” Gastaldo says. “That novel anxiety is gone, and we know how to take care of patients now. Still, people need to understand the way to get on with your life is to get the shot. COVID is not going away, so we need to learn how to live safely with this virus.” Laura Newpoff is a freelance writer.

74 ColumbusCEO l October 2021

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WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES Ranked by 2020 total revenue

2020 Revenue Total

Number of employees Columbus

Total NUMBER OF OFFICES

Primary Owner Columbus region TOP OFFICER

DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

Year founded

Commercial and institutional building construction; water and sewer line and related structures construction; highway, street, and bridge construction

1976

Burgett family Brett Burgett, Bryce Burgett, Lori Gillett

1936

Diane Fishel Keeler John Phillips

Columbus

Total

$1.6 b $494 m

927 3,457

$614 m wnd

275 2,700

Utility construction, engineering, network installation, maintenance

2800 Corporate Exchange Drive, Suite 120 Columbus 43231 • 614-844-5429 crownservices.com

$120 m $1 m

37 290

Staffing for warehouse, light industrial, office and healthcare

1968

1888 Morse Road, Columbus 43229 614-888-2331 • caldwellautomotive.com

$99 m $99 m

113 113

Automotive sales and service

1967

$88.6 m $59.3 m

135 175

Accounts receivable management

2007

Margie Brickner Margie Brickner

$50 m wnd

136 211

Ice cream, frozen desserts, dairy

1914

Luconda Dager Luconda Dager

$43.5 m wnd

100 100

Manufacturing, chemicals

1976

$41 m $41 m

75 75

Commercial furniture and flooring with interior design and installation

1998

Darla King, Dave King, Chelsea King and Diane Flinders Darla King

565 Metro Place South, Suite 220 Dublin 43017 • 614-310-2700 lightwellinc.com

$37 m $3.6 m

103 259

Information technology services and solutions

1998

Michelle Kerr Michelle Kerr

1103 Schrock Road, Suite 109 Columbus 43229 • 614-556-4459 pinsourcing.com

$34.8 m $34.8 m

7 608

Contact center services

2004

Merry Korn Merry Korn

$30 m $30 m

100 807

Healthcare staffing, executive recruitment and consulting firm

2000

Eleanor Alvarez Eleanor Alvarez

$27.5 m $27.5 m

49 49

Staffing and recruiting

1968

Ruch Corp. Kimberly Shoemaker

company 1 Kokosing Group

6235 Westerville Road, Westerville 43081 614-212-5700 • kokosing.biz

2 Team Fishel

1366 Dublin Road, Columbus 43215 614-274-8100 • teamfishel.com

3 Crown Services

4 Bob Caldwell Automotive 5 Reliant Capital Solutions

670 Cross Pointe Road, Gahanna 43230 866-837-5096 • reliantcapitalsolutions.com

6 Velvet Ice Cream

11324 Mount Vernon Road, Utica 43080 740-892-3921 • velveticecream.com

7 Capital Resin

324 Dering Ave., Columbus 43207 614-445-7177 • capitalresin.com

8 King Business Interiors

1400 Goodale Blvd., Suite 102 Columbus 43212 • 614-430-0020 • kbiinc.com

9 Lightwell

10 Pearl Interactive Network 11 LeaderStat

1322-B Manning Parkway, Powell 43065 877-699-7828 • leaderstat.com

12 Acloche

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

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The January Leaderboard will feature Columbus region MBA programs. The deadline for inclusion in that survey is Nov. 8. If you want your Columbus region company or organization to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Linda Deitch at ldeitch@columbusCEO.com. Information included in this survey was provided by companies listed and was not independently verified.

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Carol Countiss, Spencer Countiss and Deborah Lindsay Jay Hodge Constance Caldwell, Karin Caldwell, Sunny Caldwell Justin Harmon

Judie Wensinger Jamie Bull

m=million; b=billion wnd=would not disclose Source: Survey of women-owned businesses Information compiled by LINDA DEITCH

