Crain's Cleveland Business

FOCUS DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Taking the first step: Measuring diversity is the start to an inclusive workplace.

PAGE 10

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I MARCH 15, 2021

REAL ESTATE

Searching for a square deal

Chanelle Harris, owner of Chanelle’s Treatz, stands behind the counter of her bakery at Shaker Square. Harris opened her shop in December, just as a lender filed to foreclose on the property.

Shaker Square’s distress rallies the community, poses challenges for potential buyers

GUS CHAN FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BY MICHELLE JARBOE | In December, Chanelle Harris opened a bakery in a modest

storefront at Shaker Square, joining a community of merchants at what she viewed as a marquee address.

That very month, a lender launched foreclosure proceedings on the Square, an outdoor shopping center that’s an anchor and community gathering place on Cleveland’s East Side. Now the property is in the hands of a court-appointed receiver, an expert tasked with managing the Square while finding a path forward — an outright sale, a note sale or a handoff to the lender.

The uncertainty surrounding the Square has new and longtime tenants reeling. At least two potential buyers with deep roots in the neighborhood are working furiously to evaluate the worth of the 10.3-acre property and the costs of improving and maintaining it.

And community groups are sounding the alarm about the painful fallout — to Cleveland but also to neighboring Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights — that will ensue if the near-

ly century-old landmark rots in receivership or ends up in inexperienced, or opportunistic, hands.

“It’s terrifying,” said Harris, who started Chanelle’s Treatz a few years ago in her home and, even in the midst of a global pandemic, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to set up shop in the southeast quadrant of the two-story, four-building center.

See SQUARE on Page 20

HEALTH CARE

Working toward equitable vaccine distribution

Providers of underserved communities work to eliminate barriers to access

BY LYDIA COUTRÉ

In a mid-February vaccination event held at a community church, Neighborhood Family Practice (NFP) got doses into the arms of as many Hispanic patients as it had in the first

four weeks it had been offering the COVID-19 vaccine.

NFP and other federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) — community-based providers that receive federal funds through the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration — have

NEWSPAPER

VOL. 42, NO. 10 l COPYRIGHT 2021 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

found pop-up vaccine clinics to be incredibly effective and efficient in their efforts to reach minority populations.

Though COVID-19 vaccine availability is accelerating, the demand continues to outpace the supply, necessitating a lot of creativity among providers as they work toward equitable distribution.

“Folks in communities of color were disproportionately impacted in terms of their hospitalizations and deaths,” said Jean Polster, NFP president and CEO. “If we were equitable in the country, we would be focusing on communities of color first. And that’s where I think FQHCs realized that and why we become so critical.”

See VACCINE on Page 21

P001_CL_20210315.indd 1

Neighborhood Family Practice held a pop-up vaccine clinic on Feb. 17 at La Sagrada Familia Church. | NEIGHBORHOOD FAMILY PRACTICE

3/12/2021 4:03:15 PM

MY BENESCH “As transaction attorneys, Benesch understands both sides of the deal and knows how to be creative to overcome obstacles and get deals done. They work with us as a team, always looking out for what’s good for us.”

DONNA CAPICHANO Chief Development Officer Shopko Optical

MY TEAM Featured team (left to right) JEFFREY J. WILD JARED E. OAKES GREGORY S. BORAK REBECCA S. VICARIO DAVID MANSBERY, JR. BROOKE TYUS MICHAEL W. WARD KEVIN D. MARGOLIS KATHERINE M. KERRIGAN*

In May 2019, Shopko Optical had a bold plan to introduce 80 freestanding locations on an aggressive timeline. Donna and her team hit the ground running, working with Benesch to facilitate leasing 80 new storefronts in 180 days. Now, with the help of a custom leasing platform and document management process, Shopko Optical has the means to efficiently manage ongoing leasing matters while continuing to rely on Benesch to execute new deals.

How can we help your business grow and thrive? Learn more about our relationship with Shopko Optical at beneschlaw.com/myteam.

KATHRYN KRAMER GAYDOS *Paralegal

www.beneschlaw.com

© 2021 Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP

ShopkoOptical4c_10.875x14.5Ad.indd 1

2/10/21 10:41 AM

SPORTS BUSINESS

Pan-American games are prominent addition to Cleveland’s big-event resume

Your ambitions are our

blueprint.

Local decision-making, personalized financing solutions and our full attention.

Don Hayes The Pan-American Masters Games last were held in Vancouver in 2016. The 2020 games in Rio de Janeiro were postponed because of the pandemic. | PAN-AMERICAN MASTERS GAMES

Masters event for athletes 30 and older coming to town in 2024

BY KEVIN KLEPS

The Greater Cleveland Sports Commission had hoped to land the 2020 Pan-American Masters Games.

In an instance David Gilbert, the sports commission’s president and CEO, described as “better lucky than good,” those games, awarded to Rio de Janeiro, are on hold because of the pandemic.

The sports commission’s extended pursuit of an Olympic-like festival for athletes 30 and older recently was rewarded via the announcement that Cleveland had been selected as the host of the 2024 Pan-American Masters Games. The event, which is expected to bring in 7,500-plus athletes from at least 50 countries, is another major addition to Cleveland’s big-event resume.

In non-COVID times, the games are held every four years in the Americas and feature Masters athletes, some who have been more than 100 years old, competing for medals in such sports as basketball, cycling, tennis, and track and field. The 2024 games are projected to bring in almost $18 million in direct spending, and the sports commission thinks it will result in the largest international gathering in Cleveland’s history.

That’s especially significant for a city that hosted the International Children’s Games in 2004 and the Gay Games in 2014.

“It’s going to be such a cool event,” Gilbert said.

If each athlete brings an average of one guest, the Pan-American Masters Games could produce at least 15,000 visitors — 95% of whom would be from outside the region, Gilbert estimates.

The sports commission, with a staff of 14 full-timers and a pair of part-time employees, will need quite a bit of help to pull it off.

The nonprofit is assembling a “huge” local organizing committee that Gilbert said will include “significant leaders from the business community.”

The games are owned by the International Masters Games Association, a Switzerland-based company that organizes several international events for Masters athletes. The IMGA has a staff of just three, which

At a glance: Pan-American Masters Games  Owner: International Masters Games Association  Previous hosts: 2016, Vancouver, Canada; 2020, Rio de Janeiro (games have been postponed by the pandemic)  Coming to Cleveland: Summer 2024  Estimated number of athletes: 7,500 from more than 50 countries  Projected direct spending: $18 million  About the IMGA: The Switzerland company organizes international multisport events for Masters athletes, including its signature event, the World Masters Games.

“YOU HAVE SO MUCH LATITUDE TO REALLY MAKE IT SOMETHING INCREDIBLE. YOU CAN ADD FACETS TO IT THAT ARE VERY UNIQUE TO YOUR COMMUNITY AND ALLOW IT TO HAVE AS LARGE AN IMPACT ON THE COMMUNITY AS IT CAN.” — David Gilbert, Greater Cleveland Sports Commission president and CEO

means more work, “higher risk” and “higher reward” for the sports commission, Gilbert said.

The IMGA has a large network with “very specific guidelines in the parameters of what you host, but our job is to fully execute from start to finish,” the sports commission president and CEO said. “That’s everything from the recruitment of the athletes to running something that is akin to an Olympics.”

The groups structured a deal that features a revenue-sharing model

that Gilbert said will lessen some of the risk, as well as reduce the guaranteed revenue, for the sports commission. The idea being that the reward will be greater, should Cleveland again prove that hosting major events is one of its specialties.

“You have so much latitude to really make it something incredible,” Gilbert said. “You can add facets to it that are very unique to your community and allow it to have as large an impact on the community as it can.”

Market President 216-436-5814

All credit services are subject to credit approval.  YourPremierBank.com  Member FDIC

STAY IN THE KNOW with Crain’s email newsletters Subscribe FOR FREE : CrainsCleveland.com/enewsletters

‘Cultural snapshot’ Gilbert, who also leads Destination Cleveland as its president and CEO, thinks Global Cleveland can play a prominent role in the 2024 event. The games, he said, could “be a platform to help them advance what they do.”

Global Cleveland — with a mission to welcome and connect “international newcomers to economic, social and educational opportunities in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County” — already is devising ways to engage with the athletes and their guests.

“There’s going to be a lot of people coming who aren’t participating. We want to make sure that they have programming as well,” Global Cleveland president Joe Cimperman said. “We’re trying to figure out how do we do that, and we’re always looking at how do we do it in a way that actually leaves something behind for Cleveland and puts a homing device on the person’s bag as they leave Cleveland.”

The Pan-American Masters Games is an event that brings what the Global Cleveland president calls “multiplier tourists” — visitors who are likely to take in some of what Cleveland has to offer during their time here.

Cimperman said the organization will work with the sports commission, hotels and other groups to “provide as much of a cultural snapshot of Cleveland” as possible.

“This is people coming from all over the place, and these are people who are coming here with a purpose,” the Global Cleveland president said.

See BIG EVENTS on Page 19

The next decision you make could be

life altering.

www.ncafinancial.com

Here for you. Here for life.

6095 Parkland Blvd., Suite 210 Mayfield Hts., Ohio 44124 (440) 473-1115 Securities offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. (RAA), Member FINRA/SIPC. RAA is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of RAA. RAA does not provide tax or legal advice. Investment advisory services offered through NCA Financial Planners.

F: 440-473-0186 MARCH 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 3

P003_CL_20210315.indd 3

3/12/2021 2:05:07 PM

REAL ESTATE

NO END OF THE

Buyer group eyes long-closed Ford plants

WITH YOUR LOCAL CREDIT UNION

Suitors are considering industrial sites in Walton Hills, Brook Park

RAINBOW NEEDED

BY STAN BULLARD

Interest Rates at All Time Lows, Call Today!

• Commercial Real Estate Loans up to $15 Million • No Prepayment Penalties • As Little as 10% Down

CONTACT JONATHAN A. MOKRI 440.526.8700 jmokri@cbscuso.com www.cbscuso.com

Your Business Lending Partner SM

HANNA BUSINESS BROKERAGE

OUR TEAM OF EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS ARE HERE TO SUPPORT OUR CLIENTS AS THEY NAVIGATE ALL STAGES OF A BUSINESS TRANSACTION CONTACT US TO LEARN HOW WE CAN HELP YOU!

216.861.7200

BUSINESS BROKERAGE

WWW.HANNABB.COM

The well-known Ford Motor Co. oval logo may be coming off the automaker’s long-closed operations at the mammoth Walton Hills stamping plant and aluminum casting plant in Brook Park.

That is, if suitors for the land-rich sites amid the busy industrial market make it to the finish line, which has eluded prior prospects for years.

A big difference this time is that Northeast Ohio real estate development companies Weston Inc. of Warrensville Heights and DiGeronimo Cos. of Independence are in the hunt, according to three sources familiar with the situation. The three spoke on condition they not be identified because they are not principals in the evolving transaction.

Weston and DiGeronimo are wooing Indianapolis-based Scannell Development Co. to join the venture, according to two of the sources. Scannell has been active in the region for a decade.

The move comes as brokers who inquire about the status of the Ford properties are told the properties are under contract, according to one of the sources. That’s considered common courtesy among commercial realty agents to save each other’s time. However, the CoStar online listings for the properties and the CBRE real estate brokerage, which has the listings, do not show that as the case.

Howard Lichtig, a vice president in CBRE’s Cleveland office, declined to comment when asked if the properties are still available. Lichtig’s team on the Ford listings includes Michael Toth, a CBRE associate, who did not return a call from Crain’s Cleveland Business.

Any of the prospective partners could be considered a candidate for the Ford deals.

Scannell and DiGeronimo are partners in the transformation of the former Chrysler Twinsburg stamping plant into Cornerstone Business Park, which sits on the site where the factory was demolished.

The DiGeronimo family owns Independence Excavating, a national site excavation company which has expertise in brownfield and building demolition, a role it played in Twins-

P m

The massive former Walton Hills stamping plant has an asking price of $9 million, according to CBRE Group’s listing for the building. CBRE has no stated asking price for the closed portion of the automaker’s Brook Park operation. | CONTRIBUTED PHOTO FROM 2018

burg. In ensuing years the family-owned concern has become increasingly involved in multiple real estate partnerships in the region.

Weston is owned by the Asher family and has a portfolio of 22 million square feet in multiple properties in eight states. Repurposing former manufacturing leviathans is in the company’s DNA. Its founder, Tony Asher, launched what became Weston by buying and converting former factories to multitenant industrial parks in the 1970s.

Both Weston and the Scannell-DiGeronimo groups have landed Amazon operations in their properties the last few years. Cornerstone is home to the online retailer’s first substantial warehouse in the region.

Any of the three would be considered capable of taking down the Ford properties. However, the combination looks suited for a menu of redevelopment of parts or all of existing buildings, as well as constructing new warehouses that meet contemporary demands.

A joint venture might also be necessary due to the scale of the former Ford properties.

CBRE marketing materials show Walton Hills, 7845 Northfield Road, includes a 2-million-square-foot building on a 111-acre site.

“We understand Ford has some very good prospects,” Walton Hills Mayor Donald Kolograf said. “We are working with one of those prospects. We hope that they can close the deal soon.”

However, Kolograf declined to iden-

tify by name the property’s suitors.

“I won’t say out of respect for Ford and those we have met with,” Kolograf said. “We’re not sure what the final plan is.”

The Brook Park property includes a closed casting plant at 18300 Snow Road with a 1.7-million-square-foot building on 195 acres. That site is just south of Ford’s Cleveland Engine Plant, which remains in operation at 5600 Henry Ford Blvd.

Market conditions, despite the pandemic and construction of multiple Amazon properties and speculative buildings, seem suited to starting big projects.

Regional industrial vacancy is around 4%, according to multiple brokerage surveys.

“It would be logical for it to sell,” said Alec Pacella, president of the NAI Pleasant Valley brokerage. “The industrial market is so hot. There is such a limited supply of development land.

If ever there were a time for (Ford) to sell, you would think it would be now.”

David Stover, a principal at Hanna Commercial’s Cleveland office active in the industrial sector, said the industrial market is so tight and demand so strong that the region needs additional listings of available lands and buildings.

A Scannell spokeswoman said in an email that its policy is never to comment on its transactions.

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

Mayor Martin S. Horwitz Mayor@BeachwoodOhio.com •216.292.1901 WWW.BEACHWOODOHIO.COM

Store it locally, ship it anywhere

Flexible warehousing that won’t break the bank.

“Beachwood is a perfect location for celebrating diversity.”

The Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio is committed to building communities where all people are connected, respected, and valued.

» Up to 200,000 square feet of available space » Affordable shipping services » Contract and on-demand options PartnerShip.com/Warehouse | 800-599-2902

FOLLOW US:

FACEBOOK.COM/BEACHWOODOH

TWITTER.COM/BEACHWOODOH

4 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | MARCH 15, 2021

P004_CL_20210315.indd 4

3/12/2021 12:48:20 PM

FINANCE

AQN Strategies acquisition marks new era of predictive analytics for KeyBank Purchase of Virginia firm signifies fintech shift

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Key’s fintech strategy started playing out about six years ago.

