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Introducing the new NEO jobs report By SCOTT SUTTELL ssuttell@crain.com
The world increasingly is filled with quick-to-access data about all sorts of topics. Crain’s is partnering with The Ahola Corp., a payroll and human resources REPORT services company in Brecksville, and local economist Jack Kleinhenz to provide monthly data — and clarity — about a key factor in business deci-
ACE
sionmaking: the size of Northeast Ohio’s work force. It’s called the Ahola Crain’s Employment Report, or ACE Report. The report is derived from actual payroll data — not surveys — collected by Ahola, and it uses an economic model “comprised of economic variables that significantly influence regional employment,” said Kleinhenz, CEO of Kleinhenz & Associates, an economic and business consulting firm specializing in regional economics, market re-
search, forecasting, policy analysis and economic and business modeling. Kleinhenz, who also serves as the chief economist for the National Retail Federation, said the model used for the ACE Report is similar to the one used by the influential ADP National Employment Report, published monthly by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics. The ADP report, like the ACE Report, is based on actual transactional payroll
data. “The data is giving us a good reading on what’s actually happening in the region,” Kleinhenz said of the ACE Report. The ACE Report will be posted on CrainsCleveland.com on the third Friday of each month. The first installment of the report will be available this Friday, Aug. 15. It will feature data on Northeast Ohio private-sector employment broken down by company size, as well as three-month and six-month
trends. Data also examines employment in goods-producing and service industries. Kleinhenz said the ACE Report model builds on one he developed in 2008, along with fellow local economists Russ Smith and Jordan Vickers, to forecast regional employment by incorporating a forecast of job growth for small and midsize companies. The ACE Report uses employSee ACE REPORT, page 7
Local tech scene is getting quite a jolt By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
TUITION DISCOUNTS ON THE RISE Survey shows steady increase in savings for students at private, nonprofit colleges By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
ago or so, Bob Helmer Ausualdecade admits it would have been unfor a university president to
education can dwarf what it would cost to attend a state school. At Baldwin Wallace, undergraduate tuition — not counting room and board — is listed around $28,800 for the 2014-15 academic year. At Oberlin College, one of the region’s most elite private schools, that number would hover around $48,000. Kent State’s tuition is See TUITION, page 22
See DEALS, page 8
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talk tuition with prospective students or their families. “Ten years ago, I would have spent a lot time talking about the institution,” said Helmer, who has
served as president of Baldwin Wallace University, a private institution, in Berea since 2012. “Today, it’s not unusual for parents meeting me in the hallway to immediately zero in on the cost of education.” Public university presidents could say the same, but that dialogue is amplified at private colleges, where the sticker price of an
The local technology community has been waiting desperately for a day like July 31. That Thursday morning, Oracle Corp. announced it would buy TOA Technologies — a Beachwood software company that easily could have fetched $500 million, according to two outsiders familiar with the industry. And that afternoon, a South Carolina 3D printing company called 3D Systems said it would pay $120 million for Simbionix, a surgery simulation company based in Cleveland. It was an important day for those companies — and many other people in Northeast Ohio’s tech scene. A huge chunk of the cash from the two deals will be distributed to a long list of local people. The founders. Employees who hold stock. And investors who are anxious to finance more local startup companies. July 31 was the kind of day that makes members of the local tech community hold their heads higher, according to Tom Sudow, who used to manage the now-defunct Beachwood business incubator that housed TOA when it was a startup. Sudow said he could feel the excitement a few days later, while attending a monthly meeting that BioEnterprise, a Cleveland-based economic development group, hosts for investors and other people interested in local biomedical tech-
nology startups. “We’ve not had a day in Cleveland like we had last week,” according to Sudow, who works to attract biomedical companies to the region through Team NEO and the Cleveland Clinic’s Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center. One of the biggest winners is Early Stage Partners, which invested in both TOA and Simbionix. And Early Stage, which used to be one of the most active venture capital firms in Northeast Ohio, really needed a win. After 12 years, none of the companies in its portfolio had been sold for a significant profit. So once the Cleveland-based firm finished making investments from its first two funds, it didn’t raise a new one. But the returns generated by TOA and Simbionix could revitalize Early Stage. The firm plans to start raising money for a third fund later this year, according to Jim Petras, managing director. Cash from the deals also will give a boost to other venture capital firms that regularly invest in local companies, such as Draper Triangle Ventures of Pittsburgh and River Cities Capital of Cincinnati. That makes Paul Cohn happy. All three firms received investments from the Ohio Capital Fund, a taxpayer-backed “fund of funds” that invests in venture capital firms that commit to financing companies in Ohio. “That’s three checks back to us
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Entire contents © 2014 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 35, No. 32