Crain's Cleveland Business, April 8, 2024

What’s next in Cleveland-Cliffs, U.S. Steel saga

Goncalves wants it known that his initial bid for USS was not his last or highest offer

By Dan Shingler

With Cleveland-Cli s again in the hunt for U.S. Steel (USS), Cli s CEO Lourenco Goncalves wants it known that his initial bid for USS was not his last — or highest — o er.

In fact, he contends it’s the best o er USS got — though it’s now o the table.

Goncalves contends that USS shareholders are taking a smaller payout than he put on the table if they’re allowed to go through with a $14 billion sale to Nippon in a deal that’s facing increasingly political headwinds.

highlight Brown’s opposition to the combination of USS and Nippon (which followed similar opposition recently from President Joe Biden).

Goncalves says his bid for USS has been seen too exclusively through his initial o er, which was about $7.3 billion.

“ ey took a lower o er,” Goncalves told Crain’s, just before he was set to appear with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown to

Cli s later increased its bid to very close to what Nippon was offering in cash, he said. Had USS taken that deal, Goncalves reasons, the subsequent increase in the value of Cli s’ shares — which would have helped pay for the acquisition — would have netted USS more than Nippon’s $14 billion.

‘A reimagination of natural history’

Museum CEO gives a behind-the-scenes look at a $150 million transformation project

By Paige Bennett

When talking about the Cleveland Museum of Natural History’s $150 million transformation project, President and CEO Sonia Winner doesn’t like to use the word “renovation.”

“It’s not a renovation,” she said. “It’s a re-imagination of natural history.”

Three years after breaking ground, the reimagined museum is projected to open in December, two years ahead of the original project design,

Winner said. The CMNH has raised 95% of its goal ($142.5 million), and the project is slightly under budget, she said.

e revamped Visitor Hall, which contains many of the CMNH’s most known attractions, including a reconstruction of “Lucy,” the 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor discovered by CMNH scientists, opened late last year and is free.

See

Each year, our 8 Over 80 honorees show how there are no limits to what you can accomplish and the gifts you can bring to your community. Whether it’s a role in manufacturing, with nonpro ts or the region’s pro sports teams, their contributions to Northeast Ohio are inspiring to future generations. PAGE 8

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Goncalves

UA launches course to reduce Black infant mortality

By Paige Bennett

A new one-credit course kicking o at the University of Akron this summer is designed to train current and future health care professionals and social workers on interventions to reduce Black infant mortality in Summit County.

Launching in mid-July, the veweek class will be broken into ve modules that revolve around di erent factors identi ed by the community as contributors to infant mortality, including racism, trauma and mental health. It also will address patient-provider communication and how that relationship a ects infant mortality.

“We’ve created this introspective course that looks at the history of racism and its impact on health care and how that impacts women today when they walk through the doors of the doctor’s o ce,” said Denise omas, director of community impact and health at United Way of Summit & Medina.  e course stems from a partnership between the university, United Way of Summit & Medina and several community stakeholders.

Reducing the Black infant mortality rate has been a focus area for several Summit County-based agencies over the last several years. In the U.S., the likelihood of a baby dying before their rst birthday is 2.4 times greater for Black babies than white babies, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Ofce of Minority Health.

Shaleeta Smith, director of family health at Summit County Public Health, said leaders from her agency, the city of Akron and other area organizations started coming together to focus on the issue in 2013. Smith oversees Full Term First Birthday, a collaborative working to inform Greater Akron residents about programs that promote healthy, full-term pregnancies.

“We’ve created this introspective course that looks at the history of racism and its impact on health care and how that impacts women today when they walk through the doors of the doctor’s of ce.”

Denise Thomas, director of community impact and health at United Way of Summit & Medina

rough conversations with members of the community, Smith said the organizations learned they hadn’t been doing enough to educate the community and needed to do a better job of putting residents’ voices at the forefront of their work. at’s when they teamed with United Way, which made one of its Bold Goals to reduce the Black infant mortality rate to six per 1,000 live births in Summit County by 2028.  When United Way announced the Bold Goal at the start of 2022, the latest data the organization

Clearstead Advisors makes largest-ever acquisition

By Crain’s Staff

Cleveland-based Clearstead Advisors announced on Monday, April 1, that it had closed on the acquisition of Wilbanks Smith and omas (WST) Asset Management, a Norfolk, Virginia-based wealth and investment management rm.

By bringing WST’s more than $5 billion of assets into its fold, the deal marks Clearstead’s largestever acquisition, Clearstead Chief Executive Dave Fulton con rmed to Crain’s.

“Our strategy is two-pronged,” Fulton told Crain’s. “First, we focus on organic growth and target high rates of organic growth. We think that’s a validation of the value proposition of the rm. Second, through culturally compatible acquisitions, we’re looking for rms that want to become partners and

join us in building a better rm.” He continued, “We’ve been pretty successful at both of those. Growth for its own sake is not that valuable. It’s only valuable when it helps us serve our clients better. Every time we merge with a rm, we add people and processes that help us serve our clients better.”

According to a press release about the acquisition, Clearstead and its subsidiaries “will have approximately $44 billion in total assets under advisement, including $20 billion in total assets under management, 225 employees, and o ces in nine cities.”

Of those employees, Fulton estimated that between 150 and 160 work in Clearstead’s headquarters in downtown Cleveland.  WST will assume a new name — Clearstead Advisory Solutions — and continue serving clients in

had on Black infant mortality in Summit showed a rate of 10.4 per 1,000 live births, said Andrew Leask, associate vice president of marketing and brand management at United Way of Summit & Medina, in an email.

According to United Way’s most recent data from 2021, that rate has since dropped to 9.5 per 1,000 live births. Leask said there is a long lag with infant mortality data, and the organization hopes to have 2022 numbers soon.

“When we wrote the proposal for the Bold Goal, we talked to

Shaleeta (Smith) and a few other folks in the community,” Timothy McCarragher, director of the School of Social Work and Family Sciences at the University of Akron, said. “What we wanted to do is exactly what Shaleeta was talking about: using the voices of the community. I thought what we could o er at the University of Akron was a way to train current students and future students.”

During its 2022 funding cycle, United Way awarded the University of Akron a $25,000 grant to help get the course o the ground. Over the last year or so, Smith gathered content experts in the community to meet with McCarragher and discuss topics and issues they felt needed to be addressed in the class. It was critical, Smith said, for their community’s voice to be translated into something manageable for health care and social workers.

With ideas from the community

Norfolk and Roanoke, Virginia, and Raleigh, North Carolina.  Fulton also con rmed to Crain’s that the move expands Clear-

in mind, they moved into the development and instructional design phase. Janice Steinmetz, bachelor of social work coordinator at the University of Akron, developed the content of the course.

“We want it to be very interactive,” Steinmetz said. “A key part of this is we also want to involve families or women who have been speci cally a ected by this issue. We want to hear their stories, and we want to hear what their suggestions are in how we as professionals moving forward in our careers can try to alleviate the problem or reduce the problem.”

e course will place a large emphasis on interventions and resources, Steinmetz said. It will be o ered as an elective within the health and human sciences and social work programs and available to students at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

e ultimate goal is for the course to serve as continued education for physicians, nurses, social workers and anyone involved in health delivery within the region, McCarragher said, but the community-centered strategy may be e ective for other programs, too.

Several weeks ago, McCarragher and a colleague presented the course at an industry conference for social work program directors. After their presentation, McCarragher said a number of attendees came up to them and told them they were surprised no one had used this community-centric approach to develop a course before.

Involving the community is something the eld needs to do a better job of, McCarragher said.

“I am really intrigued at looking at the idea for further curriculum development past this course, where we’re much more involved with the community and getting their feedback and their perspective of how future social workers, nurses and physicians need to be trained,” he said.

WST Chief Executive Wayne Wilbanks said in the press release, “We are philosophically similar to Clearstead in our client approach and a strong complement geographically, given our presence in the Mid-Atlantic and Southern states. Most importantly, our clients will bene t from Clearstead’s family o ce planning capabilities, alternative investments platform, in-house research, and wealth management capabilities.”

Also in the press release, Fulton said, “Strategic and prudent mergers make us a stronger rm — each brings talent and capabilities to serve clients more e ectively, which is our primary focus. is is the impetus for our combination with WST, for which we have the highest hopes.”

in Cleveland. | COSTAR

stead’s footprint. While the rm serves clients based in the region, “(Clearstead has) never had a physical presence in the area.”

is is just the latest acquisition in a series that has unfolded over recent years.