Yet, amid the pandemic, digital banking efforts have exploded in importance. This has unfolded increasingly fast in the past year, in large part out of necessity in a time of social distancing.

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, customer shifts to digital banking sped up in line with a worldwide surge in e-commerce sales. This is thought to be spurring a shift to digital banking options for customers — it’s a key driver behind companies including KeyBank, Huntington Bank and others speeding up the consolidation of branch networks, shaving off operational costs along the way.

“I think we saw the vast transition to more digital capabilities over the last couple years,” Gavrity said. “But I

KeyCorp’s acquisition of predictive analytics firm AQN Strategies speaks volumes for its fintech-centered approach to the future of banking and its efforts to pace ahead of its super-regional competitors.

Analysis of data and statistics isn’t novel for today’s financial services industry in a world driven by big data.

Yet the AQN deal signifies more than just deepening those analytics efforts, executives say. It marks the beginning of the Cleveland-based company thinking about and harnessing data in a way that could separate it from competition in the future.

“This creates the opportunity for personalization at scale,” said Ken Gavrity, Key’s head of enterprise payments.

“We’ve never been more “THIS CREATES THE able to do that …

OPPORTUNITY FOR and merge third-party data PERSONALIZATION AT sources in a way SCALE. WE’VE NEVER BEEN to give you tailored service. This MORE ABLE TO DO THAT … is an evolution AND MERGE THIRD-PARTY we’re in the middle of, and I think DATA SOURCES IN A WAY TO GIVE YOU the winners and losers will be sep- TAILORED SERVICE.” arated by that.”

— Ken Gavrity, KeyCorp’s head of enterprise payments AQN, founded in McLean, Va., in 2016, offers advisory services for think we had a real inflection point. groups across payments, consumer … You had digital roadmaps accelerlending and small business. It has ate anywhere between five to 10 worked with nearly 50 companies in years amid the pandemic.” its relatively young lifespan, ranging “I’ve said I thought digital adfrom private equity shops to compet- vanced five years in five months,” itors of KeyBank.

KeyCorp chairman and CEO Chris Now, it’s exclusively Key’s to manage. Gorman told investors last fall.

“The Key opportunity was really inThis doesn’t mean putting an end to teresting and exciting for us because the traditional relationship of a banker we’ve been through a number of trans- working with consumers and busiformational processes (with other nesses, but rather empowering those companies),” said AQN founder Ben same people with knowledge about Sabloff and Key’s new head of analytics. their customers that makes them ever “But the chance to work with this team more proactive and effective. and drive transformation from the inThe timing of the AQN deal is notaside instead of being on the outside like ble, coming just weeks ahead of Keywe’ve always been just felt like it would Bank rolling out at the end of March create a more powerful outcome.” its national affinity digital bank foSo what does this all mean? cused on physicians, dentists and While the company doesn’t want to other health care workers. That’s a divulge everything it has in store, the service building upon the Laurel intention, simply put, is to craft digital Road platform, whose legacy purbanking services in a way that stands pose is refinancing student loans for to make customers happier. This people in health care fields. could mean fussing around less onSabloff said he anticipated buildline before someone finds the web ing out his team further as Key develpage or information they need, get- ops what he describes as an “analytting to the right representative faster ics center of excellence.” when they contact a call center, or be“You have to be able to compete ing offered a product or service that against the biggest and most sophistheir customer characteristics and ticated players today, and unless you behavior patterns suggest they may have the best analytics on risk and want. A sophisticated predictive ana- marketing and servicing your cuslytics ecosystem helps achieve that. tomers, you just can’t compete beIt comes down to a blending of cause there are just so many people marketing and customer service that after the same customers of the same eventually will benefit the bottom type of products,” Sabloff said. “And line, Gavrity said. That’s not revolu- we know at the root of who wins is tionary, but powering those goals who has the sophisticated capabiliwith a heightened and aggressive ap- ties, who understands their customproach to analytics is. ers best and who can bring solutions From partnerships with other to market the best for their clients.” firms to developing protocols inhouse to acquisitions of companies Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, like HelloWallet and Laurel Road, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill, Co., LPA

Reducing Real Property Tax Assessments Throughout Ohio And Across The United States

When you hire Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill, you work directly with Sleggs, Danzinger and Gill.

Each client is directly represented at all levels by a Partner of the firm with a combined 90 years of experience. No pyramid, no associates, no on-the-job training.

Our clients deserve the very best representation, so we structured our firm to allow each client, throughout the entire process, to work directly with Todd Sleggs, Robert Danzinger and Steve Gill. Our philosophy is to work cooperatively with school district and county officials to ensure that our clients pay the lowest possible real property tax obligations. If a fair resolution requires litigation, Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill have the depth of trial and appellate experience to handle the most complex valuation issues.

Whether the valuation relates to large industrial plants, apartments, shopping centers, warehouses, office buildings, hotels or any other type of commercial property, the attorneys at Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill will ensure that you receive the best counsel, legal advice and litigation expertise.

Most importantly, Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill wishes everyone continued health as we navigate through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Todd W. Sleggs, Esq tsleggs@sdglegal.net

Robert K. Danzinger, Esq rdanzinger@sdglegal.net

Steven R. Gill, Esq sgill@sdglegal.net

(216) 771-8990 www.sdglegal.net

Sleggs, Danzinger & Gill

820 West Superior Avenue, Seventh Floor Cleveland, Ohio 44113

MARCH 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 5

P005_CL_20210315.indd 5

3/12/2021 12:47:48 PM

HIGHER EDUCATION

Local colleges hope for a return to ‘normal’ for fall semester NEO institutions are planning to ‘significantly’ increase number of in-person courses, though flexibility will continue to be crucial

BY AMY MORONA

Residential • Commercial • Industrial

Specializing in Standing Seam Energy-Efficient Roofing That Can Save You Money Call for a quote now!

Financing Option Avaliable

Mark Wengerd

Amish Owned & Operated

PHONE CALLS ONLY • 440-321-9434

Providing a private travel experience that exceeds expectations

HOW TO FLY WITH SKY QUEST: » On-Demand Charter » Jet Card Memberships » Aircraft Ownership Opportunities

FlySkyQuest.com 216-362-9904 Charter@FlySkyQuest.com

There was a thought that a “silver lining” of the pandemic would be a push for higher education to embrace new ideas.

The sector often is criticized for being slow to change. But many, many things quickly transformed at colleges over the past year. A question that remains, though, is which may stick.

Peeks at potential answers emerged via recent early fall plans released by several local institutions.

The outlooks vary in level of specificity and details, yet they center on boosting the amount of on-campus interactions.

“Our goal is to get back to in-person the way it was,” said Marisa Rohn, the vice president of advancement, human resources and partnerships at Stark State College. “But we will obviously look at Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and respond to the environment.”

Rohn stressed the college’s biggest priority will be to adhere to current health guidelines to make the North Canton campus a safe environment for students. The majority are set to return to in-person instruction after a year that saw about 80% of classes online.

She said lots of the college’s students really crave face-to-face learning. Many are first-generation. The majority of community college students nationwide are women and people of color, groups greatly impacted by the pandemic. She said the college will continue to connect them with available wraparound services, such as offering any available emergency funding or linking them up with community resources.

Flexibility was key last year. Stark State wants to keep meeting students where they’re at, Rohn said. Advising meetings still will be offered in a variety of ways. Video updates seemed to resonate more with students compared to lengthy emails, so those may stay, too, though perhaps with less frequency. And for those who did enjoy online classes, the college plans to offer more — though it’ll be in addition to face-to-face classes, not to replace them.

The University of Akron also plans to offer “significantly” more in-person courses. Similar to its peers nationwide, UA’s plans are rooted in the idea that most people will be vaccinated by August and the virus’ spread will be limited.

“Safety is paramount,” the third sentence on its online rollout reads in bold. Two lines down emphasizes that yes, things can change. The university’s executive vice president and provost, John Wiencek, said it took a while to sum up Akron’s current initial planning, including getting input from health officials and other stakeholders. The language was important.

“How do we message this and recognize that it’s not fully our decision and we don’t have 100% certainty?” he said, adding that leadership focused on “making sure we’re doing that in a way that isn’t running afoul

The University of Akron is one of several local institutions that recently announced preliminary plans for the fall. | UNIVERSITY OF AKRON

of directions that others really want us to go.”

Leaders have to carefully craft wording that’s both hopeful yet truthful, said higher education strategic consultant Susan Baldridge.

“They’ve learned not to make guarantees to people, because they now know what it means to have to respond to unexpected changes beyond their control,” said Baldridge, previously the provost at Middlebury College in Vermont.

The timing also is important, especially given the enrollment woes of the past year locally and across the

“OUR GOAL IS TO GET BACK TO IN-PERSON THE WAY IT WAS. BUT WE WILL OBVIOUSLY LOOK AT PLAN A, PLAN B, PLAN C AND RESPOND TO THE ENVIRONMENT.” — Marisa Rohn, vice president of advancement, human resources and partnerships at Stark State College

country. Graduating high school seniors soon will finalize their post-secondary choices. Last fall brought a 10.5% drop in freshmen enrollment at public four-year colleges nationwide, a number administrators undoubtedly want to avoid seeing again.

Fall class registration typically begins around this time as well, and students will want to know more about the courses they’re selecting.

Akron’s fall preview website tackled other topics in addition to classes and safety precautions. It looked at questions probably on the minds of students, both current and prospective, as they weigh their fall decisions and plans: What will the dining expe-

rience be like? Will the recreation center be open? What about my dorm?

This fall, students have different options when it comes to living situations. They can buy out a double room in a residence hall to turn it into a single dwelling. First-year students now won’t be required to live in a residence hall.

“What we’re trying to do is to allow the student and their parents to make choices that make sense for them,” Wiencek said.

That move, though, will impact the money the university brings in via room and board fees. It is an often-lucrative income stream for institutions. It may be especially vital when enrollments decline, as UA’s did by 8% last fall. Officials are forecasting an undisclosed loss in revenue from these fees for both the current and future fiscal year.

Things are also changing in Kent State University’s residence halls.

Dorms will only be singles or doubles, and those living on campus will continue to undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing. Youngstown State’s brief overview of its return to “near normal” said more students are expected to be in residence halls.

While these early plans address several things, they can’t address everything. Colleges with a “traditional” in-person and residential learning experience will respond differently than those who serve students in different ways.

Plus, there’s still a lot of time before the fall semester begins, and no one knows exactly how things will pan out. These announcements all leave space for additional developments to be relayed later as administrators’ planning continues.

“I think it’s very likely that there will be some kind of lasting changes,” said Baldridge, the consultant.

“What’s hard to anticipate right now is exactly what those will look like.”

Amy Morona: amy.morona@crain. com, (216) 771-5229, @AmyMorona

6 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | MARCH 15, 2021

P006_CL_20210315.indd 6

3/12/2021 1:37:58 PM

REAL ESTATE

Industrial realty prices are rising in a bustling market Recent sales of Amazon centers have delivered increased values for other properties

BY STAN BULLARD

If you believe some industrial investment property sales recently are eye-popping, you’d be correct.

The most recent case is the sale of the Amazon delivery center in Bedford Heights, which was sold to an affiliate of the Seoul-based Mirae Asset Global Management financial firm for $46.8 million.

That works out to $324 a square foot for the building that Scannell Development Corp. of Indianapolis completed last year and leased to the Seattle-based online retailer. It’s striking to watch dozens of Amazon neighborhood delivery trucks queued for loading.

The other eye-popping sale came in 2020 as Westminster Capital, a Chicago-based real estate developer, sold a new warehouse in Glenwillow for $50 million to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based alternative investment concern.

The sale came after the building was fully leased, again by Amazon.

The 434,000-square-foot structure, which was built on speculation, garnered $115 a square foot. That deal marked the first time such an industrial property commanded a price over $100 a square foot in the region.

Terry Coyne, a vice chairman of Newmark who worked on the Bedford Heights sale, characterized both deals as “outliers.”

The sale of this Glenwillow Village warehouse last year turned heads in Northeast Ohio real estate circles. A more recent deal sold for even more on a per-square-foot basis. | CONTRIBUTED

That’s because there is a global appetite for assets associated with Amazon operations and reflects the busy national industrial real estate market.

“It’s a reflection of macro trends globally, and a micro trend locally due to Amazon,” Coyne said.

Due to the specialized nature of the properties, Coyne said, they have a marginal, primarily psychological, impact on the industrial realty market. Similar properties of more than 100,000 square feet don’t command so much cash and are more reflective of the regional industrial market.

However, the existence of such industrial sales of leased buildings clears the way for other industrial properties to sell for higher prices.

Alec Pacella, president of the NAI Pleasant Valley brokerage and a frequent writer and lecturer on realty investing for trade groups, likened the situation to how selling expensive luxury cars like Mercedes make the Fords, General Motors, Toyota and others look like bargains.

“It opens the way for a building owner who might have asked $20 a square foot to lease the building to ask

$25 to $30 a square foot, and perhaps that.” sell for a higher figure,” Pacella said.

Barna points to a beneficial effect The greater factor, multiple indus- from the high-priced, though spetrial brokers agree, is that the indus- cialized, Amazon-linked sale prices.

“This is opening eyes of investors trial market is a seller’s market for the in other places to Cleveland,” Barna first time in many years.

Joe Barna, a founding principal of said. “They are used to paying more the Cushman & Wakefield Cresco re- for land or buildings in New York or San Francisco. alty brokerage, said Cleveland looks lack of inventory is “THIS IS OPENING EYES like a bargain.” allowing longtime However, insidbuilding owners to OF INVESTORS IN OTHER get higher lease PLACES TO CLEVELAND. ers say renovated rates, and with or new properties them, somewhat ... CLEVELAND LOOKS with a built-in, higher sale prices. long-term rent role LIKE A BARGAIN.” Existing buildcatch higher prices — Joe Barna, a founding principal than they did when ings, Barna said, of the Cushman & Wakefield raw land or an exlook like bargains Cresco realty brokerage compared to what isting empty buildthe new properties command and ing is purchased by a real estate deare less expensive than building new veloper who may have to do ones. Amazon also wants fully substantial work over years to get air-conditioned buildings with lots of older properties re-tenanted. extra parking, which also factors into “A lot of landlords who have stuck higher prices for such structures. it out in Cleveland can now enjoy a Barna, who has been active selling favorable return. They deserve it,” industrial real estate since 1987, said Barna said. that for many years, leasing prices The Amazon-linked investment here were flat. That started to change deals have had a beneficial impact on about five years ago. all of the region, according to Coyne.

“Landlords now are getting 1.5% to “There’s no doubt there is more li3% annual increases in industrial quidity in this market than there has lease rates,” Barna said. “For years in been,” he said. other markets, landlords were getting annual bumps in rents. It’s only re- Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, cently that they’ve been able to do (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

Knowing your IT spend before you spend it It’s not fantasy.

It’s Cox Business Cloud Solutions.

