Crain's Cleveland Business

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VOL. 36, NO. 47

NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015

35th Anniversary

EMPLOYMENT: Survey says Team NEO breaks down starting wages P. 4

Business of Life High-end watches Lum-Tec finds place with collectors, military

MEDIA: Expanding its reach ESPN Cleveland strikes big deal

P. 32-33

P. 5

Commentary

FINANCE: Moving right along

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Riverside continues its rapid pace P. 6

Solid in plastics Rubber City, region have potential to thrive in polymer industry

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY rmccafferty@crain.com @ramccafferty

Paul Boulier, vice president of business attraction for Team NEO, is optimistic about the outlook of the polymer industry.

That’s because, he said, there are positive global demand trends in the automotive, medical device, consumer products and electronics/electrical industries.

That’s a good thing for Akron, as the city — and Northeast Ohio overall — is well positioned in the polymer industry, Boulier said.

There are a lot of companies in the

region in the value-added space, helping to make plastics and other polymer products work better, he said, and the region has access to the shale gas and natural gas liquids that are the building blocks of plastics.

“We’ve got a very strong capability here,” Boulier said.

While some of the world’s tire giants still have strongholds in what was once known as the “Rubber Capital of the World,” this reputation has largely become part of the past.

But Akron has built on that original area of expertise and retained strength in the polymer industry.

“Akron, while no longer the tire capital of the world, has been the global center of research for the in-

Entire contents © 2015 by Crain Communications Inc.

dustry for more than 100 years,” Surendra Chawla, senior director of external science and technology programs for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., said in an emailed statement.

“Goodyear and the University of Akron’s polymer center are the cornerstones of this industry knowledge, which now includes R&D operations for multiple international firms.

“Goodyear both contributes to, and benefits from, this concentrated knowledge base,” Chawla said.

Earlier this year, Team NEO took a look at the polymer and chemical-related companies in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, concentrated SEE PLASTICS, PAGE 35

Browns soon could battle fan apathy P. 10

OM Group will leave E&Y Tower Firm’s headquarters, and 30 jobs, are moving from Cleveland to St. Louis

BY STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter

Scratch another name from the roster of Northeast Ohio-based corporations — and with it another 30 executive jobs — as the new owner of OM Group plans to move its corporate headquarters to St. Louis.

Jim Voss, who became CEO of OM Group as the deal was consummated at the end of October, said the

Apollo Management Group’s affiliated funds that purchased three OM divisions has different headquarters needs than OM had for its 2-year-old corporate headquarters on the 13th floor of Ernst & Young Tower, downtown Cleveland’s newest office building.

“When the decision was made to take out this lease, it was a different strategy and a bit pricey,” Voss said.

“The building is awesome, but the office is bigger than anything we SEE OM GROUP, PAGE 8

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

PRESENTED BY

SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY

Small Business Saturday Makes BIG Impact Sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday (which falls this year on November 28) is smack dab in the middle of the beginning of the holiday shopping rush. As we approach the 2015 edition of Small Business Saturday, let’s take a look at some of the numbers that show how well small businesses did in 2014 in their quest to gain wallet share.

November 23

Expert Insights

126,000

67%

88M

PERCENTAGE OF CONSUMERS WHO ARE AWARE OF SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY

NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS WHO “SHOPPED SMALL” ON SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY IN 2014, UP 14.9% FROM 2013

TWEETS SENT IN SUPPORT OF SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY IN 2014 (+3.3% WHEN COMPARED TO 2013)

$14.3B DOLLARS SPENT AMONG THOSE CONSUMERS WHO WERE AWARE OF SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY

3.3M

$13 B

LIKES OF THE SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY “SHOP SMALL” FACEBOOK PAGE

THE AMOUNT CONSUMERS WERE EXPECTED TO SPEND IN 2014

$14.5B

THE AVERAGE DOLLAR AMOUNT SPENT PER CONSUMER ON SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY DURING IN 2014

$162

THE PROJECTED SPEND AT SMALL BUSINESSES ON SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY IN 2015

SMALL BUSINESSES CONTRIBUTE

$68

$43

THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT STAYS IN THE COMMUNITY WHEN $100 IS SPENT AT A SMALL BUSINESS

THE AMOUNT OF MONEY THAT STAYS IN THE COMMUNITY WHEN $100 IS SPENT AT A NON-LOCAL SMALL BUSINESS

250% MORE TO COMMUNITY CAUSES AND CHARITIES THAN LARGER BUSINESSES

THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE EMPLOYED BY FRANCHISED SMALL BUSINESSES

8M

These stats were gathered from the National Federation of Independent Businesses; American Express; Civic Economics Study (Grand Rapids, Mich.); Seattle Good Business Network; and the Small Business Administration.

CONTENT PROVIDED AND PAID FOR BY THE COUNCIL OF SMALLER ENTERPRISES

Why Small Businesses Should Care About Wellness Programs for Employees COSE recently reached out to members of its Expert Network to address questions related to his VY OLY ÄLSK -LH[\YLK today is Keith Zimcosky, exercise physiologist and owner of Train 2U LLC.

Why should companies care about integrating wellness into its corporate philosophy?

Implementing a wellness philosophy demonstrates that management cares about the health and wellbeing of their employees. Wellness programs help to lower health care costs, reduces absenteeism, achieves higher productivity and reduces workplace injuries. In addition, wellness programs help to improve employee morale and loyalty.

What’s the best way to incorporate wellness at an organization?

The best way for a small business to incorporate wellness aspects into its operation is to start a walking program. >HSRPUN PZ ZHML HUK V LYZ U\TLYV\Z OLHS[O ILULÄ[Z 0[ PZ MYLL HUK JHU IL KVUL just about anywhere. Forming a walking group is a great way for people to bond and build camaraderie in the workplace.

7LVWSL [LUK [V Z[PJR ^P[O Ä[ULZZ programs longer when they are done in a group setting and starting a walking group is the easiest way for individuals to keep healthy while at work.

Want more expert advice? Check out COSE Expert Network, an online forum connecting business owners with creative solutions to the tough questions they face every day.

Learn more at www.cose.org/expert

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z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Team NEO tackles starting salaries

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To combat the perception that Northeast Ohio is a high-priced labor market, Team Northeast Ohio has been surveying starting salaries for hundreds of jobs.

The goal is to help the region compete for new businesses.

The business attraction nonprofit believes the survey, which has been quietly conducted four times over the last eight years, has served its purpose — bolstering the region’s chances of landing new employers — even though that success can’t be compared to results for other regions.

That’s because Northeast Ohio apparently is the only region gathering this specific information.

The survey also lends credence to employers’ concerns about hiring and basic life skills like getting to work on time.

Team NEO undertook this effort, which was conducted by researchers at Kent State University’s Stark County campus, because it believed that the existing federal employment data companies use when they compare labor costs from region to region overstates the cost of labor in Northeast Ohio.

Jacob Duritsky, Team NEO’s vice president for strategy and research, said that concern arises because the group believes that workers in many occupations in Northeast Ohio tend to stay in their jobs longer, raising average salaries for specific positions.

Those average labor cost numbers, reported by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), typically are the basis that companies work from to calculate starting labor costs and compare them among cities in contention for a new office or plant.

“We found that in some instances the companies we were working with that were looking to understand what you could pay starting workers, the BLS numbers, because we tend to have lower than average attrition rates, tend to skew (Northeast Ohio) high,” Duritsky said.

“So our thought was to survey companies here to get a true sense of what they are paying starting workers.”

Duritsky said employers typically calculate a starting wage at what the lowest-paid quarter of a group of workers in a job classification surveyed by BLS earns.

He said the starting wages and salaries reported in the Team NEO survey were lower than the comparable BLS numbers and help Northeast Ohio compete for new businesses.

The survey found, for example, that the average starting salary for a machinist in Northeast Ohio was $37,586.67; for an accountant, $51,569.79; for a registered nurse, $48,121.04; and for a heavy-duty

Team NEO periodically surveys starting wages and salaries across Northeast Ohio to help convince consultants to businesses evaluating possible locations for new operations about the price-competitiveness of the local labor force. The survey covers hundreds of jobs in all of the region’s major industries. Here are a select few:

JOB

AVG. STARTING WAGE OR SALARY

Accountants and auditors

$51,569.79

Bank tellers

$20,800.00

Food prep workers and servers

$8.50/hour

General maintenance workers

$17.92/hour

Truck drivers/salespeople

$41,600.00

Loan officers

$46,785.33

Machinists

$17.94/hour

Middle school teachers

$34,222.00

Pharmacists

$104,195.50

Physicians and surgeons

$214,999.00

Registered nurses

$48,121.04

Tool and die makers

$18.32/hour

Source: Northeast Ohio 2014 Starting Wage and Benefit Survey by Team NEO and Kent State University/Stark

truck driver, $44,096.00.

A tip for BLS The study has not been widely distributed or publicized, since its primary audience is site selectors for businesses surveying expansion sites.

Joel Elvery, an economist who specializes in labor, public and urban economics at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, was aware Team NEO had conducted the survey, but he had not seen it until Crain’s emailed him a copy. He said that because of its use as a selling tool by Team NEO, he was not surprised that it had not been widely distributed.

Marshall Hill, the Kent/Stark researcher who coordinated the data collection, is surprised no one else collects this specific information.

“It’s something you’d think you’d want to see more of,” he said. “You’d think the BLS would be collecting this data.”

Still, Elvery found the data valuable.

“I think it’s interesting,” he said.

“When you look at the average wage of a production worker here, that’s going to be higher than a new firm will experience. The new firm will hire a worker and pay a starting wage.”

Down to details The survey was based on 313 responses from employers in 20 counties to a detailed, online survey.

The surveys went to several thousand employers who were members of regional chambers of commerce.

Nearly half the responses, 153, were from manufacturers, and nearly 9%, 27, in health care and related services. Response was heaviest from three counties — Medina,

Stark and Summit — that account for 46% of respondents.

The analysis was so detailed that, in some cases, a specific job category had only one response.

For instance, only one information services company reported hiring one accountant in the previous 12 months. The salary for that job was $35,000 a year.

But when looking across industries, the report gave a better look at starting salaries and hiring projections. The survey reported that 68 companies across all industries had hired 163 customer service representatives over the previous 12 months, with an average salary of $35,995.77 a year.

Fifty-five of those companies reported that they expected to hire 91 more customer service workers over the next 12 months.

Beyond hiring data, the survey asked companies about the challenges they face when they expand their workforce. It found that 180 respondents, 58%, said hiring was challenging.

Echoing earlier studies and growing informal conversations about the labor force, 117 respondents said the greatest challenge to making a new hire successful is whether or not the employee consistently shows up to work on time. Elvery said he sees that frequently.

“What does come up in surveys of employers is this kind of pattern over and over again, what they say they have a hard time finding are general skills like showing up on time and getting along with other people as opposed to not having specific skills,” he said.

“A lot of times what employers say is, ‘If I can find a committed worker who shows up on time, I can teach them whatever skills I need them to have. The thing I can’t teach them is to show up on time.’ ”

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z PAGE 5

Good Karma branches out by marketing ESPN brand

BY KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com @KevinKleps

More often than not, local radio hosts double as marketers for the companies with whom their employer is doing business.

Now, ESPN Cleveland, in addition to its biggest personalities talking about their life-changing experiences with Joe Bee’s, is selling something on a much grander scale.

They’re selling ESPN. Good Karma Brands, the Beaver Dam, Wis.-based parent company of WKNR-AM, 850 and KNR2-AM, 1540, has struck a partnership with ESPN Hometown that will allow GKB’s four ESPN Radio affiliates to pitch companies on the opportunity to purchase advertising that will appear on the Worldwide Leader’s digital properties.

Using ESPN’s first-party data and geotargeting capabilities, Good Karma’s ESPN affiliates in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Madison, Wis., and West Palm Beach, Fla., will offer companies in the respective markets the chance to buy ads that will only be visible to their desired audience. The Cleveland Cavaliers, for example, could target ESPN users who have said they’re fans of the Arena Football League by buying a spot on any ESPN digital property that discusses the AFL. And a Brecksville business could pay for an ESPN.com ad that only residents in its city will notice.

“It’s the single biggest thing that’s ever happened to us as a company,”

said Good Karma Brands founder Craig Karmazin.

The cost of the ad will depend on the number of “impressions” it’s expected to generate. For instance, a spot that appears before an ESPN video discussing the NFL would be more costly than an ad that runs with a tennis story, and purchasing advertising for an entire market, instead of something that is more user- or city-specific, would obviously be much more expensive.

“There’s definitely the opportunity to invest significantly more dollars on the digital space than our largest advertiser would invest on the radio space,” Karmazin said. “But there will certainly be people who invest more in radio than they do in digital because of the quantity of impressions.”

Karmazin said the revenue from the ad buys goes to ESPN, and Good Karma then gets a cut. (He wouldn’t say how much.) It makes sense for ESPN, which has Good Karma’s sales teams hawking its products, and Karmazin believes it could be very lucrative for his company.

ESPN Cleveland has 30 full-time employees, which includes a 10-person sales team. Karmazin expects that number to grow, and potentially by a significant margin, but he said the company first wants to see how the ESPN Hometown partnership works.

“We don’t want to arbitrarily start adding people without first getting out into the market and finding out how people want to work together on this,” he said.

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Good Karma is the first company to establish a relationship with ESPN Hometown, a division of ESPN’s customer marketing and sales group that launched in February, that involves multiple markets. ESPN also has a deal with the New England Patriots, who find partners for the broadcasting giant in the Boston area.

JonPaul Rexing, a senior director of sales at ESPN, said the company is partnering with Good Karma because it’s “one of our best-in-class operators of the ESPN brand.”

Asked about the potential of companies in other markets establishing a similar relationship with ESPN, Rexing said, “I don’t think there is an endgame in mind at the moment.

Right now, the focus is the added element of the relationship with Good Karma, and how it further fulfills what ESPN Hometown is.”

Karmazin estimates that the Cleveland market in 2016 will have a digital ad spend (spots on such behemoths as Google and Facebook) of $622 million, which for the first time would almost equal ad buys on traditional media such as TV, radio and newspapers. The latter category is estimated at $632 million.

Karmazin said that in some markets there is more money spent on digital advertising than traditional media spots.

“If you look at the largest form of media, which is digital media, we will now have more local premium impressions (available to advertisers) than any company in this market,” he said.

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PAGE 6

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z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

For Sale - North Olmsted Office Park Outstanding Investment Opportunity

Even by its standards, Riverside is going fast Global equity firm is upping the pace via add-on acquisitions

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The Riverside Co. has always been a big player in add-on acquisitions, but not quite like this.

The global private equity firm, coheadquartered in Cleveland, already has bolted on five companies to its Florida-based Spectrio platform, for instance.

On average, Riverside usually completes between one to two addons for portfolio investments throughout the multi-year investment cycle.

But Spectrio, an on-hold messaging and digital signage company, was just acquired last fall.

Those add-ons are typically smaller and less expensive, so finding the right complementary business can help set the stage to lift values and bolster investments.

That’s why, in the persisting competitiveness of today’s M&A market, private equity funds are becoming more aggressive in making add-ons that can punch up the value of a platform investment.

“We’ve always been very active in pursuing add-ons,” said Chris Jones, a Cleveland-based partner with Riverside who has helped identify add-ons for Spectrio.

“But with the price of platforms increasing in the last few years, and purchase-price multiples are much higher compared to three to four years ago, add-ons are more important today as a way to drive more value in the platform.”

Closing five tuck-ins within this first year is an incredible pace, even for Riverside.

But finding and sealing more of those deals earlier in the investment period has become the new norm as business valuations and price multiples continue to soar in what is clearly a seller’s market.

Private equity in general is motivated to put dollars to work despite those higher costs, and that’s what’s making complementary acquisitions not only attractive but arguably necessary to realize better returns and justify higher purchase prices.

“What’s recently changed is in today’s slow-growth economy, companies need top-line revenue growth to increase in value,” explained Russ Warren, a managing director at EdgePoint Capital, a Beachwood investment bank that works closely with private equity groups.

“Add-ons are a great way to get growth when the U.S. economy is growing about 2% or so, which is hohum,” Warren said.

“We’re getting contacted every day by private equity firms seeking add-ons for this or that portfolio.

They’re actively looking.”

Countrywide, add-ons are, in fact, beginning to dominate deal activity in terms of the size of investment.

According to Dealogic, a global financial services company that compiles equity research, there have

been 773 add-on acquisitions ($218.5 billion) though Thursday, Nov. 19, compared with 703 entries ($104.5 billion).

That compares with 884 add-ons ($47.9 billion) and 817 entries ($118.9 billion) logged in all of 2014.

While those ratios are comparable, the dollars in add-ons have already surged over last year by 355%, showing that fewer dollars are going toward portfolio investments.

That marks record growth and the most money invested in add-on acquisitions ever by a wide margin.

And more deals this year are sure to come.

Feeding the pipeline Even smaller and more specialized private equity firms are seeing more opportunities and becoming more aggressive in complementary acquisitions, but the rationale for completing them may still vary.

Evolution Capital Partners, a Cleveland private equity firm focusing exclusively on smaller, secondstage companies, is looking for addons wholly to drive value as some investments near the tail of their cycle.

The firm’s goal is to grow small companies organically to $5 million before selling.

every last dollar out,” said Rob McCreary, chairman of CapitalWorks LLC, a Cleveland private equity firm focusing on middle market companies largely in the manufacturing and aerospace sectors.

“You’re seeing a lot of companies for sale now, and you have to react.”

Deals being closed are increasingly proprietary, meaning firms are identifying the companies they’re taking stakes in through their own relationships or search efforts instead of going through an investment-bank led auction process, said Mike Mackie, an advisory partner with KPMG’s Chicago office who works with Ohio private equity groups.

And those proprietary efforts punctuate the competitive M&A landscape.

As a result, even particularly large and active firms like Riverside are lining up add-on deals so early on they’re becoming part of the process for vetting a platform acquisition.

Riverside co-CEO Stewart Kohl said his firm is definitely going after add-ons faster and more frequently.

“Today, if you’re not doing those types of things, you’re going to see your return go down,” he said, “and you’re going to pay the price for it.”

“When we buy platforms and do add-ons, we’re painting a picture, and we’re doing it with a blueprint. For the successful firms, that’s going to be a permanent part of the playbook.”

— Stewart Kohl co-CEO, Riverside “It’s all about battling high multiples and getting more money to work and building scale,” said cofounder Jeffrey Kadlic, adding the firm is increasingly considering addons where a couple years ago they completed zero of those deals.

“For us, it’s just really about building scale. But you can pay those higher multiples and get away with it because there are savings opportunities available.”

Opportunity is certainly a factor.

Intuitively, higher valuations are encouraging more business owners to put themselves on the market today, which adds more fodder to the food chain.

“You’re going to see more opportunities for tuck-ins, particularly at the end of an M&A boom because a lot of entrepreneurs want to squeeze

In a record 2014 for Riverside, the firm completed 12 platform investments to 25 add-ons.

This year, there have been 20 platforms and 20 more add-ons.

Many of those, including those related to the Spectrio platform Riverside invested in just more than a year ago, were identified exceptionally early on.

That will remain a dominant strategy moving forward, Kohl said.

And not surprisingly, he says their pipeline is quite full.

“When we buy platforms and do add-ons, we’re painting a picture, and we’re doing it with a blueprint,” Kohl said.

“For the successful firms, that’s going to be a permanent part of the playbook.”

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z PAGE 7

The Week

Because we understand your business…

THE BIG STORY

SEE HOW THEY ROLL

FLYING HIGH

Downtown Cleveland’s poster child for its development shortcomings — four city blocks of parking lots near Public Square’s northwest corner — may become a showplace neighborhood with 1,200 apartment suites if a joint venture by Weston Inc. and Citymark Capital has its way. The plan is punctuated by four towers that are 23 to 30 stories tall accompanied by a series of eightstory buildings, with first-floor retail ringing most of the perimeter. Warrensville Heights-based Weston and Cleveland-based Citymark have begun talks with Cleveland City Planning Commission about changes to the city zoning code needed to make the project a reality.

Dealer Tire, a tire wholesaler now based on Chester Avenue in Cleveland, is headed to Midtown.

The growing company is expected to occupy the Victory Center, a four-story, 166,000-square-foot building at 7012 Euclid Ave. The rapidly growing company has outgrown its space at 3711 Chester Ave. The city of Cleveland is helping the move with $6.5 million in loans and grants. The company had been rumored to be looking at sites in Independence and Indiana as well as Midtown.

TransDigm Group of Cleveland agreed to acquire Whippany, N.J.based Breeze-Eastern Corp., a fellow maker and supplier of highly engineered aircraft components, in a deal valued at more than $200 million. Under terms of the agreement, a TransDigm subsidiary will launch a tender offer to acquire all Breeze-Eastern common stock outstanding for $19.61 per share in cash, which values the transaction at about $206 million. Following the purchase of shares through the tender offer, TransDigm will complete the deal by acquiring all remaining shares not acquired in the offer through a merger at the same price as the tender offer.

CLEANING UP Goldman Sachs Group’s private equity arm and buyout firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP agreed to buy Clevelandbased facility management company GCA Services Group from Blackstone Group. GCA, founded in 2003, is a national provider of janitorial/custodial services, facilities operations and maintenance, grounds management and other services to the education, commercial and rental car markets.

The company has more than 37,000 employees. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Citing sources, Reuters reported that the purchase price was “around $1 billion, including debt.”

LUBE STOP Westlake-based TravelCenters of America agreed to buy Quaker Steak & Lube for $25 million following the casual restaurant chain’s filing for bankruptcy on Nov. 16. The deal includes Sharon, Pa.-based Quaker Steak’s existing restaurant operations, its restaurant franchise program and its retail bottled sauce business.

