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BEFORE
AFTER
Direct investing plan scuttled by JobsOhio leaders Strategy of taking equity stakes in growing companies gives way to focus on doing loans By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
JOEL HAMMOND PHOTOS
The 320-home, $110 million project at Battery Park on Cleveland’s near West Side has benefited from the city of Cleveland’s residential tax abatement program.
As residential tax abatements’ stock rises, officials seek renewal City stakeholders view policy as key incentive for homebuyers By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
A
fragile housing market has scotched any plans to trim back residential tax abatement when Cleveland City Council takes up the policy’s renewal this fall. That wasn’t the case in 2007, when the policy last was renewed. Then, Mayor Frank Jackson sought unsuccessfully to cut back the number of years taxes would be abated for
INSIDE Come together
36
Led by Michael Pope (pictured), 30 home product retailers and home improvement specialists have come together in Middleburg Heights to provide a one-stop shop for homeowners. Learn about the unique partnership and its members by reading Jay Miller’s story on Page 11.
some new housing construction. The current authorization sunsets in June 2012, and City Council plans to discuss renewal soon and to pass the legislation before the end of the year. The Jackson administration now acknowledges tax abatement’s importance to rebuilding the city’s housing stock. “Our assumption is every home that’s built (in Cleveland) gets tax abatement, because it’s such a great See TAX Page 9
Gov. John Kasich’s new job creation nonprofit, JobsOhio, remains a work in progress. That was clear last week when Mark Kvamme, the transplanted Silicon Valley entrepreneur who is the governor’s economic development point man, revealed a key change in its strategy to spur business development in Ohio. Mr. Kvamme said during a meeting with Crain’s editors and reporters that the organization was setting aside a highly touted plan to use JobsOhio money to invest directly in growing businesses to keep them in the state; instead, he said, the group will rely chiefly on the loans and tax credits the state long has used to encourage business growth in Ohio. “We decided we’re not going to do investments,” said Mr. Kvamme, who is JobsOhio’s chief investment officer. “What we will be doing is loans, very similar to what (the Department of Development) has done in the past, to create a recurring revenue source” as businesses repay their debts. He also alluded to the legal difficulties that could arise in creating an investment vehicle that would allow
“(JobsOhio wants to) open the eyes of venture capitalists to the world-class companies being created here.” – Mark Kvamme, chief investment officer, JobsOhio state money — the liquor profits that will fund JobsOhio — to be used for equity investing. Mr. Kasich initially had planned to have JobsOhio provide companies with equity, which is sometimes more attractive than loans to small, growing businesses. An equity position would give the state the chance to share in the success of the businesses it helped fund, which in turn would allow it to use its investment gains to expand JobsOhio’s economic development kitty. Mr. Kvamme said he believes JobsOhio can find others who will make the equity investments some young See DIRECT Page 5
$5M gift to CWRU will help fund innovation initiative Invacare execs’ donation will provide space to develop products, technology By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
Invacare Corp.’s A. Malachi Mixon III and Joseph B. Richey II know a bit about rubbing elbows with other driven individuals to get a business venture off the ground, so the pair has invested $5 million in Case Western Reserve University’s entrepreneurship and innovation programs. Their gift will help anchor the creation of the Richey-Mixon Building,
which will house the university’s “think box” programs — a collection of initiatives at CWRU designed to encourage students to develop new products and technologies with the ultimate goal of spawning new businesses. The project could involve renovating an existing building or constructing a new structure. Plans for what exactly the building might contain still are being hashed out. However, both Messrs. Mixon and Richey said the idea is to create
work space for students and, perhaps, other business professionals to tinker with new ideas. “That’s how new companies are created,” said Mr. Mixon, Invacare’s chairman and former CEO. “There are very few perfect people who have every attribute known to man. Certain people have skills that others don’t. When you get people together, you can usually make a go of it.” That type of mingling of the minds is what helped Invacare get
Mixon
Richey
off the ground when Messrs. Mixon and Richey leveraged the buyout of Invacare in 1979 from Johnson & Johnson and transformed the Elyria See GIFT Page 22
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NEWSPAPER
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SPECIAL SECTION
Crain’s again identifies and profiles companies and individuals who are championing sustainability ■ Page E-1 ■
Entire contents © 2011 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 32, No. 36
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KEEP HITTING THE BOOKS
CRAIN’S ON THE WEB Get more analysis with podcast ■ Crain’s each week produces “Behind the News,” a podcast that takes listeners further inside each week’s paper’s top stories. To tune in, visit www.CrainsCleveland.com/section/audio.
Labor force statistics by demographic group for Ohio in 2010 reinforce one message above all others: Stay in school. Even during the recession, people with at least a bachelor’s degree remain employed at high levels.
Labor force Unemployment Share of participation rate rate labor force
Category All workers
Blogs offer all the snark you can handle!
65.2%
10.1%
List: Largest grantmaking foundations ..............20 Reporters’ Notebook.....23
Male
70.5
11.5
52.0
Female
60.3
8.5
48.0
Education Less than high school
36.4
23.0
8.2
High school
63.2
12.0
36.5
Some college
72.9
9.0
29.9
Bachelor’s or higher
79.0
4.5
25.4
REGULAR FEATURES
SOURCE: “STATE OF WORKING OHIO 2011,” BY POLICY MATTERS OHIO; WWW.POLICYMATTERSOHIO.ORG
August 2011
July 2011
July 2011
July 2011
July 2011
$110 Million
$2 Billion
$750 Million
$300 Million
$250 Million
Senior Secured Credit Facilities
Senior Unsecured Credit Facility
Senior Unsecured Credit Facility
Senior Secured Credit Facilities
Sole Lead Arranger, Sole Bookrunner
Joint Lead Arranger
Joint Lead Arranger
Joint Lead Arranger, Sole Bookrunner
Joint Lead Manager
June 2011
June 2011
May 2011
July 2011
July 2011
100%
Gender
■ Read the latest from Northeast Ohio’s food scene, sports business analysis and managing editor Scott Suttell’s Editor’s Choice blog at www.Crains Cleveland.com/section/blogs.
Classified .....................22 Editorial .......................10 Going Places ................14
SEPTEMBER 5 - 11, 2011
Senior Notes
700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 Phone: (216) 522-1383 Fax: (216) 694-4264 www.crainscleveland.com Publisher/editorial director: Brian D. Tucker (btucker@crain.com) Editor: Mark Dodosh (mdodosh@crain.com) Managing editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com) Sections editor: Amy Ann Stoessel (astoessel@crain.com) Assistant editors: Joel Hammond (jmhammond@crain.com) Sports Kathy Carr (kcarr@crain.com) Marketing and food 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) Manufacturing Tim Magaw (tmagaw@crain.com) Health care & education Michelle Park (mpark@crain.com) Finance Research editor: Deborah W. Hillyer (dhillyer@crain.com) Cartoonist/illustrator: Rich Williams Marketing/Events manager: Christian Hendricks (chendricks@crain.com) Marketing/Events Coordinator: Jessica Snyder (jdsnyder@crain.com) Advertising sales director: Mike Malley (mmalley@crain.com) Account executives: Adam Mandell (amandell@crain.com) Dirk Kruger (dkruger@crain.com) Nicole Mastrangelo (nmastrangelo@crain.com) Dawn Donegan (ddonegan@crain.com) Office coordinator: Toni Coleman (tcoleman@crain.com)
$115 Million
$65 Million
$500 Million
$410 Million
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Senior Notes
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Senior Notes
Sole Lead Arranger, Sole Bookrunner
Joint Lead Arranger
Joint Lead Arranger, Joint Bookrunner
Co-Manager
Joint Bookrunner
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INSIGHT
High-tech warrants Third Frontier focus Research group recommends investing in sectors that already demonstrate strengths By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
COLUMBUS — All things being equal, the Battelle think tank rather would see the Ohio Third Frontier Commission fund a company developing software for businesses
than one working on software for consumers. Companies in 10 high-tech sectors would be more likely to receive Third Frontier money if the commission follows the recommendations of Battelle, a Columbus-based nonprofit research organization.
Those sectors are advanced materials; business software/enterprise computing; energy storage; fuel cells; health information technology; medical technology; propulsion power management; sensing and automation technology; situational awareness and surveillance systems; and solar photovoltaics. Battelle made its recommendations last week during a joint meeting of the commission and its advisory board, which together oversee one
of the state’s biggest economic development programs. Though the focus areas are by no means finalized — the advisory board at its next meeting is expected to voice its formal opinion on the matter, which then would be voted on by the commission — several Third Frontier leaders voiced support for the idea of focusing more of the program’s budget on specific industries. Voters last November approved a $700 million bond issue that extended
the life of the technology-focused program by four years. Though it sounds like a lot of money, $700 million is “a drop in the bucket” compared with the size of Ohio’s economy, said Mark Kvamme, who was appointed by Gov. John Kasich in January to help reshape Ohio’s economic development programs, including the Third Frontier. To make a difference, the money See TECH Page 8
THE WEEK IN QUOTES “The tax abatement gives developers an important tool, with measurable benefit, in marketing their for-sale housing in the city of Cleveland to potential homebuyers.”
SCANNING FOR MORE BUSINESS Technology outfit takes inventory management equipment operation to new levels
— Arne Goldman, director of business development, Marous Brothers Construction. Page One
“After the last two years you have to try something new or you’re going to perish.”
By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com
A
s if Technology Recovery Group Ltd. wasn’t already being aggressive … The Westlake company, which repairs and sells barcode scanners and other inventory management equipment, more than doubled its sales and its employee base from 2008 to 2010. Now it wants to grow faster, according to TRG president Sean Kennedy. Early next year, the company plans to expand beyond its core services business by releasing a software product customers could use to manage their own inventories. See TRG Page 12
— Michael Pope, building owner and project manager of Environments by Design in Middleburg Heights. Page 11
JANET CENTURY
Sean Kennedy, president of Westlake-based Technology Recovery Group Ltd., is bullish about growth prospects for his company, which repairs and sells barcode scanners and other inventory management equipment.
Natural gas car conversion drives entrepreneurs Companies also spot opportunities to satisfy need for filling stations By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
More local entrepreneurs are entering the business of converting vehicles to run on natural gas, and they’re also working to open and operate the fueling stations that will
be needed to keep those vehicles running. One company in this business is SSP Inc. of Twinsburg, a 200employee manufacturer of tube and pipe valves and fittings that has started a subsidiary to capitalize on what it believes will be a groundswell of demand for vehicles powered by natural gas. “This is a different, less risky type of startup,” said SSP CEO Jeff King, who prior to working at SSP once tried to start a water reclamation company in Tempe, Ariz.
That effort ran out of money, Mr. King said, but the new subsidiary has both a source of capital and an engineering and manufacturing partner in SSP — not to mention a national trend that Mr. King expects to drive its growth. That trend is shale gas, which is natural gas trapped in shale rock thousands of feet beneath the earth’s surface, including under much of Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Appalachian states. The discovery of that gas — or, more importantly, the discovery of new techniques to
extract it — has led to a decoupling of the cost of natural gas from that of other fossil fuels. While the cost of a barrel of oil has jumped to around $100 in the last decade and remains there, natural gas prices have been dropping as more shale gas comes to market. As a result, the amount of natural gas that can run a car for as long as a gallon of gasoline costs less than $2, while the price of gasoline continues to approach $4 per gallon. See GAS Page 6
“We’re focused on protecting the health of patients and families and focused on being stewards of public health because the links between environmental risk factors and health are pretty easy to understand.” — Dr. Aparna Bole, University Hospitals’ sustainability manager and Green Lantern award winner. Page E-4
“I don’t consider myself a sustainability guru, but my policy positions reflect what I’ve learned from others.” — Cleveland City Councilman Matthew Zone, Green Lantern award winner. Page E-5
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Crain’s ad exec dies in car crash Dirk Kruger joined newspaper in 2007 Dirk Kruger, a publishing industry veteran and account executive with Crain’s Cleveland Business, died last Thursday, Sept. 1, the victim of a fatal car crash in Shalersville Township in Portage County. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, a Dodge Dakota that was traveling north on state Route 44 came left-of-center and struck head-on the southbound BMW sedan that Mr. Kruger was driving. Both
drivers were taken to Robinson Memorial Hospital. Mr. Kruger was pronounced dead at 1:37 p.m. by physicians at Robinson Memorial. The name and condition of the other driver had not been released as of last Friday by the Highway Patrol, which Kruger is investigating the crash. Mr. Kruger, 47, joined Crain’s in January 2007 after eight years at the Pittsburgh Business Times, where he last held the post of senior account executive and where he previously had worked from 1992 to 1997. He was a 1987 graduate of the Univer-
sity of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and was intensely proud to be a Jayhawk. Mike Malley, Crain’s advertising sales director, said Mr. Kruger was one of Cleveland’s most respected advertising executives and was revered by his peers. “When he wasn’t talking about new ad strategies, he was sharing tales of his two boys. He will be missed,” Mr. Malley said. Mr. Kruger is survived by his wife, Tracy, and his sons, Sherman, 17, and Michael, 14. ■
New services help medical consultant Eastlake staffing outfit finds help in e-records shift, will relocate to Westlake office site Forestall By TIMOTHY MAGAW tmagaw@crain.com
The twists and turns of the health care industry over the last few years have taken Jacqueline Forestall and her company, Alego Health, on a wild ride, but she said the medical staffing and consulting business in Eastlake finally has found a niche that could take it beyond Northeast Ohio. Alego Health nearly closed for good in 2009 when the need for temporary nurses dried up as many
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part-time nurses returned to the work force full time to make extra money during the recession. Hospitals also had less of a need for temporary nurses as people lost their insurance and opted out of elective surgeries, Ms. Forestall said. To diversify, Alego — which had focused on placing nurses in temporary assignments — took steps that include offering résumé writing assistance to job seekers and placing food service professionals at hospitals. “I stopped taking a salary and just did everything I could possibly do to keep us afloat, but things started to slowly come back together,” Ms. Forestall said. However, Alego hit its stride when it started to place information technology professionals at hospitals and physicians’ offices as many health care providers began installing electronic medical record systems and needed back-end support to customize and launch the software. Now, IT consulting makes up the bulk of Alego’s business. Alego’s business model revolves around placing people with clinical backgrounds — RNs, LPNs and medical assistants, for example — into IT settings to assist with electronic medical record launches. “We believe that we’ve got an enormous talent pool right here in Cleveland,” Ms. Forestall said. “That’s what we’ve done. We’ve hired local people. We’ve developed them and given them opportunities.” When the company launched in 2004, Alego had two people on its staff; it has grown today to 27 administrative employees with 400 to 500 intermittent workers available for placement in the health care field. Though the company wouldn’t provide figures, Jonathan Levoy,
Alego’s vice president of operations and business development, said its revenue tripled in 2010 from 2009. Alego’s projected growth for 2011 is expected to be a little more than four times 2010’s revenue. “The very basics of it were that we provided great customer service and hired great people,” Mr. Levoy said. “Those two things have led us to be very successful, and now we have a much more detailed plan how to attack things.”
