Crain's Cleveland Business

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$2.00/AUGUST 17 - 23, 2015

$750 million redevelopment of Old River Road in the Flats East Bank has risen from the ashes — P. 3 PIRHL’s rapid growth results in big move from Warrensville Heights to the Warehouse District — P. 3

COSE joins growing list against pot

By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com

A marijuana constitutional amendment is on Ohio’s November ballot, and business groups are lining up against it.

The latest is the Council of Smaller Enterprises, which on Sunday, Aug. 16, announced it is joining the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association and the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce, among others, in opposing passage of the initiative that would legalize the production of marijuana and its sale for medical and recreational purposes to Ohioans age 21 and older.

Secretary of State Jon Husted last Wednesday, Aug. 12, announced that the ResponsibleOhio campaign had submitted the number of signatures necessary to get on the ballot. It will be Issue 3 when voters go to the polls on Nov. 3.

Several other groups have begun campaigns to legalize pot use in the state, but only ResponsibleOhio gathered enough See COSE, page 22

MCKINLEY WILEY

The view of Public Square from Hennes Communications, which is located in the Terminal Tower.

PUBLIC SQUARE IS TAKING SHAPE Team NEO reports City’s ‘smartest investment’ is on schedule and on pace to cover all costs Cleveland has undergone a few facelifts and tummy tucks in recent years, but now the city is in the throes of open-heart surgery with the dramatic reconstruction of Public Square. Crews began dismantling Cleveland’s main artery in March, and what remains is a vestige of its former self.

The iconic Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument remains, but the concrete prairie it used to oversee now is a dirt-filled basin showing the bones of what its organization says will be pedestrian-friendly central hub.

The ambitious construction project — one that carries a $32 million price tag — is on pace to be completed ahead of the Republican National Convention next summer, according to Jeremy Paris, the executive director of the Group Plan Commission, the nonprofit overseeing the work. The northeastern edge of the square is showing the seeding of what will become the Mandel Concert Hill. Also, the contour of the KeyBank Promenade that will ring the square is taking shape.

Paris said nearly all the funds to

cover the cost of construction have been raised, but he noted that organizers are raising additional dollars to ensure construction is complete by the convention and to cover operational costs to maintain the reworked public space.

“This is the smartest investment the city and the civic community can make to stimulate further growth,” Paris said. “We feel really good. The project has represented a change in thinking around a lot of the civic and business community about the need to invest in these spaces.”

— Timothy Magaw

white-collar jump

By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com

Since 2000, Northeast Ohio has lost jobs. The current total of 1.92 million jobs in the 18-county region is 8% below the number of people employed in 2000. Team NEO calculates that’s a loss of about 170,000 jobs.

The region also is home to fewer Fortune 1000 companies, as firms like National City Corp., TRW Inc. and OfficeMax Inc. have departed either by merger or sale. The region had 25 companies on the list in 2000, but that number now is down to 20.

Despite all that, employment in the whitest of white-collar jobs has been growing significantly. According to the quarterly economic review released Sunday, Aug. 16, by Team Northeast Ohio, employment in the region at corporate and divisional headquarters and the professional services firms that serve them has grown in the last 15 years by nearly 21,000 jobs, to

33

See TEAM NEO, page 21

0

NEWSPAPER

74470 83781

7

ALSO INSIDE:

PHILANTHROPY Corporate volunteerism can be a powerful tool in building a customer base ■ Pages 15-18 PLUS: COMPANIES THAT ARE DOING A LOT OF GOOD ■ & MORE

Entire contents © 2015

by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 36, No. 33

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Small Business Matters i Want more information and resources on this week's topics, ideas and events? Go to www.cose.org/smallbizmatters.

PRESENTED BY

52 TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

#33 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Keep Up With Your Growth In the 25 years I have worked with business owners, coupled with my role as an active COSE volunteer and leader, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve met few business owners who donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to see their business grow! And, Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve met a lot who have ILLU HISL [V Ă&#x201E; UK H ^H` [V LUNPULLY [OH[ NYV^[O But, growth can result in things that KVUÂť[ Ă&#x201E; [ HU`TVYL <UMVY[\UH[LS` ZVTL owners donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t recognize they have to make JOHUNLZ [V ^OH[ [OL` KV ZV [OLPY Ă&#x201E; UHUJPHS management practices can keep up with their business success.

What are some of the challenges an expanding business can face? Here are three of the most common traps Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve found.

sometimes itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not soon enough. There are a lot of advisers out there you can get engaged in your business. While you might not think you need an accountant because youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve got it covered with QuickBooks, there is a lot more an accountant can bring to your business that will help you keep your eye on growth. Get someone involved early to avoid problems later with accessing capital, managing cash processes or worse yet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; dealing with an audit or other consequences of growth.

Failure to keep up with your growth With new sales, client demands, needs [V Z[H \W WYVK\JL TVYL VY L_WHUK Z\WWSPLYZ the basics of billings and collections can sometimes be neglected. Owners need to have just a few basic reports that they look at least weekly to identify these â&#x20AC;&#x153;cash killers.â&#x20AC;?

Getting too far behind is going to require taking a break from growing the business to Q\Z[ W\[[PUN `V\Y Ă&#x201E; UHUJPHS OV\ZL IHJR PU VYKLY

An inability to let go Too many owners hold on too long to the detailed operations of the business. There are technologies and processes that can be easily outsourced and donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need daily attention.

Payroll, accounts payable, bookkeeping â&#x20AC;&#x201C; these are all time consuming beyond their value as a function for the owner going through growth. Look for ways to put these processes on auto-pilot so you can get back to driving the growth of your business. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t need to hire more people for a lot of these things â&#x20AC;&#x201C; so much can be easily outsourced and still under control with parameters the owner sets.

Not knowing when to ask for help At some point, the owner of a growing business realizes they need help but

If you can avoid these traps, your business should grow and improve. Connect with your trade organizations, COSE or

1

2

3

August 17

By The Numbers Small Business Labor Trends

52% 9PVU :HĂ&#x201E; LY 6^ULY 9PVU :HĂ&#x201E; LY (JJV\U[PUN 33* V[OLY I\ZPULZZ V^ULY NYV\WZ [V Ă&#x201E; UK H NYV\W of advisers and partners that can help you focus on what you do best and accelerate the growth of your company.

RION SAFIER PZ [OL V^ULY VM 9PVU :HĂ&#x201E; LY Accounting LLC, providing accounting, tax and outsourced services to businesses, organizations and individuals.

24% 1VI VWLUPUNZ [OH[ JHUÂť[ IL Ă&#x201E; SSLK KV^U WVPU[Z

18% Using temporary workers (up 5 points)

i Want more expert advice? Check out Linktunity (www.linktunity.com), an online forum connecting business owners with creative solutions to the tough questions they face every day.

SOURCE: THE NFIB SMALL BUSINESS OPTIMISM INDEX

Connection Calendar SMALL BUSINESS BOOT CAMP: STAFFING, TALENT AND CULTURE

BIG IDEAS

These 5 Steps Will Boost Your Sales in 90 Days (or Less) want to have a quote-and-hope mentality,â&#x20AC;?

Montgomery says. And when you follow up, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t â&#x20AC;&#x153;wing it.â&#x20AC;? Practice your delivery the same way you would a speech, he says.

Small-business sales teams are leaving way too much money on the table. That was the message delivered by Marvin Montgomery, author, speaker and sales training consultant, during a recent webinar presented by COSE, titled â&#x20AC;&#x153;How to Jumpstart Sales in 90 Days.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s no secret: Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not easy. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s going to take hard work,â&#x20AC;? Montgomery says.

4 5

STEP 4: *VSK JHSSPUN Cold calling is not dead, Montgomery PUZPZ[Z 7YLWHYL H SPZ[ VM JSPLU[Z ^OV Ă&#x201E; [ [OL WYVĂ&#x201E; SL VM `V\Y WYVK\J[ VY ZLY]PJL HUK [OLU ^VYR [OH[ SPZ[ <UJVTMVY[HISL ^P[O JVSK JHSSPUN& :[HY[ small. Set aside 15 minutes to cold call. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You can make a lot of calls in 15 minutes,â&#x20AC;? he says.

1

STEP 1: >LLRS` TLL[PUNZ ^P[O JSPLU[Z Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s critical that business development professionals keep in constant touch with their clients, Montgomery said. Weekly meetings HSZV NP]L ZHSLZ [LHTZ [OL VWWVY[\UP[` [V H YT the clientâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s buying decision and ask how they can be served better.

Such meetings also open the door to identifying gaps where additional solutions can be presented to the customer. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not reaching out to your existing customers, someone else is,â&#x20AC;? he said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Your competitors will ask, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;When is the last time you talked to them?â&#x20AC;&#x2122;â&#x20AC;?

Marvin Montgomery it CPR because youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re going to resuscitate a situation that looks like itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s dead,â&#x20AC;? he says.

Montgomery relayed a story of one such CPR call. The sales associate called a client to wish them a happy six-month anniversary. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s been six months since we got an order from you and I wanted to say happy anniversary because we miss you,â&#x20AC;? Montgomery says of the call.

3

STEP 3: Follow up on all quotes and STEP 2: 4HRL Âş*79Âť JHSSZ proposals ,]LY`VUL OHZ JVTWHUPLZ [OH[ KYVW V [OL ,]LY` Have you put out any quotes or proposals? radar. radar But B just because theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re gone, that If yes, then this represents a prime opportunity doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t mean they should be forgotten. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I call to touch base with the client. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

2

Hiring in June (down 3 points from May)

STEP 5: Ask for referrals Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t forget to ask for internal and external referrals when conversing with a client, he says. Many times, a client is laserfocused on their own department. â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have to ask them,â&#x20AC;? Montgomery says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not going to volunteer that information unless you ask them.â&#x20AC;?

Finding the right talent for your small business is tough. As a small business owner, you are not VUS` JVTWL[PUN MVY X\HSPĂ&#x201E; LK HWWSPJHU[Z ^P[O SVJHS corporations but also with larger markets. And, it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop at the hiring process - you need to retain your employees. Turnover can be extremely costly, especially to a small business owner who is already has limited time and resources. Join us as Steve Ellis of Tucker Ellis shares what he SLHYULK MYVT JVSSHWZL VM OPZ MVYTLY Ă&#x201E; YT (Y[LY Hadden, and how those lessons helped Tucker Ellis become one of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Best Companies to Work Forâ&#x20AC;? year after year.

AUGUST 20 11:15 AM â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 1:30 PM ;\JRLY ,SSPZ V JLZ *SL]LSHUK Cost: COSE Members $25, Non-Members $40 Register at www.cose.org/events.

COSE SPECIAL EVENT: FLIGHT SCHOOL WINE TASTING Join COSE as we take a tour of Spain by tasting award-winning wine and tantalizing Spanish fare at the Flight School Wine Tasting event at Rocky River Wine Bar.

AUGUST 20

COSEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TAKEAWAY

6:30-8:30 PM Rocky River Wine Bar, Rocky River

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be a stranger. Keep in regular contact with your clients to remain a top-of-mind option.

Cost: $30 Register at www.cose.org/events.

. NVPUN IHJR [V ZJOVVS ng in on back to school season! From now until August 25, share your best ory with us on Twitter. Tag us @COSEsmallbiz with either a picture or a few words that #BestSchoolMemory. Participants can win one of two prize packages with $175 or $125 [ JHYKZ [V 6 JL4H_ HUK SVJHS YLZ[H\YHU[Z Visit JVZL VYN IHJR[VZJOVVS for more HIV\[ [OL JVU[LZ[ HUK WYPaLZ CONTENT PROVIDED AND PAID FOR BY THE COUNCIL OF SMALLER ENTERPRISES

COSE WEBED SERIES: SECURITY TIPS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES Win the internet security wars and keep the hackers V\[ VM `V\Y UL[^VYR 3LHYU OV^ OHJRLYZ HYL PUĂ&#x201E; S[YH[PUN small business networks, examples of active threats and practical methods of making your network more secure.

AUGUST 20 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Cost: FREE Register at www.cose.org/events.