Quaker Steak submitted a bankruptcy filing that included the asset purchase and $2 million debtor in possession financing agreements with TravelCenters. The acquisition is subject to bankruptcy court approval, which is expected in early 2016. However, another company could top the TravelCenters bid in an auction process.

HERE’S THE SCORE Fifteen Ohio companies — including five based in the Cleveland area — earned perfect scores in the 2016 Corporate Equality Index, an annual report from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation assessing LGBT inclusion in the corporate world. In total, 851 companies nationwide were rated in the report, up from 781 a year ago. Of the 31 Ohio companies ranked, 15 earned 100% scores, five earned 90% to 99%, and four earned 80% to 89%. The area companies with 100% scores were Eaton Corp., the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, KeyCorp, Squire Patton Boggs and Thompson Hine LLP.

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OM GROUP CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

wanted to have going forward as a drastically different company.”

The specialty chemicals provider had five divisions with 50 employees when it moved to E&Y from Key Tower.

Voss said the corporate staff now is 30 people, and the company operates three divisions rather than five.

Under terms of the $1 billion acquisition of OM Group by the joint venture of Apollo funds and West Palm Beach-based Platform Specialty Products Corp., the Florida firm

bought two OM divisions covering electronic and photo chemicals.

“We have three divisions we are excited about growing, but (they) have operations outside the Cleveland area and the United States,” Voss said.

“Other than heritage, there are no ties to Cleveland.”

The move to St. Louis, where OM Group is eyeing 11,000 square feet in a downtown building that’s not the pinnacle of the office market, also will allow the company to trim overhead costs, Voss said.

CONOR COAKLEY is proud to have represented

in their move to |

2425 West 11th Street |

Tremont

At E&Y, OM Group is in more than 20,000 square feet.

Asked if the company went through a cost-comparison exercise for Cleveland and St. Louis, Voss said he considered the two similar but added, “I confess. I live near St. Louis.”

As part of its plan for the three OM divisions it retained, Voss said the company is changing its name to Vectra to emphasize its specialty chemicals and materials applications.

The OM Group name is better known, he said, for the company’s older commodity nickel and cobalt operations.

The three divisions that OM Group retained are its magnetic technologies, battery technologies and advanced organics businesses.

OM Group went public in 1993. It was built on a platform originated in Cleveland as Mooney Chemicals in 1946.

OM Group employees in Cleveland were told about the move recently and offered separation packages, Voss said.

He said about a half-dozen executives are discussing opportunities to move to St. Louis. He said his target is for a staff of about 30 in St. Louis.

He expects the changes to be in place by January; a handful of accounting employees will be here until they close the books on 2015.

A big part of reducing the overhead of OM Group’s soon-to-be-former headquarters depends on getting another company to sublease the space, a job won by Robert Roe, a managing director in Jones Lang LaSalle’s Cleveland office.

“I think it’s extremely marketable space,” Roe said in an interview.

“It has 360-degree views of the Flats, downtown and Lake Erie. OM Group probably spent more than $100 a square foot building out this space.”

Several companies have already looked at the space because the amount of trophy space in the city is declining, Roe said.

Moreover, he noted, several suites of space not yet leased by Ernst & Young’s developer — a joint venture

of Iris and Scott Wolstein and Fairmount Properties — provide additional room for a company that needs more than a floor of office space.

There is no stated asking rent for the OM Group sublease, Roe said.

While a diminishing supply of prime class A space may help fill the OM space, Kevin Piunno, a senior vice president at the Cushman & Wakefield Cresco real estate brokerage, said, “It won’t be a slam dunk.

They’re going to have to take a discount.”

Most companies would require some changes to make the OM Group space fit their operation, Piunno said, which also will auger for a lower sublease rate.

At the same time, OM Group will be more motivated to make a deal — and lower what it is shelling out for space it does not need — than office building owners, he said.

“They’ll get activity. Everyone will look at that space,” Piunno said. “It’s good for the market to have some more space become available.”

Akrotome imaging gets $1.7M grant from National Institutes of Health CBRE, Inc. 950 Main Avenue Suite 200 Cleveland, OH 44113 T +216 687 1800

Akrotome Imaging Inc. of Cleveland received a $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help the medical imaging technology company complete a tool that can help surgeons determine immediately whether cancer cells have been removed.

The grant should take Akrotome through the development of a platform and a multicenter trial with around 250 patients. That will be preparation for the FDA trial, which is expected to cost $4 million to $5

million and to take 12 to 18 months.

The imaging instrument and a fluorescent molecular probe “light up” many kinds of previously invisible cancer cells, allowing surgeons to see clearly where cancer ends and healthy tissue begins. The company’s trials have indicated the probe can highlight cancer cells with better than 95% accuracy.

Instead of patients receiving doses of probe through an IV before procedures, the Akrotome technology can be sprayed on the tumor

area to reveal traces of remaining cancer cells and help surgeons know if additional surgeries are required.

“The surgical cure of cancer can only be achieved if a surgeon can remove all of the tumor,” said Akrotome CEO Brian Straight.

The technology was developed in the laboratories of Matthew Bogyo at Stanford University and James Basilion at Case Western Reserve University. Indec Systems Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., provided the imaging capabilities.

— Lydia Coutré

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z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Opinion From the Publisher

Browns’ worst result could be next: Apathy

Editorial

Gobbling up the holiday Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks: Thanks for family, for good health, and for … Thanksgiving Day shopping?

Uh, no thanks on that last one.

Thanksgiving, sadly, is becoming the forgotten holiday, kind of like yesterday’s leftovers that were left out on the counter too long.

Christmas now elbows out Turkey Day the minute Halloween has delivered its final fright.

It used to be you could count on your Thanksgiving, get your fill of turkey and stuffing, football and naps, and head out fortified to shop at midnight or the next morning on Black Friday. But retailers can’t give us that anymore.

Come this Thanksgiving, the turkey may still be in the oven when JCPenney throws open its doors at 3 p.m. On Thanksgiving Day. And JCPenney won’t be the only one. Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, HH Gregg and other big-box retailers will gladly welcome overstuffed consumers on Thanksgiving Day. But even that’s not enough. Sales and promotions are being rolled out earlier and earlier in November. The National Retail Federation reported a few weeks ago that nearly 57% of those celebrating the holidays had already started shopping by early November, up 16% from when the federation first asked the question in 2008.

We get it. Brick-and-mortar retailers are trying to keep up as more consumers buy online with outlets like Amazon.

Adobe reports that online shopping will increase 15% on Black Friday and 18% on Thanksgiving this year.

But can’t they hold their giblets for just one day?

Our advice to shoppers? Resist the temptation to join the throng. Stay home on Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday as it was meant to be — with your family and friends, watching football, and contemplating whether you want a second helping of turkey and fixings or an extra slice of pumpkin pie.

If you must venture out, wait until Black Friday and reward those stores, such as Nordstrom, TJ Maxx and Costco, that refused to ruin their employees’ holidays by opening on Thanksgiving. Soon, when REI opens in Northeast Ohio, you can salute the outdoor store’s brave decision this year to close on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, as it encouraged its employees and customers to enjoy the great outdoors.

Even better, spend some of your holiday shopping dollars on Small Business Saturday on Nov. 28, when you can ensure you’ll be supporting retailers who most likely won’t be open on Thanksgiving and who need your patronage. These are the locally owned shops woven into the fabric of our communities. Started three years ago, Small Business Saturday brings in an estimated $5.5 billion in consumer spending, according to the National Federation of Independent Business.

This year, make an investment in your community and make a statement about sanity. Support the small local stores and retailers and contribute to our local economy — not just on Small Business Saturday, but every day.

Well, almost every day. Skip shopping on Thanksgiving Day. It’s for the birds.

PUBLISHER: John Campanelli (jcampanelli@crain.com) EDITOR: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com)

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

MANAGING EDITOR: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)

Back in the spring, in the midst of another circus of an offseason, I wrote a column about how I believed the Browns were becoming a blight on Cleveland.

Despite two rounds of upgrades, First Energy Stadium “may as well be a boarded-up building, with its copper stripped, roof leaking and walls covered in graffiti,” I wrote.

I went on to argue that like a decrepit house in the neighborhood, the perennial poor play of the team, the front office’s instability and a decade-and-ahalf of overall dysfunction were beginning to hurt Cleveland’s rebounding image around the country.

“Decades ago, our football team was a salve for Cleveland jokes,” I wrote. “Today, our football team is a Cleveland joke.”

That was eight months ago, and I was hopJohn ing, honestly hoping, to write a retraction this Campanelli fall. Instead, we are enduring another dumpster fire.

But the 2015 campaign has shown me that I was wrong about one thing: The Browns are probably not becoming a blight on Cleveland. Our city’s image is going to be just fine.

And forget that decrepit-building analogy. The Browns are simply becoming a vacant lot.

When you’re a broken-down house, people at least notice you. A negative reaction — anger, indignation, disappointment — is still a reaction. The Browns are on the verge of not even getting that. Like an empty lot, people are driving by and not even noticing.

A CEO last week told me he went to the movies during the Browns-Steelers game. He’s a Cleveland native.

In other conversations this fall, people have told me that instead of watching the Browns, they’ve gone hiking, worked in the yard or, yes, even cleaned out the garage.

Last Sunday, as Johnny Manziel was getting his head almost ripped off in Pittsburgh, I was getting mine trimmed. The barbershop radio was playing music, not Jim Donovan.

The Ravens are in town next week.

The old Browns franchise. A division rival. The first home “Monday Night Football” game in six years. How excited is the city? Last week, you could buy tickets on Stubhub for $14.

Twenty years ago this month, Art Modell announced he was moving his football team to Baltimore. How did it feel that day?

If you were around, you know.

It was heart removal, without anesthetic.

It’s not our team that’s getting taken this time, it’s our passion. And instead of a monumental announcement one day on a tarmac in Baltimore, it is happening slowly, over the course of years.

Every Sunday, every draft day, every press conference in Berea bleeds us oh-so-gradually of the importance the Browns used to play in our lives.

“The opposite of love is not hate,” the quote goes.

“It is apathy.”

We’re not there yet, of course, but the Browns should be worried sick about how their rabid fan base is starting to wipe the foam from their mouths and going for hikes on Sunday afternoons.

If a tree falls in the forest, an enlightened Browns fan will hear it.

But if Johnny is sacked and there’s no one in the stands to hear the whistle, did it happen?

WRITE US: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited. Send letters to Crain’s Cleveland Business, 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland 44113, or by emailing letters@crain.com.

Please include your complete name and city from which you are writing, and a telephone number for fact-checking purposes.

SOUND OFF: Send a Personal View for the opinion page to emcintyre@crain.com. Please include a telephone number for verification purposes.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z PAGE 11

Web Talk Re: Browns’ season deteriorates Hey, but we have All-Pro offensive linemen! How is it that a dismal team could even have an All-Pro anything? Sorry, Joe Thomas and Alex Mack, but the stats are what they are.

— CantBreatheOrThink What the losing has done since 1999 — and the three years prior in which we had no team — is to alienate multiple generations of fans as many kids/ adults now root for other teams.

The mediocre performance of the team, the constant changes in the coaching staff and front office, and the revolving door of players coming and going have made me apathetic to the Browns. I will not root for another team, but I will not waste my time attending a game in person. I can watch as much as I want on TV (and that hasn’t been much) from the comfort of my home. This comes from a fan who had season tickets from ’99-’06 and who attended numerous games at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Until they can resume some sort of normalcy within the organization (front office, coaches, players), I will not attend another game. I still hate the Steelers, but I respect the way the Rooneys have run their team.

— Ted Grabowski

Re: Earthquaker Very cool, these guys along with SIT Strings, Bootleg Guitars and Strictly 7 all here in OHIO! — 207061

Re: Pro Football Hall of Fame’s future This village idea is great for Canton. Anyone who has been to Cooperstown to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame can see how the whole town benefits from their hall. All bars and restaurants (in Canton) will be busy all year, and especially in the fall during football season.

I can see the whole village packed during Super Bowl week and on Super Bowl Sunday.

If promoted right, the village will be second only in attention to the Super Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday and all of Super Bowl week! This can’t happen soon enough!

— James Shellenburger

Re: 640,000 NE Ohio jobs to fill in a decade If you believe that (estimate from Team NEO), I have a nice bridge for sale in Brooklyn.

— Matt Tucci

Letters to the Editor Crain’s Cleveland Business recently linked to an article from The Columbus Dispatch about Ohio House Bill 216, which proposes giving nurses more latitude in treating patients. As a physician, I have some serious concerns with this over-reaching proposal.

The model of “patient-centered care” has reshaped America’s health care system. It’s making health care delivery more efficient, reducing costs, and most importantly, helping patients stay healthier. The key to patient-centered care is a team approach. Unfortunately, House Bill 216 takes a step backward by allowing nurse practitioners to essentially quit the team and go out on their own. Nurse practitioners play an important role in managed health care. Often trained in primary care, they can diagnose patients, order tests, and prescribe most medications. As part of the team, they provide valuable services while benefiting from their collaboration with a physician.

Ohio law currently requires nurse practitioners to have a collaboration agreement with a physician, whom they can contact when a case exceeds their expertise. House Bill 216 would drop that requirement and virtually ignores that physicians have far more training — 11 years or more.

The plan disrupts the model of a physician-led team that can meet the diverse needs of a patient. Take the patient with heart disease. The primary care doctor can coordinate his care among a cardiologist, a nutritionist, a nurse practitioner, a physical therapist and any other professionals necessary to managing the condition. Each one knows what the other is doing and how the patient is responding. Health care providers like me, who believe the existing collaborative model is the best approach for quality patient care, oppose House Bill 216.

— Dr. Matthew Levy, President, Academy of Medicine of Cleveland & Northern Ohio, Cleveland On Oct. 20, I had the opportunity to attend the Ohio Senate Committee hearings on House Bill 237, the bill cited in John Campanelli’s Nov. 2 column (“Uber is a way of life for young professionals”). The testimony rendered to that committee was both compelling and eye-opening in that it revealed some negative issues with Uber and other transportation network companies.

The taxi industry has been consistent in its demand for a level regulatory playing field, asking only that laws be uniformly imposed upon all taxi entities or that all be granted the same exemptions Uber and TNCs are extended. Their contention that they are NOT taxis nor subject to these laws is ludicrous. In Cleveland, the taxi industry is regulated by the Division of Licenses and Assessments, which ensures that the 24 pages of regulations outlined in Chapter 443 of the Cleveland Revised Code are enforced. These laws are enacted to protect the public and maintain order. To enter unaccountable de facto taxis into the city leaves the public at risk and chaos in the streets.

Among the highlights of the laws are mandates that require: z Licensing of drivers after criminal background checks, drug screens, medical clearance; these are renewed annually z Annual licensing of taxi vehicles after passing safety/appearance inspections z Proof of liability insurance z Vehicles cannot be licensed for taxi use if they exceed five model years in age z Taxi fares established by the city — not subject to alteration due to demand z A local venue to whom customer complaints can be directed and adjudicated z The payment of licensing fees z Sales tax collected by independent contract operators Uber operates with no governmental oversight or accountability. Issues arising from gaps in insurance coverage rendering accident victims without recourse as well as criminal assaults on passengers by the unregulated Uber drivers are well-documented. Any passenger who has been victimized by Uber’s “surge pricing” resulting in exorbitant fares during peak hours would probably challenge the myth of affordability. Uber’s “no cash — credit card only” policy unwittingly or not discriminates against a large segment of urban population by precluding those unable to obtain credit.

Cleveland is reviewing legislation that would compel Uber and other de facto taxi entities to abide by the same laws that the legally licensed companies follow. Whether the state of Ohio takes control through passage of HB 237 or the city prevails in maintaining local control is uncertain. Whichever emerges as the governing agent, the regulatory playing field will be leveled as it should be. No governmental agency should decide winners or losers in the free marketplace.

Our company is a brick-and-mortar operation with more than 100 employees and affiliates that has been operating in the Cleveland market for 30 years. We welcome competition, as it is the core of the American spirit and the engine that drives commerce. I would invite Ms. Yoon, the young professional you wrote about in your column, to give us a try in providing her transportation needs. We are confident that provided a level playing field we can successfully compete in service and safety with anyone.

— Patrick Keenan, General Manager, Americab Transportation, Inc.

Make a difference

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Focus FORTY UNDER 40

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z PAGE 13

FORTY UNDER 40 ALLYSON O’KEEFE, 37 Partner; Porter Wright Allyson O’Keefe started her legal career at Porter Wright in 2004 after completing a summer internship there as a Case Western Reserve University law student. Since then, she has worked on many significant deals across Cleveland, including Flats East Bank, The Metropolitan at the 9, Uptown in University Circle and Steelyard Commons, and has been promoted to real estate partner.

“Young professionals who live downtown are so excited about the city,” said O’Keefe, a Columbus native who lived downtown for 10 years before moving to Rocky River. “The ones who aren’t from here are often more excited about it. When you move here from somewhere else, you don’t take it for granted.”

When O’Keefe is not working or spending time with her husband and two children, she can be found volunteering on the boards of nonprofit organizations and watching college football.

JOSE C. FELICIANO JR., 37 Business analyst; Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT YOUR WORK? Just seeing what Cleveland has gone through in the time that I’ve been here, there’s obviously a lot of excitement around real estate development. I started in 2004 when we were crazy busy with development. That was sort of the boom from ’04 through ’08. I saw it go through the downturn, then I saw it rise again, even stronger than before locally.

MANY OF THE PROJECTS YOU WORKED ON ARE MIXED-U USE URBAN PROJECTS. IS THAT AN AREA OF EXPERTISE? Yes, definitely. Real estate is extremely interesting because every deal is different. You can never get bored because there’s so much variety there, from tax credits to historic renovations, from ground-up development to rehab, from mixed-use to residential.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE? I definitely believe in leading by example.

I expect the people with whom I work, my associates, to work hard, and they see me working very hard. For me, it’s all about working hard and doing good work.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO WORK WITH O’KEEFE ON THE FLATS EAST BANK PROJECT? “Allyson is extremely bright and quick witted, but what truly distinguishes her from most successful attorneys is her exceptional people skills. She has an uncanny ability to encourage the ‘adversaries’ in her negotiations to work in concert with her to achieve win/win solutions to difficult problems,” said Scott Wolstein, CEO of Starwood Retail Partners and co-developer of the Flats East Bank project.

— Lee Chilcote

Civic and community involvement is a tradition in some families — so it’s little wonder that José C. Feliciano Jr. is as involved in his community as he is.

His parents and particularly his father were very involved in the community. His namesake father, now a lawyer at BakerHostetler in Cleveland, has long been involved in the area’s civic and legal communities, including a stint as chief prosecutor for the city of Cleveland and time as a Cuyahoga County public defender.

The younger Feliciano has certainly kept that tradition alive, too. He is a director of the Hispanic Roundtable, president emeritus of the Young Latino Network, co-founder of Tech Pint and was the founder of Engage!

Cleveland.

WHAT WERE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES GROWING UP? My biggest influences would be my parents.

Specifically, seeing all the involvement my father had and understanding as I got older that he was doing all of these things out of his own time. He wasn’t being reimbursed for being involved. It was something he found incredibly gratifying.

WHAT’S YOUR HOME LIFE LIKE THESE DAYS? Married, but no kids yet. Hopefully that’s sooner, rather than later. My wife, Kelly, is a mechanical engineer, and she’s my partner in crime and she’s just incredibly supportive. I wouldn’t be able to do all of the things I do without her support and encouragement.

There’s definitely been an upward trajectory in my life from the moment I met her.

DESCRIBE YOUR PERFECT WEEKEND? I’d definitely want to go to an Indians game. But I’d want it to be a day game, so that we could go out af

terwards. It would be Kelly and both of my brothers-in-law, my sister and my sister-in-law. Then I’d probably want to go to the Metroparks, probably down to Peninsula to ride bikes.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT MAKES JOSE A GOOD LEADER AND A STANDOUT AMONG HIS PEERS? “José Feliciano Jr. is a great addition to the RTA management team. He’s energetic, smart and always willing to get the job done. It’s not a cliché to say that he has wisdom beyond his years. José is well deserving of this award from Crain’s, and we at RTA are proud to have him on board,” said Joe Calabrese, CEO and general manager of the RTA. — Dan Shingler

Thank You Eaton Corporation The Joyce M. Stielau and Herbert W. Stielau Foundation Your gifts, along with those from several anonymous donors, mean MetroHealth has more than $1.5 million in donations to complete the expansion of our Critical Care Pavilion, home of our Level I Adult Trauma Center.

By helping us build 85 new intensive care rooms by July 2016, you’re ensuring better care and a safer community for everyone.

For that – and all that you do – you have our sincere gratitude.

If you would like to join MetroHealth in improving the health of our community, contact Kate Brown at 216-778-7509.

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z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

FORTY UNDER 40 RICHEY PIIPARINEN, 39

CAROLYN BLAKE, 33

Director; Center for Population Dynamics, Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University While a pure economist tends to study the world in terms of numbers, it’s not data alone that Richey Piiparinen is using to help write a regional playbook for Northeast Ohio’s community development.

Piiparinen, who has degrees in clinical psychology and urban development, is determined to use his interdisciplinary skill set to see to it that the center he leads leverages the region’s demographic trends and drives its economy forward.

How do we draw more firms to Cleveland and develop a meatier research and development network?

How do we change policy to achieve economic growth?

These are only two questions Piiparinen — who lives in Old Brooklyn with his wife, Andiara, and their two children — seeks to answer for the region he calls home.

WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS PERHAPS THE GREATEST MISCONCEPTION ABOUT THE POPULATION DYNAMICS IN THIS REGION? People think that population growth equals economic growth. You can have population growth and a poverty rate increase at the same time. That’s not what you want. You can lose population but get more highly educated at the same time. In an emerging knowledge society like Cleveland … you’ve got to have the jobs if you want to have the brain gain.