Making a bigger splash To accommodate its growth, Alego will move its headquarters to Westlake in December. The company signed a lease last week to take over about 9,400 square feet of office space at the Point 6 building at 24651 Center Ridge Road. The company currently is housed in a roughly 2,000-square-foot office inside the Radisson Hotel off Curtis Boulevard in Eastlake. Mr. Levoy said the new space will allow the staff to continue to expand as the company tries to tap into new markets. The bulk of Alego’s clients at the moment are in Northeast Ohio. To broaden its reach, Alego plans to be a vendor at a national convention in February for chief information officers in health care. “I think we have something unique to give them, so we’re gearing up for that, and it will hopefully allow us to get out of Cleveland and do some stuff elsewhere,” Ms. Forestall said. The plan, Mr. Levoy said, is to cultivate a pool of employees with clinical backgrounds in other markets so that the company can use local talent in those markets to do the work — a more affordable enterprise than shipping workers around the country. He said the short-term plan is to enter nearby markets, such as Cincinnati or Columbus, then venture into the states surrounding Ohio. “We’ll take that talent pool and develop them and get them experience in something other than traditional nursing, being an LPN or being (a medical assistant) and to use their degrees to go into this expanding field,” Mr. Levoy said. ■
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Volume 32, Number 36 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except for combined issues on the fourth week of May and fifth week of May, the fourth week of June and first week of July, the third week of December and fourth week of December at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2011 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. 1-877824-9373. REPRINT INFORMATION: 800-290-5460 Ext. 136
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Direct: Removing regulatory barriers important for business continued from PAGE 1
companies need. He said, for example, that he would like to take a “trade mission” to the West Coast to knock on the doors of Silicon Valley investors to “open the eyes of venture capitalists to the worldclass companies being created here.” Jonathan Murray, a partner in Early Stage Partners LP, a Cleveland venture capital firm, said Ohio needs more sources of capital for growing young firms, and he supports Mr. Kvamme’s approach. “Mark recognizes this and has proposed multiple creative ways to quickly help Ohio companies to grow and, as importantly, stay in Ohio,” Mr. Murray said in an email. “Though the specific terms of proposed investments from JobsOhio into companies will matter, what matters more is dramatically expanding available capital immediately.” Under the Kasich plan, JobsOhio will control the purse strings on about $100 million annually from liquor profits. It will use that money for low-cost loans to companies that agree to bring a business to Ohio or to expand existing operations. It also will be the dealmaker for such incentives as tax credits that still must be submitted to the state for approval. JobsOhio is handing to six regional offices much of the authority to make loan and tax incentive commitments on behalf of the state.
These offices will be the main point of contact for local communities and businesses seeking state economic development help. In Northeast Ohio, the regional JobsOhio representative is Team NEO, a business attraction group that will be expanding its economic development responsibilities.
Seeking a smoother ride Mr. Kvamme said last week he believes the most important thing the state can do for growing businesses — more important than tax and loan incentives — is to remove regulatory and competitive barriers, especially when it comes to helping existing Ohio businesses expand. “Incentives are icing on the cake, but what you really need is to remove regulations or introduce (the new business) to some suppliers who can help them (do business),” he said. Christiane Schmenk, director of the Ohio Department of Development, said the administration is working hard to untangle the jumble of regulations and bureaucracy. “Companies got so far (in the bureaucracy), and they were told there is no way the state could (do something) and that was the end of the road for them,” she said. Mr. Kvamme used as an example a Michigan company that wants to build a large warehouse in Northwest Ohio that would add 500 jobs. However, Ohio trucking regula-
tions created a roadblock. Because of different rules in Ohio and Michigan, a tractor-trailer that carried a 120,000-pound load to an Ohio warehouse only could return an 80,000-pound load to Michigan. When told of this imbalance, Mr. Kvamme said he called Jerry Wray, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation, to relay the problem. Mr. Wray called back 90 minutes later with a solution and the company got approval to send back heavier loads. An announcement of a completed warehouse deal should be forthcoming soon, Mr. Kvamme said.
Fair play During his meeting last Tuesday, Aug. 30, at Crain’s, Mr. Kvamme also answered a question that’s been raised by several community leaders in Northern Ohio — namely, whether Northeast Ohio, which accounts for more than one-third of the state’s economic output, would be shortchanged if JobsOhio spreads its resources more or less evenly across the six regions it created. Mr. Kvamme, however, said the state is creating a simple return on investment formula that will guide JobsOhio’s decision-making as to which businesses receive state assistance. The return on investment, or ROI, formula, Mr. Kvamme said, will calculate the cost of any incentives and subtract those costs from
the total new taxes that will result from the new or expanded business operations the incentives will attract. For example, for JobsOhio to approve a $200,000 job creation tax credit, the applying company will need to show that the new property, income and other taxes the investment is expected to generate will exceed the amount of the tax credit. “If it’s ROI positive, 99 times out of 100, (the deal) will get signed,” Mr. Kvamme said. That simple yardstick also will make it possible for the regional JobsOhio staff under Team NEO to make deals that likely will be approved quickly by JobsOhio and, where needed, by state officials. Some public officials have expressed concern they will lose the ability to make their best case for their own projects directly to the state’s dealmakers under this new structure. But Mr. Kvamme said that since the regional offices all will be applying the same ROI calculation to their deals, it will mean the best deals will get done, regardless of who is proposing them and from what part of the state they come. “If I go, or director Schmenk goes, to the governor, and we say, ‘Hey we’ve got to do this (deal),’ his No. 1 question will be, ‘Is it ROI positive?’” Mr. Kvamme said. “It’s what he asks every single time. And if it is, we’ll move mountains to get (the deal) done.”
Keeping them honest That answer didn’t totally dispel the apprehension of Ken Silliman, chief of staff to Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, largely because of his concerns that the operations of the private-sector JobsOhio will not be as open as those of a public agency, which are subject to public records disclosures. “Without the ability to request (through public records) the documentation of how the criteria were applied, you do not have the checks and balances that are traditionally associated with public money,” Mr. Silliman said. Mr. Kvamme and Gov. Kasich have defended the privatization of the state’s economic development programs as being more business friendly, and they have pledged to make a full annual accounting of JobsOhio’s activities. Economic development officials across Northeast Ohio have waited for months to hear details of the JobsOhio initiative and were not displeased with the broad outlines disclosed by Mr. Kvamme and other state economic development officials during a meeting last week at the Embassy Suites hotel in Independence for more than 300 local politicians and economic development professionals. Even Mr. Silliman, speaking for his mayor, said, “We see opportunities for new innovative ways for making development deals.” ■
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Meyers Roman undergoes Landerbrook typifies real estate battle transition in top leaders By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com
The founder of Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis has sold her majority stake to nine partners so that new leadership may chart the law firm’s course. After shedding her administrative duties, Anne L. Meyers, who was managing partner of the Woodmere firm, now will practice law more frequently. Peter Turner, 55, has been named managing partner, and Scott M. Lewis, 52, will remain administrative partner. Terms of the deal, effective last Thursday, Sept. 1, were not disclosed. “A lot of law firms don’t make it through transitions,” Ms. Meyers said. “I’m 60 years old. I still want to practice law, but it seemed to me it made sense to embark on a new generation of leadership. The last thing I want to happen is I decide to retire and it (the firm) falls apart.” Meyers Roman mainly represents small to midsize businesses. Its practice includes litigation, estate planning, real estate and family law.
Ms. Meyers founded the firm in 1995. Over the years, as the firm grew from four lawyers to 21 and from a couple dozen clients to hundreds, her administrative duties grew, decreasing the time she had for practicing law. “I’ve been managing this firm for 17 years,” she said. “I have always planned for the future, and there comes a time when you think, ‘You know what? The future of this firm has to rely on other people.’” The firm’s partners decided as part of the transition to form a three-person management committee, which comprises Mr. Turner, Mr. Lewis and Peter D. Brosse, 52, a partner. “We’re not looking to step in and immediately make any drastic changes,” said Mr. Turner, who now oversees the firm and its strategic planning. “The immediate focus is to continue what Anne has built.” The firm’s leadership will “remain on the lookout for emerging areas,” he said, and adapt as it sees fit. “One thing we all recognize is it’s a changing legal environment,” Mr. Turner added. “You can’t stand still.” ■
Landerbrook Place, an office building in Mayfield Heights that is visible from Interstate 271 and is known as the “diner building” due to its shiny silvery exterior, is in the hands of its lender. An investor group led by Mark Munsell, one of Northeast Ohio’s most active office building acquirers over the last decade, transferred the deed for the 78,000-square-foot building last Tuesday, Aug. 30, to Landerbrook Place LLC, a venture formed by JE Robert Co. of McLean, Va. JE Robert Co. is a special servicer for lenders that also doubles as a distressed property investor. Mr. Munsell last Thursday, Sept. 1, chalked up the loss of the building to a business decision. After the building last year lost its largest tenant, the Victoria Financial unit of Nationwide Insurance Co., to Metropolitan Office Plaza, it left a 58,000-square-foot hole its owners were not able to fill. “As Landerbrook Place was (effectively) a corporate headquarterstype building, it had very large floors that made it difficult to subdivide the floors for other tenants,” Mr. Munsell said of the building, which dates
to 1988 and has floors of almost 26,000 square feet. “There is a dearth of tenants to backfill that much space until businesses start adding jobs again,” Mr. Munsell said. “The lender was cooperative, but it became a question of not being able to service the mortgage.” He said he was barred from discussing financial terms of the transfer under a nondisclosure agreement. The deed exchange — which occurred with no money changing hands in Cuyahoga County records — satisfied an $8 million securitized loan Mr. Munsell’s investor group took out on the building in 2006. The county assigns the property a $9 million market value for tax purposes. JE Robert Co. did not return three phone calls. However, the new owner has retained commercial real estate brokerage Ostendorf-Morris Co. to handle management and leasing of the building, according to Geoff Coyle, O-M managing director. He
Gas: Dealerships to benefit continued from PAGE 3
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SSP’s startup will produce parts and sub-assemblies that can be used to convert conventional automobiles to run on natural gas. It sells them to those operating large fleets of vehicles and, it hopes, later will sell them to automotive original equipment manufacturers looking to integrate them into their production lines. So far, it’s a fairly small endeavor compared with SSP as a whole. Only 10 of the company’s employees work at the subsidiary, called AFV LLC, the letters of which are taken from the words “alternative fuel vehicles.” SSP said it’s investing about $2 million to start AFV, which should carry it through 2012, the company reports. Another 10 or so employees have been loaned to the subsidiary at various times by SSP, and AFV is on track to do $1 million in sales this year, said marketing director Reed Stith. Next year, SSP projects the unit will employ 20, with sales of $5 million. SSP believes it can produce $8 million in annual revenues from the unit by 2013.
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said he does not know what the new owner’s long-term plans are for the building. The loss of the building by Mr. Munsell’s group is viewed as a reflection of ongoing tough market conditions for real estate by Steve Egar, the broker at Egar Associates, a specialist in office leasing in the eastern suburbs. “(Mr. Munsell) is one of the best and brightest owners,” Mr. Egar said. “It shows how hard it is for a landlord to fill a largely empty office building in this market.” Mr. Munsell was philosophical about the decision. “It was time,” he said. “We’d had the building since 1988 and made money with it.” The fate of Landerbrook Place at 5915 Landerbrook Drive has no bearing on the rest of his portfolio, Mr. Munsell said. Each acquisition is held in a separately formed corporation with different investors in Mr. Munsell’s real estate ventures, which are spread from Beachwood to Fairlawn and Dayton. ■
SSP has its own built-in supply chain for much of what it needs to make its kits, because it makes them itself. But even some local entrepreneurs without their own related manufacturing operations are getting in on the natural gas act. Among them are Michael Battaglia and Nabil Sahlani, two East Side businessmen who hope to become modern-day Rockefellers of sorts — perhaps not in scope, but at least by getting in front of the need for natural gas filling stations the way old John D. got a jump on the gasoline refining business. Mr. Battaglia said their company, CNG-One LLC, is in the midst of a private placement that will raise at least $400,000, and possibly as much as $1 million, when it closes at the end of this month. In the meantime, the two are investing their own money. They’ve come up with their own conversion kit, using parts made mostly by local manufacturers of the valves, tubing and fittings needed to take
natural gas from a pressurized tank in the back of a vehicle to its engine’s combustion chambers. They’ve also moved ahead with plans to develop both local filling stations and a showroom for natural gas vehicles. The partners have purchased a former John Deere dealership in Hudson, which consists of 6,000 square feet of office, garage and showroom space on two acres. They’ve also secured a former gasoline filling station on Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights, which they say likely will be one of their first natural gas filling stations. They’re joining the ranks of other local entrepreneurs — such as Cleveland’s Dan T. Moore and Mentor’s Greg Osborne — in pursuing opportunities in the vehicle conversion and fueling arena. Mr. Osborne also is converting vehicles over to natural gas, as is Mr. Moore, who is developing a home filling station that consumers could attach to their existing home’s natural gas line and use to fill cars in their own garages. Like Messrs. Osborne and Moore, the operators of CNG-One hope to attract some fleet operators as their company’s first customers. Mr. Battaglia said he is close to signing a company with a fleet of at least 150 pickup trucks he could convert. He declined to identify the company before a deal is signed, which he expects to happen in the next 90 days.
Will work for fuel Andrew Chiarelli, alternative fuel vehicles manager at Motorcars Honda and Toyota in Cleveland Heights, is among the potential beneficiaries of local entrepreneurs’ plans for natural gas fueling stations. Consumers are ready to buy natural gas vehicles, but need to be assured they’ll have places to fill them up, said Mr. Chiarelli, who has been selling natural gas cars, hybrids and other alternative fuel vehicles since 1998. “Five fueling stations in each county, that’s all it would take,” he said. A start would be CNG-One’s planned station in Cleveland Heights, about 500 yards away from Mr. Chiarelli’s dealership. “That would help a lot,” he said.■
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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15 2011
must be spent in areas where it can spark a lot of growth, said Mr. Kvamme, who also is a venture capitalist for Sequoia Capital of Menlo Park, Calif. “I think you’ve always got to have focused investment,” he said.
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Presenting the findings to the commission and advisory board, Mitchell Horowitz of Battelle said the Third Frontier still should consider supporting companies and projects outside of the 10 sectors on its list. The focus areas, however, should get more money because they all are growing sectors where
Ohio already has strengths the Third Frontier can build upon, said Mr. Horowitz, vice president and managing director of Battelle’s Technology Partnership Practice. For instance, Ohio has had strong employment growth in the business software sectors in recent years, and the growing popularity of computing services being delivered over “the cloud” — another word for the Internet — gives Ohio companies a growing market to target, according to Battelle’s study. “It’s a growth area in Ohio,” Mr. Horowitz said. Fuel cells made it onto Battelle’s list despite previous comments by Third Frontier leaders that the market
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“(Cloud computing services) is a growth area in Ohio.” – Mitchell Horowitz, vice president and managing director, Battelle’s Technology Partnership Practice for the technology — which uses hydrogen and other molecules to create chemical reactions that produce electricity — has developed more slowly than expected. Some of those thoughts were voiced again at the Third Frontier Commission’s meeting last Monday, Aug. 29. For instance, Mr. Kvamme said it might be wise to have fuel cell companies and projects apply for money through the energy storage program because of the “tiny market” for fuel cells. Mr. Horowitz, however, cited information showing how Ohio already has an advantage in the fuel cell sector: Ohio in 2010 employed 9.8% of all U.S. residents who work in the fuel cell/hydrogen industry. The state represents 3.7% of the U.S. population, according to 2010 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. The industry will grow slowly, though, because the energy industry doesn’t change quickly, Mr. Horowitz said. “Here, it’s going to be integrative change, much more cumulative,” he said.