In 2023, Clearstead acquired both New Mexico-based Avalon Trust and CLS Consulting, based in Medina County.

AKRONSTOCK

Clearstead Advisors’ headquarters is at 1110 Superior Avenue E.

Guardians, Progressive extend naming rights deal

Joe Scalzo

Progressive Insurance is ensuring the Cleveland Guardians’ ballpark remains the home for baseball fans who are turning into their parents.

e company has inked a 13year deal to remain the team’s ofcial insurance provider and to hold the naming rights for Progressive Field through the 2036 season.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

e Guardians’ stadium lease ends after that 2036 season. If that lease gets extended, the Progressive agreement would automatically be extended through the 2041 season.

Progressive has owned the stadium’s naming rights since 2008. It had been called Jacobs Field since the ballpark opened in 1994.

“For the last 16 years Progres-

through 2036

sive Field has been part of the fabric of the Cleveland community hosting some of the most unforgettable moments in franchise history,” Progressive CEO Tricia Gri th said in a news release. “Progressive Insurance and the Guardians proudly call Cleveland home, and this agreement symbolizes our collective commitment to each other, the fans of the franchise, and the Northeast Ohio community. We look forward to being a part of many more memories at the ballpark in the years to come.”

As part of the extension, new Progressive signage will be incorporated around the exterior of the ballpark. For the start of the 2024 season, a signi cant focus will be adding new signage at the home plate entrance on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, the team said.

“We are thrilled to ensure the

name Progressive Field remains through at least the 2036 season,” Cleveland Guardians president of business Brian Barren said. “As we continue to upgrade and reimagine our ballpark, continuing our partnership with Progressive gives our fans a consistent ballpark name with a worldwide brand, who is also a pillar of the Northeast Ohio community.”

Rocket Mortgage holds the naming rights for the Cleveland Cavaliers arena while the Cleveland Browns hired Legends last year to nd a new naming rights partner for their stadium, a process that is not expected to be completed in time for the 2024 season.

e Browns have been without a stadium naming deal since April 13, 2023, when FirstEnergy paid $25 million to end its contract. e FirstEnergy deal had been scheduled to run through the 2029 season.

Cordelia chef Vinnie Cimino is a nalist for a James Beard award

By Jack Grieve

e James Beard Award Foundation on April 3 announced the nalists for its 2024 awards, and one of Cleveland’s top chefs remains in the running for the Great Lakes region award.

Vinnie Cimino, the chef at Cordelia on East Fourth Street, is up for the Best Chef: Great Lakes category. at category includes chefs from restaurants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Cimino is the only Cleveland chef who’s a nalist in any category.

Jose Salazar of Mita’s in Cincinnati is also a nalist in the Great

Lakes category, as is Sujan Sarkar of Indienne and Jenner Tomaska of Esmé, both in Chicago, as well as Hajime Sato of Sozai in Clawson, Mich.

The awards are akin to the Oscars of the restaurant world, and being nominated often boosts business at establishments. In recent years, the foundation has issued multiple announcements leading up to the awards that continue to winnow down the list of possible winners. This will be the final narrowing down until the winners are announced at the awards ceremony in June.

Cimino and Cordelia have

Ohio City condo seized from Bitcoin thief to go up for auction

By Stan Bullard

A two-bedroom condominium on Clinton Avenue in Cleveland is scheduled for auction by the U.S. Treasury on May 24 after it was forfeited for being purchased with some of the funds connected to $300 million in Bitcoin the feds sought in another case.

e come-on price for the auction is $150,000 for the 2,300-squarefoot condo that the feds seized from Gary J. Harmon of Cleveland under federal law. He paid $599,900 in 2021 for the townhouse in the just-constructed building, according to Cuyahoga County land records.

According to the Department of Justice, in 2021, the government was trying to recover Bitcoin in connection with a case against Harmon’s brother, Larry Harmon of Akron. Larry, founder and CEO of Coin Ninja, had been arrested in 2020 on various charges for operating Helix, a darknet-based cryptocurrency laundering service that held 350,000 Bitcoin, then valued at about $300 million.

federal prison last year and was forced to forfeit the criminally obtained Bitcoin. Most of those proceeds were liquidated but the property can be auctioned, Department of Justice news releases say.

He’s currently at a federal residential reentry facility in Cincinnati and is due to be released on July 24, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator site.

Harmon gained notoriety for the case after court docs revealed some of the luxury items he purchased and included a photo of him sitting in a tub lled with cash.

e Realtor.com website estimates the property is worth between $540,000 and $630,000, with the Opendoor quick-sale site o ering $630,000 — if it is in good condition.

David Sharkey, president of Progressive Urban Real Estate of Cleveland, said the property is certain to “get interest.”

made a splash in Cleveland’s restaurant scene. Cordelia was named Cleveland Magazine’s 2023 Best New Restaurant and was among Tasting Table’s 22 Best New Restaurants in the U.S. in 2022. The restaurant describes itself as featuring “heritage-rich recipes and cocktails inspired by the farmer’s bounty and generations past, reimagined and showcased in new ways.”

e nalists were narrowed down from a group of semi nalists named in January when a handful of other Ohio names made the cut.

The come-on price for the auction is $150,000 for the 2,300-square-foot condo.

But before the government could recover the cryptocurrency, according to the DOJ, Gary created Bitcoin wallets using Larry’s credentials and transferred 712 of the sought-after Bitcoin, valued at the time at about $4.8 million, to those wallets.

Gary ultimately pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and diverting the Bitcoin from federal seizure. He was sentenced to three years in

Sharkey said there are less than a half-dozen condominiums or townhouses available in Ohio City. He said he recently had multiple offers for a two-bedroom, two-bath condominium at the Fries & Schuele complex on West 25th Street.

Larry Harmon pleaded guilty to Bitcoin “mixing” in 2021, but a news release on his sentence could not be located on the Department of Justice website.

e FBI and the IRS-CI District of Columbia Cyber Crime Unit investigated the cases, which were prosecuted in D.C.  with the assistance of federal o cials in Cleveland.

Property Features

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How Notre Dame College prioritized students after a heartbreaking decision

Given our nancial challenges, and after many years of trying to address them, the decision to enter into a Teach-Out program and end instruction at Notre Dame College was the best — and only — course of action to maintain our accreditation and help our students continue their education and earn their degrees.

stakeholders Bank of America’s clear direction: only payment of the debt in full, with a written nancial plan and sustainable revenue model, would be accepted.

While these discussions were under way, we pursued two acquisitions by area universities and simultaneously developed a Teach-Out program, creating pathways for our students to continue their education elsewhere. According to SHEEO, nearly 70 percent of students at schools with teachout programs, or orderly closures, re-enroll in college.

We are not the only college to face this decision. e U.S. higher education industry faces a crisis as plummeting enrollment, soaring costs, and demographic shifts put immense nancial strain on colleges and universities. Nathan Graves’ Demographics and the Demand for Higher Education predicted enrollment drops due to declining college-aged populations in 2018. BestColleges reported that the Covid-19 pandemic worsened the situation, causing an unprecedented 13% enrollment decline for rst-year students in 2020. Bloomberg found that in 2021, 80% of small colleges and universities showed signs of distress.

At Notre Dame College, our administrators and Board of Trustees took extraordinary measures over the past several years to keep the college open, increase enrollment, maintain accreditation,  and continue our mission. We explored mergers and partnerships, increased athletic o erings, added a new MBA program and in-demand degrees like cybersecurity, boosted scholarships, and added new student housing and classrooms.

John J. Smetanka, Ph.D., is interim president, provost and dean of faculty at Notre Dame College.

We worked with Bank of America on a series of waivers, extensions, amendments, and debt reduction by paying down principal. We attempted to renance the debt through another nancial institution, launched a centennial capital campaign, and strategically used federal and state pandemic relief funding to keep the college open.

All of these e orts were not enough to save the college from the demographic and nancial headwinds we faced.

We planned to announce the Teach-Out, including the end of in-person academic instruction, on February 15, 2024, barring nal agreements on acquisition or successful fundraising e orts. As February 15 approached, acquisition discussions were ongoing, and the stakeholder group requested more time. To give the fundraising e ort every opportunity to succeed, we delayed the announcement until February 28.