Check out www.cose.org/events for all the latest happenings.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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Old River Road is new again After many stops and starts along the way, $750 million project is alive and (very) well

By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com

The riverfront at Old River Road’s north end in downtown Cleveland awakened from a long slumber in late summer 2015.

Couples walked along a vast boardwalk next to the Cuyahoga River. Diners returned to the first of many restaurants to open near the water and enjoy the location’s vista of the city and Lake Erie.

In 2015, it is hard to believe some of the stops and starts of what is now well on its way to becoming a $750 million redevelopment of Old River Road. The vision that Iris Wolstein and Scott Wolstein articulated for the area in 2005 started becoming a reality in 2007, as buildings on Old River Road north of Main Avenue were turned to dust.

However, after the financial crisis struck in 2008, work ground to a stop as the demolition process ended.

The project had to go back to the fiscal drawing board for a vast redo.

Often the only visitors on cold winter days were residents of Warehouse District apartments who used the area as a place to exercise their dogs. There was even an occasional game of football. It was hard to believe that in the 1980s, the street was the place to see and be seen for a generation of Clevelanders.

However, perseverance, deep pockets and continued support by the city and other governments yield results in property development, even in stubborn locations and tough times.

Working to materialize the vision of the late Bart Wolstein of the Flats East Bank as a vibrant downtown destination, the Wolsteins and partners Fairmount Properties stayed the course. The original concept of 2005 for a residential-retail development gained additional office uses.

As the 23-story Ernst & Young Tower opened in 2013, it became the first downtown office building in two decades. An Aloft hotel further cemented the future of Flats East Bank as a year-round place to work — a See OLD RIVER, page 21

STAN BULLARD

The late Bart Wolstein saw the Flats East Bank as a vibrant downtown destination. Today, there is a wide boardwalk (shown on the bottom right) that straddles the Cuyahoga River and features wave-shaped guardrails. As is apparent on the bottom left, buildings on Old River Road north of Main Avenue were turned to dust in 2007.

ON THE WEB For more pictures — a lot more — of Old River Road throughout the years, see the online version of this story at CrainsCleveland.com.

Developer is doubling down with downtown move PIRHL, which is relocating to the Warehouse District from Warrensville Heights, is greatly expanding its headquarters

By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com

PIRHL, a real estate developer, owner and contractor that specializes in low-income and affordable housing, plans to move to downtown Cleveland’s Warehouse District as it upgrades its business home.

The 11-year-old firm, which has developed more than 2,500 units in

37 properties in seven states, has leased the third floor of the Worthington Building, 800 W. St. Clair Ave., according to David Uram, PIRHL managing member and coowner with David Burg, who shares the same titles.

PIRHL will almost double the size of its office as it moves to 10,000 square feet from 5,400 square feet at its current office at Galaxy Corporate Center in War-

rensville Heights.

Ironically, PIRHL has leased office space that another real estaterelated company is vacating. The space PIRHL has leased is one of three floors that Pittsburgh-based Howard Hanna Real Estate Services will exit Aug. 14 as it moves its Ohio headquarters to Mayfield Heights on Aug. 17.

Although it needed room to grow, Uram said PIRHL had to

move to continue its growth.

“We need to be able to attract high-quality employees,” Uram said, noting the firm attracted three of its most recent hires based on its promise to move downtown.

“Downtown is walkable and exciting, and people want to be there.

We’ve found prospects don’t want to be in an isolated (office-warehouse space). We also feel the need to be in the city as part of our com-

mitment to urban redevelopment.”

That said, the company’s owners — referred to frequently as the two Davids — weighed the move carefully and settled on downtown space after considering offices in the east and south suburbs.

“We both live in eastern suburbs,” Uram said. “That’s an additional 2½ hours in drive time for us as well as (paid) parking.” However, they felt See DEVELOPER, page 22

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CoverMyMeds plans to open a new office in Cleveland’s eastern suburbs — partly because it needs more software developers.

The fast-growing pharmacy software company has yet to sign a lease, but it has already met with an architect in an effort to come up with a design that matches the hip atmosphere of its biggest office, in Columbus, said cofounder Sam Rajan.

Could the new office house any of the 25 employees currently based in Twinsburg? Rajan, who lives in Hudson, wouldn’t say, given that the lease hasn’t been signed and “decisions still need to be made.”

But he did say that the company wants to form a software development team at the new location.

It’s easy to understand why CoverMyMeds is looking for more developers.

Rajan provided a statistic that illustrated how fast the company’s customer base is growing: Today, more than 400,000 doctors and other prescribers use the software to electronically ask insurance companies whether a patient’s medication is covered — which traditionally was a laborious process involving phones and fax machines.

That’s up from 260,000 in November 2014. At the time, the company also served about 45,000 pharmacies; Rajan didn’t provide an update on that statistic.

That same month, CoverMyMeds announced that it had raised venture capital — a lot of venture capital —from Francisco Partners.

No one’s disclosing a dollar figure, but the San Francisco-based firm makes investments in the $50 million to $2 billion range. The deal is “widely believed to be one of the year’s largest health care IT investments nationwide,” according to

Your business is only as strong as the individuals who help it run smoothly. That’s why we make certain your business embodies an environment that is safe, compliant and supportive of your staff. You can sleep soundly knowing we represent, support, and protect you and your business.

Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs, LLC • A Northeast Ohio Business Law Firm Akron • Canton • Cleveland bdblaw.com Volume 36, Number 33 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2015 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $2.00. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373. REPRINT INFORMATION: 212-210-0750 Subscriptions: In Ohio: 1 year - $64, 2 year - $110. Outside Ohio: 1 year - $110, 2 year - $195. Single copy, $2.00. Allow 4 weeks for change of address. For subscription information and delivery concerns send correspondence to Audience Development Department, Crain’s Cleveland Business, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan, 48207-9911, or email to customerservice@crainscleveland.com, or call 877-824-9373 (in the U.S. and Canada) or (313) 446-0450 (all other locations), or fax 313-446-6777.

Putting the patient first The bulk of CoverMyMeds’ development team is in Columbus. Its Twinsburg staff is mainly focused on sales, finance and data analytics, Rajan said. He wouldn’t estimate how many people would initially be hired to join the Cleveland software development team.

Rajan, a former pharmacist, founded CoverMyMeds with Columbus-based software developer Matt Scantland in 2008. The

company was inspired by conversations Rajan had with a local multiple sclerosis support group a few years earlier, back when he was clinical director at MemberHealth, a pharmacy benefits management company in Solon.

The patients told him that, when their prescriptions were initially rejected by the insurance company, they often would give up and go without the medication. In many cases they were worried that they’d get stuck with huge bills — and possibly lose their homes as a result, Rajan said.

In reality, many patients who are rejected the first time can still get coverage, if they get prior authorization.

So Rajan and Scantland, who had done contract work for MemberHealth, set out to make that process easier. Early on, they recruited Scantland’s father, Alan, to serve as CEO of the new company. He previously held leadership positions at a few other companies, including MemberHealth, which was acquired

by Universal American Financial Corp. for $630 million in 2008.

Rajan said they make sure that employees understand why the company was created.

“They remember the patient,” he said.

CoverMyMeds makes money through contracts with drug companies, which have an incentive to make sure claims get approved, and insurance companies, which are interested making the prior authorization process fast and accurate.

Prescribers and pharmacists get free access.

The company found a way to solve “a surprisingly big pain point,” said Chris Adams, a partner at Francisco Partners. As a result, it’s “growing incredibly quickly,” said Adams, who helps lead the firm’s health care practice.

“We couldn’t be happier,” he said.

Asurint outgrows current space

By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com

...you sleep soundly

the 2015 Northeast Ohio Venture Capital Report, which was compiled by JumpStart. The Clevelandbased nonprofit, which works with local entrepreneurs, invested in CoverMyMeds in 2010.

The 7-year-old company, which employs roughly 240 people, already was regularly doubling its sales and the size of its staff on an annual basis.

The investment has helped the company accelerate that growth.

Over the past year, CoverMyMeds has focused heavily on integrating its software — which was once only available via its website — with the electronic health record systems used by doctors and pharmacies.

That way, they can click a button to start the so-called electronic prior authorization process.

Today, the software is integrated with more than 360 EHR systems.

The company announced a few big integrations this year, including one with Epic, which is the EHR system used by the Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth.

CoverMyMeds also wants to develop more products that take advantage of connections it has formed between doctors, pharmacists and insurance companies, and the data they generate, Rajan said.

“There are so many opportunities — not enough developers, staff, bandwidth to do them all,” he said.

“So you have to pick.”

A growing Cleveland technology company that specializes in background checks is expanding and moving into downtown office space formerly occupied by Eaton Corp.

One Source Technology LLC, which operates as Asurint, will move at a date still to be determined to 1111 Superior Ave., the former Eaton Center. The company has outgrown its 12,000 square feet of offices space at 1501 Euclid Ave. in Playhouse Square.

The move will give the company growing room. It has 151 full-time employees and expects to grow to 224 employees by 2018.

Background checks have become ubiquitous, and the 11-year-old company markets proprietary technologies that employers, organizations and human resources firms use for pre-employment background screening. The company’s customers range from major corporations to Girl Scout organizations that do background checks on volunteers.

In December, the company made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the United States, taking the 2,581st spot based on a 146% increase in revenue between 2010 and 2013, from $6.5 million to $15.9 million.

The expansion and move is expected to cost the company $1.3 million for building out and equipping what is now vacant space, with the city of Cleveland helping with $280,000 in two forgivable loans.

The company told the city it plans to sign a 10-year lease for 20,000 to 30,000 square feet of office space.

The loans are forgivable if the company meets a job-creation goal of adding 60 jobs over the next five years.

One of the loans, for $180,000, is a Vacant Property Initiative loan, which the city makes to attract businesses to vacant, abandoned or underutilized commercial and industrial properties. The other loan is a more general economic development loan.

“We’re very excited to have them stay in Cleveland,” city economic development director Tracey

Nichols told Cleveland City Council at a hearing on July 15. “They’ve taken a little bit of extra space so they can grow into it and we look forward to seeing that growth.”

Asurint president Gregg Gay told council that the company was incorporated and started raising money in 2004 and opened its doors in 2006 with seven employees. Of its 151person staff, Gay said, one-third of whom are information-technology professionals, with higher-than-average compensation.

“We have continued to grow in a Frankenstein model for our real estate; you don’t often consider in all the planning you do in a startup business that real estate needs to be a strategy as well,” he told council.

“We did an exhaustive 14-month search and the package the city of Cleveland has provided made the opportunity to stay in downtown Cleveland a viable option.”

In 2005, the company received a $250,000 city loan to outfit its initial office space. That loan was repaid in July, winning a round of applause from city council and easing its passage of the loan legislation.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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Bootcamp hopes to diversify tech industry We Can Code IT aims to train female and minority coders Like other coding bootcamps, We Can Code IT says it can teach you the basics of coding in three months.

But unlike other coding bootcamps, We Can Code IT is actively seeking out students who don’t look much like the stereotypical coder (picture Mark Zuckerberg — or any other young, nerdy white guy).

For instance, the first five students to graduate from the program were all women. And seven of the eight students in We Can Code IT’s current class, which includes men, are either black or Hispanic.

That’s how founder Mel McGee planned it. One of the company’s goals is to help diversify the information technology world.

“It’s not a standard coding bootcamp. We’re doing something a little different,” said McGee, who has been a web developer for about 20 years.

However, it is a standard bootcamp in another way: We Can Code IT aims to turn people with little-tono development experience into professional programmers — and help them land entry-level jobs.

The $10,000 price tag is pretty standard, too, though it drops to $9,000 for women, minorities and students from households that earn less than $47,500.

It’s too early to say whether the company’s graduates will regularly get scooped up by the many businesses in need of developers. One just got a job as a software implementation specialist at Dakota Software in Cleveland, but the three other graduates who found coding-related jobs went to work for McGee. Two of them work for her web development firm, imageNation, and another serves as an instructor and marketing specialist for We Can Code IT. But Charles Stack said he likes the organization’s training process — and its high-minded goals.