WHAT KEEPS YOU IN CLEVELAND, IN THE RUST BELT, AS A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL? I have a dream job, No. 1. No. 2, this is home, and this is where I want to affect change. I have a lot more levers to pull (in Cleveland) that will have an impact, as opposed to New York City. New York City doesn’t need many levers; it’s one of the greatest cities in the world.

In Cleveland, there’s a lot more room for growth.

HOW DO WE CHANGE THE ‘RUST BELT SHAME’ YOU IDENTIFY? What happens when the place you’re from experiences population loss and job loss decade after decade is it ends up sticking with how we think about ourselves. The future becomes all about managing decline as opposed to seizing opportunity. Boston was Rust Belt in the 1980s. Today, Boston is one of the most economically dynamic cities in the world. Cleveland can do the same, and part of it is having the belief that we can.

Part of it is sound policies.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT ARE RICHEY’S GREATEST CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS REGION? “Richey is focused on what Cleveland is becoming and can become and not on what it was. I think that comes with being in his 30s. Older folks get preoccupied with how it was, which is not the way to go into the future. He’s helping a number of key institutions to shape policy with respect to objectives for their programs. We’re talking major institutions,” said Thomas Bier, a senior fellow with the College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State.

— Michelle Park Lazette

HARD

WORK

PLAY

HARD

Of counsel; Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis Carolyn Blake’s mom did her a solid by teaching her to fix stuff around the house.

That early experience helped set in motion the events that led her to become an attorney who specializes in a highly technical field: energy.

Blake serves as an attorney for both Brakey Energy — a Shaker Heights-based energy consulting firm run by her husband, Matt Brakey — and Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis, a law firm in Cleveland.

Her interest in math and mechanical things drove her to major in mechanical engineering, which in turn led her to become a patent examiner for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

There, she worked side-by-side with attorneys — an experience that pushed her to become one.

It’s a good thing she’s not afraid of highly technical topics. Through Meyers Roman, she’s representing several large organizations that have sued FirstEnergy for adding an extra charge to their bills to pay for costs the utility incurred during the Polar Vortex of 2014, when extremely cold weather caused disruptions to the grid.

HOW CAN PARENTS GET GIRLS INTERESTED IN TECHNICAL FIELDS? You can foster a young girl’s interest in science and engineering. I had my own tool set when I was a kid. Not just doing that for your sons but for your daughters as well. We have a son and a daughter now. If I was going to teach my son how to change the oil in a car, I’d want to teach my daughter the same thing. And if she’s not interested, she’s not interested.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO SOMEONE WHO’S THINKING OF GOING TO LAW SCHOOL? I try to steer them away as far as I can from it because it is so oversaturated and so expensive.

And I think a lot of people don’t really know what they’re getting into. They just think, ‘I don’t really want to join the real world, so let’s go to grad school — extend this out as far as possible.’ It’s tough because I’m an attorney … and I enjoy it. You really have to have good appreciation for what an attorney does.

Not on TV — actually does, day-to-day. Have more of a set career goal. Like, what kind of law are you actually going to practice?

IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE PATENTING PROCESS, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Maybe streamlining the process for small companies and sole investors. … You’re talking lottery money to (go through the process). It’s a lot of money. … It can go into six figures, easy.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF BLAKE WHEN SHE FIRST STARTED WORKING WITH MEYERS ROMAN? “I was very impressed with her knowledge, her energy, her passion for this. … She is extremely knowledgeable. We couldn’t do what we’ve been doing without (her),” said Peter Turner, managing partner.

— Chuck Soder

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ALEX SHEEN, 30 Founder; because I said I would Alex Sheen began his internationally recognized social movement — because I said I would — with a promise.

It was 2012, and Sheen had lost his father Wei Min “Al” Sheen — a man known to keep his word — to small-cell lung cancer. During the eulogy, Sheen promised to remember his dad, handing out “promise cards” urging those in attendance to back up their own words with the appropriate follow-through.

Sparked by the idea, Sheen began sending promise cards to anyone who requested them. He created a Facebook page and Twitter account and asked family, friends and strangers to share their promises, which ranged from driving a friend to the airport to quitting smoking. Sheen instructs people to fill out the cards and give them to the person they make the promise to. Once the promise is kept, they get the card back.

Sheen left a corporate position at Hyland Software in May 2013 to further the nonprofit organization’s mission. Because I said I would has now shipped 3.3 million promise cards to 153 countries. Sheen funds the movement through speeches around the country, with his more recent promises including a 245-mile walk across Ohio to raise awareness for victims of sexual violence.

BRANDON CHROSTOWSKI, 35 Founder and CEO; EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute “People are not going to keep all their promises immediately, but you have to begin somewhere,” Sheen said. “Starting is the most important step.”

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO KEEP A PROMISE? There’s an old quote that says, ‘A promise made is a debt unpaid.’ When a promise is fulfilled, that debt is paid off. We think so much about material things, but your honor is what you really have to protect. When you follow through on a promise, you’re living in a moment where your life is not defined by all these fake things.

WHAT MOST INSPIRES YOU ABOUT YOUR WORK? Tragedies are often the genesis of a promise card: It could be someone losing a loved one to spinal cancer, or a young man so obese he’ll die if he doesn’t improve his diet. My motivation comes from that turning point when someone won’t let tragedy define them. They won’t let it kill them or stop them. Reading that makes me feel like I can work another hour, or get on another plane.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR YOUR WORK? We want to start chapters of because I said I would around the world. Each chapter would be called an ‘echo’ and consist of groups coming together to make a unified promise. For example, someone could say they’ll pick up 20 pounds of trash today. Imagine 50 or 100 people making that promise at once? You’re creating an echo of what that promise means.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE ALEX IN A FEW SENTENCES? “Alex’s greatest strength is his vision. He has the ability to answer the question ‘what if’ and then act on it. Alex also understands commitment and the obstacles people have in keeping their word. By learning and teaching, he becomes even better himself,” said Laurie Wise Maher, vice president of operations and development at because I said I would.

— Douglas Guth

Brandon Chrostowski prefers to talk about what he’s done with life after prison, not what got him there in the first place as a rambunctious kid in the late 1990s — and rightfully so.

It was his bout with the law, however, that motivated him to start a restaurant that also doubles as a cooking school for the formerly incarcerated.

Today, the nonprofit EDWINS Leadership and Restaurant Institute in Shaker Square, which is only a few years old, is growing to provide living quarters for students.

And Chrostowski’s culinary arts program is even being provided to state prisons so current inmates can start their own prep work for a career post jail. The overall goal is to help people who have been in prison or stop the path of a person whose lifestyle could possibly result with them in jail.

It’s also Chrostowkski’s way of paying back the Detroit chef, George Kalergis, who first took a chance on the energetic youth when he was fresh out of jail on probation. “That changed my life,” he said.

“It provided the stepping stone I needed to realize I could do something with my life. This is my way of kind of paying that back.”

WHAT CONTINUES TO MOTIVATE YOU TODAY? Every day I see injustice. That’s what motivates me. I see someone fighting to better themselves. That motivates me. There are some people who want to see this fail. That motivates me. Just one look outside is really all it takes to motivate me. I’ve worked this way for a long time. And I just really want to be a part of something good.

WHAT’S THE SIGNIFICANCE BEHIND THE EDWINS NAME? It’s a declaration that education wins. We can educate students and people working in prisons to a new reality, and we can educate diners and the public that the people here are all human beings trying to make their lives better. Edwin is also my middle name and my grandpa’s name. And he embodied the spirit that education is one thing, but you still have to work hard and have a tough spirit to succeed. As someone helping the formerly incarcerated, what’s something else we

can do to further support past inmates assimilate back into society? We need to deliver fair and equal opportunities to these people. But just having a dialogue can be the most important thing. There are organizations out there where you can sponsor these people. Talk to your neighbor.

Open up to these people. There are a lot of stigmas out there, and in my mind, just having a dialogue can help fix a lot of that.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: HOW ARE YOU SEEING BRANDON HAVE AN EFFECT IN CLEVELAND? “He is just so compassionate and his heart is so big.

He’s really making an impact through EDWINS, helping people and presenting these issues to people who usually don’t understand or don’t want to understand this population. People can see they’re not menaces to society, that these are nice people and worth saving. Brandon has made that possible,” said Ardelle Moore, director of case management at Cleveland nonprofit Passages Inc., an organization that partners with EDWINS. — Jeremy Nobile

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FORTY UNDER 40 RISHABH BAHEL, 25 Engineer; ArcelorMittal Cleveland Rishabh Bahel isn’t afraid to take a chance.

The native of India’s first trip to the United States occurred when he attended Penn State University, and he didn’t spend any time in Northeast Ohio until the day he moved into his Westlake apartment, which he had secured online.

Now, at 25, Bahel is leading ArcelorMittal Cleveland’s energy-efficiency efforts as the steelmaker’s Cleveland Energy Champion. It’s a topic in which Bahel said he didn’t become invested until he started working for the company after his college graduation in 2012.

WHY ARE YOU SO PASSIONATE ABOUT ENERGY EFFICIENCY? When I joined the company, I did not know what I was going to do. Within a month, my manager, who’s retired now, approached me and was like, ‘I’m looking for some help and you just started. Would you be interested in working with me in energy?’ I always knew that energy is something that powers us all and will be there even after we’re gone. Getting the opportunity to work on something that affects everybody so much, why not take that chance?

GORDON DAILY, 37 President; BoxCast AS A YOUNG LEADER, YOU SAY YOU’RE ABLE TO GET THROUGH TO PEOPLE. IS THERE A QUALITY THAT HELPS YOU BE ABLE TO DO THAT? Be personable. One thing I’ll tell you about the steel industry: Get them food. Get them food. When I started doing my energy team, my first goal in the meeting was get some excellent food and don’t serve them food until the meeting was over.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR HOBBIES WHEN YOU’RE NOT WORKING AND HELPING PEOPLE SAVE MONEY ON ENERGY? I’m a cricketer. I used to play in Singapore (where he attended high school), because Singapore is the perfect place to play cricket. They have nice weather, so that’s when I really peaked with my cricketing skills. I was representing the cricket leagues at the highest level. Then when I moved to Penn State, I started a cricket club with Pakistanis. It was very nice — an Indian and Pakistanis started a cricket club together.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT ARE SOME OF RISHABH’S BEST QUALITIES? “The thing about Rishabh is he’s a self-starter. I’ve been in this business for 42 years. I’ve mentored a lot of employees, and one thing that stands out with Rishabh is being a young person, from Year 1 he’s been a go-getter.

A lot of times it takes people a while to get going, but he picked up the ball and ran with it. At the end of the day, it’s about returning value to the company. He took the energyefficiency opportunity and has been able to help impact millions of dollars of projects,” said Lawrence Fabina, ArcelorMittal USA’s manager of continuous improvement.

— Kevin Kleps

Gordon Daily always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but he never let it take center stage. That is, until he founded live-streaming startup BoxCast.

Daily left his job at Rockwell Automation, where he had spent more than a decade in a variety of roles, to lead the company full-time.

Daily spent middle and high school in Pennsylvania, but Case Western Reserve University’s baseball team ultimately brought him to Cleveland. He wanted to be a baseball player, but realized he needed a plan B when he didn’t get signed. That led him to Rockwell, where he learned the importance of automation in minimizing the amount of mistakes a person can make.

BoxCast takes that lesson and makes live-streaming as simple as plugging in a box. His role at BoxCast has given him the chance to work with Cleveland’s restaurants and music venues, and he’s excited to be part of the city’s renaissance. The culture, people and even the changing weather are what he said kept him in Northeast Ohio.

AS A KID, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? An architect. I realized as a kid that I wasn’t an artistic prodigy, but after college I discovered how much I love photos, sketches and color. These days I find beauty in building a community around a cause — that drives me as an entrepreneur.

WHAT DO YOU MOST ENJOY ABOUT BEING AN ENTREPRENEUR? I’m a very competitive person who loves the daily challenges that come with being an entrepreneur.

I love the pace of a startup and the fact that you can see the results of your efforts.

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MOST INTERESTING EVENTS BOXCAST HAS STREAMED? It’s gotta be the UFO conference in Mexico City.

We streamed the unveiling of two photos, reportedly of alien bodies from Roswell Air Force base. Or, is it the Donald Trump event we broadcasted?

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SPOT IN CLEVELAND AND WHY? The Whiskey Island sunset is gorgeous.

I love running through the lush grass in bare feet with my kids on a cool summer night.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? We live in a world of instant gratification. I am inspired when I see people making unselfish sacrifices. When I see acts of generosity or forgiveness, it puts a big smile on my face.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT MAKES GORDON STAND OUT? “He’s an optimist. Because any good entrepreneur is,” said Toby Maloney, an investor and the vice president of PR and marketing for BoxCast.

Maloney said that if building a company was easy, anyone would do it.

— Rachel Abbey McCafferty

PHILLIP M. ROBINSON JR., 34 Executive director; City Year Cleveland

GIUSEPPE “JOE” DI SALVO, 37 Vice president, corporate controller; PolyOne

Cleveland’s resurgence may be exciting, but keeping that engine primed means producing additional homegrown brainpower, according to Phillip M. Robinson Jr. Robinson’s education-focused nonprofit has been part of that ongoing talent-generation process. Each year, the organization sends a group of full-time AmeriCorps members to help out at Cleveland high schools as well as inner-city elementary schools.

Working directly with at-risk students on lesson plans and during after-school programs is meant to create a base of citizen leadership often missing from economically challenged neighborhoods, Robinson said. With assistance from City Year programming, East Technical High School, among seven schools on the organization’s docket, improved its graduation rate to 72% from 39% the previous year.

Robinson, a Solon resident and Gilmour Academy graduate, is passionate about placing young adults on the path to public service and higher learning. “Everyone should have a quality education regardless of their zip code,” he said.

Joe Di Salvo, as he’s known to friends and coworkers, has a head for numbers. That’s a good thing, too, because as the corporate controller for PolyOne he is responsible for all of the public company’s reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission, on top of overseeing the company’s global accounting systems and other aspects of its financial reporting.

Di Salvo came prepared, though. When he joined PolyOne in 2011, he had just spent a decade with the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche. His deep understanding of PolyOne’s business and strategy quickly won him the trust of senior executives.

He also has impressed his coworkers by his tireless efforts to find and develop new talent at the company — and he’s known for climbing the corporate ladder with others in tow, as opposed to stepping on others’ toes on his way up. In the past four years, he’s hired and helped train 12 new professionals from area business schools.

At home, Di Salvo has his own staff to develop. He and his wife, Amanda, live in Olmsted Falls with their three young children.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE CONSIDERING A MOVE TO CLEVELAND? I tell young leaders that if they want to be on the ground floor of an educational renaissance, Cleveland is the place to do it. I left to go to college in the late ‘90s, which was the last time Cleveland was in the midst of a comeback. What held us back at the time was a lack of focus on education. Now there’s a community understanding that you must have great schools for all residents in the community.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT YOUR WORK? It’s amazing when an AmeriCorps member is able to provide a young student with that ‘aha’ moment.

Or when I see a student learning to read alongside his mother. We call those ‘ripples of hope,’ which came from a speech by Robert Kennedy about how people within a community can make tiny impacts. We want those ripples to help transform this region.

DO YOU HAVE ANY KEY MENTORS OR PEOPLE WHO INFLUENCED YOU? My parents, Phillip Sr. and Octavia, made sure my sister and I had a quality education. They worked around the clock to pay for private school and college. They also tutored people in reading and were otherwise very civically engaged. I wouldn’t be here without them.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT ARE PHILLIP’S BIGGEST STRENGTHS AS A LEADER OF CITY YEAR? “Phil leads with big, bold vision yet combines that with concrete, do-able strategy. The result is contagious excitement and intense loyalty. People who work with Phil get inspired and engaged about where he wants to take the organization,” said Christopher Larson, Boston-based regional vice president for City Year.

— Douglas Guth

WHEN YOU WERE A KID IN SCHOOL, DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA YOU’D BE WHERE YOU ARE NOW AT YOUR AGE? DID YOU EVEN KNOW THEN THAT YOU WANTED TO GO INTO FINANCE, OR THE CORPORATE ARENA? No. I probably hoped I’d be a rock star. David Lee Roth seemed kind of cool.

WHO WERE THE MOST IMPORTANT ROLE MODELS THAT YOU FOLLOWED TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN YOUR CAREER? IN LIFE? My grandfathers and my father. One grandfather taught me to never hold grudges and the other taught me to count your blessings. My father taught me to work hard and to be a straight shooter.

DID YOUR PARENTS HAVE CAREERS THAT INFLUENCED YOUR OWN? Not directly. My father worked in a factory on industrial motors and my mother was a seamstress — so a little different than a CPA. They did influence me by demonstrating how nothing can stop hard work and dedication from success.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR CAREER SO FAR? WHAT, IF ANYTHING, WOULD YOU CHANGE? I really enjoy identifying, developing and rewarding talent. Everything happens for a reason. I wouldn’t change a thing.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT MAKES JOE A GOOD LEADER AND A STANDOUT AMONG HIS PEERS? “Joe has always had a natural passion for finding and mentoring future leaders. He recognizes the importance of putting his team members’ needs above his own career goals, and that’s earned him the trust and respect of those around him,” said Bradley C. Richardson, executive vice president and CFO at PolyOne. — Dan Shingler

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CORTNEY C. CROCKETT, 36 Director of marketing and communications; Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority As the daughter of a Special Olympics coach and a school principal, Cortney C. Crockett always knew she wanted to be in a role where she could help people.

And her job at the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority gives her that opportunity.

She said she enjoys being able to work with residents, especially the young people whose families are seeking housing.

Outside of work, Crockett continues to actively give back. She serves on the boards of organizations like ICA Art Conservation and Ohio City Inc. and spends time volunteering for groups like Harvest for Hunger and Habitat for Humanity.

She also mentors youth and draws on her athletic inclinations to raise money.

Last year, Crockett completed an Ironman Triathlon — a 2.4-mile swim, a 112mile bike ride and a full marathon — to raise money for cancer research in honor of her grandparents.

WHAT’S THE MOST MEANINGFUL PART OF YOUR JOB? I have had the opportunity to be a part of many important initiatives including food drives for the homeless; the HUD ConnectHome program to provide broadband access for children and families with limited incomes; Jobs Plus for employment services, job readiness and trainings; sustainability and green initiatives including community gardens; and healthy living programs. Best of all, I’ve been fortunate to mentor many youth, including a young woman, Shequetta, who lives in public housing.

Getting to know her has changed my life. We’ve shared major life events, celebrations, poetry readings and so much more. The most rewarding times are listening to her hopes and dreams and then helping her to make it happen.

YOU SAID YOU LOVE TO TRAVEL. WHAT WOULD YOUR DREAM VACATION BE? With 26 countries on my punch list, and only one continent left (Antarctica), I definitely have the travel bug. My husband, Adam, and I just celebrated our one-year anniversary and since I don’t think I can talk him into joining me in Antarctica, we plan to visit Ireland and

Switzerland. If I am lucky, I think I can get him to ski the Alps with me. I like doing things out of the ordinary like scuba diving, cliff jumping, hang gliding and zip lining. I like to live life to the limit. There are only so many tomorrows.

YOU DESIGNED A GUITAR FOR THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME TO AUCTION OFF FOR CHARITY. CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THAT EXPERIENCE AND WHAT YOU CREATED? I was selected as one of 50 local artists by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to transform a guitar into musical art, and my submission, “Infusion of the Spirit of Rock,” was displayed as a part of the

Cleveland Rocks exhibit presented by Gibson and Epiphone Guitar. The guitars were then auctioned off at a gala with proceeds going to charity. I created a fused-glass guitar that was bought by an international online bidder from Spain that sold for $2,000 at the auction to benefit charity.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT MAKES CORTNEY STAND OUT? “Cortney is a consummate team player.

She does not operate in a box, per se.

She’s always willing to step in and either lead or be part of the team,” said CMHA CEO Jeffery K. Patterson.

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FORTY UNDER 40 KYLE KUTUCHIEF, 36 Program director, Akron; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation With a political science degree from Ohio State University and internships and early jobs working on political campaigns, Kyle Kutuchief was headed for the peripatetic life of a political campaign operative.

But after a few campaigns, the Bath native decided the nomadic existence, moving from state to state and campaign to campaign, wasn’t for him. So he returned home to get a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Akron.

Back home he immersed himself into the region. In addition to spending two-and-a-half years as director of development at the Austen BioInnovation Institute, Kutuchief took a leadership role in Torchbearers Akron, an organization of young professionals that works to attract talent to Akron and develop the next generation of community leadership.

Now he’s working for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which gives him an opportunity to help Akron grow economically.

WHY DID YOU GIVE UP A POLITICAL CAREER TO RETURN TO AKRON FOR GRADUATE SCHOOL? I didn’t want to keep jumping around. When you’re a political campaign hack, you’ve got to follow the money. The best advice I got was that someone suggested going to graduate school in a place you would like to live, because you build relationships while you’re in the program and they will serve you well afterwards. For me, Akron was home and where I wanted to live, so graduate school here was the right move.

WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU CAN DO TO MOVE AKRON AHEAD? We’re at a unique time in our city’s history with a 28-year mayor (Don Plusquellic) having retired. With our first new mayor, I feel fortunate to be in the role that I am for Knight, trying to help not only with the transition at city hall but trying to figure out how we’re going to move Akron into the next phase of our history. It’s an exciting time.

WHERE DO YOU SEE AKRON HEADING? We’re fortunate to have a number of really strong entities that are anchors of the downtown — certainly the hospitals and the University of Akron and corporations like FirstEnergy, GOJO and Goodyear. The key for us is to continue to strengthen downtown and then the neighborhoods around the city.