On February 28, the Board of Trustees facilitated a meeting with the stakeholder group and Bank of America. e stakeholders made a verbal proposal to Bank of America, which unfortunately was not accepted because it was below the debt value. e stakeholders also did not deliver a written plan for sustaining college operations. Bank of America informed the stakeholders that they would still accept a written proposal that met the criteria.

Having exhausted all options, on Feb. 29 we announced the Teach-Out and that instruction would end in May. We couldn’t delay further because we wanted to provide our students with time to make plans to continue their education. At all times, we have put our students’ interests rst. ere have been several calls for us to reconsider. e stakeholder group has communicated with Bank of America multiple times since Feb. 28. To date, they have not presented a viable plan to Bank of America or the Board of Trustees for consideration.

After years of working to remedy the nancial challenges, the painful reality is that no pathway remains for Notre Dame College to stay open after this school year.

On November 22, 2023, we received a “notice of default and reservation of rights” from Bank of America, meaning they could take possession of the college at any time, forcing an abrupt closure which would have had an even more devastating impact on students. Only 42% of students re-enroll elsewhere after abrupt closures, per the State Higher Education Executive O cers Association (SHEEO). ereafter, we continued working with Bank of America, sharing updates regularly to buy more time for a dedicated group of stakeholders, many of whom were fully informed of the default and the circumstances leading to it, to raise the more than $25 million needed to pay the Bank of America debt, satisfy other creditors, and keep the college open beyond the 2023-24 school year. We shared with the

We are humbled by the endurance of our students during this di cult time. We are thankful to our supporters and donors. We are grateful to the city of South Euclid, our home, and we are working to ensure the campus continues to be an asset to the community. In the end, while our scal realities overcame our hopes for the future, we take pride in the countless graduates whose lives were transformed at Notre Dame College over the past 100 years.

Terri Bradford Eason is the board chair at Notre Dame College.

Notre Dame College in South Euclid | CONTRIBUTED

Lincoln Electric uses VR welding to train students

Company hopes to entice young people to seek out a future in manufacturing

Dan Shingler

You’re never too young to start welding. Kids, it turns out, are pretty good at it.

Stick a welding rod in their hands, put a piece of work in front of them, give them some basic instruction and you’ve got yourself an enthusiastic welder. ey’re turning puddles of molten metal into smooth, consistent, and strong welds in no time.

But don’t be alarmed about hot sparks, blindingly bright light or large amounts of electricity. Other than in a Matrix-esque way, you could say it’s not even real — because It’s all done in the safety of virtual reality.  at’s become part of the business model for Lincoln Electric — use VR to teach kids to weld early, and they’ll learn a valuable skill that’s in demand, and often just handy to know. Product manager Denise Sirochman spends a good deal of her time trying to get kids to weld.

In addition to being one of the largest welding companies in the world, Lincoln is also a champion of its industry and of manufacturing in general. Part of its mission is to promote welding and other skilled trades so that it and, more importantly, its customers have a future workforce.

In short, when things are made, built and repaired in the U.S., Lincoln sells welders.

e company decided preCOVID it should embrace younger students, Sirochman said. But those eager young minds in middle and elementary schools weren’t going

to be as easy to reach as high school students or beyond.

“Most of those schools don’t have a welding school wrapped around them. We thought ‘What could we bring to the classroom that would introduce welding to folks that don’t know anything about it?’” she said.

Lincoln’s not new to VR welding. But its past training o erings resembled the real process of welding. Sirochman needed something smaller, cheaper, and easier to use.

e company worked with Roundtable Learning, a Chagrin Falls company that specializes in learning applications for virtual and augmented reality in classrooms and other training environments.

“We wanted something that was a more slimmed down version of what we already had … our current

product is a larger machine that’s more technical in nature and is priced so that one machine would be in a classroom,” Sirochman said.

Fortunately, technology has evolved to match the challenge well, said Sirochman and her collaborators.

“We came to the all-in-one headset,” she said. “ e software, the Wi-Fi, everything is in the headset. It’s all in one and you don’t need anything else for it to function. You can have augmented reality, you can have virtual reality, di erent types of technology can be put into it.”

is reporter gave what’s been dubbed the Voyage Arc Virtual Reality Welding Headset a test run at Lincoln’s big Technology and Training Center on St. Clair Ave.

CrossCountry Mortgage ordered to pay $1.8M for wrongful termination

By Jeremy Nobile

A jury has ordered CrossCountry Mortgage to pay nearly $1.8 million to a former employee who has accused the company of wrongful termination in a lawsuit that dates back to fall 2022.

In a suit filed in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas in October 2022, Cheryl Shephard, a former CCM accountant, accused the Cleveland-based lender of age and disability discrimination.

Shephard was hired as a senior accountant in August 2016 and was released from the company in June 2022.

In the corresponding complaint, Shephard is described as a woman over 40 years old who has — and had at the time of her hiring — dysautonomia, a condition that causes her “fainting, near-fainting, tinnitus, and gastrointestinal issues.”

To accommodate her condition,

CCM gave Shephard permission to work from home, according to court documents.

“In January or February 2022, during a meeting with CCM’s controller and chief nancial o cer, (vice president of nance Mark Novak) made e orts to violate plainti ’s approved accommodations by demanding plainti return to work in o ce despite his knowledge of her approved accommodation,” according to the complaint. During the same meeting, the CFO approved plainti ’s accommodation despite Novak’s insistence because plainti was “performing the essential functions of her job with accommodation.”

“After the meeting, Novak told CCM’s Controller that, regardless of what the CFO said, plainti was to return to the o ce despite her approved accommodation allowing her to work from home as an accommodation to her disability,” the complaint continues. “CCM’s

Controller refused to follow Novak’s instruction because it was in violation of plainti ’s rights under the law.”

Court lings state that CCM’s controller resigned in February 2022. at same month, it is alleged that Novak told Shephard that she was required to return to the o ce without suggesting any alternative accommodations for her.

en, between February and June 2022, it is alleged that, “Novak hired ve men, who are substantially younger, non-disabled, and less quali ed than plainti , in the accounting department.”

Some of Shephard’s work was reportedly reassigned to these newer employees.

Shephard allegedly approached CCM’s human resources department about these things, which reportedly re-approved Shephard’s accommodation to work from home, according to court lings.

“Two days later, on June 3, 2022,

just show a pretty or an ugly weld when the user is done. Each session is scored on speed, the consistency of the angle at which the rod was held, and the distance — all of the things that make a good weld — and it generates a number score.

Kids being kids, it didn’t take students more than a hot second to gure out that this meant they could have welding competitions, though Sirochman says that’s not really the point.

ey aren’t cheap, though, at $2,900 each on Lincoln’s website. But Lincoln works with schools, especially those that tend to buy bigger numbers, like 10 or 20 sets instead of a single one.

So far, the system’s only been rolled out to a handful of schools in Cuyahoga and Lake counties, mostly in eld trials while Lincoln and Roundtable continue to make tweaks. But the results have been good and are getting better, Sirochman said.

It’s a bit more than a headset, though, as there are two hand controls that become welding tools once things get going.

Roundtable vice president of XR design and development Scott Stachiw said he and his team worked especially hard to make those hand controllers realistic.

“ e biggest challenge was the weight and feel of a controller vs. a real welding torch,” Stachiw said. Does it work? Let’s put it this way: if welding is fairly di cult and requires a fair bit of skill and practice before someone can do it well, then this thing is probably spot on. But it was sort of fun and de nitely addictive because you can see as you’re using the program that doing a good job — even in VR — is possible.  But the system does more than

Novak assigned plainti a task typically performed by the lowest ranking employee of plainti ’s department, while more complex work that plainti was accustomed to performing was assigned to substantially younger, less experienced and non-disabled employees,” according to the complaint. “On June 20, 2022, 19 days after CCM HR approved her accommodation, CCM terminated plainti ’s employment.”

Shephard was allegedly told that this was due to the elimination of her position, but her legal counsel argued that this was pretext for discrimination. “Immediately following” her termination, the company posted a job for senior accountant II that included her prior responsibilities, according to the complaint.

At this time, it is stated that Shephard led a charge of discrimination with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, which issued her a notice of right to sue on Sept. 29, 2022.

According to a verdict led in early February, the jury in this case determined that Shephard’s age was a factor in her termination but not her disability.

Shephard is being represented

It’s not easy to convince schools to spend on new things today, but, more importantly, the budgeting cycles for schools is very slow.

Lincoln was targeting a rollout to 24 schools this year after launching the product last summer, she said, and is on track to hit that mark.

