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‘Small cells’ are boosting cellular coverage for many in Northeast Ohio — P. 4 Ohio clay shooting enthusiasts say the activity is like golf — only better — P. 5
STRONG DOLLAR PUTS A STRAIN ON BOTTOM LINE By Rachel Abbey McCafferty The U.S. dollar has been growing increasingly strong in recent months, thanks to a growing national economy and falling oil prices. But this has strained manufacturers who are looking to sell their suddenly more costly products overseas or compete with foreign companies on bids. The strong dollar has been making national headlines and affecting companies locally, like Ferro Corp. in Mayfield Heights, Chart Industries Inc. in Garfield Heights and A. Schulman Inc. in Fairlawn, all of which
have reported that the foreign currency exchange rate has affected their outlooks for 2015. Ferro in February set its earnings per share guidance for fiscal year 2015 at $0.85 to $0.90, noting an expected negative impact of $0.12 to $0.14 from foreign currency rates. A. Schulman reduced its full-year guidance in March to $2.50 to $2.55 per diluted share from $2.60 to $2.65, “reflecting the impact of the continuing steep decline of the euro and other foreign currencies,” according to a See DOLLAR, page 22
Budish envisions different approach for county By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
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Building a stronger, more capable workforce and helping Cuyahoga County businesses, especially the smaller ones, raise money for growth — those are likely to be the key elements of the economic development policy Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish will lay out this Wednesday, April 15, during his first State of the County address. They are the two themes Budish is focusing on in part because they were the issues most often brought up by the businesspeople on his “listening tour.” Budish over the last several months met with more than 150 people who own or operate large and small businesses, or who are part of organizations that assist businesses. “The conversations were good,” Budish said during an hour-long interview from his eighth-floor office in the new county headquarters building. “The
Transition was rocky from the start By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
While the new Cuyahoga County executive is getting kudos for his policy planning, Armond Budish’s personnel management over the transition has been rocky. And while it’s not clear that government operations have suffered, it has led to talented people wondering about job security and, in some cases, deciding to leave county government before the hammer had a chance to fall.
The Budish hiring process took a particularly hard hit in recent weeks, after the Northeast Ohio Media Group reported a failure to catch résumé errors and verify the income of Marcia McCoy, who the county was hiring to be its director of public benefits and external relations. McCoy was fired last week. Beyond that specific lapse, five months after his Nov. 4 victory, Budish’s leadership team is still not completely in place. That lack of certainty has caused grumbling, See TRANSITION, page 20
See BUDISH, page 21
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general overall themes that came out over and over again were, one, the need for capital, and the other was workforce.” Those observations will come as no surprise to most businesspeople and they were not really a surprise to Budish. His years running a law firm made Budish a small business operator, and his eight years as a state representative gave the estate and elder law specialist some familiarity with public sector economic development. But this is the first time he’s been the executive in charge of designing a strategy to help businesses create jobs. “What impressed me was that he was very interested, very open, to hearing what we all were saying,” recalled accountant Rion Safier. “Rather than talking to us, he was listening to us. He was soliciting input and soliciting it hard.” Safier is chairman of the board of the Council of Smaller Enterprises, and he and a group of COSE
MIDDLE MARKET Growing companies often need to bulk up their leadership teams ■ Pages 13-18 PLUS: ADVISER ■ TAX TIPS ■ ADVISORY BOARDS ■ & MORE
Entire contents © 2015 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 36, No. 15