Crain's Cleveland Business

VOL. 37, NO. 48

NOVEMBER 28 - DECEMBER 4, 2016

Business of Life

Source Lunch Paul Clark discusses banking, a revived city and more. Page 20

On your mark, get set, go-kart — the next big team builder. Page 19

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

FINANCE

Private equity firm puts diversity at its core

The List Northeast Ohio’s biggest banks. Page 23 MANUFACTURING

POLITICS

Lawyer looks back in time

By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com @millerjh

Emulating his great-grandfather, James Robenalt has juggled several careers, which has allowed him to learn about several presidents — as well as his great-grandfather.

His great-grandfather, William W. Durbin, was a small-town Ohio lawyer from Kenton in the early 20th century and a behindthe-scenes Democratic activist who played a role in the presidential elections of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. He also was a magician (a one-time president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, no less) who occasionally performed for Warren Harding, a future president from nearby Marion.

Robenalt also is a lawyer, a partner at Thompson Hine LLP in Cleveland. But he’s not a magician. Instead, he’s a writer who, in part because of his great-grandfather, writes about presidents. So far, he has written about two of them — Harding and Richard Nixon — and he’s working on a book about FDR. He believes Harding is underestimated in part because he was unfairly tarnished by scandals that roiled Washington after his sudden death, two-and-a-half years into his term of office in 1923. Nixon, though, who resigned in 1973 to avoid impeachment, is getting a fair shake from history, Robenalt believes, because he obstructed justice with the Watergate coverup.

And Robenalt should know, since he has listened to the famous Watergate tapes.

SEE ROBENALT, PAGE 21

By JEREMY NOBILE @JeremyNobile jnobile@crain.com

There’s another new private equity firm taking root in Cleveland, but it’s the firm’s focus on diversity in its investment strategy that seems to be setting it apart in a crowded and growing industry.

The Inkwell Group launched earlier this month with base offices in Cleveland and Washington, D.C. Co-founders Marques Martin, 33, and Chijioke Asomugha, 36, will be looking nationwide for deals, but focusing predominantly on lower middle market manufacturing and service companies with up to $10 million in annual EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).

Besides having strong ties to the Cleveland investment market — Asomugha was formerly an executive vice president who oversaw mergers and acquisitions at Solon-based manufacturer ERICO International Corp. and a principal investor at Cyprium Partners, while Martin’s résumé includes overseeing KeyBank’s small business team and serving as a principal at The Riverside Co. in its micro-cap fund — a presence here underscores the opportunity they see for finding deals in Northeast Ohio and the greater Midwest.

The challenge, of course, will be finding the best companies flying under competitors’ radar, particularly as fundraising in the private equity space has been so strong.

That’s resulting in a buildup of dry powder as more dollars chase fewer deals, Martin acknowledges, creating the seller’s market that’s prevailing today as business valuations grow.

SEE INKWELL, PAGE 4 Entire contents © 2016 by Crain Communications Inc.

James Robenalt’s book, “January 1973,” details a tumultuous month for Richard Nixon.

Photographs: National Archive; Jay Miller

Crain’s

Akron, lab pair up to bring new polymers

By DAN SHINGLER dshinger@crain.com @DanShingler

The University of Akron has a huge new partner with big plans for what it views as the nation’s top school for polymer science research and technology.

Together, the university and Sandia National Laboratories hope to make large strides in applying new material science to advanced manufacturing, transferring new technology to industry and find- Amis ing new ways to make some of the smallest things mankind has ever created.

Sandia, the university’s new partner thanks to a September agreement to coordinate on research and share in the benefits, might not be a household name, but it is a big deal on the nation’s tech scene and one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s major facilities.

The lab’s work, largely funded by the DOE, is broad-based. Sandia is a chief source of research and development for systems that control, manage and monitor nuclear weapons. It also works on technology for large energy projects and does a lot of science and development in areas such as microscopic 3-D printing. If you need a giant solar array, a supercomputer or the world’s largest X-ray generator, you can find them at Sandia.

Between the lab’s direct employees and a few thousand contractors who work there, about 12,000 people work at Sandia, said Mike Valley, the lab’s senior manager for materials science research and development.

SEE AKRON, PAGE 22

General & In-house Counsel

Meet them on Pages 13-18

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PA G E 3

Forest City may not go far for new headquarters

By STAN BULLARD

Forest City’s Linton put its preference less precisely, saying it wants “to stay in the Central Business District with easy access to Public Square as about a third of our employees use public transportation.”

sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter

The front door to Forest City Realty Trust Inc.’s new corporate headquarters may be across Public Square at the 57-story Key Tower. That’s just steps — about 170 of them — from its Terminal Tower home.

As the Cleveland-based real estate titan hunts for a new location for its headquarters after selling Terminal Tower to Willoughby-based K&D Group, downtown office brokers consider it an open secret that Forest City is bound for Key Tower.

One source familiar with the situation said the parties are in the final stages of negotiating a deal but no pens have been put to paper. He asked not to be identified because he’s not cleared to speak for the companies.

Jeff Linton, Forest City spokesman, said in a Nov. 22 phone interview that Key Tower “is certainly one of the buildings we would give serious consideration to, but we don’t have any announcement to make today.”

Moreover, if Forest City cuts a deal for as many as eight floors at 127 Public Square, it may help owner Columbia Property Trust Inc., of Atlanta, Ga., and prospective owner Valley View-based Millennia Housing consummate the sale of Cleveland’s tallest building by preening the trophy tower’s performance for lenders.

With Forest City saying it is in the market for 160,000 square feet to house its 400-person corporate staff, a deal would slash Key Tower’s volume of available space by half. Moreover, Millennia plans to move its headquarters to Key if it closes the deal. Both office moves would make the building more likely to land financing for a sale.

Simply put, both moves would make it easier to underwrite a multi-million-dollar loan for a 1.4-million-square-foot building with just 40,000 square feet of empty space. If Forest City doesn’t consummate a deal there and Millennia doesn’t move there, the office tower as it stands has 245,000 square feet of vacant space, a 17% vacancy rate, according to CoStar, an online realty data provider.

The big picture

Forest City could be shifting its headquarters from the Terminal Tower to the 57-story Key Tower. (Stan Bullard)

Key to the deal Millennia CEO Frank Sinito declined comment Nov. 22 when asked if his firm is wooing Forest City as a prospective tenant for Ohio’s tallest office tower. However, Sinito has in the past confirmed Millennia is in pursuit of the building and talked about plans to upgrade the building and attached 400-room Marriott Corp. hotel.

A deal with Columbia is also so close that Millennia announced it plans to shut The Club at Key Center after it completes a purchase. Moreover, the trophy office tower has vacancy because it commands almost the highest rents in town — and finding prospects willing to pay such rates has been a challenge for the building. The 1992-vintage tower is already home to three top-tier firms such as Squire Patton Boggs, Thompson Hine and BakerHostetler, as well

as accounting and consulting firm heavyweight Deloitte.

For Columbia Property’s part, spokesman Bud Perrone issued an email on Forest City’s potential tenancy saying, “Columbia Property Trust is under contract to sell the Key Center and anticipates closing on the transaction soon. We have not been privy to any conversations that the buyer may be having with prospective tenants.”

Although several buildings in downtown Cleveland could accommodate a tenant Forest City’s size, key requirements appear to be the ability to put staffers on adjoining floors and a preference for staying on Public Square. That knocks out most of the other contenders. Moreover, 200 Public Square no longer has enough empty space to accommodate Forest City.

Andrew Coleman, a JLL Inc. senior vice president, said his client, Fifth

Third Center, 600 Superior Avenue, vied for the Forest City tenancy.

However, Coleman said he felt it did not make the short list because the realty company wants adjoining floors on the same elevator bank.

Fifth Third had proposed moving tenants around to put together enough space to house the company, but on different floors and different sides of the modernist office building.

“There is also a clear preference for staying near Public Square,” Coleman said, something echoed by several other downtown office leasing agents.

The word about the Public Square focus is the same from Tom Fox, a JLL managing director who handles leasing at Tower at Erieview, which has the space to accommodate Forest City but won’t under the building owner’s plans to convert a third of the skyscraper to residential use.

Forest City also suffered through lean and rich times for the city on Public Square as Terminal Tower became its headquarters in 1994 and its 1985 purchase of the building and associated properties put the rising, suburban-based developer on the map locally.

Now Public Square is the place to be in downtown Cleveland, if only for a snack or fresh air downtown after a massive renovation. For Forest City’s part, it’s now a national realty developer with holdings from coast to coast. In August, it sold Terminal Tower to apartment and office building owner K&D, which plans to add 200 apartments to the building, mostly in office space that Forest City agreed to vacate by 2018.

The Terminal sale is part of Forest City’s plan to shed properties that are not in key markets such as New York and Dallas as part of its quest to strengthen its stock price. The firm has already shed multiple lines of business and transformed itself into a real estate investment trust earlier this year in hopes of boosting its currency with Wall Street.

The only building Forest City still owns downtown is Post Office Plaza, 1500 West Third Street, considered an early favorite to become the company’s new headquarters.

However, leasing space at Key Tower means Forest City does not have to undertake costly updates from its own pocketbook for Post Office Plaza. Insiders see the building, which has massive floors as a more likely prospect for staff-rich back office operations than a corporate headquarters.

Forest City’s search for a new headquarters is being handled by CBRE Inc.’s tenant-occupier team led by Chandler Converse, a managing director in the firm’s Cleveland office.

Asked Nov. 22 if Forest City is bound for Key Tower, Converse said, “I have no comment. And put that in the paper.”

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But those are simply the challenges for any investor in today’s market.

To set itself apart from others — and capitalize on a building body of evidence showing that diverse boards and executives result in stronger companies — the firm is building a goal of diversity into its investment approach.

It’s a pitch the duo was working on as their professional work connected them together in Cleveland as each dreamed of starting their own business. While not entirely novel, it’s an approach few firms expressively embrace.

“Private equity firms are popping up every day, and they all tend to say something very similar,” said Martin, who is running Inkwell’s Cleveland base. “There is proven research supporting the case for diverse management teams and diverse boards. It helps drive value. And that’s what a private equity firm should do.

“We think some people are just leaving this lever off,” he added, “or simply not attacking it the way we are going to go about it.”

According to The National Association of Investment Companies, an industry association of diverse-owned and emerging manager private equity firms and hedge funds, an analysis of financial returns of NAIC firms between 1998-2011 showed those companies significantly outperforming the broader private equity market.

The study — their most recent analysis — showed NAIC firms achieving investment returns on average of 20.9%, compared to 11.8% for all U.S. private equity. NAIC firms also saw returning capital to inves-

“There is proven research supporting the case for diverse management teams and diverse boards. It helps drive value. And that’s what a private equity firm should do.”

Marques Martin, Inkwell co-founder

tors at 160%, compared to about 67% for the broader market.

For Inkwell, when the company makes control investments, the goal will be to inject diverse people into executive and boards roles, possibly expanding boards in some cases to take on more people.

That approach would likely work better for smaller companies the firm is looking for anyhow, Martin said. In many cases, those are led by small, homogeneous teams anyway. And while that may not be an inherently bad thing, the facts are that diverse leadership in terms of race and gender generally leads to stronger businesses and, in the for-profit invest-

ment industry, better returns.

“Smaller companies tend to have incomplete management teams as it is,” Martin said. “The notion that we’re going to build their management teams tends to be less controversial to begin with. And with the ability to influence these companies versus larger companies by making some key hires at the top level, we can grow a culturally diverse culture.”

Besides being a smart strategy, the diversity is of personal importance to this team as well, Asomugha said.

“We do truly believe in this inclusive model,” Asomugha said. “It’s not just about having the best and brightest people, but having equal representation in these companies to drive value. It’s a way you can spark innovation and growth in these companies.”

With two associates, Inkwell currently includes four people. They’re currently looking for investments on an ad hoc basis.

If things go “according to plan,” Martin said, the whole team will grow to seven before the end of next year. When they’re ready to raise their first formal fund and eventually debut it within the next two years, they plan to have a team of about 20.

They plan to do between two to four deals by then.

In a private equity sector ripe with players and capital, the diversity message may not only help Inkwell differentiate itself from others, but, according to the numbers, it could result in even better returns.

And that’s a message that speaks for itself.

“The reception has been warm from that group (of investors),” Asomugha said. “There’s a lot of interest in what we’re trying to do, and that’s been helpful from the fundraising standpoint as we begin our outreach.

We’re excited to bring this differentiated model to the marketplace.”

Transtar Holding Co. files for bankruptcy Auto parts maker Transtar Holding Co. of Walton Hills filed for bankruptcy protection and entered into an agreement to restructure its balance sheet to reduce long-term debt and improve liquidity.

The company on Sunday, Nov. 20, filed for protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York with a “prepackaged” Chapter 11 plan.

In a news release, Transtar said

key terms of the restructuring agreement “include a debt reduction of approximately $290 million and approximately $74 million in new money financing.” The agreement “is supported by holders owning more than 98.8% of the company’s first lien debt and the company’s equity sponsor,” Transtar said in the release.

Edward H. Orzetti, CEO of Transtar, said the moves “represent an im-

portant and positive step forward in our efforts to strengthen Transtar’s financial position. We will emerge from this restructuring as a stronger company with a more flexible capital structure.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the plan calls for Transtar’s senior lenders, led by Greenwich, Conn.-based Silver Point Capital, “to swap about $425 million in debt for 100% of the equity in the reorganized company.”

A Silver Point lending affiliate “is providing Transtar with up to $69.7 million in bankruptcy financing in order for the company to continue operating during the chapter 11 case,” according to The Journal.

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PA G E 5

ROE Dental’s new home is more spacious

By SCOTT SUTTELL ssuttell@crain.com @ssuttell

ROE Dental Laboratory, a 90-yearold maker of functional and aesthetic dental restorations, has set itself up for the future with a new home in Independence that’s about triple the size of its former location in Garfield Heights.

The company has been in the new building, at 7165 E. Pleasant Valley Road, for about six months. The 40,000-square-foot structure, which ROE Dental bought for about $1 million, had served as a data center for a national wireless carrier. As a result, it was, relatively speaking, in a good position to accommodate ROE Dental’s $3.5 million buildout as the company moves toward greater digital fabrication/3-D printing of its products, said president B.J. Kowalski.

“By expanding our space, we will be able to meet our increasing production demands and accommodate future technologies, all of which improve the products we manufacture,” said Kowalski, who has run the family-owned business for about 12 years since taking over as president from his father.

ROE Dental has about 125 employees in the Independence space. Kowalski said that as the company grew in recent years, it began looking for a new home base, as the Garfield Heights building did not have enough space to accommodate the company’s parking and expanded production needs. He declined to disclose the company’s annual sales.

(Cuyahoga County records show ROE Dental sold the Garfield Heights building this month for about $366,000.)

The Independence building in-

ROE Dental Laboratory has moved into a 40,000-square-foot space in Independence. (Contributed photos)

cludes features such as a 100-seat conference center available to ROE Dental clients and vendors; a full-building backup power system to ensure uninterrupted product quality; and areas dedicated to consultations with dentists and their patients, and to training courses.