But, while Lincoln and Roundtable hope to make money on the product via its overall sales, Voyage Arc also has a dual mission, Sirochman said, referring to the potential appeal to entice kids to a future in welding.

ere’s more work to be done, too. Stachiw said he’s already working with Lincoln on the next versions of the system.

“ e priority is going to be stick and maybe aluminum (welding), but oxygen torch cutting will be important in the next iteration,” he predicts.

in the lawsuit by attorney Richard Haber of law rm Haber LLP.

In a conversation with Crain’s, Haber said that evidence discussed during the trial included comments from CCM o cials who allegedly stated that they wanted the CCM accounting department to be “younger and hungrier.”  is, he said, is likely one of the key factors in the jury’s determination that age was a factor in Shephard’s release from CCM.

According to their verdict, the jury decided to award Shephard $544,997 in compensatory damages and $1.25 million in punitive damages plus attorney’s fees, totaling a judgment of more than $1.79 million against CCM.

According to a March 15 court ling, the plainti is requesting between $657,477 to $715,490 in attorney’s fees and litigation expenses.

Attorneys representing CCM in this case include Amanda Quan of law rm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C. Quan did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A CCM spokesperson said that the company does not comment on legal matters.

Students in Cuyahoga County test out Lincoln Electric’s new Voyage Arc virtual welding headset. | CONTRIBUTED

MetroHealth CEO on rebuilding trust, workforce challenges

By Paige Bennett

Intentional listening has been the overarching theme of Dr. Airica Steed’s early tenure as president and CEO of the MetroHealth System.

Shortly after she joined MetroHealth in December 2022, Steed embarked on a listening and engagement tour across the health system. It quickly became clear that continued listening would be a key piece of Steed’s strategy for guiding the system.

“What jumped out very loud and clear is an overwhelming need for this,” she said. “Not to just be a tour where it’s a one and done, but there was an overwhelming need for the organization to be heard, to be understood, to have a legitimate seat at the table, to be activated, to nd their voice, to be really listened to in a powerful way.”

Out of that process came several strategic priorities: developing a people- rst culture, elevating MetroHealth’s clinical and academic pro le, creating a replicable model for eradicating health care disparities and continuing to reinvent and reimagine the health system as it came out of the pandemic.

It also helped shape Steed’s approach to repairing trust in MetroHealth. In 2022, the health system’s board of trustees red then-president and CEO Dr. Akram Boutros, citing a report that found he awarded himself $1.9 million in unauthorized bonuses between 2018 and 2022. Boutros, who has denied the allegations, voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit against MetroHealth in December, citing health issues.

“I think that that intentional listening, that intentional engagement and that intentional focus on creating a people- rst culture really sprouted from the trauma and the tragedy,” Steed said. “By taking that listening ear and really understanding the needs of the organization and really identifying out the gates that one single individual doesn’t make a culture, I think we came on the other side of it a much stronger.”

Rebuilding that sense of trust included appointing MetroHealth’s rst-ever chief people o cer to oversee the system’s People and Human Resources Division. With that position came process and structure changes that resulted in more clearly de ned roles and responsibilities and helped to establish better and tighter controls across the organization, Steed said.

In a recent interview with Crain’s, Steed discussed her goals for MetroHealth, workforce challenges in the health care landscape, the rise of arti cial intelligence and the importance of collaboration to eliminate health disparities in Cleveland.

Note: e interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You’ve talked about your goal for MetroHealth to be a national model for how health systems can end disparities in health care. What are some ways the system is doing this?

One is having the rst and only high school in a hospital across the United States. is allows us an opportunity to really be innovative in terms of addressing the workforce challenges. But also, I see this as a vessel for really being that national model on health equity because we are able to draw from the direct community at-large and start to plant the seeds early with our young, with our youth population, to start to translate that into ‘How do we graduate our students, a hundred percent of our students into professions that impact the lives of those that we serve?’

Several of our graduates actually graduate into disciplines where they can be community health workers or liaisons in the community. ey can start to connect those dots, connect the community with meaningful resources and access points, address proactively and strategically as well as innovatively those social drivers of health. We’re twisting this from an innovative type of way of saying, ‘Let’s take the high school population and help to tool them up.’ By the time they graduate, they’re already graduating into professions that make a meaningful di erence in the lives of those that we serve.

We recently announced, announced a very creative and innovative partnership with Cuyahoga County Community College. We launched our Health Equity Centers of Excellence that is embedded into every single clinical department and every single service within our organization. We’re partnering hand in glove with Tri-C to be able to educate our providers and educate our frontline caregivers on what it means to be community-centered.

Within MetroHealth, we have this institute called Institute for H.O.P.E., which stands for Health Opportunities Partnership, Empowerment and Equity. is is a multifaceted approach to how we’re being proactive and taking data and an analytical-driven approach. It also takes a very strategic approach to evaluate all of those social barriers and social drivers to good health, whether it be housing insecurity, food insecurity, transportation barriers, economic barriers, having to make a choice between paying your utility bill and actually attaining great medical care.

We’re actually combating directly all of those social barriers and eliminating those barriers by screening our community. Taking a blanket type of approach and casting that wide net into

the community to really identify what those pitfalls and barriers are. And then through technology and through innovation, we’re making an immediate connection to resources in our community or through programs that we’ve built up in internally within MetroHealth or in partnership with our various community partners.

Workforce is a huge challenge right now in health care. How has MetroHealth been faring?   We’re not immune by any stretch of the imagination to the workforce challenges. I’m a fourth-generation nurse, who’s been trained in bedside delivery of care. In all of my years of practicing nursing, I’ve never seen a workforce shortage as signi cant as what we had to endure. Quite honestly, there has been a rapid and mass exodus of individuals leaving our profession at leaps and bounds.

How we’ve taken a couple steps back to address this is in many ways. We strongly are con dent in our model, which is very innovative, with Lincoln West High School, where we can train up the next generation and serve as that gateway, being able to upskill and being able to attain that next level of education so they can start to plug holes quicker. en by o ering internships, by o ering scholarships. (Students) are always going to be loyal and always going to have a connection point back to MetroHealth. We have a high proportion of our graduates that graduate as CNAs, so they can actually work on our oors and graduate into careers where they’re community liaisons and community health workers.

We are casting a wide net with the colleges. We’re incentivizing our preceptors, our clinical educators, so we can take on more learners, so we can actually increase the capacity of those that are graduating in, so we can be able to set the stage to address that sooner and much more strategically.

ere’s also technology. We pride ourselves on really coming up with very innovative care delivery models that otherwise would not have been in existence. We’re adopting this in a variety of settings and atmospheres, including a virtual nurse platform. We’re leveraging virtual nursing to be able to mitigate and reduce the workload of our in-person, frontline nurses, which is absolutely helping us to resolve for that challenge in a much more prudent but much more innovative way.

Our partners on the hill and our partners at the state and overall advocacy level have been plentiful. ere certainly has been an undivided attention amongst policymakers and the various advocates out there to really roll

their sleeves up right along with us because we know we’re not alone in really addressing this issue. ere are so many clinical opportunities, especially with the policy advocates out there and legislators, around being able to open up and widen the front doors of possibilities on working with international recruitment in a much more expedited way. at is another opportunity we’re certainly putting on our forefront.

You joined MetroHealth during a challenging time. What kinds of changes have the system implemented over the last year to rebuild trust within the system and the community?

Obviously, I came in during a very, very di cult time. I think even using the label “di cult,” I think that’s an understatement. But with the level of di culty also came so much reward. We’ve

been able to navigate through a tremendous storm and come out the other side extremely resilient as an organization.

I can honestly say our performance has never been so signi cant to a level where we’ve showed up as an organization. We’ve been able to really build up the fractured trust both internally to the organization as well as externally. I think we came on the other side of it a much stronger.

I would also say from a process (standpoint) and just the way we were designed as an organization, I made many, many changes there that actually helped to establish much better and tighter controls across the organization. One very clear role that sprouted out of my rst year was a newly appointed chief people and administrative o cer, otherwise known as a chief human resources o cer role. I would say this role was rather critical and,

MetroHealth’s new Glick Center COURTESY OF HGA. NIC LEHOUX ARCHITECTURAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Dr. Airica Steed, president and CEO of the MetroHealth System | METROHEALTH

in its absence, resulted in a lot of fall downs, that otherwise other organizations would’ve have been on top of, and a lot of organizational controls and practices we should have had in place.