His startup business accelerator, FlashStarts, recently invested $25,000 in We Can Code IT. As a result, the company will hold its fall bootcamp right next to FlashStart’s headquarters on the second floor of Terminal Tower — a space that’s designed to serve as a central hub for startup companies in Cleveland. Classes start on Sept. 8.

We Can Code IT, which employs six people, also will move its office into that space, which is being called the StartMart.

That proximity could help the companies that go through the three-month-long FlashStarts accelerator program.

All of the startups Stack works with need websites. If they don’t already have them, McGee’s students could help build them, Stack said.

And maybe some of those students could end up working for FlashStarts graduates and other companies that take office space at the StartMart.

But what makes We Can Code IT a

GETTY IMAGES

By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com

good investment? For one, it’s addressing a big market, Stack said, noting that “the demand for developers vastly exceeds the supply in this region.”

Plus, larger companies have started to acquire some of the coding bootcamps that have cropped up across the county over the past few years, Stack said.

He referenced the Software Guild in Akron. The guild, which has helped about 100 graduates land jobs over the past two years, was bought by an online education company called The Learning House Inc. a few months ago.

“This industry is in the very beginning of a rollup,” said Stack, who has started and sold a few software companies of his own.

McGee doesn’t have a detailed exit strategy just yet. She’s just focused on growing We Can Code IT. She and cofounder Shana Mysko started the organization two years ago.

At the time, McGee was occasionally giving tech-related talks at the LaunchHouse entrepreneurship center in Shaker Heights. Afterward, women would come up to her and ask her about coding.

So in 2013, in a conference room at LaunchHouse, she started holding regular web development and website management workshops for women.

We Can Code IT eventually started adding more tech-related workshops, for kids and adults, some of which continue to be held at LaunchHouse.

Last year, however, the company started getting requests for a fulltime coding bootcamp.

“This is a no-brainer,” McGee said. “This is the way to help people get to a high-paying job.”

Four of the first five graduates — excluding the one who works for We Can Code IT — wrote glowing reviews about the program shortly before they graduated in May. One of those reviews, which appear on the company’s website, was written by Kacy Ebel.

A former engineer, Ebel was unemployed and struggling to find a satisfying career when she heard about the bootcamp.

Now, however, Ebel believes she has found that career: She’s working full time for McGee’s web development firm, imageNation, where

she’s being mentored by a more experienced developer. She plans to stay with the company for the foreseeable future.

Ebel had a little bit more coding experience than the other students:

She had taken two coding classes at Kent State University about 10 years ago. And as an engineer, she had occasionally written code using obscure programming languages like MatLab. So she regularly helped

other students.

We Can Code IT encouraged that kind of thing. As a result, group projects were “shockingly easy,” Ebel said.

“We knew each other’s skill sets so well, it almost didn’t need to be discussed — who’s going to do what,” she said.

So will other employers start hiring We Can Code IT graduates?

McGee thinks so. A handful of companies met with students on the final day of the first class.

Since then, We Can Code IT has established relationships with many more employers who have expressed interest in its graduates, McGee said.

That should benefit the students currently enrolled in the company’s part-time bootcamp, which takes place every Saturday and Sunday for six months.

In the future, We Can Code IT plans to add more online components to its bootcamps. The company eventually could end up creating an online version of the course, McGee said “It’s a way for us to scale and reach more people,” she said.

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First Federal Lakewood plots expansion under new mutual holding company structure

By JEREMY NOBILE jnobile@crain.com

Euclid Ave

AUGUST 17 - 23, 2015

First Federal Lakewood is putting its money where its mouth is.

The largest independent mutual bank in Ohio reinforced its commitment to the mutual concept and true depositor ownership by converting its parent corporation to a mutual holding company. The change, which established the nostock First Mutual Holding Co., was announced in the spring and completed in mid-July.

Mutual banks, which issue no stock themselves, have been around since 1816. But the mutual holding company structure is a relatively recent concept.

They were first created on the federal level with the Competitive Equality Banking Act of 1987 largely to preserve the interests of mutual banks while also providing some additional flexibility as an operation.

Unlike a mutual bank, the mutual holding company can issue stock to raise additional capital, if it chooses to, and hold additional charters, for example.

The 80-year-old parent company of First Federal Lakewood has every intention of remaining independent, said president and CEO Tom Fraser, underscoring a commitment to mutual bankingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s founding tenet â&#x20AC;&#x201D; valuing members and communities over the enrichment of a company.

It also positions the bank for targeted growth. With $1.6 billion in assets, the bank isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t starving for capital. It clearly has no immediate plans of pursuing a lucrative payday through a stock offering. And there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t major tax incentives to leverage. â&#x20AC;&#x153;In todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s environment, we looked at this because it gives us some added flexibility,â&#x20AC;? Fraser said.

The flexibility comes with opening up the company for acquisitions of other institutions that want a partner to affiliate with because of the rising costs of banking, but also want to retain their own no-stock, independent structures.

It also allows the company the option to acquire or create other non-bank financial service companies. Those things couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t happen under the previous ownership structure.

No plans are concrete yet, Fraser said, and no acquisitions are in the immediate pipeline, but now the company is prepped for that activity.

Notably, the conversion is among the first of its particular kind since the passage of the sweeping financial reform act that has squeezed bank margins with expensive and rigorous compliance requirements. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The business reality is a lot of other mutual banks, smaller banks over time are struggling to stay

profitable and manage expenses,â&#x20AC;?

Fraser said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The banking landscape has changed, and this creates a more modern form of corporate ownership.â&#x20AC;?

A â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;courageous commitmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; In addition to retaining a mutual structure, members made it more difficult for the bank to convert to stock in the future, if it wants to.

Any issuance of stock, for instance, now requires approval by two-thirds of voters instead of just a basic majority. If that should happen, an anti-enrichment provision prohibits directors and junior management from benefiting financially. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It is a very rare thing when people make it tougher to raise common equity in the open market,â&#x20AC;? said Don Musso, founder and president of FinPro Financial Services Inc., a New Jersey financial industry consultant with a specialty focus on mutual banks.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;What Lakewood is saying is weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re content to grow without any public stockholders, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a fairly courageous commitment. It says through earnings and profitability they can manage their growth.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Douglas Faucette, partner Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP But that same move could, potentially, create some risk if the bank does find itself growing too fast or famished for capital. â&#x20AC;&#x153;What Lakewood is saying is weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re content to grow without any public stockholders, and thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a fairly courageous commitment,â&#x20AC;? said Douglas Faucette, a partner in the Washington office of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP and counsel to Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Mutual Banks, a lobbying trade group. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It says through earnings and profitability they can manage their growth. Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a very confident move by them.â&#x20AC;?

However, it makes the most sense for a well-capitalized bank like First Federal operating in a relatively stable market, Faucette said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an enviable position to be in because they can potentially do a lot for the community, and there are no stockholders to complain about it,â&#x20AC;? Faucette said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This says this is a group of individuals dedicated to higher principles than the pure profit motive.â&#x20AC;?

Blazing a trail While financially strong, Fraser

said the bank is certainly looking to grow.

Fraser said the goal is to exceed $2 billion in assets through the coming years.

A bank combining with First Mutual Holding Co. would create synergies through the benefit of additional scale â&#x20AC;&#x201D; something that has become increasingly imperative with the regulatory costs stemming from Dodd Frank. More scale means an additional spread to cover costs while creating pooled buying power for items benefiting depositors like modern tech-based services. â&#x20AC;&#x153;For all those reasons, costs of running a bank are going up,â&#x20AC;? said Jeff Quayle, general counsel for the Ohio Bankers League trade association. â&#x20AC;&#x153;This holding company presents a thoughtful approach to managing costs.â&#x20AC;? â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s absolutely the right strategic play by Lakewood because the whole reason weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re seeing this consolidation (in the banking industry) is because of fear by small banks that they canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t compete unless they get some size and the efficiency that comes with size,â&#x20AC;?

Musso said.

And a deal with First Mutual would create an affiliate relationship, so it wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t resemble a traditional bank acquisition.

Staffs, in theory, would not be affected. Their name would stay the same.

Beyond a level of control passed to the holding company itself and the marrying of balance sheets, the typical depositor at an institution merged with First Mutual probably wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t notice any immediate difference in day-to-day banking.

Fraser expects that to appeal to strugglers who want to retain their independent status.

The company could potentially acquire traditional community banks, but it would have to pay in cash. It could also make deals outside of Ohio.

But Fraser said the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s focus remains predominantly on mutual banks in its home state in new or existing markets. And no deals are being sought simply to grow for growthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sake.

Analysts expect others will be watching First Mutual to see how its transition plays out.

The reason more mutual banks havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t taken the steps the Lakewood entity has, experts say, is largely because of the high-pressure environment and treatment by regulators and legislators that make operating as a mutual bank cumbersome. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interesting because I think the whole market was waiting for a trailblazer,â&#x20AC;? Musso said. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I think the whole market will let a quarter or two go by. And in 2016, you will start to see more companies go to the mutual holding company structure with and without stock.â&#x20AC;?

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ContiTech believes it’s on much more stable ground

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More than a name, logo, signs and brand names have changed at the former Veyance Technologies Inc. central complex and technical center in Fairlawn.

When ContiTech A.G. officially turned it into its central North American headquarters at a July 29 ceremony, a feeling of stability hung in the air, a big change from the uncertainty that seemed to prevail at the facility during the last five years.

Gone are any references to Veyance and Goodyear Engineered Products brands. ContiTech has replaced Veyance; ContiTech, along with parent Continental A.G., are foremost on all signs; and the products, while still the same, now sport shortened versions of their old brand names or new Continental and ContiTech names. For instance, the automotive belts brand has been renamed Continental Elite.

As Jim Hill, ContiTech’s recently named CEO of its NAFTA operations, addressed a gathering of employees before unveiling a new headquarters sign and logo in front of the two-building campus, it was apparent that he and the estimated workforce of 180 at the site once again were part of a firm dedicated to manufacturing.

He admitted in an interview after the address that when ContiTech purchased Veyance from private equity firm Carlyle Group in January, there was some apprehension, as there usually is with any acquisition. That quickly was replaced by the realization that this was an opportunity for the firm to grow.

“We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs, good times and tough times,” according to Hill, a 27-year veteran of Veyance and Goodyear Engineered Products. Becoming part of Continental and ContiTech creates some stability for employees, he said.

“The fact that it’s a large international rubber company that does a lot of other things gives people the feeling the company has a good future long term, it’s going to have a good strategic direction, and they can be part of that,” Hill said. “I think it’s a positive thing, and they look very favorably upon it.”

Short- and long-term views Goodyear sold Veyance to Carlyle in 2007. During the next seven years, Veyance experienced a lot of belt tightening and some growth.

But Carlyle had a short-term view.

Hill noted, however, that Carlyle did help the company improve.

“The private equity model is to buy a company, then add to it as quickly as possible, which they did with us, because we had a series of acquisitions within the first couple of years,” he said. “Then they worked to turn over their portfolio. Ours took a little bit longer to find the right buyer, but I think we did.”

When ContiTech closed on its purchase of Veyance in January, it was a welcome and a positive

MIKE McNULTY

ContiTech NAFTA CEO Jim Hill said the former Veyance Technologies Inc. has “gone through a lot of ups and downs.” change, Hill said. Employees “embrace it, and they want to be part of a process like that. It’s great to be part of a strategic company and begin to look long term again and plan long term. In our previous life, we had gone year to year, but this is more about, ‘What do we want to be when we grow up tomorrow?’

“To become integrated in that process is refreshing for all of us and kind of gets our creative thought processes going again,” he said.

One principle ContiTech brought forth, Hill said, is that the acquisition was aimed at growth and not consolidation.

Every capable person at Veyance was offered a job within ContiTech—“maybe a slightly different position with slightly expanded responsibilities”—and virtually everyone has taken the firm up on the opportunities, he said.

Hill acknowledged the transition to ContiTech is not complete—but there’s a lot involved, and things are coming together relatively quickly.

He noted there is a lot of contact with ContiTech’s headquarters in Hanover, Germany.

‘One stroke of the pen’ For ContiTech, the acquisition of Veyance should pay off in a number of different ways. The most apparent is what it will do for the firm in the NAFTA region where before the purchase, the firm did not have a high profile.