There’s also a modern kitchen and an outside eating area for employees, Kowalski said.

Kowalski said the investment in the building was crucial for ROE Dental, which finds itself competing in an industry space increasingly focused on digital production — a far cry from the company’s founding in 1926 until just a few years ago, when the industry was dominated by mom-and-pop operations using traditional fabrication techniques.

About 70% of ROE Dental’s clients are individual dentists, but business from group practices is growing.

A recent study from SmarTech Publishing found revenues from additive manufacturing in the dental sector have grown almost 12% since 2015. The dental industry “continues to be one of the strongest targets for development of new 3-D printers, materials and applications,” the study found.

Kowalski said about 70% of the company’s clients are individual dentists, but the share of business from group practices is rising as dentistry moves to more of a corporate model.

The company’s client base also is increasingly national, Kowalski said.

In addition to the headquarters in Independence, ROE Dental has small operations in Columbus and Martins Ferry, Ohio, near Wheeling, W.Va.

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The Dish: Susan Condon Love

Patrons taking notice of Polaris’ esteemed culinary program It was a typical lunch hour at Polaris Career Center in Middleburg Heights.

In equal numbers, backpack-carrying teenagers and adults of all ages filed purposefully through the front doors of the vocational center.

Students, in grades seven through 12, were heading for classes. The adults? They were looking forward to the first of two lunchtime sittings in the student-run restaurant, Mise en Place.

On the menu that day, in addition to salads and fresh soups, were chicken Rockefeller, baked with fresh spinach, Swiss cheese and bacon; herb-crusted pork loin, sliced and served on butter-whipped potatoes with maple-whiskey barbecue sauce and fresh vegetables; and Canadian walleye fillet, big enough to hang over both ends of the plate and served with fresh vegetables and a side of homemade tartar sauce. Those with room for more could choose from apple walnut upside-down pie or white chocolate raspberry cheesecake, or walk down the hallway to a little pastry shop filled with eclairs, cakes and cupcakes.

All the tempting fare was made by students, served by students and finessed to culinary excellence under the tutelage of professional chefs.

Polaris Career Center, which provides career-technical education and college credit for high school students interested in aeronautics, automotive technology, baking and pastry arts, chef training, construction and criminal justice, has partnerships with Berea-Midpark, Fairview, Olmsted Falls, Brooklyn, North Olmsted and Strongsville high schools.

Polaris’ chef and pastry training programs are receiving particular attention recently, thanks to a national culinary competition win. Five Polaris students in the chef training program in May won the national title at the 2016 National ProStart Invitational Culinary Team Competition in Dallas.

“The event, presented by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation, provides a platform for students across the United States to showcase their culinary talents in a real-world setting,” said Doug Miller, director of community outreach at the career center.

The students won $5,000 in scholarship money, to be divided among team members. In addition to the national title, Polaris’ teams have won seven consecutive state culinary championships. Ten teams of high school students, nearly 400 kids in total, competed in the National ProStart Invitational.

In the challenge, the Polaris team had to present a three-course meal to a panel of certified chefs and exhibit comprehensive skills in creativity, communication, teamwork, organization, time management, skill level, safety and sanitation. The team had 60 minutes and two butane burners to complete the task. No ovens or electrical appliances were permitted.

High school-level culinary schools such as Polaris — which dedicates more than 9,600 square feet of classroom/kitchen/retail space for its three culinary and food-production programs, currently with 86 students — are increasingly fulfilling a need for talented and trained employees for Northeast Ohio’s restaurant scene.

Culinary programs are popular.

Other area schools offering culinary

Chef Chris Olszewski shows a Polaris Career Center student the correct presentation of an entree. (Susan Love for Crain’s)

Susan Condon Love is a freelance writer who was an editor and writer at The Plain Dealer, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, the Savannah (Ga.) Morning News and The Annapolis Capital.

programs include the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Lakewood School District, Cuyahoga Valley Career Center in Brecksville, Lorain County Joint Vocational School in Oberlin, Auburn Career Center in Painesville and the Portage Lakes Career Center, among others.

“It’s great to see the hospitality industry becoming a targeted career for more and more talented and ambitious young people, rather than simply a means to an end until they get a ‘real’ job,” said Sam McNulty, restaurateur and co-owner of Ohio City establishments such as Market Garden Brewery and Nano Brew.

“Europe is ahead of us in this regard in that they have for decades embraced the reality that a career in hospitality is a great way to make a good living and live a fulfilling life.”

Business is booming The Polaris national award is bringing attention to its student-run restaurant Mise en Place, named for a French culinary phrase that translates to “putting in place” or “everything in its place.” Business is brisk.

“We recommend reservations well in advance,” Miller said.

The students’ winning threecourse meal is representative of the fare offered at Mise En Place. It included an appetizers of pan-seared scallops, Ohio sweet pea puree, creamed winter corn, applewood bacon jam, espelette pepper oil and tomato ginger relish; a filet mignon entree with truffle foie gras potato croquette, morel mushrooms, fingerling potatoes, leeks and Swiss chard; and a dessert course featuring Gianduja chocolate mousse with dark chocolate glaze.

Winning students were Therese Napier, a senior at North Olmsted High School interested in Johnson & Wales Culinary School in Charlotte, N.C.; Dakota Stevens, formerly at Berea-Midpark and now at Hocking

College; Amber Stevens, formerly at Berea-Midpark and now at Hocking College; Christ Hritz, a senior at Strongsville High School interested in attending the Culinary Institute of America in New York City; and Emily Leopold, formerly at Berea-Midpark and now at the Culinary Institute of America in New York City.

Patience, showing up for work on time and wearing the correct uniforms are all part of the learning process to make students ready for “real-world” restaurant work, said chef Chris Olszewski, who runs Polaris’ restaurant program. “We are trying to emphasize the soft skills. Showing up for work on time, speaking clearly, teamwork.”

These skill sets, paired with culinary training, create employable workers, said Olszewski, whose professional experience includes working with the Stouffer chain.

Their employability is certainly born from fire: Some 9,000 customers per year are served during the seven months (three days a week) the Polaris restaurant is open.

“That averages to about 1,300 restaurant customers a month,” said Miller.

Students also cater about 12 events a year.

Olszewski potentially is working with future restaurant owners, based on statistics. According to the National Restaurant Association, 80% of restaurant owners started as entry-level restaurant employees, one in 10 American jobs is in the restaurant industry and one in three Americans’ first job was in the restaurant industry.

“We create employable, prepared workers who arrive in uniform and say, ‘Yes, chef.’ They do the job,” said Tammy Hoegler, the chef instructor in Polaris’ baking and pastry arts program for the past six years. She is responsible for training students to fill the Mon Delice pastry shop, with such sweets as cheesecakes, eclairs, cream puffs and cupcakes. The pastry shop is also open to the public.

The third school restaurant/cafeteria at Polaris is the Old Oak Cafe, which offers “grab and go” items and is operated by students in the deli and food production program. It serves mostly faculty, staff and students.

“Fifty percent to 60% of our students go into post-secondary programs,” Miller said. “Thirty percent to 40% go directly into the industry.”

“We hone the skills,” he added.

“The students do all the work.”

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PA G E 7

Arteriocyte sells medical device unit Cleveland facility shrunk last year, when company moved R&D to East Coast

By CHUCK SODER csoder@crain.com @ChuckSoder

Arteriocyte Inc. has sold its medical device business, but its small local office will remain open.

In October, Isto Holdings of St. Louis acquired Arteriocyte Medical Systems Inc., which sells the Magellan, a device that surgeons and researchers use to separate blood plasma into Platelet Rich Plasma and Platelet Poor Plasma. Isto Holdings also bought the right to the Arteriocyte name. Thus, the Hopkinton Mass.-based stem cell

CLEVELAND BUSINESS 700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 Phone: (216) 522-1383 www.crainscleveland.com @CrainsCleveland Elizabeth McIntyre Scott Suttell Tim Magaw David Kordalski Damon Sims Sue Walton Kevin Kleps Stan Bullard Real estate/ construction Reporters Jay Miller, Government Dan Shingler Energy/steel/auto Rachel McCafferty Manufacturing/ energy Jeremy Nobile, Finance Lydia Coutré, Health care Data editor Chuck Soder Cartoonist Rich Williams

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technology company plans to change its name to Compass Biomedical by year’s end, said general manager Kolby Day. Arteriocyte Inc. still employs 16 people, including four in Cleveland.

The local office shrunk considerably last year, when the company moved its research and development team to its Massachusetts office.

It employed 21 people at the Baker Electric Building on Euclid Avenue in March 2015. That month, the city of Cleveland decided to give Arteriocyte Inc. a $150,000 economic development loan, but the company didn’t receive the money

because it couldn’t meet the city’s job creation requirements, Day noted.

Why did the company move its R&D team? Day noted that several new and existing employees had spouses who had a hard time finding jobs in Cleveland, so they started hunting for jobs in the Boston area.

Many of those spouses were looking for biomedical jobs.

Cleveland’s biomedical community isn’t yet as vibrant as Boston’s, but Day remains positive about progress made by the local community.

“We’re doing OK — we’re growing,” he said.

Could the local office benefit from

the sale of Arteriocyte Medical Systems? Day wouldn’t say much on that topic, but he noted that Arteriocyte Inc. did receive a payout from the deal.

Don Brown, who lives in Massachusetts, remains CEO of Arteriocyte Inc. The company continues to develop therapies that use adult stem cells to treat wounds and other medical conditions, as well as other cell-related products.

It also retained the right to sell the Magellan device for uses related to burn wounds and chronic wounds, Day said. He noted that the company is developing what could be described as the “next version” of the

Magellan technology, adding that it has filed for a patent on that new technology.

In 2007, Arteriocyte Inc. formed Arteriocyte Medical Systems with help from DW Healthcare Partners of Salt Lake City and Comerica Bank’s Technology and Life Sciences division. The medical device business acquired the Magellan from Medtronic Inc. of Minneapolis.

Isto Holdings will now combine that business unit with a subsidiary called Isto Technologies. The combined company, Isto Biologics, also will be based in St. Louis, though it will retain operations in Massachusetts.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Holton-Wise team keeps looking for more

By STAN BULLARD sbullard@crain.com @CrainRltywriter

Business partners James Wise and John Holton just purchased the Lynett Medical Building at 6731 Ridge Road in Parma because they prized its visibility and empty third-floor space.

“I wanted it for the signage for our brokerage on busy Ridge Road,” said Wise, the broker for Holton-Wise Commercial & Residential Real Estate. Holton-Wise includes a brokerage, investment, property management, construction and even an interest in an insurance affiliate.

The Parma-based firm also needed more space to accommodate its 35-agent residential and commercial realty brokerage. Other staffers include five full-time administrators who manage properties and a dozen construction staffers in the construction unit Holton oversees who will remain based at the company’s current building at 4207 Brookpark Road.

Lynett Medical is the first $1 million property the two have purchased, which Wise said would not have been possible a few years ago.

However, Lynett joins a portfolio of five other small retail and office mixed-use residential properties Holton-Wise purchased this year for prices ranging from $91,000 to $300,000 in Parma and Cleveland’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood.

The new commercial purchases are part of a portfolio of 600 single-family and apartment, office and retail prop-

“Hey, man, you be the pretty face.

You do all the stuff with tenants and people. I’ll do the (construction) work.’ That’s the easy part.”

— John Holton, at right, speaking about his partner, James Wise

Stan Bullard

erty managed by Holton-Wise. The duo owns about 20% of it, Wise said.

The firm does not track its commercial properties by square footage, the industry standard, or separate its apartment rentals from single family rentals.

“I just count tenants,” Wise said, whether they are retailers, small businesses or residents. However, he put the owned and managed portfolio’s value at more than $27 million.

Holton-Wise had expected its building at 4207 Brookpark Road in Parma, which was purchased in 2015, would have lasted them another three years. The residential broker-

age grew faster than Wise expected it to as it was launched in just 2015.

How did it expand so quickly?

“We don’t sleep,” Wise said. “I work 80 to 85 hours a week.”

Work, indeed. Holton-Wise was launched in 2013 when Wise consulted Holton, a general contractor, about making repairs to a house Wise had purchased.

The two, who had known each other socially for almost a decade, realized their skills complemented each other.

Holton recalls saying, “ ‘Hey, man, you be the pretty face. You do all the stuff with tenants and people. I’ll do

the (construction) work.’ That’s the easy part.”

They also shared a taste for property and seized on the housing collapse and low-priced homes as an opportunity rather than a source for delay. Wise, 29, bought his first house at 21. Holton, 36, bought his first domicile at 25.

Initially Wise worked at another residential brokerage, but in 2015 he joined Holton in making HoltonWise a full-time endeavor.

Today, Wise oversees the brokerage, investment and property management functions, along with a sideline promoting techniques for

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real estate investing. Holton oversees workers ranging from people who clean out purchased homes to plumbers and roofers.

At Lynett Medical, Holton-Wise plans to fill vacancies with office tenants and retain the tenant roster of docs and dentists.

Many investors shy away from investor-owned medical office buildings because of challenges independent physicians who typically occupy them face in the era of big medicine.

That was not news to Wise.

He saw it first hand. Holton-Wise bought Lynett Medical after he’d listed it for sale from an estate and was unable to find a buyer.

The two say they plan to spend about $500,000 on needed updates on the 1983-vintage building, from refreshing the landscaping and updating lobbies (the structure has entrances from Ridge Road and Lynett Drive) to installing automatic doors to ease handicapped access.

For now, Holton-Wise intends to expand geographically around its existing property base in Parma, Cleveland and Garfield Heights. Wise also looks forward to getting into other associated real estate businesses because he values being vertically integrated.

“What’s the first question someone asks when they buy a house?”

Wise asked. “ ‘Where do I get insurance?’ So we did that.”

The vision the two young men have for Holton-Wise is huge: to make it the largest property firm in Ohio.

“Think K&D Group and Howard Hanna,” Wise said.

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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PA G E 9

25TH ANNIVERSARY CLASS

CRAIN’S FORTY UNDER 40

More than 300 people attended Crain’s Forty Under 40 gala at Public Auditorium.

Kimberlyn Cunningham Hood and honoree Nancy Berardinelli-Krantz of Goodyear.

Jill Christoff and honoree Michael Christoff of Vocon.

Honorees Nick Alexander (left) and Jason Estremera (right) with Jennifer Alexander.

Patty Quiñónez, honoree Luis Cabera of Forest City and Diana Le-Cabrera.

Eric Johnson and honoree Kathryn Bryan of Skylight Financial Group.

Honoree Brian Barnes of the Ohio Republican Party and Annalisa Longo.

Last week, Crain’s Cleveland Business celebrated its 25th Forty Under 40 class with a celebration at Cleveland’s historic Public Auditorium. In celebration of the program’s silver anniversary, we’ve launched an interactive database at CrainsCleveland.com/awards/40u40, which in addition to this year’s class, features all 1,000 of our honorees over the years. If you’re a previous winner, check out our Honoree Center, where you can update your information to let us know where you are now.