Growth prescription Medical technology is an area where Northeast Ohio is likely to benefit, given that the region typically receives a substantial share of the money the Third Frontier has put toward the sector. Asked later in the week what medical sector is poised for growth, Mr. Kvamme mentioned medical imaging — a sector with a strong presence in Northeast Ohio, particularly in Cleveland’s eastern suburbs. Mr. Horowitz at the Third Frontier meeting said a growing demand exists for medical products that integrate a range of innovations, such as an implant made of a biological material that can transmit data wirelessly. “That’s where we’re going to really stand out going forward,” he said. Of all the sectors related to advanced energy, energy storage represents one of the biggest growth opportunities for Northeast Ohio, according to a report released in June by regional technology advocacy group NorTech. However, the organization thinks the Third Frontier Commission should give more thought to including “smart grid” technology as one of its focus areas, said NorTech president Rebecca Bagley.
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Brad Nellis, president of the Northeast Ohio Software Association, rather would see the Third Frontier broaden its focus to include software for consumers. “Something like Facebook would be overlooked” if the Third Frontier doesn’t give enough attention to the category, he said. Even so, Mr. Nellis said he believes business software/enterprise computing and health IT are good focus areas for the Third Frontier, which in the past put little money into the IT sector. “It’s better than what we had before, which was nothing,” he said with a laugh. ■
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Geauga Savings targets Tax: Green standards likely to be higher customers close to home continued from PAGE 1
Reducing problem loans remains bank’s top goal By MICHELLE PARK mpark@crain.com
Geauga Savings Bank is not out of the woods yet, but it nonetheless is hunting new game. Though it remains under regulatory orders and continues to work through elevated problem assets, the Newbury bank is looking to lend again after a couple years of barely lending at all. This time, though, it’s not chasing mortgage loans all across the country; it’s pursuing business loans in its vicinity. The bank, which is calling on businesses in and around Geauga County and hosted a business mixer in June, now has a couple such loans in the pipeline, including a commercial real estate loan and an equipment line of credit. The key to Geauga Savings’ return to lending is improvement in its problem loan portfolio. During the growth period before the implosion of the subprime mortgage market, the bank made residential loans and bought mortgage-backed securities nationwide. Most of its losses in recent years were mortgage-related. Now the institution, which at June 30 had roughly $425 million in Lencioni total assets, appears to be seeing the turn in its portfolio for which it’s waited, said Allen S. Lencioni Sr., president and CEO. Its nonperforming assets are decreasing, though not significantly. Its delinquencies are improving, too, though the bank did see delinquencies rise a bit in July, and sales of property taken through foreclosure have been better of late than during the first six months of the year. Sales prices have been higher, too. The bank remains plagued, however, with a high level of nonperforming assets, said Charlie Crowley, managing director of Paragon Capital Group LLC in Mayfield Heights. As of June 30, its nonperforming assets as a percentage of total assets was 9.77%. The median for publicly traded Ohio banks is more in the 2% range, Mr. Crowley said. Mr. Lencioni acknowledged that reducing the volume of nonperforming assets will be a long-term cleansing process. “We have a significant problem loan portfolio that’s going to take a while to burn off,” he said.
In the black, finally Mr. Lencioni wanted to begin doing business lending back when he started with the bank in fall 2008. However, a cease-and-desist order
handed down by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in January 2009 required the bank to decrease its loan-to-deposit ratio to not more than 100% from an “extreme” 120%, he said. Regulatory orders against both Geauga Savings and its holding company, Maple Leaf Financial Inc., have not been lifted as yet. Today, Geauga Savings’ loan-todeposit ratio stands at nearly 90%, which actually is lower than company officials desire. Normal loan repayments total a couple million dollars a month, and that’s money Mr. Lencioni would like to redeploy as it returns. “That’s why we’re back in the lending business,” he said. The bank also has met its capital ratio requirements, according to Mr. Lencioni, primarily by shrinking its size. Both its assets and liabilities have been reduced, he said. And now that it has generated profit — a little more than $1 million in the first seven months of this year compared with a loss of $775,000 in the like period last year — “we could actually grow a little,” Mr. Lencioni said. The fourth quarter of 2010 was the bank’s first profitable quarter in about three years.
Eyeing more locations, too It’s hard to say how much the bank will lend in the foreseeable future, Mr. Lencioni said. Still, he sees now as an opportune time to resume doing so. “This recession will end, and when it does, we’ll start another boom period,” Mr. Lencioni said. “I think it’ll be a great time to be making these kinds of loans.” Business lending, Mr. Lencioni said, is a safer, relationship-based business for the bank and should increase its profitability substantially. He is interested most, he noted, in making loans where collateral is involved. Another plan that has been on hold also is moving ahead, albeit slowly: Geauga Savings is starting to explore possible sites in Geauga County with the aim of growing from one location to three. Mr. Lencioni also is contemplating moving the company’s headquarters elsewhere, because the current, 10,000-square-foot location is more suitable for retail use than as a center of business operations. The bank, he noted, needs permission from regulators to spend money on physical facilities, something he thinks it would receive. ■
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incentive,” said Daryl Rush, the city’s director of community development. Mr. Rush introduced plans for residential tax abatement renewal at an informal City Council hearing Aug. 16. He said the city intended to offer tax abatement to new home buyers and rehabbers for the maximum time period allowed by state law. Mr. Rush told council members the policy has revived a struggling housing market and has been especially helpful in what were distressed neighborhoods, including the Central, Hough and Tremont neighborhoods. A 2007 study by researchers at Cleveland State University found that 51% of potential homebuyers surveyed then said they would not buy a home in Cleveland without abatement, and an additional 41.5% indicated the abatement program made homes in Cleveland more attractive. “The tax abatement gives developers an important tool, with measurable benefit, in marketing their for-sale housing in the city of Cleveland to potential homebuyers,” said Arne Goldman, director of business development for Marous Brothers Construction.
Marous and buyers of its homes are beneficiaries of the tax abatement program because the company is developing Battery Park, a $110 million, 320-home project on the city’s West Side in the DetroitShoreway neighborhood. Mr. Goldman said when people consider moving into the city, “The nudge is often tax abatement.” Keith Brown, president of Progressive Urban Real Estate and co-developer of Tremont Valley Townhomes on West 11th Street, concurred. “I certainly hope (renewal of tax abatement) will be approved,” Mr. Brown said. “This would not be a good time to eliminate tax abatement in Cleveland.”
A greener future Mayor Jackson’s argument in 2007 for shortening the abatement term was based on a section of the Cleveland State study that found 80% of buyers still would have bought with only a 10-year abatement. But the mayor met strong opposition from developers and City Council members. Mayor Jackson eventually approved legislation that retained a 15-year, 100% tax break for new houses and a 10-year,
100% break on major improvements made to existing houses that included improvements in energy efficiency, such as high-efficiency insulation. Renovations that didn’t reduce energy consumption got only seven years of abatement. “At that time, the market and economy were collapsing and the developers did not want to risk weakening an incentive that might assist with competitive advantage for the city,” Mr. Rush said. Mr. Rush said if any element of tax abatement changes this time around, it’s likely to be to make green building standards more rigorous. He said special attention will be paid in setting green standards for existing and historic homes. Councilman Matt Zone said he believes the homebuilding industry will support higher green building standards, noting, “The industry is already there.” Mr. Goldman agreed. He said his firm, which builds new homes, is not concerned about any new green standards that might be imposed. “We have to meet those standards anyway,” he said in referring to the firm’s work for community development organizations that develop lowand moderate-income housing. ■
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PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR:
Brian D. Tucker (btucker@crain.com) EDITOR:
Mark Dodosh (mdodosh@crain.com) MANAGING EDITOR:
Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)
OPINION
Money talks
M
oney talks in politics. It always has. Large campaign donors have been known to use their contributions to influence the views and votes of candidates they support. But a disturbing trend is arising in politics — politicians themselves soliciting campaign contributions for their parties, and indirectly for themselves, by touting their positions on specific issues. It makes a voter wonder whether politicians take the stands they do on principle, or whether they’re motivated instead by a desire to tap into the pockets of zealous believers in a particular issue or cause. The spat over Senate Bill 5 — the measure to curtail sharply the collective bargaining rights of unionized public employees — has proven to be fertile ground for the fundraising solicitations of representatives from both parties. Blast emails have been the method of choice for seeking out these dollars. As we noted last February, former Gov. Ted Strickland hailed the public employee opponents of SB 5 for rallying against the bill in Columbus, then hit them up for $10 contributions in an email sent by the Ohio Democratic Party. Likewise, Gov. John Kasich has used emails to rally the troops that favor the legislation while also asking for their money for the Ohio Republican Party. Even Sherrod Brown, who as a U.S. senator had nothing to do with passage of SB 5, was the writer of an email in early June that urged recipients to make contributions to the state Democratic Party to help in its effort to repeal the bill. The practice of tieing a politician’s stance on an issue to a pitch for campaign dollars now has filtered down to the local level, with a blast email sent last week by Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald on behalf of the county Democratic Party. Mr. FitzGerald was upset that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, wanted to ban county boards of elections from sending out mass mailings of absentee ballots to all registered voters in a county. Mr. Husted said he was seeking uniformity among the counties in the absentee ballot process. Mr. FitzGerald opposed the ban, in part because nearly half the county now votes absentee — and he wasted no time in letting potential political contributors know as much through the email, which carried the subject line “Stand With Me” and stated: “Columbus is trying to get between you and your ballot. Let’s do something about it. “I stood up against Secretary of State John (sic) Husted who is trying to eliminate the mailing of absentee ballot applications to all registered voters. The Vote by Mail program in Cuyahoga County is working, and it represents good government. “I need you to stand with me to help protect voting rights in our county. Show your support by contributing $15 or $25 to the Democrats of Cuyahoga County.” As with other emails of this sort, clicking on the underlined sentence takes people to a website where they can make contributions to the political party. The “I’m scratching your back, now you scratch mine” nature of these emails is disconcerting, though we bet it’s just the start of them in our electronic age.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Kasich clash with mayors continues
S
up with.” Remember that the latest Ohio budget also chopped local government funding by 34% and did away with an estate tax that provided needed funds to towns as State. well. Kasich administration spokesman And, no, I don’t mean “offender” as in Rob Nichols said the changes are necesthe kind of folks we put in our soon-tosary because Ohio can’t afford the govbe-privatized prisons. I mean that his ernment it has, and must explore ideas sometimes generate critishared services to control costs. cism from both sides of the aisle. BRIAN There is some truth to both Case in point is a quote TUCKER arguments, and neither the from Bay Village Mayor Debby governor nor Ohio’s mayors have Sutherland, a Republican and easy assignments these days. I respected chief executive of just can’t help but think that the west shore suburb, who more agreeable ideas could be responded harshly to the goverreached if they worked together. nor’s proposal that the state **** assume control over collecting CHARTER SCHOOLS — THE municipal income taxes. BEST OF WHICH offer innovaCalling it a “money grab” by the state, tive ways to help educate urban kids — the mayor told The Plain Dealer that this can be just as harmful to children if not latest idea is yet another financial emasoperated properly. And the state, which culation of Ohio cities and towns. long has been criticized for weak moni“I would rather (the Kasich administoring and disciplining of poorly run tration) be honest and say, ‘We don’t charters, finally seems serious about want cities of less than 50,000 (people)’ shutting down the bad ones. because that’s what they’re going to end ay what you will about John Kasich, but you can’t deny he has been an equal-opportunity offender in his attempted remake of the Buckeye
Last week, two Cleveland charters were notified that they must close before the next school year. One of them — Marcus Garvey Academy — just got a new headmaster in Stanley Miller, a former well-regarded Ohio Bell executive and executive director of the Cleveland NAACP chapter. Another charter school, Lighthouse Academy in Akron, also was notified that it must close after the current school year; five others got one year — the current school year — to improve their results or be shut down. This shows the state is serious about limiting charter schools to those able to improve student achievement, such as Cleveland’s innovative Breakthrough Schools. The best will be those that operate in partnership with existing urban school districts. Society needs to do anything it can to improve the educational attainment of the residents of our cities. Innovation is imperative, and close monitoring will be just as important if we are ever to reverse the decades of steady deterioration of our big-city public school systems. ■
THE BIG ISSUE Is the film industry worth state subsidies and do you think it creates a significant economic impact on Ohio?
RON RUA
DAN BURKETT
DANELLE WARNER
SHYLA MURANKO
Cleveland
Northfield
Lakewood
Cleveland
It’s helpful in this town, but I can’t speak for the whole state. ... There’s people on the street, there’s people coming down to watch it who normally wouldn’t do that. They’re going to restaurants and bars. … It’s all helpful.
Yes, definitely, with the tourism it brings in, the money it brings in. The people come in, and it’s just a nice thing and it brings money to the city.
I would like to think that it does. I lived in New York for five years and things get filmed there all the time, so you think ‘Why can’t it be done here and why not bring the tax credits?’ I don’t know, it seems to make sense.
I do. Because I think anything to create jobs and get people interested is good. I know it’s a big headache for downtown, for the people who work and live downtown, but I think we can sacrifice a little bit for some more economic development.
➤➤ Watch more people weigh in by visiting the Multimedia section at www.CrainsCleveland.com.
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Michael Pope, the project manager of Environments by Design in Middleburg Heights, said the facility includes “30 companies coming together to do something they couldn’t do themselves.”
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A fix for laborious home remodel Center offers array of renovation options By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
Some Northeast Ohio businesspeople who sell into the home remodeling and renovation market think they’ve found a new way to help homeowners with the expensive, often confusing task of home renovation. With help from the city of Middleburg Heights and Cuyahoga County, 30 home products retailers and home improvement contractors have banded together on Pearl Road in Middleburg Heights to create Environments by Design. The partners describe it as a one-stop idea center where homeowners can design and buy products for many typical and not-so-typical home improvement projects. The building includes a 12,000square-foot showroom and 5,000 square feet of model rooms, including a kitchen, media room, bathroom and even a butler’s pantry. “This is 30 companies coming together to do something they couldn’t do themselves,” said Michael Pope, owner of Audio Video Interiors, which installs home theater systems. “We think we have a better way to do (home) projects.” Mr. Pope, who owns the building and describes himself as the project manager of the design center, said he and his partners are making a $2 million commitment to the complex. Cuyahoga County has extended the project a $500,000 loan at 2% interest, and the city of Middleburg Heights has granted the project a seven-year job creation grant valued at $12,200 a year. The city also waived building permit fees. Mayor Gary Starr said the project
brings 28 jobs and a $3 million payroll to the suburb, with a projection that the jobs number will grow to 40 in a few years. Initially, the jobs are with Audio Visual Interiors and STI Safety Technologies, companies owned by Mr. Pope. The partnership is creating a “design-build” business, a real estate development term usually associated with office buildings, stadiums and other large-scale construction projects. Mr. Pope, whose home theater business occupies space adjacent to the showroom, said the idea is to complete a home renovation project faster, with less fuss and with a better handle on costs. He said as he researched the concept, he was unable to find anything comparable in the country. At the high end of the market, a homeowner can hire an architect, for a fee, to design a new kitchen, specify new appliances and cabinets and hire plumbing, electrical and other contractors as needed to complete a kitchen renovation. Similarly, Environments by Design partners will cost out a project together and will control execution from beginning to end. Since they don’t hire independent plumbing or electrical contractors, Mr. Pope said, they believe they can offer customers a guaranteed price. The idea evolved for Mr. Pope when people came into his Audio Video Interiors showroom in Medina. The customers would want a home theater or whole-house video system, and Audio Visual Interiors could design and install whatever equipment they would purchase. However, Mr. Pope began to realize he could add value to his
business if it could design the system, specify the equipment and manage the contractors who might be needed to remodel a den into a home video theater. So he started building alliances with many of his current partners on a project-by-project basis. The tough economy gave Mr. Pope the push to turn his ad hoc concept into a new kind of business. “After the last two years you have to try something new or you’re going to perish,” he said.