HOW DO YOU VIEW THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AKRON AND CLEVELAND? That rivalry in my view is a legacy of a previous generation. We’re all worried about our own cities.

But my observation has been that most of my peers, we’ll have a drink in Tremont, go to the Cleveland Museum of Art or Little Italy, but we also go to Canton, Youngstown and Akron. I don’t see that regional split.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT ROLE DO YOU THINK KNIGHT AND KYLE CAN PLAY IN AKRON’S FUTURE? “Kyle knows Akron and is this rare combination of someone who can be both assertive and charming at the same time. I think what we want to do (in Akron) is contribute in a positive way … and I think Kyle is well-positioned to be part of the leadership group that encourages and invites that engagement from a broader group of people, and that’s what I expect Kyle will do,” said Carol Coletta, vice president for community and national initiatives at the Knight Foundation.

— Jay Miller

ANTHONY HUGHES, 38 Co-founder, CEO; Tech Elevator

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Hughes, whose mum is from Milwaukee, was the American version of an anglophile as he grew up in England.

“I spent summers in Milwaukee as I was growing up. I love root beer floats, shopping malls and baseball.

I always wanted to move over,” Hughes said with a booming British accent.

While in college, he did a summer abroad in Arizona.

He earned a master’s from Edinburgh University with a concentration in American studies.

He originally planned for Cleveland, where he landed a job in TV ad and media sales, to be a quick stop en route to a larger city. “I met a lovely young lady (Kathy Vegh) and married her and the town at the same time,” he said.

Hughes made his name in Northeast Ohio’s tech community by putting together a renowned mentoring program for budding entrepreneurs at JumpStart. He later took the plunge into tech startups, first with the Software Guild in Akron, since sold, and now is founder and CEO of Cleveland-based Tech Elevator, a startup that teaches coding for a fee.

DO YOU WRITE CODE? I am a marketer and business builder. I am not a coder. My co-founder can run circles around most software developers. The entrepreneurial pathway starts with some awareness of your own skills. I learned at JumpStart the most successful companies have more than one founder with different skills.

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF CLEVELAND’S RENAISSANCE? In 2004, I lived in the Bingham Building and felt no one was downtown. I walked to the Flats. It was scary. Now I get goose bumps watching what is happening in the city.

IS CLEVELAND BECOMING A MORE COMFORTABLE PLACE FOR TECH STARTUPS? Cleveland is getting used to startups. People are willing to take financial risks to back them. People are getting smarter about technology. Cleveland may not be a location for Facebook or Snapchat, but it can be a great home for a B-2-B tech company. It’s all about meeting a need.

WHAT’S THE PERFECT NIGHT OUT? We have a 3-year-old, so were not out and about as much. We love to go to restaurants.

The food scene here is fantastic.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT CHALLENGE DID HUGHES MEET AS HE MADE JUMPSTART’S MENTOR PROGRAM A REALITY? “JumpStart had all these people coming at it who wanted help with startups. He put together a program that set goals for both the mentor and the company founder. You can have a lot of people who are well respected in the business community but don’t have the right background, commitment or patience to do it. He had to tell some high-profile people they weren’t the right fit. That’s not an easy thing to do,” said Lynn-Ann Gries, principal at Gries Consulting and former chief investment officer at JumpStart.

— Stan Bullard

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JESSICA COHEN, 30 Managing director, community relations; Jewish Federation of Cleveland Jessica Cohen grew up in affluent community in Long Island, New York, and studied at Harvard University. It was first through her father, a public school teacher in Brooklyn, that she learned not every person would have the same opportunities as a stable, upper-middle class family that could prepare a child for an Ivy League school.

“So I just felt like I had a responsibility to give back,” she said.

Cohen studied government and public policy, but she became involved with the education sector after college, supporting a Jewish advocacy group on national education reform efforts before joining the Breakthrough Schools network. There, she wrote successful grant applications that channeled millions of dollars to Cleveland charter schools — efforts that led to her recruitment by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

“I just feel like I’m making a difference,” she said, “and I think that’s not something everybody gets to say about their work.”

YOU’VE BEEN QUITE INVOLVED WITH SOME TRANSFORMATIVE CHANGES IN THE CLEVELAND SCHOOLS SYSTEM. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE STATE OF EDUCATION HERE TODAY? I think that Cleveland represents one of the most forward thinking cities when it comes to providing its youth with a high-quality public education. Effective education reform is not an easy or quick endeavor, but Cleveland can boast the courageous leadership of its mayor, its school district CEO, and its business and philanthropic communities. Today, Cleveland is on the right trajectory for long-term success.

YOU HAD FOUR KIDS THROUGHOUT A PIVOTAL PERIOD EARLY ON IN AN ALREADY SUCCESSFUL CAREER IN PUBLIC SERVICE. WHAT’S YOUR KEY TO BALANCING WORK AND FAMILY? The unending support of my husband Eric has been pivotal in empowering me to pursue the professional and volunteer opportunities that have come my way. We are a 50/50 partnership and we both take an active role in raising our children. I must also give credit to the deep understanding and commitment to supporting a family-friendly work environment that all my supervisors and employers have demonstrated over the years.

CONSIDERING YOUR PASSION FOR GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC POLICY, WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER A RUN FOR SOME TYPE OF PUBLIC OFFICE? I have, since I was a child, always dreamed of running for public office to have the ability to lend my talents and interests in the public sector. But I am doing important work now in the nonprofit sector, so that would be a very long-term consideration for me — if the opportunity were to ever present itself.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT IS IT ABOUT JESSICA THAT DREW THE JEWISH FEDERATION TO RECRUIT HER AS A DEPARTMENT HEAD AT SUCH A YOUNG AGE? “Jessica is very wise and mature far beyond her years. The area of community relations has a lot of nuances, and many times you may enter a topic with your preconceptions and your value system, but you need to deal with other people’s beliefs. Jessica is very open. She can go well beyond her comfort zone and connect with people on any level,” said Oren Baratz, Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s senior vice president for external affairs.

— Jeremy Nobile

STEPHANIE JANSKY, 37 Director of programming; City Club of Cleveland More than a dozen people piled out of an elevator at the City Club of Cleveland. More seemed to keep piling out.

“It was like watching a clown car,” Jansky said.

City Club staffers had been asked if it had room for a “senior level federal cabinet member” to visit and speak. After the group inspected the Global Center for Health Innovation layout where the City Club planned to hold the session, one told her the speaker was President Barack Obama. The group was members of the White House executive staff and Secret Service.

A round-the-clock whirlwind until the lights dimmed, “Hail to the Chief” was played and the president walked on stage.

After the talk, a Secret Service agent guided her to a place at the end of the line of people greeting the president, who shook her hand.

“I burst into tears,” she said.

Leading to that handshake were a stint planning programs for the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club and several progressively more responsible public relations and communications jobs at the Cleveland Clinic, ranging from wellness to helping raise awareness for its Taussig Cancer Institute.

WHERE’S HOME FOR YOU? I grew up in the Ukrainian Village in Parma. When I was 18 and 19 taking the bus to Cleveland State, I loved watching people on Euclid Avenue walking to and from lunch and watching the Christmas decorations go up. When I got married, my husband already had a place at Residences at 668. I always wanted to live downtown.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU IN YOUR WORK? In a lot of ways, our society has lost the ability to have a dialogue on important topics. People listen to whatever media channels they agree with. They can stay in a sort of bubble.

The City Club inspires dialogue and exploring other points of view. We can be provocative.

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN EDWINS, WHERE YOU ARE ON THE BOARD? I love cooking and dining out. We used to frequent L’Albatros a lot and got to know the cheese guy, Brandon Chrostowski. He had dreams of opening a restaurant and using it to train recently released convicts for jobs in the restaurant business. He was so incredibly passionate I signed on to the initial advisory board, which is now a formal board.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE JANSKY’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE CITY CLUB? “She approaches things systematically with an eye for all the important details. She creates plans so everything gets done. We did 140 programs in the last year, and she played a role in all of them. One of the things that makes her so good is her experience working for a large institution such as the Cleveland Clinic which helps a small organization such as ours. I knew her before she applied for the job at the City Club. She always struck me as someone very involved in making the community a better place in addition to her job,” said Dan Moulthrop, CEO, City Club of Cleveland.

— Stan Bullard

Nick Catanzarite | Partner Real Estate Practice Group Forty Under 40 Class of 2015

Smart. Savvy. Successful.

What Nick has accomplished at his young age takes most professionals a lifetime to do.

He’s the firm’s youngest partner and member of the management committee. He has been publicly recognized for his contributions to the community. And he manages a burgeoning practice of highly sophisticated commercial real estate projects that are helping transform our region.

Nick exemplifies the type of professionalism, expertise and entrepreneurial spirit that clients have come to expect from Walter | Haverfield for more than 80 years. That’s why we are proud he’s part of our success story.

www.walterhav.com 216.781.1212

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FORTY UNDER 40 RACHAEL YIM, 29 Investigational drug pharmacist; Cleveland Clinic Chemistry hooked Rachael Yim at an early age and led her to combine her affinity for helping people and researching the effect drugs have on patients suffering from myriad conditions — an experience she first witnessed as a teen working at a Target pharmacy.

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., she graduated from the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy. It was there that she developed a passion for drug research.

“I found that I just really liked the unknown future. If we try drug A could this work? Would it be possible?” Yim said.

“Usually you don’t see if the trial actually made a difference until like 10 years later but when you do see it, it’s pretty rewarding.”

Now an investigational drug service pharmacist at the Cleveland Clinic, Yim, who has a doctorate of pharmacy degree and a master’s of public health, manages the medications dispensed in clinical trials and ensures that they are being given to patients in a safe way.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT THE WORK THAT YOU DO EVERY DAY? It’s really the effect a pharmacist can have because you’re a resource of knowledge for those in the medical field from physicians and nurses to the outside world and the patient. When somebody asks you questions, you can help people instantly. It’s great to see when people actually get better. I just really enjoy it every day. It’s a rewarding job and career.

WHAT’S YOUR LONG-T TERM CAREER GOAL? My overall goal is just to open a health clinic, preferably in Cleveland to help the people in need. There are many areas of need in the city, and I feel like there are not many resources for them.

WHAT’S IT LIKE TO BE A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL, LIVING AND WORKING IN THE CITY? What I find the most exciting for young professionals here in Cleveland is that if you have an idea, essentially you can implement it. There’s not much resistance.

YOU’RE CO-P PRESIDENT OF MOTIVASIANS FOR CLEVELAND, WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO TAKE A LEADERSHIP ROLE IN THIS ORGANIZATION? MotivAsians is a group that helped me to get to know the city of Cleveland. It’s the only Asian American young professional group here. When I moved to Cleveland five years ago, I didn’t know anybody at all and this group really established my circle of friends here.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHY DOES RACHAEL STAND OUT AS A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL? “She is very honest, very open and very professional — those attributes play a huge role to earn the respect of other people as a leader. She’s about everybody else.

I don’t think there’s one selfish bone in her body. Whether it’s picking a place to eat or something as simple as that or making decisions, big decisions, it’s always about ‘what does everybody else want?’” said Jennifer Luu, who works closely with Yim as the other co-president of MotivAsians.

— Chrissy Kadleck

RACHEL D’ATTOMA, 37 Executive director; American Red Cross of Summit, Portage and Medina counties Rachel D’Attoma didn’t plan to have a career in nonprofit development.

She was studying to become a social worker at the University of Akron when Katherine Miracle, now founder and owner of marketing firm Miracle Resources, invited her to spend some time shadowing at the March of Dimes, where she was the executive director for Northeast Ohio.

D’Attoma wanted a career where she could build relationships that could help people at the worst times of their lives and said Miracle told her she could make a bigger difference being part of the community, instead of staying behind closed doors.

D’Attoma got a job at the March of Dimes before she even finished her degree. After spending time at other nonprofits like Goodwill Industries, D’Attoma joined the Red Cross as a major gift officer in September 2013. Less than a year later, she was asked to step in as its interim executive director. The “interim” part of that title was dropped in October 2014.

BakerHostetler is proud to support the Forty Under 40 Awards, celebrating community involvement in Northeast Ohio.

We congratulate our partner, honoree David Proaño.

bakerlaw.com

WHAT INSPIRES YOU? My children inspire me to go the extra mile every day. I want them to see me as a strong, business-minded woman who succeeds. I am a firm believer that they too will strive for success because of what they have seen me do in my professional career.

WHAT IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS YOU’VE LEARNED IN YOUR YEARS AT NONPROFITS? Ask and you shall receive. People are so giving of their time and are searching for opportunities every day to make an impact in the community in which they live.

Northeast Ohio is incredibly giving.

ARE THERE ANY BIG PROJECTS THE AMERICAN RED CROSS OF SUMMIT, PORTAGE AND MEDINA COUNTIES IS TAKING ON THIS YEAR? The American Red Cross Northeast Ohio region, which consists of 22 counties, has a goal to install 10,000 smoke alarms in people’s homes. We are calling this program Operation Save a Life. By partnering with our local fire departments and dedicated Red Cross volunteers, we are well on our way to reaching this number. In addition to the installation, our Red Cross volunteers are educating our neighbors on fire safety along with providing them with the tools to create a fire escape plan with their family. In many cases, people have as little as two minutes to escape a home fire, having a fire escape plan is critical because of that.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT MAKES RACHEL A GOOD LEADER? “She’s very dedicated. She’s very engaged in what she does, and she’s very focused,” said Red Cross board chair Cindy Johnson, also a partner at Bober, Markey, Fedorovich & Co. — Rachel Abbey McCafferty

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SCOTT PHILLIPS JR., 32 CEO; Keller Williams Realty Greater Cleveland In just eight short years, Scott Phillips has risen from newly licensed real estate agent to CEO of Keller Williams Greater Cleveland.

He says the secret to his success is thinking about his customers and the success of his team before himself.

Phillips, who helped open Keller Williams’ first downtown office, got into real estate because he loved living downtown.

“My first three years in sales, I was considered the city guy,” he said. “The joke used to be that I could walk to my listings, and that was true. I lived on West 9th, and I had listings all over Gateway and the Warehouse District. I loved showing off the city to people.”

YOU’VE SAID THAT YOU WERE OFTEN THE ‘TOKEN YOUNG GUY’ WORKING IN REAL ESTATE. IS THAT STARTING TO CHANGE? There’s a movement now for people under the age of 40 to get into the real estate industry.

While I don’t think I’m the sole reason for that, I think myself and some of my peers that have had success are part of the reason.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE ENTERING THE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY IN 2007?

I didn’t know any different. All the things we had to do — the crazy financial problems, the problems with lenders and appraisals — all that was just normal for me. Now, with hindsight, I think that it’s good I started when I did. In a bad market, you can’t afford to have subpar skills, whereas in a good market, bad habits can be masked. I worked 14 hour days, multiple days a week because that was the only way. You had to open 50 doors to get one sale.

YOU ROSE UP THE RANKS AT KELLER WILLIAMS PRETTY RAPIDLY. WHAT’S BEHIND YOUR SUCCESS? I think if you humble yourself and focus on what’s important to building your business, you’ll have that success. What got me into leadership was teaching other young guys how to have success.

WHAT EARLY EXPERIENCES SHAPED YOUR WORK ETHIC? I started working at Cleveland’s oldest restaurant, Guarino’s, when I was 13. My dad owns it.

Serving customers really does shape you. You learn patience, tolerance and how to deal with multiple demanding people at once. Becoming president of Sigma Phi Epsilon, my fraternity at Ohio State, also changed my life forever. Prior to that, I was never responsible for anyone but myself. It was all about leadership.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS? In 10 years, I absolutely see myself coaching professional football here in Cleveland.

I want to see the Browns win the Super Bowl.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT IT’S LIKE TO WORK WITH SCOTT? “His leadership style, I would say, is very oriented towards coaching and consulting. He’s ultimately very outcome-oriented, but he’s still very focused on the person in both the short-term and the long-term,” said Nate Napolitano, CFO of Keller Williams Greater Cleveland.

— Lee Chilcote

JEREMY SHORR, 36 Director of innovation and educational technology; Mentor Public Schools As director of innovation and educational technology for Mentor Public Schools, Jeremy Shorr has a passion for inspired teaching that moves at the pace of the student but blends the break-neck speed and capability of electronics.

With a degree in linguistics and an MBA, Shorr said he joined the world of education on the information technology side after receiving an offer he couldn’t refuse.

He’s been on a supercharged journey ever since, most recently an education policy fellow with the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT YOUR WORK? There so much potential, so many amazing teachers, so many great students, in Mentor and in every district. This job gives us the opportunity to make sure that their needs are really being met and that their becoming life-long learners and effective learners and effective citizens.

WHAT’S YOUR ULTIMATE CAREER GOAL? If I could just have my ‘right now’ dream job, it would be a position where I could be affecting policy on a state or national level and helping to ensure that level of instruction and education that we’re able to provide to students in Mentor is happening everywhere.

WHAT’S THE BEST PART ABOUT LIVING IN CLEVELAND? I live in Twinsburg. I work in Mentor and I’m a single dad and my daughter and I still spend 10 to 15 hours a week downtown. There’s so much to do — on the cultural side and the restaurant scene is incredible. If I won the lottery, I can tell you right now that, while I would probably also have a beach house somewhere, and a place in Paris, my prime residence would be the city of Cleveland.

WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL IN THE CITY? It’s such an exciting time because it’s in our hands right now. For the first time in a long time we have the opportunity to completely turn the city around. It’s already headed very strongly in that direction. But it’s up to us to make sure that that continues and that Cleveland becomes the city it’s capable of being and that all who live here already know that it is.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHY DOES JEREMY STAND OUT AS A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL? “Jeremy can distill down and cut through all of the noise or the degree of compliance that educators are always having to deal with. He’s energetic and creative and expressive. He’s intellectually curious and dynamic versus being static. He is an educator’s educator,” said Deborah Morin, director of the Center for Educational Leadership at Cleveland State University.

— Chrissy Kadleck

RTA is proud to honor José Feliciano Jr. for his selection as one of the “40 under 40” in Crain’s Cleveland Business.

On behalf of all of us here at RTA, great job, and keep up the good work!

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority RideRTA.com

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FORTY UNDER 40 XIANG LI, 35 Medical physicist; Cleveland Clinic Xiang Li works at the intersection of physics, medicine and education.

She has a Ph.D. in physics and is developing a program in medical imaging physics for medical residents at the Cleveland Clinic. Until recently, she was co-director of a medical physics program at Cleveland State University.

She has published the product of her research in professional journals on subjects such as imaging systems for radiation dose estimation and patient-specific organ dosimetry.

One recent article was titled, “The impact on CT dose of the variability in tube current modulation technology: a theoretical investigation.” She recently presented her research at the International Conference on Radiological Science and Technology in Sapporo, Japan.

Currently, she is working to develop a doctoral program in medical physics with the radiology and radiation oncology departments at the Clinic. While that research may seem like dry, incomprehensible stuff to the average person, Li’s work is all about people.

HOW DOES YOUR WORK AFFECT PEOPLE’S LIVES? I was a physics major as an undergraduate student in China and when I was doing my master’s degree (at the University of British Columbia) and I studied nuclear magnetic resonance (the study of the nucleus of atoms in a magnetic field). From there I wanted to learn about spectroscopic techniques (where magnetic resonance is used to create images of organs and other structures in the human body to detect diseases, especially cancer) because I realized that medical physics was one area where I could apply my physics knowledge and also do something close to the everyday life of people.

YOU GREW UP IN NORTHEASTERN CHINA, WHERE IT BORDERS RUSSIA AND NORTH KOREA. WAS IT A LITTLE DAUNTING TO LEAVE HOME FOR CANADA AND THEN THE UNITED STATES? It wasn’t too scary. There were several of us who were trying to study abroad. When you’re in a team with other people, things get much easier.

WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO TEACHING? I’m not sure if I can explain it well. It just gives me the greatest fulfillment and satisfaction. When I teach a lecture, especially when I do a good job, at the end of the lecture I feel really good.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT WAS IT THAT ATTRACTED YOU TO ADD LI TO YOUR NEW PROGRAM IN MEDICAL PHYSICS? “We recruited Li because of her reputation as a teacher. Most important to me is she has a big heart.

Medical physics is a very competitive field. It’s hard to find a job these days but she will work hard to find her students work in a Ph.D. program or a residency program,” said Frank Dong, a staff member in the Clinic’s diagnostic radiology department.

— Jay Miller

ANANT MADABHUSHI, 39 Professor, biomedical engineer; Director of the Center for Computational Imaging & Personalized Diagnostics; Case Western Reserve University Anant Madabhushi cringes at the use of the buzzword “big data,” yet he has no qualms talking about the huge impact data analytics will have on disease diagnosis and treatment.

As director of Case Western Reserve’s Center for Computational Imaging & Personalized Diagnostics, or CCIPD, Madabhushi is at the center of the movement to create technologies that not only can mine large sets of patient data for patterns and connections, but can dramatically impact medicine in less developed countries by applying sophisticated tools to routinely — and cheaply — acquire biological samples, such as tissue slides.

“That is really a game changer,” he said. Madabhushi came to Case from Rutgers University in 2012, bringing with him 12 researchers to form the center. The center has grown to include 30 people from faculty, postdoctoral researchers, programmers, grads and undergrads.

WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT YOUR WORK? For me, what is really keen is being able to develop cutting-edge, innovative, exciting technologies and tools in the lab and then getting that from the proverbial bench to the bedside. We can translate a lot of these technologies fairly rapidly, unlike folks who are developing, for instance, drugs or nanoparticles. These technologies can be realized in some cases from 18 to 24 months. The other piece of that, for me, is that I could actually have an impact on global health. A lot of the technologies we are developing make use of routinely acquired data or imaging. Now you can start to apply these analytic tools to tissue slides acquired anywhere in the world.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS THE MOST TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGY IN BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH TODAY? Obviously, I am going to be biased here. I think it’s the ability to take analytic tools in conjunction with ‘big data’ and to start to mine patterns, mine information and make predictions based on the data.