Photographs by McKinley Wiley for Crain’s

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Opinion Letter to the Editor

Cleveland’s global view is open to all

By CRAIN’S BUSINESS DIVERSITY COUNCIL

Editorial

Think different Over the next four years under a Donald Trump presidency, it’s going to be as important as ever for the Democratic Party to have a leader in Congress who can articulate the difficult economic realties facing the middle class and to be able to do so with intelligence, finesse and heart rather than the fiery, and often misinformed, rhetoric we’re hearing from the president-elect.

So, it’s refreshing to have the Mahoning Valley’s own U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan challenge U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi to lead the House Democrats. Can he pull it off? The pundits don’t seem to think so, but it’s due time for Ryan — whose name has been floated countless times for higher office — to emerge from his cozy congressional seat and raise his profile on a national scale.

A Pelosi win in a party election set for Nov. 30 wouldn’t be a bad thing. The fierce loyalty many progressives hold for her, as well as her fundraising abilities and her knowledge of the system, could be critically important in the coming years if Congress has to take action to derail any of the most frightening pieces of the president-elect’s agenda.

Still, if someone makes a go at giving the Democrats a fresh face at the top of the House, we’re glad it’s one of Ohio’s own.

Work on it

Northeast Ohio has many wonderful qualities that are appealing to a variety of residents and companies. Being on the cutting edge of social change as it relates to the business environment, though, generally isn't among them.

It's encouraging, then, to see two local institutions making statements with new initiatives that are forward-looking in their approaches to attracting a younger, more diverse workforce to the region.

One institution, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, is raising money from local law firms to hire a legal inclusion director whose job will focus on recruiting diverse attorneys to Northeast Ohio. (The goal is to raise $200,000 to cover salary and travel costs.)

“We want to make Cleveland the preeminent place for diversity and inclusion in the legal profession,” Majeed Makhlouf, vice president of diversity and inclusion for the bar association, told Crain's finance and legal reporter Jeremy Nobile for a story published last month. “So how do we achieve that?”

For the most part, they haven’t, as a CMBA survey of law firms found that less than 4% of local equity and non-equity partners were attorneys of color. But CMBA’s planned hire of an inclusion director, as well as the recent launch of its Cleveland Legal Inclusion 2020 Collective Action Plan, are positive indications that the organization is focused on making Northeast Ohio a top destination for lawyers of diverse backgrounds.

We also applaud the work of the Independence-based trade association Precision Metalforming Association for an effort to bolster its support for young professionals in the manufacturing field.

Over the summer, PMA launched a recruitment and retention initiative called MFG NXT aimed at millennials and Gen Xers working in or considering a career in manufacturing. The organization describes MFG NXT as an “ideas hub and support network” designed to help young talent rise through the ranks of the manufacturing industry.

Allison Grealis, vice president of association services, told Crain’s manufacturing reporter Rachel Abbey McCafferty that PMA found many of its member companies were going through leadership changes and needed help “supporting and connecting this next generation of manufacturing talent.”

The group has started a private email list so members can communicate with each other, and it’s planning for virtual learning courses to be available early next year.

There’s no guarantee, of course, that the CMBA or PMA efforts will bear fruit, in the long term or even the short term. But the initiatives are targeted at challenges the region needs desperately to address, and their practical design gives us hope that they will make inroads in shaping the local workforces of the future.

Publisher and Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com)

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Managing Editor:

Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)

Sections editor:

Timothy Magaw (tmagaw@crain.com)

Contact Crain’s :

(216) 522-1383

Our global city is in the midst of a renaissance and our great nation is in the midst of transition. For Cleveland and beyond, the conclusion of the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign represents the dawn of a new era. Through competing visions, an epic conclusion unfolds to endless possibilities for President-elect Donald J. Trump.

We would like to share our thoughts and experiences as we forge a new administration poised to champion a legacy of its own. The thoughts shared here are of the Crain’s Business Diversity Council and not Crain’s Cleveland Business.

In 2014, we formed the Crain’s Business Diversity Council (CBDC) with the primary focus on bringing attention to Crain’s subscribers that minority businesses and inclusion activities are relevant in Northeast Ohio and enhance the fabric of our community as it aspires to be a great city and a city for all. Since our inception, we have seen more balanced coverage on matters that reflect the minority business communities and implementation of programs in some of our leading organizations.

We wish the president-elect and his family congratulations.

He carries the hopes and aspirations of the republic and the free world. As patriots and well-wishers, we add our thoughts to celebrate our multiracial, multicultural and multiethnic society. Cleveland is a great American city, welcoming and open to all willing to work hard, as many immigrants who helped build this city and region can attest.

First, let us all agree that there are great challenges ahead for America. The U.S. debt crisis is serious and remains one of the moral deficits of our age. There are two Americas — a rural one and an urban one — with distinct methodologies and failing communications. The disconnect is a symbol of a declining culture of tolerance and, in its wake, is the infancy of an unhealthy depreciation of diversity, inclusion and equality.

These separate societies produce disparate and distinct values. For this we express concern because our shared values are the hallmark of a great nation. As much of this lack of connectedness extends from failing infrastructure, substandard education, a digital divide that expanded to a gulf, and the faded glory associated with a perception the American dream is not available for all. These are all correctable issues as we forge a better future together.

Second, a global city relies on open borders to and from international airports, ports-of-call and transport systems that deliver products to markets. The new administration should hear our voices in cooperation on issues that matter to all of us.

Small business owners cannot feel and shoulder these headwinds alone. We need to help grow, hire and produce goods and services that meet the needs of a growing city on the precipice of change. Fertile environments include capital, loans, labor with dignity and reasonable regulations.

We need focus on human capital development. Our city must see the advancement of resources for education, rehabilitation and transformation. Not every child is equipped with the same skills but each enjoys dreams.

We are a global city on the move toward discovery and excellence. We cherish our local amenities like our professional sports culture; major projects like the lakefront, Public Square, the Innerbelt bridge and Opportunity Corridor; and our diverse cultural amenities, like Karamu House and Playhouse Square, the Cultural Gardens and Severance Hall. The pride we take in these amenities must also be the same toward the efforts this community has taken toward inclusion activities from a host of SEE GLOBAL, PAGE 11

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, OH 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.

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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PA G E 11

GLOBAL

Web Talk

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 organizations like the Hispanic Business Center, Greater Cleveland Partnership — Commission on Economic Inclusion, the Urban League and the Presidents’ Council Business Chamber, to name a few.

The tenor of our presidential campaign has the CBDC concerned that what is now being described as two Americas has the potential to stall and, even worse, roll back advancements we have made in our community, where inclusion has been deemed a priority to be a great city and a community that provides opportunity for all.

May through challenge we emerge triumphant.

Re: Buying American True, it is no longer possible to buy a 100% American vehicle, but there are vast differences in the percentage of USA-made content. The manufacturers want to tell us the “North American” content (which includes Mexico and Canada), but there are ways to determine the actual percentage that a car or truck is U.S. made. The Kogod School of Business at American University has done an excellent job of compiling the true USA content in all vehicles.

Consumers can make choices which more greatly benefit the American economy and their fellow citizens. — populistovice

Crain’s Business Diversity Council

GET INVOLVED

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Montrie Rucker Adams President, Visibility Marketing Inc. Luis Cartagena Inclusion Officer, Cuyahoga County Department of Public Works Samir D. Gautam Managing Director, Caritas Financial

Re: State of the Browns

Pradip Kamat President, Indus International Inc.

Why does anyone pay any attention to the Browns?

The only way to make them better is to hurt owner Jimmy Haslam in the pocketbook until he produces results — "results" means winning games, not firing coaches and drafting rookies. Until then, ignore them. Thank goodness for the Cavs and the Indians. Many people judge cities, in part, by their sports teams. Cleveland deserves better than the Browns. — Robert Fritz

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CLEVELAND BUSINESS

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

NOVEMBER 30, 2015

VOL. 36, NO. 48

November 30 - December 6, 2015

GENERAL & IN-HOUSE COUNSEL

Focus

Public Company LISA KUNKLE Senior vice president, general counsel and secretary; PolyOne

GENERAL COUNSEL

Public Company JAMES GRAHAM Executive vice president, chief legal officer and secretary; Cliffs Natural Resources Cliffs Natural Resources wouldn’t be where it is today without its top lawyer, James Graham.

The company has undergone major changes in management and corporate direction since CEO Lourenco Goncalves took over in August 2014 following a prolonged and acrimonious fight with an activist shareholder group.

When the dust settled, new leadership and a completely rebuilt board of directors were installed to set the iron ore supplier and mining company on a fresh path. Graham quickly won over the management in place today.

An eight-year veteran of Cliffs, Graham remains one of the company’s stalwarts. He not only guided the $4.6 billion company through one of its most tumultuous periods as a business, but continues to steer management today as a recently named executive vice president.

“All his knowledge about Cliffs and the moves we were making to turn the company around have made him a very key member of my close-to-me coworkers who work with me to take this company to the next level,” Goncalves said. “He plays a very important supporting role.”

And that’s all in addition to representing the company in a host of bet-the-company lawsuits, which includes seven class-action suits related to the strategies and decisions

of the former management and a couple commercial-related claims, Goncalves said, emphasizing Graham is a “very well-rounded” lawyer.

Graham joined Cliffs in 2007 when the company was hungry for acquisitions, overseeing $9 billion in deals in his first four years.

As a down-cycle in commodities hit around 2012, the firm reconsidered its growth strategy, which included some tough belt-tightening decisions that led to cuts in the corporate and legal offices while the overall workload remained relatively constant.

Through some cuts and fresh budgeting, in the past three quarters Graham has slashed the legal budget by 50% and trimmed the overall headcount.

“The company’s legal resources have been pushed to the limit, but without sacrificing the efficacy and timeliness of the most important advice,” the nomination said.

“These efforts will help the company survive the end of the down cycle and come out as a more nimble and efficient mining company.”

But Graham’s role during Cliffs’ recent legal battles that ended with the installment of a new leadership team can’t be understated, Goncalves said.

“His willingness to cooperate was

extremely helpful when you’re coming in like I did,” Goncalves said.

“He never took sides, but he knew the mistakes of the past that led to the company being in a state that wasn’t ideal and allowed me to win the battle with shareholders.”

“It’s been a long ride,” he added, “and he’s been right there with me.” — Jeremy Nobile

Lisa Kunkle’s work behind the scenes helped transform PolyOne from a plastics manufacturer into a specialty polymer company.

As PolyOne’s general counsel, Kunkle has overseen a variety of substantial acquisitions, positioning the $3.8 billion company for where it is today. Those include the three largest acquisitions in company history, representing more than $1 billion in revenue.

“These acquisitions, coupled with the important divestiture of commodity businesses,” the nomination said, “has helped to accelerate our specialty growth.”

And now, as the company has become more specialized, Kunkle focuses on protecting the company’s intellectual property rights.

Those efforts combined are a top reason PolyOne’s share price has surged from an historic low of $1.32 in 2009 to an all-time high over $43, CEO Robert Patterson will point out. That high was hit in June 2014.

“Lisa is a composed yet fierce competitor who loves to win,” he said. “She’s balanced, candid and disciplined in her approach to providing input, and she’s earned the respect of our entire management team.”

Kunkle even has served as president of PolyOne’s political action committee. While no longer in that role, she’s still quite active in identifying legislative and political issues affecting the business.

Described by Patterson as a “tireless worker” — she even took on interim duties as the head of the company’s environmental, health and safety function during a transitional period for PolyOne — and a “role model” for ethics and integrity, Kunkle’s leadership extends well beyond the corporate world.

Senior Vice President She regularly volunteers for a variety of local nonprofits, General Counsel and Secretary including the Positive Coaching Alliance in addition to proPolyOne Corporation moting career development for women. She’s a member of In Counsel for Women in Cleveland and the Northeast Ohio chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and serves as And All the Crain’s president of Greater Cleveland General Counsel Association.

General and In-House And that’s when she’s not advocating for her city.

Counsel Finalists “A huge advocate for all things Cleveland, Lisa is a proud graduate of Leadership Cleveland, and as an active alumnus, www.polyone.com utilizes the learnings and connections she’s made to continue to advance the positive momentum building in our great city,” the nomination said.

— Jeremy Nobile

CONGRATULATIONS Lisa Kunkle Li K kl

Gen G General ener erall

Reprinted with permission from the Crain's Cleveland Business. © 2015 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved.

Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainscleveland.com. #CC15033

Reprinted with permission from the Crain's Cleveland Business. © 2015 Crain Communications Inc. All Rights reserved.

Further duplication without permission is prohibited. Visit www.crainscleveland.com. #CC15032

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

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

LIENS FILED MK Auto Repair Inc. 3596 Lee Road, Shaker Heights Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $87,482 Comm Steel Inc.; Business Improvement Group 900 E. 69th St., Cleveland Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Unemployment, employer’s withholding, penalty Amount: $67,049

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Amara Home Care Inc. 5285 Northfield Road, Bedford Heights Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $47,704 Healthlink Systems Inc. 18 N. Main St., Suite 200, Chagrin Falls Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Corporate income Amount: $44,760 Erie Container Corp.

4700 Lorain Ave., Cleveland Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding, corporate income Amount: $38,482 K Burns Consulting Inc. 6942 Crystal Creek Drive, Brecksville Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Corporate income Amount: $35,115

Hahn & Pollock LLC 820 W. Superior Ave., Suite 510, Cleveland Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment Amount: $33,423

C&D Truck & Equipment Service Inc. 4015 Jennings Road, Cleveland Date filed: Jan. 22, 2016 Date released: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $24,206

CMCO Mortgage LLC 7851 Freeway Circle, Cleveland Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: CIVP Amount: $29,940

Plantrex, an Interior Landscaping Co. 30628 Detroit Road, Suite 196, Westlake Date filed: Sept. 3, Dec. 11, 2015 Date released: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment, corporate income, failure to file complete return Amount: $18,401 (four liens combined)

Medport Inc. P.O. Box 25277, Garfield Heights Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $29,250 Safeguard LLC 29638 Detroit Road, Westlake Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $28,414 M Boss Inc. 4510 E. 71st St., Suite 12, Cleveland Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Unemployment, corporate income, employer’s withholding Amount: $17,305 (two liens combined) Westlake Methodist Church 27650 Center Ridge Road, Westlake Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $16,009 DPG Lounge LLC 18414 Saint Clair Ave., Cleveland Date filed: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding, unemployment, partnership, annual tax return Amount: $10,623

LIENS RELEASED Lago Flats LLC 1091 W. 10th St., Cleveland Date filed: June 16, 2016 Date released: Sept. 14, 2016 Type: Employer’s withholding Amount: $87,396

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Congratulations Thompson Hine LLP is pleased to recognize the 2016 Crain’s Cleveland Business General & In-House Counsel Award honorees: Chuck Jarrett Catherine Kilbane Jonathan Leiken David Weiss

Clifford DeCamp Lou Vitantonio George Zilich Tracy Crandall

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General & In-house Counsel THIS YEAR’S JUDGES: Colleen Cotter, executive director, Legal Aid Society of Cleveland

For the fifth year in a row, Crain’s is honoring the top legal minds in Northeast Ohio’s business community. These men and women, while often flying under the radar, are tasked with navigating the increasingly complex regulatory framework in which the region’s businesses operate. Winners in the public and private company categories will be announced at the Dec. 7 event.