Basement golf, anyone? Now, the Environments by Design partnership includes firms that also can provide the carpeting, lighting and new windows for that video room and do the same for kitchens, bathrooms and closets. Other partners create ornamental ironwork and do landscaping and other exterior improvements. The group even includes a muralist. The design center’s website describes a recent project, the installation in a basement of a full-contact sports simulator for an avid golfer. To get the required ceiling height, partner Cutting Edge Decorative Concrete lowered the floor, Capozzi Design Group created the cabinetry, Audio Video Interiors engineered and installed the sports simulator and Beyond the Wall Mural Design created the wall décor. A customer can be introduced to the services of the design center by any of the members or through the center’s marketing outreach to interior designers. Any of the firms in the partnership can bring customers to the Pearl Road showroom and the partners will share customer lists and use the center for a variety of events. “If we make it work in Cleveland …” Mr. Pope said, his trailing off a sign of optimism for the concept growing. ■
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Danny Vegh’s to open first non-Ohio store After nearly five decades of doing business in Northeast Ohio, Danny Vegh’s is opening a billiards and home entertainment store out of state. President and CEO Kathy Vegh said the retailer plans to open a store in October at Bayshore Town Center in Milwaukee’s North Shore. Ms. Vegh said the store will feature the same range of products found at its four locations in Ohio. They include Brunswick pool tables, barstools, theater seats and patio furniture along with games such as ping-pong,
pinball, skeeball and air hockey. Ms. Vegh said various factors played into the decision to select Milwaukee for the company’s first store outside Ohio. “First of all, Milwaukee’s demographic is very similar to Cleveland’s; therefore we believe we know what they want and have the answers to fill their needs,” Ms. Vegh said in an email to Crain’s. “Additionally, we identified Milw aukee as a market that did not have as much competition as many other cities we considered.”
Asked whether the company is considering stores in other cities or more stores in the Milwaukee market, Ms. Vegh said, “Danny Vegh’s is always looking for ways to improve, advance and expand, but this is all done with great caution as we work hard to protect our brand.” Danny Vegh’s has stores in Fairlawn, Mayfield Heights and Westlake, as well as its original store on Cleveland’s West Side established 48 years ago by Ms. Vegh’s father, the namesake Danny Vegh. ■
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SEPTEMBER 5 - 11, 2011
Home field suits Akron soccer well Zips’ success brings bigger crowds, tougher place to play By JOEL HAMMOND jmhammond@crain.com
The Aug. 27 home opener for the University of Akron’s men’s soccer team, which featured the unveiling of a banner commemorating the team’s national championship victory last December, was quite cozy. The Zips set a new record by drawing 5,241 fans to FirstEnergy Stadium-Cub Cadet Field, most of whom went home happy when Akron blitzed Cleveland State University for four goals in the first half en route to a 5-0 victory. It nonetheless was a turnout that made for close quarters for fans and athletes at the game — a situation that could be repeated throughout the season at the hemmed-in stadium on the school’s campus. The men’s soccer program is in the midst of an unprecedented three-year run, with a combined 62-4-7 record culminating in two straight NCAA national championship game
appearances and last December’s victory over the University of Louisville. The Zips averaged 3,213 in 11 home games last year, second in the nation. Akron drew four crowds of 3,800 or more. They were seventh in the country in attendance in 2009. The success brought nearly $900,000 in naming rights fees for the former Lee Jackson Field, and a bump in pay for coach Caleb Porter, to $350,000 annually, more than some MAC head football and basketball coaches. The school added this summer 330 chairback seats, a year after completely gutting the stadium. The latter project included a new drainage system and playing surface and a new grandstand. But that figures to be all the growing for now at the stadium. It’s surrounded by a track complex to the south, InfoCision Stadium-Summa Field — the school’s new football stadium — to the east, a softball field to the northeast and student union to the north. That situation could make potential expansion more difficult, though it doesn’t appear to be an immediate consideration. “We will monitor attendance and plan accordingly,” athletic department spokesman Gregg Bach said. “There are no plans currently to add
more seating.” Cleveland State’s defenders, and others who have played in Akron, likely would welcome a little more room. A couple thousand Akron students stand mere feet from the east end line, and as is custom in soccer, outdo each other with successive chants. Akron is 61-3-4 at home since Mr. Porter joined the program in 2006.
Akron students cheer for the Zips’ men’s soccer team last October in a 7-1 win over Michigan. The students stand behind the east goal at FirstEnergy StadiumCub Cadet Field on the UA campus, adding to a cozy environment and a home-field advantage. The Zips have won 89.7% of their home games since 2006.
Home-field advantage The coziness follows the smaller template set by many soccer teams, including in Major League Soccer. The New York Red Bulls, for instance, played for 14 years at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. — the 80,200-seat former home to the NFL’s Giants and Jets — before moving to Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J., last March. Red Bull Arena seats 25,000, and New York has averaged 18,796 this season; in 2009, the year before moving from Giants Stadium, the team averaged 12,491. The University of California-Santa Barbara — college soccer’s attendance standard-bearer — led the nation in home attendance last season, at 5,873. But the Gauchos play in a 17,000-seat former football stadium, and drew 4,600 fans or
ZUMA PRESS
fewer six times last season. (They also drew 6,000 or more four times, including 15,896 against UCLA.) Akron plays at UCSB on Oct. 5. Mr. Bach, Akron’s athletic department spokesman, said Mr. Porter “likes it (cozy) like that, too as do our students and fans.”
“Opponents come here every year and for half the game they know they’re going to have to deal with that,” Mr. Bach said of the fan noise on the east end. “There’s a constant buzz in the air that you see elsewhere in soccer that is to our advantage.” ■
TRG: Company anticipates eventual global market entry
replace barcode scanners, barcode printers and point-of-sale systems instead had TRG repair them. The company also sells refurbished versions of those products, and about 18 months ago it started selling new hardware, which should help TRG bring in more revenue when customers start buying new equipment, he said. The company’s coming software product, which tentatively is called Repair Watch, should accelerate TRG’s growth, Mr. Kennedy said. Existing TRG customers already use a version of the software to check on the status of repairs — has the broken machine arrived at TRG, where is it in the queue, who’s working on it, what’s wrong with it, and so forth, Mr. Kennedy said. Information from the system can help companies spot trends related to equipment failures. TRG would sell the product version of Repair Watch to other companies, mainly those that do some sort of repair work. If the product doesn’t catch on, the work still could improve TRG’s own version of Repair Watch. Mr. Kennedy doesn’t expect that to happen, based on what he’s hearing from potential customers. “They’re saying, ‘When can you sell this thing?’” he said.
continued from PAGE 3
It’s also hunting for acquisitions that could help TRG break into new
markets, Mr. Kennedy said. The company, which employs 47 and expects to hit $15 million in revenue this
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year, is in acquisition talks with two Ohio-based businesses: a similar, smaller firm and a software developer. Mr. Kennedy declined to identify those companies. That’s not to say TRG is looking to grow only in its backyard. Most of its sales growth likely will take place east of the Mississippi, given that TRG ships products from Westlake, but the business also aims to sign more foreign customers, Mr. Kennedy said. That’s why photographs throughout the company’s headquarters show the skylines of major cities throughout the world. “The whole goal is to take us global,” he said. So far this year, TRG has hired eight people, including Deborah Birk, who as vice president of global marketing and communications is charged with helping accelerate the company’s growth. Five more positions remain open. That’s on top of the 23 people TRG hired from 2008 to 2010. Sales grew just as fast during that period, hitting $11.5 million in 2010, up from $4.5 million in 2008.
Mr. Kennedy started TRG in 2004 after spending a few years working in sales for MRK Technologies Ltd., a Westlake-based information technology management firm founded by his father, Mike Kennedy. His father also founded computer leasing firm LDI Corp., which grew to become a publicly traded company but struggled in the mid-1990s before it was sold to NationsBank, which is now Bank of America.
‘Exploding’ business Sean Kennedy started building TRG by offering to manage IT assets for people he already knew in Northeast Ohio’s IT community. The company’s growth sped up in 2006, when it shifted focus to barcode scanners and other inventory management equipment, which companies are more likely to repair and keep than standard computer equipment. “Business has been exploding ever since,” he said. The company saw a big increase in demand because of the recession, Mr. Kennedy said, noting that customers who normally would
Energized customer The Repair Watch system is one of several factors that helps TRG stand out, said Rob Mastnardo, senior systems analyst at the global technology center in Westlake of battery maker Energizer. Energizer Holdings Inc. of St. Louis about a year ago switched to TRG from another company that repaired inventory management equipment. Not only did TRG offer a “significantly lower” price, but Mr. Mastnardo said he was impressed with the company’s culture. For instance, when an Energizer plant couldn’t find the packaging material it needed to ship one of its industrial label printers, TRG sent the plant what it needed. “They’ve actually gone above and beyond what’s expected of them,” he said. ■
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Effects of NCAA football attendance mandate unclear Head of two Few if any penalties assessed, but observers question if rule has had desired outcome By JOEL HAMMOND jmhammond@crain.com
As the 2011 college football season kicked off over the weekend, schools across the country hoped for big crowds and big victories — with some more than others hoping for the first of the two. Attendance figures show four Mid-American Conference schools potentially in danger of violating an NCAA mandate enacted in 2005 requiring any school in Division I-A — now known as the Football Bowl Subdivision —to average at least 15,000 in home football attendance once every two years. Should those schools fail to meet the criteria, though, they apparently needn’t worry: College sports’ governing body has shown little interest in enforcing the mandate, which supposedly carries a penalty of probation followed by demotion to the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division 1-AA) if the goal is not met. MAC commissioner Jon Steinbrecher said the mandate remains in effect and the MAC never has had a school lose any postseason eligibility or suffer any other penalties under it. But it’s a flawed system, said Rick
Chryst, the MAC’s former commissioner and now of counsel at Cleveland law firm Walter & Haverfield. Mr. Chryst said the rule is wellintended, but it adds extra pressure in an area to which MAC schools already are devoting significant resources. “You hate for the urgency to be legislatively driven, because schools work really hard at it,” Mr. Chryst said. “They’re competing at a level that can generate broad external interest and campus interest.” According to the NCAA’s website, Ball State and Bowling Green universities have averaged fewer than 15,000 fans each of the last two seasons, and the universities of Akron (10,185) and Buffalo (12,981) did so last season. But there is disagreement on whether the NCAA lists paid or actual attendance on its website; BG, for instance, has reported an average of over 15,000 tickets sold per game, spokesman Jason Knavel wrote in an email. The NCAA did not return a call seeking comment. The lack of movement on the mandate, observers say, is due to the NCAA wrestling with other, more worrisome issues, such as major violations at Ohio State University and investigations at Auburn Uni-
versity, the University of Oregon and the University of Miami. Add in a bloated bowl season — 70 teams again will play in bowl games this season; last year 15 .500 teams did so, including the MAC’s Western Michigan University — and the NCAA appears to have little interest in knocking any team down a level and depleting further the pool from which bowl teams are drawn. “(The NCAA) has bigger fish to fry,” said Alan Ashby, director of athletic communications at Kent State University. Kent State was informed of its noncompliance after the 2008 season, after averaging 8,999 in 2007 and 10,639 the next year. The Golden Flashes’ attendance rose to 15,512 in 2009 and 16,152 in 2010, as it finished $10 million in renovations to Dix Stadium and introduced an initiative called “90Ksu: Everyone Counts,” which set as a season attendance goal the sale of 90,000 tickets — an average of 15,000 for each of six home games. This year, Mr. Ashby said, the Golden Flashes are ahead of advanced sales from last year, though he’s unsure if that trend will translate all season long.
A new set of federal truck standards that aims to reduce garbage and recycling truck fuel use as well as greenhouse gas emissions by about 10% before the end of the decade is drawing a mixed reaction among parties tied to the waste hauling business. The decreases are part of a larger effort by the federal government to push cuts ranging from 10% to 20% for a wide variety of heavy-duty trucks and buses by model year 2018. All told, the standards developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation are expected to save $50 billion in fuel costs and more than 500 million barrels of oil for all covered vehicles, the government said. As director of applied research at the Solid Waste Association of North America, Jeremy O’Brien said some government officials have raised some concerns about the potential cost of complying with the new standards. His group represents employees working in public sector trash operations. “I do know that the local government managers I’ve talked to have talked about ideas of trying to extend the lives of their current equipment just because of tough economic times,” Mr. O’Brien said. “This regulation is coming at what I would say is a bad economic time.” The potential of spending more money when municipal budgets are already tight will raise concerns with local political leaders and taxpayers, he said. “I think people want us as an
industry ... to look awfully hard at whether those investments are justified,” Mr. O’Brien said. A contrasting view was offered by Chaz Miller, director of state programs at the National Solid Wastes Management Association, who has been looking into the issue since the White House unveiled the new approach on Aug. 9. His trade group represents private solid waste management companies. Mr. Miller said the waste management industry potentially could meet the new standards by adopting the use of specialized tires. “I have been told, but I have not yet able to confirm, that trucks using commonly available low-rolling resistance tires will in fact meet this criteria,” he said. These tires already are in use in the industry. The new federal truck standards target trucks and buses built from 2014 through 2018, with the estimated fuel savings and pollution reduction targets being reached by the final year, the EPA said. Vehicles covered under the program are divided into three categories: tractor-trailers; heavy-duty pickup trucks and vans; and vocational vehicles, a segment that includes garbage and recycling trucks. Tractor-trailers must achieve a 20% cut in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions by model year 2018. Achieving that goal will save four gallons of fuel for every 100 miles traveled, the EPA said. ■ Me. Johnson is a senior reporter with Waste & Recycling News, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business.
Clinic hospitals heading south David J. Kilarski, president of two Cleveland Clinic Health System hospitals, will leave Cleveland for North Carolina to become CEO of FirstHealth of the Carolinas. Mr. Kilarski, 55, will join FirstHealth Nov. 1, succeeding current CEO Charles T. Frock, who is retiring, according to a news release from the health system based in Pinehurst, N.C. Mr. Kilarski currently heads the Cleveland Clinic’s South Pointe Hospital in Warrensville Heights and Marymount Hospital in Garfield Heights. FirstHealth said in those roles, he oversaw hospitals “with combined net operating revenue of $330 million and 2,500 full-time equivalent employees.” He has been president of Marymount since 2003 and of South Pointe since 2006, according to a Crain’s Cleveland Business story from October 2006 about his appointment to the South Pointe job. A Clinic spokeswoman said it soon will name interim presidents for both Marymount and South Pointe. — Scott Suttell
of LIM Bu sin 3 ITE es F D s I RE TIM nt E er M E O ne O t o NT FFE r P HS R: ho ne Se rv ice .