It did not have a full-blown headquarters in the region previously. It had a handful of small offices scattered around the U.S. But with the business it acquired, Hill said, ContiTech now has a large central hub with a research and development center in Fairlawn.

Many of the functions ContiTech would need in order to grow in a region are already at the Fairlawn complex, he added, so it made sense to keep it and stay in Northeast Ohio.

It also picked up numerous plants spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, along with several facilities overseas.

“Of all the regions in the world with the largest potential, North

America was one where ContiTech was probably underrepresented from an engineered products standpoint,” Hill said. “Then, with one stroke of the pen, they became one of the leaders, if not the leader, in North America.”

For ContiTech North America, the acquisition opens the door for greater growth at its plants in North America. “ContiTech has a saying that they want to be in the market for the market,” he said. “That means, from a sales standpoint, they want to have their sales people here but they also want to manufacture and distribute the products in the market.

“They will export from one country to another when required, but if they’re in the market, they want to be in the market for the market and take care of it,” Hill said.

He said he already has been in on some discussions dealing with the possibility of additional capital investments at two plants in the NAFTA region, including Mexico and Canada, although he did not specify which factories were under consideration.

Brand name change ContiTech North America has launched a massive “more is here” campaign over the last month, Hill said, and it’s following that up with another advertising campaign to advertise the change to the Continental ContiTech brand.

Getting the word out to distributors and some larger end users has been easier because its field sales organization calls on them directly.

Reaching the next level of the supply chain—its customers’ customers—has been more difficult, and another ad campaign is in the works. “We’ll continue to advertise the brand change on behalf of our distribution network,” he said.

Like any business, ContiTech North America has a larger share in some markets than others. Hill estimated that, generally speaking, Veyance was in one of the two top spots in virtually every segment it serves before becoming part of ContiTech.

Since then, he figures, it has been strengthened further.

But there are some segments, such as hydraulics, where it doesn’t have a strong presence. However, its parent company is a significant player in that market.

“So there’s an opportunity for us to grow in a segment like that,” he said.

In addition, there are products Conti-Tech makes but are not made by the North American branch. “Now that we’re part of ContiTech, we can have access to those products,” he said.

That makes North America a high growth region. “There certainly are opportunities for us to grow here in every segment of our business, in some more than others,” Hill said.

McNulty is a senior reporter, and Detore is the managing editor, at Rubber & Plastics News, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business.

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AUGUST 17 - 23, 2015

PUBLISHER:

John Campanelli (jcampanelli@crain.com) EDITOR:

Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com) MANAGING EDITOR:

Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)

OPINION

A lesson Summer break hasn’t been kind to the University of Akron and its relatively new president, Scott Scarborough. Since final exams wrapped up on May 10, the Zips have made their share of headlines. And not the kind you’d keep in a scrapbook.

On May 15, the university announced it would reposition itself as “Ohio’s Polytechnic University” to better situate the school, which has struggled to grow its enrollment, and to compete with some of the state’s top-tier public universities, such as Ohio State, Miami University and the University of Cincinnati. Even some of the school’s most ardent supporters scratched their heads at the choice, though they were relieved that rumors that the school would be renamed Ohio Polytechnic were unfounded.

In early July, the school tacked on a $50-per-credithour fee for upper-level courses, drawing criticism that it was skirting a state ban on tuition hikes at public universities. Pressure from students, legislators and the Ohio Department of Education prompted the university several weeks later to rescind the fee increase.

A week later came the announcement of a sweeping $40 million budget cut that included the elimination of 213 non-faculty positions and the school’s baseball program. The cuts also cast doubts about the future of EJ Thomas Hall after contractual obligations for this season are fulfilled.

And amid the cuts came outrage over $951,000 in renovations at Scarborough’s university-owned home that included a $566.40 olive jar for the master bedroom.

There’s no denying that the university needed to make changes and that financial challenges are very real. Reckless spending under the previous administration shares a big part of the blame for the $60 million budget deficit Scarborough found when he took over last July. Former President Luis Proenza spent $627 million on construction projects that included 22 new buildings, including the too-large, mostly vacant InfoCision Stadium, which stands as a posterchild of sorts for the building frenzy under his watch.

These are tough days in higher education, especially for public institutions in the Buckeye State. Decreased funding from the Statehouse and declining enrollments brought on by an improving economy and increased competition for students contributed to a shrinking bottom line at the University of Akron.

Scarborough rightly took his time in evaluating where and how to make cuts at the school. Where he stumbled is failing to understand the optics of the situation. Change is difficult, whether it’s a new name for a school or people losing their jobs. And that’s where good, straightforward communication of the need for drastic change for any business is so critical.

Will those self-inflicted wounds suffered by Scarborough and his administration be fatal? They don’t have to be as long as changes to this state and regional asset are fully vetted, adequately explained and include input from stakeholders — students, alumni, faculty and the community.

Colleges are places for learning. Let’s hope Scarborough has done plenty of it, and that these developments have been learning experiences that can help guide him and the board of trustees as they work to reshape and strengthen the University of Akron.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Beer doesn’t belong at Buckeyes games The college student in me loves the Coach John Cooper and I arrived on idea: Legal beer in the stands. No more Ohio State’s campus in 1988. sneaking in leather bota bags full of Five (or so) years later, I had a degree, peach schnapps. And more revenue for a wonderful fiancé … and zero wins the athletic department. It’s a win-win! against Michigan.

But the adult and parent in Those were rough times at me hates it: More alcohol in Ohio Stadium. As I matriculatthe bloodstream of students ed, the program was emascuand people with car keys. Less lated. We lost to Pitt, Illinois, revenue for business owners Purdue, Indiana, Michigan around the stadium. Another State and Michigan — and Jenga block removed from the that was just freshman year! already wobbly concept that (That nightmare 4-6-1 season this is all still somehow supremains OSU’s worst over the posed to be about student last 66 years.) athletes and not money.

If only they had served beer JOHN But perhaps my biggest obat the Horseshoe. jection is something less obviNow, 27 years too late, the CAMPANELLI ous. university is apparently conOver the past decade and a half, the sidering it.

Buckeyes’ historic success on the field Last week, Athletic Director Gene has bred a new kind of ugliness in the Smith told the Northeast Ohio Media stands and tailgating lots outside the Group that the university is pondering Shoe. beer sales during home football games, Wear an opponent’s jersey to a game pondering it really hard. in Columbus these days and prepare to “I don’t know if it’s coming, but we’re be showered in obscenities. At an Ohio going to keep studying it, probably at a State-Michigan game a couple years ago, more intense level than I’ve studied it in I saw fans chanting vulgarities at a father the past,” Smith told reporter Doug and school-aged son as they tried to walk Lesmerises. “We have to look at it harder.”

to the stadium. Their crime? Wearing maize and blue.

This wonderful era of football has finally given us the opportunity to show some humility as we let our players do the talking with championships. Instead, many fans have turned into boorish bullies. Have we forgotten class? Have we forgotten respect? Have we forgotten that Cooper once lost to Air Force in a bowl game?

Beer in the stands is going to make it all worse.

The biggest argument in favor of beer sales is, of course, money, perhaps $1 million more in revenue for Ohio State.

Proponents will also point to the dozens of other schools — from Akron and Kent State to Texas and West Virginia — that already sell beer at games (although Akron should probably be selling shots).

So this one will probably be an easy decision for Ohio State.

Come next season in Columbus, prepare to pay $8 for a beer that’s as watery and thin as Jim Harbaugh’s offense. Prepare to witness more scenes of NC-17 behavior. And if you’re a champion of sportsmanship, prepare yourself for more embarrassment.

TALK ON THE WEB Re: NIH awards CWRU $2.3M for ‘foodNEST’ study What a load of horse-patootie — “food deserts.”

More big government tax money wasted on liberal programs. The problem is people who are too fat living off the government dime.

— GreenTea

Re: The problem with John Kasich Gov. John Kasich is a bad potential candidate because of his record of talking middle ground, then letting the worst of the party make the laws.

That is how we are so behind our neighbors in clean energy. Indiana has

1,745 wind turbines, Michigan has 1,531 turbines, Pennsylvania has 1,340 and Ohio has 435. And the kicker — West Virginia has 583 turbines!

West Virginia with more wind power than Ohio! That is Kasich leadership in action! All talk, right-wing action.

— TCTopcat

Re: Trust Navigator’s work at U of Akron This program actually makes much more sense than many of the UA’s recent decisions (the extensive remodel of the president’s house, the $500 olive jar, the elimination of baseball while leaving a losing football program intact, etc).

University bureaucracy can be pretty intimidating, particularly for a first-gen-

eration college student (which I was).

This actually seems more logical than spending about $60 million on a football stadium that functions as an empty space lined with bleachers and is used about six times a year.

— Mark Smith

Re: Eliza Wing, Mary Louise Madigan join Cuyahoga County in communications roles I think it is worth wondering why we need two communication types, what their qualifications are; what comparable jobs pay. …

This is unlikely to end well or be a good use of limited funds.

— Maxknowsbest

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

11

CRAIN’S SUMMER IN THE CITY PHOTO CONTEST “Viaduct Wedding” — By John Murphy John Murphy was entertaining friends at his condo in Stonebridge Plaza when he noticed a wedding outside. He took the photo as the bride started walking down the aisle. Murphy, 37, recently established a freelance photography business, 216 Photography. His prize is VIP admission to the Improv Cleveland for two.

Elk & Elk Commited to Northeast Ohio

Summer in the City is a contest inviting people to share their Cleveland photos.

Weekly prizes include gift certificates to metro Cleveland venues, grocery stores and retailers at a value of $50 to $100. Three grand prizes will be awarded after Labor Day. Add images at crainscleveland.com/SITC.

PERSONAL VIEW

Climate change is toughest on children

By DR. APARNA BOLE and DR. KRISTIE ROSS

As pediatricians, we are concerned about the health effects of climate change on children.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, released earlier this month, represents our nation’s first substantive effort to limit carbon emissions from fossil-fuel-fired power plants.

The plan will be discussed and debated in terms of its environmental and economic impacts, but it is also essential that the public health benefits of the plan be included in this dialogue. In particular, the World Health Organization estimates that more than 80% of the current health burden from the changing climate is on children younger than 5 years old, due both to their small size and the nature of their growth and development.

We are already seeing the health impacts of climate change right here in Northeast Ohio, including the children we take care of in our prac-

Bole is medical director for community integration at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Environmental Health. Ross is the clinical director of the division of pediatric pulmonology at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and is a member of the American Thoracic Society Environmental Health Policy Committee.

tices: extreme precipitation events, extreme heat, longer and more intense allergy seasons, and worsened air quality. In our region, rates of asthma in kids are substantially higher than the national average. In African-American children, asthma rates are greater than 1 in 5 — more than double the national average.

Given that worsened air quality and seasonal allergens are both triggers for asthma exacerbation, children in our community, especially African-American children, are already bearing a significant health burden that is worsened by the effects of climate change. For

these children, exercise and play outside can be dangerous instead of healthy, with outdoor summer activities triggering asthma attacks.

Because power plants are the nation’s largest carbon pollution source, reducing power plant carbon emissions is an essential component of effective climate action.

This measure will also reduce other air pollutants, including particulate matter and surface ozone, which have significant negative health effects, especially for individuals with heart and lung disease, and again with a disproportionate effect on children.

A cleaner energy sector will prevent thousands of premature deaths and hundreds of thousands of child asthma attacks by 2030. This is why we applaud the EPA’s Clean Power Plan as a needed public health intervention, and an important step toward ensuring a healthy and safe environment for current and future generations of children here in Northeast Ohio, across the country, and around the world.