October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

9/15/21 5:18 PM

All Staff Gold, Best Local Coverage of a National Business Story: Alliance of Area Business Publishers (National) First place, Best Public Service Journalism: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists Second place, Best Business Publication: Press Club of Cleveland Second place, Best COVID-19 Coverage: Press Club of Cleveland Second place, General News: Press Club of Cleveland Yogesh Chaudhary First place, Business Cover: Press Club of Cleveland Brittany Moseley Second place, Features - Package: Press Club of Cleveland Rob Hardin Second place, Portrait/Personality Photography: Press Club of Cleveland Third place, Photojournalism: Press Club of Cleveland Katy Smith First place, Best Social Issues Reporting: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists First place, Features - General: Press Club of Cleveland Second place, Analysis: Press Club of Cleveland Third place, Public Service/Investigative: Press Club of Cleveland Tatyana Tandanpolie Gold, Personality Profile: Alliance of Area Business Publishers (National) First place, Personality Profile: Press Club of Cleveland Bob Vitale First place, Features - Trends: Press Club of Cleveland Steve Wartenberg Second place, Personality Profile: Press Club of Cleveland

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All Staff First place, Best Monthly: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists Finalist, General Excellence under 30,000 circulation: City and Regional Magazine Association (National) Finalist (Columbus Monthly Health), Ancillary General Interest under 30,000 circulation: City and Regional Magazine Association (National) Second place, Best Magazine in Ohio: Press Club of Cleveland Third place, Food: Press Club of Cleveland Third place, Features - Consumer: Press Club of Cleveland Team Awards Alyse Pasternak and Tim Johnson First place, Cover: Press Club of Cleveland Dave Ghose and D.A. Steward First place, Public Service/Investigative: Press Club of Cleveland First place, Public Service/Investigative: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists Betsy Becker First place, Spread or Multiple PageMagazines: Press Club of Cleveland Second place, Page Design: Press Club of Cleveland Chris Gaitten First place, Sports: Press Club of Cleveland Second place, Technology Writing: Press Club of Cleveland Third place, News: Press Club of Cleveland Suzanne Goldsmith First place, Analysis: Press Club of Cleveland First place, Single Essay: Press Club of Cleveland First place, Features: Press Club of Cleveland Second place, Staff Reporter: Press Club of Cleveland TIm Johnson First place, Portrait/Personality Photograph: Press Club of Cleveland First place, Pictorial Photograph: Press Club of Cleveland Second place, Photojournalism: Press Club of Cleveland Third place, Pictorial Photography: Press Club of Cleveland Third place, Portrait/Personality Photography: Press Club of Cleveland

Lori Kurtzman Second place, Best Feature Writing: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists Brittany Moseley Second place, Best Minority Issues Reporting: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists

3 Team Award Andy Downing and Joel Oliphint Second place, Specialized Journalism Site: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists Andy Downing First place, Best News Story: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists Second place, Public Service: Press Club of Cleveland Third Place, Best in Ohio - Staff Reporter: Press Club of Cleveland Third Place, Features - General: Press Club of Cleveland Third Place, Community Coverage: Press Club of Cleveland Joel Oliphint First place, Best Arts/Entertainment Story: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists First place, Best Rock and Roll Feature Writing: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists First place, Arts & Entertainment: Press Club of Cleveland First place, Features - General: Press Club of Cleveland First place, Public Service: Press Club of Cleveland First place, Community Coverage: Press Club of Cleveland Second place, Elections 2020: Press Club of Cleveland Third place, Reviews/Criticism: Press Club of Cleveland

Kathy Lynn Gray First Place, Best Children’s Issues Reporting: Ohio Society of Professional Journalists