Transparent, all-in pricing. We’re all for games. Board games, online games – heck, even reindeer games. We’re just not into playing around with IT pricing. With Cox Business Cloud Solutions, you’ll know your total investment right off the bat. So you can accurately budget for your actual monthly spend. We just think that’s the best way to start a relationship.

Let’s Talk Reality coxbusiness.com/cloud | 866-961-1075

Seamless Migration | End-User Help Desk | Included Co-Management | All-In Pricing PAD107502-0013

March 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 7

P007_CL_20210315.indd 7

3/12/2021 1:38:20 PM

PERSONAL VIEW

Honoring pandemic leaders from every corner, one year later

RICH WILLIAMS FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BY MARIANNE CROSLEY

EDITORIAL

Along for the ride?

I

f you were excited three years ago by the possibility of a high-tech Hyperloop offering ultra-fast passenger train service from Cleveland to Chicago, perhaps you can make room today for something less exciting, but more realistic: an expansion of Amtrak’s passenger rail service in Ohio and regionally.

Amtrak is not sexy. It doesn’t have the techno-futurist allure of the Hyperloop, which, when introduced to the public as a concept in February 2018, promised the potential to carry passengers or cargo in “pods” through a steel tube maintained through a partial vacuum. A Great Lakes consortium formed to advance the Hyperloop concept hoped to have it going within three to five years, and while the technology always struck us as fanciful, we’d be happy to see proof of concept. So far, though, it’s mostly just concept.

More feasible is an Amtrak plan to expand rail service across the country, including the potential for five new Ohio routes, four of which would run through Cleveland.

The plan still is in its early stages, without key details on ultimate costs, and it will need buy-in from state THE BET FROM AMTRAK IS and local officials. But THAT FACTORS INCLUDING it’s sufficiently intriguing that we hope leaders give CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS, it serious consideration TRAVEL PREFERENCES AND — something that HEIGHTENED AWARENESS OF doesn’t typically happen ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES WILL for passenger rail (and mass transit generally) in CREATE NEW DEMAND FOR car-centric Ohio.

In Ohio, Amtrak is INTERCITY PASSENGER RAIL. looking at adding the following five routes, all with intermediate station stops: Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati, featuring three daily round trips; Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Chicago, four daily round trips; Cleveland-Toledo-Detroit-Pontiac, three daily round trips, including a possible extension of train service from Chicago; Cleveland-Buffalo-Albany-New York, two daily round trips; and Cleveland-Pittsburgh-New York, one daily round trip.

Amtrak at present has only two routes through Cleveland:

one that travels from Boston and New York to Chicago, and another between Chicago and Washington, D.C. A third Ohio route travels through the southern part of the state.

The bet from Amtrak is that factors including changing demographics, travel preferences (fewer people owning cars) and heightened awareness of environmental issues will create new demand for intercity passenger rail. Better connectivity, in turn, could drive increased economic development.

The service expansion initially would be financed by federal money through a proposed new rail program that still needs the approval of Congress and the president.

But that’s not all that has to happen. As All Aboard Ohio, a transit advocacy group, points out, “for Ohio to gain new passenger services, the Ohio Department of Transportation will have to request it from Amtrak or other operators. Once an agreement is in place with a state entity, Amtrak may pay up to 100 percent of the capital costs to initiate new or additional services. Amtrak may also provide 100 percent of the operating costs in the first two years, 90 percent in the third year, 80 percent in the fourth year and 50 percent in the fifth year. After that, the new service must be state-supported in the same manner that 16 other states currently purchase service from Amtrak.”

That may not be an easy sell for lawmakers in Columbus, but as the state Legislature considers the Ohio Department of Transportation’s biennial budget, the Amtrak plan should be part of the conversation. Ohio potentially is a good market for passenger rail, given its many midsize and large cities. And yet rail service in Ohio is paltry.

City councils in places big — Cleveland and Cincinnati — and small — Elyria and Oxford — have passed resolutions supporting Amtrak’s proposed expansion.

Cleveland City Council, in its resolution urging Ohio’s congressional delegation to sign off on funds in the next transportation budget to make the expansion happen, said better passenger rail would make the state more appealing as a place to live and work. It noted that Ohio, the seventh-largest state, ranks 27th in Amtrak ridership. That’s a reflection of lack of capacity, certainly, though as Ohio looks to whether it wants to go along for the ride with the Amtrak expansion, it needs to figure out if it’s also a reflection of a lack of demand.

Executive Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com) Managing Editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com) Contact Crain’s: 216-522-1383 Read Crain’s online: crainscleveland.com

It was a year ago today that I sent an email to our Cleveland Leadership Center team offering “optional work from home.” I thought we would be back together in a few months. Like many, I was only beginning to grasp the reality of the pandemic.

At the time, every business and organization was issuing “our response to COVID-19” messages with verbiage that Crosley is would become the pandemic vernacular: president and unprecedented, pivot, new normal, adapt. CEO of the Many concluded with the phrase “We’re Cleveland all in this together” in an attempt to create Leadership a bond of solidarity against the virus.

Center.

The truth is we were not pivoting or www.cleveleads. adapting but scrambling and madly in- org novating to find a way forward.

The truth is we were never “all in this together.” Some were confronted with an inconvenience, while others combated the unimaginable. You can experience this unimaginable if you visit the Municipal Lot on a Thursday afternoon and witness 3,000 cars waiting in line for food from the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. The faces in the cars mirror the faces loading the food. The experience makes one immediately appreciate we are undeniably dependent upon one another; we are dependent upon the THE TRUTH IS WE kindness of strangers when vulnerability strikes in unfore- WERE NEVER “ALL IN seen ways.

THIS TOGETHER.” During the past 12 months, we all looked to the guidance SOME WERE of established community and CONFRONTED WITH business leaders to chart a path forward amid the vulner- AN INCONVENIENCE, abilities and growing fissures WHILE OTHERS in our community.

A year ago, the Leadership COMBATED THE Center asked some of these UNIMAGINABLE. leaders to share their thoughts on the pandemic. It was inspiring to hear their words and appreciate the lessons and strategies they and their teams were undertaking to survive and to serve. We returned to a few of them a year later and asked for their reflections.

They, we, have learned so much more about leadership and about those we serve. Their words speak volumes about our leaders and our community and provide the assurance that there is a path forward. Here are a few selections: Doug Katz (chef, restaurateur): “Making decisions early, trusting our instincts and staying our course allowed us to achieve success. I needed the support of my team to get through, but they needed my leadership also.”

Eric Gordon (CEO, Cleveland Metropolitan School District): “Throughout the pandemic, I’ve been reminded of the importance of communicating, communicating, communicating, and also been confronted with how incredibly difficult it is to do well. I’ve also led with the mantra of ‘Bounded Optimism and Deliberate Calm’ — a message of ‘we’re going to be OK and here’s what we’re going to do.’ ” Chris Alvarado (executive director, Slavic Village Development): “Checking in on each other and being available to just talk has been necessary. And, we have had to be more flexible with one another. I hope that this lasts past the pandemic.”

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

See CROSLEY, on Page 9

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

8 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | March 15, 2021

P008_CL_20210315.indd 8

3/12/2021 2:13:12 PM

OPINION

NEW CONSTRUCTION 116,150 SF

STRATEGICALLY LOCATED MINUTES FROM DOWNTOWN AKRON, I-76, I-77 & SR-8 | QUALIFIED OPPORTUNITY ZONE

PERSONAL VIEW

Time to fully integrate individuals with disabilities into our communities

BY SUSIE BARRAGATE

methods were no longer possible while stay-at-home orders were in place. This openness to new ways of When a community or workplace intentionally incompleting work we hope remains cludes people with developmental disabilities, those and provides the opportunity for incompanies and communities perform better. Despite dividuals with disabilities to be conthis, people with intellectual and developmental dissidered for open positions that they abilities continue to experience higher rates of unemmay once have been overlooked for ployment, homelessness, and food and housing insecunaipvc.com pre-COVID. rity than non-disabled persons. In the midst of COVID, For additional details or to schedule a tour contact: For VGS participants looking for a these realities have been amplified.

Barragate is Scott Raskow | 330 608 5172 | sraskow@naipvc.com job, it is not that they cannot work. It As our region makes plans for post-COVID recovery, president and is often that companies overlook it is vital that our civic and business leaders ensure indi- CEO of Stacy Tramonte | 330 590 8248 | STramonte@pvccinc.com them because of the time and monviduals with disabilities are a part of those plans, partic- Vocational www.naipvc.com ey they perceive will be needed to ularly around job placement and access to technology. Guidance train and accommodate that indiSupport in these two areas has the biggest potential for Services. vidual. Partnering with an organizaa positive domino effect that can also help reduce povtion like VGS can remove those barerty, food and housing insecurity.

March has been designated Developmental Disabilities riers, allowing business leaders to focus on other aspects Awareness Month, and this year, maybe more than any of their company. For VGS and organizations like us to other year, taking time to understand how individuals with facilitate these opportunities, it is critical that providers disabilities can be integrated into the workforce and sup- have the resources and partnerships to continue providing comprehensive, supportive services. ported within the community is vitally important.

The other area vital to not only sucAt Vocational Guidance Services cessful employment partnerships (VGS), for the past 131 years, we AS OUR REGION MAKES but also meaningful community inhave provided personalized job volvement is access to technology. training and employment services PLANS FOR POST-COVID Our civic leaders need to ensure that to individuals with disabilities and RECOVERY, IT IS VITAL the digital divide is eliminated so that have seen how the opportunity to THAT OUR CIVIC AND all can utilize the increasingly neceswork, something most of us take for sary technology to complete everygranted, gives participants a sense BUSINESS LEADERS day activities like remote work, shopof accomplishment and connection ENSURE INDIVIDUALS ping, education, health care and to their community that they previbanking. People with disabilities ously did not have.

WITH DISABILITIES ARE need these services more than ever We can all remember the chalA PART OF THOSE PLANS before. Websites, mobile apps, vidlenges we faced in getting our first job and the pride we had when we received our first eo/audio conferencing, electronic documents, emails paycheck. For those with disabilities or other barriers to and social media posts need to be accessible to everyone.

With continued open-mindedness toward ways to employment, the challenge of getting a foot in the door with a great company to start a rewarding career can be work and community focus on the need for access to For us, business banking is about more than expert financial technology, together the business community, civic that much greater. guidance and proven banking products. It’s about the ways One of the potential benefits of the pandemic is that leaders and organizations like VGS can be a catalyst for we put you and your business’s needs first. many business leaders have had to rethink how they positive change for individuals with disabilities in produce their goods and services, as their traditional Northeast Ohio.

• Serving as partners that listen to your needs

Business Banking with features to help your business thrive.

CROSLEY

From Page 8

Ethan Karp (president and CEO, MAGNET): “Tapping into emotional reservoirs each day to keep others motivated, keep yourself sane and to be authentic was and is exhausting. The hardest thing was being there for people in the most human of ways.”

John Litten (executive director, West Side Catholic Center): “Leadership as I know it didn’t change so much as it was accelerated, with not much of a playbook … following and filtering decisions through a solid mission is (important).”

Mark Ross (retired managing partner, PwC): “The pandemic has created a new equilibrium for our daily lives. I hope that as we leave the pandemic that we don’t lose the new ‘balance’ that it has allowed many of us to create. Equally as important will be for leaders in all aspects of life to appreciate this dynamic has shifted for our workforce.”

Phyllis Harris (executive director, LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland): “I expect that we have learned enough to know that going back to normal means doubling down on listening to and providing support for those who need it most. I’m proud of our city and the many superstars who have kept us, challenged us and helped us to make a difference.”

Those superstars are not just the recognized, titled leaders in our community. They are the many who have made getting through this past year possible in ways large and especially small.

Over the course of the year, we saw many people assume mantles of leadership because the need was, is, so

great. We saw individuals step up to address the digital divide, to identify socially distanced spaces for the homeless needing shelter, to launch shop local campaigns to keep small businesses open, and to assist seniors with accessing vaccines. There are so many who have done so much to move us forward.

Yes, the past year witnessed pain, suffering and loss, but also unforeseen resilience. It is that resilience and the unanticipated emergence of inspired leadership, often from unexpected places, that we want to recognize as we mark this somber one-year anniversary. It is all our leaders that we want to pay tribute to this week.

We hope you will join us as we dedicate each day to recognizing those who persevered during the pandemic. We ask that you perform an act of kindness, Monday through Friday, in honor of someone who made a difference: health care workers, educators, essential workers, friends and family, and those touched by COVID. Each day we will elevate a different community of leaders to be honored.

You can learn more about our initiative and the link to post your act of kindness, anonymously, at www.cleveleads.org/1year We launch this kindness effort at the invitation of our longtime partner, Southwest Airlines, as they campaign for 1 million acts of kindness in recognition of their 50th anniversary. We acknowledge that others in our community are also working to create a kinder Cleveland, including Kindland and Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere.

May the leadership lessons of the pandemic remind us to lead kindly into tomorrow and conquer the fear of uncertainty we experience today. In yearning for a better future, let’s not miss the opportunity to create a more hopeful present.

• Connecting you to local decision-makers • Fostering economic growth by reinvesting deposit dollars back into the community • Serving businesses of all sizes and lending needs

Let our team help yours thrive.

Contact Kurt Kappa at (216) 529-2998 or kkappa@ffl.net.

MEET YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE WITHOUT EVER LEAVING THE OFFICE.

Gain sales leads.

Showcase your expertise.

Learn more about how you can become a webinar sponsor.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: astoessel@crain.com MARCH 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 9

P009_CL_20210315.indd 9

3/11/2021 1:23:54 PM

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

STEP ONE

wer Hisp drop wom leve In and emp men and clud com gies lead sity tent pop deta diffe Th com nall resp Th er C rank wou man F que ny bus the thin

NADIA BORMOTOVA VIA ISTOCK

Measuring diversity is the start to an inclusive workplace

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY |

Just making a statement in the wake of a tragedy like the death of George Floyd isn’t enough if companies want to be truly diverse and inclusive.

No, to be more than a “moment,” companies have to move forward and do the work, said Marci Blue, director of research and data initiatives for the Greater Cleveland Partnership. And the partnership wants to help them do just that.

The first step is a comprehensive assessment tool that helps companies measure diversity in terms of race and gender and see how many best practices they’re already enacting at their businesses.

“It’s especially important for data collection, so that we’re able to assess what’s going on in the region,” Blue said. “But even more importantly, it’s a tool that organizations can use as a strategy estimate. It’s data they can use internally to start building out their DEI programming.”

“IT’S A TOOL THAT ORGANIZATIONS CAN USE AS A STRATEGY ESTIMATE. IT’S DATA THEY CAN USE INTERNALLY TO START BUILDING OUT THEIR DEI PROGRAMMING.” — Marci Blue, director of research and data initiatives for the Greater Cleveland Partnership

In 2020, 158 organizations participated, representing about 187,000 employees in the region, the report stated.

By and large, these organizations were majority white. About 75% of the workforce in the participating companies was white, 87% of their senior management was white and 83% of board members were white. The report shows that there hasn’t been a significant change in the data around workforce, senior management or board diversity in recent years.