700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 Phone: (216) 522-1383, Fax: (216) 694-4264, www.crainscleveland.com Publisher: John Campanelli (jcampanelli@crain.com) Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com) Managing editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com) Sections editor: Amy Ann Stoessel (astoessel@crain.com) Associate editor/Akron: Sue Walton (swalton@crain.com) Assistant editor: Kevin Kleps (kkleps@crain.com) Sports Senior reporter: Stan Bullard (sbullard@crain.com) Real estate and construction Reporters: Jay Miller (jmiller@crain.com) Government Chuck Soder (csoder@crain.com) Technology Dan Shingler (dshingler@crain.com) Energy, steel and automotive Tim Magaw (tmagaw@crain.com) Health care and education Rachel McCafferty (rmccafferty@crain.com) Manufacturing and energy Jeremy Nobile (jnobile@crain.com) Finance Research editor: Deborah W. Hillyer (dhillyer@crain.com) Art director: Rebecca R. Markovitz (rmarkovitz@crain.com)

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TAX LIENS The Internal Revenue Service filed tax liens against the following businesses in the Cuyahoga County Recorder’s Office. The IRS files a tax lien to protect the interests of the federal government. The lien is a public notice to creditors that the government has a claim against a company’s property. Liens reported here are $5,000 and higher. Dates listed are the dates the documents were filed in the Recorder’s Office.

LIENS FILED American Midwest Enterprises Inc. Paponettis 5806 Smith Road, Brook Park ID: 34-1583758 Date filed: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $5,660

LIENS RELEASED Blue Room Ltd. 4783 Wethersfield Court, Richmond Heights

ID: 27-3003670 Date filed: Dec. 30, 2014 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment, partnership income Amount: $18,608 Cell One Communications Inc. 5342 Northfield Road, Maple Heights ID: 01-0768068 Date filed: Aug. 19, 2014 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Failure to file complete return, unemployment Amount: $9,725 Cell One Communications Inc. 5342 Northfield Road, Maple Heights ID: 01-0768068 Date filed: March 13, 2015 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Failure to file complete return, unemployment Amount: $7,631 Cleveland Heights Board of Education 2155 Miramar Blvd., University Heights ID: 34-6000687 Date filed: May 7, 2014 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $50,230

Fox Auto Inc. 28256 Lorain Road, North Olmsted ID: 34-1846029 Date filed: July 3, 2007 Date released: May 13, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding, failure to file complete return Amount: $5,106 Hilarities Comedy Club Ltd 2035 E Fourth St., Cleveland ID: 34-1877231 Date filed: Aug. 30, 2011 Date released: May 15, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $148,193 Home Corporation of Ohio Inc. 3401 Enterprise Parkway, Suite 341, Beachwood ID: 26-1758056 Date filed: Oct. 1, 2013 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding, corporate income Amount: $7,599 J & R Health Associates Inc. 26612 Center Ridge Road, Westlake ID: 34-1483083 Date filed: April 7, 2011 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding, failure to file complete return Amount: $138,136

Johnnys Tavern & Restaurant Inc. 3164 Fulton Road, Cleveland ID: 34-1571273 Date filed: March 20, 2012 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $49,140

of Northwest Ohio Inc. P.O. Box 349, Ottawa ID: 20-8339755 Date filed: Jan. 28, 2011 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $134,139

Karen Skunta & Co. 1382 W. Ninth St., Suite 201, Cleveland ID: 34-1741349 Date filed: July 18, 2014 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $42,376

4143 Lee Inc. New York Hair & Beauty Supply 12807 Larchmere Blvd., Suite 3, Shaker Heights ID: 26-3240087 Date filed: Aug. 14, 2014 Date released: May 15, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding, failure to file complete return, corporate income Amount: $10,595

Kevin M Preston Co. LPA 1 Berea Commons, Suite 216, Berea ID: 27-1503029 Date filed: July 29, 2013 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $10,814 Little Feet Ltd. 8161 Broadview Road, Broadview Heights ID: 34-1792856 Date filed: April 28, 2008 Date released: May 15, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $8,195 New Life Enterprises

Omni Construction Co. 25975 Emery Road, Suite A, Cleveland ID: 34-1791040 Date filed: June 4, 2014 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $56,976 Steven A. Woyat, D.D.S., Inc. 2255 Columbia Road, Westlake ID: 34-1731629 Date filed: March 5, 2014 Date released: May 12, 2015 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $15,437

STAY CONNECTED WITH CRAIN’S TWITTER: @CrainsCleveland FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/CrainsCleveland LINKEDIN: linkedin.com/company/crain’s-cleveland-business INSTAGRAM: instagram.com/crainscleveland DAILY E-NEWSLETTERS: CrainsCleveland.com/register

FIG. 4-B

Nice house Successful in business

Family person

Par golfer

Good neighbor

Makes a difference in the world

What’s better than a well-balanced portfolio?

A well-balanced life.

At Akron Community Foundation, we can help simplify giving to your favorite nonprofits — leaving you more time to focus on what matters.

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I7824

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GOING PLACES

Send information for Going Places to dhillyer@crain.com

SALT • SALT • SALT • Water Softener • Industrial • Food • Ice Melt • Sea Salt

Call For Pricing!!

Minimum Delivery: 1Pallet

JOB CHANGES CONSULTING CENTRIC CONSULTING: Omeed Veiseh, Robert Meyer and Clay Ruffner to consultants; Barry Petros to manager.

EDUCATION

Easley

BEAUMONT SCHOOL: Melissa Sikon to director of annual giving.

LEGAL

SAINT JOSEPH ACADEMY: Jennifer Easley to director of admission.

FINANCE FARMERS NATIONAL BANC CORP.: Kelcie Witmer to vice president, trust officer, personal trust administrator II, Farmers Trust Co.; Luke Schuster to mortgage sales manager, Farmers National Bank.

FINANCIAL SERVICE BRUML CAPITAL CORP.: Brian J. Meek to associate.

CAPITALWORKS: Matthew Lombardo to senior associate.

SKODA MINOTTI: Jason W. Rauhe to principal, international tax.

HEALTH CARE SUMMA HEALTH: Lorraine Weaver Washington to senior vice president, human resources.

1-800-547-1538 Salt Distributors Since 1966

UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS ELYRIA MEDICAL CENTER: Ernest R. DeGidio, D.O., to family practice physician.

Witmer

FISHER & PHILLIPS LLP: Melissa Dials to of counsel.

MANUFACTURING CHROMAFLO TECHNOLOGIES: Paul Rettinger to technology manager, Thermosets Americas; Cheryl Ludwig to Thermoset product development scientist; Doug Hummer to tax and compliance manager, Ashtabula.

CIMA PLASTICS GROUP: Timothy O’Keefe to operations manager; Bret Simmons to maintenance manager.

RPM INTERNATIONAL INC.: Kenneth Armstrong to vice president, environmental, health and safety; Tracy Crandall to vice president, associate general counsel, assistant secretary; Melissa Schoger to vice president, planning and financial analysis.

TIMKENSTEEL: Carolee Vanicek to director, tube manufacturing.

MARKETING ADCOM: Lucy Williams to associate art director.

INSURANCE

NONPROFIT

DAWSON COS.: Kayla Sands to commercial lines account coordinator.

ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION GREATER EAST OHIO AREA

Rauhe

Schuster

CHAPTER: Lori McCleese to director of development; Stephanie Mueller to community development coordinator.

COMMUNITY CARE NETWORK/CLEVELAND CHRISTIAN HOME: Desiree Hudson to human resources generalist.

GEAUGA COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY: Georgianne Doyle to technical services manager.

REAL ESTATE ALLEGRO REALTY ADVISORS LTD: Nate Walczuk to associate, corporate real estate services practice.

TRANSACTION REALTY: Dominica Dearing, Robert Erney and Paul Rao to sales associates.

TECHNOLOGY INVOLTA LLC: David Gehring to sales engineer; Michelle Moran to regional director.

AWARDS NOTRE DAME COLLEGE: Margaret W. Wong (Margaret Wong & Associates LLC) received the inaugural Corporate Citizen Award.

Align your personal and professional plans today. For a stronger tomorrow.

FirstMerit PrivateBank and Commercial Banking For Jeff, managing personal and business finances on his own was challenging. But with the support of his FirstMerit Bank team of advisors, he was able to use their Treasury Management services to optimize his cash flow, Retirement Planning services* to benefit his employees, and Succession Planning services to ensure his company’s future. So now, Jeff has the support he needs to reach his maximum potential — both personally and professionally.

TO L E A R N MOR E, C O N T A C T :

Sean Richardson, President and CEO, FirstMerit NorthCoast Region, Commercial Banking, at 216-802-6565 or sean.richardson@firstmerit.com.

Tom Anderson, Senior Vice President, PrivateBank, at 216-694-5678 or tom.anderson@firstmerit.com.

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Deposit and loan products are offered through FirstMerit Bank, N.A. Loans are subject to credit approval. *Non-deposit trust products are not insured by the FDIC, are not deposits or other obligations of FirstMerit Bank, N.A. or any of its affiliates, are not guaranteed by FirstMerit Bank or any of its affiliates, and are subject to investment risks, including possible loss of the principal invested.

2423_FM15

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BUSINESS PHILANTHROPY

Getting the most out of doing good Integrating philanthropy into business can maximize impact — in and out of the office

By DOUGLAS J. GUTH clbfreelancer@crain.com

Corporate volunteerism can be a powerful tool in building an enduring relationship with a potential customer base.

However, Northeast Ohio philanthropy experts and employers stress that any philanthropic strategy must be integrated into a company’s overall business plan to do the most good.

That means simply cutting a check may not be the most effective way to either aid nonprofits or ensure a company’s financial future, noted Rachel Herman, senior director of business engagement at Business Volunteers Unlimited, a Cleveland organization providing volunteer referral, consult-

ing and training to area companies and nonprofits. “(Volunteerism) makes it clear to stakeholders, customers and the community what you do and who you support,” said Herman. “You have to be strategic about community engagement if you want the biggest impact,” Herman said.

Finding the right fit BVU links companies at all stages of growth to the appropriate nonprofit partners. This matchmaking effort may include placing an employee on a board or coordinating a team volunteer project. BVU’s Done-In-A-Day program, for example, may send a See MAXIMIZE, page 16

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group of employees to paint the gym at the local Boys and Girls Club, a task that can ultimately serve as a combination neighborhood builder and company morale booster.

Determining the right altruistic fit requires aligning a cause with company goals, maintained Herman. If a business supports the environment then sponsoring a cleanup event at a park may be the best method of mobilizing resources.

“The idea is to connect worker interest to a community need,” Herman said. “Employees are going to rally around that.”

Assessing the worker base should be top of mind for a business planning a philanthropy program, said Hilary Sparks-Roberts, executive director of Social Venture Partners Cleveland, part of a national organization that engages companies, nonprofits and individuals in philanthropic giving.

Savvy companies will integrate volunteerism into an ethos where employees can grow their leadership abilities by serving on a nonprofit’s board, said Sparks-Roberts.

“It shows a company is aware of both community needs and the importance of work-life balance,” she said. “Workers are able to build on the skills they already have.”

A more focused effort A giving-based office environment has become a priority for young professionals, said BVU’s Herman. According to a 2011 Deloitte Volunteer IMPACT survey, millennials who frequently participated in workplace volunteer activities were twice as likely to rate their

Profile in business philanthropy corporate culture as very positive, as compared to millennials who rarely or never volunteer.

As worker interest increases, companies are becoming smarter in their philanthropic tactics, Herman said. Businesses that once spread themselves thin through various donations or volunteer efforts now are focused on identifying the areas where they can make the biggest impact.

“A culture of giving back has to feel organic to who a company is,” said Herman.

The BVU official points to “Grow Up Great,” PNC Bank’s multi-year, $350 million early childhood education program aimed at kick-starting the learning process for children up to age 5. The initiative has served the Greater Cleveland market since 2009, providing $6 million in grants in support of kindergarten readiness projects.

Volunteerism is another facet of the bank’s investment in Cleveland’s future, said PNC regional president Paul Clark. Forty hours of annual paid time off dedicated specifically to philanthropy will find employees reading to pre-K students or cleaning classrooms.

“We’re doing whatever we can to create an environment where learning is taking place,” Clark said.

During the national education program’s conception in the early 2000s, PNC pinpointed early learning as a regional investment that would pay benefits decades down the road. Extensive employee surveys backed the bank’s endeavors to improve quality of life for a populace that ostensibly would make up the bulk of a future consumer base.