Waste haulers weigh impact of heavy-duty gas standards By JIM JOHNSON Waste & Recycling News
Mr. Ashby noted that the NCAA audits each school’s numbers, and requires only that schools have the money to show for an average of 15,000 tickets sold to each home game. Schools, like NFL teams often do to avoid local television blackouts, partner with sponsors or marketing partners to buy tickets to inflate numbers. In turn, the ideal result from the NCAA mandate — more interest in and attention for football programs — only often results in “bought,” but not used, tickets, and more empty seats. Mr. Ashby had an easy fix for the NCAA if the organization wants to increase attendance at the schools sitting at the bottom of the Football Bowl Subdivision’s attendance ranks. “Cap home games for (BCS schools) at six and force them to play at our campuses,” Mr. Ashby said, referring to ending the practice of schools from the so-called power conferences stacking their schedules with non-conference home games. Kent State, for instance, received $1.2 million for playing at the University of Alabama last Saturday, while the University of Akron earned $850,000 for playing at Ohio State. ■
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SEPTEMBER 5 - 11, 2011
Big players in tire industry expand
GOING PLACES
Record $9.7 billion investment total includes projects by Bridgestone, Goodyear abroad
ARCHITECTURE
By BRUCE DAVIS Tire Business
Recession? What recession? Led by billion-dollar investment commitments by Bridgestone Corp., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Group Michelin and South Korea’s Hankook Tire Co., the global tire industry has announced nearly $9.7 billion in capacity expansions in the past 12 months, the highest oneyear total on record. The total, which edges past the $9.6 billion recorded in the comparable period in 2007-2008, does not include an estimate for what Germany’s Continental A.G. might spend on a greenfield tire plant it’s planning to build in the United States. That potential investment would add $500 million or more to the total, according to comparisons with other similar projects. Hankook tops the list this year with its commitment of $1.44 billion for new plants in China and Indonesia and a research and development center in Korea.
Japan’s Bridgestone, with a technical center in Akron, checks in at No. 2 with $1.15 billion, including $135 million at its Aiken County, S.C., car tire plant. Group Michelin has committed $1.1 billion to new projects, including $250 million or so in the United States. Goodyear’s billion-dollar commitment includes $500 million to convert its 33-year-old plant in Santiago, Chile, to higher-value passenger tires. The industrywide investments cover 16 new plants and represent nearly 370,000 units of daily new tire capacity, including 325,000 units of consumer (passenger and SUV/light truck) tires, according to an analysis of available data by Tire Business, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business. The investments in new capacity contrast with three plant closings announced in the past 12 months, representing about 80,000 units of daily capacity. Asia/Pacific accounts for nearly two-thirds of the budgeted invest-
ments, with Latin America receiving $1.4 billion, or nearly 15%. Europe garnered a bit more than $1 billion and North America is getting $921 million, although Continental’s greenfield plant project is not part of that figure. Besides its intention to spend a half-billion dollars over five years to modernize its plant in Chile, Goodyear plans to spend $200 million over two years to convert 2 million units of annual capacity at its Americana, Brazil, plant to high value-added tire output. The Akron-based tiremaker also plans to spend $100 million through 2013 to convert 2 million units of annual consumer tire capacity at a subsidiary’s factory in Riesa, Germany, to high value-added tire output. In addition, Goodyear has begun trial production of passenger tires at its new Pulandian factory in Dalian, China. It’s the company’s first step toward replacing its existing factory in Dalian and doubling annual car tire capacity in China to more than 10 million units by 2015. The project is valued at $700 million over five years, about $200 million higher than previous disclosures. ■
JOB CHANGES CBLH DESIGN: Emily Kantz to interior designer.
CONSTRUCTION TESTA COS.: Arthur Krauer to national development director.
Krauer
Hill
Douglas
Gecovich
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Garland
NEW YORK PRIVATE BANK & TRUST: Andrew E. Randall to managing director, Cleveland.
Turner
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ENGINEERING
CORPORATE SCREENING: Jillian Thompson to operations trainer.
VIP RESTORATION: Bethany Friedlander to chief operating officer.
EDUCATION NORTHEAST OHIO MEDICAL UNIVERSITY: Sandra M. Emerick to chief student affairs officer. NOTRE DAME COLLEGE: John P. Galovic to director of athletics. SAINT IGNATIUS HIGH SCHOOL: John Morabeto to vice president of institutional advancement; Pat O’Rourke to director of admissions; Angela LoBue to communications associate.
FINANCE
INTEGRATED ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS INC.: Bryan Bizjak to electrical department manager. THORSON BAKER & ASSOCIATES INC.: Charles T. Alexander to senior project manager, electrical engineering; Andrew E. Wright to civil project manager.
FINANCIAL SERVICE GRANT THORNTON LLP: Eric Chance and Gino Scipione to senior managers, audit.
Strategies and Solutions for Your Business
All Events: 7:00 – 8:00 a.m. Breakfast and Networking • 8:00 – 9:30 a.m. Panel Discussion
2013 Estate Tax Increases by 20% - Are You Ready? Strategies to protect your assets October 12 - The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland
Exit Strategies for Closely Held Business Owners Plan a seamless and profitable transaction November 9 - The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland Hiring Rock Star Talent HR best practices for 2012 December 7 – The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland
Going Global Transitioning to International Markets November 3 - The Ritz-Carlton, Cleveland
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DC WELLNESS: Nanci Ickes to director of corporate service and wellness. GROUP MANAGEMENT SERVICES: Stacy Ladavac-Vadnal to risk manager. HUMAN ARC: Jessica Hill to patient service representative; Faith Brown to assistant team leader; Raymon King-Redding and Victoria Samera to team leaders.
UTILITY
LEAGUE PARK ADVISORS: Wayne Twardokus to vice president; Ari Deutchman to associate.
FIRSTENERGY SOLUTIONS: Julie Hextell to senior vice president, sales and marketing; David Hennekes to vice president, marketing.
WALTHALL, DRAKE & WALLACE LLP CPAS: Alex Monroe to staff level accountant.
BOARDS
WESTERN RESERVE PARTNERS: Gregory A. Hill to analyst.
New Economy: BioMedical Innovation Northeast Ohio’s Rising Industry September 15 – Embassy Suites Rockside, Independence
SERVICE
HEALTH CARE RADIOLOGY AND IMAGING SERVICES INC.: David Isaacs, D.O., to interventional radiologist.
LEGAL BENESCH: Malisheia Douglas and Edward Gecovich to associates. BUCKLEY KING: Stacy Chubak Hinners to associate. REMINGER CO. LPA: Adriann S. Garland to attorney.
MANUFACTURING RPM INTERNATIONAL INC.: Edward W. Moore to chief compliance officer; Tracy D. Crandall to assistant secretary; Melissa Schoger to director of planning and financial analysis; Chris Knoblock to director of systems development; Rob Antonelli to manager, consolidation systems; Treena C. Johnson to manager, general acccounting and analysis; Ben Curtis to senior internal auditor.
MARKETING WYSE: Christian Turner to account executive; Kaley Weiss to research and planning assistant; John Trivelli to copywriter.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY ALUMNI ASSOCIATION: John Garofalo (Akron Community Foundation) to president; Maria Schneider to president-elect; Robert Maschke to vice president; Kathy Reid to secretary; Brian M. Marino to treasurer; Nicholas Sucic to immediate past president. PLAYHOUSESQUARE PARTNERS: Jennifer Smith (Dots LLC) and Tracy Vigh (Deloitte) to co-chairs; Dawn McFadden and Brent Pietrafese to vice-chairs. SOUTHWEST COMMUNITY HEALTH FOUNDATION: Michael A. Cogan (Northern Trust Bank) to chairman; Thomas A. Selden to president; Carl McLaughlin to vice chairman; George Szeretvai to secretary; Duane Boyer to treasurer.
AWARDS OHIO ASSOCIATION OF INDEPENDENT TITLE AGENTS: Gerald K. Carlisle (Ohio Title Corp.) received the 2011 Honorary Lifetime Membership Award. NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF PROFESSIONAL WOMEN, VIP DIVISION: Pamela D. Kurt (Kurt & Vermilya Law Inc.) received a 2011/2012 Professional Woman of the Year Award.
NONPROFIT
SOCIETY FOR VASCULAR SURGERY: Dr. Sean Patrick Lyden (Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University) was named a Distinguished Fellow.
NEW AVENUES TO INDEPENDENCE: Linda Malicki to development specialist.
Send information for Going Places to dhillyer@crain.com.
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or the third year, Crain’s Cleveland Business is honoring Northeast Ohio businesses and individuals that have exhibited an exceptional commitment to sustainability. The program defines sustainability as the commercialization or adaptation of processes and products that are both feasible, economical and make a positive impact on the triple bottom line: profits, people and planet. An independent panel of judges assessed nominees and evaluated initiatives based on a variety of factors, including the results and impact on that triple bottom line. The judges for this year’s pro-
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gram were David Nash, Corporate Sustainability Network and McMahon DeGulis LLP; Tom Morley, president, The Lube Stop; Beau Daane, Fowler Center for Sustainable Value, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University; and David Beach, director, Green City Blue Lake. Finalists and winners will be recognized during an awards reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 at Cleveland State University’s Student Center. For information on the event and to buy tickets, go to www.CrainsCleveland.com/ emerald.
EMERALD AWARD HONOREES $10 million or more per year in annual revenue ■ Nonprofit: City of South Euclid and Greater Cleveland RTA. E-2 ■ For-profit: Energizer Holdings Inc., Forest City Enterprises Inc. and Tremco Inc. E-2 $5 million to $9.9 million per year in annual revenue ■ Nonprofit: St. Martin de Porres High School. E-3 ■ For-profit: Filtrexx International LLC. E-3 $1 million to $4.9 million per year in annual revenue ■ Nonprofit: Western Reserve Land Conservancy. E-4
■ For-profit: FiberCore LLC. E-4 Less than $1 million per year in annual revenue ■ Nonprofit: Case Western Reserve University Farm. E-4 ■ For-profit: Precision Polymer Casting LLC. E-4 Green Lantern winners ■ Dr. Aparna Bole, University Hospitals. E-4 ■ Heidi Paul, Magnificat High School. E-5 ■ Matthew Zone, City of Cleveland. E-5
Also see Page E-5 for a list of finalists.
Profile information compiled from Emerald Award nominations.
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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
CITY OF SOUTH EUCLID $10 MILLION OR MORE: NONPROFIT
T
he City of South Euclid in 2009 launched an innovative public-private partnership using more than $1 million in competitive grants with the goal of reimagining and reinventing the inner-ring suburb. “The goal of the Green Neighborhoods Initiative is to stabilize the neighborhoods in the city that have been hard hit by foreclosures and vacancy by focusing on sustainability initiatives and creating friendly progressive neighborhoods that embrace green living,” the nomination said.
■ Profits: A reduction in vacancies is expected to increase the number of renovation projects and reduce the number of police calls. It is anticipated that tax abatements toward green housing will spur additional construction and increase the area’s tax base. In addition to the positive effects that the Green Neighborhoods Initiative will have on South Euclid, the program is expected to benefit other entities. “Not only will the expected increase in tax revenues directly benefit the Cleveland Heights/University
Heights School District, our revitalization efforts will attract investors to similar, adjacent residential properties in Cleveland Heights,” the nomination said. ■ People: A wide range of people have both participated and benefitted from the Green Neighborhoods Initiative, not only in its housing program, but also in its community garden aspect. From fresh food to educational and community gathering opportunities, the gardens are providing new possibilities on lots where homes once stood. ■ Planet: Renovations are completed with environmental impact in mind, and community gardens are managed organically and feature small pervious paver patios and use lowimpact materials and a three-bin composting system. Additionally, a bio-cell storm water demonstration project helps to build awareness of ways to manage storm water runoff. “The city’s Green Neighborhoods Initiative will be a showcase of best practices and ideas that residents and others in the region can utilize in their own homes and neighborhoods,” the nomination said. ■
SEPTEMBER 5 - 11, 2011
GREATER CLEVELAND RTA Cleveland $10 MILLION OR MORE: NONPROFIT
T
his year, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority made sustainability a corporate priority for all of its eight divisions, and it incorporated sustainability — including a goal to reduce carbon emissions and global warming potential 20% by 2019 — into its 10-year plan. That’s an ambitious effort for an organization tied so closely to diesel fuel and gasoline. “Sustainability is a top priority for the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA). That’s why we are aggressively moving toward sustainable growth —
$10 MILLION OR MORE: FOR-PROFIT
E
nergizer Holdings Inc.’s sustainability mission touches many aspects of the battery maker’s business — everything from its commitment to the communities in which it works to the eco-friendly manner in which it designs its products. “At Energizer Holdings, our core values are having a passion to
$10 MILLION OR MORE: FOR-PROFIT
I
n the 1990s, the real estate developer’s transformation of the former Stapleton Airport in Denver, Colo., into an environment with walkable neighborhoods taught it a vital lesson: Sustainability fit its business model. In 2003, the company adopted sustainability as a core value. An internal task force recommended it add a full-time staffer to head its sustainability efforts due to the company’s diverse properties and nationwide reach. Today, a staff of five carries on that work.
creating shareholder and societal values while we reduce our environmental footprint,” the nomination said. “Through this organizational approach, we are focusing on sustainable business values, which represent our triple bottom line: people (social); planet (environmental); and profit (economics).” ■ Profits: RTA has cut its cost of vehicle fuel in half between 2008 and 2010 in part because it began to hedge its fuel purchases in the commodities market and partly because it reduced its fuel usage with a greener fleet of buses and more careful vehicle operation. ■ People: Its drivers have committed to powering off their
vehicles as much as possible, reducing fuel costs and emissions. Its employees also are enrolled in programs to help the organization evaluate alternative technologies to reduce fuel use and emissions. Employees are encouraged to improve their own health and fitness with lifestyle coaches to manage weight and stop smoking. It also has promoted bus services that link customers with local food suppliers and farmers markets to encourage healthier eating habits. ■ Planet: RTA has developed guiding principles for a sustainable operation, which will encourage triple bottom line values that will minimize its impact on the environment while improving longterm financial performances. As a result, the agency has achieved a number of benchmarks that have positive effects toward environmental preservation, including a sustainable policies and procedures manual, a certified green procurement list and an extensive recycling program. ■
ENERGIZER HOLDINGS INC. Westlake
be the best, the integrity to do the right thing, the respect to value differences, the skills to work as one team and the initiative to lead by example,” the nomination said.
■ Profits: Since establishing its sustainability goals in 2006, the company has saved about $23 million in energy costs and more than $1 million in water costs through conservation, employee engagement and facility upgrades. The company’s recycling efforts alone have generated more than $4 million in savings.