The U.S. Census Bureau doesn’t have statistics specifically for Northeast Ohio, but look-

ing at the demographic data for Cuyahoga and Summit counties gives some insight into how these companies stack up. About 59% of Cuyahoga County residents in July 2019 were white, not counting Latino or Hispanic respondents. In Summit County, that population accounted for about 76% of individuals.

In all of Ohio, it was about 78%.

The numbers for women in the Greater Cleveland Partnership assessment were a bit stronger, but the gains broke down when examined by race. According to the report, 60% of the workforce in these organizations was made up of women, but just 11% of that total

10 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | MARCH 15, 2021

P010_011_CL_20210315.indd 10

3/11/2021 12:05:14 PM

From pandemic, hope Three local leaders discuss how to continue the momentum of deepened DEI initiatives. PAGE 14

opportunity to make that an area of focus going forward, DiCapua said.

Overall, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank has made diversity and inclusion DiCapua part of its larger mission, which the assessment helped support. Community engagement is one of the food bank’s core values, and this work is an extension of that.

“Truly to engage people, they have to feel like they belong,” DiCapua said.

DiCapua noted that this work is “fluid” and “ever-changing.” And it doesn’t all have to be big picture; sometimes it’s about providing resources for employees to help them educate themselves. The organization has an employee portal with resources such as a list of minority-owned catering businesses or Black therapists in the region that staff can access. This kind of work needs support from the top, DiCapua said, but also the support and engagement of staff across the organization.

Best practices In addition to demographic data, the Greater Cleveland Partnership’s equity and inclusion assessment asks companies to consider best practices in 14 categories, from strategy to implementation. Here are some questions companies can ask themselves about their policies and processes, based on those best practices.  Has your company developed a diversity and inclusion strategy and communicated it to all employees?

 Is there flexibility to accommodate personal appearance, religious holidays and more?

 Is managing diversity and inclusion efforts seen as a competency leaders are rated on?

 Are employees encouraged to volunteer in the community?

 Is diversity and inclusion integrated into the company’s core systems and practices?

 Is product testing used to analyze how customer groups in different cultures will use the product?

 Do recruitment and selection teams understand how bias can affect that process?

 Does the company’s marketing reflect diversity without relying on stereotypes?

ti-

“WE HAVE TO UNDERSTAND BIASES ARE SHORTCUTS. THEY’RE TRIGGERS, BASED UPON OUR EXPERIENCES. AND WE JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM.” — Adrian Thompson, chief diversity officer at law firm Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

Diversity of all kinds brings different ways of thinking to an organization, said Adrian Thompson, chief diversity officer at law firm Taft Stet-

nius & Hollister LLP. And diverse teams bring the best results for their clients, he said.

Taft tracks racial and gender di-

versity, as well as by employees who identify as part of the LGBTQ community or as having physical or mental disabilities. The firm also participates in the partnership’s assessment.

When Thompson, who is also co-partner in charge of the firm’s Cleveland office, started with Taft, he was the first Black man to serve as partner at the firm.

Today, about 61% of its executives would be considered part of those different diverse categories, he said.

When it comes to C-level officers, that percentage is 91%.

For companies just starting out on the diversity and inclusion path, it’s important to look internally, Thompson said. There needs to be buy-in from the top and systems put in place. And allowing employees and clients to be open and honest about their experiences is critical.

Everyone has biases, Thompson said. They’re shaped by our childhoods, our families and the media.

“But we have to understand biases are shortcuts,” he said. “They’re triggers, based upon our experiences.

And we just have to deal with them.”

Rachel Abbey McCafferty: (216) 771-5379, rmccafferty@crain.com

NADIA BORMOTOVA VIA ISTOCK

were Black women and only 2% were Hispanic women. And the numbers dropped to 38% representation by women at the senior management level and to 33% for boards.

In addition to asking companies and organizations to examine their employee demographics, the assessment also asks about current equity and inclusion practices. That includes everything from whether a company has created specific strategies to reduce barriers, to whether leaders are rated on managing diversity and inclusion efforts, to what retention rates look like among diverse populations. The best practices are detailed and granular, covering 14 different categories.

The assessment, which shows companies where they stand internally and how that compares to other respondents, is just a first step.

The assessment helped the Greater Cleveland Food Bank see where it ranked among its peers and where it would like to go, said director of human resources Lisa DiCapua.

For example, the assessment has questions about how much a company spends with minority-owned businesses. That made leadership at the food bank realize they weren’t thinking about that and gave them an

a o f e .

r t % s l MARCH 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 11

P010_011_CL_20210315.indd 11

3/11/2021 12:05:39 PM

INVESTING IN COMMUNITY HEALTH, AND

BUILDING COMMUNITY WEALTH. Together with our customers and partners, Delta Dental is building healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all.

Delta Dental of Ohio

FOCUS | DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

ADVISER

Business of diversity and inclusion: beyond race and gender

BY BILLY TAYLOR

As a global executive, I have led cultural turnarounds in both union and union-free work environments.

The one thing consistent in every transformation for success is people wanted to be valued.

People universally have four fundamental needs: the need to be heard, the need to be understood, the need to matter, and the need to be emancipated. Diversity, equity and inclusion address those human needs and are the most extraordinary and impactful form of engagement and empowerment a company can leverage to drive results.

What is diversity and inclusion in the workplace? D&I is differences in the workforce; the personal and distinct characteristics make everyone unique from one another and create an environment where people are comfortable and psychologically safe being their authentic selves. Diversity and inclusion in the workplace often land in the categories of race, gender, sexual orientation, military status and ethnicity. But diversity and inclusion are much more than these few categories.

D&I for business excellence Diversity is who drives business results; inclusion is what drives results. Both are required.

DIVERSITY WITHOUT INCLUSION: Decreases collaboration, reduces productivity and performance, increases barriers, and decreases innovation.

Diversity is who drives business results.

INCLUSION WITHOUT DIVERSITY: Relies on the sphere of comfort, rewards status-quo thinking, decreases creative disruption, and decreases competencies. Inclusion is how to drive business results.

Here is the evidence:  Nearly two-thirds of potential job candidates (64% ) say that diversity and inclusion are important in their decision to accept a job offer.  Despite this, only 55% of people agree that their organization has pol-

because they don’t know how or Diversity and inclusion icies that promote diversity growth and development. and inclusion.

KEEPING IT PSYCHOLOGICALLY what to do. They are afraid that they is an inside-out job  Companies in the top SAFE: Inclusion’s science will say the wrong thing naively and quartile of ethnic and cultells us that feelings of ex- are uninformed due to a lack of eduThe strategy, implementation, tural diversity on their exclusion and rejection regis- cation, experience and understand- governance and sustainability ecutive teams are 36% more ter in the brain as physical ing. They then do nothing, which is should focus on key performance aclikely to experience injury. Yes, that’s right. It the worst action. D&I strategies tions (KPA) and key performance inabove-average profitability hurts to feel excluded, and should educate allies to foster accep- dicators (KPI). In continuous imthan peer companies. it’s not without conse- tance. Organizations will not create provement cultures, this is called  McKinsey’s research Taylor is CEO of quence on business results. and sustain a diverse and inclusive PDCA: plan-do-check-act. shows that gender-diverse LinkedXL in I can admit that there were culture without influential deci-  KPAs are what we do (plan-do). companies are 15% more Akron and global times when I had great sion-makers’ support.  KPIs are what we get (check-act). likely to outperform their head of inclusion, solutions to issues in my ca- BE SMART WITH EMPLOYEE RESOURCE Key components: peers, and ethnically di- equity and reer but held back because GROUPS: ERGs are business partners.

Expectations: What does the enterverse companies are 35% diversity for the the environment was psy- They flourished with SMART goals prise want to achieve in the DEI space. more likely to do the same. Association of chologically and career un- (specific, measurable, achievable, reThe framework: Results, leader However, women and Manufacturing safe. The leader was more alistic, timely). ship and team roles for execution.

Examples of ERG SMART goals ethnic minorities in leader- Excellence. interested in the source of Education: Training, learning and ship roles factor into the the idea than the solution. (each ERG): development. One of the most signifuncontrolled wage gap (eqCompanies creating a safe  Learning and professional develop- icant challenges at building a diversiuity). Black women, Native American environment where employees feel ment: one event per quarter ty and inclusion culture is when leadwomen and Latinas earn 75 cents for that they can safely come to work as  Recruiting and membership: one ers know enough about D&I to know every dollar a white man earns. they are without fear will reap inno- event per quarter when they are right, but when they  Community and engagement: 700 don’t know enough to know when White women earn 81 cents, and vation and creativity.

Asian women earn 95 cents.

AVOID THE SHAME GAME: The shame hours per ERG annually they’re wrong or ineffective. Educagame is not the tool to fix diversity  Networking: one event per quarter tion exposes bias.

These SMART goals create an orAccountability and ownership: ‘You can’t manage a secret’ and inclusion. Shame, instead, causes leaders to retreat or get defensive ganic platform for diversity and in- SMART goals to track strategy, impact and execution.

If diversity, equity and inclusion and avoid engaging to be a part of the clusion.

Governance and sustainability: drivers and constraints are a secret, solutions. Effective organizations Reviews should be quarterly and anhow will you manage it? You can’t; leverage white males and majority Diversity inside diversity representation; shaming is not a vianually. The process will confirm what you must expose it.

Here are some improvement ideas ble solution. When shame happens, Inside the ERG, diversity within di- leaders are driving DEI and who is and processes to build a sustainable it ignites the fight or flight mecha- versity surfaces and further expands opting out. nism in our brain — and constrains the essence of appreciating differencI believe wholeheartedly that if D&I culture: UNCONSCIOUS BIAS: Unconscious or productive, transparent conversation es. Race and ethnicity cross-pollinate. you make people visible, they will implicit biases are judgments and that enables D&I. Within the Latino ERG, there can be make you valuable. Diversity and inWhat will it take to engage white representation from Latin America clusion must be intentional, and preferences made without conscious awareness. These automatic prefer- and majority leaders? and Mexico. In the Black ERG, there leadership must cultivate strategic As a Black male in corporate Ameri- may be African Americans and Black execution. If you aren’t taking this ences or stereotypes constrain and contribute to a lack of workplace di- ca, we leveraged white males and ma- individuals who were not from Amer- topic seriously, you should be beversity. Unconscious or implicit bias- jority leaders. I had an internal strategy ica. In the Asian ERG, there might be cause diversity and inclusion is big es — such as race, gender, sexual to educate them on asking, listening, Japanese, Chinese and Chinese business; it is also who and what preference or disability — are judg- showing up, speaking up, and taking Americans. ERGs help companies drives the business. diversity, equity, ments and stereotypes without con- action as a champion for D&I. embrace different heritages, different and inclusion create value, build Some leaders are afraid to engage customs, ancestry and ethnicity. trust and gives a voice to the strategy. scious awareness. These norms of behavior exert enormous influence over enterprise decisions and choices, whether unconscious or not.

Introducing the 2021 American Cancer Society Northern Ohio Biases impact the way organizaOhio/ West Virginia/ N. Kentucky Area Board Members tions recruit people, mentor employees, make promotional choices, give performance reviews, pay, offer development opportunities, accept and listen to people’s ideas, decide policy, conduct marketing campaigns, and treat customers. All are critical components for organizational JERRY KYSELA

React less. Plan more.

ACS Area Board Vice Chair; Senior Managing Director – Executive Chairman Aon

KATHLEEN BOND

PHILLIP CIANO

ACS Volunteer

Partner, Ciano & Goldwasser LLP

GARY CONNELLY General Counsel, Geon Performance Solutions

RICHARD CREPAGE, HARSHA KAPUR ED. D. EVP & Head of ACS Volunteer

Business Risk & Controls and Shared Services, KeyBank

Let your goals be your guide Ruggiero Wealth Management UBS Financial Services Inc. 600 Superior Avenue East 27th Floor Cleveland, OH 44114 216-736-8317

Modesto “Moe” Ruggiero Managing Director– Wealth Management Senior Portfolio Manager Wealth Advisor modesto.ruggiero@ubs.com

TAYLOR DAVIS

VP Real Estate and Originations, GBX Group

DAVID DRECHSLER DANIEL HOPGOOD Member, McDonald Hopkins

Senior Vice President and Controller, Eaton

DR. BENJAMIN LI TED MCQUADE Director, Cancer Center MetroHealth Hospital

Managing Partner, Franklin Street Advisors

T.J. MONICO

Managing Director, KeyBanc Capital Markets

Regional Members JEANETTE ALTENAU - ACS Area Board Vice Chair, TriHealth KRIS KIPP - ACS Area Board Vice Chair, OSU James Cancer Hospital

ubs.com/team/ruggiero

As a firm providing wealth management services to clients, UBS Financial Services Inc. offers investment advisory services in its capacity as an SEC-registered investment adviser and brokerage services in its capacity as an SEC-registered broker-dealer. Investment advisory services and brokerage services are separate and distinct, differ in material ways and are governed by different laws and separate arrangements. It is important that clients understand the ways in which we conduct business, that they carefully read the agreements and disclosures that we provide to them about the products or services we offer. For more information, please review the PDF document at ubs.com/relationshipsummary. © UBS 2020. All rights reserved. UBS Financial Services Inc. is a subsidiary of UBS AG. Member FINRA/SIPC. CJ-UBS-2031105874 Exp.: 10/31/2021

NATOYA J. WALKER -MINOR

Deputy General Manager, Administration and External Affairs – Greater Cleveland RTA

CAROLE WEIMER ACS Volunteer

DAVID ARENDS - CR Architecture & Design DR. DOUGLAS FLORA - St. Elizabeth Healthcare SUSAN HIRTH - ACS Volunteer CARRIE BECKMAN - The Christ Hospital NADER MASADEH - Buffalo Wings & Rings GARY CARR - Total Quality Logistics ALICIA MILLER - Catalyst Insight Group MARC DELORENZO - Cardinal Health TANNER MURPHY - Deloitte & Touche LLP DR. PRAVEEN DUBEY - OhioHealth JENNIFER NEWMAN - Merrill Lynch MISSY DUGGAN - Delta Air Lines JENNIFER CARLSON - OSU Wexner Medical Center DON DEPERRO - Columbus Chamber of Commerce

To learn more, visit cancer.org or contact the local office at 216-229-0263.

MARCH 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 13

FOCUS | DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Challenges of the past year also offer DEI opportunities Three local leaders talk about how to continue the momentum of deepened initiatives BY LYDIA COUTRÉ | Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) gained heightened focus in the past year.

Social justice movements saw greater attention last summer. COVID-19 and the heavy reliance on technology for connection underlined countless inequities across communities.

Along with these challenges have come opportunities to launch, expand and deepen DEI efforts. Crain's spoke with three local leaders to discuss how to build on this momentum: Alan Nevel, chief diversity and human resources officer at MetroHealth; Amanda Cole, executive director of Plexus LGBT & Allied Chamber of Commerce and Education Foundation; and Kevin Clayton, vice president of diversity, inclusion and community engagement at the Cleveland Cavaliers. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. CRAIN'S: With diversity, many people immediately think of a handful of demographics. It's race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity. How do you think about diversity, and why is it important to broaden that past those boxes?