“When a community does better, a bank does better,” Clark said.

Size doesn’t matter For a large company, building a philanthropic plan may be a function of human resources, noted Herman. While smaller firms may not have a department dedicated to philanthropy, cultivating a culture of giving back should reflect an organizational philosophy just as it would for a billion-dollar corporation.

The Shelly Co., an Ohio supplier of aggregate, asphalt and concrete paving services, supports wildlife habitat sites on restored land it had previously mined. Teams comprised of employees and community members actively manage restoration projects, community events and certification requirements in relationship to the site, said operations manager Jason Emch.

Aided by BVU, the firm has also increased relationships with food banks, cancer societies and animal protective agencies. The Shelly Co. assembled a “community involvement committee” to coordinate its philanthropic efforts, which helps create a buzz around the business’s volunteer activities, Emch said.

“People are surprised that a heavy construction contractor is doing this type of work,” he said.

“We’re building relationships within the company and within the community we do business in.”

Philanthropy equals long-term benefits A company of any size emphasizing what it stands for can result in a potent competitive advantage, said Scot Lowry, co-founder of Purpose Capital Cleveland, an open source platform for organizations striving to engage their employees through philanthropy and other means.

“It’s tangible proof a company is

willing to seek impact beyond profit,” said Lowry, who is also CEO of Fathom, a Cleveland-based digital marketing firm that contributes 10% of its annual profits to the areas of volunteerism and pro bono work.

“When people are engaged, they’re more creative and their organizations perform better.”

This idea is supported by research from the book “Firms of Endearment,” Lowry said. In a study of socially conscious companies, author Raj Sisodia found that 18 of 28 philanthropy-centric firms outperformed their competitors on the Standard & Poor’s stock index over a 15-year period.

With groups like BVU tailoring more volunteer programs for young professionals, there’s proof enough of the next generation’s desire to be involved in all facets of their community, noted Herman. Tapping into this boundless energy should be viewed by company leaders as an investment for long-term financial success.

“Philanthropy and community engagement go hand in hand,” Herman said. “Businesses are making this type of engagement a part of their company, rather than just something nice to have.”

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but Davey’s reputation grows with them As Californians rein in water usage and let lawns go golden in the face of a debilitating drought, trees are going neglected. Many are becoming diseased or dying.

One Northeast Ohio tree-hugging company is not going to sit idly and watch that happen, however.

Kent-based Davey Tree Expert Co. recently was among the organizations helping to launch the Save Our Water and Our Trees campaign in partnership with two Golden State nonprofits, California ReLeaf and Save Our Water.

Together, the organizations are raising public awareness and providing educational materials about proper tree care during the drought.

Lawns can go dormant and will rebound, said Sandra Reid, vice president of corporate communications and strategic plan administration at Davey Tree, but that is not the case for trees, which may suffer from drought stress.

“Residents and businesses are cutting back on water use because they have to, but they don’t want to lose trees, especially mature trees that have been growing for decades,” Reid said.

The employee-owned company provid-

Profile in business philanthropy Key banks on financial wellness outreach to expand customer base To many a scorned customer, it often seems banks are more interested in racking up fees — monthly service fees, overdraft fees, foreign transaction fees, minimum balance fees, to name a few — than helping Americans make sound financial decisions and secure their economic futures.

Yes, banks impose fees, some more than others, but it’s part of the business. However, the advantages of having better-educated customers are not going unnoticed by forward-thinking financial firms.

“We firmly believe as a bank, and this is a core piece of our strategy, that when our clients succeed financially, that’s when we succeed as a bank,”

I BELIEVE IN

said Mike Wesley, director of client strategy in Key’s retail bank division.

Simply put, clients who have more money are more likely to utilize banking products and services.

“At the end of the day, you are going to grow your personal balance sheet as a result of this and become a more attractive client to any financial institution,” Wesley said.

In 2004, KeyBank opened a financial education center adjacent to its branch at 11461 Buckeye Road.

The center offers regularly scheduled seminars about budgeting, saving and investing, choosing credit products and fraud protection, and in-depth, one-onone coaching.

All the services are free of charge, according to Beverly Davis, financial integration director at Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, the nonprofit that operates the Key Financial Education Center.

In the last 11 years, Davis said

“We appreciate ideastream’s commitment to the highest standards of its industry and its audience’s support… they align perfectly with our culture, mission and vision.”

- Walter Chapman Chief Executive Officer Chapman and Chapman

Find out more at ideastream.org/support

A

3 t t c

t e

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ed an undisclosed amount of monetary support to the Save Our Water and Our Trees campaign, as well as its expertise. The goal is to make it clear to Californians that trees still need water and relate strategies to provide that resource responsibly.

“Typically in these types of situations, we’re sharing our expertise and knowledge for use in whatever communication materials are going to be developed, whether it be multimedia tools or presentation tools or press releases,” Reid said.

In the California campaign, for example, a Davey Tree arborist appears in a video demonstrating how to properly water trees. Davey also provided information for the Save Our Water website.

The company has a significant presence in California, Reid said, and a vested interest in keeping trees there healthy and alive.

With 8,200 employees in communities that span across the United States and Canada, however, she can cite similar informational campaigns in other areas.

Closer to home, Davey Tree has publicized the importance of not moving firewood to curb the spread of invasive species like Emerald ash borer and Asian long-horned beetle.

In addition, the company recently outfitted trees at the Holden Arboretum and Cleveland Botanical Garden with tags that detail to visitors each tree’s benefit, in terms of factors such as pollution re-

duction and reducing the energy needed to cool nearby homes or buildings. The figures on the tags are calculated with a tool developed by Davey Tree in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service.

These projects are rooted in Davey’s focus on trees and the environment, which makes sense from a business perspective, but is also part of the company’s mission, according to Reid. The firm’s founder was an educator and environmentalist before he started the tree services company, she said.

Aligning itself closely with forest and tree issues boosts Davey from a brand perspective as well, Reid added, as is the case with Save Our Water and Our Trees.

“Our field employees working on the East Coast have already heard a lot of positive feedback about Davey’s involvement in the program,” she said.

— Judy Stringer

31,000 people have contacted the center. It has provided financial guidance to more than 16,000 individuals — including many who either didn’t have a bank, or used a bank but relied on costly, nontraditional services, like payday lenders or check-cashing stores.

Davis has had clients who cleaned up their credit, reduced their debt and even purchased homes and started businesses.

“We sit down with them and help them achieve any financial goal that they are trying to accomplish,” she said, adding that hundreds of KeyBank trainers help deliver the Learn and Earn curriculum off-site at schools and community centers.

The Cleveland-based organization launched Key2FinancialWellness.com, delivering some of the same content via free, interactive online tutorials. Money topics in the 10-minute courses include strategies for saving and investing, avoiding overdraft fees, building good

credit and financing higher education.

The tutorials are available in English and Spanish.

Key declined to disclose the cost of the centers or investment in the online lessons.

Taking consumer education one step further, the bank recently teamed up with Washington, D.C.-based HelloWallet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar Inc. The partnership will allow Key to offer customers free financial health scores as well as advice on how to improve their balance sheet.

Wesley said the end game for Key is getting to the point where it can actively help cultivate financial confidence and acumen — once reserved for wealthier clients — across the economic spectrum.

“It has not been that in the past,” he said. “We’ve been building toward it, beginning with the center.”

— Judy Stringer

Indians swing for hearts, minds of young sluggers When the Twinsburg Baseball League’s 50 recreational and travel teams took to the city-owned diamonds at Liberty Park this rainy spring, the young Tigers did not have to dodge puddles rounding the bases or slide into a swampy home plate. Nor did hitters bake in the July sun waiting for their turn at the plate.

That’s because a $5,000 grant from Cleveland Indians Charities allowed the city to improve drainage, add dugout covers, reseed and regrade the Liberty fields late last year.

“This resulted in better playing fields, less muddy cleats and happier players,” said Daisy Walker, a Twinsburg resident and chair of the city’s environmental commission.

Walker helped the Twinsburg league secure the grant.

Twinsburg is one of many Northeast Ohio communities benefiting from the Cleveland Indians Charities’ Diamond Improvement Grants. The Tribe hands out five $5,000 grants per year, according to Rebecca Kodysh, executive director of community impact for the Indians. Since 2008, it has donated more than $200,000 to enhance 39 local youth ball fields. Still, that’s just a drop in the bucket.

“In the city of Cleveland alone, there are 110 ball fields,” Kodysh said. “They are everywhere. I have fun driving around the city and finding new ones.”

According to Kodysh, the team has two goals when it comes to work in the community. The first is to prepare young people for successful lives. The second is to improve the quality of youth baseball and softball in Greater Cleveland. That’s where the Diamond Improvement Grants come into play. In order to be interested in the game, “kids need a good field to play on,” she said. “It is that simple.

We feel like it’s important to keep the game going.”

Earlier this year, the Indians initiated a second program

aimed at better ball fields. Dubbed Fields of the Future, the team is partnering with local companies to rehab inner-city fields. Front office staff and the team’s maintenance crew are among the small army of volunteers doing the work.

First up was field No. 3 at Luke Easter Park in the Kinsman neighborhood. In collaboration with Cincinnati-based Motz Group, which specializes in field rehabilitation, and with the help of local students, the field was regraded, the pitching mound reconstructed and player and spectator benches restored and painted. It was a fitting place to start, Kodysh said, since former Indians power hitter Luke Easter was one of the first African-American players in the majors. Going forward, Cleveland Indians Charities hopes to oversee the renovation of one field per year under the Fields of the Future project.

While programs like the Diamond Improvement Grants and Fields for the Future may boost the Indians brand — especially among young sluggers and their parents — Kodysh said the desired impact is winning more hearts and minds for the game, not necessarily for the team.

“Baseball is a big part of our history in Cleveland,” she said. “I want to believe it’s still America’s pastime. When kids grow up playing baseball and watching it, it just provides a great way for families to connect and make memories.”

— Judy Stringer

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

ADVISER

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

AUGUST 17 - 23, 2015

BRIAN BROADBENT

Everybody wins when a business is engaged Visionary business leaders adopt workplace cultures that emphasize care, appreciation, professional development, trust and empowerment for their people.

These are vital elements for a high-powered workforce; they positively impact employee retention, innovation, customer service and customer satisfaction.

A key to this positive environment is greater community engagement.

Community volunteerism, especially when individuals themselves select the programs and organizations they will serve, instills a higher sense of meaning and increased levels of engagement.

Positive employee engagement is dependent upon both the vision articulated by corporate leaders and the professional growth one feels at their work.

A community engagement program is no longer a ‘nice to have,’ but rather a business imperative.

Individuals feel they’re making a significant contribution, which helps business see direct benefits.

Business becomes a better corporate citizen that fosters good will and a stronger brand, while building a positive, lasting relationship with the community.

Employee morale, loyalty and motivation rise. Teams work better together and individuals develop and enhance their professional and leadership skills.

Human resources and external relations are strengthened. Business priorities such as professional development, recruiting and retention, marketing, diversity/inclusion and health and wellness are all enhanced.

Businesses that we work with to create or enhance their community engagement programs are proud of the ways they contribute to the community.

Their employees are serving on boards, taking on pro bono work and teams are completing large volunteer projects.

Employers that have an occasional canned food drive or walk-athon are missing out on the benefits of a comprehensive employee vol-

unteer program.

When establishing an employee volunteer program, start with an Employee Volunteer Committee.

This committee determines who can help with policies, communications and coordination.

Generally, it’s a good idea to involve human resources and marketing/communications staff members.

Determine who your internal “champions” are. These individuals typically have influence (formal or informal) and can help your program gain traction across business units and leaders.

Create a budget. Ensure the committee knows how much money is available to spend on resources (Tshirts, paint, shovels, etc.).

Lastly, designate specific and realistic goals to accomplish for each initiative.

It’s important to determine the goals/focus of the program.

There are two ways to approach the focus of your business’s volunteer program: either funnel efforts toward a cause or causes that are

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supported by the company as a whole, and/or allow the focus to bubble up based on the passions of your employees.

Before deciding on a particular focus area or specific nonprofit, reach out to your employees to identify their interests.