Lisa K. Kunkle, senior vice president, general counsel and secretary, PolyOne Corp.

Halle Fine Terrion, general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary, TransDigm Robin M. Wilson, chief trial counsel, Cuyahoga County Thomas M. Wynne, vice president and general counsel, The Interlake Steamship Co.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT, PRESENTED BY BENESCH:

Charles E. “Chuck” Jarrett Chief legal officer, Progressive Corp.

By DOUGLAS J. GUTH clbfreelancer@crain.com

From his work with new technologies to the launch of an insurance model that uses real data to align driving behaviors with premium auto coverage rates, it’s fair to say Charles “Chuck” Jarrett is at the forefront of change at Progressive Corp.

As chief legal officer at the Mayfield Village-based insurance giant since 2000, Jarrett also helped establish and refine a strategy that includes successfully defending challenges to the rapidly evolving product offerings created by the company.

“When I started here, the concept of usage-based insurance was in its infancy,” said Jarrett, 59. “Nobody was doing it on a full-scale basis, and now we’re the leader in the area. As we designed our program, it created all kinds of legal and business issues.”

In a usage-based model, mileage and driving behaviors are tracked via odometer readings or through in-vehicle telecommunication devices. This area of “telematics” was only one of the complex technologies Jarrett had to school himself in to do his job well.

“From day one, I had a seat at the table of these innovations and products,” Jarrett said. “The key was understanding what we’re doing on the business side, and then working with our legal team.”

Jarrett manages a corporate law department numbering 140 people, including 42 lawyers. A house counsel organization, representing a team nationwide that defends insureds sued as a result of an auto accident, now

numbers 360 lawyers. Both departments have doubled since Jarrett’s arrival, while company revenues have tripled. Building a legal team to work within the boundaries of new concepts is a challenge Jarrett has always enjoyed.

“I’m fortunate to have the resources to hire some really talented people,” he said. “You have to put people into the right roles and empower them to do their jobs. That’s basic management.”

Similar to most chief legal officers, Jarrett is responsible for overseeing all corporate litigation, transactions, regulatory work, securities filings, shareholder issues and anything else that requires legal input or oversight.

In 2008, the Pepper Pike resident led negotiations on naming rights for Progressive Field, a multi-month process that Jarrett said created value for both his company and the

Cleveland Indians. The final deal included “category exclusivity” for Progressive, meaning no other insurance advertisers could be displayed inside the stadium.

“The focus was on when our signage and brand would be seen on television,” Jarrett said. “Our impression was we got a deal that both sides were happy with.”

Jarrett also orchestrates Progressive’s ethics function, establishing a company-wide training initiative for all employees on ethical decision-making. The program gives workers a framework in handling scenarios such as what to do when a colleague accepts gifts from a business partner.

“How do you report that without feeling like you’re ratting out your friends?” Jarrett said. “Figuring out the right thing isn’t easy, but you’re not on an island. You can reach out and get help.”

Over the years, Jarrett has taken on responsibilities outside the legal realm, including six months as interim chief human resources officer, as well as management of Progressive’s public relations and communications team. He was assigned these duties by former company CEO and current board chairman Glenn Renwick, who said Jarrett’s commitment to understanding all levels of the business made him an indispensable leader.

“Chuck’s legacy will be as an important part in Progressive’s evolution from a small, behindthe-scenes company to one with a great national presence,” Renwick said.

He added, “He has a great compass as to when to contribute to any issue, and as a result he commands the respect of those he works with.”

Continuous learning and curiosity, along with knowledge gleaned from years of business-related litigation experience, is something Jarrett hopes to pass on to his yet unnamed successor as he prepares for retirement early next year.

“A law background is helpful, but whether you come in with a litigation or business background, it starts with being able to learn things you haven’t personally done,” Jarrett said.

An open-minded attitude will only help the next generation of attorneys navigate a job market still recovering from the recession, noted Jarrett. In the meantime, he’s satisfied to be a key facet of a company doing things the right way.

“Leadership here built a great company with a bright future,” Jarrett said. “We’re all very proud of what we’ve done and what we’ll continue to do.”

Crain’s General & In-House Counsel Awards Presented by

This year’s class will be honored Wednesday, Dec. 7, at The English Oak Room at Tower City Center For tickets and post-event coverage, visit CrainsCleveland.com/GC

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GENERAL & IN-HOUSE COUNSEL PUBLIC CATEGORY FINALIST:

PUBLIC CATEGORY FINALIST:

Senior vice president, chief legal officer, corporate secretary, Diebold Nixdorf

Executive vice president and general counsel, DDR Corp.

Jonathan Leiken As senior vice president and chief legal officer of Diebold Nixdorf, Jonathan Leiken oversees the company’s global legal functions and corporate compliance program. He also serves as the corporate secretary to the board of directors.

Leiken oversaw all legal aspects of Diebold’s acquisition of one of its largest competitors — Wincor Nixdorf AG — for $1.9 billion. The transaction was the first takeover of a German public company by a U.S. public company that involved a mixture of cash and stock. It also was the largest acquisition in Diebold’s 100-plusyear history. Leiken’s leadership and management of all aspects of this complicated deal elevated the company’s status in its industry, creating the largest company in the multi-billion dollar financial self-service industry, according to the nomination.

He also oversaw the company’s $300 million divestiture of its Northern American security business to Securitas.

“His breadth of knowledge and experience is an asset to the company and adds value to our leadership team,” Diebold Nixdorf CEO Andy W. Mattes wrote in his recommendation. “His exceptional leadership abilities, dedication to advancing the company’s interests and business strategies, and knowledge of governance and compliance matters all make him a prime candidate for this award.”

Prior to joining Diebold in

David Weiss

2014, Leiken was a partner at Jones Day in the global corporate, criminal investigations and trial practice groups, and an assistant U.S. attorney in the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

“John is a true strategic partner and trusted adviser for the business. He’s able to really quickly assess risks and provide practical advice for complex business challenges as they arise,” said Elizabeth Radigan, Diebold Nixdorf vice president and chief ethics and compliance officer. “He’s pragmatic and provides advice that protects the business, but lets it grow and prosper.”

Leiken is a past president of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association. He is an adjunct professor of law at Case Western Reserve University’s law school.

He also participated in Sing Out!, a biennial benefit that supports the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, and he served on the board of Great Lakes Theater Festival, where he annually performs a one-man show. — Kimberly Bonvissuto

RPM International Inc. congratulates our very own

Tracy Crandall 2016 Crain’s General & In-House Counsel Awards Rising Star Award Recipient

www.RPMinc.com

RPM International Inc., based in Medina, Ohio, owns subsidiaries that are world leaders in specialty coatings and sealants serving both industrial and consumer markets.

Colleagues describe David Weiss as strategic, pragmatic and ethical in his work as the top lawyer at the Beachwood-based shopping center company.

He joined DDR in 2002 from a partnership at the McDonald, Hopkins, Burke and Haber law firm. Today as general counsel, he runs DDR's law department, which rivals a midsize law firm in size, with 45 professionals.

The tasks run the gamut from leasing to securities. He has worked with management as DDR enjoyed blockbuster growth and teetered during the Great Recession, as well as the long slog back to stability.

For his part, Weiss calls it the best job in the world.

However, those demands don’t keep him from a busy civic schedule. He serves on city committees in Shaker Heights as well as its planning commission. He undertook those tasks after serving as an elected city councilman. He also is chair-elect for The Centers for Families and Children, where he has served on the board for eight years. Among other civic engagements, he is a board member for The City Club of Cleveland.

Robyn Minter Smyers, partner-in-charge of Thompson Hine’s Cleveland office, met Weiss early in her career on assignment by the firm to DDR. “David Weiss helped me learn the ropes and served as a mentor and coach,” she said, which she knows is common for him to do.

Weiss got a new boss in July from outside DDR, who has experience running several big property companies.

“In the short time I’ve worked with (Weiss), he’s proven himself to provide valuable counsel on a wide range of business issues affecting DDR,” said Tom August, president and CEO. “One of the challenges any retail REIT faces is striking a balance between our tenants’ needs and our own strategic objectives. (Weiss) and his team have demonstrated

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GENERAL & IN-HOUSE COUNSEL PUBLIC CATEGORY FINALIST:

Catherine Kilbane

Senior vice president, general counsel, secretary, The Sherwin-Williams Co.

that they possess the business acumen and foresight to make sound legal decisions while remaining focused on our long-term business goals.” — Stan Bullard

When it comes to in-house attorneys, you’d be hard pressed to find one more critical to a company’s success than Catherine Kilbane.

At Sherwin-Williams, Kilbane — a native Clevelander — has transformed the legal department, which spans four countries, into a team of business partners who are “engaged and responsive” to the ever-changing needs of the business, according to an endorsement letter from Sherwin-Williams CEO John G. Morikis.

“She is creative thinker who seeks continuous improvement in everything that she touches,” Morikis wrote. “Her ethics and integrity are at the highest level and set a tremendous example for others.”

In particular, Morikis said Kilbane led the company through an intensive regulatory process over a multi-year period to allow the company to be first to market with a paint that kills several types of bacteria on contact. In addition, she’s led the company through a complex purchase agreement to acquire Valspar, which, if completed, would be the largest acquisition in Sherwin-Williams 150-year history.

Kilbane has worked closely with

Morikis and the company’s former CEO and outgoing chairman, Christopher Connor.

Kilbane has been with Sherwin-Williams since January 2013, and since then has transformed the legal processes across the company through the use of advanced technology, which has streamlined processes and ultimately resulted in more efficiencies for the legal team and the business as a whole.

Before joining Sherwin-Williams, Kilbane served as senior vice president, gener-

Congratulations We congratulate our clients Chuck Jarrett, The Progressive Corp.

Catherine Kilbane, Sherwin-Williams Co. Jonathan Leiken, Diebold Nixdorf David Weiss, DDR Corp.

Tracy Crandall, RPM International Inc. and all of the Crain’s Cleveland General and In-House Counsel honorees on their leadership, innovation and success.

EXPERIENCE FOR TOMORROW

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al counsel and secretary at American Greetings. While there, she was a key member of the company’s eight-member senior leadership team. She’s also held roles during her career at The Andersons Inc. and BakerHostetler.

Kilbane also is deeply engaged in the community through her professional and civic involvement. She’s been involved with leadership roles on boards at the Cleveland Clinic, Cuyahoga Community College Foundation, and the 50 Club of Cleveland. She also sits on the advisory panel of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Her past involvement includes roles with the United Way, University Hospitals, Great Lakes Theater Festival and Magnificat High School.

Kilbane is a 1987 graduate of Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law. She also earned her bachelor’s from Case Western Reserve in 1984.

She has been recognized as a YMCA Woman of Achievement and received the St. Thomas More Award from the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, which is given annually to a lawyer recognized for his or her ethics and integrity. — Timothy Magaw

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GENERAL & IN-HOUSE COUNSEL

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

PRIVATE CATEGORY FINALIST:

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#2017goals

Lou Vitantonio

President, Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers Association It could be said Lou Vitantonio grew up in the car business and at the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers Association.

Vitantonio learned to run the automobile trade association from the ground up. The GCADA serves 275 franchised new car dealerships in 21 Northern Ohio counties and includes the Cleveland Automobile Trade Association, Cleveland Auto Show, Automobile Dealers Educational Assistance Foundation, Motor Vehicle Acceptance Limited Partnerships and CADA Properties LLC. At GCADA, Vitantonio served as program manager, director of membership services, director of properties, director of operations and legal and regulatory affairs, and now president. He also served as assistant floor manager and staff counsel for the Cleveland Auto Show.

Today, Vitantonio helps member dealerships through legal and regulatory mine fields, union negotiations and changing market conditions. “He is the go-to person for dealer operators, managers, vendors and government officials,� Michelle Primm, managing partner at Cascade Auto Group in Cuyahoga Falls, wrote in her nomination. “On the way to a union negotiation meeting, he may take a call from a dealer with a human resources issue. The next call may be a legislator trying to understand how proposed regulatory rules will affect a small business on Main Street.�

Vitantonio is credited with bringing the 100-year-old GCADA into the modern world as a respected, lean, financially stable trade association. “When Lou Vitantonio speaks on behalf of Greater Cleveland dealers, Detroit, Columbus and Washington listen,� Primm wrote.

Under Vitantonio's leadership, the GCADA Auto Show organized one of the largest single food collections for the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. He also directs the association’s participation in the National Automobile Dealers Association Charitable Foundation, which directs donations back to local communities. The foundation has an emergency relief fund for dealer employees affected by natural disasters, a canine companion fund and an education fund for children of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “He has been the conduit for charitable growth, public events such as the Cleveland Auto Show, dealer events, legal assistance, legislative grassroots and regulatory navigation,� said Zach Doran, president of the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association. “He always put his dealer members first and has represented some of the finest entrepreneurs in the Greater Cleveland area with dignity and class.� — Kimberly Bonvissuto

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PRIVATE CATEGORY FINALIST:

George Zilich

General counsel and CFO, The Mid-America Management Corp.

George Zilich, apparently, can do it all.

He has been with Mid-America Management Corp. since 2007 and is responsible for all legal and financial activities of this privately held real estate ownership/management company. Mid-America’s $700 million portfolio includes market-rate multifamily, retail and industrial real estate in 12 states.

Mid-America president and CEO Mark Misencik described Zilich as a skilled negotiator who keeps his focus on the goal. “From negotiating successful transactions with difficult personalities in complex transactions to negotiating numerous financings and acquisitions and resolving litigation, he has protected and advanced the interests of our company and our partners,� Misencik wrote in his nomination.

At Mid-America, Zilich oversees more than $300 million of debt with banks and lenders, and is responsible for about 25 financial, accounting, leasing and administrative personnel. “George is at his best when circumstances are the most challenging,�

Misencik said. “He consistently demonstrates the ability to quickly grasp and respond quite appropriately to difficult situations. His legal opinions always take into account the business realities, and I appreciate his candid and thoughtful advice.�

Mark Avsec and Jeff Wild, partners at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplan & Aronoff, along with associate Adam Saurwein, describe Zilich as an advocate for his clients. “The Mid-American Management Corporation could not have hired a better ambassador, strategist, legal mind and chief financial officer — all in one package,� the trio wrote in Zilich’s nomination. “George is a very strong general counsel and chief financial officer, always advocating for his client.

He never backs down; George digs in for what he believes is the right outcome.�

Prior to joining Mid-America, Zilich was a practicing accountant who decided to take some time off to go to law school, where he graduated at the top of his class. With his background, he was able to leverage his years of private accounting and practical business experience, as well as his legal skills, to negotiate favorable financing and business agreements for his employers. He has held roles with BPI Energy Inc., Jones Day, Archer Steel Co., LeeMar Steel Co., Hallmark Financial Group and Arthur Andersen & Co. — Kimberly Bonvissuto

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GENERAL & IN-HOUSE COUNSEL RISING STAR AWARD RECIPIENT:

PRIVATE CATEGORY FINALIST:

Vice president, associate general counsel, assistant secretary, RPM International Inc.