NEVEL: I use an analogy around an apple pie. I look at diversity as being all of those ingredients that make up that apple pie.

You know, you can take a half a cup of brown sugar or a couple teaspoons of cinnamon or bite an apple. Each one has its own unique chemical and physical properties. Each one of those can stand on its own, but it's the act of bringing them together in just the right way. And all four of us can have that recipe for apple pie, but they're not all gonna taste the

same. So, I think that's where words like love, compassion, empathy and respect come into play, which brings all those ingredients together in just the right way.  You hold a unique role that was new to MetroHealth when you entered, which combined HR with diversity and inclusion. How does that benefit MetroHealth's efforts in that area?

NEVEL: It is a unique competitive advantage for me. Usually the folks who get on our nerves the most tend to be our colleagues in HR because of systems, policies, programs, processes that are in place that create micro advantages for some and micro inequities for others.

So the fact that I technically own those

Celebrating

policies, those processes, I can impact them in a way far different from in the past.

In the past, I had to influence other people to change behaviors, to change policies.

Now I actually own those policies.  Kevin, how can businesses look at diversity efforts as more than an HR initiative or metric? And when those functions are not combined under one person, like in Alan's case, how they can work together?

CLAYTON: It works for Metro because it's Alan. That model's not built for everybody.

That's why you don't see it that way. DEI is actually the gatekeeper and checks-andbalances for HR. Here's what I mean. Alan talked about all the processes and systems.

If he and I had two separate functions and he was in HR, his role is to make sure that he's gatekeeping the system, the processes that his team has put in place. But what if they're not yielding the outcomes that are desirable? Now Alan and I are butting heads. When we talk about internal systemic racism, we're talking about the processes in not only just racism, sexism, homophobia, all those — the processes in organizations is what drives that. So, what I've always done, and I'm fortunate not to have worked in HR from a P&I perspective,

10

Clayton

Cole

Neve

is I connect this back to whatever the organization's bottom line is. If it is a mission-driven organization, how do you connect it back to the mission? If it is a forprofit organization, how do you connect it back to revenue? I try to spread ownership of our D&I plan across all of our senior leaders, from our CEO all the way down, and HR has a piece of it; HR isn't all of it.

NEVEL: To further home in on that point with Kevin, I still have to show the business outcomes that will be different because we have a more inclusive culture and more diverse workforce.

COLE: What is interesting I think for me and for Plexus is the way in which companies and corporations and private sector can partner with community partners and have a public relationship with us. So then we're really able to expand who is in the space and the story sharing.

So, it really does come back to stories. That is how we understand culture, and it's how we change hearts and minds.

 In the past year, there's been a heightened focus on social justice.

The pandemic has laid bare a lot of inequities that have long existed.

Have you seen in the community more interest in employers and in deepening diversity efforts?

COLE: For us, what I'm afraid of is that it's going to bottom out. You have to invest in this over time, because it goes back to what you were saying, Alan and Kevin. It's about culture. We're trying to shift culture.

That doesn't happen just when it's popular.

So you have to invest all the way from the top to the bottom, whether it's your board, it's having that buy-in. Yes, we're definitely seeing greater conversations. We're seeing people being willing to have conversations that before they said were too political. The fact that talking about racism is seen as too political is mind-boggling to me, and that's still where we're at. Or the fact that we can't talk about inclusive practices around gender identity or our orientation, because

that' that NEV this m off? thes how the n beca there mon our a reall acco boils

years

2021 SPIRIT OF WOMEN IN BUSINESS AWARD RECIPIENT

http://bit.ly/SWIB2021 14 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | MARCH 15, 2021

P014_015_CL_20210315.indd 14

3/11/2021 12:20:51 PM

 Ho zatio star than year CLA deve a mo

. f

it's t to It's ure. ular. the oard, tely eing ions The s too hat's

und ause

FOCUS | DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

Nevel

that's too political. The fact of the matter is that it's people, right? It's people's lives.

NEVEL: My concern is that we've got this momentum right now, but will it die off? Because all these companies put out these elaborate statements last year. And how many of them have actually moved the needle in their organizations? And because there's COVID right now, we know there's going to be something else six months from now that's going to divert our attention. So, the only way you can really make this stick is holding people accountable. For some organizations, it boils down to this: Tie it to the wallet.  How do you advise smaller organization, or those who are starting to start it in a sustainable way rather than a bunch of money and effort this year, then they can't continue it?

CLAYTON: Over the last year, I've developed this piece around whether this a movement or a moment? The moment is

George Floyd being killed. Because I've lived a couple of years of life, that wasn't the first Black man I ever saw get killed by a police officer. That wasn't the first one that month.

But for lots of reasons, everybody had a chance to internalize George Floyd's murder in a different way. So, the same trauma that a lot of people felt in watching George Floyd being killed, I felt that at a much younger age seeing Rodney King being beaten. With that being said, the momentum is going to come and go, and how you make it sustainable is to demystify what this is. That's really what I've spent my career trying to do. And if you think about white males as leaders of most organizations that we're talking about, the sooner they see that they're a part of the diversity conversation, that they bring a dimension of diversity that's important, that this is not us against them, it's not us being any other dimension of diversity — whether it be male, female, Black, white, gay, straight — when they see that they're a part of the puzzle, it's been my success that I get a response at that point. I get a listening ear.

COLE: You're really talking about resetting that default. I often talk to people to say I don't default to assume that everybody's straight. I don't default that people who have children are partnered. I was a single parent; my mother was a single parent. I'm trying not to default in that way — or that everybody wants to have children; or that people are married to people who look like them. Or that their skin color means a particular race or culture. We're really trying to reset that default. One thing is I can say as a white person, we’ve got to talk about the fact that white people have to come along. There are issues with white culture and worldview and lack of understanding — and that there can still be this way that people can interact only with the group that

they choose to, and that's especially easy for white people to do.  Kevin, you talked about getting white male leaders to recognize their piece of the puzzle. There tends to be a defensiveness when you talk about privilege. How do you foster an environment where these conversations are productive rather than defensive?

CLAYTON: That to me is the one thing George Floyd's murder did. It was so eyeopening to so many people, regardless if they should have known or not known.

People have to be intellectually curious, but now what we've found is that people were emotionally curious. People felt something to make them say, “Wait a minute.” And I know Alan and I got so many different phone calls from all across the country, from our white friends that never ever asked the question before, because now they're emotionally curious.

NEVEL: COVID made the world slow down.  There are very few silver linings to COVID, but did that really allow this break through?

NEVEL: I honestly think that's the silver lining. It made the whole world come to a screeching halt and take notice of what happened. And then you know, to Kevin's point, I got calls from people all over the globe that I have worked with in the past. “Alan, how are you doing?” I think the mindset changed in me where people would say, “Alan, obviously I'm not Black. I don't know what it's like to be Black, but this was appalling what I saw. And what can I do?” And that just opened the door for a lot of people who were in pain like myself, to just kind of share what was on my mind.

COLE: With Plexus, through our foundation, we do a lot of training and different sessions. The benefit of being able to plug in and listen to a difficult conversation or have to shift my worldview around things that are not my lived experience from the comfort of my home.

Like at first, I didn't think this was going to work virtually at all. I didn't know how I was going to lead a difficult conversation not being in the space with people, but a benefit I think has been that, yes, you're at work, but you're at home. So, a lot of people have been able to lead into these conversations and that is also true for people who are impacted directly by the oppression. It’s a bit safer to say, ‘This is my experience, and this is how I feel,’ because I'm not having that conversation and then have to go into the cafeteria or the lunchroom. I think that's been a benefit.  The pandemic has really forced us to be intentional with our connections, and the question is how do we keep that intention going in our new normal?

NEVEL: Because we've created this psychologically safe environment within the workplace, people are having these conversations at the dinner table at home. People are taking these to their home and having that type of dialogue within their network, which tends to be very homogeneous. The fact that they're having that dialogue there is very rich, because if I can light a fire or two on the five or six people who I'm around outside of work, and then they light a fire on the five or six people who they're around, this whole thing kind of goes viral.

CLAYTON: One of the things that drives people into their separate corners is fear. Amanda, if I don't know you, I

don't know your lifestyle, I don't know anything about you being part of the LGBTQ community, I'm going to run to my corner out of fear. One of the things that for years I've been working on is an acronym of FCT: familiarity, comfort and trust. I know more about my team members — and I'm talking about 500 Cavalier organization team members — now than I ever knew prior to COVID. If I think about my team members, most of our conversations were at home. So right now, if you look behind me, everything about me is on this bookshelf. That same conversation was happening with all of our team members. So now we see kids going by, we see dogs and pets and what have you. That never would have happened if not for working from home to see more of our whole selves. The more I know about you, then the more familiar I am, the more comfortable I am, and now I can get to trust easy.

COLE: We're all operating within bias and the way that we see and understand the world. And there's nothing wrong with that; it's about what you do with it and the opportunities that we have for growth around it. The other part that we were talking about was around humanity. When I think about diversity, it's in the room in all different kinds of ways. I always come back to the family is the first organization that we were raised within. And it's how we interpret and understand broader, larger cultural viewpoints. That's really what we're trying to do is have instances of authenticity so that you're going to have greater degrees of compassion.

Lydia Coutré: lcoutre@crain.com, (216) 771-5479, @LydiaCoutre

2021

MARCH 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 15

P014_015_CL_20210315.indd 15

3/11/2021 12:21:19 PM

SPONSORED CONTENT

S1 15,2020 2021 S1 March May 18,

THOUGHT LEADER FORUM

LEGAL AFFAIRS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY A KEY DRIVER OF INNOVATION Innovation is a catalyst to economic growth and advancement. Today’s innovators continue to produce new categories of products and solutions for consumers and societies. According to the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Global Innovation Index 2020, Switzerland ranks as the most innovative economy, followed by Sweden, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. The majority of innovation investments are intangible, including property, data and intellectual property. Different forms of IP protection — patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets — can shield the same product or invention in various ways.

MAINTAINING THE PACE Worldwide trademark and industrial design-creation activity throughout 2019, prior to the onset of the pandemic, reveals a robust demonstration in creativity and innovation, according to a World Intellectual Property Organization report that was issued at the end of 2020.

Trademark filings increased by 5.9%, while industrial design filing activity rose 1.3%. WIPO’s 2020 Global Innovation Index 2020 calls for business and policy leaders around the world to sustain support for innovation through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

MINIMIZE RISK, MAXIMIZE COMPETITIVENESS

VALUATION OF IP

Patenting your IP helps guard a product or process and elevate its competitive advantage. Securing protection of trade secrets, including confidential business information and details associated with the development of the IP, also is a key aspect in defending the IP’s competitive position in the marketplace.

Conducting an IP valuation will help the IP creator and organization determine the economic value of its IP assets. An IP valuation can help maximize the intellectual property’s worth during transactions such as licensing, sale or entering into joint ventures or other collaborative activities.

STATEWIDE TRENDS IN INNOVATION

THE BENEFITS OF AN IP HOLDING COMPANY

Ohio ranked ninth in the U.S. in grants issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to inventors and assignees. Regionally, patent production data in a nine-state Midwest region shows that Michigan is the region’s top patent producer, followed by Illinois, Minnesota and Ohio, according to the USPTO’s Midwest Regional Office.

Establishing a company that is specifically dedicated to holding the IP can help with limiting risk and maximizing protection of IP. An IP holding company can serve to shield the asset from litigation or financial problems that may occur in the operating company that is using the IP. An IP holding company also enables the owner/creator to issue licenses of the IP to other organizations, which then generate revenue streams in the form of license fees back to the IP holding company.

SOURCES: American Bar Association, USPTO, USPTO’s Midwest Regional Office, World Economic Forum, World Intellectual Property Organization

Compiled by Kathy Ames Carr, Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland

Identifying and protecting your intellectual property assets CHRISTOPHER A. JETHROW Partner Pearne & Gordon LLP cjethrow@pearne.com 216-579-1700, ext. 257 Chris is a native Clevelander experienced in preparing and prosecuting patent applications in the mechanical and electro-mechanical arts and handling trademark applications. His practice also includes rendering infringement, patentability and validity opinions. Prior to entering law, Chris was a mechanical engineer for STERIS Corporation and General Electric. In his free time, he enjoys cycling and playing music with his wife.

A

mong the many assets of a business, intellectual property is one asset that can give a business a technological advantage over competitors.

For that reason, it is important to understand: • How to identify IP assets • How to guard IP assets • When to file for formal protection IDENTIFYING IP ASSETS: Businesses are constantly creating IP assets.

These assets can be generated by scientists/ engineers in research and development, technicians on the manufacturing floor, sales

that business will be to protect it before its distribution.

One aspect of the training should inform employees that IP is not only created during the design of new products, but also in manufacturing and marketing processes.

Manufacturing processes can introduce new assembly methods, new tooling and new software, while marketing can create new brand names, logos and slogans -- each a potential source of new IP. Proper training will educate and energize all employees and give them the skills to quickly identify potential IP.

necessary if the outside resource contributes to the development of the IP. These agreements are critical to maintaining or identifying proper ownership of the IP. In addition to preventing the unprotected sharing of IP to outside sources, periodic internal reviews/training sessions will help ensure that your IP assets are not unintentionally exposed or publicized by employees.

Lab notebooks, emails, meeting minutes and video calls all are places where IP can be documented and recorded, and if not properly secured, may be misappropriated or otherwise released unintentionally to the public.

and marketing personnel in the office and service technicians in the field. Businesses should be prepared to help all employees recognize their potential to be an IP generator.

GUARDING IP ASSETS: Once IP is identified, determine if it is worthy of protection and make note of the people involved in the IP and whether outside resources are required for development.

FILING: Once potential IP assets have been identified, then the time may be ripe to engage an IP attorney to discuss protection options in the U.S. and other countries, if desired.

While those in research and development are usually well aware of their role in the generation of IP, those outside of R&D often receive little training in appreciating the impact they have on IP creation.

Too often businesses engage outside resources to quickly develop new products and processes.

However, hasty disclosures to such outside sources may diminish or jeopardize potential IP rights.

The IP attorney should be consulted as soon as possible to determine the best way to safeguard those assets even if development is ongoing and more time is needed before a filing can be made.

To remedy this, businesses should give all employees periodic training in recognizing IP. The earlier a business can identify potential IP after it is generated, the better positioned

Before sharing any information with any outside resource, prepare and execute a confidentiality and nondisclosure agreement.

A joint development agreement may be

This advertising-supported section/feature is produced by Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland, the marketing storytelling arm of Crain’s Cleveland Business. The Crain’s Cleveland Business newsroom is not involved in creating Crain’s Content Studio content.

SPONSORED CONTENT

March 15, 2021 S2

SPONSORED CONTENT

THOUGHT LEADER FORUM

LEGAL AFFAIRS PROTECTING EMPLOYEES FROM WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION Ohio has a long history of civil rights enforcement, originating with a law enacted in 1884 to prohibit racial discrimination in movie theaters, stores and restaurants. In 1959, Ohio’s Fair Employment Practices Act was signed into law to enforce state laws against discrimination. Now, as of April 12, H.B. 352, the Employment Law Uniformity Act, will take effect, updating the Fair Employment Practices Act with sweeping changes.