Predictive knowledge from big data is in my opinion one of the hugely exciting areas.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS? I would like to have seen that some of these technologies have gone out there and are having a global impact.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT DOES ANANT’S RESEARCH BRING TO BIOMEDICINE? “Much of imaging is visual interpretation by a radiologist. Anant is bringing disparate information and allowing the computer to help guide the decision-making and help come up with an estimate of the diagnosis or estimate of the prognosis. … It adds a new dimension, an exciting dimension, to what you would do with those images,” said Jeffrey Duerk, dean of the Case School of Engineering.

— Judy Stringer

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SHERI DOZIER, 39 Cleveland Neighborhood Progress; Director of economic opportunity Had Sheri Dozier had the opportunity to play in the Women’s National Basketball Association when she graduated college, Cleveland might not have her helping to run one of its leading nonprofits.

But the former point guard has stepped up her game since she stepped off the court.

Dozier is a small-town girl from Anderson, Ind., a city about 30 miles northwest of Indianapolis. Anderson is a General Motors town, so it’s seen “the decline of that industry and what happens when you have an older, lower-skilled workforce and the jobs disappear,” she said. Today, however, she is helping Cleveland plan for a brighter future, in part by making sure that residents are equipped and prepared for the challenges that come with career, finances and life in general.

Dozier has two children — Camryn, 7, and Quincy, 4.

She, her kids and husband of eight years, Charles, live in Shaker Heights.

SO, WE HAVE TO ASK — WERE SPORTS YOUR FIRST LOVE WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP? Yes, definitely. I’m from a large family and my mom was one of 13 kids. I had eight uncles, so my love of sports comes from my uncles. I’ve had a basketball in my hand since very early on. My uncle (former Indiana University and Cleveland Cavaliers player Bobby Wilkerson) inspired me. All of my brothers and sisters played basketball in college.

SOUNDS LIKE YOU WERE THE STANDOUT AMONG YOUR SIBLINGS. CAN YOU BEAT THEM? EVEN YOUR BROTHER? Oh yeah. My jumper is better than his — he knows that. It’s pretty.

BESIDES SPORTS, WHAT ELSE WERE YOU INTO WHEN YOU WERE A KID? I was a very voracious reader. I started reading at the age of 4. It was Dear Abby first — I know, right? — then it was the Hardy Boys books, and I eventually found my way to Maya Angelou.

WHO WAS YOUR BIGGEST ROLE MODEL? YOUR BASKETBALL-S STAR UNCLE? It’s actually my grandmother. She was such a hard worker and she was from Selma, Ala., and she wasn’t able to attend school because she had to help out and work at a very early age.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT MAKES SHERI A GOOD LEADER AND A STANDOUT AMONG HER PEERS? “Sheri has done outstanding work on the early implementation of the community financial centers model. Her focus and hard work is one of the key reasons that the program is demonstrating such exciting signs of success,” said Joel Ratner, CEO, Neighborhood Progress.

— Dan Shingler

DAVID PROANO, 39 BakerHostetler; Partner When David Proaño’s family moved to Little Rock, Ark., from Wyoming, they had little more than a few dollars and a rattletrap Datsun 210.

While their possessions were few, the Quito, Ecuador, natives received critical assistance from a local couple who, among other generosities, paid for David’s tuition at an Arkansas private school.

That act of benevolence sent Proaño on his way to a degree from Harvard Law School. Today, he is practicing commercial and administrative litigation at Cleveland law firm BakerHostetler.

He also serves on the board of Esperanza, a nonprofit organization helping Hispanic students in Greater Cleveland graduate from high school. After getting a leg up thanks to the kindness of strangers, Proaño is striving to pass his legacy of success onto others in need.

WHAT MOTIVATES YOU ABOUT YOUR WORK WITH STUDENTS? My own journey through life was filled with people who helped me. It’s everyone’s responsibility when they have success to spend time helping the next generation, especially those who really require the encouragement. Every year I see Hispanic students getting scholarship awards during (Esperanza’s) Fiesta of Hope event. I have no doubt coming from where I did that any of these kids could be a doctor, lawyer or the mayor of Cleveland.

DO YOU HAVE ANY KEY MENTORS OR PEOPLE WHO INFLUENCED YOU? (Cleveland trial lawyer) José Feliciano taught me to give back to my community and always help those who ask. I’ve never seen José say ‘no’ to someone in need and that taught me some important lessons: No matter how ‘big’ you get, you should always be a servant to others, because you never know what kind of difference you’ll make.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE RENAISSANCE TAKING PLACE IN CLEVELAND? I am thrilled by what Cleveland is becoming. I loved this city before the renaissance, which is why I returned here from Harvard Law School. Over the last 10 years I’ve witnessed the transformation of downtown from a place where people come to work, to a place people come to work, live and play. The new Heinen’s on Euclid Avenue is a culmination of the vision on what this area can be. Everyone I meet is excited about the revitalization going on.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE DAVID IN A FEW SENTENCES? “David is a very smart, meticulous, service-oriented guy. I can be difficult, but he has a way to calm me down. He’s doesn’t get emotional and is able to separate emotions from the facts,” said Eduardo Gonzalez, a client of Proaño’s and owner of Ferragon Corp., a Cleveland-based metal processing company.

— Douglas Guth

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FORTY UNDER 40 BROOKEMARIE JARVIS, 23 International accounts manager; C. Jarvis Insurance Agency In 2012, BrookeMarie Jarvis took the intensive Arabic program at Kent State University before jetting off to Dubai, and became a woman on a mission.

In Islam, it’s improper to insure the life of something, but she was on a quest to find a way to open a new market for the familyowned insurance agency where she’s the fourth generation. Using her studies at American University of Sharjah, she dove into the culture and philosophy. Working with legal advisers in London, she found a way to create a Sharia-compliant product to insure horses and exotic animals for conservative Muslim owners.

In 2013, Jarvis opened the firm’s first office in Belgium while also finishing her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the United International Business School of Switzerland. Her studies were in English, but she spoke French when she was out in Antwerp. She also traveled a lot in Europe, which helped polish her other languages, German, Italian and Polish.

She returned home in 2014 and became the manager of day-to-day office operations at the agency where her mother, Kimberly, is CEO; other staffers are her grandmother and aunt.

The firm specializes in insuring horses and farm and ranch liability protection. She’s an avid horsewoman, competing in horse shows throughout the United States. She has a picture of herself on a horse at 2.

WHAT ALLOWS YOU TO BRING PASSION TO YOUR WORK? The people and cultures that I deal with. I am able to go to a backyard farm in Mantua to a face-to-face meeting with Middle Eastern princes and sheikhs. I love to get to know people and to learn about their lives.

When it comes to animals, they become a part of a person’s family.

I take pleasure in helping people.

HOW MANY STAMPS ARE ON YOUR PASSPORT? I don’t know. It has 86 pages, and I only have four pages left. It’s almost an inch thick and fraying at the edges.

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE GOING INTO THEIR FAMILY BUSINESS? What propelled me into the family business was inspired by a statement from IBM’s T.J. Watson: Have your heart in your business and your business in your heart. My mother is the hardest boss I could ever have. It makes you work harder when your name is attached to it.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WAS IT A FOREGONE CONCLUSION THAT JARVIS WOULD JOIN THE FAMILY BUSINESS? “The Jarvis family is close knit. Everyone thought she would be involved someday. However, she is involved because she chose to join the business.

She could do anything she wants with her life. She’s educated. She knows how to talk to people without seeming superior. When she goes into a horse show, she is a perfectionist. It shows from the bottom of her boots to the horse itself. She’s detail oriented and she’s polite. I’ve known her all her life and watched her become professional and business-like the past few years,” said Cindy Clinton, executive director, National Show Horse Registry, and the Dayton-based manager of several major horse shows, including the Buckeye Sweepstakes.

— Stan Bullard

CLINTON BRAGANZA, 35 Senior scientist; Kent Displays

A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT. Newmark Grubb Knight Frank’s Cleveland RĠFH LV SOHDVHG WR FRQJUDWXODWH

YOU MOVED TO THE UNITED STATES FROM TANZANIA TO ATTEND THE COLLEGE OF WOOSTER IN 1999. WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME A FULL CITIZEN? It was always my dream to be a U.S. citizen. And I had a cultural identity crisis because my parents are Indian, we lived in Tanzania. And in Tanzania you’re really not considered a Tanzanian as such. I came here and felt pretty welcome. Anybody could do whatever they wanted. I felt like this was more home than Tanzania.

Kristy Hull, SIOR, CCIM Managing Director on being selected to the Crain’s Cleveland Business Forty Under 40 Class of 2015

DO YOU LOOK AT THE UNITED STATES DIFFERENTLY THAN PEOPLE WHO WERE BORN HERE? I just appreciate the privileges we have here in the United States more. …

Things like just being able to go to the market or Target or whatever and get a toothbrush at 10 o’clock at night. Simple consumer pleasures.

Cleveland: 1350 Euclid Avenue, Suite 300, Cleveland, OH 44115 T 216.861.3040 Follow Us On Twitter: @NGKF_CLE North America South America Europe $VLD 3DFLĞF Africa Middle East

Clinton Braganza is the type of guy who likes to see the results of his work.

Especially when those results end up on store shelves.

Kent Displays — which sells electronic writing tablets under the Boogie Board brand — is about to release a new product called the Play n’ Trace.

In short, it’s a Boogie Board designed just for kids.

And Braganza’s fingerprints are all over it. He not only helped develop its translucent writing surface, he worked with the marketing team as it designed the colorful writing tablet, which is shaped like a painter’s palette.

He also dealt with suppliers, industrial designers and the people who operate the rollto-roll press at the company’s headquarters just outside of Kent.

The job suits his personality. The scientist in him loves solving problems, but Braganza also likes to try new things and meet new people.

Plus, he likes that he can hang the results of his work on a wall.

“Some people hang art. I hang Boogie Boards,” he said with a laugh.

www.ngkf.com/cleveland

WHAT ELSE DO YOU ENJOY WHEN YOU’RE NOT WORKING? I like people. … Last summer I tried to build an outdoor fire pit and made it bigger than it should be with a patio and everything just so everyone could come together.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT’S THE FIRST TRAIT YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU THINK OF CLINTON BRAGANZA? “Smart. One thing is to be academically strong. Book smart or something like that.

But in Clinton’s case I think he’s just overall very smart, so that enables him … to reach out to people, to resources, to come up with solutions, to figure things out,” said Asad Khan, chief technical officer at Kent Displays.

— Chuck Soder

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JACQUELYN ADAMS, 35 President; Tareto Maa USA To say Jacquelyn Adams is diverse is an understatement.

Adams is an engineer, she taught math in Swahili while serving two years in the Peace Corps, she’s the leader of a nonprofit that aims to bring awareness to the plight of girls, and she recently was elected to serve as a volunteer on the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio’s board of directors.

Now, during a sabbatical from her engineering career, she’s hiking through as many national parks as she can — while chronicling her travels via a blog and social media for the Girl Scouts.

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN GIRL EMPOWERMENT? Every year, 2 million girls are at risk of enduring female genital mutilation. I was horrified when I learned this fact. So when I heard a group in Kilgoris, Kenya, was providing girls escaping this illegal tradition with refuge and education, then I knew I must act. I founded and became president of a U.S.-based nonprofit (Tareto Maa) to financially support these brave Kenyans in their efforts.

HOW DID YOU END UP VOLUNTEERING FOR THE GIRL SCOUTS? When Girl Scouts of North East Ohio asked me to serve on the board of directors, I was intrigued.

Empowerment of girls in the U.S.? Was there really still a need for this? Over the next couple months, I did some research. I discovered that despite women being 51% of the population, we have only 19% representation in Congress, and less than 5% of CEOs in Fortune 500 companies are women. I also recalled that in my eight years of working as an engineer, I have faced being called vulgar names and harassment. And when I stood up for myself, I was told I needed to grow a sense of humor. I’ve shared these anecdotes with female friends who have recounted similar experiences in the restaurant industry, politics and other fields of work. Realizing that the facts as well as my own personal experience highlighted this need, I decided to become a part of Girl Scouts, as it is the largest organization promoting girl empowerment in the U.S. IF THERE IS ONE MESSAGE YOU WISH TO SHARE, WHAT WOULD THAT BE? Sexism is something that is not limited to our past, nor does it only occur in other countries.

Whether you decide to help with the efforts abroad, here in the U.S., or consider how you can better support the females in your own life, I implore both men and women to please get involved. Young females today still need your help.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: ON HOW THOROUGH ADAMS IS, AND WHY SHE’S AN IDEAL BOARD MEMBER “She was very unusual with the tact she took in investigating Girl Scouts. She was unlike anyone else I’ve ever seen. She went to a board meeting, a committee meeting, and she sat with me and asked several questions about it. She looks very in-depth at an opportunity before she moves. She’s not going to do lip service. She’s been an innovator with us,” said Jane Christyson, CEO, Girl Scouts of North East Ohio.

— Kevin Kleps

JULIUS KORLEY, 39 Associate director; Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership President and CEO; Affinity Therapeutics Julius Korley watched his mother die too soon of lupus, an autoimmune disease that attacks healthy cells and tissues, damaging skin, organs or joints. As result, he has built his life around understanding what was going on inside the human body and improving the ability of medicine to fight back.

After getting his bachelor’s degree in biology from Clark Atlanta University, the Tifton, Ga., native took a job with Momenta Pharmaceuticals in the Boston area, where he was exposed to the world of venture capital and business startups.

Then it was off to Cornell University, where he got a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering in 2010. Before he completed his degree requirements, though, he had followed his wife to Cleveland. (Lashonda Korley is associate professor of macromolecular science and engineering at Case Western Reserve University.)

Julius found work as associate director of the Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership, a program that supports Case researchers who are creating technologies for improving patient care, helping move the technology from the laboratory to investors and then to the marketplace.

Not long after arriving in Cleveland, Korley met and joined forces with Horst von Recum, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, and they formed Affinity Therapeutics.

An early-stage company, Affinity is developing a technology to regulate the rate at which a drug is released from an implant in a patient’s body.

Congratulations, Allyson!

We at Porter Wright are proud of our Partner Allyson O’Keefe for being selected by Crain’s Cleveland as a member of this year’s Forty Under 40 class. Her dedication, hard work and contributions to the Cleveland area inspire her peers and community everyday!

HOW DO YOU JUGGLE YOUR JOB AT CASE WITH YOUR YOUNG BUSINESS? I wear several different hats at meetings. When I’m meeting with venture capitalists about my company, for example, I also can use the same meeting to talk about other technologies in our program at Case.

WHAT’S THE NEXT HURDLE FOR AFFINITY? We’ve been granted only one of our patent claims thus far. As soon as we get the bulk of our claims granted — we have about 20 of them — we are ready to start raising funding.

WILL YOU STICK WITH AFFINITY OR WILL YOU START LOOKING FOR THE NEXT STARTUP? I would like to be a serial entrepreneur. For me, I’ve never done drugs but I like to think the feeling you get from seeing a technology develop from nothing into a product, it’s the same kind of feeling you get from a drug. I could see myself running Affinity until it’s 25 to 50 employees, but after that, I don’t know. That’s another skill set.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE VICTOR IN A FEW SENTENCES? “One of the things I admire about Victor is that he’s good at both seeing things from outside the forest and then also he’s good in the weeds as well. Sometimes you don’t have people who do both very well,” said Stephen Fening, director, Case-Coulter Translational Research Partnership.

— Jay Miller

Cincinnati s Cleveland s Columbus s Dayton s Naples s Washington, D.C.

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FORTY UNDER 40 GINO BANCO, 33 Principal R&D engineer, medical devices; Parker Hannifin

JEFFREY CAPADONA, 37 Associate professor; CWRU Department of Biomedical Engineering Research scientist; Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center

On a whim, Gino Banco applied for a sales engineer position at Parker Hannifin.

Good thing he didn’t get that job.

During the interview process, executives from the motion and control products maker told him that he needed to talk to the vice president of innovation and technology within the company’s hydraulics group.

That group was working on all sorts of projects ranging from automotive to medical technology. It was a good fit for a guy who started doing school research projects on Celiac disease — a condition he suffers from — in middle school. A guy who rebuilt a 1977 Ford truck that he bought for a dollar in high school.

Banco went on to help Parker Hannifin find the exoskeleton technology that it licensed from Vanderbilt University. Now, it’s helping paralyzed research subjects walk. Banco plays a key role in Parker’s effort to develop medical devices in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic.

Jeffrey Capadona is trying to find better ways to connect computers to the human brain.

But come on, is he really smart enough to do that? I mean, the guy got a C on his biology final back when he was a pre-med student at St. Joseph’s College in Indiana.

“After my first year, my academic adviser told me I wasn’t smart enough to be a doctor. I had a 3.8 (GPA) at the time,” he said.But he was smart enough to change his major to chemistry. Today, he’s trying to develop materials that mesh with neurons on the molecular level.

Capadona — who earned his doctorate from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2005 — decided to focus on the brain after seeing the Body Worlds exhibit when it stopped in Cleveland. He spent about a half hour staring at a display that showed “devices everywhere in the body, except the brain.”

“If I could just do a little bit to help push that over, it could have such a big impact,” he added.

YOU APPLIED FOR A FACULTY POSITION AT CASE WESTERN JUST BEFORE A HIRING FREEZE WENT INTO EFFECT IN 2008. AT THE TIME, YOU WERE TOLD THAT THERE WOULD PROBABLY BE A JOB WAITING FOR YOU — IF YOU COULD WAIT A YEAR. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO STAY IN CLEVELAND, WORKING AT THE VA, UNTIL THEN? I knew I wanted to be here at Case. The work going on in Cleveland is (better than) anything else in this area (neural engineering).

YOU’VE PLAYED BASEBALL SINCE AGE 5 AND EVEN TRIED OUT FOR A FEW MAJOR LEAGUE TEAMS. IN THE PROCESS, DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING THAT HAS HELPED YOU PROFESSIONALLY? You can go into a lab and set up the most elegant experiment and it doesn’t work. …

In baseball, a 30% success rate is awesome. But you can hit one on the nose — and someone catches it.

WHAT — AND WHO — DROVE YOU TO DO THAT FIRST SCIENCE PROJECT ON CELIAC DISEASE? I’ve never been one to take the safe way. I’m always pushing. I have very supportive parents. … I’m sure (my eighth grade science teacher) saw that first one and tried to encourage me to do more. He really supported me. He served as my adviser and continued to help push me.

HOW CAN PEOPLE SPARK THAT KIND OF PASSION IN THEMSELVES? For me what’s worked is, if you have an interest, take a step and start. A lot of times it will snowball into something you’re passionate about.

AT PARKER, YOU’VE OFTEN PLAYED THE ROLE OF MIDDLE MAN BETWEEN DIFFERENT GROUPS OF PEOPLE TRYING TO WORK TOGETHER. WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED IN THE PROCESS? You have to have a shared vision. … When you have that at least you have the framework in place to build upon.

And from there it’s about being open and honest with everyone involved.

ARE YOU STILL DRIVING THAT FORD TRUCK? No, but my dad is. I’ve given it to my father. He said he drives it regularly. It’s still chugging along.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHY DID YOU WANT TO KEEP MEETING UP WITH BANCO AND SERVING AS HIS MENTOR, EVEN AFTER LEAVING PARKER HANNIFIN? “Number one, he’s a delightful guy. … He’s everything you want your son to be. He’s inquisitive. He’s bright. He’s got an incredible work ethic. He’s the type of guy Cleveland needs more of,” said Arun Ranchod, principal consultant at Ranchod Life Sciences — Chuck Soder

50 YEARS FROM NOW, WHAT TYPES OF BRAIN-C COMPUTER INTERFACES MIGHT EXIST? The things that were in The Matrix where you could plug into the brain and take information in and out at any time. … Those are the types of parts that could be there if we learn enough about the brain. Hopefully at least it’ll cure … certain types of spinal cord injuries.

ANYTHING ELSE? I do want to thank the mentors I’ve had who’ve seen the potential in me when I didn’t always see it in myself.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT SKILLS MAKE CAPADONA STAND OUT? “He’s bridging the gap between two different disciplines (electrical engineering and material science). When he started, it was a pretty novel area. There were only a few people doing this work,” said Dustin Tyler, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Case Western Rerserve and a biomedical engineer at Cleveland VA Medical Center — Chuck Soder

HEALTH CARE HEROES

Do You Know a Hero?

Crain’s Health Care Heroes program recognizes those who are providing exceptional service and dedication to Northeast Ohio’s healthcare sector.

CATEGORIES INCLUDE

Join us as we celebrate our local small businesses.

Advancements in Health Care Allied Health Corporate Achievement in Health Care Innovation All Star Nurse Outstanding Trustee Physician To nominate, visit

CrainsCleveland.com/Nominations © 2015 Cox Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

DEADLINE: JANUARY 8, 2015

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KAMANA KATIYAR, 39 Engineering manager; HX5 Sierra If the NASA sends something up in space there’s a good chance that Kamana Katiyar and her team at NASA’s Glenn Research Center had a hand in road testing some of the rocket’s or vehicle’s components.

The Glenn Center specializes in propulsion systems for space vehicles. Space gear is designed at Glenn and tested in its wind tunnels and vacuum chambers. Its space propulsion facility at Plum Brook is the only place in the world that can simulate high-altitude conditions for testing many parts of space launch vehicles and rocket engines under simulated high-altitude conditions.

Katiyar and her team from HX5 Sierra are Glenn contractors, as are nearly half of the 3,000 people who work at Glenn and Plum Brook. Florida-based HX5 Sierra offers a variety of support services related to aeronautical and spaceflight testing programs.