General counsel and compliance officer, Applied Medical Technology

In her more than six years with Medina-based RPM International Inc., Tracy Crandall has built trust and lived up to her motto of demonstrating her value to her coworkers.

Crandall is described as a go-to problem-solver for attorneys at RPM’s subsidiaries around the world. She serves as vice president, associate general counsel and assistant secretary of the holding company that owns RPM’s subsidiaries. She provides oversight and guidance to in-house attorneys at RPM’s operating companies in handling litigation and business negotiations.

Among her achievements cited in the nomination are guiding a group of subsidiaries through a five-year tort liability-related bankruptcy proceeding, and enhancing and expanding the company’s compliance programs.

She managed all privacy and cybersecurity matters for RPM and led the subsidiaries’ implementation of the Global Intra-Group Data Transfer Agreement for the transfer of personal data and the development of an electronic records management system. She also developed standard terms and conditions of purchase and supplier expectations for the company’s raw material purchasing groups. “Tracy is highly skilled at managing people, situations and expectations, while maintaining focus on the best interests of RPM,� wrote Edward W. Moore, RPM senior vice president, general counsel and chief compliance officer, in the nomination. “She is an experienced contract negotiator who can maintain valuable relationships throughout a sometimes contentious process. “On top of these skills as a lawyer, Tracy is a person of great integrity, commitment and courage,� Moore wrote.

Prior to RPM, Crandall served as a partner at Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP in Cleveland, assistant general counsel at The Scott Fetzer Co. in Westlake, and senior counsel at General Electric Co.-Lighting Business in Cleveland.

Outside of the office, Crandall works with disadvantaged children and young adults through the YWCA, where she helped create a program to assist young

As Applied Medical Technology’s first general counsel and compliance officer, Clifford DeCamp has significantly impacted the company’s business practices and growth. The nearly 30-year-old company, for one, quadrupled its sales since DeCamp joined the company in 2014.

The company credits DeCamp’s oversight and ability to develop multiple new distributor and customer agreements with impacting the company’s growth. Today, Applied Medical Technology, a Brecksville-based manufacturer of enteral medical devices, is the third largest specialty feeding tube manufacturer in the world. DeCamp’s strategic counseling directly led to the company significantly expanding its footprint throughout Europe, South America, the Middle East and Australia. “With his background, he provides insights across all facets of the business. As AMT expands, he focuses on maintaining compliance, protecting AMT’s interests and mitigating risks,� said Dan Filler, the company’s director of regulatory affairs.

DeCamp ensures compliance with regulations in the United States and 30-plus countries. He brought in third-party consultants to help the company undergo test audits to ensure compliance with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and international standards. “Cliff came to us with a diverse background from private practice, teaching, consulting, business transactions, as well as contract negotiations, all of which have been applied to an emerging company on a global platform in the medical industry,� Applied Medical Technology CEO Dr. George J. Picha wrote in his nomination. “As AMT is dedicated to the care of children and adults, this theme at his guidance has moved over to bringing in special needs associates to help with the AMT mission.�

Prior to AMT, DeCamp was a contract attorney with Jones Day, Thompson Hine and Calfee, Halter & Griswold. He also held positions with Integra Life Science Corp., Agilysys, Strike One Enterprises LLC, and DeCamp Roth Devany & Nace.

As a parent to a child with special needs, DeCamp is active in community organizations that help children with mental and physical disabilities. He provides free legal counseling for Here’s Hope Horse Farm, a horse farm in Cuyahoga Falls for disabled children. He volunteers for National Super Kids Classic in Akron — a Soap Box Derby for those with special needs — and the Summit County Special Olympics swim team.

He also initiated a partnership between Applied Medical Technology and Hattie Larlham to provide job training for handicapped adults. His company employs eight Hattie Larlham clients. — Kimberly Bonvissuto

Tracy Crandall

Clifford L. DeCamp

women aging out of foster care.

She also serves on the board of trustees of Beech Brook, where she chairs the services review committee, and is a trustee of the strategic planning committee of Leadership Medina County. “Tracy Crandall is a skillful legal practitioner, astute businessperson and talented leader who has made substantial contributions to her professional and personal communities, and who will continue to do so for many years to come,� said Robyn Minter Smyers, partner-in-charge at Thompson Hine LLP in Cleveland. — Kimberly Bonvissuto

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Business of Life REGION’S GO-KART SCENE IS BACK IN FAST LANE Two ComDoc staffers pull onto a straightaway at High Voltage Indoor Karting. (Peggy Turbett for Crain’s)

Competitive racers are drawn to new spots in Cleveland, Medina

By JEREMY NOBILE @JeremyNobile jnobile@crain.com

For a region of the state well-known by racecar aficionados for its Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and Burke Lakefront Airport, which was formerly home to the Grand Prix of Cleveland, it’s a bit surprising the go-kart scene hasn’t been livelier.

But thanks to some local entrepreneurs, that’s beginning to change.

At spots such as High Voltage Indoor Karting, which opened in Medina in March 2015, and Boss Pro Karting, which debuted over the summer, some local entrepreneurs have been tapping into an apparent pent-up demand for competitive go-karting.

Both venues feature about one-quarter-mile long tracks — speeds can flirt with 40 mph before you need to hit the brakes — where racers speed and skid through ever-changing courses.

They draw everyone from young first-timers to competitive racecar drivers honing their skills and corporate groups seeking an adrenaline-pumping alternative to the usual team-building exercises.

Both spots also are the result of race enthusiasts who noticed this region was a true go-kart scene.

High Voltage was started by Greg Cordray and Steve Madden. Madden worked for Cordray at Akron’s Keystone Technology Consultants. The two became friends and eventually decided to start their own track. Cordray has raced go-kart tracks around the world, and Madden, a former motocross racer, has always been interested in racing. Madden has since quite his job at Keystone to focus on High Voltage full-time.

“We simply wanted to do some go-karting around here and couldn’t find one,” Madden said. “There are some recreational options. But we wanted something faster, more competitive, more race-y.”

The eventually found a former foundry in

Medina, a 40,000-square-foot building more than a century old that had sat unused for years.

The co-owners picked up the property for just $250,000.

A massive remodeling has converted the space into a complete indoor track that’s preparing to unveil an outdoor expansion next year nearly doubling its track length. In good weather, the space will open its bay doors to connect to the outdoor section currently under development.

Meanwhile, Boss — which was founded in Cleveland by Brad Copley, a former vice president at MTD Products, and his cousin Lee Boss, an accomplished racer — marks a $4 million project spawned from similar motivations by racers who noticed a lack of go-kart options.

Helmets and other protective gear await the next group of riders.

But the timing was right as interest in the sport appears to be growing.

“Go-karting is very popular in California and Arizona,” Copley said. “But with us being in Cleveland, we can bring a little more awareness and interest to the sport.”

Chris Rembold of ComDoc signals a triumphant end of a racing session.

Interestingly, Copley, who was used to the business scene as an executive at an outdoor power-equipment manufacturer, was equally motivated by the chance to mold his business around corporate team-building exercises.

“There are great venues in Cleveland to have a meeting, but most of those things ended the same way for me: with a $3,000 bar tab,” Copley said. “We wanted to bring teams together in a way where it’s not all about just standing around and getting drunk.”

Boss has a liquor license. It's also working on an outdoor extension.

But when the drinking starts, the racing stops. Copley finds that some teams come planning to get to their beers quickly, but end up racing much longer instead.

While go-karting may seem like a downgraded activity compared to Formula 1 and stock car racing, professional drivers use the tracks to hone their pure driving skills. Those other races are heavy on car adjustments, and go-karting brings driving to its basic skills where smooth maneuvering yields the best results.

The experience itself is quite visceral and more physical than a first-timer will appreciate until they’re in the driver’s seat.

In addition to leagues, both High Voltage and Boss offer corporate packages.

But Boss is taking that to the next level. Corporate packages there can include team races and pit-stop challenges, where teams actually break into pit crews to do things like change tires on a full-size stock car.

They even have a “high-performance academy” that mixes behavioral analysis with actual racing performance, Copley said, making a connection for participants between teamwork among people with different personality types on the track and in the office.

While Boss is only a few months into business, the folks at High Voltage are already scouting locations for a potential second track in the future, Madden said.

And if racers continue to flock to the area’s newest go-kart tracks, it may be only a matter of time until each capitalizes on their success so far to grow even bigger.

“This is still racing, and you still get that rush,” said Marc Langworthy, a shift manager at High Voltage. “If you don’t get to play with a racecar, this really is the next best thing.”

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BUSINESS OF LIFE

Source Lunch Paul Clark has devoted his four-decade career to banking and, in effect, Northeast Ohio.

Previously with National City Corp., Clark could have faded out from the banking scene when the legacy Cleveland company merged with PNC Financial Services in 2008 in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis. Instead, he joined the Pittsburgh-based bank as president of Northern Ohio and the Cleveland region, a role securing him a place among this market’s most well-known bankers.

Crain’s sat down with Clark to talk about his reflections on an atypical year in an otherwise familiar region that has seen a Republican National Convention, a veritable Cleveland renaissance kick into high gear and a president-elect that invites uncertainty in every nearly every business sector.

— Jeremy Nobile

Novelty doesn’t come as often for a banking veteran like yourself.

Looking back on 2016, what’s surprised you?

Really, it’s how far our community has come. Unprecedented public and private partnerships are driving historic momentum here, and as a result, I think we’re building a foundation for more success.

There’s the planning, preparation and flawless execution of RNC week alone, which changed the narrative of Cleveland. And PNC played a big role with that, as did many others, and we’re all continuing to reap the benefits of that work.

Right, PNC was part of the RNC host committee. That’s obviously not something that happens to everyone every day. What’s something that you learned in being a part of that?

Cleveland has truly differentiated itself from other communities facing similar challenges. But also, what I’ve learned is to sustain the success we’re enjoying and overcome challenges that remain, we have to recognize that some things are far greater than any of us can tackle on our own. Success, for us, as a city requires an unwavering commitment to partnership, collaboration, transparency and work ethic. I also have a renewed appreciation for law enforcement and the sacrifices so many make to protect and sustain our community.

You were part of some panels about early childhood education during the RNC. Why has that been an important mission to you personally?

Decades of research show that the first 2,000 days of life are the most critical for school and life. Children today are our workforce of tomorrow, and that workforce will only be as strong as our children are. Returns on investment in access to high-quality pre-K are clear. This is not an option. It’s imperative.

In terms of Cleveland development, any thoughts on something the city as a whole can do to further the ongoing renaissance?

We must just commit ourselves to an unwavering focus on ensuring opportunities that stem from today’s successes extend to the neighborhoods where years of disinvestment have resulted in the biggest challenges we face, all of which stem from economic disparities that drive inequitable access to education and opportunity.

You’re generally a pretty optimistic person. Is there anything that you do worry about?

Just ensuring that we are doing all that we can to cultivate, engage and inspire our next generation of leaders, and that those leaders reflect the rich diversity of our community and they embrace and

sustain our great legacy of philanthropy and community service.

Let’s not gloss over some of the biggest news of this month with the result of a contentious presidential election. What have you been hearing from clients since Donald Trump was elected?

I’ve been talking to lots of people. I usually call and ask about what they think just to get that pulse from the client base. What I take from those conversations is that no one really knows what to expect. It’s very different. All they know is they’re working on stuff they can deal with right now — making sales calls, talking to their clients. They’re doing business as usual right now, and that’s the common thread. What’s going to happen, I don’t think anybody knows. So that’s when you do what you can do, like doing good business every day.

So while there’s an air of uncertainty, you can’t be paralyzed by that all the same.

But is there a sense of excitement or apprehension from the people you’ve spoken with about a Trump presidency?

Do you have a sense of that?

It’s neither, really. With business clients, I don’t know that it’s translating into any other emotion other than: We don’t know what comes next, but we’re going to find out. And in the meantime, we all have to continue to do what we do.

Paul Clark BANKING

Five Things ANY FAVORITE READING? “A Journey,” the memoirs of former United Kingdom Prime Minister Tony Blair. I have a copy I’ve used so much the binding is broken.

WOULD YOU EVER WRITE SOMETHING YOURSELF? When I travel, I have a thick notebook I often write down musings in. I’d like to turn that into poetry someday.

ANY OTHER HOBBIES? I play a little bit of electric guitar. And my wife and I like to travel. Our next place to go will be somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, like Seattle, Portland or Vancouver.

WHAT’S SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE MUSIC? I have rock ’n’ roll on constantly. And I’ve been to 26 Grateful Dead shows. But my favorite would be any combination of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

ANY HEROES OR ROLE MODELS THAT YOU USED TO, OR STILL DO, LOOK UP TO? As a kid, my hero was Mickey Mantle. My hero today would still be John Kennedy.

Lunch Spot Happy Dog 5801 Detroit Avenue Cleveland 216-651-9474

The meal

Both had tater tots and hot dogs, one with bacon, brie cheese, honey mustard and “alien” relish, and the other with Bertman’s mustard, sloppy joe sauce and blue cheese cole slaw. Our tots dippers included Srirachca hot sauce, yum yum sauce and chipotle ketchup.

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The bill $23.85, plus tip

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

ROBENALT CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 He has his opinions about president-elect Donald Trump, but more about that later.

Robenalt’s writing career began after his mother died in 1990. He began to look back into his family’s history and started to learn about her grandfather.

“One of the people I found was part of his life was Harding,” he said. “Harding loved magic and he would come (from Marion, about 28 miles away) to see my great-grandfather do magic programs.”

That connection led to his first book,

“Linking Rings: William W. Durbin and the Magic and Mystery of America.”

Soon after the book was published in 2004, Robenalt was invited to speak on Ohio’s presidents at Case Western Reserve University as part of a program leading up to the Dick Cheney-John Edwards vice presidential debate held at the school that fall.

“That’s how I got the love letters, and then the second book, on Warren Harding,” Robenalt said. “And that’s how I started my relationship with John Dean.”

The program drew presidential descendants and biographers, including a great-nephew of Harding, and Dean, who had written a biography

of Harding. Dean, of course, is better known as White House counsel during the Nixon-Watergate scandal.

At that time, Robenalt asked the chief archivist at the Western Reserve Historical Society if the library there had anything of interest on Harding and was told about microfilmed copies of love letters written by Harding to a Marion neighbor, a married woman named Carrie Phillips. The two carried on an affair for 15 years before Harding was elected president in 1920.

Those letters were background material for Robenalt’s next book, “The Harding Affair: Love and Espionage During the Great War.” Meeting Dean led Robenalt to his

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PA G E 21

trial of the Watergate burglars began, the Vietnam war ended and Richard Nixon was sworn in for his second term. On one day that month, Jan. 22, former president Lyndon Johnson died, and the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Roe v. Wade, the decision that legalized abortion.

As for Trump, Robenalt sees in the president-elect traits that led to some of Nixon’s blunders. “Nixon and Trump, I definitely see a lot of resemblances in their personalities and approaches to things,” he said. “If you think about Trump, his primary years of political maturation would have been during the Nixon era. So I think it had a huge imprint on him, what he saw Nixon doing.”

third career — lecturing to lawyers about ethics. The two men decided to put together a legal continuing education course about the legal ethics learned from the Watergate experience.