Here is a look at some regional, state and nationwide trends on employment discrimination:

RETALIATION TOPS STATE, NATIONAL CLAIMS

REGIONAL OFFICE BREAKDOWN

WORKPLACE BEST PRACTICES

In fiscal year 2020, employment discrimination charges in Ohio primarily were related to retaliation, followed by race or color, disability, sex/pregnancy, age, national origin or ancestry, religion, familial status and a single claim against military status, according to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. Nationwide data in FY 2019 show that more than half of all employment discrimination charges were related to retaliation, followed by disability, race, sex, age, national origin, color, religion, equal pay and genetic information.

In FY 2020, a total of 3,220 new employment discrimination charges were filed with the OCRC. The majority of these cases stemmed from the Columbus regional office (766), followed by Dayton (735), Toledo (680), Cleveland (548) and Akron (491).

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says businesses must develop a strong anti-discrimination policy; be aware of any situations that may involve harassment or discrimination; make certain employees understand their rights and responsibilities; and assure employees they will not face retaliation or punishment for reporting discrimination, participating in an investigation or lawsuit or opposing discrimination.

BASIS OF INVESTIGATION

CLAIMANT COMPENSATION About 11% of people who filed charges that closed in FY 2020 received some economic and noneconomic benefits. The charging parties received monetary benefits totaling more than $3.1 million, according to the OCRC’s FY 2020 annual report.

Compiled by Kathy Ames Carr, Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland

The OCRC investigates charges of employment discrimination within the state of Ohio, including claims related but not limited to job advertisements, hiring, work conditions, harassment, layoffs, promotions or demotions and termination. In Ohio, companies with four or more employees are subject to the state’s antidiscrimination laws.

SOURCES: National Law Review, NOLO, Ohio Civil Rights Commission, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

H.B. 352 modifies Ohio’s employment discrimination laws RINA RUSSO Partner, Walter | Haverfield rrusso@walterhav.com 216-928-2928

ELIZABETH BOLDUC Associate, Walter | Haverfield ebolduc@walterhav.com 216-658-6218

Rina Russo, partner, counsels employers with regards to all aspects of the employment relationship. She also represents employers in federal and state courts, as well as administrative agencies. Elizabeth Bolduc is an associate who concentrates her practice in the areas of labor and employment law, representing employers in all aspects of the employment relationship. She counsels employers to prevent lawsuits and defends employers in litigation when needed.

O

hio Gov. Mike DeWine recently signed H.B. 352, the Employment Law Uniformity Act, into law. The act significantly overhauls Ohio’s Fair Employment Practices Act under Ohio Revised Code 4112. The act is set to take effect on April 12, which is 90 days after DeWine signed the legislation.

Here are some key takeaways of the act that employers need to know: STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS: For more than 20 years, Ohio has maintained one of the longest statute of limitations in the country for filing employment discrimination claims.

The act reduces the statute of limitation for civil workplace discrimination causes of action to two years.

EXHAUST ADMINISTRATIVE REMEDIES: The act now requires employees to exhaust their administrative remedies before filing a civil action alleging employment discrimination.

This means employees must first file a Charge of Discrimination with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission and exhaust their administrative remedies before filing suit.

This requirement does not apply to an individual requesting injunctive relief from an unlawful discriminatory practice.

This process will give employers and employees a chance to resolve claims before resorting to litigation.

The act also amends the statute of limitations for filing a charge with the OCRC from 180 days to two years, creating a uniform statute of limitations for administrative charges and civil actions.

REMOVES SUPERVISOR LIABILITY, WITH EXCEPTIONS: The act also largely eliminates individual manager and supervisor liability, which was established in 1999 by the Ohio Supreme Court in Genaro v. Cent. Transport, Inc. The act, however, does not remove individual liability in circumstances where the supervisor or manager is the employer, acted outside the scope of their employment, or retaliated against an employee for engaging in protected activity.

AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE: The act establishes an affirmative defense to hostile work environment sexual

This advertising-supported section/feature is produced by Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland, the marketing storytelling arm of Crain’s Cleveland Business. The Crain’s Cleveland Business newsroom is not involved in creating Crain’s Content Studio content.

harassment claims where no tangible employment action was taken if: • The employer had an effective harassment policy in place • The employer properly educated employees about the policy and complaint procedures • The employer exercised reasonable care to prevent or promptly correct the harassing behavior • The employee alleging the hostile work environment unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventive or corrective opportunities provided by the employer.

This legal principle, commonly referred to as the Faragher/Ellerth affirmative defense, was established by United States Supreme Court in 1998 and will now expressly apply to claims brought under Ohio Revised Code 4112.

AGE DISCRIMINATION. Under the previous law, employees had multiple avenues to file age discrimination claims.

The act now provides one avenue for age discrimination claims, which must be filed within two years.

CRAIN'S LIST | ARCHITECTURAL FIRMS Ranked by local registered architects RANK

COMPANY LOCAL OFFICE

LOCAL REGISTERED ARCHITECTS 1-1-2021

1-1-2020

TOTAL LOCAL STAFF

SPECIALTIES

CURRENT PROJECTS

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE(S)

1

GPD GROUP 520 S. Main St., Suite 2531, Akron 330-572-2100/gpdgroup.com

46

51

580

Schools, municipal and county buildings, retail, health care

Cloverleaf Schools, Triway Schools, Meijer, Home Depot

Darrin Kotecki, president

2

VOCON 3142 Prospect Ave., Cleveland 216-588-0800/vocon.com

32

35

117

Workplace strategy, interior design, architecture, experiential brand design

Swagelok, Cleveland Foundation, The Quarter Phase III

Debbie Donley; Paul M. Voinovich, principals

3

THENDESIGN ARCHITECTURE (TDA) 4230 River St., Willoughby 440-269-2266/thendesign.com

32

31

58

Architecture, planning, interior design, construction administration

Wickliffe City Schools PK-12 campus, BrecksvilleBroadview Heights elementary school and fieldhouse, TownePlace Suites at Spire Institute

Christopher D. Smith, president; Robert A. Fiala, founder, executive chair

4

PERSPECTUS ARCHITECTURE 1300 E. 9th St., Cleveland 216-752-1800/perspectus.com

30

28

47

Health care, education, cultural, government, commercial, historic, laboratories, clubs, hospitality

Cleveland Public Auditorium Music Hall, Summa Health Systems Behavioral Health Pavilion, Brookdale Senior Living

William Ayars; Michael Lipowski; Salvatore Rini, managing principals

5

HASENSTAB ARCHITECTS, INC. 190 N. Union St., Suite 400, Akron 330-434-4464/hasenstabinc.com

28

28

53

Health care, education, laboratory/ research, office, interiors

MetroHealth Cleveland Heights Behavioral Health expansion, new science building at Ohio State University Wooster campus, Bio-Med Science Academy STEM+M school

Dennis M. Check, president

6

DLR GROUP|WESTLAKE REED LESKOSKY 1422 Euclid Ave., Suite 300, Cleveland 216-522-1350/dlrgroup.com

27

36

85

Architecture, interiors, engineering, technologies, planning, cultural, health care, education, hospitality, workplace, housing

Cleveland Museum of Natural History, CWRU Maltz Performing Arts Center, Health Education Campus

Paul E. Westlake Jr., senior principal, global cultural; Phil LiBassi, senior principal, global healthcare; Matthew Janiak, senior principal, Northeast region leader

7

ONYX CREATIVE 25001 Emery Road, Suite 400, Cleveland 216-223-3200/onyxcreative.com

20

22

78

Design, architecture, interior design, branding, graphics; electrical, mechanical and structural engineering

Animal Protective League - Cleveland, Midtown Plaza - Parma, Hebrew Academy - Cleveland Heights

Mike Crislip, president; Carole Sanderson, CFO

8

BIALOSKY CLEVELAND 6555 Carnegie Ave., Cleveland 216-752-8750/bialosky.com

20

22

52

Education, workplace, mixed-use, residential, libraries, culinary, religious, nonprofits, master plans, MEP engineering

Medical Mutual Brooklyn operations, The Tappan apartments in Tremont, Ashley U.S. Courthouse in Toledo

Jack Alan Bialosky Jr., senior and managing principal

9

RDL ARCHITECTS INC. 16102 Chagrin Blvd., Shaker Heights 216-752-4300/rdlarchitects.com

14

13

42

Placemaking, interiors, all housing markets, senior living life care communities, retail, commercial

Harbor Chase Senior Community, Euclid 3 student housing, First Ascent in Leawood, Kan.

Ron Lloyd, president, founder

10

BOWEN 2019 Center St., Suite 500, Cleveland 216-491-9300/rlba.com

13

13

56

Commercial, justice, transportation, multifamily housing, education

Five local public safety and justice projects, five transit projects, six multifamily projects

Allan L. Renzi, president

11

BOSTWICK DESIGN PARTNERSHIP 2729 Prospect Ave., Cleveland 216-621-7900/bostwickdesign.com

13

15

23

Health/wellness, medical planning, higher education, library, civic, corporate offices, interior design

Cleveland Public Library, Woodland Branch; Penn State, geoscience laboratories; LECOM Health, skilled nursing facility

Robert Lewis Bostwick, president, director of design

12

PRIME AE GROUP INC. 540 White Pond Drive, Suite E, Akron 330-864-7755/primeeng.com

12

11

29

Higher education, hospitality, federal, religious, K-12, historic preservation, office, municipal, recreation, multifamily

Cleveland Public Library, Lorain Branch; city of Columbus - Health Department expansion and renovation

Dana S. Mitchell, senior vice president, architecture and engineering

13

SANDVICK ARCHITECTS INC. 1265 W. 6th St., Cleveland 216-621-8055/sandvickarchitects.org

11

11

32

Historic preservation and adaptive reuse specializing in achieving Historic Tax Credit projects

The Cleveland Arcade/Hyatt Hotel, Scoffield Building/ Scoffield Hotel, Cleveland Athletic Club

Jonathan Sandvick, president

14

CITY ARCHITECTURE INC. 3200 Euclid Ave., Cleveland 216-881-2444/cityarch.com

11

11

21

Urban design, planning, mixed-use developments, civic, residential, corporate, restoration, preservation

121 Larchmere, Nottingham-Spirk Innovation Center, Woodhill Transformation Plan

August Fluker; Alex Pesta; John Wagner, principals

15

CBLH DESIGN INC. 7850 Freeway Circle, Middleburg Heights 440-243-2000/cblhdesign.com

11

11

19

Health care, higher education, libraries, interior design

The University of Akron – College of Business Administration, University Hospitals – Health & Medical Centers

Michael D. Liezert; Marc B. Bittinger; Jeffrey Valus, principals

16

DIMIT ARCHITECTS 14414 Detroit Ave., Suite 306, Lakewood 216-221-9021/dimitarchitects.com

10

10

25

Architecture, interiors and urban design, multifamily, planning, mixed-use retail, office, hospitality

The Dexter, Gideon Owen Winery, Union Home Mortgage - UHM West

Scott M. Dimit, managing principal; Analia Nanni Dimit, principal, director of interior architecture

17

NELSON WORLDWIDE 6000 Lombardo Center, Suite 500, Cleveland 216-781-9144/nelsonworldwide.com

10

13

23

Workplace, retail, asset strategy, health care, industrial, hospitality, mixed-use, architectural implementation

Belden Village Mall Sears Repurposing - Canton; Mellody Farm - Vernon Hills, Ill.; The Shops at Riverside - Hackensack, N.J.

John G. Burk, managing director, Cleveland office

18

DORSKY + YUE INTERNATIONAL 6105 Parkland Blvd., Suite 130, Mayfield Heights 216-468-1850/dorskyyue.com

9

6

29

Mixed-use developments, multifamily, office buildings, retail centers, hospitality, entertainment

West Bay Plaza - Westlake; CornerStone mixed-use development - Coral Springs, Fla.; Wynnwood Green luxury apartments - Miami, Fla.

Victor Yue, managing member

19

HBM ARCHITECTS LLC 1382 W. 9th St., Suite 300, Cleveland 216-421-1100/hbmarchitects.com

9

10

19

Public and academic libraries and other design-driven projects for civic and cultural institutions

President Barack Obama Main Library - St. Petersburg, Fla.; new library - Garland, Texas; Antoine Predock Rawlings Library renovations - Pueblo, Colo.

Peter J. Bolek, president, director of design; James Shook, principal; Kevin Kennedy, principal

20

MAKOVICH & PUSTI ARCHITECTS 111 Front St., Berea 440-891-8910/mparc.com

9

10

18

Health care, higher education, public projects

MetroHealth Critical Care Pavilion renovation, Oberlin College Wilder Hall renovation/addition, city of Cleveland Sterling Recreation Center renovation/ addition

Donald Rerko, president

21

AECOM 1300 E. 9th St., Suite 500, Cleveland 216-622-2300/aecom.com

8

8

204

Education, federal services, health care, laboratory technologies, architecture, interior design, landscape design/ planning

St. Joseph Academy Fitzmaurice Hall renovation, WRHS Cleveland History Center Library alteration, Westinghouse property redevelopment study

Molly E. Page, vice president

22

LDA ARCHITECTS INC. 5000 Euclid Ave., Suite 104, Cleveland 216-932-1890/ldaarchitecture.com

8

7

28

Market-rate and affordable multifamily residential, historic preservation, interior design, landscape design

Church & State apartments, Bridgeworks apartments, Electric Gardens apartments, former Carlisle's department store historic rehabilitation

Dominick Durante Jr., president

23

STROLLO ARCHITECTS 201 W. Federal St., Youngstown 330-743-1177/strolloarchitects.com

8

8

16

Health care architecture, government, education, recreation, corrections, assisted living

Campus Lofts at Youngstown State University, Briarfield Place assisted living, Beachwood City Schools

Gregg Strollo, principal

24

DOMOKUR ARCHITECTS 4651 Medina Road, Akron 330-666-7878/domokur.com

8

8

12

Architecture, landscape architecture, master planning, interior design, graphic design/signage, construction management

J.M. Smucker Co., Kent State University, Ohio Department of Natural Resources

Michael Domokur, owner

Research by Darleen White (dmwhite@crain.com) and Chuck Soder (csoder@crain.com) | To prevent ties, firms with the same number of architects are then ranked by total staff size. Information is supplied by the companies.

Get all 44 firms in Excel format and more executive names. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data 18 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | March 15, 2021

P018_CL_20210315.indd 18

3/12/2021 1:38:51 PM

THE WEEK HOTEL IN TROUBLE: The lender seeking to foreclose on the Westin Cleveland Downtown hotel is asking for a court-appointed receiver to step in to avert a looming shutdown of the 484room property. The Cleveland International Fund on March 8 filed an emergency request for an outside expert to take control of Optima 777 LLC, the company that runs the hotel.

In a filing in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, the lender said the Westin is “in imminent danger of closing on March 19, 2021, unless a receivership is put in place.” Judge Cassandra Collier-Williams scheduled a hearing on the matter for March 17.