The Cleveland State University electrical engineering graduate manages TFOME-II — that’s government contracting shorthand for the second in a series of contracts for “Test Facility Operations Maintenance and Engineering” at the center adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and its Plum Brook Station near Sandusky. The team’s next big project is managing the GEER, the Glenn Extreme Environment Rig, which can simulate the high temperatures and high pressures found on Venus and other planets.

You were born in Belgium and spent time in Venezuela and India, your parents’ homeland, before graduating from North Olmsted High School. How did you end up in Northeast Ohio?

My father is an electrical engineer and we were living in India and he was working on photovoltaics, photo cell development. There was a conference in India attended by some people from NASA Glenn, and they saw his paper and were interested in his work. So they got him a grant to come to work here.

What kind of work have you done at NASA Glenn?

I supported the cryogenics facility. That’s where they do research on how to store cryogenic (propellants), and then I went to the engine research building where we tested every component of a jet engine. Then I worked at a facility where they test fuel cells and components for the next generation of space vehicles.

Since you’re sending things up into space, doesn’t your work — the testing — have to be thorough?

If you have a mission to Saturn or beyond, a 10-year mission, you’re going to have to do that life-testing here, investing seven to 10 years, because you don’t want to find out halfway through your Saturn mission that, oops, the ion engine stopped working.

Since 2007, you’ve been a managing rather than doing engineering.

Which do you like better?

I love managing now. When I first transitioned, I missed the calculating and solving problems. But now I absolutely love managing (a team of 54 engineers and technicians). It gives me visibility into a lot more areas.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: Why did you recommend her for this year’s class of Forty Under 40?

“She really does well on teams; she has really good professional tact and really understands the work. What really sets her apart is she has a positive, productive attitude and really believes in NASA and its mission. I think she has so much potential,” said Brian Rice, general manager at HX5 Sierra and a member of Crain’s 2010 Forty Under 40 class.

— Jay Miller

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FORTY UNDER 40 DANIEL ANSTANDIG, 32 CEO; Futuri Media Daniel Anstandig started a radio broadcast program in his parents’ basement at age 9 and sold a company to Microsoft at 17.

Today, Futuri Media, an angel-funded startup Anstandig launched with the help of the Zapis Capital Group in 2009, has a combined 55 employees in its Cleveland, Dallas and Washington, D.C., offices. Futuri, which assists media companies with listener-driven programming, custom mobile apps and social analytics, has about 600 clients in 11 countries. Anstandig said the company spent $250,000 on renovations when it moved into its new headquarters in the Brownell Building, an old schoolhouse east of Progressive Field.

“We really felt with LeBron back and the economic development in Playhouse Square and so on and so forth, we felt this would create a positive environment,” he said.

HABEEBAH RASHEED GRIMES, 39 Chief clinical officer; Positive Education Program WHAT DOES THE MEDIA DO WELL, AND WHAT DOES IT NOT DO WELL? I think new players like Pandora and Spotify have really changed the expectations of local listeners when it comes to broadcast radio. Pandora, Spotify and products like theirs have created an expectation for listeners that they’ll be able to interact and have a relationship with a local broadcast station or media outlet. I think one of the biggest challenges for media today is to create that interaction and create community around their brand when they have fewer people and less money to create that.

YOU COULD BE RUNNING THE COMPANY IN SILICON VALLEY OR SOMEWHERE ELSE. WHY CLEVELAND? Cleveland has so much to offer young entrepreneurial companies. The investment happening in downtown Cleveland over the last few years has really been unparalleled in other cities like ours. We’ve seen a great base of talent here from Case Western, John Carroll and Baldwin Wallace. There is a lot of up-and-coming talent in this market. It’s a good market for recruitment, a great market for cost of living and local events, and there are perks for our employees.

YOU SAID YOU LIKE TO WRITE. HOW DOES THIS STORY END? HOW FAR DOES THIS GO? I think that we’re not just a story of technology and media converging, but really our company is a story of success for businesses in the Midwest. You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley or have millions of dollars in funding to start a company. We’re a picture of true entrepreneurship — angel-funded in Cleveland, Ohio, with good ideas and a true grit to build a team. It works when you have that level of commitment.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT ARE SOME OF DANIEL’S BEST QUALITIES? “He is an extraordinary leader. He’s a visionary. He is both hands-on while empowering others at the same time, and he has a good balance in doing so,” said Laura Griffith, Futuri’s senior vice president of finance.

— Kevin Kleps

Habeebah Rasheed Grimes is a lot like her mother.

They are both strong, African-American women who rose up from some of Cleveland’s poorer neighborhoods and overcame a variety of obstacles to turn themselves into successful career women.

Grimes’ mother raised Habeebah and her brother largely by herself, but still found a way to put herself through nursing school.

Habeebah, after watching her brother struggle with mental illness for much of his life, devoted herself to helping others like him and her mom, by helping to provide clinical services to a broad spectrum of youth in need.

YOU HAVE A UNIQUE AND VERY PRETTY NAME, HABEEBAH. IS THERE A STORY BEHIND IT? It’s Arabic. Both my parents were practicing Muslims at the time of my birth, so they chose Arabic names for our family. I didn’t learn my name was a term of endearment until I was adult. She (my mother) chose it for me because it means ‘beloved.’ It was nice to find that out, I had a tough time with this name growing up.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER? I carry a lot of responsibility for the clinical programming — the mental health programming for just over 1,000 kids. We serve kids through a number of programs — a consultative service for early childhood and direct mental health services through community case management and PEP Connections (which coordinates care for children in the community).

WHO IS YOUR ROLE MODEL? My mom. She’s really done an amazing job of lifting herself and her kids out of a tough situation. By the time I went to college, she had become a registered nurse, owned a home and was getting ready to buy a second home.

WHO ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE NOW? There are three guys in my life that are really important. The first is John Grimes, my husband, who helps me to perform at this level of leadership. He reminds me that I can do this on days when I’m not sure that I’m thinking about things in the best way. If I express those doubts, he’s like my mom. I can count on him to say, ‘You’ve got this, you can do this.’ Then, Julian (4) and Joshua (20 months) — our boys. It’s a busy house and a busy time, but we love it.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT MAKES HABEEBAH A GOOD LEADER AND A STANDOUT AMONG HER PEERS? “In her role as chief clinical officer, Habeebah is clearly attuned to the needs of the children and families we serve, as well as to the needs of school districts and other funders, and to the agency, itself. These needs are not always in harmony and maintaining a healthy balance is a critical skill,” said Frank Fecser, CEO of Positive Education Program.

— Dan Shingler

KRISTY HULL, 31 Managing director; Newmark Grubb Knight Frank

KATE FOX NAGEL, 38 Chief administrative officer; Care Alliance Health Center

Kristy Hull loves sports and played softball — especially catcher, because it’s in the middle of the action — from fourth grade through Grove City College. She originally majored in business communications with the idea of becoming a TV sportscaster. That is, until the summer of 2004 when ESPN held tryouts at Shooter’s in the Flats.

“You had to read about a sporting event from a teleprompter,” she said. “Then it broke. You had to ad lib. I couldn’t do it. I was bad. I figured I better go into real estate. I’ll watch any sporting event, but I was not born to talk about it.”

She switched her major to marketing.

She continued working summers with Capital Equity Group, her father’s real estate firm which syndicates shares of apartment ownership in the Sun Belt and Southwest.

In 2007, her first post-college job was at NGKF predecessor Grubb & Ellis Co. After starting out in multifamily investments, she was recruited by Terry Coyne, today a vice chairman, for his team. Today, she’s a valuable member of the NGKF team and among the region’s top agents. She vied this year for the prestigious industrial broker of the year award from NAIOP, the office and industrial trade group, but was bested by a broker two decades her senior.

Like many youth soccer players of her day, Kate Fox Nagel dreamed of becoming the next Mia Hamm.

Lucky for Cleveland, today Nagel leaves the strikes and hat tricks to her children.

The Atlanta transplant is chief administrative officer at Care Alliance, a nonprofit that provides health services to Cleveland’s homeless and some of the city’s lowest income families. As a pre-med student, Nagel said she enjoyed the preventative aspects of medicine and soon realized public health — rather than private practice — fell more in line with her passions.

“I wanted to be able to reach more people than that one individual person sitting in front of me at the time,” she said.

Over the last three years, Nagel has helped Care Alliance extend its reach through partnerships with other support organization and the opening of a new clinic in the Central neighborhood, which has the highest concentration of public housing in Northeast Ohio and where nearly three out of every four families live

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE RENAISSANCE OF CLEVELAND? I’ve seen the worst of the worst in the market. We’re climbing the bell curve now. It’s exciting to see construction starting in Cleveland, not only hotels and apartments but also in industrial. It’s great to see Cleveland and industrial activity go crazy. I don’t have enough hours in the day.

ARE PEOPLE SURPRISED YOU ARE A COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE AGENT? The surprise is that I’m in the industrial market. On the plane I hear, ‘You’re a broker? Industrial? Really?’ There

are a lot of women in the office side but few on the industrial side. Recently I was at company conference in Chicago. Of 300 people, four were women. Hard work and knowledge are what earns respect in the industry.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS? I see myself in the same industry. I would like to still be part of Terry Coyne’s team if he will have me.

I have learned commercial real estate. I like getting the deal and working to find the right fit for my clients.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HULL IN A FEW SENTENCES? “She has really good analytical skills. She was good at the numbers side of the business and details.

Now she has gotten good at managing people and the process. It’s a skill you can’t teach,” said Terry Coyne, vice chairman of NGKF. — Stan Bullard

in poverty. Statistics show infant mortality and Type 2 diabetes rates among Central residents are twice the city average. Opened in April, Central Clinic has the capacity to see 12,000 patients annually.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOUR JOB? It’s always been important to me that I go home at the end of the day feeling like I made a difference, and as a parent, I want to be sure I teach my children to give back. My job allows me to do both. At Care Alliance, we take care of those most in need in our community.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING PUBLIC HEALTH? I think there are a number of public health challenges right now — infant mortality, violence, chronic disease, to name just a few — that illustrate the importance of addressing the social determinants of health at the neighborhood or community level. … That’s why our work at Care Alliance is exciting. We are an important part of broader systemic change, working alongside our safety net and hospital partners as well as leaders in housing, behavioral health and essential services, positively impacting the health of our patients.

IF YOU COULD BE OR DO ANYTHING ELSE — WHAT? I like the life I have now — a wonderful family, working for an organization that truly makes a difference in our community and a very supportive network to help keep it all in place. I’m excited for whatever comes next.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: HOW IS KATE MAKING AN IMPACT? “With her connections and her collaborative spirit, Kate is expanding the concept of primary care in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio,” Care Alliance CEO Francis Afram-Gyening said.

— Judy Stringer

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DAVID W. CRAUN, 37 Principal; Bialosky + Partners Architects

SET THE BAR HIGHER.

David W. Craun got his start at Bialosky + Partners Architects as a summer intern, back in 2001.

Fourteen years later, he’s the company’s youngest partner, a distinction he earned in 2013. Craun said he got into the field because he loved to draw, but he didn’t love it enough to make it a career on its own.

Architecture allows him to incorporate drawing with finding solutions to problems, like finding a way to reinvent a space or let light into a room.

“I’m 37, and I still get to draw for a living,” he said.

“They haven’t taken the pencil away from me yet.”

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YOU PREVIOUSLY WORKED AS AN ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT KENT STATE UNIVERSITY, IN ADDITION TO YOUR DUTIES AT BIALOSKY. WHAT DO YOU MOST ENJOY ABOUT TEACHING? There are really two sides to teaching and I love both of them — the sowing of knowledge and the personal growth. I love to teach for the opportunity to mentor and guide young designers and for the ability to train and attract great talent to the firm, but what I probably enjoy most is how teaching sharpens my own design thinking, presentation skills and work process.

IS ARCHITECTURE A BIG PART OF YOUR LIFE OUTSIDE OF WORK? Architecture has a way of bleeding into nearly every corner of my life because I am a visual thinker and I am constantly sketching, diagramming and illustrating ideas. Whether I am restoringour 1880 house, helping my wife plan out and frame her next print exhibition, or drawing up a long-term financial plan, solutions present themselves to me much quicker and easier if I can demonstrate the problem through some kind of schematic, diagram or illustration. This is why I carry a sketchbook everywhere: work, home, church, events, etc., because I find that I listen better if I am sketching and ideas come more freely if I allow the various areas of my life to intertwine.

YOU MENTIONED THAT YOU AND YOUR WIFE WANT TO IMPART A LOVE OF ART ON TO YOUR CHILDREN. HOW DO YOU DO THAT? For my wife and I, art is like our native language and a critical lens for which we view all of our life, so raising our children fully immersed in art wasn’t really a conscious choice initially, it just hap

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pened. Their birthday parties at a young age involved transforming our living room into themed dioramas from floor to ceiling of a fairyland forest or superhero metropolis with cardboard constructions, screen printed wallpaper, and pop-art illustrations. As they have gotten older, we have involved them in the design and creation of their own rooms, Halloween costumes and even costumes and props for school plays.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT MAKES DAVID STAND OUT? “To be successful in architecture, an individual needs to have design, technology and people skills. David is one of the rare individuals that resides in the middle of these circles,” said Jack Bialosky Jr., senior and managing principal of Bialosky + Partners Architects.

— Rachel Abbey McCafferty

MARK TEPPER, 35 President; Strategic Wealth Partners Mark Tepper is an entrepreneur, author and business leader.

“At my core, I’m a very competitive person. I love to compete. I love to win. I think a lot of my life has been shaped around my competitive spirit and wanting to compete, wanting to win,” said Tepper, who is a fitness enthusiast and in his free time enjoys softball, soccer, golf, biking and any physical activity where he can improve himself.

Tepper’s Strategic Wealth Partners was recognized in 2014 as one of the fastest-growing companies in the country, according to the Inc. 5000.

“I enjoy working with families, business owners that have accumulated some wealth and helping them to better themselves as well,” said Tepper, a father of three. “A victory for them is a victory for me. I like to do well for them financially and help them to potentially exit their business at the highest price possible.”

WHAT INSPIRES YOU ABOUT YOUR WORK? I’m very inspired when I have the ability to make a significantly positive impact on a financial situation of my clients. I’m more inspired working with complex clients because that’s where the challenges are greater, and I’m able to have a bigger impact.

WHY DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE BECOME A GO-T TO SOURCE FOR NATIONAL MEDIA SUCH AS CNBC AND FOX BUSINESS AND IN MAJOR PRINT PUBLICATIONS SUCH AS THE WALL STREET JOURNAL? I’ve always had the ability to take difficult concepts and make them easier to understand for my clients. I started talking with the CNBC and Fox Business producers years ago. I offered them my cell phone number and became their go-to guy for jumping on grenades, as I call it. When they had a financial contributor back out last minute, I told them I would always be willing to fill the spot.

WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN 10 YEARS? This won’t happen in 10 years, but hopefully in 20. I’d love to have the opportunity to share my passion in this business with one of my children by getting him or her involved with the company after college.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHY DOES MARK STAND OUT AS A YOUNG PROFESSIONAL? “I have only known Mark since he was already solidly on a path of high performance, but he’s a competitor and he’s a closer. He’s very aware of the market, the market perception and being influential to market perceptions. He’s quick with his decision making and I think all of those things contribute to his overall success,” said Edward Rozak, president of N2Net, a voice and data company based in downtown Cleveland. Rozak and Tepper met in Entrepreneurs’ Organization.

— Chrissy Kadleck

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FORTY UNDER 40 NICK CATANZARITE, Partner, real estate practice; Walter | Haverfield LLP Nick Catanzarite first really saw himself in the legal industry as his older brother — a construction litigator today — went to law school. His family runs Pat Catan’s Arts and Crafts Stores, but it was that exposure to law school that “opened his eyes,” Catanzarite said, and helped him realize he could dabble in almost any sector with a law background.

He’d probably be a developer today if not an attorney; that or a professional athlete, probably in basketball. So it’s little surprise he has carved out a niche in real estate, an industry that appeals to him partly because a lawyer can see and touch the fruits of their labor.

“I like working on transaction where both sides are working toward a common goal,” he said. “And at the end of the day, there’s something tangible that validates all the work that goes into it. You can see a building or a house or a project materialize from beginning to end.”

WHAT’S THE BEST PART ABOUT BEING A REAL ESTATE LAWYER IN CLEVELAND RIGHT NOW? The amount of development activity in and around the central business district is exciting to see. I think with each new project, you are seeing developers set the bar a little higher with their design, amenities, etc. It’s fun to see this type of competitive marketplace and it is keeping our real estate group very busy.

WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU BELIEVE THE CITY IS MISSING AND WHY? The lake is our biggest asset from a development perspective, and yet it’s also our most underutilized asset.

Since the Metroparks took control of the beaches and lakefront, there is a noticeable difference in the overall maintenance, upkeep and appearance of these areas.

YOU SAID YOU LIKE TO STAY ACTIVE. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE ACTIVITIES? I’ve gone skydiving, ziplining through rain forests, completed a Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash, several half marathons and a triathlon. My goal is to stay active enough to keep up with my four young kids.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT SETS NICK APART FROM OTHERS? “The most striking thing about Nick is his young age belies his maturity and extraordinarily sound judgment, and I don’t think that’s always consistent with someone of that age. He’s very constructive and thoughtful and has the ability to keep an even temperament. When he talks, he has something to say,” said Walter | Haverfield managing partner Ralph Cascarilla.

— Jeremy Nobile

JUSTIN CARSON, President, JC BeerTech; Owner, Platform Beer Co. The entrepreneur spirit was instilled in Justin Carson early in life. The ambitious businessman started his first company, JC BeerTech, as a teenager after learning how to clean beer lines from his father, who ran a refrigeration company. The business took off after he traveled to Europe to secure sole distribution rights for a special cleaning solution that changes color in the presence of bacteria.

Having grown up around Cleveland and bused tables as a young teen in the Flats, Carson was motivated to help redevelop his hometown. With some good fortune, the right contacts and a lot of hard work, he started investing in the Lorain Avenue corridor, which is growing today with Carson’s efforts and investment. “It’s about creating a culture that helps facilitate growth, not only of your own company, but for others in your company and around you,” he said.

Platform Beer Co., a brewery with its own incubator for ambitious homebrewers, received its moniker for its goal of providing a platform for other entrepreneurs to realize their own dreams.

“I’m just really happy to be part of the revitalization of this city,” he said.

YOU’VE CENTERED YOUR EFFORTS LARGELY ON THIS LORAIN AVENUE CORRIDOR. WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS PART OF TOWN? Lorain is an artery that runs between Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City, Tremont and into downtown. With the affordability and cost of residential north of Lorain being high and stable for a while, it felt like it would bounce back with investment.

YOU’VE BEEN A PART OF THE CLEVELAND REVITALIZATION IN YOUR OWN WAY. IN THE BIG PICTURE, HOW DO

WE KEEP UP THE MOMENTUM? We need to recognize needs of millennials in order to prepare for their needs in order to attract large corporations and also maintain our own. These improvements include walkability, transportation, bicycle lanes, green spaces and schools.

WHO HAS BEEN THE BIGGEST INFLUENCE IN YOUR LIFE AND CAREER? My grandparents were a huge influence on my life, teaching my morals. I live by caring for everyone, being humble and always doing the right thing. These aspects are what I live by and try and apply to all aspects of my life and business. This, applied with never giving up, are the main reasons I have made it to where I am.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT’S BEEN CARSON’S IMPACT ON THE LORAIN AVENUE CORRIDOR AND THE GREATER NEIGHBORHOOD THERE? “Justin put his money where his mouth is and is investing in this little neighborhood. Being a real estate investor in the city of Cleveland takes a lot more than just the will to do it. It’s really rewarding to see real change happening in our district. Justin works his butt off and it’s proof that it sometimes just takes someone doing that to make things happen,” said Paul Benner, owner of Cleveland Brew Shop on Lorain Avenue.

— Jeremy Nobile

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Thank You!

LINDSAY SILVERSTEIN, 37 Executive director; Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Northern Ohio At work, Lindsay Silverstein can be found building relationships to grow the nonprofit she leads.

On stage, she’s been known to build plot lines as the cowardly lion or one wicked octopus.

Though her nonprofit work is her career and acting her hobby, they’re similar in that each has its moving pieces and parts.

Each also has a “show” that must go on, even when Ursula’s wig falls off on stage at Beachwood Community Theater.

“I improvised, and the audience started cheering,” recalled Silverstein, who lives in Lyndhurst with her husband, David, and their two children. “It was a mistake on stage, and sometimes you’re not prepared for the mistake on stage.”

ACCORDING TO THE NOMINATION, BOARD OF TRUSTEE INVOLVEMENT AND GIVING HAS STRENGTHENED BY 40% SINCE YOU JOINED THE LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY OF NORTHERN OHIO IN MAY 2014. WHAT’S YOUR RECIPE FOR SECURING SUPPORT? You need to be well organized, you need to have a strong group of volunteers around you, and you need a nice experience for guests (during events) — items they can bid on, the ability that they can network with other individuals, the ability to feel they are making a difference. It’s also just making the ask.

If they say no, I just look at it as a not yet.

THERE’S NO SHORTAGE OF TALK ABOUT THE ABILITY OF WOMEN TO LEAN IN, TO HAVE IT ALL. HOW DO YOU STRIKE A BALANCE? Some days are better than others. There are some things that you have to cut corners on. I’m not the one who will make home-baked cupcakes, but I’ll make sure I’m there for the Halloween party. I have a cleaning lady. I have an extremely supportive husband, and I could not do what I do without my mom. She helps take care of my kids.

This Thanksgiving, Cooperative Business Services has so many things to be thankful for. Thank you for your continued confidence in CBS and for believing that the credit union way is the best way.