Distributing a survey is an easy way to gather information about existing community involvement within your business.

Ensure a good fit based on employee interests and the business’s strategic priorities. Create an annual plan for engagement to include company-wide volunteer events and team building programs for departments.

It’s important to select nonprofit partners that are appropriate for your business’s size, interests and objectives.

One approach is to focus on the strengths of your employees through pro bono projects.

If your company’s expertise is in organizational development, then

helping a nonprofit with an HR audit or compensation study might make the most sense.

If your business is all about digital marketing, then helping a nonprofit improve its online presence could be the best use of your employees’ talents.

Don’t forget to offer incentives and recognize your employees.

Consider instituting a paid time off volunteer policy, a growing trend for businesses of all sizes and the practice of most Fortune 500 companies.

On average, most companies give between four to eight hours per year of paid time off to volunteer.

Matching gifts and “Dollars for Doers” are other excellent tools to motivate participation. Recognize accomplishments with certificates, celebratory events or a personal thank you from leadership.

Lastly, evaluate your success and tell your story. An important component of your volunteer program is to reflect on the progress and results of your efforts.

Analyze the community impact of the program from the perspective of the nonprofits served, your business and employees.

How helpful was your involvement for the nonprofit? Did your business benefit from the experience? What did your employees gain from their service?

Above all, encourage your team to share their experiences with coworkers to build momentum and serve as the driver that will sustain and grow your program.

A well-structured community engagement program will distinguish you from your competitors.

By strengthening the community where your employees live and you do business, your reputation and customer loyalty rises.

It’s a win for your business, your employees and the community.

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20150817-NEWS--19-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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AUGUST 17 - 23, 2015

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

19

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20150817-NEWS--20-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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CRAINâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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AUGUST 17 - 23, 2015

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ISSUE DATE: 9/7 | AD CLOSE: 8/27 For more information on the directory, please contact Deb Hillyer at dhillyer@crain.com.

For advertising information, please contact Nicole Mastrangelo at nmastrangelo@crain.com.

20150817-NEWS--21-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

21

TEAM NEO continued from page 1

STAN BULLARD

The main apartment-retail building in the Flats East Bank Neighborhood rose in just over a year — after years of weathering delays and the worst economic downturn in generations in the United States.

OLD RIVER continued from page 3

vast change from its party-centric heyday in the 1980s and 1990s.

The addition of the hotel and restaurants in the first phase of Flats East Bank Neighborhood started to realize the vision. Meantime, Flats East Bank caught another wave after the housing bust and Great Recession. Apartments, 200 of them, one of a handful of newly constructed downtown rentals in decades, further repositioned the transformation of the Flats into its newest incarnation on the east side of the river: The Flats East Bank Neighborhood.

A new megaproject with the capacity to help change a city’s future was the vision that drove the Wolsteins. While the new district has

bars and nightspots and restaurants, it’s more than an entertainment district: It’s a fresh start near where Cleveland got its start.

Old River Road north of Main is new again. Besides the millions of dollars to remake the riverfront and sweating a complicated financing package, it remade the environment step by step. Another 100 residences are possible along with additional storefront retail space.

More places will go into the retail space. More buildings may go onto remaining parcels as the project gains momentum.

Who knows, perhaps, the remaining Victorian-style buildings on Old River Road south of Main may find fresh uses for their empty lower levels.

Keep telling us who to watch The third “Who to Watch” section of 2015, “Who to Watch in Manufacturing,” is scheduled for publication Sept. 28.

It will highlight up-and-comers and innovators in manufacturing. If you think you know who will be among those leading the Northeast Ohio manufacturing sector of the future, drop an email to sections editor Amy Ann Stoessel, astoessel@crain.com, or call 216-771-5155.

Send your suggestions no later

than noon on Monday, Aug. 24.

Please include the person’s name, position and a paragraph explaining why he or she stands out.

There are no hard and fast requirements for this section, other than the candidate needs to exhibit the kind of potential that makes him or her someone to watch in the manufacturing sector.

Keep an eye out later this year for one more of these sections: Who to Watch in Marketing and Creativity, Dec. 7.

137,000 workers, a surprising 18.2% increase.

The nonprofit economic development group’s research also forecasts that the region will add 12,000 jobs in this category of top-tier white-collar workers by 2025. Team NEO’s data is gathered and analyzed by economy.com, a service of New York Citybased Moody’s Analytics Inc. Team NEO points to the relocation of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.’s Latin American headquarters to Akron, and the move by Nestle to bring its pizza division to Solon, as signs of the region’s attractiveness as a corporate center.

A robust and growing executive and managerial workforce is a key factor in keeping a regional economy strong, said Jacob Duritsky, Team NEO’s vice president for strategy and research. Headquarters operations bring more dollars into the region than they send out.

Team NEO believes the category has grown, and will continue to grow, in part because the region offers companies a low cost of doing business, a strong communications and logistics network, a high quality of life and because its colleges and universities turn out quality graduates. Half the jobs in these categories require a college degree.

Talent shows up It doesn’t surprise Ralph Dise that the category is growing.

“The market for professional employees has grown significantly in Greater Cleveland,” said Dise, pres-

ident of Dise & Co., a Shaker Heights executive recruiting and human resources consulting firm.

“It’s not just the IT professionals, the financial and accounting and marketing people; it’s the leaders of those departments as well.”

He characterized Northeast Ohio as “a talent-rich environment.”

Jeff Charney, chief marketing officer at Progressive Corp., has come to respect the attractions and talent pool of the region in his nearly five years here. While he naturally credits the insurance company’s culture and its innovative approach to the insurance business with its ability to attract talent and grow its headquarters leadership, he calls the region the third leg of that stool.

“It’s something special,” said Charney, who was won over by Progressive and the region after stops in Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta and Philadelphia. “It wasn’t a hard sell for me.”

As the nation’s fourth-largest auto insurer, as ranked by Insurance Journal, and a major television advertiser, Progressive attracts job seekers nationwide. But, Charney said, the company finds much of its talent locally.

“We definitely recruit from this area in a huge way,” he said.

According to a Team NEO calculation of something called a “location quotient,” Northeast Ohio has the fourth-highest concentration of headquarters employment among the 20 largest metropolitan areas of the country. Only the San Francisco, St. Louis, and Minneapolis-St. Paul areas have a higher proportion of their total workforce working at

headquarters operations.

Slow and steady Team NEO issues a regional economic review every quarter. In addition to highlighting a different facet of the economy in each issue, it reports on a variety of basic economic indicators. The data from its second-quarter report indicate a regional economy growing modestly, at a rate of 1.3% annually.

The review reports that employment in the region hit 1.92 million jobs in the fourth quarter of 2014, up 0.94%, or 18,000 jobs, from a year earlier. Most of the growth — 10,000 jobs — was in the service sector, followed by manufacturing, 3,900 jobs, and construction, 3,300 jobs.

Unemployment was down to 5.2% from 7.0% two years earlier.

Team NEO employment data are based on long-term employment surveys from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Standards, rather than the Bureau’s monthly reports, which, on a metropolitan level, are less accurate and subject to revision.

Another sign of a growing economy is the reduction in the vacancy of office and industrial space. For the second quarter of 2015, Team NEO reports that the vacancy rate for industrial space fell below 6%, down from 6.3% in April and the lowest rate since the first quarter of 2008. Office space vacancy continues below 11%, where it has been since the fourth quarter of 2014.

Team NEO’s real estate data are supplied by the CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C., supplier of commercial real estate data.

YOU CAN WATCH US, TOO Look for Crain’s Weekly Report webcast, which will hit your inbox on Friday afternoon. To sign up, go to: crainscleveland.com/register.

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20150817-NEWS--22-NAT-CCI-CL_--

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AUGUST 17 - 23, 2015

COSE

DEVELOPER

continued from page 1

signatures to make it to the November ballot. If the ResponsibleOhio initiative is defeated, those groups might reactivate their campaigns for 2016 election runs.

Although proponents contend that passage would create more than 1,000 new retail businesses, COSE’s opposition, based in part on a survey of its membership, is focused on the legal and safety issues that passage might raise in existing workplaces.

“While the points of view around whether people should be able to smoke marijuana is mixed, there is almost unanimous agreement that this is a difficulty for businesses, and specifically for businesses’ human resources policies, the operations of small businesses, and areas where you are dealing with operations that are safety-sensitive,” said Steve Millard, president and executive director of COSE. “I think support (for opposition on those grounds) has been in the mid-tohigh 80 percents, when we asked for opinions,” he said.

COSE also opposes the measure because it believes the amendment will create a marijuana oligopoly, restricting marijuana production to the group of investors that is bankrolling the ResponsibleOhio campaign. The initiative would restrict all cultivation and extraction of marijuana to 10 specific pieces of land controlled by the campaign investors.

Millard said survey respondents were split evenly on whether marijuana use is good or bad, “like a 52-48 sort of thing,” he said, referring to the kind of result that is, because of a small survey’s margin of error, a split decision.

The board of directors of the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association last Thursday, Aug. 13, came out in opposition to the ballot issue “on the grounds that granting what in effect are business monopolies would undermine free-market competition and potentially also compromise workplace safety.”

Passage would not affect an employer’s ability to reject job applicants who fail a marijuana drug test, nor would it

impact an employer’s ability to fire an employee who fails a random drug test, since federal law still classifies marijuana as an illegal drug.

COSE also believes that voter approval would bring more widespread use of marijuana. That, it believes, will force businesses to more closely monitor employees and that more frequent drug testing means greater expense.

The group also worries that employers will face legal challenges by employees to policies that would continue to restrict drug use by employees. Millard said that kind of legal challenge can cost an employer $60,000 to $100,000.

“This is disappointing but not surprising. They all know that legalization does not have an impact on the ability to enforce drug-free workplaces.”

– Ian James executive director, ResponsibleOhio, on COSE’s stance against marijuana legalization

No surprise Ian James, executive director of ResponsibleOhio, told Crain’s Cleveland Business in a telephone interview that the concerns are unfounded.

“This is disappointing but not surprising,” he said. “They all know that legalization does not have an impact on the ability to enforce drug-free workplaces. After passage of the marijuana legalization amendment, you remain a drug-free and a zero-tolerance workplace, period.”

James, though, is skeptical about the broad rejection by these business groups, noting that the initiative could create more than 1,100 retail marijuana businesses.

“After passage, if (they) decide that they don’t want to allow marijuana retail stores that are owned by thousands of Ohioans to become members, then I will applaud their principles,” he said.

“Until then, I’ll look at it with skeptical eyes.”

James also points out that under the current situation, with marijuana illegal but easily available, drug dealers don’t pay taxes, and there are no restrictions on the sale of marijuana to minors.

Safety first COSE members, though, do have practical concerns.

“We are strongly opposed” to the amendment, said Mike Stanek, CFO of Hunt Imaging LLC in Berea.

The company makes dry toner for printing and copying machines and has a shop floor where workers operate dangerous machinery and drive forklift trucks. Stanek said he’s concerned that marijuana legalization will heighten the prospects of having impaired workers on the shop floor.

“The prospect of having a worker under the influence of anything is very concerning to us, not only for that individual’s safety but the safety of all employees at the facility,” he said.

Noting that the company already rejects 50% of job applicants because they can’t pass a drug test, he’s worried, too, that Hunt Imaging will have a harder time finding qualified employees.

To the future Millard said COSE is supporting passage of the Ohio Initiated Monopolies Amendment, which will be Issue 2 on the November ballot. This amendment, initiated by the Ohio General Assembly, would require voters to approve two separate ballot issues if the initiative would establish an economic monopoly or oligopoly. The Legislature believes passage will thwart the marijuana legalization amendment on the same ballot.

ResponsibleOhio argues that its amendment does not create an oligopoly because the amendment forbids the growers from acting in concert and, besides, the retailers, more than 1,000 of them, will be independent.

It’s likely that passage of both amendments will ignite a fierce and long legal battle.

continued from page 3

the move would help retain professionals who commute from the West Side and as far south as Canton.

The shift is significant because the company has spent its funds on projects rather than its own offices. The Warrensville Heights office was its second location after starting out at a folding table in the basement of Burg’s Solon home.