The Cleveland International Fund, a private equity fund based in Cleveland Heights, filed its foreclosure lawsuit in early October over a $36 million mortgage that soured before the coronavirus pandemic hammered the hospitality industry. The case, involving one of downtown Cleveland’s largest hotels, is doubly noteworthy because the Westin’s majority owner, Optima Ventures of Florida, is caught up in an international money laundering investigation.

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED ...: The office market held its breath. More than a dozen shops and restaurants opened even as others shut their doors. Apartment occupancy slipped. And hotels, unsurprisingly, saw occupancy plunge by more than 58% as the pandemic and lockdowns kept travelers at home. That’s a snapshot of what transpired in downtown Cleveland last year, according to an annual report released March 10. The report,

BIG EVENTS

From Page 3

‘Coming-out party’

A valet walks outside to greet a customer at the Westin Cleveland Downtown hotel in October. The lender seeking to foreclose on the hotel is asking for a court-appointed receiver to step in to avert a looming shutdown. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

produced by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance, offers some insight into how a public health crisis and stay-athome orders reshaped the central business district, throwing some sectors into limbo while others kept on churning. The nonprofit alliance, which draws much of its funding from property owners, focused on the bright spots — construction sites that stayed busy despite pandemic-borne uncertainty; the Sherwin-Williams Co.’s plan to break ground late this year for a new headquarters in the Warehouse District; and a slew of quick-service and takeout eateries that set up shop. “All things considered, we feel pretty good about how downtown weathered what was a very, very tough year,” said Michael Deemer, the alliance’s executive vice president of business development.

QUITE A CAREER: A modern marketing legend is planning to leave Progressive Corp., though the pace of the re-

tirement is deliberate. The insurance giant on March 10 announced that Jeff Charney will retire as chief marketing officer of Progressive, a position he has held since 2010. His expected retirement date, though, is January 2022. Progressive said the early announcement of Charney’s retirement “was made to allow for ample time to conduct an external search for his successor,” and that the exact timing of his departure “will be dependent on finding his replacement and ensuring a seamless transition.”

The CMO search will begin “soon” and will be overseen by Progressive CEO Tricia Griffith, Charney and chief human resource officer Lori Niederst. Charney and the marketing team at Progressive are responsible for one of the most iconic characters in advertising history, “Flo,” as well as a new (and popular) figure, parental-life coach “Dr. Rick” and a campaign with the FirstEnergy Stadium-dwelling Baker Mayfield.

The

ROI

The Pan-American Masters Games are held over 10 days and take place late in the summer.

A few months prior, the NCAA Women’s Final Four will be played at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The marquee women’s basketball event has a projected economic impact of $22 million, and its proximity to the Pan-American Masters Games led to a lot of internal discussions about whether hosting both events was feasible.

“Who’s going to do what? Before we made our final commitment, we had to know,” Gilbert said.

There are instances in which the budget allows for the sports commission to “staff up,” and the spring and summer of 2024 will fit that criteria, Gilbert said.

The two events will culminate a period of five-plus years in which Cleveland also hosted the 2019 MLB AllStar Game, the 2021 NFL draft and the 2022 NBA All-Star Game.

The three-day NFL draft, slated for April 29 to May 1 along the lakefront, was expected to be the largest of the big-time draws, but its impact is uncertain because of the COVID-19 crisis.

The NFL had a sizable contingent in Cleveland for a site visit last week.

The group is in the process of deciding on the locations of the main stage, the fan experience festival and other events, and it had the benefit of Super Bowl LV to use as a guide to what is possible, and safe, during the pandemic.

Browns chief operating officer David Jenkins was in Tampa, Fla., for the Super Bowl. He said the league might try to emulate that setup, with a ticketed component featuring vaccinated health care workers (that could be a possibility for the stage area of the draft) and a “more free-flowing” fan festival that requires face masks and has plenty of sanitizing stations.

“You could look at it glass half-full or glass half-empty, and they looked at it as an incredible shot in the arm regardless of the year that we’re in,” Jenkins said of Tampa. “It brought a whole lot of hotel rooms and meals to restaurants that the local economy didn’t otherwise have. The draft in a year like this or any other year will be a great shot in the arm for the region.”

And while it might not have a nine-figure impact, as was anticipated when Cleveland was selected to host the draft for the first time, Gilbert and other local leaders still expect it to be a prominent showcase for the area.

There are “a whole bunch of different moving pieces” as COVID-19 restrictions continue to be eased or lifted, Gilbert said, but “a confluence of two things” — vaccines being rapidly distributed and the Super Bowl showing how a major event can be held in a pandemic — has everyone reasonably confident that the draft will be worth the wait.

“The hope is that the draft is really going to sort of be the coming-out party for the city getting back on its feet,” the sports commission president and CEO said.

Kevin Kleps: kkleps@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @KevinKleps

FREE WEBINAR of

INNOVATION REVISITED

IN

2019, Bank of America, in partnership with Crain’s Content Studio, the marketing storytelling arm of Crain’s Cleveland Business, convened a thought leadership road show aimed at helping Ohio business leaders understand the intricacies and opportunities of digital innovation.

MARCH

25

TH

4–5 PM

MODERATOR:

No one could have anticipated what the future held in store.

Join us as we reconvene those same executives to discuss best practices and insights for driving and embracing technological change, and the impact of the pandemic on the business landscape.

REGISTER TODAY: CrainsCleveland.com/InnoRevisited

Julie Harris

Head of Global Banking Digital Strategy Bank of America

PANELISTS: Pawan Divakarla, Progressive Insurance Bill Priemer, Hyland Michael Trebilcock, MCPc

SPONSORED BY: POWERED BY:

CRAIN’SCONTENTSTUDIO CLEVELAND

March 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 19

P019_CL_20210315.indd 19

3/12/2021 2:13:27 PM

SQUARE

From Page 1

Across the Square, where Shaker Square Dry Cleaning & Tailoring has operated for 27 years, owner Elina Kreymerman expressed similar worries.

“We’re just hoping that somebody local, somebody who cares for it, will come and purchase it,” she said. “Because it’s a beautiful place. It’s a historic place.”

On Friday, March 12, restaurateur Brandon Chrostowski submitted a $5 million offer for the Square, where his nonprofit Edwins Leadership & Restaurant Institute occupies a prime corner. Chrostowski envisions turning the 168,375-square-foot complex into a hub for social enterprises, where retailers will mix with organizations that reinvest their profits for the common good.

In early March, a subsidiary of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress inked an agreement with the Square’s current owner, an investor group that includes Coral Co. CEO Peter Rubin, to conduct due diligence for an acquisition. The nonprofit’s New Village Corp. arm is willing to be a temporary repository for the property, with philanthropic backing, while an array of community groups and city and Cuyahoga County officials work out a longer-term plan.

Those two proposals don’t necessarily conflict — but they’re not completely compatible. And it’s unclear, at this early stage of the foreclosure process, how successful either suitor will be.

“Any kind of offer still has to go through the receiver and be approved by the court,” Tania Menesse, president and CEO of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, acknowledged.

The receiver, John Rothschild of the Newmark real estate brokerage’s Columbus office, didn’t respond to an interview request. The foreclosure lawsuit is pending in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court where, experts noted, it can easily take at least 12 to 18 months for such a case to work its way through the system.

The Square’s fate largely lies in the hands of CWCapital, a special servicer tasked with managing troubled debt.

Rubin and his partners, who have owned the Square since 2004, owe $11.2 million on a loan that was bundled with other commercial mortgages and used to back bonds sold to investors. That structure can be particularly unforgiving when a property owner teeters or defaults.

“Those guys are also set up to own real estate and aren’t necessarily afraid to take it back. … They might be willing to sell it at a discount, or they might be willing to hold onto it,” said Jim Doyle, an executive vice president at Bellwether Enterprise, a mortgage banking firm in Cleveland.

“It’s not always in the best interest of the real estate or the people that they’re representing.”

Rubin said he was on the precipice of refinancing the Square a year ago, with a roughly $11 million commitment from a local bank. Then the coronavirus upended the economy, making lenders skittish about retail and hospitality properties. The bill on the Square came due in July, and the center’s owners were unable to pay it.

Negotiations about potential relief went nowhere.

“The terms for forbearance were so onerous. … We were just too far apart,” said Rubin, who also tried to fight the receivership.

A woman walking her dog peers into Chanelle’s Treatz, a new bakery at Shaker Square. | PHOTOGRAPHS BY GUS CHAN FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

An RTA train stops at Shaker Square to pick up passengers as it heads west toward downtown Cleveland.

Joy Johnson, executive director of community development corporation Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc., stands outside the CVS drugstore at Shaker Square.

Over the past year, there’s been significant turnover at the Square, including the loss of Fire Food and Drink, a venerable white tablecloth restaurant, and the casual Yours Truly eatery next door. But the storefronts are 95% occupied, with new tenants such as Chanelle’s Treatz, Goldenrod Montessori and the conjoined Cleveland Breakfast Club and Vegan Club.

“We believe in the diversity of that area. We love the feel of the area,” said Akin Affrica, a partner in the Cleveland Breakfast Club, Vegan Club and Zanzibar Soul Fusion

restaurants.

Upstairs, the offices are about 85% leased. Perspectus Architecture, which occupied just over 9,000 square feet, left in late 2020 for fresher space downtown.

Tenants say that Coral, which manages the Square and has its offices on-site, worked to ensure that vacant spaces didn’t languish. Rubin wouldn’t say what sort of deals he’s offered to keep and replace retailers.

He also wouldn’t discuss what the property might be worth, beyond expressing skepticism about a $10.2 million appraisal mentioned in

“WE’RE JUST LOOKING FOR A VIABLE OWNER, AND WE KNOW WE NEED TO DEVELOP A STRUCTURE. AND THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT.” — Tania Menesse, president and CEO of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress

loan-servicing records.

“It’s only worth the debt if it’s operating at its optimal occupancy, with all the deferred maintenance fixed — maybe. And I Chrostowski would underline the word maybe,” said Rico Pietro, the real estate broker working with Chrostowski and a principal with Cushman & Wakefield-Cresco Real Estate in Independence. “That’s the big elephant in the room. What is it going to cost you to get all the tenants in place and all the deferred maintenance fixed?”

Local real estate investors said the Square, as it stands, poses huge financial challenges. Recognized on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s also protected as part of a Cleveland historic district. The offices are tough to modernize. The largely local tenant mix requires hands-on attention. Neighbors are passionate about the property, with a sense of ownership that has been a blessing and a curse for private landlords over the years.

“No one gets to own the Square,” Rubin said. “You get to shepherd it.”

The central green space, bisected

by Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority train tracks and Shaker Boulevard, needs attention and programming. Efforts to reimagine that space stalled in 2019, when community members and merchants butted heads over the possibility of closing Shaker Boulevard and directing cars around, rather than through, the Square. The talks, which contemplated nonprofit stewardship of the park, are in limbo because of the pandemic.

“I’ve had several outreaches from a variety of resources in the community about this property and, from my view, it just doesn’t seem like an asset that makes economic sense,” said developer Mitchell Schneider, who is preparing to open an 88-unit apartment building nearby, on Larchmere Boulevard.

Joseph Shafran, who is part of an investor group working on apartment plans and a redo of an empty Goodwill store just east of the Square, said issues with the center’s economic structure date back to its construction in the late 1920s. There’s an opportunity to unravel the snarls now, he wrote in an email.

“This is a tall order, but the measure of our caring and commitment

will be in taking and effectively using this time,” wrote Shafran, chairman and CEO of Paran Management Co. Cleveland Neighborhood Progress is working with community development organization Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc. to meet with tenants and put numbers on their needs, from roof repairs to water in some basements to uneven sidewalks and crumbling pavement.

The nonprofits, and the consortium of partners behind them, don’t have a sense of how much they’re willing to pay to buy and temporarily hold the Square. And they don’t have a firm strategy for long-term ownership and management yet. They’re taking a methodical approach and focusing, first and foremost, on ensuring that the real estate doesn’t land in harmful hands.

“We’re just looking for a viable owner, and we know we need to develop a structure. And that doesn’t happen overnight,” Menesse said.

Chrostowski is operating on his own timeline, though he didn’t rule out collaboration.

“I think that would just take a little bit more getting to know each other, and what our intentions are,” he said.

“I don’t know that we are aligned on exactly what it is that we want to do.”

City officials are willing to work with a new owner at the Square to identify and secure financial incentives, attract new businesses and craft “a realistic vision for the public spaces,” Ed Rybka, the city’s chief of regional development, wrote in an email. The Square, he added, is a walkable district that is the city’s best example of transit-oriented development.

The shopping center’s health also is critical to maintaining momentum along Larchmere and attracting investments to the Buckeye-Woodhill corridor to the southwest, which is among the targets of Mayor Frank Jackson’s neighborhood revitalization initiative.

“Only one outcome will be acceptable to Mayor Jackson and the city: The identification of an ownership group that will appreciate the special place and history that is Shaker Square and be willing to nurture and invest in this special place,” Rybka wrote. “The city expects that an interim and then permanent ownership group will invest in Shaker Square and share the goal of enhancing the current retail mix with eclectic, diverse, small, locally owned merchants.”

On a recent sunny afternoon, Joy Johnson pointed out wear and tear at the Georgian Revival-style buildings and faded welcome mats painted outside the entrances to restaurants and stores. Johnson — the executive director of Burten, Bell, Carr, which serves the neighborhood — said that deterioration gives patrons and passersby the impression that no one is paying attention to the Square.

She, along with many of the tenants, said that Coral has done its best as a property manager with limited resources. But it’s time for a fresh approach — one that, ideally, still has local ties.

“That’s not to say that anybody that’s from out of town is bad,” Johnson said. “There might be somebody who cares and has a heart for communities and wants to save historic places that doesn’t live in Cleveland.

That’s not too far-fetched. But I think it’s going to take a Clevelander to really understand the uniqueness and the history, those intangibles of Shaker Square.”

Michelle Jarboe: michelle.jarboe@ crain.com, (216) 771-5437, @mjarboe

20 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | March 15, 2021

P020_CL_20210315.indd 20

3/12/2021 4:03:49 PM

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

Advertising Section To place your listing, visit www.crainscleveland.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

BANKING

CONSTRUCTION

CONSTRUCTION

FINANCIAL SERVICES

LAW

Westfield Bank

Marous Brothers Construction

Marous Brothers Construction

Magis Advisory Group

Westfield Bank is excited to welcome Andrew Ziegler as vice president commercial loan officer. Throughout his career, Ziegler has been dedicated to supporting the financial needs of businesses within our community. In his new role on Westfield Bank’s business banking team, Ziegler will partner with customers in Wayne, Stark, and Tuscarawas counties seeking customized financial solutions and services to promote their businesses’ growth. Contact Andrew at AndyZiegler@westfield-bank. com.

Marous Brothers Construction is pleased to welcome Nicholas Castro as a Project Engineer to our Construction Management Group. Nick is a 2016 graduate of Cuyahoga Community College with a degree in Construction Engineering Technology and has 4 years of project engineering experience. He will work with other members of the Construction Management group to manage our clients’ entire construction experience from beginning to end. We are excited to have Nick on board.