Everything is pretty much in the black and white. You see what you see, and nothing is hidden, so we’re not leaving anything to chance from that point of view. With any new chief executive o cer comes change, and I can honestly say over the last year, I’ve completely made a lot of necessary adjustments with my leadership team. It wasn’t a matter of throwing the baby out with the bath water. (It) was more so new future, new leader, new direction.

e new leaders that came on board are walking into the history that once was before us. To me, that’s just a refreshing, long overdue change. But with that being said, I can really highlight that the level of con dence and the vote of con dence in the community, and, in particular, our county supports have had a historical increase from 2016 to 2017, where we had the last increase. e county really wrapped its arms around us, given the fact that we proved ourselves as really building up and picking up the bad reputation that we had with that cloud that was before us. ey gave us a strong vote of con dence that what we’re doing is serving the needs of the people of Cuyahoga County and beyond.

There’s a lot of buzz around arti cial intelligence. What role do you see AI having in health care?

I love the fact that AI is the new buzz. It used to be telemedicine. Now, it’s AI. I’m a bit of a traditionalist, being a nurse by training. I think there is no replacement for the human connection, but I certainly believe there is a place for AI in

very proud to work shoulderto-shoulder, arm-in-arm with University Hospitals, with the Cleveland Clinic and everyone in between on really going after this. I can honestly say I have not heard anyone contest or resist health equity.

When you put the person in the center, which is why I’m pushing for a person-centered culture, no one can contest that. And if we step outside of ourselves and truly treat the entire community as a collective patient, we all serve that collective patient. If we go in with that mindset, and I know in just talking with my peers we do, this is a rst for this community, seeing this united front among the three organizations that are in the community. We truly have committed ourselves to collaboration.

Looking back on your rst year as president and CEO, what are you most proud of?

our future that is going to make health care delivery much more e cient.

If you really think about the frame of a day, and then if you can evaluate all of the valueadded tasks that you’re doing on a day-in, day-out basis, and then compare to all of the non-value added, that really doesn’t make your make your day much more productive, but you have to do it. I think that AI has a place in taking o those non-value added activities and being able to really amplify your ability to make those human connections a lot more e cient and smarter. At the same time, I think there’s going to be tremendous nancial value in AI, support and resources. I’m one of those that I’m going to jump on the bandwagon of being an early adopter. I’m going to be a change innovator. and I’ll be the Guinea pig for really testing out what the technology is going to help us do in a safe and very smart way.

In December, MetroHealth, Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals came together to announce plans for addressing food insecurity in Greater Cleveland. How important is collaboration to addressing health disparities in the community?

It is not just important—it’s essential. We are not going to be able to address health disparities without collaboration and partnership. Less than 20% of what we do around health equity occurs within the four walls of any one particular hospital organization. Greater than 80% of our impact of what we’re doing and what we need to do occurs outside in the communities at large. With that being said, this is no longer a hospital problem. is is no longer a hospital opportunity. is is truly a collaboration opportunity, and this is a community health opportunity. I’m so proud of the partnerships forged, and I’m

We truly are the people’s organization. I’m so proud of that accomplishment. It’s a big deal when you come in and trust is fractured, and that’s what it felt like. And that’s what it was. In December of 2022, there was a heightened level of distrust. ere was a heightened level of the people being let down. And I can honestly tell you fast forward to present, they are fully engaged, they’re fully on board, they’re fully rolling their sleeves up right along with us. In just a year’s time, we’ve been able to completely rebound and demonstrate a heightened level of resilience through it all.

Looking ahead, what are you most excited about as it relates to the health system?

A continuation of the momentum that we’ve been able to deliver this year. We’re very growth-focused by expanding access across our communities and beyond, by embracing innovation and new forms of business, and certainly being on the forefront, the cutting edge of technology and arti cial intelligence. I don’t want us to be on the back end of that. I want us to be on the forefront of that and being a national model for that.

Our performance is strong in every single metric, from financial to clinical, to quality, to experience of care, to growth. We’ve moved from being a $1.6 billion net revenue organization to a $2 billion, which means in my first year, through all of the headwinds that I’m talking about, and through the storm of, of really coming on the heels of a scandal, we’ve been able to elevate and raise our organization up $400 million in just one year’s time. I’m also proud of the engagement and the commitment and just the trust that we’ve been able to reforge in the community. We truly are the community’s organization.

We had a lot of historical rsts that have never occurred in this community whatsoever in 2023. We welcomed over 5,000 men, women (and) children for our historic health expos. Nothing of this magnitude has ever been done in the Northeast Ohio, Cleveland and Greater Cleveland communities. rough the launch of our men, women and children’s health expos and empowerment fairs, we brought everyone out and o ered free screenings, free education, free access to treatment. I can tell you we saved lives through the combination of all of the e orts we delivered on. We are truly making our mark on eradicating health care disparities and zeroing out the death gap.

I stand very proud of on being the rst of many, being the rst female (CEO of MetroHealth). at was a historic moment and accomplishment, being the rst woman of color or rst person of color, female or not. And then being the rst nurse to lead this very esteemed, formidable organization in almost 200 years.

Most certainly, I want to continue our momentum. We have a lot of momentum, and we’re going strong on our level of how we’re impacting and engaging the community. Lifting up the historically disinvested communities and lift both the health and the wealth of those communities. Having a collaborative and partnershipbased mindset in mind.

Not only are we looking to continue to expand our footprint on our main campus through that $1 billion investment, but we’re looking across all of our various communities at large and starting to do some mixed-use development. Not only having a healthcare lens and focus, but how do we invest in housing? How do we invest in food distribution? How do we invest in having satellites for educational access and digital access? Mixeduse development investment in various underinvested communities is certainly top of mind. And then continuing to advance our groundbreaking academic and research advancement.

EOVERach year, our 8 Over 80 honorees show how there are no limits — age or otherwise — to what you can accomplish and the gifts you can bring to your community. And while every class is special, this year’s class is particularly notable for how rooted they are in Northeast Ohio. Whether it’s a role in manufacturing, with nonpro ts or the region’s pro sports teams, their contributions are special, immense and, most importantly, inspiring to future generations who will follow.

Photography by Jason Miller/Pixelate

Henry Doll 87

Founder and trustee, The Doll Family Foundation

Family connections run deep for Henry “Hank” Doll in the world of nonpro ts and foundations. He’s the founder and a trustee of e Doll Family Foundation, which he created in 1993 with an inheritance received from his father, Edward C. Doll. It’s something of an example of paying it forward, as Edward Doll was the longtime leader of the Erie (Pennsylvania) Community Foundation, which each year bestows the Edward C. Doll Community Service Award.

e Doll Family Foundation is, as its name suggests, a family a air. Henry Doll’s late wife, Mary, was instrumental in its launch, and his four children are active in the organization, which describes its mission as supporting the empowerment of low-income women, promoting philanthropy and fostering stronger environmental policies.

As the family has spread across the country, so has the work of the foundation. Grantmaking still takes place in Cleveland, of course, but the foundation also has expanded to the communities of Bozeman, Montana; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle.

“I’ve spent a lot of my life in foundations — working for them, building them, caring about them,” Henry Doll said. He has run several foundations in a long

career, and he has been an adviser to even more.

Doll described himself, though, as a person who initially “didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do.” After college in the early 1960s, he took a job as a ghostwriter for the CEO of engine giant Cummins, working on a variety of communications projects that included helping prepare writings for the Ford Foundation — a precursor to a life heavily involved in foundation work.

Doll also is an ordained Presbyterian minister, with a degree from the Yale Divinity School, and throughout his life he has been called to pastoral positions. He also has had a hand in guiding some of the most important foundations in Northeast Ohio, including the George Gund Foundation, the Nord Family Foundation and the McGregor Foundation.

Drawing on his foundation experience, Doll in 2003 created a giving circle called e Giving Back Gang that each year, as a group of about 20 participants, makes a minimum of $20,000 in grants helping nonpro t organizations in the arts, environment, education, women’s issues and other topics.

Doll today remains active in providing advice and strategy for dozens of organi-

zations and community initiatives, focused on the values expressed by his family foundation: economic justice, sound environmental policy, safe and a ordable housing and faith-based partnerships.

One organization in which he remains active is Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM), an organization that serves and advocates for youth, people involved in the criminal justice system, vulnerable adults and people who are homeless. He has a long history with the organization, dating back to when he co-chaired its rst capital campaign to raise more than $5.5 million for a new headquarters in Cleve-

land’s St. Clair-Superior neighborhood.