“So the next thing I know, he’s sending me all the tapes to listen to and sending me all the transcripts to read, and six months later we did our first program in Chicago in 2011,” Robenalt said. “It was so well-received that as I sit here, we’ve done about 125 of them nationally. People just started calling us regularly.”

Those Watergate documents led Robenalt to write “January 1973,” which was released in 2015. It examines the 31-day span during which the

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PA G E 2 2

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

AKRON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “We’re a big lab. Last year, we did $3 billion worth of work,” Valley said.

Sandia is physically big as well. Its labs occupy 700 buildings and nearly 13,000 acres in and around Albuquerque, N.M. Plus it has smaller facilities in California and Hawaii, and a 179,000-acre test range in Nevada.

Sandia’s size and the broad scope of its work mean it has many opportunities to use the University of Akron’s expertise as it seeks to develop new materials, Valley said.

He hopes new polymers can be used in energy-related products and to develop things like new materials for advanced 3-D printers that can make tiny sensors and other devices virtually one molecule at a time.

Sandia has the science, but it needs new materials to employ what it has learned, Valley said.

“One of the areas we identified as a gap was polymers and polymer science,” he said.

“We had no one, and we had no ongoing relationships with anyone in academia. We pretty quickly discovered that the University of Akron was the premier school for polymer science. Polymer science is particularly important … we use polymers

This tiny example of 3-D microprinting was done at Sandia National Laboratories. Each piece is about 200 micrometers in length — about twice the width of a human hair. Sandia scientists hope they can develop new materials for their printers with help from researchers at the University of Akron. (Contributed photo)

in so many of our mission applications.”

That includes things like materials used in power plants and nuclear devices, but also things more applicable to industry and everyday lives, such as medical devices, Valley said.

‘Ink’ for 3-D printers One of the areas in which Sandia hopes UA can make a major contribution is in the field of advanced, micro 3-D printing. Sandia works with the most advanced 3-D printers in the world.

“We’ve now evolved to the point that we do manufacturing on an atomic scale,” Valley said.

Sandia knows how to make things like tiny sensors, which could be employed in fuel cells or other energy applications, or tiny devices that could be inserted into the human body, where they could more effectively deliver drugs directly into the patient’s blood.

Sandia has the printers, what it needs now is the ink, or the materials that can perform as designed and survive in harsh environments, or not poison their human hosts. Valley and others at the lab think polymers can solve those problems.

“That’s a big area we’re looking to team with the University of Akron on ... to develop ink for that magic pen.

And then it will do things we can’t even imagine now,” Valley said.

If Sandia is right, then it and UA will produce new materials and inventions and sell or license that technology in the private sector. Ultimately, it could mean a host of new products used in health care and energy production and management. It also could lead to sensors that monitor the nation’s infrastructure — or even sensors used in cars, fuel cells and other products.

If they’re successful, both Sandia and the university will share in the proceeds gained from commercializing new technologies, as spelled out in their Sept. 19 master research agreement.

UA eager to collaborate

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If anyone is more excited about the partnership than Valley and his Sandia coworkers, it might be Dr. Eric Amis, vice provost of research and dean of the College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. “(Sandia) played an important role in the Manhattan Project and all that, and their mission in terms of nuclear security and stockpile stewardship is core to Sandia, but the number of

other things they do is amazing,” Amis said. “They view themselves as the nation’s engineering lab. On anything that they put their mind to doing, I would not want to compete with them. I’d prefer to collaborate.”

Amis shares Sandia’s enthusiasm because he said polymers are ideally suited to many of the applications the lab targets. Polymers can outperform ceramics, metals and other materials in many respects, such as withstanding temperature changes and exposure to chemicals, or not reacting to other materials around them, depending on how they’re engineered.

“With polymers, you can go all the way from something that behaves like a hard plastic pipe to thin flexible films — and it’s the same polymer,” Amis said.

In addition to working on new materials for micro 3-D printing, Amis also is excited to work with Sandia on new “continuous roll” manufacturing methods. That could mean that things like solar panels, which are now produced one at a time, could be produced in continuous processes and even rolled up, the way that plastic films or other materials are.

Amis already has been to Sandia to present an overview of his university’s work in polymer science, and scientists will be going back and forth between the school and Sandia in the future, Valley said.

Amis said he’s been impressed with the breadth of work in which Sandia is involved. He’s also looking forward to getting from the lab something he always looks for in relationships with other researchers or industries — application challenges.

Academic researchers often know more than anyone about their fields of expertise, but they need others to present to them specific applications for their science, Amis said.

Now he and other researchers at the University of Akron will have such challenges.

“In my mind, we get to do the fun stuff now,” Amis said.

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

The List NAME THIS ADDRESS YEAR PHONE/WEBSITE

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PA G E 2 3

LARGEST BANKS IN NORTHEAST OHIO

Ranked by Local Deposits

NORTHEAST OHIO DEPOSITS (MILLIONS) 6-30-2016

6-30-2015

% CHANGE

OFFICES IN NE OHIO

EMPLOYEES (COMPANYWIDE) 6-30-2016 HOLDING COMPANY

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

1

KeyBank NA 127 Public Square, Cleveland 44114 (216) 689-3000/www.keybank.com

$17,478.4 (1)

$20,262.6 (1)

-13.7% (1)

122

14,340

KeyCorp Cleveland

Beth E. Mooney chair, CEO

2

PNC Bank 1900 E. Ninth St., Cleveland 44114 (888) 762-2265/www.pnc.com

$12,617.7

$11,249.2

12.2%

136

51,345

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Pittsburgh

Paul Clark regional president

3

FirstMerit Bank (2) 106 S. Main St., Akron 44308 (888) 384-6388/www.firstmerit.com

$10,807.4

$9,866.5

9.5%

119

3,844

Huntington Bancshares Inc. Columbus

NA

4

Huntington National Bank (2) 200 Public Square, Cleveland 44114 (800) 480-2265/www.huntington.com

$9,771.7

$9,480.6

3.1%

118

11,656

Huntington Bancshares Inc. Columbus

Sean P. Richardson president for Huntington Bank in Cleveland

5

Citizens Bank 1215 Superior Ave., Cleveland 44114 (216) 566-5300/www.citizensbank.com

$9,006.2 (3)

$7,095.3

26.9% (3)

92

14,772

Citizens Financial Group Inc. Providence, R.I.

Joseph D. DiRocco president, Citizens Bank Ohio

6

JPMorgan Chase & Co. 1300 E. Ninth St., Cleveland 44114 (800) 935-9935/www.chase.com

$7,377.6

$6,909.6

6.8%

92

183,490

JPMorgan Chase & Co. New York

James M. Malz head of commercial banking, Ohio

7

Fifth Third Bank 600 Superior Ave. E, Cleveland 44114 (216) 274-5307/www.53.com

$4,915.1

$4,860.0

1.1%

81

17,906

Fifth Third Bancorp Cincinnati

Jerry Kelsheimer regional president and CEO, Northeastern Ohio

8

U.S. Bank 1350 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 44115 (216) 623-9300/www.usbank.com

$2,559.9

$2,652.8

-3.5%

83

66,354

U.S. Bancorp Minneapolis

Alan Zang president, Northeast Ohio market

9

Talmer Bank and Trust (now Chemical Bank) (4) 23240 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 600, Cleveland 44122 (800) 867-9757/www.ChemicalBank.com

$1,223.4

$1,095.6

11.7%

25

1,281

Chemical Financial Corp.

Midland, Mich.

James R. Lynch Jr. regional president, Northeast Ohio

10

The Farmers National Bank of Canfield 20 S. Broad St., Canfield 44406 (888) 988-3276/www.farmersbankgroup.com

$1,204.9

$1,172.0

2.8%

31

396

Farmers National Banc Corp.

Canfield

Kevin Helmick president, CEO

11

First National Bank of Pennsylvania 55 Public Square, Cleveland 16125 (800) 555-5455/www.fnb-online.com

$1,071.5

$1,025.2

4.5%

27

396

F.N.B. Corp.

Pittsburgh, Pa.

Boyd K. Pethel regional president, Cleveland

12

Civista Bank 100 E. Water St., Sandusky 44870 (419) 625-4121/www.civistabank.com

$689.9

$648.9

6.3%

12

333

Civista Bancshares Inc. Sandusky

James O. Miller chairman, CEO

13

Middlefield Banking Co. (5) 15985 E. High St., Middlefield 44062 (440) 632-1666/www.middlefieldbank.com

$575.1

$566.5

1.5%

8

141

Middlefield Banc Corp.

Middlefield

Thomas G. Caldwell president, CEO

14

Cortland Savings and Banking Co. 194 W. Main St., Cortland 44410 (330) 637-8040/www.cortlandbank.com

$489.1

$438.4

11.6%

13

164

Cortland Bancorp Cortland

James M. Gasior president, CEO

15

Andover Bank 600 E. Main St., Andover 44003 (440) 293-7605/www.andoverbankohio.com

$270.9

$279.3

-3.0%

8

92

Andover Bancorp Inc. Andover

Martin R. Cole chairman, CEO

16

Portage Community Bank 1311 E. Main St., Ravenna 44266 (330) 296-8090/www.pcbbank.com

$245.2

$238.2

2.9%

2

56

Portage Bancshares Inc. Ravenna

Richard J. Coe CEO

17

Premier Bank and Trust (6) 6141 Whipple Ave. NW, North Canton 44720 (330) 497-7201/www.mypremierbankandtrust.com

$225.3

$209.1

7.8%

3

73

Ohio Legacy Corp.

North Canton

Rick L. Hull president, CEO

18

Farmers Savings Bank 111 W. Main St., Spencer 44275 (330) 648-2441/www.fsb-spencer.com

$208.8

$211.3

-1.2%

2

29

None

Thomas W. Lee president, CEO

Peoples Bank NA 24400 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 100, Beachwood 44122 (216) 910-0550/www.peoplesbancorp.com

$200.0

$203.1

-1.5%

5

803

Peoples Bancorp Inc. Marietta

Cindy Crotty executive vice president; regional president, Northeast Ohio market

20

Consumers National Bank 614 E. Lincoln Way, Minerva 44657 (330) 868-7701/www.consumersbank.com

$192.5

$176.0

9.4%

7

122

Consumers Bancorp Inc. Minerva

Ralph J. Lober II president, CEO

21

Liberty Bank NA (5) 25201 Chagrin Blvd, Suite 120, Beachwood 44122 (216) 359-5500/www.libertybankna.com

$189.9

$181.3

4.8%

3

39

None

William A. Valerian chairman, president, CEO

22

Independence Bank 4401 Rockside Road, Independence 44131 (216) 447-1444/www.theindebank.com

$165.2

$147.8

11.8%

1

23

Independence Banccorp Independence

Christopher Mack CEO

23

Sutton Bank 1 S. Main St., Attica 44807 (419) 426-3641/www.suttonbank.com

$149.0

$143.0

4.2%

4

87

Sutton Bancshares Inc. Attica

Eric A. Gillett vice chairman, CEO

24

Lake National Bank (now ERIEBANK) (7) 7402 Center St., Mentor 44060 (440) 205-8100/www.eriebank.bank

$139.7

$132.6

5.3%

2

28

CNB Financial Corp.

Clearfield, Pa.

Andrew L. Meinhold senior vice president, area manager

25

Buckeye Community Bank 105 Sheffield Center, Lorain 44055 (440) 233-8800/www.buckeyebank.com

$136.5

$135.0

1.1%

1

30

Buckeye Bancshares Inc. Lorain

Bruce E. Stevens president, CEO

26

The First National Bank of Bellevue 120 North St., Bellevue 44811 (419) 483-7340/www.fnblifetime.com

$123.8

$115.9

6.8%

2

51

First Bancshares Inc. Bellevue

Dean J. Miller president, CEO

19

RESEARCHED BY CHUCK SODER The full length version of this list includes 34 banks and is available for purchase at crainscleveland.com/section/data_lists. All financial data comes from fdic.gov. The list excludes banks registered as savings institutions; a list of those banks was published on Nov. 21. Northeast Ohio deposits include deposits in 15 counties: Ashland, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne.

Crain's does not independently verify the information and there is no guarantee these listings are complete or accurate. We welcome all responses to our lists and will include omitted information or clarifications in coming issues.

(1) Key says local deposits actually grew in 2016 because the 2015 number reported to the FDIC was too high. The company says the number was later restated "to address large fluctuations ... caused by the intra-company movement of public sector deposits." (2) Huntington National Bank acquired FirstMerit on Aug. 16, 2016. (3) Citizens attributes this increase to strong organic growth since being sold by The Royal Bank of Scotland. (4) Talmer merged with Chemical Bank on Nov. 10. (5) Middlefield Banking Co. and Liberty Bank are scheduled to merge during the first quarter of 2017. (6) Premier and Ohio Legacy Corp. are scheduled to be acquired by Youngstown-based United Community Financial Corp. on Jan. 31, 2017. (7) Lake National was acquired by CNB Financial Corp. on July 15, 2016.

VOL. 37, NO. 48

NOVEMBER 28 - DECEMBER 4, 2016

AKRON EDITION

Business of Life

Source Lunch Paul Clark discusses banking, a revived city and more. Page 20

On your mark, get set, go-kart — the next big team builder. Page 19

The List

CLEVELAND BUSINESS

FINANCE

Private equity firm puts diversity at its core

Northeast Ohio’s biggest banks. Page 23 MANUFACTURING

POLITICS

Lawyer looks back in time

By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com @millerjh

Emulating his great-grandfather, James Robenalt has juggled several careers, which has allowed him to learn about several presidents — as well as his great-grandfather.

His great-grandfather, William W. Durbin, was a small-town Ohio lawyer from Kenton in the early 20th century and a behindthe-scenes Democratic activist who played a role in the presidential elections of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. He also was a magician (a one-time president of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, no less) who occasionally performed for Warren Harding, a future president from nearby Marion.

Robenalt also is a lawyer, a partner at Thompson Hine LLP in Cleveland. But he’s not a magician. Instead, he’s a writer who, in part because of his great-grandfather, writes about presidents. So far, he has written about two of them — Harding and Richard Nixon — and he’s working on a book about FDR. He believes Harding is underestimated in part because he was unfairly tarnished by scandals that roiled Washington after his sudden death, two-and-a-half years into his term of office in 1923. Nixon, though, who resigned in 1973 to avoid impeachment, is getting a fair shake from history, Robenalt believes, because he obstructed justice with the Watergate coverup.

And Robenalt should know, since he has listened to the famous Watergate tapes.

SEE ROBENALT, PAGE 21

By JEREMY NOBILE @JeremyNobile jnobile@crain.com

There’s another new private equity firm taking root in Cleveland, but it’s the firm’s focus on diversity in its investment strategy that seems to be setting it apart in a crowded and growing industry.

The Inkwell Group launched earlier this month with base offices in Cleveland and Washington, D.C. Co-founders Marques Martin, 33, and Chijioke Asomugha, 36, will be looking nationwide for deals, but focusing predominantly on lower middle market manufacturing and service companies with up to $10 million in annual EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization).