FOREST CITY ENTERPRISES INC. Cleveland ■ Profits: The company earns thousands through recycling programs, including $20,000 for recycling paper and cardboard at Tower City Center in Cleveland. However, driving down costs is a bigger contributor to its profitability, through measures such as reducing energy use by computers, which saves more than $140,000, and installing more
efficient LED lighting at Tower City, which cuts $20,000 yearly in exterior lighting programs. ■ People: In 2007, Forest City launched a “WorkGreen” program, an employee-led initiative to encourage people to think about ways to reduce waste and promote recycling that now has about 100 members nationally. The initiative
TREMCO INC. Beachwood $10 MILLION OR MORE: FOR-PROFIT
A
t Tremco Inc. in Beachwood, part of RPM International Inc., environmentally conscious efforts are just a part of doing business. The supplier of building and construction materials, ranging from waterproofing and weatherproofing to fireproofing, said it believes following sustainable practices is a strategic driver for its growth. ■ Profits: Sustainable practices such as saving paper, optimizing business travel and reducing packing are among steps the company used to more than double cost savings to
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ST. MARTIN DE PORRES HIGH SCHOOL Cleveland $5 MILLION TO $9.9 MILLION: NONPROFIT
S
t. Martin de Porres High School is old school — with a twist — when it comes to sustainability. The school embedded an ethic of sustainability into its culture upon its formation in 2003. The centerpiece of the strategy, though, represents a new way of thinking: Corporations that partner with St. Martin de Porres pay the school for work done by students, in turn reducing the amount of tuition those students pay. ■ Profits: The Corporate Work Study Program is an integral part of
■ People: To further spread sustainability in the community, Energizer employees mentor Baldwin-Wallace students in the college’s sustainability program in order to help the next generation of sustainability professionals gain valuable industry experience. Also, the company invests in local sustainability initiatives, partners with groups such as Entrepreneurs for Sustainability and helps fund educational
led to a Northeast Ohio-wide movement at Forest City to recycle paper, plastic and metal. Brian Weissman, a heating and air conditioning technician, noticed how many miscellaneous motors and fans were in Tower City. He began collecting them to recycle, and in 2008 alone the effort recycled more than 11,000 pounds of metal. A permanent collection program for such metal is now in place. ■ Planet: More than 600 associates received a free compact fluorescent light bulb from Forest City’s sustainability department
more than $1 million in 2011 from the prior year. A top-to-bottom redo of its Beachwood headquarters dramatically trimmed energy, water and other expenses as well as showcasing Tremco products and those of other RPM units. ■ People: Tremco makes sustainable practices part of the way its employees are doing business. The company surveyed its employees and found sustainability offers another way to engage employees, including in measures such as community volunteerism. ■ Planet: Tremco uses 10 goals to drive its environmental efforts, which produce impacts at many
St. Martin de Porres in part because it allows students to gain job experience, to grow in self-confidence and to realize the relevance of their education on a daily basis. The program covered 47% of the school’s $4.8 million budget for the 2010-11 school year. ■ People: The school in January created a minister of culture position as a mentoring program to make it easier for new employees to embrace the St. Martin de Porres community. The minister of culture helps new employees complete HR paperwork, introduces them to existing staff and follows up after two weeks to make sure things are going smoothly. ■ Planet: St. Martin de Porres last April conducted its first energy audit and is awaiting results. The school has committed to revitalizing and beautifying the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood it occupies. ■
programs around the world. ■ Planet: Last year, of Energizer’s 28 facilities around the world, five had a recycling rate of at least 50%, six had a rate of at least 70% and eight of the facilities had achieved a rate of 90% or above. Energizer’s facility in Garrettsville, for one, recycles 93% of its waste. Also, the company has used lighter packaging, which has eliminated more than 300,000 pounds of raw materials from being used. ■
and vowed to remove 8,444 incandescent bulbs from their homes. That prevented 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and a computer power efficiency program reduced emissions by a like amount. A program in Chicago to recycle carpet that is replaced annually in about 500 of its suites diverts about 68,000 pounds of waste from landfills. Composting by vendors at Tower City and Forest City’s corporate headquarters employees keeps more than 68,000 tons of organic waste from landfills — and some of it goes into compost for the company’s rooftop garden. ■
levels of the organization. For example, it is tracking energy use throughout the company to benchmark future energy and carbon reductions. It already has put its Toronto plant, part of its commercial sealants and waterproofing division, on a zero waste-to-landfill basis. At its headquarters, the company cut electricity use by 10%, which it expects to increase as it optimizes the use of its photovoltaic roof and wind turbine, and it has already more than halved its usage of water and natural gas. The headquarters project qualifies for LEED gold certification, which is pending. ■
FILTREXX INTERNATIONAL LLC Grafton
F
iltrexx International LLC considers itself a triple bottom line company, committed to and leading sustainable programs and initiatives. “Our mission is to move beyond reducing our environmental impact on the earth, to regenerating and preserving the ecological systems in which our business and humanity depend,” the nomination said. ■ Profits: It’s little wonder a company that relies on recycled material to make land management products would find a way to make being environmentally conscious pay off. The company says it recycles locally composted materials to make products that reduce installation costs by as much as 30%, while decreasing the maintenance cost for erosion control projects and other construction by as much as half. ■ People: While Filtrexx prides itself on having its employees involved in everything from the company’s sustainability efforts to
$5 MILLION TO $9.9 MILLION: FOR-PROFIT eating healthy as individuals, its concern for people extends far beyond its payroll. It provides its GardenSoxx system to families in Lorain County, providing them a system with which to grow fresh produce, even in contaminated soils. The company also maintains its own research garden in Grafton, where volunteers can pick fruits and vegetables for local food banks. ■ Planet: The company takes helping the environment beyond its product engineering and drives it into its corporate culture. It calculates its carbon footprint by measuring how much it can reduce emissions from compost at landfills, helps capture carbon by increasing permanent vegetation and works to reduce its own production of greenhouse gases. The firm also is constantly finding new ways to control storm-water runoff, prevent soil erosion and manage soil and water. ■
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A LOOK BACK Nine winners were selected last year as part of the Emerald Awards program. The winners for 2010 were: ■ Medium for-profit companies ($9.9 million and below in annual revenues): Doty & Miller Architects & Planners Inc. ■ Medium nonprofit companies ($9.9 million and below in annual revenues): Ruffing Montessori School ■ Large for-profit companies ($10 million and above in annual revenues): The Taylor Cos.; Shearer’s Foods Inc.; and The Lube Stop Inc. ■ Large nonprofit companies ($10 million and above in annual revenues): Baldwin-Wallace College; Cuyahoga Community College; and Cleveland Clinic ■ Green Lantern: Pete Accorti, Talan Products Last year’s finalists included Nutek, Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity, Cleveland Indians, The Lubrizol Corp., City of South Euclid and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. Visit www.Crains Cleveland.com for more coverage.
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WESTERN RESERVE LAND CONSERVANCY Novelty
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s Ohio’s largest land trust, the Western Reserve Land Conservancy already has permanently preserved and protected more than 370 properties and more than 23,000 acres in northern Ohio. This year, the nonprofit has undertaken its first major urban initiative, the Thriving Communities Institute, which is an urban land-use revitalization effort for northern Ohio. It also hired former Cuyahoga County Treasurer Jim Rokakis, who was instrumental in driving the passage of legislation that streamlines the foreclosure process for abandoned properties and who is helping surrounding counties establish land banks that seek to preserve and repurpose vacant land. “In response to the worst foreclosure crisis in U.S. history, Thriving Communities will lead the transformation of vacant and unproductive
FIBERCORE LLC Cleveland
R
ecycled paper is a key material in FiberCore’s products, which include bedding for animals, kitty litter boxes and a substitute for Styrofoam packing peanuts. On top of that, its products are assembled by Mentor-based Deepwood Industries, which employs adults with developmental disabilities.
■ Profits: Working with Deepwood Industries has helped FiberCore
■ People: The Thriving Communities Institute, which works with park systems, municipalities and property owners to protect land, will help lead the transformation of blighted areas or unproductive properties into new places that attract economic growth and safe, green neighborhoods. The nonprofit says healthy ecosystems contribute to the well-being of residents.
$1 MILLION TO $4.9 MILLION: NONPROFIT properties into new opportunities to attract economic growth and support safe, beautiful neighborhoods,” the nomination said. ■ Profits: The nonprofit’s plan to convert vacant land into green space will improve surrounding properties’ land values, decrease crime, stabilize neighborhoods and provide a healthy environment where businesses and residents can thrive. Local land banks will use data such as the number of properties acquired and the number of new parks, trails and community gardens established to determine a long-term economic impact.
grow without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on automated bagging machines. Working with Deepwood also helped FiberCore scale up fast enough to meet demand for its products, which are sold to consumers, pet stores and laboratories that conduct animal research.
■ Planet: Land repurposing combats the negative effects of urban blight by encouraging recycling and reuse of materials, abandoned homes and buildings; the establishment of urban greenways; the creation of urban gardens and farmers markets for local food; and protecting the region’s lakes and rivers. ■
$1 MILLION TO $4.9 MILLION: FOR-PROFIT
■ People: Business from FiberCore, which is Deepwood’s largest contract customer, has helped provide work for more than 150 developmentally disabled adults. Plus, the products practically eliminate dust, and a Purdue University study suggests they increase foraging and nesting behaviors in
mice, reducing their stress. “From purchasing to production to the research being conducted by some of our end users, the entire life cycle of FiberCore’s product line has a beneficial impact on the lives of thousands, if not millions of people,” the nomination said. ■ Planet: Not only does FiberCore use 100% recycled paper, but the company is in the process of upgrading to a more efficient lighting system, too. It also plans to give Deepwood a truck that’s more efficient than the one it uses today, allowing the contractor to make half as many material shipments.■
CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY FARM Hunting Valley
T
he Case Western Reserve University Farm, a nonprofit educational establishment, aims to create environmentally friendly practices that can be successfully replicated by public and private institutions and individuals. Techniques include those in food production, landscaping and building maintenance.
■ Profits: The farm altered its mowing, cutting back the area from 848 acres to 338 and saving $14,500 yearly in fuel and labor. Energy-efficient windows, a new greenhouse, installation of low-voltage lights and replacement of outdated appliances has allowed the farm to reduce by 40% its carbon dioxide emissions, while saving $12,000 in utility bills. ■ People: The farm has gained traction within the CWRU community, as more than 20% of the labor for
LESS THAN $1 MILLION: NONPROFIT its Farm Food Program was volunteer students. More than 4,000 students also have visited the farm to learn about ecology. The farm offers more than two dozen classes and labs. ■ Planet: The reduced mowing practices have allowed a prairie-like environment to sprout, and it’s led to the re-establishment of many species. Crops are grown using rainwater; a 550-gallon tank irrigates more than half the plant material in the greenhouse. Food waste from CWRU is delivered from campus to the farm, and converted into soil amendments. The farm’s food programs in 2010 produced more than 6,000 tons of produce on only a half-acre; this year, 2½ acres were planted. ■
PRECISION POLYMER CASTING LLC Mentor LESS THAN $1 MILLION: FOR-PROFIT
P
recision Polymer Casting LLC has developed a technology that uses 85% less energy to produce a machine base by replacing steel and cast iron with epoxy/quartz. The bases dampen vibration 45 times better than steel and 10 times better than cast iron, allowing faster, accurate operation.
■ Profits: Epoxy/quartz castings typically cost 15% to 30% less than cast-iron castings and 30% to 50% less than steel weldments. ■ People: As Precision Polymer
Casting’s industry grows, it requires a skilled manufacturing labor force here. Additionally, working with epoxy and sand is much safer. ■ Planet: In addition to the 85% less energy EQ castings require compared to cast iron castings, they often are made to finished tolerances, so shipping parts out to be machined is not necessary. Epoxy/ quartz castings also do not require stress relief, and because EQ parts never rust, they don’t need to be painted, which reduces air pollution. ■
DR. APARNA BOLE Sustainability manager University Hospitals
C It’s good to be green! Congratulations to our very own “Mother Earth” Mrs. Heidi Paul Green Lantern Honoree
A girls’ Catholic college-preparatory high school 20770 Hilliard Blvd | Rocky River, Ohio 44116 | 440.331.1572
w w w.magnificaths.org
she said. “We’re focused on protectaring for pediatric patients ing the health of patients and is a lofty task, but Dr. families and focused on being stewAparna Bole took her role ards of public health because the as a physician one step links between envifurther when she ronmental risk factors helped at the grassroots GREEN LANTERN and health are pretty level to expand easy to understand.” University Hospitals’ Because of her initiative, sustainability efforts. University Hospitals’ leadDuring her residency in ership hired Dr. Bole in 2008, Dr. Bole voluntarily 2010 as the system’s fullconducted an analysis of time sustainability manager UH Case Medical Center’s to expand upon her efforts. waste output and discovIn her new role, she ered that properly managestablished sustainability ing the hospital’s waste Bole task forces at all of Univercould lead to cost savings sity Hospitals’ medical centers and and help the health system become organized the priorities for the a better environmental steward. system’s sustainability initiatives. For Dr. Bole, health care and Dr. Bole said it’s important that sustainability go hand in hand. It’s health systems are aware their not just about saving the health business practices might intensify or system money, but also about negatively contribute to the health creating a healthier environment. problems they treat on a daily basis, “One great advantage we have as which is why focusing on sustainabila health care organization is that ity is such an important mission. ■ we’re a mission-driven organization,”
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EMERALD AWARD FINALISTS
■ Vocon, Cleveland: Vocon, an architecture and design firm, has a commitment to sustainability at its own home and in its work with clients. Not only does the staff have 36 LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-accredited professionals on staff, a recent expansion of the firm’s office received Gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Additionally, Vocon works with clients to advance green building practices and principles, creating environmentally friendly, functional and cost-effective spaces. ■ The Garland Co., Cleveland: The Garland Co., a manufacturer and distributor of commercial roofing and building maintenance solutions, has embraced sustainability throughout its opera-
tions, advancing environmentally friendly practices and developing sustainable products. Its initiatives have included the expansion of the firm’s line of cool coatings, which offer an alternative to roof replacement; the reduction of volatile fumes, odors and other safety hazards through the creation of a membrane adhesive product; and the incorporation of recycled glass into some of its products.
■ Lubrizol Corp., Wickliffe: In 2010 alone, Lubrizol saved $265,000 on its natural gas and water bills by reducing the amount of water that escapes the boilers it uses to heat buildings and equipment at the specialty chemical company’s Painesville Township plant. Today, the plant reuses 58% of the condensed water produced when steam from the boilers cools down, up from 37% in 2008. The company also received a 2010 Ohio Environmental Protection Agency award recognizing its Wickliffe headquarters for its efforts to improve the environment.
HEIDI PAUL
Among the initiatives Mrs. Paul has spearheaded are an environmental science class; the implementation of an extensive recycling and composting program; and the creation of a student Sustainability Club. Mrs. Paul said it is her goal to get students to think long term. “Things eidi Paul is known as are so shortsighted,” she said. Mother Students also are GREEN LANTERN given the chance to Earth at Magnificat participate in other High School in Rocky sustainability-focused River. activities and events, such The science teacher, as a lunch box contest and who has had an interest in trash wars, thanks to Mrs. nature and the outdoors Paul. She also has worked since she was young, has toward the development of transferred her passion a prairie on Magnificat into the implementation grounds, which is expected Paul of sustainability practices to be completed this fall, at the all-girls school. and she was slated to take a small “The girls really see it’s not just a group of students this summer to subject,” she said. “I’m not doing Yellowstone National Park to comthis because it’s trendy.” plete service and research. ■
Magnificat High School, Rocky River
H
■ PolyOne Corp., Avon Lake: Sustainability efforts at the producer of specialty polymer materials include a chairman’s council on sustainability, a global training program for all employees, a company-wide recycling and waste-reduction program and more. PolyOne touts in its nomination its wood plastic composite technology, which it estimates will save customers $470,000 annually. The company sets goals to both reduce consumption of natural resources and the generation of waste and emissions; from 2000 to 2010, the company reduced waste to landfills by 87%, and recycled and processed to energy 29.6 million pounds of waste in 2010 alone.
■ Lakeland Community College, Kirtland: With its sights set on lowering its energy consumption by 60% during the next couple decades, Lakeland Community College became the first to install a green roof in Lake County and today purchases only Energy Star-rated appliances and electronics. The college, whose energy master plan has been replicated by several community colleges in Ohio, estimates that its energy and operating costs savings per year total about $800,000 a year. ■ Kalman and Pabst Photo Group, Cleveland: One of Cleveland’s larger professional photo studios — with 18,000 square feet in the
city’s Midtown Corridor — Kalman and Pabst worked with Green Street Solutions to audit and analyze its energy usage. By doing that, and then incorporating energy-saving improvements at its facility, including a solar array, the firm has not only cut its energy usage — but now generates about 25% of its own electricity. ■ Vacuum Systems International Inc., Cleveland: The remanufacturer of vacuum cleaners says it serves more than 70,000 locations, providing a significant savings for customers — primarily retail stores — compared with the cost of buying new cleaners. Every remanufactured vacuum cleaner saves 30 pounds of waste from entering landfills. That adds up to a big environmental savings, as the company estimates 1 billion pounds of cleaning equipment is discarded annually in the United States.