Marcella J. Brown, vice president of development and communications for LMM, said Doll’s advice and experience are invaluable to the organization. e goal of Doll’s work, she said, is to build the strongest foundation to support people experiencing hardship and adversity.

“When he believes in an organization and a cause, he puts his all into it to make sure it’s successful,” Brown said. “He has an innate sense of how to develop connections among people. ... He wants to do everything possible for this community to thrive.”

— Scott Suttell

CONGRATULATIONS RON

HARRINGTON FOR BEING RECOGNIZED AS A CRAIN’S EIGHT OVER 80 HONOREE

Your entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy is shaping a brighter future – and we’re grateful for everything you do to champion innovation and accelerate global healthcare advancements. Thank you, Ron and the Harrington family, for your transformative vision and unwavering commitment.

Pictured here: Ron and Nancy Harrington, Jill Harrington, Lydia and Ron Harrington, Jr.

Ron Harrington 81

Co-founder, The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development

Innovation has been a constant theme of Ron Harrington’s business career, so it’s no surprise that his entrepreneurial mindset has carried over to his philanthropic work. His family, University Hospitals’ No. 1 donor, is funding e orts to bring new cures and treatments to patients around the world.

“I was never one who wanted to be stamped out of a cookie mold,” Harrington said. “I wanted to do my own thing.”

quadruple bypass. A marathon runner, he recovered quickly and was back to lifting weights and running six miles a day only six weeks after the procedure. at experience inspired Harrington and his family to branch into the philanthropic sector. Harrington calls himself a grateful patient and operates under the philosophy that “when much is given, much is expected.”

In 2008, the Harrington family donated $22.6 million to University Hospitals to establish the Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, which brings together multiple departments to treat heart and vascular disease. From there, the family cultivated a strong relationship with the Cleveland-based health system.

“I was never one who wanted to be stamped out of a cookie mold. I wanted to do my own thing.”

Born in Baltimore, Harrington grew up in Rocky River. He attended Ohio State University, where he majored in marketing and finance. After graduating in 1965, he worked for General Foods before accepting a position with cosmetics company Bonne Bell. He worked at the Lakewood-founded company for 10 years before moving on to run a business with his brother-in-law and another partner.

In 1990, Harrington and his wife, Nancy, bought Edgepark Medical Supplies. Their daughter and son later joined them at the company, which the family grew from a roughly 30-employee business to eight warehouses across the country. Over the years, the Harringtons sold the business four times. It was acquired by Cardinal Health about a decade ago in a deal worth more than $2 billion.

At 58, Harrington underwent a

Four years later, the Harrington family donated $50 million to UH to launch an initiative called The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development. Using a blended nonprofit/for-profit model, the initiative looks to advance discoveries in medicine. Harrington’s creativity has helped the project raise more than $650 million, said Dr. Daniel Simon, president, academic and external affairs, chief scientific officer and Ernie and Patti Novak Distinguished Chair in Health Care Leadership at UH. “He’s a bundle of energy,” Simon said. “Just a terrific guy. Very loving and caring, and he’s been incredibly philanthropic.”

e project has funded 178 Harrington scholars across the U.S., U.K. and Canada, launched 38 companies and led to 19 new medicines in clinical trials and 15 licenses to pharmacies. It has spawned partnerships with e American Society for Clinical Investigation and Morgan Stanley GIFT Cures.

roughout this work, Harrington has been a leader in forming connections with foundations, pharmaceutical companies, banks and universities.

Last fall, the Harrington Discovery Institute, which falls under the project’s umbrella, and the University of Oxford launched the OxfordHarrington Rare Disease Centre erapeutics Accelerator. rough the accelerator, the institutions hope to deliver 40 new therapies into clinical trials for rare diseases over the next 10 years.

“We think with Oxford, this whole piece and program, we’ll reach $1 billion (in funding raised),” Harrington said.

Paige Bennett

Don Scipione has a Ph.D. in elementary particle physics, is a pioneering software developer and is now a solar industry innovator and entrepreneur — and those are just his day jobs.

He was also one of the drivers behind the current Cuyahoga County charter government structure, the main reason there is opera in Cleveland and a tireless supporter of both Cleveland’s K-12 education and Midtown development.

“It is so cliché but he truly is a quintessential renaissance man,” said Joe Mosbrook, managing partner of Acclaim Communications. “He just continues to be relevant, and he continues to move forward when a lot of people at his age, sort of rest on their laurels and he’s never done that.”

In contrast to all of the moves Scipione has made professionally, he has stayed put personally, living in the same Cleveland Heights home his parents bought when he was 2 years old. It’s the one he came back to in 1979 after getting his doctorate and working in California.

After questioning a career in research, he moved back to Cleveland, began teaching at Notre Dame College where he met his wife and, in his spare time, started Acme Express Inc.

“ e PCs had just come out,” said Scipione, who still has one of those original PCs sitting in a veritable computer graveyard at his sprawling Midtown o ce.

Acme Express, named by, as he puts it, “a bunch of graduate students sitting together picking a crazy name,” designed programs for truck loading logistics,nancial and accounting management and software to help scheduling for anesthesiologists.

“I built this software on the airplane between Tucson (where his brother, an anesthesiologist, lived) and Cleveland. e airplane was my o ce for developing the software, which still exists today,” Scipione said.

In between running a business and developing software, he has served on the boards of Lyric Opera Cleveland, the Cleveland World Trade Association, MidTown Cleveland, the Cleveland/ Cuyahoga County Workforce Investment Board and the Northeast Ohio Science and Engineering Fair, as well as a handful of others.

And he even found time to run for Cuyahoga County executive.

“I think we raised $50,000, mostly from my family and me. Turns out you really need half a million to do something like that,” said Scipione, who lost to Ed Fitzgerald. “ ere were six people running for that rst position and I came in fth.”

Scipione is now working on a more efcient, less expensive system for installing solar panels that also deals with the problem of excessive water runo .

Even though he doesn’t work with or teach elementary particle physics anymore, at least weekly, Scipione continues his education with Case Western Reserve University’s astrophysics particle physics seminars in colloquia.

And if all of that was not enough, his longtime friend Mosbrook recently found out that he was even a driving force behind getting the Cleveland Browns back to town.

“He created this campaign that had people basically go after the NFL’s website to the point where they crashed it — in protest.”

— Kim Palmer

Nick Kostis 81

Proprietor, Pickwick & Frolic

The hours may vary slightly, but Nick Kostis starts most of his days at Pickwick & Frolic Restaurant & Club around 10 a.m. and stays until around 1:30 a.m. He often is there the three days weekly when the East 4th Street neighborhood stalwart in downtown Cleveland is closed.

Keeping the combination restaurant, cabaret and 320-seat comedy club going is a task Kostis now shares with a team of managers. But his hours remain long for one reason: his passion for hospitality and the business.

“Why else would you do this on a derelict street with pawn and wig shops,” he asks about the short street that has been transformed to restaurants and nightspots since 2002 when Pickwick & Frolic opened.

With the opening of Pickwick & Frolic in the Historic Gateway District, Kostis became a two-time pioneer in downtown Cleveland.

He put the Little Bar & Grill — still operating under other ownership as Johnny’s Little Bar — in the city’s Warehouse District in 1984. Warehouses that would later become homes for housing were underused or boarded up at the time. He launched the Hilarities Comedy Club in the Warehouse District’s Root & McBride

Building (now Greater Cleveland RTA’s headquarters) in 1986 at the rst blush of comedy club popularity.

“It was like an Andy Hardy movie,” Kostis recalled. “It was, ‘Come on, let’s put on a show.’”

Tom Yablonsky, special adviser to Downtown Cleveland Inc. and longtime advocate for downtown revitalization, said, “Nick is a joy. He has been critical to what evolved in the Historic Gateway Neighborhood in the years since the (ballpark and arena) complex opened. He was very supportive of development in the neighborhood in advance of what it is now: 31 housing projects, eight hotels and more than 50 restaurants.”

Moreover, in the constantly churning panoply of downtown restaurants and venues, Yablonsky said, “he kept going through ups and downs. He has survived tough times.”

Rick Cassara, who formerly ran the late John Q’s Steakhouse on Public Square, afterward worked with Kostis for a decade before going into semi-retirement. “Kostis was always an innovator and very good at picking what part of town needed a boost,” Cassara said.