- Jonathan Mokri

jmokri@cbscuso.com | 440.526.8700 | www.cbscuso.com Business Lending in Partnership with Area Credit Unions SM

IF YOU COULD MEET ANYONE, LIVING OR DEAD, WHO WOULD IT BE, WHERE WOULD YOU ASK THEM TO MEET YOU, AND WHY WOULD YOU CHOOSE THEM? I have always wanted to meet Oprah. The influence that she’s had on so many people’s lives is so invigorating. I would love to have dinner with her and have a chat and ask her to be my mentor. I’d probably take her to Little Italy.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT HAS ENABLED LINDSAY TO ACHIEVE ALL THAT SHE HAS? “There are lots of people in the nonprofit world, and I think floating to the top requires a certain level of skill-honing. Lindsay’s got an electricity to her. She’s been incredibly receptive to getting feedback and looking at herself in the mirror ‘and seeing what her weaknesses are and working on them,” said Sheryl Markowitz, who worked with Silverstein at the March of Dimes.

— Michelle Park Lazette

Congratulations to

Mark Tepper,

CEO of Strategic Wealth Partners, for making the 2015 Forty under 40 Class!

KEN BABBY, 36 Owner, Akron RubberDucks; founder, Fast Forward Sports Group Ken Babby already had a full plate.

The owner of the Akron RubberDucks, a Double-A baseball team affiliated with the Cleveland Indians, has a 7-year-old son, Josh, who lives with his ex-wife, Jill, in the Washington, D.C., area, and he serves on nine boards in the Rubber City.

But Babby loves baseball, and he added more dates to his hectic schedule when he recently completed the purchase of another Double-A team, the Jacksonville Suns. It’s resulted in him “constantly traversing” what he calls his current three-city “triangle” of Akron, D.C. and Jacksonville.

ONE TEAM WASN’T ENOUGH FOR YOU? Somewhere along the way, I just have a compulsive ambition to take on more. The real reality is I work with such smart, great, hard-working, innovative people, which allows me to think about the next chapter of this thing.

YOUR BASEBALL GROUP TALKS A LOT ABOUT AFFORDABLE FAMILY FUN. HOW DO YOU DEFINE IT? It goes back to three years ago. We were sitting in a conference room, and across from the ballpark is the Mayflower Building (in downtown Akron). We had secured some space on the side of that building to hang some advertising, and we were going back and forth on what it should be and what should be put up on the wall.

We said, ‘What are we? What is the problem we want to solve in this community?’ We decided we wanted to bring affordable family fun to this community. We wanted fans to always be able to get into a game for $5, with $2 hot dogs and free parking, thanks to the city of Akron. There aren’t too many experiences left where you can bring your family of four to the ballpark for $20.

WHAT’S THE BEST ADVICE YOU’VE RECEIVED FROM YOUR FATHER (LON, A SENIOR ADVISER FOR THE PHOENIX SUNS AND A FORMER PLAYER AGENT)?

My father always talks about passion, perseverance and preparation. He has always instilled those values in me. I’m in an industry that’s very passionate. We’re on the verge of reaching a million fans every year in Akron and Jacksonville.

That’s astonishing to think about. The preparation piece was instilled in me from a very young age. I try to not walk into a meeting where I don’t know who the players are and what’s happening. The perspective piece, things were not easy for me growing up. I was not the best student. I was not an immediate success in that area. I felt I had to work harder to have success. I was never the best player on the team. But I certainly worked harder than everybody else.

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING: WHAT IMPRESSES YOU MOST ABOUT KEN? “First and foremost, he’s very driven. It’s very impressive the way he operates and the way his mind works. It’s also very inspirational. I don’t think he sleeps. He has a great goal-focused mind, and he really drives to get where he wants to get,” said Jim Pfander, the RubberDucks’ general manager and chief operating officer.

— Kevin Kleps

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www.BoulderCreekOhio.com

330.626.2828

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Business of Life A hands-on approach to watchmaking

BY DAN SHINGLER Want a really nice American-built watch that’s not only a fine timepiece and good enough for military duty, but outshines the competition in the dark?

Don’t go all the way to Detroit for the trendy Shinola brand. Just go to Mentor.

That’s where Chris Wiegand and his company, Lum-Tec, have built some great watches and a nice little niche for themselves in the worlds of both watch collectors and among the military/law enforcement communities.

Like a lot of watch guys, Wiegand got his first exposure to the inside of a watch as a kid — or, rather, the inside of a watch got exposed to him.

“It was an Omega,” he remembers, “and I totally destroyed it.”

Fast-forward about 20 years, and the guy knows his way around the inside of a finely crafted movement as well as Mozart. He has spent most of that time learning about watches and the last 10 years building them.

Lum-Tec doesn’t make the watch movements; those inner workings come from Switzerland and Japan. But each one is finely tuned and adjusted at Lum-Tec before it goes out the door. That’s a different approach than is taken by another company that’s gotten a lot of attention for building watches in America, Detroit-based Shinola.

While Shinola assembles movements from parts made in Switzerland, Lum-Tec buys whole and assembled movements. And while Shinola limits itself to less-expensive quartz movements made by Ronda, Lum-Tec only uses similar movements in its low-end offerings. It’s best known for automatic watches — the kind that don’t need batteries, or winding — that use Japanese movements or movements made by Swiss-based ETA. But what really sells Lum-Tec watches, Wiegand says, are their toughness and luminous qualities — thus the name of the company.

Using proprietary formulas and application methods, the company applies eight to 30 layers of glow-in-the-dark material to each watch. Some watches end up with as much as half a gram of the stuff. When they’re done, the watches light up in the dark like no others, Wiegand says, which is an important feature for soldiers and cops.

The cases are designed by Lum-Tec, but machined by other U.S. manufacturers. The sapphire crystals on the watches also are made outside and coated to Lum-Tec’s specifications.

Only six people actually work at Lum-Tec, Wiegand says, but they can turn out as many as 200 watches a week if orders demand it.

The watches are not inexpensive, particularly in a day and age when just about everyone has a watch on them in the form of a cell phone, which Wiegand himself says is more accurate than almost any watch and all that most people need. To sport a Lum-Tec on your wrist, expect to shell out between $400 for the company’s most basic quartz watches to $1,000 or more for some of its watches with high-end movements and exotic metal cases.

Watch lovers are eating them up, though. After starting the company in 2007, Wiegand hoped to sell $100,000 worth of watches a year, but sales have been at about $1.5 million a year since 2012. That’s not counting watches the company makes for other brands, which it does not discuss much but is a major part of its business, Wiegand says. Ariel Adams, author of the popular watch website aBlogtoWatch, has been watching Lum-Tec and talking to Wiegand since 2008.

“It was an early, but quite telling, example of a return to American, craft watch making,” Adams says. “While Lum-Tec doesn’t make all of their parts, they do an impressive amount such as starting with their own luminant. … For me, Chris signaled the best of what independent, modern American watch makers could be, and the sheer fun the company has with all the models they make and their strong relationship with their customers is clear.”

We don’t just see people for who they are; we see

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In the past year,

84% Lum-Tec owner Chris Wiegand has a variety of exotic cases and parts on hand for his next prototype watch. Below, Lum-Tec technician Joe Bastulli works on intricate watch parts at the company’s shop in Mentor. (McKinley Wiley photos, watch image: contributed)

of people engaged in United Way-funded workforce development programs have obtained employment.

them for who they can become.

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BUSINESS OF LIFE

Source Lunch Jason Estremera is a man of many hats.

In addition to his role as director of business services with the Hispanic Business Center, he also helps other Latino professionals through the Young Latino Network, is an actor with Teatro Publico at Cleveland Public Theatre, and just launched a pop-up men’s clothing store in the Gordon Square Arts District.

“I think I live a very beautiful life,” says the 33-year-old, who was born in Cleveland and raised in Chicago.

“I get to help people start their dreams and expand their visions from 9-5, I get to tell people’s stories on stage, I get to help my community find careers and better their situations, and now I get to have my own clothing store.”

— Lee Chilcote

Jason Estremera

Do you primarily work with small businesses and entrepreneurs?

How have you helped people through your job at the Hispanic Business Center?

What kind of impact has the Young Latino Network made on talent attraction?

Primarily, but we also have a focus on high-impact clients, those designated by the state as immediately creating a certain amount of jobs and business growth opportunities. We’ve grown and been able to take on two additional employees due to the need within the growing Hispanic population. So now, I’ve been able to lean on our new full-time business adviser who is fully bilingual and doing a grassroots approach, so that I can work more with high-impact clients, whether they are Hispanic or not.

I’ve been able to take my skill set from banking and help people understand basic financial literacy and personal finance. A lot of people going into business, especially your Latino entrepreneurs, they have great trade skills but know nothing about the other side of things. They came here from Puerto Rico or Mexico or wherever, and starting a business is an entirely different situation over there.

Our corporate partners are constantly coming to us and asking for referrals, from people coming out of college to experienced professionals. They recognize that they’re not serving their customers in an effective or efficient manner. So we’ll do lunch-and-learn events. For example, with Progressive, we just did a campus tour of their artwork and met with high level executives. They were talking to us about how to make sure they see things through a culturally sensitive lens and really embrace diversity.

Is Northeast Ohio doing a good job leveraging the economic power of the Hispanic community?

I still feel that it’s under-recognized, but there’s definitely more of an effort now to be inclusive.

As head of the Young Latino Network, I’ve seen people actively trying to find pools of talent to help businesses that are experiencing a huge change — a retiring generation in their workforce that does not reflect who they serve. I see the same thing with boards of directors.

They’re looking for ways to diversify.

Do most clients speak Spanish?

We do get a good chunk of individuals that are monolingual coming to our office. What’s changing is that you see a second and third generation that does identify as Latino but they don’t speak a lick of Spanish. That’s cool because I can relate to them. I always get the rolled eyes look when I say to others that I can’t speak Spanish, so it’s good to kind of share the gripes a bit. ‘Oh, you don’t speak Spanish but you’re Puerto Rican, too? How much grief do you get for that every day?’

What are some examples of challenges with clients, as well as success stories?

The most common challenge is access to capital. Once you get capital, what are you doing with it, how do you do your payback? In terms of success stories, we have businesses that have persevered over two to three years. We’ve helped them find the right location and worked with landlords to get them started.

You’ve also acted in productions with Teatro Publico at CPT. Is it a rush to be onstage?

It’s a lot of fun, exhilarating but also scary. Some of them are in Spanish, some are a mix of languages. Teatro Publico is the full experience — you get food with it, you get the live experience. To see that intermingling of cultures, that’s the most beautiful thing about being onstage. People are driving an hour or an hour and a half to see a play and meet the larger community! That’s one thing that keeps me doing it — people find a commonality they thought they’d lost when they left their country of origin.

NONPROFIT

FOUR THINGS: FAVORITE RESTAURANTS?

Definitely here (Barroco). I would say Melt is another favorite.

OTHER FAVORITE LATINO EATERIES? Café Miami in Old Brooklyn, and the Campus Grille in Berea.

FAVORITE SPOTS FOR LIVE THEATRE?

LUNCH SPOT

ON HIS RETURN TO RETAIL

The meal

CPT of course. And Playhouse Square.

Theater is my escapism.

I worked for Kohl’s Department Store for a while. It’s funny — I escaped the retail fashion industry, and then I opened up my own store. I guess I couldn’t escape it!

Barroco 12906 Madison Ave., Lakewood

Guacamole with fried plantains, salchichon (a Spanish sausage) and chicken pasta, and arepa Mexicana.

The vibe Barroco serves authentic Colombian street food in a hip, contemporary setting.

The billl $37.06 + tip

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PLASTICS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

in the parts of the states around the Utica Shale. As of early 2015, that three-state region boasted nearly 1,150 plastics manufacturers, close to 1,800 rubber makers and converters, about 6,370 chemical makers, and more than 8,000 plastic converters, according to information from Team NEO. Those numbers include companies like Goodyear of Akron, A. Schulman Inc. of Fairlawn, PolyOne Corp. of Avon Lake and Omnova Solutions Inc. of Beachwood.

The plastics industry is an area of focus for the organization in terms of international attraction, Boulier said. And for existing companies, Team NEO wants to attract more of their supply chains or customers to the region. Polymers are a potential area of growth for the region, he said, as rubber and plastic products tend to have both domestic and global demand.

A new era Joseph P. Kennedy, distinguished professor of polymer science and chemistry at the University of Akron, has spent his career in the industry, and he thinks the focus of the polymer industry has changed.

The age of commodity polymers is done, he said. “(The) era of specialties are upon us,” Kennedy said.

The polymer industry is mature now, and Kennedy said that instead of focusing on new products, research is aimed at producing polymers faster, simpler and in a more environmentally friendly way.

The medical and physiology fields are exceptions, as function tends to be more important than cost in those industries.

Driving research now are electronic polymers and biopolymers — both areas in which the University of Akron is strong.

The research isn’t just happening at the university level.

While polymer companies likely make up less than 10% of the startups served at the Akron Global Business Accelerator, the companies in that space are involved in some pretty interesting projects.

CEO Anthony Margida pointed to a few companies that people may not traditionally think of as polymer-related that the accelerator has helped get started.

This includes Vadxx Energy LLC, which will break down plastics waste to create energy products, and nanofibers maker Akron Ascent Innovations, which is working to create a reusable adhesive.

Filling in gaps And it’s not just startups that are innovating in the polymer industry.

At Parker Hannifin Corp.’s Donald E. Washkewicz Polymer Innovation Center in Ravenna, the company is doing a lot of work to change the properties of polymers.

Division product engineering manager Bill Fisher said there’s a lot of technical work in process to improve properties like the chemical resistance or electrical conduction of polymers.

And it’s not just about creating these new-and-improved polymers at the center, but also how to process and use them.

Being in Ravenna is a benefit to Parker, Fisher said, because of the proximity to the students and the research at the local universities, as well as the access to the network of polymer-related suppliers and ven-

dors in the region.

Fisher said the company sees the need to do more work in nanopolymers, as well as in improving the thermal, electrical and chemical properties of the materials.

And while he said there are already a lot of talented people in the area for the company to work with, from health care providers like the Cleveland Clinic to schools like the University of Akron, Kent State University, Baldwin Wallace University and Cleveland State University, the skills gap is still a concern for Parker Hannifin.

In the past two and a half years, the division has accelerated its efforts to fill the gap, by doing things like bringing students in for internships, co-ops or job shadowing.

CLEVELAND BUSINESS 700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1 1230 Phone: (216) 522-1 1383 www.crainscleveland.com Publisher Editor Managing editor Sections editor Associate editor/Akron Assistant editor Senior reporter Reporters

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Billing Credit

Jay Miller Government

While there’s been some uncertainty in the industry because of fluctuating oil prices, the University of Akron’s polymer-related graduates haven’t had trouble finding jobs, said Eric Amis, dean of the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering.

There is a continuing market for people with high technical skills.

Students in the master’s program are highly recruited, and the school’s PhD students have a nearly 100% placement rate, he said.

The university has continued to grow with the industry, hiring in areas like biomaterials and polymer models, Amis said.

Historically, as Akron moved from being a rubber city to a polymer city, the university served as a partner in that shift.

“Certainly, Ohio is an amazing place to be in the polymer business,” Amis said.

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VOL. 36, NO. 47

NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015

THE AKRON EDITION

Higher Education UA makes big push into data science P. A1

Marking 70th year with an expansion

P. 32-33

P. A2

Leadership on Main

Development

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Meijer looks to build in Northfield Center P. A5

Firm on plastics Rubber City, region have potential to thrive in polymer industry rmccafferty@crain.com @ramccafferty

Paul Boulier, vice president of business attraction for Team NEO, is optimistic about the outlook of the polymer industry.

That’s because, he said, there are positive global demand trends in the automotive, medical device, consumer products and electronics/electrical industries.

That’s a good thing for Akron, as the city — and Northeast Ohio overall — is well positioned in the polymer industry, Boulier said.

There are a lot of companies in the

High-end watches Lum-Tec finds place with collectors, military

Milestone: Weaver Fab & Finish

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

Business of Life

region in the value-added space, helping to make plastics and other polymer products work better, he said, and the region has access to the shale gas and natural gas liquids that are the building blocks of plastics.

“We’ve got a very strong capability here,” Boulier said.

While some of the world’s tire giants still have strongholds in what was once known as the “Rubber Capital of the World,” this reputation has largely become part of the past.

But Akron has built on that original area of expertise and retained strength in the polymer industry.

“Akron, while no longer the tire capital of the world, has been the global center of research for the in-

Entire contents © 2015 by Crain Communications Inc.

dustry for more than 100 years,” Surendra Chawla, senior director of external science and technology programs for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., said in an emailed statement.

“Goodyear and the University of Akron’s polymer center are the cornerstones of this industry knowledge, which now includes R&D operations for multiple international firms.

“Goodyear both contributes to, and benefits from, this concentrated knowledge base,” Chawla said.

Earlier this year, Team NEO took a look at the polymer and chemical-related companies in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, concentrated SEE PLASTICS, PAGE 35

United Way’s Jim Mullen P. A8

OM Group will leave E&Y Tower Firm’s headquarters, and 30 jobs, are moving from Cleveland to St. Louis

BY STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter

Scratch another name from the roster of Northeast Ohio-based corporations — and with it another 30 executive jobs — as the new owner of OM Group plans to move its corporate headquarters to St. Louis.

Jim Voss, who became CEO of OM Group as the deal was consummated at the end of October, said the

Apollo Management Group’s affiliated funds that purchased three OM divisions has different headquarters needs than OM had for its 2-year-old corporate headquarters on the 13th floor of Ernst & Young Tower, downtown Cleveland’s newest office building.

“When the decision was made to take out this lease, it was a different strategy and a bit pricey,” Voss said.

“The building is awesome, but the office is bigger than anything we SEE OM GROUP, PAGE 8

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Putting UA on map for data science New Mario Garzia-led center could evolve into new college at university

BY CHUCK SODER

Former Microsoft executive Mario Garzia has been given a big task — one that could eventually lead to the creation of a new college at the University of Akron.

The task: Turn the university into a school known for its expertise in data science.

Garzia is executive director of the tentatively titled Center for Data Science, Analytics and Information Technology.

“Data Science” is listed first for a reason. Garzia eventually wants the school to become a go-to place for students who want to study things like cybersecurity and mobile-device management, but his first priority is to create a data science program.

A certificate program and then a graduate degree.

He’ll almost certainly need to add new faculty and courses to do it. Will the university’s budget challenges stand in the way? Maybe not. In conjunction with the SEE DATA, PAGE A8

“I personally believe that data and data analytics fit into every discipline.”

— Mario Garzia, executive director, Center for Data Science

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z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BE WHERE YOU WANT TO BE

AKRON Milestone

Weaver Fab & Finishing marks 70th year

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When Jim Lauer and his partner decided to purchase custom manufacturer Weaver Fab & Finishing in 1998, it was an easy decision.

Founded in 1945 by Carl Weaver, the company was in great financial shape, Lauer said.

Weaver had been a sheet metal worker in the U.S Navy and started the Akron company by making downspouts.

When the comany went up for sale, Lauer “took one look at the books” and knew he wanted to buy the business.

Today, in its 70th year, Weaver Fab & Finishing makes metal parts for the aerospace, medical, food equipment, heating and cooling, packaging and robotics industries.

About 70% of its customer base is local, with the remaining out of state, Lauer said.

The company has a variety of capabilities, including fiber-laser cutting, robotic welding, glass beading, rolling, press break bending and assembly, among others. Prior to purchasing the Akron fabricator, Lauer owned a safety-equipment company and often made sales calls to companies like Weaver.

He said he’d walk out on the floor, see all the sparks and smoke, and think that kind of business looked like a lot more fun than “selling gloves.”

After Jim Lauer bought out his former partner, Marian Lauer came on board in 2012 as a co-owner with her husband. The company is in the final stages of obtaining its Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and Women Owned Small Business certifications, which will allow it to be part of the government’s System for Award Management and make it more attractive to customers who seek minority-owned vendors,

Marian and Jim Lauer recently moved Weaver Fab and Finishing to a new Akron location and invested in new equipment. (Contributed photo) Marian Lauer said.

Weaver has grown so much in recent years, it moved its 50 employees in spring into a 46,000-squarefoot facility on Home and Tallmadge avenues.

The company previously had about 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space spread out over five buildings on about four acres on Manchester Road in lower Akron. “[The move] has been really, really good for us,” said Marian Lauer, adding that being in one building makes communication much easier and has made operations more efficient. The biggest challenge was keeping up with orders as the company moved its operations over the

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course of a few months. It completed the move in April.

There were a few “stubbed toes,” Jim Lauer admitted, but overall the move went smoothly.

In addition to the new facility, Weaver has invested about $1.4 million in new equipment, he said.

Among the upgrades are a fiber laser cutting machine with an automated loading/unloading tower that has increased Weaver’s capacity in first operations and enables it to work with many types of sheet metals, Marian Lauer said. And a new hydraulic press brake with offline programming and tooling has dramatically decreased the company’s need to rework parts, she said.

The new equipment is part of Weaver’s push forward.

“We’re really ready to take [the company] to the next level,” Jim Lauer said.

Sales seem to indicate as much, with numbers showing 10% to 12% growth each year, he said. The company is on pace for $6 million in sales this year, he said.

Like most in the manufacturing industry, though, Weaver finds keeping a skilled workforce in place is a challenge, Marian Lauer said.

Finding precision welders is a particular challenge, she said, adding that among the new equipment is a robotic welder to help alleviate some of the pressure of finding, and keeping, people who are skilled at really delicate jobs.

When the company does find workers who do meet the skills criteria, Weaver works to keep them.

“We offer big-company benefits with a small-company atmosphere,” Jim Lauer said.

Because the company is family owned, “it truly is a family atmosphere,” he said.