■ ParkWorks Inc., Cleveland: The organization that advocates for regional development and
sustainability says it is guided by environmental initiatives that improve both its internal operations and Northeast Ohio in general. On a macro level, ParkWorks has worked with a collaboration of public and private entities to repurpose vacant land and improve residents’ access to green space. Internally, the organization has moved beyond “Sustainability 101” by adhering to aggressive sustainability initiatives that include reducing electricity usage by 25% over the last 12 months and cutting paper usage in half.
■ HSB Architects & Engineers, Cleveland: Susann Geithner, director of sustainability at HSB Architects & Engineers, sums up the firm’s environmental effort simply: “Our goal is to make green affordable, applicable and accessible for everyone.” Thanks to its role designing and engineering properties, it sees working with its clients as a way to reduce the nearly 40% of the world’s energy use attributed to commercial buildings and their occupants. At HSB, 30% of staff members have been encouraged to achieve LEED accreditation, and the firm works to apply the steps regularly. Additionally, in a partnership with the Alpha EE facilities management firm of Germany, HSB has helped six projects in Germany and Hungary earn LEED certification.
Congratulations to all Crain’s Cleveland Business Emerald Award honorees and finalists!
MATT ZONE Cleveland City Council
C
tions agreed to help fund the office. leveland City Councilman Since then, he has Matthew taken his advocacy Zone came GREEN LANTERN national — he’s chair to the green of the Energy, Environmovement early. ment and Natural Resources A councilman since Policy and Advocacy 2002, Councilman Zone Committee of the National started out watching the League of Cities. He also development in his ward of chairs council’s subcommitEcoVillage Cleveland, a tee on sustainability. community of 20 town“I don’t consider myself a homes started in 2003 in sustainability guru, but my the Detroit-Shoreway area Zone policy positions reflect what on the city’s West Side. I’ve learned from others,” he said reEcoVillage Cleveland was a national cently, ticking off a list of mentors indemonstration project using green cluding David Beach, now executive building techniques to show that urdirector of the Green City Blue Lake ban life can be ecologically sustainInstitute at the Cleveland Museum of able. Natural History; Holly Harlan, former Soon, Mr. Zone was pressing thenpresident of Entrepreneurs for Mayor Jane Campbell to create a susSustainability; and Cleveland State tainability department. That effort University professor Wendy Kellogg stalled for a time, but eventually it of Cleveland State University. ■ was created when several founda-
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S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y I S A W AY O F L I F E ! At Tremco, we have taken this word and everything it stands for and have incorporated it into our product development activities, our operations and our corporate culture. And, using our sustainable products, integrated design and best practices, we have transformed our vintage 1970 headquarters into a model for sustainable design. At Tremco, we don’t just talk about sustainability – we live it.
It’s a privilege to be among such distinguished companies, and an honor to receive the Crain’s Cleveland Business 2011 Emerald Award. 3735 Green Road, Beachwood, OH 44122 216.292.5000 www.tremco.com
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LARGEST GRANTMAKING FOUNDATIONS RANKED BY AMOUNT OF 2010 GRANTS
Name Address Rank Phone/Web site
2009 2010 grants grants (millions) (millions)
2010 assets (millions)
2010 largest grant ($)
1
Cleveland Foundation 1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 1300, Cleveland 44115 (216) 861-3810/www.clevelandfoundation.org
$94.1
$81.1
$1,900.0
4,500,000
2
George Gund Foundation 45 Prospect Ave. W., Suite 1845, Cleveland 44115 (216) 241-3114/www.gundfoundation.org
$23.6
$15.4
$443.7
3
Lerner Foundation(1) 26500 Curtiss Wright Parkway, Highland Heights 44143 (440) 891-5000
$18.6
$20.6
4
KeyBank Foundation 800 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114 (216) 828-7349/www.key.com/foundation
$12.7
5
Saint Luke's Foundation of Cleveland 4208 Prospect Ave., Cleveland 44103 (216) 431-8010/www.saintlukesfoundation.org
6
2010 smallest grant ($)
Year founded Total Top executive staff Title
Largest grants
50
Neighborhood Progress Inc., Western Reserve Land Conservancy, Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals Case Medical Center
1914 61
Ronald B. Richard president, CEO
3,600,000
500
Neighborhood Progress Inc., The Cleveland Foundation (new and innovative schools), Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland, The Foundation Fighting Blindness
1952 12
David T. Abbott executive director
$30.5
10,000,000
25
Cleveland Clinic Foundation, National Portrait Gallery, London, Hospital for Special Surgery, New York
1993 NA
Norma Lerner president, treasurer
$12.8
$39.0
1,500,000
NA
JumpStart, NewBridge: Cleveland Center for Arts & Technology, PlayhouseSquare Foundation, United Way of Greater Cleveland
1969 4
Margot James Copeland chairman, CEO
$7.6
$9.0
$189.5
1,000,000
500
MetroHealth Foundation, CWRU School of Dental Medicine, Cleveland Department of Public Health
1997 7
Denise San Antonio Zeman president, CEO
The Timken Foundation of Canton(2) 200 Market Ave. N., Suite 210, Canton 44702 (330) 452-1144
$7.4
$10.3
$84.3
1,200,000
500
George W. Bush Presidential Library Foundation, The University of Akron Foundation, Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland, University of Mount Union
1934 NA
Ward J. Timken Jr. president, trustee
7
Eaton Charitable Fund 1111 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114 (216) 523-5000/www.eaton.com
$7.3
$6.7
$9.2
571,014
250
United Way of Greater Cleveland, University Hospitals of Cleveland, Economic Growth Foundation, United Way of Allegheny County
1953 NA
William B. Doggett, sr. vice president, public and community affairs
8
Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation Allen Med. Library Bldg., 11000 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44106 (216) 421-5500/www.mtsinaifoundation.org
$6.5
$6.1
$130.9
1,525,000
100
Jewish Federation, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cuyahoga County Invest in Children, Fund for Our Economic Future/BioEnterprise
1994 5
Mitchell Balk president
9
Kelvin & Eleanor Smith Foundation 30195 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 275, Cleveland 44124 (216) 591-9111
$6.5
$5.2
$134.1
NA
NA
NA
1955 NA
Ellen Stirn Mavec president, chairman
10
Akron Community Foundation 345 W. Cedar St., Akron 44307 (330) 376-8522/www.akroncommunityfdn.org
$6.0
$7.0
$135.0
100,000
420
Akron Rotary Camp for Special Children, City of Akron Neighborhood Partnership, Akron Metropolitan Housing Early Learning Project
1955 13
John T. Petures Jr. president, CEO
11
GAR Foundation 277 E. Mill St., Akron 44308-1735 (330) 576-2926/www.garfoundation.org
$5.7
$6.5
$146.9
1,500,000
1,500
Fund for Our Economic Future, United Way of Summit County, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, BioInnovation Institute, Akron
1967 6
Robert W. Briggs, president; Christine Amer Mayer, COO, legal counsel
12
Stark Community Foundation 400 Market Ave. N., Suite 200, Canton 44702 (330) 454-3426/www.starkcf.org
$5.5
$5.5
$166.4
350,000
100
John H. & Evelyn L. Ashton Preservation Center, Stark Education Partnership, United Way of Greater Stark County, Northeast Ohio Medical University Foundation
1963 10
Mark Samolczyk president
13
The Burton D. Morgan Foundation 22 Aurora St., Hudson 44236 (330) 655-1660/www.bdmorganfdn.org
$5.2
$5.3
$127.8
200,000
250
BioEnterprise, Junior Achievement of North Central Ohio, Entrepreneurship Education Consortium, Invent Now
1967 6
Deborah D. Hoover president, CEO
14
Weatherhead Foundation 25825 Science Park Drive, Beachwood 44122 (216) 292-7100
$5.0
$5.0
NA
NA
NA
Tulane University, Harvard University, Columbia University, University of Texas
1953 2
Albert J. Weatherhead III president
15
H. C. S. Foundation(3) 1801 E. Ninth St., Suite 1105, Cleveland 44114 (216) 781-3502
$4.7
$5.6
$80.0
800,000
5,000
Lakewood Hospital Association, UGive.org, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, Catholic Relief Services, Ohio Dominican University
1959 NA
Board of trustees
16
Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation PNC Bank, Box 94651, Cleveland 44114 (216) 222-2760/www.esprentissfoundation.org
$4.2
$4.2
$74.5
1,500,000
2,500
University Hospitals of Cleveland, Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer Center, Aultman Hospital, Free Clinic of Cleveland, MetroHealth
1939 NA
Richard W. Mack secretary
17
The Kent H. Smith Charitable Trust 1111 Superior Ave., Suite 1000, Cleveland 44114 (216) 696-4200
$4.1
$3.6
NA
2,056,500
2,500
University Circle Inc., Fund for Our Economic Future, Ideastream, Downtown Cleveland Alliance
2005 NA
Phillip A. Ranney secretary, trustee
18
Nord Family Foundation 747 Milan Ave., Amherst 44001 (440) 984-3939/www.nordff.org
$4.0
$4.3
$103.7
100,000
500
Amherst Historical Society, Community Foundation of Lorain County, Cleveland Scholarship Programs Inc., Nurturing Center
1988 5
John Mullaney executive director
19
The Youngstown Foundation P.O. Box 1162, Youngstown 44501 (330) 744-0320/www.youngstownfoundation.org
$4.0
$3.3
$80.3
285,000
1,000
Easter Seal Society, Visiting Nurses Association, Potential Development, United Way of Youngstown/ Mahoning County
1918 3
Janice E. Strasfeld executive director
20
Parker Hannifin Foundation(4) 6035 Parkland Blvd., Cleveland 44124 (216) 896-3000
$4.0
$4.2
$15.8
695,000
20
Cleveland State University, United Way, Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute, Great Lakes Theatre Festival
1953 NA
Don Washkewicz president, trustee
21
Community Foundation of Lorain County 9080 Leavitt Road, Elyria 44035 (440) 984-7390/www.peoplewhocare.org
$3.9
$4.2
$83.5
414,185
250
Community Health Partners Foundation, Lorain Palace Civic Center, Common Ground
1980 10
Brian R. Frederick president, CEO
22
Martha Holden Jennings Foundation 1228 Euclid Ave., Suite 710, Cleveland 44115 (216) 589-5700/www.mhjf.org
$3.8
$3.9
$65.5
100,000
209
Literacy Cooperative, Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Musical Arts Association, Cuyahoga County Office of Early Childhood
1959 4
William T. Hiller executive director
23
Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton 400 Market Ave. North, Suite 300, Canton 44702 (330) 454-5800/www.scfcanton.org
$3.2
$1.3
$79.3
350,000
1,000
Mercy Medical Center, Goodwill Industries, Early Childhood Resource Center, Stark Education Partnership
1996 7
Joni T. Close president
24
William J. and Dorothy K. O'Neill Foundation 30195 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 106, Cleveland 44124 (216) 831-4134/www.oneillfdn.org
$3.0
$3.0
$77.8
133,333
100
Fund for our Economic Future, North Hawaii Community Hospital, Community of Hope, Western Reserve Land Conservancy, University Hospitals Health System
1987 3
Leah S. Gary president, CEO
25
FirstEnergy Foundation 76 S. Main St., Akron 44308 (330) 761-4246/www.firstenergycorp.com/community
$2.9
$2.6
$46.4
NA
NA
United Way Services, United Way Summit County, United Way of Greater Toledo
1961 5
Mary Beth Carroll president
26
Forest City Enterprises Charitable Foundation Inc.(5) 50 Public Square, Suite 1100, Cleveland 44113 (216) 621-6060
$2.9
$4.8
$0.2
500,000
100
Jewish Community Federation, United Way Services, Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Metropolitan School District
1977 NA
Charles A. Ratner president
27
The Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation 10 W. Streetsboro St., Suite 200, Hudson 44236 (330) 655-1366/www.mcmfdn.org
$2.7
$2.6
$79.8
1,000,000
2,500
NEOMED, Summa Foundation, Child Guidance & Family Solutions
2001 5
Rick Kellar president
28
Nordson Corp. Foundation 28601 Clemens Road, Westlake 44145 (440) 892-1580/www.nordson.com
$2.6
$2.1
$9.8
150,000
1,500
University of Notre Dame, Cleveland Scholarship Programs, University Circle Inc.-Early Learning Initiative, Second Harvest Foodbank - Back Pack Program
1988 4
Cecilia H. Render executive director
Source: Information is supplied by the companies unless footnoted. Crain's Cleveland Business does not independently verify the information and there is no guarantee these listings are complete or accurate. We welcome all responses to our lists and will include omitted information or clarifications in coming issues. (1) Information is from the 2010 and 2009 990-PF. (2) Information is from the 2009 990-PF for the tax year that ended Sept. 30, 2010. (3) Information is from the 2009 990-PF. (4) Information is from the 2009 990-PF tax year that ended June 30, 2010. (5) Information is from the 2009 990-PF tax year that ended Jan. 31, 2010.