Watching Kostis impressed the veteran restaurateur.

“He’s got hospitality in his veins,” Cassara said. “ ere is a great base of

people who work there. But Nick likes to go from table to table so that customers know where they are going in the complex and are satis ed. People come from Bu alo, Detroit, Erie and Pittsburgh to visit Pickwick & Frolic. Everyone is treated like a star.”

Asked if he wonders what his life would have been like had he remained a public-school psychologist — with a secure retirement package at a much

younger age — Kostis said, “I love what I do. What I am passionate about is people. ey stir my soul and motivate my being.” Operating the club itself is important to him.

“It’s a situation where people who don’t know each other come together and share watching someone on stage,” Kostis said. “ ey come in as strangers and leave as friends.”

— Stan Bullard

Betty Smith 83

Co-founder and executive director, En-Rich-Ment

When someone has made such an outsized impact on their community that they’re known around the area simply by their rst name, you know they’ve earned the praise.

Such is the case with Betty McDaniel Smith, or Ms. Betty as she’s widely known. In the Canton area, she’s known as a co-founder and executive director of EnRich-Ment, a music- and arts-based nonpro t that o ers training and classes to children and teens while also preparing them for life. And among her many honors — more than just one story can hold — she’s been recognized by the Lenzy Family Institute and the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce and, in 2022, was awarded the United Way of Greater Stark County Gold Key Service Award.

As Juanita Gray, marketing manager with the United Way of Greater Stark County, puts it, “ e rst time I saw her, she was just out in the community, just everywhere, wearing multiple hats, doing all things for her organization, caring for (those) kids.”

An Indiana native, Smith rst put in years of life-changing work in Chicago with Catholic Charities. While there, she used a grant and a donated convent to create a recovery home for women and women with children, where they could get support for recovery from drugs and alcohol.

“ at was probably the most rewarding thing I did when I worked for Catholic Charities,” Smith said. “And, I’m telling you, 30 years later, I’m still in touch with some of those women.”

Love brought her to Ohio in the late

1990s — she married the late Mark Smith, a Canton-based minister — and she picked up where she left o in Chicago, founding Multi-Development Services of Stark County. e organization o ered services like after-school music and arts programs for children, and worked with then-Mayor Richard Watkins to make

Jan Shupe 85

great strides in turning around the Summit neighborhood.

By 2012, she leaned on her foundation in music to co-found En-Rich-Ment.

“Music was what resonated in my spirit,” she said. “Music changes lives. e arts change lives.”

So she teamed with three friends —

Premium services event manager, Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse

As Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse sat empty for most of 2020, Jan Shupe su ered from one of the milder (but still unpleasant) symptoms of the COVID-19 outbreak. Cabin fever.

“I sat at home and thought, ‘You can only throw out old magazines one time,’” Shupe said. “I just went crazy. I said to my kids, ‘Now we know why I can’t retire.’ My choices were either going back to work or going down to the (Cleveland) Clinic to push wheelchairs.”

Shupe, 85, is the premium services event manager at the FieldHouse, managing the arena’s 51 private suites and ve premium clubs. She’s the one you call if your kid spills Coca-Cola or popcorn on the oor during a Disney on Ice show, or if your suite’s fancy new self- ushing toilet stopped ushing midway through a Cavaliers game.

“Jan’s remarkable 47-year tenure at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse is a testament to her unwavering dedication, passion, and commitment to delivering un-

forgettable experiences for guests,” said Nic Barlage, CEO of the Cavaliers and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

“Her cherished friendships with her team and Premium Suite Holders fuel her enthusiasm, allowing her to forge meaningful connections throughout the organization. Jan’s legacy of professionalism and care has solidi ed her reputation as a cornerstone of excellence.”

Shupe started working for the Cavaliers in January 1974, becoming the rst female team member on a sta of 14 employees.

( e Cavaliers now have about 400.)

Shupe and her husband used to belong to a Cavaliers booster club called the Backcourt Club, and she impressed then-coach Bill Fitch enough that he o ered her a job selling tickets at the old Cleveland Arena.

“He said, ‘You know more about basketball than I do,’” she said.

Shupe stayed on through the move to Rich eld Coliseum later that year, but left the team for 3 1/2 years under thenowner Ted Stepien.

Soon after George and Gordon Gund bought the team in 1983, they persuaded

“Music was what resonated in my spirit. Music changes lives. The arts change lives.”

Beverly Bevington, Ralena Dahlheimer and Samson C. Toe — to create the nonpro t, which quickly outgrew its original home in her husband’s church.

One of En-Rich-Ment’s biggest success stories has been its drumline, and the organization is an a liate of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps. And that relationship has led to a campaign for a permanent home for En-Rich-Ment.

But the nonpro t goes beyond just music. It also o ers arts and theater classes and even classes on life skills.

“We have a garden,” Smith said. “And we’re having a commercial kitchen (put) in our new building because cooking is very important. So we teach the children how to stick to healthy meals, and do things on a budget. So we get things from the garden, and then we put them in the kitchen.”

It’s no surprise, then, that Gray refers to Smith as a “superhero.”

“She’s so warm-hearted. She’s an advocate and loyal,” says Gray. “She sees the potential of anyone, every child that she comes across. She pushes people to be the best version of themselves.”

Smith is still active, as a recent United Way feature shows.

“It’s the children … I have a strong faith background,” she said. “And I just believe this is my calling to work with people and help people.”

— Marcus Gilmer

“People say, ‘You’re how old?’ But it’s not about what the number is. It’s how you feel and I still feel good.”

Shupe to return and help rebuild the Cavaliers’ season ticket base. She started managing the suites a few months later — her rst two days on the job were Neil Diamond concerts — and never stopped, with this season marking her 47th with the team. Oh, and for the last 37 years, she’s devoted a week of her summer vacation to volunteering at Firestone Country Club, where she oversees player registrations and VIP services for its annual golf tournament.

“People say, ‘You’re how old?’ But it’s not about what the number is. It’s how you feel and I still feel good. My daughter says I’m so ornery, I’ll probably live to 110, but that might be a little too old. But this keeps me going. It keeps me out of trouble.”

— Joe Scalzo

Joan Southgate 95

Founder, Restore Cleveland Hope

Joan Southgate’s history-shaping legacy begins with one of her otherwise typical walks around University Circle.

“Something just struck me one day,” Southgate said. “I don’t remember why. But I remember the feeling that there were these freedom seekers here, and I could imagine the families of freedom seekers walking with no signs, no real roads, only this idea of North. And I needed to honor them.”

“Freedom seekers” is a term Southgate has embraced in a push to shape the dialogue around those who clawed their way North to escape the shackles of American slavery.

Born in 1929 in Syracuse, New York, on the doorstep of the Great Depression, Southgate recalls how her mother and grandmother would talk about storied abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who later settled in nearby Auburn a few dozen miles away.

But it was decades later, in the early aughts, during Southgate’s early 70s and well after a 30-year career as a social worker, when she felt compelled to walk in the footsteps of those who came before her — literally. Charting a path beginning at Ripley, Ohio, Southgate began what would become a 519-mile trek across Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Canada that freedom seekers would have followed as they ed from their oppressors. Southgate would stop along the way to meet, talk and break bread with anyone who was interested in her journey. Newspapers documented her hike. Children and family would sometimes join her. And complete strangers invited the intrepid septuagenarian into their homes for a place to rest.

e adventure would become the subject of her 2004 book, aptly dubbed “In eir Path.”

“ e way her story resonated and connected with people at the time was just remarkable,” said Fran Stewart, an independent writer, researcher and co-author of “In eir Path,” who brought historical context to Southgate’s adventure by tying in details of the Underground Railroad and the myriad people across races who supported it.

“You learn about the Ohioans involved in all this and can’t help but get sucked in and become enthralled by Joan’s story and all these extraordinary characters.”  It was during research for that book on

the region’s role in the Underground Railroad that Southgate came to learn about what is now known as the CozadBates House at 11508 May eld Road in Cleveland. e pre-Civil War home was built by abolitionist Andrew Cozad and, according to historians, provided shelter to freedom seekers en route to Canada.

e building was at risk of being torn down by University Hospitals. But Southgate organized activists to save it, resulting in her founding the nonpro t Restore Cleveland Hope in 2003 — “hope” is a reference to Cleveland’s codename in the Underground Railroad.

e Cozad-Bates House now serves as

an educational center preserving local history. e nonpro t helps maintain the building and provide programming.