Besides having strong ties to the Cleveland investment market — Asomugha was formerly an executive vice president who oversaw mergers and acquisitions at Solon-based manufacturer ERICO International Corp. and a principal investor at Cyprium Partners, while Martin’s résumé includes overseeing KeyBank’s small business team and serving as a principal at The Riverside Co. in its micro-cap fund — a presence here underscores the opportunity they see for finding deals in Northeast Ohio and the greater Midwest.

The challenge, of course, will be finding the best companies flying under competitors’ radar, particularly as fundraising in the private equity space has been so strong.

That’s resulting in a buildup of dry powder as more dollars chase fewer deals, Martin acknowledges, creating the seller’s market that’s prevailing today as business valuations grow.

SEE INKWELL, PAGE 4 Entire contents © 2016 by Crain Communications Inc.

James Robenalt’s book, “January 1973,” details a tumultuous month for Richard Nixon.

Photographs: National Archive; Jay Miller

Crain’s

Akron, lab pair up to bring new polymers

By DAN SHINGLER dshinger@crain.com @DanShingler

The University of Akron has a huge new partner with big plans for what it views as the nation’s top school for polymer science research and technology.

Together, the university and Sandia National Laboratories hope to make large strides in applying new material science to advanced manufacturing, transferring new technology to industry and find- Amis ing new ways to make some of the smallest things mankind has ever created.

Sandia, the university’s new partner thanks to a September agreement to coordinate on research and share in the benefits, might not be a household name, but it is a big deal on the nation’s tech scene and one of the U.S. Department of Energy’s major facilities.

The lab’s work, largely funded by the DOE, is broad-based. Sandia is a chief source of research and development for systems that control, manage and monitor nuclear weapons. It also works on technology for large energy projects and does a lot of science and development in areas such as microscopic 3-D printing. If you need a giant solar array, a supercomputer or the world’s largest X-ray generator, you can find them at Sandia.

Between the lab’s direct employees and a few thousand contractors who work there, about 12,000 people work at Sandia, said Mike Valley, the lab’s senior manager for materials science research and development.

SEE AKRON, PAGE 22

General & In-house Counsel

Meet them on Pages 13-18

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Forty Under 40

The reasons for starting a business might not be what you think Page A-7

AKRON BUSINESS

Meet Akron’s honorees Pages A-4-A-6

Arconic’s local workforce demands spur unique high-tech training partnership

By BETH THOMAS HERTZ clbfreelancer@crain.com

The skills gap is nothing new to those familiar with the U.S. manufacturing industry — there simply aren’t enough skilled workers to meet the demand.

But Roger Wright, the new director of the Four Cities Compact, a career and technical education program shared by four Greater Akron school districts, thinks he’s got the programs in place to make a difference.

First, like many manufacturing employers, he has to help today’s students and parents overcome outdated perceptions.

“It used to be that these types of programs were only for high school students who weren’t planning on going to college, but that has changed,” Wright said.

Many of the students in the Four Cities Compact, which is operated by the Barberton, Norton, Wadsworth and Copley school districts, go on to four-year colleges after graduation.

For those who prefer to enter the workforce right away, good-paying jobs are readily available and can help pay for college if students decide to go that route later, Wright said.

Wright also sees another benefit to participating in career and technical education programs — some students come away knowing a certain field isn’t for them after all.

“College is never bad, but be sure what you want to study and make sure there are jobs in your field of interest,” he said.

Wright came to the compact after nearly 30 years in local education as a teacher, coach and administrator in the Wadsworth district. He most recently spent two years as associate principal at Wadsworth High School.

Seeing first-hand the high-tech classes offered there through the compact piqued his interest.

“I was impressed with the high caliber of the programs, in engineering, in design and in robotics, as well the students who were participating in them,” he said. “We still offer the traditional programs that primarily lead directly to employment, but we have a whole other group of kids who will go on to pursue four-year degrees and beyond. Many of our programs also offer college credit, so the students graduate with that under their belt already.”

Each of the four high schools houses several compact programs, and the 700 students who participate typically spend about half a day in

SME’s Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education (PRIME) program supplied high-tech manufacturing equipment to the Four Cities Compact, which is operated by the Barberton, Norton, Wadsworth and Copley school districts. (Contributed photo)

their program and half at their own high school for core curriculum classes.

A PRIME partnership

SME’s PRIME program reached out to Four Cities Compact to help Arconic fill demand for workers at its Barberton facility.

A key to the Four Cities Compact’s strategy in preparing students is the partnerships that it has formed, Wright said. The compact’s engineering, design programming and robotics programs received a major boost two years ago when SME (formerly the Society of Manufacturing Engineers) selected them for its Partnership Response in Manufacturing Education (PRIME) program.

Motivated by the fact that there will be 2 million unfilled manufacturing jobs in the U.S. by 2025, SME works with Fortune 500 companies to develop workforce solutions specific to their communities. It chose the Four Cities Compact to help Arconic (formerly Alcoa) close the gap it faced in filling high-tech jobs in its Barberton facility, said Josh Cramer, senior educational programs officer with the SME Educational Foundation.

“When we had our initial discussion with Alcoa/Arconic, we looked across the Unites States at where they had the hardest time trying to fill their positions,” Cramer said. “We asked them, ‘What do you need today? What do you need five years from now in the skilled labor pool?’

“After they told us that the Barberton facility had a lot of growth potential but had trouble finding skilled workers, that became the pinpoint on the map. And we went looking for a school in the area with which to form a partnership.”

PRIME donated more than $250,000 in high-tech equipment to Four Cities last year, along with the resources to train teachers to use them. The equipment includes 3-D printers, a programmable plasma cutter, a computerized numerical control engraver and a robotic arm.

All of this equipment is similar or identical to that used in Arconic factories and elsewhere so that students arrive prepared on their first day on the job.

SEE PRIME, PAGE A-8

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Students school Fairlawn consulting firm Kent State University marketing class steers business to new branding, restructured focus

By JUDY STRINGER clbfreelancer@crain.com

Northeast Ohio is home to some of the nation’s most respected ad men and women. Yet when Ned Parks was ready to rebrand his 15-year-old consulting firm last year, he tapped another rich local resource — marketing students.

For five months in early 2015, four teams of students in Kent State University professor Don Thacker’s senior marketing class grilled Parks about his business, pored over the fi-

nancials, interviewed clients and employees, and reviewed industry reports and projections to formulate group proposals on how to reposition the FairParks lawn-based company in the minds of its partners, customers and prospective clients.

Each group presented ideas to Park and eight assembled “trusted advisers� in May.

In the end, New Directions Learning and Development became Aegis 360 Consulting. According to mythology, “aegis� is the Greek name of a shield that Zeus and Athena used to protect themselves and others. “The shield wrapped all around them,� Parks said, “and I think that embodies who we are because we want to take comprehensive approach and work with clients to set them up for success.�

The decision to take the Aegis 360 project was an easy one, according to Thacker. His classes have worked with a variety of companies over the

years as a way for students to apply classroom learning to real-life business challenges. Before agreeing to work with a business, however, he ensures owners and management are prepared to embrace change. “Ned seemed very open-minded, definitely looking for growth opportunities.� Thacker said.

Much of that growth, Parks said, was already underway. The former Army helicopter instructor pilot, business owner and manufacturing executive started New Directions Learning and Development in 2000 to capitalize on a decade of experi-

ence in training employees. In 2012, the firm, which consists of Parks and six part-time associates, began taking on some “more traditional� business consulting and coaching roles primarily for small, privately held companies.

Soon its name and image in the marketplace — as exclusively a provider of employee training and staff development services — was no longer an accurate reflection of where his company was or where it was going. “We really needed a fresh look,�

Parks said.

Building better businesses

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Thacker said the biggest challenge for the students was understanding “truly what a consulting firm does, especially on the executive business side. “They really had to wrap their heads around what is important to the client, but more specifically what you need to tell prospective clients about the kind of expertise you actually bring to their business. It’s not something they see firsthand.�

The biggest challenge for Parks was being available to four separate groups of students, which could not consult with one another. “I would get asked the same question four times,â€? he chuckled. “Still, there were a lot of other questions some of the groups would ask and others wouldn’t. ‌ We got four independent reports and suggestions thrown back at us.â€?

Parks connected with one group’s color suggestion — blue and orange.

His wife later pointed out that they are the colors of the Army’s aviation branch. Another group’s name suggestion of Aegis 360 Consulting was an “immediate hit� with him and the adviser board, he said, with one friend telling him to secure the Twitter handle before the group was done presenting.

The student groups also had suggestions about what product lines were performing best and those the company might consider ratcheting down to focus on more productive business opportunities. “They went beyond the branding,�

Parks said. “They looked at the whole business and products lines and service areas. We took some of that advice and used it to restructure some of the focus of what we do.�

Thacker said in recent years his classes have taken on the merchandising challenges of Minerva-based Journey to Botanicals, written a white paper for Green-based Diebold Inc. and conducted market research for a credit card program of GE Capital and American Eagle Outfitters — all at no cost to the businesses. “I kind of look at this as our form of economic development,� Thacker said. “We are helping businesses to get better.�

Aegis 360 officially launched its refreshed brand in January, complete with a new logo and website.

Parks said the reaction has been positive. “Everybody wants to know what it is, where the name came from,� he said. “It is unique and causes people to ask further questions. It has done everything from a branding perspective that you would want a new brand to do.�

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ShaleNet program not seeing slowdown

By DAN SHINGLER dshinger@crain.com @DanShingler

Oil and gas drilling is still moving at a fairly slow pace in Ohio, but educating workers for the industry is moving forward at North Canton’s Stark State College, which continues to expand its ShaleNet Share project.

That’s because both the school and its industry partners expect the sector to come back in Ohio, and they want students to be ready for jobs at refineries and gas processing centers — or in industries that use similar process-control technologies being taught at Stark State.

“All of our students have quickly found jobs so far,” said Dan Schweitzer, regional hub coordinator for Stark State’s ShaleNet program.

The school has graduated 46 students from the first two classes of its two-year program, which began in 2013. In 2014, the school opened a wellhead training center. That facility, built with $3.7 million in state grants and industry funding, provides students with real-world equipment on which to learn, Schweitzer said.

The school announced in October that it had received new funding from Chevron Corp. and a new educational partner in St. Clairsville-based Belmont College.

Chevron is giving the school $215,000 in additional funding, and the Ohio Education Innovation Program has awarded the school another grant of just over $500,000. Chevron also has been paying for student scholarships since the program began as part of a $20 million company initiative to train new energy sector

Stark State instructor Fred Albrecht shows ShaleNet students around some of the school’s oil and gas equipment at its North Canton campus. (Dan Shingler)

workers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Belmont joins Eastern Gateway Community College in Steubenville and Nelsonville’s Hocking College as part of a network of schools that will all use the Stark State training site, said Stark State president Para Jones.

The school also is expanding its curriculum with regard to the ShaleNet program. It already provides coursework in petroleum production, pipeline operation, process operations, and instrumentations and electronics. It’s adding programs for industrial measurement and mechatronics, which is the combination of electrical and mechanical systems, Jones said.

That’s a response to what partners

like Chevron have asked for.

“They want to fund shale communities in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio, and their philosophy is to leave the community stronger than when they found it,” Jones said. “So what they really love is the fact that the people we’re training also have the ability to work in other industries.”

In fact, Schweitzer said Chevron told him it’s more concerned about getting people trained for its industry partners than it is with supplying its own workforce.

“Chevron has said from Day One, ‘It’s unlikely we’re going to hire these students. But we employ tens of thousands of people who work with service contractors, and that’s where we envision some of these students working,’ ” Schweitzer said.

Chevron echoed those sentiments.

“By partnering with community colleges like Stark State, Chevron is helping to prepare residents of the region for jobs in the tri-state area's growing energy and advanced manufacturing economy,” said Chevron spokeswoman Laurie Serwinski.

Chevron, like some other companies in the oil and gas industry, isn’t looking for crews to man its own

drilling rigs, Schweitzer said. But it very much wants to know that the oilfield service companies and other suppliers it uses will be manned and ready.

It also wants the region to have plenty of process-operations workers to man the new ethane crackers that are expected to be built in the region.

Further downstream, companies that take the crackers’ polyethylene and turn it into plastics also will need similarly skilled workers, he said.

However, with activity still slow in many of the areas of eastern Ohio, Stark State’s oil and gas program is not full.

“We can handle about 300 students right now; we have about 80,” Schweitzer said.

Jones said she’s not worried about enrollment so far. The industry continues to support the school with scholarships, she said. Almost every student gets some help and many get a full-ride from ShaleNet sponsors like Chevron, Marathon Petroleum Corp. or Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Schweitzer said.

Jones also thinks the expanded coursework into electro-mechanical systems, which will prepare students

to work in a variety of industries, will help attract people.

“The people who complete this program are technicians who can work with other types of industrial processing,” Jones said.

Finally, she said, oil and gas is a cyclical industry — something Stark State knew when it got involved with it. She said she’s pleased that the program has grown to include about 40 students per year (up from about 20 per year in its first two years) even during a downtime for the industry.

“We’re growing the program,” Jones said. “It’s demand driven.

They’re not flooding in when the jobs aren’t here.”

Schweitzer and Jones think something else will help as well — the fact that all of the ShaleNet program’s graduates have gotten jobs, many of them with companies outside of the oil and gas industry. Those jobs typically pay about $40,000 a year to start and about $60,000 to $70,000 per year after new employees complete an initial probation period.

“Even with the lull, all of our graduates are employed,” Schweitzer said. “And they’re getting jobs that are hard to get into.”

United Way of Summit County

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For students across the country, the holidays are a time for rest, fun and celebration. Yet many children in Summit County whose families struggle to afford food will come home to empty cupboards. United Way’s Holiday Snack Packs Food Drive gives Akron Public School students nutritious snacks to enjoy over their winter break, so that they can spend their holidays being happy and healthy instead of hungry.

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Forty Under 40: the Akron-area connections The remainder of the 2016 Forty Under 40 Class

Northeast Ohio is on the rise, and members of Crain’s 2016 Forty Under 40 Class are doing much of the heavy lifting.

They are innovators, entrepreneurs, educators and public servants. While their backgrounds and expertise differ, they share one common trait: a commitment to this region. The Akron area is represented by four of these driven people: Michael J. Beder, serial entrepreneur; Nancy Berardinelli-Krantz, senior legal counsel, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.; Christopher Faircloth, Akron lending manager, ECDI; and Ethan McPeake, owner, president, New Era Benefits Consulting. On pages A-5 and A-6, we take a look at the accomplishments of these individuals.

To check out more in-depth information on the entire Forty Under 40 class, visit CrainsCleveland.com.