RESEARCHED BY Deborah W. Hillyer
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Data show foundations Local real estate investment recover from recession concern sells majority interest Cleveland institution at top of Crain’s grantmakers list Just as the economy rebounded in 2010 from the recession-addled depths of 2009, so too did the activity among Northeast Ohio’s largest grantmaking foundations. The region’s 10 largest such foundations, ranked by the amount of their grants in 2010, made a total of $190.3 million in gifts, up 8.4% from the $175.5 million in gifts made by the top 10 of 2009. That’s one of the key findings from Crain’s latest Largest Grantmaking Foundations list, which appears on Page 20 of today’s newspaper. The extended version of the list, like all Crain’s lists, also is available for purchase at www.CrainsCleveland.com/section/crains-lists. The list is exceptionally top-heavy. One institution — the Cleveland Foundation — was responsible for 49% of the $190.3 million in grants made last year by the top 10 foundations. The Cleveland Foundation’s $94.1 million in grants made during 2010 was more than four times the amount of the second-largest foundation on the list, the George Gund Foundation, which made $23.6 million in grants last year. The Cleveland Foundation’s grantmaking in 2010 was up 16% from 2009, when it made $81.1 million in grants. Its assets, meanwhile, rose just short of 5% to $1.9 billion in 2010 from $1.81 billion the previous year. The Gund Foundation kicked up its activity quite a bit in 2010, with grants rising 53%
from $15.4 million in 2009. Like the Cleveland Foundation, the Gund Foundation’s assets were up only a modest 4.9%, to $443.7 million, last year from 2009’s $422.8 million. Only two other foundations — the Lerner Foundation and the KeyBank Foundation — made a total of more than $10 million in grants last year; Lerner was at $18.6 million and KeyBank was at $12.7 million. Both, though, were down slightly from 2009, when Lerner made $20.6 million in grants and KeyBank distributed $12.8 million. Here are other tidbits about the new list: ■ The largest single grant made in 2010 was a $10 million gift from the Lerner Foundation. It went to the Cleveland Clinic Foundation. ■ By assets, the third-largest foundation in Northeast Ohio is the Saint Luke’s Foundation of Cleveland, with $189.5 million in assets. It was fifth in 2010 grants, at $7.6 million, down from $9 million in 2009. ■ Northeast Ohio has 10 foundations with assets of at least $100 million. ■ Increased grantmaking was focused at the top of the list. Of the 36 foundations on the extended list, 14 increased their grant amounts in 2010 from 2009, 17 decreased their grant amounts and five held steady. ■ Four foundations made grants as small as double-digits — meaning less than $100. The smallest grant any foundation made was a $20 gift by the Parker Hannifin Foundation. The Lerner and Omnova Solutions foundations both made $25 grants, and the Cleveland Foundation made a $50 grant. In some cases, apparently, no request is too small. — Scott Suttell ■
By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com
The Townsend Group, a global real estate advisory and investment firm based in Cleveland, has agreed to sell for an undisclosed price a majority interest in itself to Aligned Asset Managers LLC of Stamford, Conn. The Townsend firm, established in 1983 by partners Terry Ahern and Kevin Lynch, allocates real estate capital for more than 85 institutional clients and provides investment advisory services to clients with more than $100 billion in assets. It also has offices in San Francisco, London and Hong Kong. Mr. Ahern, Townsend’s CEO, said in a news release that Aligned “is an ideal partner for Townsend as we continue to expand the specialized real estate advisory capabilities we offer our clients across a global platform.” Mr. Ahern earlier this year became the first person outside the founding Wolstein family to chair Developers Diversified Realty Corp. of Beachwood, a real estate investment trust of which is a longtime board member. David Minella, Aligned CEO, told Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Crain’s Cleveland Business, that Aligned agreed to buy a 70% stake in Townsend. Townsend also
sold the stake in itself to broaden Townsend’s employee ownership base to 13 employees from eight, Mr. Ahern told Pensions & Investments. The publication reported that Messrs. Ahern and Lynch will continue managing the business under five-year contracts after the sale concludes. Aligned was formed in January by a partnership of GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm, and Mr. Minella, a veteran asset manager. In the news release, Mr. Minella said Townsend “embodies our strategy of focusing on industry leaders in growing asset classes and we look forward to helping Townsend build on its strong track record and deep relationships with a world-class institutional investor base.” Aligned said the transaction would close at an unspecified future date upon receipt of customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions. Baker & Hostetler LLP served as legal counsel to Townsend. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal counsel and Ernst & Young served as accounting adviser to Aligned. Joe Olszag, a Townsend spokesman, said the company has a staff of 50 in Cleveland and 71 in total. ■
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Gift: Students also could benefit from execs’ business experience continued from PAGE 1
to expand that idea with this and put it out in the community.� Upon their retirements, Messrs. Richey and Mixon plan to have offices in the building that will bear their names to lend their expertise to burgeoning businesses — something of which Mr. Mixon insists Cleveland needs more. The $5 million is the first of what the pair and the university hope are many gifts to support the venture. “This is the catalyst to get it going,� Mr. Mixon said. “Other people in Cleveland will see this as something the city and community needs, so hopefully we can get it
producer of wheelchairs from a company with only $19 million in annual sales to a medical equipment powerhouse that last year posted sales of $1.7 billion. “If Mal comes up with a need or finds a need by talking to customers, I’m usually able to figure out ways to do it using existing technology and technology that needs to be developed,� said Mr. Richey, a 1962 graduate of Case Institute of Technology who is president of Invacare’s technologies division and senior vice president of electronic and design engineering. “We’d like
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A ‘shot in the arm’ Gary Wnek, faculty director of CWRU’s Institute for Management and Engineering, said the gift will help provide more physical space for students to get their ideas off the ground. The hope, he said, is to take students from multiple disciplines beyond the classroom so they can create actual prototypes to interest investors in their innovations and can develop business plans. Dr. Wnek said the gift is a “tremendous shot in the arm� for the university’s “think box� initiative,
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which kicked off about three years ago in order to emphasize crossdiscipline collaboration — a philosophy that has taken hold at research institutions throughout the region. Baiju Shah, president and CEO of BioEnterprise Corp., a nonprofit in Cleveland that assists young biomedical companies, said in an email that the gift could help inspire aspiring entrepreneurs, and that his group looks forward to working with CWRU’s entrepreneurship programs. “J.B. Richey and Mal Mixon are two of Cleveland’s greatest and successful entrepreneurs, and two of Cleveland’s strongest proponents,�
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Mr. Shah said. “They believe in the power of entrepreneurs to transform the region and the world. With ‘think box,’ they are contributing not only their funds but also their talents and energies as mentors to the new generation of entrepreneurs.â€? Dr. Wnek said the presence of Messrs. Mixon and Richey — as well as other business leaders — in the same building where students are working on projects will be an added benefit of their gift. “Any chance that some of their experience and expertise might rub off on our students is a wonderful opportunity,â€? he said. â–
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THEINSIDER
THEWEEK AUGUST 29 - SEPTEMBER 4 The big story: Team NEO and several entrepreneurial programs in Ohio will see their financial support increase now that the Ohio Third Frontier Commission approved most of its budget for fiscal 2012, which marks the start of a new era for the economic development program. The commission gave Team NEO, a business attraction organization, $4.1 million — the largest of six JobsOhio Network grants awarded. The commission set aside $122 million for several initiatives within the Third Frontier program, a 10-year-old effort meant to stimulate the state’s economy through investments in technology. See related story, Page 3.
It adds up: Toronto-based SP Data LLC is expanding its presence in Northeast Ohio by adding the call center company’s U.S. headquarters to its downtown Cleveland contact center. The company has a 150-person operation in Post Office Plaza, a part of the Tower City complex, and intends to add between 300 and 400 employees in the Great Lakes region in the next few years, many of those in Cleveland.
The check’s included: The Commission on Economic Inclusion received $1.1 million from the federal Minority Business Development Agency to kick off a local MBDA Business Center. The center will help minority businesses across Ohio raise capital and secure contracts with larger private companies and public agencies. The center is housed at the offices of the Greater Cleveland Partnership in downtown Cleveland. The inclusion commission is a program of GCP.
REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOK BEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS
Here’s a lesson we all could learn ■ My friends and I share fun banter each June and September, a mocking of sorts of teachers as they prepare for a summer off or new school year. (It all began when a high school friend insisted years ago that teachers work incredibly harder than everyone else, a point with which you could say I disagreed. Vehemently.) Lost in the sarcasm is a sincere appreciation I have Zitzner for teachers; they have an incredibly thankless job. My appreciation has grown: I left work last Thursday to find a broken mirror on my month-old car. I also found a note — from John Zitzner, who’s president of the fundraising arm for the well-regarded Breakthrough Charter Schools in Cleveland and who apparently was the culprit. I called Mr. Zitzner, and he offered to compensate me in full for the damages, which were substantial. Teachers: Incorporate this story of accountability and responsibility into your next plan. Oh, and stop rubbing it in about your summers off. — Joel Hammond
The branch is the same, even if the name isn’t ■ For two days last week, KeyBank’s East Ninth Street branch was renamed “Midtown Financial Center” as part of “The Avengers” movie shoot.
WHAT’S NEW
BEST OF THE BLOGS
Timken Co. of Canton agreed to pay $92 million in cash for an Illinois company that makes engineered drive chains, roller chains and conveyor augers for agricultural and industrial markets. Drives LLC of Fulton, Ill., posted sales of about $100 million over the last 12 months. It has about 430 employees in North America. The deal is expected to close in about 30 days.
Seeing the light: Global Lighting Technologies Inc., which employs 15 at a sales and engineering office in Brecksville, went public on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The company, based in Chung-Li, Taiwan, sold 15.35 million shares at an initial price of about $1.77 in U.S. dollars. Global Lighting Technologies makes products for LED-based systems that illuminate flat panel displays, keyboards and other electric equipment.
This and that: Eaton Corp. acquired IE Power Inc., a company based in Mississauga, Ontario, that provides high-power inverters for use in solar, wind and battery energy storage. The diversified manufacturer did not say what it paid for IE Power, which has 24 employees. … Kent State University president Lester Lefton named Roxia B. Boykin, a top executive at Summa Health System in Akron, as his next “presidential ambassador,” a program designed for minority professionals to share with the university community their business expertise and experiences with diversity. Ms. Boykin, a Kent State alumna, is Summa’s vice president for community benefit and diversity.
McDonald Partners blows into Chicago ■ In what its spokesman calls a logical next step, Cleveland-based McDonald Partners LLC has opened an office in the Windy City. The brokerage and investment advisory firm’s Chicago office opened officially for business Aug. 22. The office is the firm’s fifth overall and is staffed with three new hires,
Driven to a deal:
All mine: Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. said a company subsidiary and its joint venture partner, HWE Cockatoo, as well as Cockatoo Mining entered into an agreement with Pluton Resources Ltd. to sell its beneficial interest in the iron ore assets of its Cockatoo Island joint venture in Australia. The potential transaction is expected to occur at the end of the current stage mining of Cockatoo Island, known as Stage III, which is anticipated to be complete in late 2012.
Two branch signs were covered with the new name as local filming concluded last week. Bank officials also obliged producers and ran fake stock information on KeyBank’s exterior electronic ticker on Aug. 30. “It’s a huge production, (and) we’re part of it,” said Omar Kalim, assistant vice president and branch manager. “It was amazing. For Cleveland to be part of a major movie production is just exciting times for not just KeyBank, but everyone in downtown.” The branch employees had a front-row seat to the action, as their ground-floor office faced the street where the filming was occurring. However, when producers were filming toward the building on Tuesday, the bank was asked to pull its blinds and to not have people peeking through them, noted spokesman Dan Davis. The production work wasn’t too loud, with the exception of Monday, when two vehicles were crushed, Mr. Davis said. Branch traffic remained steady, Mr. Kalim said. The bank informed some clients of the fleeting name change, plus the bank’s Superior Avenue sign and the East Ninth signs facing north remained KeyBank signs. — Michelle Park
Excerpts from recent blog entries on CrainsCleveland.com
The more we know, the worse it looks
THE COMPANY: Tharo Systems Inc., Brunswick THE PRODUCT: Tharo PA500w Wipe-On Label Printer/Applicator The company says the Tharo PA500w is designed for accurate, moderate- to highspeed labeling to the top, side or bottom of a product. Tharo’s PA500w is capable of printing and applying more than 100 labels per minute and is delivered with a product sensor and controller to ensure accurate label placement on the product, the company says. A wipe-on brush assures proper adhesion to smooth flat surfaces as well as uneven surfaces. Users also can apply labels up to 4 ½ inches by 7 inches to a variety of materials, such as cartons, tray and blister packages, bags and cans. Tharo was formed in 1982. It makes the bar code label printing software Easylabel and bar code label printers, thermal transfer bar code printers, supplies and label design software. For information, visit www.Tharo.com. Send information about new products to managing editor Scott Suttell at ssuttell@ crain.com.
■ A former Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland official figured prominently in a New York Times story that made the case that the 2008 bank bailout overwhelmingly benefited institutions rather than people. The Times story followed a Bloomberg report that the Fed “provided a stunning $1.2 trillion to large global financial institutions at the peak of its crisis lending in December 2008.” The report “detailed the surprisingly sketchy collateral — stocks and junk bonds — accepted by the Fed to back its loans,” according to The Times. For instance, the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008 received $84.5 billion, and Dexia, a Belgian lender, borrowed $58.5 billion from the Fed at its peak. Walker F. Todd, a research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research and a former assistant general counsel and research officer at the Cleveland Fed, told The Times that such details confirm public skepticism about the value of the bank bailout. “What is the benefit to the American taxpayer of propping up a Belgian bank with a single New York banking office to the tune of tens of billions of dollars?” he asked. “It seems inconsistent ultimately to have provided this much assistance to the biggest institutions for so long, and then to have done in effect nothing for the homeowner, nothing for credit card relief.”
Oh, now he’s a big-time scorer ■ Fortune had a little fun by filling out a roster of former NFL players who
who add a new level of expertise in insurance that will strengthen the entire firm, said Brian McDonald, firm spokesman. Establishing a presence in Chicago made sense because it allows founder, president and CEO Thomas McDonald to reconnect with people he met while running a broker dealer in the city from 2003 to 2005, Brian McDonald said. “We know the market,” he said. “We know the players in Chicago. Knowing your market is the first part of success.” — Michelle Park
The lowdown on what’s up in the Warehouse District ■ The Historic Warehouse District neighborhood development group has gotten into the publishing business. The organization has begun producing “What’s New In the Neighborhood,” a newsletter designed to highlight “the positive things that are happening in downtown Cleveland,” says Howard Landau, president of Landau Public Relations on West Sixth Street and chairman of the Historic Warehouse District’s marketing committee. The bimonthly newsletter highlights coming public events and activities as well as stories about people who live and work in the district. The August issue features a story on investigative reporter Carl Monday and his wife, Sandy, who bought their West 10th Street condo more than 10 years ago. The newsletter is distributed in print and electronic form; to sign up for the latter, address an email to Kelly@warehouse district.org. — Mark Dodosh
now work in the private equity business. Some positions are better represented than others, and the running back slot is quite light. Fortune’s pick there is former Cleveland Browns fullback Tommy Vardell — you remember “Touchdown Tommy” out of Stanford, right? — who now serves as managing director with Northgate Capital, a fund-of-funds manager. Mr. Vardell only scored 18 times in his NFL career, so presumably he’s doing better in his current field.
When the tide doesn’t rise here, consultant looks abroad ■ Roeder Consulting Inc., a project management and training firm in Cleveland, was one of the companies that provided an anecdote for a Wall Street Journal story about small business owners looking for new customers outside the United States. They’re looking abroad due to lower demand at home and a cheaper dollar, The Journal said. Even so, the paper says, “overseas expansion is often harder and more complicated for small businesses, which lack the deep pockets and expertise of larger firms.” Tres Roeder, president of Roeder Consulting, told The Journal he’s looking for international clients for the first time in the company’s 10-year history. “The overall tide isn’t rising here,” he said. “But I look at foreign markets and they’re growing.” American clients have been canceling training sessions, but more international participants have joined the company’s monthly webinars. He’s also looking into offering full-time training services in India. But The Journal noted the process “has been challenging.” For instance, trying to find business advisers with country-specific knowledge and skills has been time-consuming and costly.
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6:00pm–9:00pm
You’re invited to join us for a night of luxury, technology and design as the newest addition to the Range Rover line-up makes its debut. The All New 2012 Range Rover Evoque.
Select Edition Jaguars are chosen from the finest, most carefully maintained Jaguars. A rigorous inspection process ensures each hand-selected car is brought back to its original standard of excellence and is truly worthy of its exceptional warranty. >> 6-YEAR/100,000 MILE LIMITED WARRANTY COVERAGE.* >> 140-POINT INSPECTION >> 24/7 HOUR ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE FIND YOUR SELECT EDITION JAGUAR AND SECURE SPECIAL FINANCING THROUGH SEPTEMBER 30, 2011
LAND ROVER SOLON 6137 KRUSE DR., SOLON 1-866-210-6707 www.landroversolon.com
>>
0.9
% APR
FOR 60-MONTHS**
6137 KRUSE DR., SOLON (440) 542-0601 www.jaguarcleveland.com
* See your local dealer for complete details. Visit JAGUARUSA.COM or call 1.800.4.JAGUAR. ** Not all buyers will qualify for Jaguar Financial Group. Take delivery from dealer stock by 9/30/2011. © 2011 JAGUAR LAND ROVER NORTH AMERICA, LLC
Please RSVP by Sept. 10 to: helloevoque@landroversolon.com
SELECT EDITION CERTIFIED PRE-OWNED
6135 Kruse Dr. • Solon • (440) 542-0600 • www.DavisAutomotive.com