“We never really invested in furniture. Anywhere we went would cost at least another $3 a square foot in rent. This is investing a tremendous amount in furnishing, although there is some help with tenant build-out from the building,” Uram said of the Jacobs Investments Inc.-owned property.

Something new PIRHL received approval from the city of Cleveland for its Job Creation Incentive Program that will allow the company to receive payments of 0.5% of payroll annually — about $12,500 in PIRHL’s case — to a maximum of $35,000 over three years for moving into the city if it meets the program’s goals.

“Despite the degree of uncertainty, we feel that these (goals) can be reasonably met and helped make the move downtown even more attractive,” Uram said. He noted the city’s economic development department was “incredibly helpful” in making the move to town.

Along with its move, Uram said PIRHL is preparing to enter different realty waters by beginning to invest in market-rate housing. He said participating in a U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development trial program that uses private capital to make deferred repairs to public housing by converting it to privately owned affordable housing has shown PIRHL the opportunities that exist in renovating existing apartments.

“Compared to RAD (rental assistance demonstration) projects, these improvements are almost cosmetic,” Uram said.

“We’ve spent a lot of time in D.C. and middle Atlantic states where multifamily construction is crazy. Everyone’s building for the luxury market. We’re concerned that in a lot of key markets multifamily will be overbuilt. We want to focus more on the working class, those who rent by need vs. rent by choice.”

However, PIRHL has yet to launch its first market-rate project.

Locally, PIRHL’s most high-profile project is Library Court Apartments in Shaker Heights, a joint venture with the Jennings Center for Older Adults on a 44-unit apartment building for senior citizens. It also is putting finishing touches on a joint venture with the nonprofit Burten Bell Carr Development Group of Cleveland and Orlean Group of Shaker Heights on New Community Place apartments at 7700 Woodland Ave., which updated 147 units and reduced the density of the complex in a $20 million project.

Bob Nosal, executive managing director of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Cleveland office, led a team that put PIRHL into the building. While PIRHL executives sized up the move warily, Nosal said the building had something extra going for it.

“The space and location fit them perfectly,” Nosal said.

Conor Coakley, an associate in CBRE Group Inc.’s tenant rep practice, represented PIRHL.

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AUGUST 17 - 23, 2015

THE WEEK AUGUST 10 - 16 The big story:

The local committee planning the 2016 Republican convention is 60% of the way toward meeting its fundraising goal of $65 million. David Gilbert, president of the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, told Cuyahoga County Council that the Gilbert host committee has commitments for $31 million in cash and about $8 million in in-kind donations, principally from telecommunications companies that will be wiring Quicken Loans Arena and other key venues. He said state and national fundraisers are seeking corporate donations and sponsorships to help it reach that goal.

Stepping up to the plate: The Cleveland Indians say the first phase of renovations at Progressive Field have been received so well that they are coming back for more. The team announced that a second phase of renovations to the 21-year-old ballpark will begin after the 2015 season and be ready prior to the 2016 campaign.

The work will include enhanced local food offerings, the opening up of the main concourse and the addition of a season-ticket holders club behind home plate. The new club will include a full bar, access to a variety of new concessions, a customer service center and a glass front for what the Indians are calling “prime viewing” of the game.

Sky’s the limit: Downtown Cleveland’s Renaissance Hotel is under contract to be sold for just under $20 million to Skyline International Development Inc. of Toronto. Skyline, which also owns the Hyatt Regency Cleveland, disclosed the prospective purchase price as it announced it had reached an agreement with an affiliate of Washington, D.C.-based CTF Holdings for the property. CTF manages U.S. assets for the Hong Kong-based Cheng Family, which owns multiple Renaissance properties globally. CTF had owned the property since the early 1990s.

Skyline said it will undertake a “multi-milliondollar” renovation after the deal closes in October.

WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM

See what develops: The city of Lakewood is about to kick off what it calls a series of “visioning workshops” for the public to help determine the best uses for 5.7 acres in the middle of the western suburb that’s currently occupied by Lakewood Hospital. The workshops “will teach citizens how to think like developers and offer them opportunities to design uses for the land,” the city said. The city and Lakewood City Council will co-host the workshops, which will take place in the community room at University of Akron’s Lakewood branch. The first session is 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. this Wednesday, Aug. 19.

Read all about it: Andrea Hogben is stepping down as president of Northeast Ohio Media Group, the corporate parent of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland.com and the Sun newspapers. She became president of NEOMG when the organization was created in summer 2013. Before that, she was senior vice president of sales and marketing at The PD. Hogben oversees sales, marketing and content of the combined entity.

23

REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK BEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS

CWRU opens up about privacy Case Western Reserve University is looking for help to keep information from falling into the wrong hands. The university is on the prowl for staff and faculty to join a new group designed to, as it describes it in an online newsletter, to “positively influence the privacy culture” at the university.

The university said it was forming the Privacy Ambassadors Network, or PAN, that would periodically meet for privacy-related training and discussion. The quarterly meetings would focus on different topics related to privacy, such as the privacy of employee information or the privacy of university business information, according to the university newsletter.

The university said those participating in the initiative “will be given resources to bring back to colleagues in their own operational areas.”

— Timothy Magaw

Money starts to flow to StreamLink Software

ing a profit.

SaaS Capital only invests in companies that provide “software as a service” — in other words, companies that sell web-based software on a subscription basis. Companies fitting that description have the ability to grow quickly and generate lots of recurring revenue, if they have a good product.

So instead of looking at SteamLink’s profits and assets, SaaS Capital looked at the company’s growth rate and its recurring revenue, said StreamLink CEO Adam Roth.

The Cleveland company could be profitable if it wanted to be, he said. For now, he’s more interested in growing quickly and grabbing market share.

The cash will help further that growth.

The company, which has about 40 employees, plans to hire seven to 10 people by the end of the year.

— Chuck Soder

They’re sure not looking to duck responsibility

A non-traditional lender is banking on the growth prospects of StreamLink Software.

The Cleveland company doesn’t yet generate a profit, but its sales have doubled every year for the past four years. So you might not be surprised that it just raised another $3.5 million from its existing investors.

But it also signed up for a line of credit that could reach $2 million.

The lender, SaaS Capital of Cincinnati, is comfortable lending to companies like StreamLink, even if they’re not yet generat-

They might be stationed in the headquarters for the company that makes the Duck brand duct tape, but these caregivers definitely aren’t quacks.

ShurTech Brands LLC recently opened at its Avon headquarters an employee health clinic operated and staffed by the Cleveland Clinic. The small clinic is a first of its kind for the health system. It includes an exam room and lab and is staffed by a Clinic physician assistant.

The clinic serves employees, their spouses or domestic partners, and dependents older than 18 covered under the company’s insurance plans. By offering the on-site clinic, the

MILESTONE

BEST OF THE BLOGS Excerpts from recent blog entries on CrainsCleveland.com.

In the money

On the money: Investors keep pouring money into local health care companies. Nineteen of them raised a total of $104 million in venture capital during the first half of 2015. That’s better than almost every other first-half total since Cleveland-based BioEnterprise Corp. started collecting data in 2002. The number of companies raising money is fairly low compared with recent years; 24 companies raised money during the first half of 2014. Nearly one-third of the $104 million went to one company, ViewRay Inc. of Oakwood Village. The $104 million total beats the $97.7 million raised during the first half of 2014.

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

COMPANY: Torch Group, Solon OCCASION: Its 25th anniversary July marked a quarter-century in business for privately held Torch Group, an executive search firm. President and CEO Ronald S. Torch established the company in 1990 in Stamford, Conn., and moved it to Northeast Ohio in 1997.

Torch Group was founded as a marketing consulting firm but now offers specialized national executive search, staffing and consulting services. It has eight practice areas: marketing and sales; foodservice; consumer products; manufacturing; software and technology; retail; building products; and food and beverage.

The firm employs eight people and assigns a team to each search, including an executive recruiter, researcher, project coordinator and account manager.

“It has been exciting to grow our business beyond a local marketing consulting firm with just one practitioner into the highlyrecognized and awarded executive search firm it is today,” Torch said in a statement.

“Companies all over North America view us as a strategic partner because of our ability to find talent that makes a difference to their business.”

For information, visit www.torchgroup.com.

Send information about significant corporate anniversaries to managing editor Scott Suttell at ssuttell@crain.com.

Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has the second-highest CEO-to-worker pay ratio in the country, according to a report from Payscale Human Capital.

Payscale calculated ratios based on the cash compensation of CEOs at the 100 highest-grossing public companies in the United States in 2013. The CEO of pharmacy/retailer CVS, Larry Merlo, has the highest pay compared to his employees: $12,112,603 — or 422 times as much as the average CVS employee, who earns $28,700 per year.

Next up was Goodyear CEO Richard Kramer, whose cash compensation of $15,086,645 resulted in a CEO-to-worker pay ratio at the company of 323-to-1. In third place was Disney’s Bob Iger who earned $12,112,603 in 2013 — 283 times more than the average Disney employee’s compensation.

Jump into a wide pool Diebold Inc. is the very model of a modern global corporation when it comes to accommodating top recruits who don’t want to move to Ohio.

Bloomberg examined the company’s evolution under CEO Andy Mattes, who “can’t just stroll down the hall at his company’s headquarters in Canton, to confer with his top executives over coffee. That’s because many don’t work there.”

The story noted that the company’s chief strategist works and lives 2,100 miles away in San Jose; the chief marketing officer is in Boston. Since taking the helm of the big maker of ATMs two years ago, Bloomberg said, “Mattes has replaced about 60 percent of Diebold’s top 100 executives—with twothirds of them stationed full time far from the head office.”

Mattes told Bloomberg that building a

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

ShurTech Brands LLC’s signature product is its Duck brand duct tape. company is “able to offer outstanding healthcare for our people to maintain a healthy lifestyle and use their personal time focused on other activities,” according to a statement from ShurTech CEO John Kahl.

Before patients can use the clinic, ShurTech requires a complete biometric screening to determine a baseline for the detection and prevention of diseases. The screenings are designed to identify high-risk conditions or behaviors such smoking and diabetes, so they can be monitored appropriately.

“Within our health system, we have taken steps toward value-based care and cost containment through management of chronic conditions.” said Dr. Joseph Knapp, a Cleveland Clinic physician and medical director of the ShurTech clinic.

“Now, through this relationship with ShurTech, we extend the model into an employer setting,” he said.

— Timothy Magaw

virtual management team is crucial to Diebold’s turnaround.

“We needed to change the company’s mindset with new people,” Mattes said. But with Diebold’s headquarters in Canton, he says, “we were fishing in a small pond.”

Bloomberg said the type of software experts he craved “don’t usually envision themselves relocating to a heartland burg just down the road from Akron, once known as the rubber capital of the world.

So Mattes got rid of a rule that Diebold executives had to work and live in Canton and lured veterans from what he called “a who’s who of the technology industry. We broadened the talent pool substantially.”

The state of things Republicans start and end their presidential nominating cycle in Cleveland — from the Aug. 6 debate to next summer’s convention — so it’s not exactly a surprise that, as TheHill.com reported, they’re “dead-set on winning back the Buckeye State” in 2016.

But the website added some notable detail about just how committed the GOP is to putting Ohio in its column next year.

From the story: Behind the scenes, national Republicans are getting an early start on organizing grassroots volunteers and reaching out to voters. …

The (Republican National Committee) has already sent 20 staffers to Ohio — the first deployment of what eventually will be a statewide army of between 150 and 175 field organizers.

The RNC is also investing more in technology and data, including so-called “walk” apps, to help identify and target undecided voters.

Matt Borges, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, pledged that the party “absolutely will not relive the experience of 2012,” which he calls “a disjointed effort.”

(Borges also noted: “I wasn’t part of it.”)

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Seth Godin best-selling author, entrepreneur

Mike Abrashoff retired U.S. Navy Commander, best-selling author

David Stern former commissioner of the NBA

Jackie Joyner-Kersee Olympic gold medalist, philanthropist

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson co-founder, Gilt Groupe; CEO of Glamsquad

Guy Kawasaki former chief evangelist, Apple; author; entrepreneur

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