Cardinal-Roofing_Crains-Ad_Final.indd 1

Nicholas Alexander, account vice president, wealth adviser, UBS Financial Services Renjun Bao, business development manager and senior sports writer, Tencent Brian F. Barnes, director of African-American strategic initiatives, Ohio Republican Party Chris Bellamy, president, investment industry services, Cohen & Co. Kathryn Bryan, financial planner, Skylight Financial Group Luis Cabrera, application systems analyst, Forest City Enterprises Carly Cahlik, president, Ohio High Reach Priyanka Chaudhry, tax partner, Ernst & Young LLP Gabrielle Christman, president, Hunter International Recruiting Michael Christoff, project architect, Vocon Joseph Connolly, aerospace engineer, NASA Glenn Research Center Jade Davis, vice president, external affairs, Port of Cleveland David Ebersole, assistant director, department of economic development, city of Cleveland Jason Estremera, director of business services, Hispanic Business Center Shibani Faehnle, initiative development manager, KeyBank Sarah Flannery, partner, Thompson Hine LLP Trevor Gile, general manager, Motorcars Honda Gregory C. Hutchings Jr., superintendent of schools, Shaker Heights Schools Jessica Jung, senior vice president; director, property and casualty, Oswald Cos. Ethan Karp, CEO, MAGNET John Litten, executive director, Society of St. Vincent de Paul; councilman, city of Lakewood Lyvian Loh, marketing analyst, Spang & Co. Ann McCarthy-Garland, credit executive, PNC Financial Services Group Allison M. McMeechan, co-chair, elder and special needs planning group, Reminger Co. LPA Dominique Moceanu, founder, owner, designer, Creations by C&C Andrew Pacyna, deputy medical center director, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center Mark Panzica, executive vice president, Panzica Construction Brent M. Pietrafese, partner, Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP Stephanie Pope, probation officer, city of Cleveland; commissioner, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority Matthew J. Previts, account executive, Logicalis Amanda T. Quan, associate attorney, Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C. Jasmin Santana Fernández, community engagement coordinator, Hispanic Alliance Inc. Dr. Jennifer Sweet, neurosurgeon; assistant professor of neurosurgery and psychiatry, UH Cleveland Medical Center; Case Western Reserve University Valissa Turner Howard, deputy inspector general, Cuyahoga County Katie Watts, vice president, Colliers International Hayley B. Williams, attorney, Taft, Stettinius & Hollister LLP

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Forty Under 40 | AKRON

Michael J. Beder, 39

Nancy Berardinelli-Krantz, 39

Carving out a niche in the bar and restaurant scene in any city is no easy task. But with the right connections, plenty of hard work, lots of support and a bit of luck, Michael J. Beder, a Connecticut native who never really dreamed of starting his own business, has become one of Kent’s most successful entrepreneurs and a veritable institution in the college town.

“I was always the kid with the lemonade stand,” Beder said. “Even though I didn’t really know it necessarily, I think I always had the entrepreneurial spirit.” — Jeremy Nobile

Nancy Berardinelli-Krantz has a serious legal resume that any seasoned lawyer would be proud of — let alone someone who might not yet be at the peak of her career.

For the past year, she’s been a senior legal counsel at Goodyear, and before that she was an inhouse counsel at Eaton Corp.

Today, she handles commercial law, regulatory matters and other legal issues that confront Goodyear across North America.

Oh, and before entering the civilian legal profession, Krantz was in another tough job: She was an Army judge advocate in military courts. — Dan Shingler

Serial entrepreneur, Water Street Tavern, Tree City Coffee & Pastry, The Venice Café, Taproot Catering, Franklin Hotel Bar

You started with one small college bar and now operate a series of businesses in Kent with more on the way. What’s been a key to your success?

I think I just know the Kent community pretty well. There are a lot of resources here and I have a good network here, so when I think about how I’ve grown, it’s basically about identifying niches for an underserved audience or starting something that doesn’t exist already that I think people would like. I feel confident about what I’m doing, and my biggest comfort zone is Kent. But find those niches. I think that’s advice I could apply anywhere.

What’s been the most satisfying part of being an entrepreneur?

I think building something that

didn’t exist before that you get to see people take to and enjoy, and then that becomes ingrained in the community. That’s the most enjoyable thing to me. To see something come together that you thought up, and then see that it’s something people really want or seem to need, that’s all very rewarding.

If all these businesses hadn’t panned out as they have, what do you think you’d be doing?

That’s hard because I’ve never known anything different in my adult life. But I do manage my friend Mike Polk Jr., the comedian. I’ve always enjoyed that. And he’s given me a lot of opportunities to do and see things I otherwise wouldn’t. So I’d probably do something in talent management — or maybe production in television or music.

Five things Last concert: Paul McCartney in Cleveland Top bands or artists: Bruce Springsteen, Jason Isbell, Sturgill Simpson, Paul Simon Entrepreneur he looks up to: Pickwick & Frolic’s Nick Kostis Favorite show: ‘Breaking Bad’ Breweries of choice: Samuel Adams, Harpoon Brewery and Platform Beer Co.

Senior legal counsel, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

Do you come from a long line of lawyers?

2006, at the height of U.S. fighting there. What was that like and what did you do there?

No, I’m the first one in my family. I’m also former military, so I’m also the first person to go into any branch of the service.

It was not nice. I definitely would not want to go back there again. I was in the Trial Defense Service, and we defended soldiers who got in trouble for all sorts of crimes.

Did you always want to be an attorney?

Are you happy now in a corporate setting at Goodyear?

I didn’t always want to be a lawyer. I really wanted to design clothes for a very long time. Then my parents kind of looked at me like I had three heads and said, ‘You’ll never make a living doing this. Why don’t you look for a real job?’

Yes. I wanted something more consumer-facing. That was a primary reason I came to Goodyear.

I’ve always wanted to work for a big consumer brand that had retail outlets, and it’s a brand that everyone can identify with.

And it’s so neat and cool to see the Goodyear blimp on television.

You were in Iraq in 2005 and

Five things Favorite restaurant: Joe’s Deli, Rocky River Favorite spots: West Side Market and Cuyahoga Valley National Park Favorite artist: Patty Griffin Favorite memory: Spending the summer in Italy with her grandma.

Favorite book: ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini

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AKRON | Forty Under 40

Christopher Faircloth, 36

Ethan McPeake, 38

Chris Faircloth was a banker with a heart of gold — and a heart with a bent toward community involvement. He used to be a lender for some well-known names — Countrywide, Chase, Huntington — making loans to the usual cadre of safe borrowers. Today, he’s still a lending officer, but as the point person for the nonprofit Economic & Community Development Institute in Akron. He spends his time finding ways to make loans to people and businesses too small, too new or too unknown to get loans from regular banks. — Dan Shingler

Sometimes, you have a plan.

Sometimes, you just find yourself doing what you love and are good at naturally. Ethan McPeake took the latter path both into the insurance and benefits industry, and into entrepreneurialism. He's got no regrets, though. McPeake admits he got into the insurance business largely by accident. But today, the Akron native and current Bath resident says he not only loves what he does, but loves that he gets to serve others who are often engaged in running important nonprofits in and around the Rubber City. — Dan Shingler

Akron lending manager, Economic & Community Development Institute

How did you get into finance?

That was entirely coincidental.

In college, I had a string of parttime jobs, mostly telemarketing, but there was a bank looking for someone with sales experience. I guess I was the closest they could find.

rants and we have accountants and barber shops.

Five things

Does your job also fulfill your desire to help others?

Favorite music: Old school hip-hop. He recently saw Grandmaster Flash and Wu-Tang Clan.

Yes. A lot of times, if we had not been able to do it, it would have been very difficult for that business to get off the ground.

What kind of lending do you do?

What keeps you busy outside of work?

The role that our organization plays is to be able to lend to at least some of the people who have been turned down by banks. It’s all business loans. It’s bakeries, restau-

I’m very involved in the community, things like PorchRokr in Highland Square, Torchbearers and the EXL Center at the University of Akron.

Portraits by Jason Miller for Crain’s

Owner, president, New Era Benefits Consulting

Cheap eats: If it’s inexpensive, he’s there. He’s not above eating at gas stations.

In his free time: He volunteers in Akron and around Highland Square.

Binge watches: ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘Friends,’ ‘The Walking Dead’ All-time favorite thing: Naps

So, you’re a benefits consultant.

Was that something you planned?

No. When I got out of college, I sort of stumbled into becoming an insurance broker. That was vastly different from what my parents did.

There were a lot of nights staring at the ceiling and saying ,‘What am I really doing for people?’ Now, I have a lot of clients working to help people, and I help them. I like to think I’m indirectly helping them to serve the people that they help.

You’re also an entrepreneur.

How did that come about?

I was let go from CPI-HR. People tell me, ‘You’re such an entrepreneur,’ but I don’t really feel that way. My back was against the wall.

But, now, I don’t ever want to work for anyone else.

What was the key to your business’ success?

Having done this for 15 years, I know a lot of people and companies.

That makes it easier than if you were starting out fresh. But I had to go backwards at first. You go from a certain income to earning zero, initially.

You founded your business in 2013, and there’s been a lot happening with regards to benefits. How was your timing?

Right now, people need a ton of help, so services are needed. And there’s a lot of uncertainty right now. I think services are needed more than ever — along with trusted relationships that people can turn to.

Five things His Saturdays: Gardening. ‘We have kind of a mini farm at our house — with chickens!’

Beyond the office: He loves travel, especially internationally. His wife, Janine, is from Australia.

Favorite place to visit: Thailand Social activity: Volleyball at Whitey’s (Booze N’ Burgers) in Richfield Where he takes visitors: Swenson’s for burgers

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Entrepreneurship: Tobin Buckner

Why start a business? Their answers might surprise you Sometimes, it seems as if being the founder of a company is paved in glory. And while I won’t deny that entrepreneurship is an incredible rush, the truth is that it comes with as much pain and struggle as it does fame and fortune.

Given all the stress and frustration of entrepreneurship, there has to be a compelling “why.” Why start your own business? Why put in all the blood, sweat and tears?

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with several Akron-based founders who I’ve been fortunate enough to know and work with over the past few years. We talked about why they do what they do, and what keeps them going.

Brent Wesley, Akron Honey Co.: Wesley (also known as Wesley Bright of Wesley Bright and the Honeytones) has become a bit of a local celebrity as a result of his appearance on the entrepreneurial competition show “Cleveland Hustles.”

The show, for which LeBron James is an executive producer, focuses on revitalizing Cleveland’s Gordon Square Arts District. The show offered Akron Honey Co. an opportunity to set up in Cleveland, but Wesley ultimately turned down the investment and chose instead to pursue a new manufacturing facility on Akron’s north side. He eventually hopes to branch out into a retail space and expand on a new line of honey-based cosmetics. He is currently working with local entrepreneurial support organizations and other mentors/experts to help grow his company.

“I wanted to help make my community better by taking an empty plot of land near my house and turning it in to an apiary (a collection of beehives),” Wesley said. “Now I have the opportunity to create an experience for those that are interested in not only honey, but honey-based skin-care products, sourced organically, right here where I started farming my bees.”

Amy Husted and Audrey Wallace, Komae: Komae is a social networking application for parents who share baby-sitting duties with people they already know and trust. Husted and Wallace never really intended to start a company. They were simply trying to create a pain-free baby-sitting option for stressed-out moms and dads they knew needed help.

Now, these accidental entrepreneurs are working on a much faster timeline than they originally expected. Being your own boss and making things happen can be glorious — but it comes with sacrifices.

“I thought that once we got the company up and running, it would be easy to maintain and I wondered what I would do with all of my free time,” Husted quipped. “But we are passionate about helping families, by lessening their guilt and stress, and, at the same time, saving them money.”

Wallace said: “It’s progress over perfection. That’s how I see our dayto-day growth. I just wanted to help people find baby-sitting services, but now I am sitting here working on health care benefits for our company — what a surprise!”

Tobin Buckner is JumpStart’s Akron entrepreneurial community manager and writes a blog about entrepreneurship in Northeast Ohio.

ing company. So White was able to see, firsthand, the ins and outs and ups and downs of business owner-

ship before starting WhiteSpace Creative. During his junior year in college, White took a course called “the Business of Graphic Design,” which ultimately led him to start his own company.

White originally envisioned starting a business in a big city and growing it to 10 or 12 employees. The opportunities came easily at first. Then the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, happened, and it reoriented his priorities, leading him to design a business plan that focused on creating more jobs.

“I really wanted to focus on posi-

tively impacting individuals and families,” White said. “I want to make a difference in the lives of others.”

After acquiring two other companies, Smiley Hanchulak and Highland PR, both with rich traditions of their own, White embarked on the challenge of integrating the cultures of all three companies. Today, he has an “all-in commitment” to his new building on the north side of Akron, a historical property that he has renovated and will soon open.

“I do have days where I think to myself, ‘Why am I doing things this

way versus that way,” White said.

“But I hardly ever have days where I wonder why I’m doing what I am doing.”

A lot of people assume that entrepreneurs start businesses because they want to call all the shots, make a bunch of money and control their own destiny. I suppose that is true to an extent. But the common thread for all three of these local founders is something more — an urge to help others and make their community a better place to live and work.

That’s a pretty good “why” if you ask me.

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PRIME CONTINUED FROM PAGE A-1 Wright said that SME has told him that more investments will be coming this year. In addition to the financial support, PRIME also helps schools with curriculum related to manufacturing and works to engage the manufacturing community, parents and students, local chambers of commerce and elected officials to change perceptions about these jobs.

“One of the biggest obstacles we face is the image that manufacturing facilities are dark, dirty and dingy,” Cramer said. “In fact, most manufacturing environments today are climate-controlled, and are clean and quiet. We need to spread the message that these high-skilled, hightech positions look nothing like manufacturing of yesteryear.”

He said that about 90% of the graduates coming out of a PRIME program actually enter the manufacturing sector, either directly as an entry-level worker with a skill that is needed in that local economy, or after attending a community/technical college or a four-year program.

PRIME currently partners with 40 schools in 22 states, involving about 12,000 students. Its goal is to increase that to 25,000 students over the next five years, Cramer said. The Four Cities Compact is the only PRIME partner in Northeast Ohio.

Not just manufacturing Manufacturing isn’t the only field in which Four Cities has community partnerships with the intent of preparing the incoming workforce. The Advancement to Nursing students get hands-on experience at Summa Health’s Barberton Hospital.

“They provide basic patient care

Students at Four Cities Compact career education center who are studying engineering, design or robotics have access to state-of-theart equipment. (Contributed photo)

similar to what the nursing assistants do,” said Valerie Ison, clinical development instructor at Barberton who is the liaison for the Four Cities program. “They answer lights, bathe and feed patients, make beds — whatever a patient needs.”

The students are typically at the hospital twice a week for about two hours at a time, she said. When they leave the program, they have the credentials to work as state-tested nursing assistants, a job that is in much demand. They also can earn a phlebotomy certification in the program.

Many of the students go on to nursing school, she said, with some coming back to work at Barberton Hospital afterward.

“It’s nice that we can feed back into the community,” she said.

Other partnerships include car-

pentry students building a house with Habitat for Humanity in Wadsworth this year, cosmetology students visiting a local assisted-living community to do hair and nails for residents, marketing students helping local companies and fire safety students doing internships with local fire departments.

The Four Cities Compact receives funding from the state and federal governments as well as from the four school districts. The overall budget is about $470,000 per year, according to Wadsworth School District treasurer Doug Beeman. Wadsworth is the fiscal agent for the compact and provides office space to the administrative staff of four.

Beeman said each district pays the cost of the programs they house themselves.

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