With the move under its belt, Weaver’s plan is to continue with its customer base and continue to grow its sales, he said.

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Wherever I go, I always talk about being from Akron. Without those five letters, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

That’s why the LeBron James Family Foundation has partnered with The University of Akron to give everyone who graduates from our program the chance to get a full scholarship to attend UA. That’s our dream.

Whatever your dream is, whatever your passion is, you can accomplish it.

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Every day can’t be a bed of roses.

You’re going to have ups and downs.

Keep getting back up.

At The University of Akron, you can be sure you’re not by yourself on this journey.

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Join us.

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z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

AKRON

Making employees the boss Kent organization helps business owners consider workers when it’s time to sell

BY JUDY STRINGER When Select Machine Inc. founders Doug Beavers and Bill Sagaser were ready to step away, they didn’t leave the Kent-based machine shop to court potential buyers or – for that matter – they didn’t even pick up a phone.

They went right to the workers on the floor.

“When you sell a company such as ours, some bigger company will come and buy you up, but they do not really want anything to do with the company,” said Todd Brewster, one of those workers on the floor.

“They just want a customer list.

Eventually they will just shut it down. The previous owners did not want that to happen.”

With guidance from the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, based at Kent State University, Select Machine employees began to buy out the partners in 2005 with an initial purchase of 40%. The economic downturn slowed the planned transition timeline a bit, but eventually – by 2011, to be specific – Select Machine was a 100% worker-owned cooperative, according to Brewster, who is now the company’s president.

Employee ownership is hardly a new concept. But with the economy recovering and entrepreneurial boomers aging, OEOC director Roy Messing expects to see a growing number of companies transition into the hands of their employees, either via a worker-owned cooperative like Select Machine or the more widely used Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOP).

Messing bases his predication on the fact that aging business owners will face stiff competition on an open market packed with other companies up for sale. Employee purchase can offer some would-be sellers an attractive alternative.

“These businesses are getting grayer, and they are going to have to do something,” Messing said.

Top, with the help of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, Select Machine Inc. became 100% employeeowned in 2011. Left, Roy Messing, OEOC director, expects to see more companies become employeeowned. (Shane Wynn)

Coincidentally, Kent is also home to Davey Tree, the largest service company and largest Ohio-based company on the National Center for Employee Ownership list. Although not an OEOC client, Davey has been employee-owned for 35 years.

Rising tides

Industrial roots Kent State political science professor John Logue founded the OEOC in 1987. At the time, Logue wanted to help retain local jobs – namely those at risk in the struggling steel and manufacturing industries – by transitioning ownership to employees via ESOPs. Over the years, the nonprofit has expanded its focus. In the 1990s, it developed educational materials and outreach activities related succession planning through grants from the George Gund Foundation and the Cleveland Foundation.

“We started to see that some [business] owners were ready to transition,” Messing said, “but financially, structurally – however you want to look at it – the company itself was not.”

In the mid-2000s, the center added more resources on the cooperative side and helped launch the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland. That was about the time Logue

began talking with Select Machine.

Brewster said the OEOC met with owners and employees separately to gather information and gauge interest. It also funded an outside appraisal of the company’s worth.

Once the project appeared feasible on paper, Logue and Toledo attorney Mark Stewart, an expert in worker cooperatives who worked closely with the OEOC, sat down with the stakeholders and began drafting transition plans, bylaws and buy-sell agreements.

Both Logue and Stewart have since passed away. Logue died in 2009, at age 62, about a week after being diagnosed with cancer. Stewart died in 2011, at 64, following a

decade-long fight against multiple myeloma.

Despite their untimely deaths, the OEOC has continued to provide advice and technical assistance around the state and across the county. At last count, the center helped employees buy all or part of 92 companies, creating an estimated 15,000 employee-owners.

Along with Select Machine, that pool includes at least a dozen Akron-area companies, such as Stow-Glen Retirement Village, which has been 100% employeeowned since 2010, and Sharon Center manufacturer EBO Group Inc., a seven-year employee-owned company.

It’s surprisingly hard to say how many employee-owned companies there are nationally.

The United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives, a nonprofit advocacy organization out of Oakland, Calif., claims somewhere between 300 to 400 worker-owned cooperatives are located in the United States. Pinpointing an exact number is difficult because some state laws don’t provide for worker- or employee-owned cooperatives, Messing said. In such cases, employees form a conventional corporation.

Even for ESOPs – most of which file annually with the U.S. Department of Labor – current participation figures are “guesstimates.”

Michael Keeling, president of the Washington, D.C.-based ESOP Association, pegs the number between 7,000 and 8,000. He does that because more precise counts are not timely.

The latest available retirement plan data from the Labor Department was filed in 2013, which means companies were reporting information from 2012. In that year, just north of 6,900 offered ESOP plans.

“What’s important,” Keeling said, “is that number really hasn’t

changed since the early 1990s.”

Keeling, like Messing, believes retiring baby boomers will be the rising tide that finally lifts the employee-owned boat.

“You cash in your chips sooner or later,” he said.

When it comes to “cashing in chips,” employee buyouts have a few advantages over outside sales. For one thing, Messing said, the sale of company stock to an ESOP – and in some cases an employee-owned cooperative – can be structured to defer capital gains taxes. So even though federal law requires owners to accept a fair market price for their businesses with an ESOP exit, the deferral might more than make up for any premium an outside buyer would have paid.

There also are ongoing tax benefits associated with ESOPs. Because these plans operate much like qualified retirement plans, such as a 401(k), earnings are tax exempt. That creates a lot of cash flow, Messing said. Sellers who have helped finance buyouts, he explained, “can charge a reasonable rate and make more than if the money was sitting in a bank somewhere.”

“It’s not an annuity,” he said, “but it does kind of create an annuity that helps afford a selling owner cash flow coming in year after year.”

Protecting legacies Transferring the company to employees also allows owners to protect their hard-built legacy from buyers who might seek to dissolve or dismantle the company. Then there’s the ability of owners to maintain some level of control while gradually cashing in their shares.

Third-party purchasers often demand immediate control of the acquired business, according to Brunswick-based Columbia Chemical chairman Bill Rosenberg. Rosenberg bought the company from his father in 1998 and initiated an ESOPstructured sale to employees just seven years later. Workers bought the last chunk of Columbia Chemical in 2010.

“An ESOP allows you to sell the company a little bit at a time, which is a good thing,” Rosenberg said. “It allows you to maintain control during the process.”

Altruism – as Pollyanna as that sounds – is often a factor as well. In the case of Select Machine and hundreds of employee buyouts like it, Messing said, exiting owners have been able to ensure their workers aren’t left jobless. Moreover, it is a great way to reward longtime staff.

Sandra Reid, vice president of corporate communications and strategic plan administration at Davey Tree, said the company, like others that have gone down the employeeownership path, did so because they recognize the important role employees have played in its success.

“There is a desire to provide an opportunity for employees to own a stake in the company they have helped build and continue to build,” Reid said.

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Meijer eyes Northfield Center store

BY DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com @DanShingler

The Northfield Center-Macedonia area might get a new superstore soon.

Michigan-based Meijer has an agreement to buy land on the border of the two communities, where it hopes to build a major store. The site is just inside Northfield Center on state Route 82, behind the Spitzer Chevrolet dealership.

“We refer to it as Macedonia, but, yeah, we are interested in that site, and we do have a contract on that site,” said Meijer spokesman Frank Guglielmi.

The company is purchasing land for the project – about 25 acres – from Northeast Ohio auto dealer Alan Spitzer, whose company Spitzer Management now owns the property.

Spitzer said the project is one zoning change away from being approved, because a portion of the site is now zoned residential and would need a commercial designation.

Northfield Center zoning inspector Donald Saunders said the matter is in front of the township’s zoning commission. Spitzer officials submitted a zoning amendment application on Nov. 4.

A public hearing on the matter is scheduled for Dec. 9.

Saunders said the zoning-change process could take up to six months

to complete.

If that happens, though, the project will apparently result in a major new retailer for the area. Much like Walmart’s so-called “supercenters,” Meijer tends to build big stores that carry not only groceries, but a laundry list of other household and consumer goods.

Spitzer said the Meijer representatives his company is working with said the company plans to build a major store on the parcel.

“It’s going to be a 290,000square-foot building, and they’re budgeting $20 million for it – so it’s a big investment,” Spitzer said.

“They’ll have around 300 employees.”

While not confirming nor disputing Spitzer’s numbers, Guglielmi said the company’s standard superstore is 190,000 square feet, plus a gas station/convenience store, and that $20 million is a typical investment in a Meijer store.

The area, situated near state Route 8 and I-271, recently has become more attractive to developers, in part because Route 8 was widened between I-271 and state Route 303, and accessibility was increased.

Spitzer said he has seen increased interest in his property, mostly from developers of retail projects, since the road was converted from two lanes to a fullblown highway in 2009.

Spitzer purchased 45 acres at the site in 1989, thinking he might want to expand his Chevrolet dealership.

Meijer hopes to build a superstore on the Northfield Center-Macedonia border. (Contributed photo) That was not necessary, but he held on to the land as an investment, he said. Spitzer also said he would keep the remaining 20 acres of the property, which he said is mostly zoned residential and could provide future home sites.

Guglielmi said it was too soon to discuss the specifics of the project, including a potential opening date.

But he said it is part of a larger plan on the part of Meijer to expand its presence in Ohio.

“We have four sites that we’re engaged with. We have Mentor, where we actually own the site, and we have sites under contract in Stow, in Avon and Macedonia,” Guglielmi said.

“And there’s no secret that we’ve been talking to folks in Geauga County, where the Geauga Lake (Park) site is, but that’s not under contract yet.”

A private company, Meijer does not report its earnings.

However, Forbes reports that the company has revenues of $15.8 billion a year.

Nationwide, Meijer has 65,000 employees and 223 stores in six states, Guglielmi said.

The company has been expanding elsewhere as well, including in its home state of Michigan and Wisconsin, where Guglielmi said it opened its first store this year.

Crain’s Associate Editor Sue Walton contributed to this report.

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z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

AKRON ENTREPRENEURSHIP: Tobin Buckner

Rise of conscious capitalism: Companies learn to be principled and still profitable Tobin Buckner is JumpStart’s Akron entrepreneurial community manager and will contribute a monthly blog about entrepreneurism in the region.

Let’s play a game. You’re out shopping for a pair of shoes and you find yourself having to choose between two brands of similar quality.

One pair of shoes come from a company that supports a philan-

thropic cause you care about.

The other pair comes from a traditional manufacturer.

Which do you choose?

If you answered pair No. 1, you are part of the growing group of con-

sumers who are more likely to buy products from businesses that weave some form of philanthropic mission into their business plans.

Companies like TOMS (shoes) and Warby Parker (eyewear) are just a

couple of examples of modern businesses that are trendy, profitable and philanthropic.

Their One for One and Buy a Pair Give a Pair programs give their products a sort of “designer” cachet usually reserved for high-fashion brands.

Right here in Akron, we have a good example of this phenomenon in Jaswig, a young startup whose successful crowdfunding campaign efforts I profiled in September.

The company makes wooden standing desks, and though its product is a little more expensive than one from a typical big-box retailer, Jaswig uses environmentally friendly materials, donates 10% of its profits to charity and has a mission to work with schools to get students more active, healthy and engaged.

You can’t get that at a typical furniture store, for any price.

Theories vary on why conscious capitalism is riding so high right now.

Optimists think it’s the beginning of a total principle-driven shift in consumer patterns. Pessimists think of it more as a marketing tool to reach privileged millennials who want desperately to feel like they are making the world a better place with each swipe of their credit cards.

Maybe it’s a bit of both.

Either way, a whole new crop of U.S. businesses are reminding the old guard that principles and profit do not have to be mutually exclusive.

In fact, they often go very well together.

The phenomenon even seems to be gaining steam among the firms that fund many of these young businesses.

The venture capital industry is well known for being dominated by white men (nearly 90% of all investment professionals are Caucasian males and just 1% of venture-backed startups are headed by AfricanAmericans).

But increasingly forward-thinking leaders are proving the advantages of a different model – one that focuses on building more diverse teams and investing in more diverse businesses.

According to these venture capital leaders, it’s not about charity or public relations; they have simply come to realize that an industry dominated by one race or gender leaves too much of the team on the bench. As such, the industry will never be as strong as it could and should be.

It turns out promoting diversity isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also a competitive advantage.

So, however you feel about charitable shoe companies, millennial buying habits or diverse investing initiatives, it appears that the rise of conscious capitalism is about much more than marketing; it’s about proving that you can be principled and profitable at the same time.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS z NOVEMBER 23 - 29, 2015 z PAGE A7

ChemSpec sees bright future New parent company Safic-Alcan can help Uniontown firm expand in North America, exec says

BY CHRIS SWEENEY RUBBER & PLASTICS NEWS

ChemSpec Ltd. has a familiar parent company.

Safic-Alcan, a Paris-based specialty chemicals distributor, recently acquired a majority stake of the Uniontown-based chemical and polymer distributor that serves the rubber, adhesives and sealants markets.

“This transaction is in line with the strategic vision of the group to expand geographically in North America while developing business on its own without any restriction,” Safic-Alcan CEO Martial Lecat said in a statement. The French firm now owns 75% of ChemSpec, according to the companies.

The familiarity? Safic-Alcan had been involved as a minority investor.

According to ChemSpec marketing director Chris Wagner, ChemSpec was spun off from Safic-Alcan in 2003 when the firm wanted to leave the U.S. market. At that time, Dave Moreland became president of ChemSpec. He and ChemSpec’s 18 employees will remain in place, the companies said at the time of the announced acquisition. Wagner spoke about the deal at the recent International Elastomer Conference in Cleveland.

metic business.

She has eight years of experience, the last five in sales, with an undergraduate degree in chemistry.

Wagner said she has a very good mix of technical expertise and sales experience. Wagner said Safic-Alcan eventually will do the same thing with its life science and pharmaceu-

ticals businesses. Safic-Alcan said ChemSpec’s product range soon will include coatings, plastics and active ingredients for pharmacy.

“We are extremely pleased with Safic-Alcan’s keen interest in ChemSpec Ltd. and their vision for the North American market,” Moreland said in a statement.

“The growth of ChemSpec Ltd. is the result of our excellent supply base of quality manufacturers and service providers, partnerships with our many customers and our dedicated employees. ChemSpec Ltd. and Safic-Alcan hold the same core values in developing business relationships, which will continue to serve us ex-

Believe in a better you.

“It’s giving us some surplus capital and equity to play with.”

— Chris Wagner marketing director, ChemSpec ChemSpec has 190 customers, and its revenue forecast for 2015 is expected to exceed $41 million, an increase from $36 million in 2014.

Wagner said the firm’s sales were about $5 million when it was first founded and has grown every year except for 2008, when companies were battling the recession.

“It’s giving us some surplus capital and equity to play with,” he said.

“We’re looking at expanding in North America. We do have a Canadian distribution partner, and we’re gaining traction in Mexico. But we’re also looking at the possibility to enter into purchase agreements or a merger with companies throughout North America.”

Safic-Alcan also will bring ChemSpec into new markets, ones the French firm already has a presence in overseas. The process already has started in the cosmetics industry — Wagner said Marie Graet came over from Paris to serve as a sales manager for ChemSpec’s U.S.-based cos-

tremely well moving forward.”

Safic-Alcan is a multinational distributor of specialty chemicals and provides a large range of polymers, materials and additives for the rubber, coatings, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics industries.

It posted revenues of nearly $445 million in 2014.

Get the personal attention you deserve from your health insurance partner.

Contact your independent insurance agent or visit www.summacare.com.

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AKRON Leadership on Main

United Way’s Jim Mullen now turning lens to Summit County’s challenges

BY DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com @DanShingler

Akron community leaders got a chance to hear from the new head of United Way of Summit County, as Jim Mullen spoke at the Nov. 11 Leadership on Main event.

The group did not have to look far for this month’s speaker, as Mullen is in this year’s Leadership Akron class, the 32nd for the organization devoted to grooming the city’s future leaders.

Audience members learned that they have a compassionate man in a tough job working on behalf of their community, as Mullen summed up some of the best things about his job and some of the worst problems afflicting the city and its residents.

On that last point, Mullen saved some of the most alarming information for the end of his talk, which

Editor’s note: This is a recap of the Leadership Akron Alumni group’s most recent event from its Leadership on Main series, which offers a monthly program featuring conversations with Akron’s civic and business leaders. was a question-and-answer session with Mark Krohn, a partner with the Brouse McDowell law firm and a Leadership Akron alumnus. As Mullen talked about United Way’s efforts to fight “generational poverty” — when a family lives in poverty from one generation to the next — Krohn asked him what portion of Akron’s population currently live in poverty.

“We estimate, just in Akron proper, not Summit County — 82,000,” Mullen replied, to a few murmurs of surprise from the crowd inside the lobby of Canal Park, home of the

Jim Mullen RubberDucks, where the meeting was held. And it got a bit worse.

“In 2009, pre-economic downturn, there were 22,000 families — not people, but families — on food assistance in Summit County. In

2015, last month? Forty-seven thousand families. I do get emotional about this,” said Mullen, who had earlier discussed his tendency to sometimes tear up when talking about things dear to him.

Delivering dire statistics is part of the job for Mullen, who will be helping United Way of Summit County raise money.

The organization recently set records, raising more than $12 million a year since 2013 for area nonprofits.

Mullen, who returned to Northeast Ohio in May to take the helm in Summit County after working with the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, said his organization will be focused on better planning its spending so that its various initiatives are better aligned.

It also will focus on addressing the area’s long-term needs and reversing some worrisome trends, such as increases in the city’s poverty rate.

“The metrics for success are going the other way, and there’s going to come a time when we have to make a decision: Do we want to try to find the world’s largest Band-Aid? Or do we actually want to solve the problem?” Mullen asked. “My vote is let’s go solve the problem – and I hope many of you feel the same way.”

It would be a mistake, though, to take Mullen’s focus on the area’s problems to mean he’s not happy to be here. Mullen said that working for the United Way in Northeast Ohio, where he still has family, is a dream job for him.

“This is a wonderful place. I could not imagine landing in a better place than Akron, Ohio, and Summit County,” he said.

But, he added, he also wants to see the community coalesce to address its problems, including by working with the United Way. “We have to want to do this,” he told listeners.

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$40 million in cuts the school made this summer, it created a $10 million fund for strategic initiatives.

And president Scott Scarborough told Crain’s that the new center is “a very important strategic initiative,” making it eligible to apply for that funding.

How important is it?

“I actually believe that in the long term — maybe in the intermediate term — this thing may eventually evolve into its own college,” he said.

The seed for the idea to create the center emerged from conversations Scarborough had with officials from both University Hospitals and the J.M. Smucker Co. Those organizations, like many other companies in Northeast Ohio, can’t find enough tech talent.

And they both mentioned their interest in data analytics.

With Scarborough’s encouragement, a few colleges at the university started planning to turn that idea into a center in 2014. Then Scarborough met Garzia — an Akron alum and donor.

Garzia was just about to retire from a 17-year career at Microsoft.

There, he led data analytics projects related to Windows and Bing. Most recently, he built a team that analyzed data related to the company’s online services.

The notion of returning to the university appealed to him, and not just because he and his wife, Marjorie, went to school there.

He liked the idea of working for what he described as an organization striving to be much better than it is today.

“I really believe that this is just the beginning,” he said.

Garzia, who started in September, has been talking to companies from Cleveland to Columbus, learning about their needs and challenges.

He’s confirmed that there’s a strong demand for data sciences skills and tech skills in general, he said. Some companies are trying to figure out how they can start analyzing data generated by employees, customers and even machines.

Others are hiring people today.

“I even received a job description today from a big company looking for people,” he said during an interview on Nov. 5.

The university could launch a data science certificate program next fall, at the earliest, Garzia said.

It would be open to university students and people in the business world.

Then it’ll start working toward a degree program. The details are up in the air, but it would involve a lot of practical experience. In addition to co-ops and internships, students also could end up working on projects for companies while at the university, being mentored by faculty.

And it will “be totally cross disciplinary. I personally believe that data and data analytics fit into every discipline,” he said.

The University of Akron isn’t the only Northeast Ohio school building a data science program. Case Western Reserve University started offering an undergraduate data science minor during the last school year. It expects to offer a major next fall.

Akron is focusing on a graduate degree because Garzia said it would be hard to cram the amount of knowledge it takes to be effective in

University of Akron president Scott Scarborough (left) and Center for Data Science, Analytics and Information Technology director Mario Garzia. (Contributed photo) the world of data science into a bachelor’s degree. The field involves statistics, computer science and communication skills, so it’s good if someone is proficient in one or two of those areas before trying to become a data science specialist, he said.

Garzia focused on the math side: He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the subject at the University of Akron. He also earned a doctorate in mathematical systems theory from Case Western.

Despite that math-heavy background, Garzia — who also worked for Bell Labs — noted that communication skills shouldn’t be overlooked. Because after you spot a

trend in the data, you have to convince someone to do something about it.

“As a data scientist, if you don’t influence others to take action, you will fail,” he said.

Some local companies are certainly hiring data experts already.

Progressive Insurance is offering a data science course for a group of analysts as part of a pilot project, according to Pawan Divakarla, data and analytics business leader at Progressive.

He commended Akron “for being so relevant in this emerging tech trend and striking while the iron is hot.”

Explorys, a health care data ana-

lytics company acquired by IBM in April, also is in hiring mode: The company had 26 open positions as of Nov. 13, according to IBM’s website.

Doug Meil, an Explorys employee who also organizes a local Meetup group for people who use Hadoop data analytics software, says that the market for people with data skills is “extremely competitive.”

Demand has exploded in recent years, he said, describing how the first Hadoop conference he went to in 2009 attracted about 500 people.

“Last month in New York, Strata + Hadoop World was 5,000 people,” he said.