9/15/21 5:18 PM

COLUMBUS REGION PRIVATE SCHOOLS Ranked by 2021-22 total enrollment ENROLLMENT

SCHOOL 1 Columbus Academy

4300 Cherry Bottom Road Gahanna 43230 • 614-475-2311 columbusacademy.org

TOTAL ENROLLMENT

1,171

2 Tree of Life Christian Schools

935 Northridge Road, Columbus 43224 614-263-2688 • tolcs.org

1,050

3 Bishop Watterson High School

99 E. Cooke Road, Columbus 614-268-8671 • bishopwatterson.com

951

AVERAGE STUDENTFULL-TIME TEACHER RATIO

K-8

Number of teachers

Grade 9-12

Full-time

Other

Part-time

7.75:1

650 434 87

151 13

15:1

710 220 120

50 10

11:1

na 951 na

60 10

15:1

570 350 na

57 12

17:1

na 898 na

55 10

15:1

517 271 19

49 0

19:1

355 355 na

50 0

15:1

na 700 na

45 0

8:1

428 217 49

104 0

14:1

550 na 100

40 6

4 Worthington

Christian School

6675 Worthington Galena Road, Worthington 43085 • 614-431-8215 worthingtonchristian.com

920

5 St. Francis DeSales High School

4212 Karl Road, Columbus 43224 614-267-7808 • sfdstallions.org

898

6 Harvest

Preparatory School

4595 Gender Road, Canal Winchester 43110 • 614-382-1111 harvestprep.org

807

7 Grove City Christian School

4750 Hoover Road, Grove City 43123 614-875-3000 grovecitychristian.org

710

8 Bishop Hartley High School

1285 Zettler Road, Columbus 43227 614-237-5421 • bishop-hartley.org

9 Wellington School

3650 Reed Road, Columbus 43220 614-457-7883 wellington.org

10 St. Brigid of Kildare

7175 Avery Road, Dublin 43017 614-718-5825 stbrigidofkildare.com

700 694 650

The CEO Leaderboard features selected topics each month. The January Leaderboard will feature

Columbus region MBA programs. The deadline for inclusion in that survey is Nov. 8. If you want your Columbus region company or organization to be considered for an upcoming CEO Leaderboard, contact Linda Deitch at ldeitch@columbusCEO.com Information included in this survey was provided by schools listed and was not independently verified.

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Year founded full-year tuItion

1911 $13,000$30,900

1978 $5,190$10,500

1954 $10,475

(discount for additional children)

1973 $5,300$11,400

1960 $10,225$10,825

1986 $5,600$7,500

1990 $6,035$7,200

1957 $8,350$10,250

1982 $13,000$27,600

1996 $6,550

FEATURES AND PROGRAMS Half- and full-day classes for 3-year-olds; outdoor learning emphasis in younger grades; robust art and athletic offerings; world-class college counseling; advanced STEM, AP and computer science programs. Student-focused and Christ-centered school. College-prep across all four campuses.

College preparatory curriculum; class of 2021 earned $23.5 million in college scholarships; 26 sports programs; 24 clubs plus band, choir, theatre and student council. 35 interscholastic athletic programs; internship academy; fine and performing arts programs; 95% of seniors pursue post-graduate degrees. Dedicated campus ministry department; 18 AP courses; Office of Diversity and Student Equity; athletics, performing arts and student organizations; 9-period school day offering electives. 100% college placement rate; honors, AP and College Credit Plus courses; athletics; community service opportunities; student leadership organizations; fine arts programs

Christian education for students in kindergarten through 12th grade

Catholic education — Diocese of Columbus. Class of 2021 earned more than $18.9 million in academic scholarships.

Arts, athletics and extracurricular activities

Athletics, after-school programs, service opportunities, CARE program, leadership, wellness, Spanish, band, musicals, choir, club and competitive sports.

HEAD OF SCHOOL ADMISSIONS DIRECTOR Melissa Soderberg John Wuorinen Todd Marrah Carol Tanner Chris Campbell Mary Kate Harris James Parrish (interim) Lisa Raikes Dan Garrick Julie Barber Kenneth Grunden Cheryl Hiatt David Arrell Daphne Schall Christopher Kowalski Heather Rush Jeff Terwin Dara Jackson Kathy O’Reilly Megan Wachalec

na = not applicable Source: Survey of private schools

Compiled by JULANNE HOHBACH and LINDA DEITCH

October 2021 l ColumbusCEO

9/15/21 5:19 PM

Office Space By JESS DEYO + Photos by Rob Hardin

ZoCo Design 1027 W. 5th Ave., Columbus Ohio 43212 zocodesign.com

The studio made former Brazenhead pub its new home. Kitchen turned office The conference room was the pub’s kitchen, which kept its high ceilings for their aesthetic. New space, new ideas One request by staff was an open, shared space for collaboration—the natural lighting was a bonus. Thoughtfully designed The team of 18 started using the new space in March for its web design services. Not-so-average meetings Creativity is easy to find in the nontraditional social spaces painted colorfully.

Remnants of the past Aspects of Brazenhead, like some booths, were kept for a playful touch and to pay homage to the former pub. Colorful cafeteria There’s no shortage of places to enjoy lunch or downtime, with restored bars on all three floors of the office.

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

80 ColumbusCEO l October 2021

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9/15/21 5:43 PM

The James Cancer Diagnostic Center At The James, we understand that cancer is a complex disease that when detected early has more opportunities for successful treatment and cure. For this reason, experts at The James Cancer Diagnostic Center provide patients who may have cancer with expedited access to diagnostic testing. The center offers a first step in determining each patient’s specific type of cancer, delivered by the experts who study and treat cancer every day. To make a same-day or next-day appointment, visit cancer.osu.edu/diagnosticcenter or call 800-293-5066.

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9/16/21 11:52 AM

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9/16/21 5:08 PM