Marous Brothers Construction is pleased to welcome Kaylee Kasapis as an Administrative Assistant. Kaylee is a 2020 graduate of Baldwin Wallace College with a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health, and a minor in Psychology. She will provide administrative support to ensure efficient operation of the office, as well as support the Chief Financial Officer through a variety of tasks.

Magis Advisory Group is pleased to announce that Dan Finlin has joined our team as a Senior Consultant.

Finlin will lend his expertise in strategic benefit planning and finance to Magis.

Finlin brings extensive experience specifically in the midsize and large group employee benefits market. He specializes in a strategic approach to developing clientspecific, custom solutions. He also brings a high level of expertise in the areas of complex self-funding and aggregation pools.

Nicola, Gudbranson and Cooper, LLC NGC is pleased to announce that John Moenk has joined the firm as an associate.

John comes to the firm with experience as a special education teacher and school principal and will join the firm’s school law practice group.

John will advise clients on charter school law and nonprofit governance and will assist the firm’s municipal law practice.

John received his B.A. from Mount Union College, his M.Ed from Cleveland State University and his J.D. from the University of Akron School of Law. LAW

Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell LLP

CONSTRUCTION

Marous Brothers Construction Marous Brothers Construction is pleased to welcome Joseph Aquila as Project Manager to our Multi-Family Housing Group. Joseph has 33 years of experience in the Construction industry. He attended the JATC, 1988-1992. He worked his way up from Journeyman Carpenter to Foreman Carpenter to Superintendent to Project Manager. Joseph was also self-employed as a Retail Contractor, building retail stores all over the US. He is currently working as a Project Manager on a job for Millennia Housing in NOLA.

CONSTRUCTION

CONSTRUCTION

Marous Brothers Construction

Marous Brothers Construction

Marous Brothers Construction is pleased to welcome Tina Filipkowski as Director of Marketing.

Tina brings 25 years of marketing experience to our company, with past strategic roles on both agency and client sides. She will work directly with the President to develop and plan the company’s overall marketing strategy. She will also work closely with the Business Development team and building and site groups to support sales and client needs.

Marous Brothers Construction is pleased to welcome Ben Richardson as an Estimator to our Special Projects Group. Ben is a 2020 graduate from The University of Toledo with a degree in civil engineering and is currently working on becoming a licensed professional engineer. Ben recently participated in Marous Brothers Construction’s co-op program in the summer of 2020. Ben’s main focus is estimating projects that are fast-tracked with compressed schedules.

RECOGNIZE INDUSTRY ACHIEVERS IN CRAIN’S

Listing opportunities: Debora Stein at dstein@crain.com or submit directly to CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM/PEOPLEMOVES 22 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | MARCH 15, 2021

LAW

Bonezzi Switzer Polito & Hupp Co. L.P.A. Bonezzi Switzer Polito & Hupp Co. L.P.A. is pleased to announce Adam R. Uth, Associate, has joined the firm. Adam practices in the areas of nursing home defense and medical malpractice. Prior to joining the firm, he handled both litigation and compliance matters both in the private sector and for the City of Shaker Heights. For more information, visit www.bsphlaw. com.

Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell LLC is pleased to announce Mark M. Mikhaiel has become a partner with the firm. Mark focuses his practice on litigation, business/commercial litigation, employment litigation, and trust, estate, and probate litigation. He represents clients at trial, and in arbitrations, mediations, and appeals. He delivers excellent client service by providing forward-thinking solutions to complex legal problems. Mark earned his J.D. from Case Western University School of Law.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

DANE Contractors/restorz We’re excited to announce Robert D. Scott CIEC ASD CMRS as the new president of DANE Contractors and restorz. “It is an honor to take on this role and we will continue our great work in the community by serving all of our clients and ensuring their goals and expectations are exceeded,” says Robert Scott. For over 30 years DANE Contractors and restorz have specialized in restoration with their dedication to disaster response and disinfection services, as well as water damage and mold removal.

AKRON ENERGY

Echogen hopes deal sparks heat engine work Siemens Energy will use company’s heat-to-electricity technology in pilot project

BY DAN SHINGLER

Akron’s Echogen Power Systems has been working for more than 10 years to bring its heat-to-energy technology to market, quietly raising an impressive amount of capital and perfecting its system with projects demonstrating its know-how along the way.

It might have just made the breakthrough it’s been hoping to achieve.

In February, the company licensed its technology to Germany’s Siemens Energy, which will deploy Echogen’s “heat engine” to take waste heat from a TC (TransCanada) Energy natural gas pipeline and turn it into 9.3 megawatts of electricity, said Echogen co-founder and CEO Philip Brennan.

“The goal is to show that it will generate the amount of power we said it would,” Brennan said. “We’re hopeful that will allow us to leverage this into other opportunities. … It’s a big deal.”

Siemens Energy sees the technology as part of its efforts to capture the green-energy market and is confident Echogen’s technology will deliver.

“Siemens Energy’s interest in the Echogen technology stems from our focus around decarbonization. Emission-free waste-heat-to-power is one of the approaches we’ve been pursuing, and the Echogen technology is an enabler in that direction,” said Janet Ofano, a Siemens Energy media manger, via email. “Because we undertook a methodical and stepped approach to the development and demonstration of the technology, and steadily increased the technology readinesss level, we’re confident we’ve implemented the proper risk mitigation measures to maximize the chances of success in the end.”

It’s been a long road for Echogen, which gets by with a staff of 20, heavily weighted toward technical development. But while it hasn’t gotten a lot of publicity, the private company has gotten ample capital from investors who understand what it does.

“We’ve had about $95 million invested in the business over the last 13 years, so it’s not a small amount of change,” Brennan said.

Fully explaining what Echogen does could fill a stack of technical journals or patent applications, but in terms even a business writer can handle, it takes heat from nearly any source, including waste heat from other processes, and turns it into electricity.

Instead of using water and steam, like traditional systems, Brennan explained, Echogen’s system uses heat to move liquid CO2 in a closed-loop system that it says is far more efficient and smaller than traditional steam-based systems.

“Because it’s more efficient and more compact, it’s cheaper,” said Dr. Andrew Maxson, program manager at the Electric Power Research Institute, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that conducts research and development focused on electricity generation.

In the case of the Siemens Energy project in Canada, Brennan said, the heat will come from a natural gas compressor station that pushes gas

crainscleveland.com

Publisher Mike Schoenbrun (216) 771-5174 or mike.schoenbrun@crain.com Executive editor Elizabeth McIntyre (216) 771-5358 or emcintyre@crain.com Group publisher Jim Kirk (312) 397-5503 or jkirk@crain.com Managing editor Scott Suttell (216) 771-5227 or ssuttell@crain.com Assistant managing editor Sue Walton (330) 802-4615 or swalton@crain.com Creative director David Kordalski (216) 771-5169 or dkordalski@crain.com Web editor Damon Sims (216) 771-5279 or dasims@crain.com Assistant editor Kevin Kleps (216) 771-5256 or kkleps@crain.com Senior data editor Chuck Soder (216) 771-5374 or csoder@crain.com Editorial researcher William Lucey (216) 771-5243 or wlucey@crain.com Cartoonist Rich Williams REPORTERS

GET MASTHEAD FROM LIBRARY

An Echogen heat engine is loaded for transport. The company recently licensed its technolgy to Siemens Energy, which will deploy a heat engine to take waste heat from a natural gas pipeline and turn it into electricity. | ECHOGEN

through the pipeline and gives off a lot of waste heat in the process.

Echogen’s basic technology is called a “supercritical CO2 cycle,” and its realm is one with only a few players, said Maxson, who has worked with Echogen on other proj-

oil and gas industry. Like most licensing agreements, Echogen’s will bring in more money for his company every time the technology is used, he said.

Siemens Energy thinks the pilot project will be just the beginning of a progression that will result in

“FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY, WASTE-HEAT-TO-POWER HAS GOTTEN ELIGIBILITY FOR A TAX CREDIT. WE’RE BEING GIVEN A TAX CREDIT THAT’S SIMILAR TO WHAT YOU’D GET FOR SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC OR FOR WIND POWER.” — Philip Brennan, Echogen co-founder and CEO

ects but not the Siemens Energy system. Echogen is in the lead, especially after signing the Siemens Energy deal, he said.

“They have the largest existing and now commercially applied system.

So, they are far and away the commercial leader right now,” Maxson said.

Ofano said using supercritical CO2 is attractive because it’s efficient, works in compact systems and, since the CO2 is a benign and nonflamable fluid, safe to use. She said Echogen has done valuable work in the field and is reaping the rewards in its new deal.

“Echogen was one of the early technology developers, thereby securing an interesting and valuable portfolio of intellectual property around the solution, which is why we decided to enter into a strategic partnership with them via a licensing agreement,” Ofano said.

Brennan declined to say what Siemens Energy is paying to license Echogen’s technology, but it has rights to use it exclusively in the oil and gas sector. Its project in Canada is expected to cost $25 million to $30 million to build, Brennan said.

If the system works as promised, Brennan hopes it will be applied to other compressor stations along Canadian pipelines and that Siemens Energy will deploy it elsewhere in the

Echogen’s heat engine being more widely adopted, Ofano said.

“Siemens Energy sees great potential for the application of this technology. Beyond the pilot project, for example, TC Energy is currently evaluating other compressor station sites to deploy the technology, with the potential to generate 300 megawatts of emissions-free power,” Ofano said.

“And this is only with one of our customers, so this gives a sense of the size of the market.”

Siemens Energy’s interest is primarily in oil and gas, she said, because their customers in that space need support to decarbonize their operations.

For Echogen, Brennan said, a chief benefit of the deal is that it will give the Akron company a chance to showcase its system in a commercial project.

“Any potential industrial customer can look at it and say, ‘If it’s successfully operating in the harsh environment of Alberta, Canada, we shouldn’t have a problem with it,’ ” Brennan said.

Adding to Echogen’s potential tailwind is a recent federal government decision to treat waste-to-heat projects like other renewable energy projects, he added. Brennan said he is anxiously waiting for the Internal Revenue Service to finish writing the rules on new tax credits.

“For the first time in history, wasteheat-to-power has gotten eligibility for a tax credit,” Brennan said. “We’re being given a tax credit that’s similar to what you’d get for solar photovoltaic or for wind power.”

Between that and the Canadian project to show off, Brennan said he’s hopeful Echogen can begin to capture business in other industries while Siemens Energy uses its technology in the oil and gas sector.

“We’ve got this wonderful confluence of significant regulatory change. … We’ve proven the technology and now we have a significant partner for the oil and gas industry,” Brennan said.

And, he said, there are even bigger fish out there for Echogen.

“The largest plum on the tree is probably the power generation industry,” said Brennan, adding that Echogen can power huge heat engines, producing hundreds of megawatts, using the heat many electricity plants produce and lose to the atmosphere.

He’ll need just a little bit more patience, though. The Siemens Energy project is going to take about 16 months to build before it begins operation in 2022, Brennan said.

He won’t be resting while he waits, though. On top of chasing other industries for its heat-engine technology, Brennan said that Echogen has also developed new energy storage technology he hopes will be adopted by the renewable energy industry.

It uses a substrate, such as sand, to capture and hold heat generated via a wind turbine or other source, and that stored heat can later be reused and turned into electricity.

Brennan said Echogen’s energy-storage system can be used to solve one of renewable energy’s greatest challenges: how to keep providing energy when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.

“It’s probably an even bigger opportunity, to be honest,” Brennan said of the energy storage tech.

Dan Shingler: dshingler@crain.com, (216) 771-5290, @DanShingler

Stan Bullard, senior reporter, Real estate/ construction. (216) 771-5228 or sbullard@crain.com Lydia Coutré, Health care/nonprofits.

(216) 771-5479 or lcoutre@crain.com Michelle Jarboe, Enterprise reporter.

(216) 771-5437 or michelle.jarboe@crain.com Amy Morona, Higher education.

(216) 771-5229 or amy.morona@crain.com Rachel Abbey McCafferty, Manufacturing, K-12 education, technology. (216) 771-5379 or rmccafferty@crain.com Jay Miller, Government.

(216) 771-5362 or jmiller@crain.com Jeremy Nobile, Finance/legal/beer/cannabis.

(216) 771-5255 or jnobile@crain.com Kim Palmer, Government.

(216) 771-5384 or kpalmer@crain.com Dan Shingler, Energy/steel/auto/Akron.

(216) 771-5290 or dshingler@crain.com ADVERTISING

Local sales manager Megan Norman, (216) 771-5182 or mnorman@crain.com Events manager Erin Bechler, (216) 771-5388 or ebechler@crain.com Integrated marketing manager Cody Smith, (330) 419-1078 or cody.smith@crain.com Managing editor custom/special projects Amy Ann Stoessel (216) 771-5155 or astoessel@crain.com Account executives Laura Kulber Mintz, Loren Breen, Mara Broderick People on the Move manager Debora Stein, (917) 226-5470, dstein@crain.com Pre-press and digital production Craig L. Mackey Office coordinator Karen Friedman Media services manager Nicole Spell Billing YahNica Crawford Credit Thomas Hanovich CUSTOMER SERVICE

Customer service and subscriptions: (877) 824-9373 or customerservice@crainscleveland.com Reprints: Laura Picariello (732) 723-0569 or lpicariello@crain.com

Crain’s Cleveland Business is published by Crain Communications Inc. Chairman Keith E. Crain Vice chairman Mary Kay Crain CEO KC Crain Senior executive VP Chris Crain Secretary Lexie Crain Armstrong Chief Financial Officer Robert Recchia G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973) Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. Chairman (1911-1996) Editorial & Business Offices 700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 (216) 522-1383 Volume 42, Number 10 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except no issues on 1/4/21 nor 7/5/21, combined issues on 5/24/21 and 5/31/21, 8/30/21 and 9/6/21, 11/22/21 and 11/29/21, at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230.

Copyright © 2021 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, OH, and at additional mailing offices.

Price per copy: $2.00.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI 48207-2912.

1 (877) 824-9373.

Subscriptions: In Ohio: 1 year - $64, 2 year - $110. Outside Ohio: 1 year - $110, 2 year - $195. Single copy, $2.00. Allow 4 weeks for change of address. For subscription information and delivery concerns send correspondence to Audience Development Department, Crain’s Cleveland Business, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48207-9911, or email to customerservice@crainscleveland.com, or call (877) 824-9373 (in the U.S. and Canada) or (313) 446-0450 (all other locations), or fax (313) 446-6777.

March 15, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 23

P023_CL_20210315.indd 23

3/12/2021 12:47:10 PM

Your business is always on.

Your internet should be too.

T:14.5" S:13.5"

With AT&T Internet for Business, you get fast, highly reliable internet that’s made for business. It features Internet Backup, so even if the power goes out, our wireless network automatically keeps you connected.

Go to att.com/BizInternet or call 855-432-1500 to learn more.

Ranked #1 Highest in Customer Satisfaction by J.D. Power among Small/Medium Business Wireline Service For J.D. Power 2020 award information, visit jdpower.com/awards