Southgate, now 95, still speaks at events and shares inspiring stories about freedom seekers, her own adventures and Cleveland’s place in the history of abolitionism.

“I hope that, and I think it’s true, I have changed some of the language about escaping slaves. ey are freedom seekers,” Southgate said. “And I hope that when I’m talking to a group, the speci c stories of these freedom seekers help them see the connections historically.”

— Jeremy Nobile

Roger Sustar 80

Founder and CEO emeritus, Fredon Corp.

Roger Sustar has spent his life as a manufacturer. It’s a role he relishes, and he’s still tickled to have been referred to as a “maven of manufacturing” in this publication many years ago.

But it’s likely that Sustar will be remembered for making more than everything from medical devices to military hardware from steel. He’s more likely to be remembered for making a di erence in the lives of thousands of students, parents, other manufacturers and, in all probability, the lives of most folks who ever spent any time with him.

Because if they did, chances are good he converted them into being lifechangers, as well. People who meet with him are sometimes warned to bring both their checkbooks and their calendars, because Sustar’s no doubt going to talk about his passion for helping people nd and prepare for careers in the industry, and he’s going to expect them to share that passion, as well as his desire to act on it.

“He’s not shy about those kinds of things,” his daughter Alyson Scott said with a knowing laugh. “But he has a big heart.”

In business, Sustar formed and built

up Fredon Corp., a pillar of manufacturing in Mentor now run by Scott.

He was born into it — sort of. Sustar brie y worked for his father and then went to Lincoln Electric, where he said he only lasted six months because he didn’t get accepted into a college as the job required. But he said he learned exactly what he needed to start Fredon, with a little help from his father and two partners he later bought out.

“At Lincoln, all I remembered was the motto, ‘ e actual is limited. e possible is immense,’” he said. at seems to have stuck. Not only did he create a manufacturing powerhouse, but went on to follow his passion of showing young people that manufacturing can o er them a rewarding career, and showing his fellow manufacturers that every next generation was worthy of their time and investment.

Much of that work has been done through Lake County’s Alliance for Working Together, or AWT, which Sustar also created with some other local businesspeople. at organization has gone from being a sort of club for robot battles between local high schools to a fully formed nonpro t with its own building and sta right next to Fredon’s headquar-

ters. Sustar still helps run it, as he does with Fredon — age doesn’t appear to have slowed him down much in life, or behind the wheel of his beloved Corvette.  He also accomplished something else most people only dream of: he helped sustain, certainly enjoyed, and de nitely was buoyed by a marriage of 57 years to his late wife Judith.  O cially, Sustar’s retired. But Scott

will tell you it’s not true.

“No — no, no, no. Having AWT, raising funds for its building and staying involved for the bene t of the industry, that’s what keeps him going,” she said. “He makes it a success because he’s giving back to this industry that’s given so much to him and our family … I’m so proud of him for everything he’s done.”

— Dan Shingler

Cavs host Ahmaad Crump is always blessed, rarely stressed

By Joe Scalzo

On May 20, 2006, a dejected young P.A. announcer named Ahmaad Crump was mourning the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Game 6 loss to the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference semi nals when he was spotted by Cavs’ legendary radio announcer Joe Tait.

“He was like, ‘Ahmaad, are you all right?’” Crump said. “I said, ‘Yeah, Mr. Tait, I’m all right. I just can’t believe we lost.”

Tait handed Crump that night’s scoresheet and said, “Ahmaad, do me a favor. Read this scoresheet.”

“So I’m looking at it and I see LeBron (James) and I see Drew Gooden and I see Zydrunas Ilgauskas and all these names and I’m like, ‘How come you’re giving this to me?’” Crump said. “And he says to me, ‘Look for your name on here.’ And I said, ‘I don’t see my name on here.’ And he said, ‘ en you had nothing to do with it.’”

Crump laughed, then added, “I’m telling you — those words there, as harsh as it was and as funny as it is now, I’ve taken those words with me to this day. at was 18 years ago and I’ve learned you can only control what you can control. e team, they’re going to play the way they’re going to play and they’re going to do what they’re going to do. We can give them the energy to play hard, but if they don’t play well, that doesn’t stop us from doing what we have to do — making sure the fans are having a great time.”

Crump, a Cleveland Heights native, joined the Cavs’ promotions team in 2003 and has spent the last 18 years as the Cavaliers’ on-court host at home games. While he’s best known for announcing the players during pregame introductions and hyping the crowd at different points in the game, he also represents the team at approximately 100 corporate and community events each year, often alongside players or team mascots Moondog and Sir CC.

“As cool as the games are, I just love seeing the faces of fans outside the arena,” Crump said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, wow, we got Moondog here. We got CC here. We got Ahmaad here.’ at’s really cool for me.”

Crump recently spoke with Crain’s Cleveland about his most memorable games, how he protects his voice, seeing COVID end his consecutive games streak and how long he wants to stay on the job. is interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Since this is a business publication, we’re going to need all your salary information, Ahmaad.

(Laughs.) Here we go. Let’s do it.

Do people come up to you and ask you to yell at them at the grocery store, or record their voicemail or something?

From time to time I do get that request, like if I’m at Tower City or even at a Cavs game. People come up and say, “Can you do me a favor? Can you announce me one time like I’m in the starting lineup?” I think it’s hilarious. Depending on the setting or where we’re at, once in a while I will announce them. ey’ll get it on video and really take that and run with it. I enjoy making whatever type of memory they get from it.

You’ve got to charge them for it, though, right? I mean, hey, you don’t work for free. (Laughs.) You do have a point on that.

This is your 18th year hosting. What would you tell the Ahmaad from 20 years ago? Twenty years ago, never did I imagine the position would turn into what it’s been. e games are de nitely a great part of it. I love doing the games. I love doing the intros. But the more (involved) I’ve gotten with the organization, I’ve realized it’s about the community. It’s bigger than basketball. I’m out in the community on behalf of the Cavs and other team members as well. We’re going to schools, to businesses who support the Cavs and we just pretty much spread that Cavs joy. Spread that positivity. Win, lose, doesn’t matter — we’re out in the community where there is a need. ese kids, giving them a light that they might not have. ey probably do have that light. Even if they do, we’ll go out there and share some positivity. If they don’t, we’ll give them a couple hours of joy. Sometimes we’ll read them some books. We’ll play some games with them. We’ll shoot some hoops with them. We’ll drop o some gym supplies for the school. at’s a big props to our social impact team. ey’re really heavy into the community and they bring us along just to spread that joy.

How do you take care of your voice? I’m sure there are days when you just don’t want to shout.

(Laughs.) It’s a lot of tea with no sugar. A lot of cough drops. en when I’m in the house and the kids are asleep and I don’t have to talk, I just watch some NBA hoops, some college hoops and watch some NFL and rest my voice. Sometimes on game days, I’ll talk only when I have to talk.

I read a story about you from 2015 and, at that point, you hadn’t missed a game. Is that streak still alive?

I’ve missed four games since then. ree of them were in December of 2021 due to COVID. at (missing games) was a big deal for me. I don’t want to say it was crushing, but that was a

streak that I really took pride in. From 2003, when I wasn’t the announcer, all the way to December of 2021, I never missed a game, whether it was preseason, a regular season game or a playo game. My son caught it (COVID) as well. He was 4 at the time. So my wife sent us to a hotel and it was boys week. We spent ve or six days in a hotel and you’d never know that we had it. at was the rst time I watched a Cavs home game on TV since 2002. It was like, “Wow, I can’t believe I’m listening to someone else do the intros and seeing all the fun they’re having and I’m stuck in the hotel with my 4-year-old son.”

Who did the announcing that night?

It was our P.A. announcer, Sean Peebles, who did a great job. But at every game from 2006 to 2021, when the lights go out and the mic dropped, you knew it was de nitely game time. It was humbling to hear people say that intros are one of the staples of what we do. Even some of the players were like, “What happened? Where’s he at?” I never thought it would turn into what it’s been when I joined the organization back in 2003. I had one job at a law rm (Ulmer & Berne), working as a docket clerk and a mailroom clerk as well, but I needed more money to pay bills. Back then, it was just about getting a check for a couple hours, throwing some T-shirts around and high- ving fans. It turned into something much bigger and I’m grateful for what it’s become.

But you’ll go back to law eventually, right?

(Laughs.) No, I don’t know how I would react. If I was in that setting for eight or nine hours a day, I don’t know what I’d do with myself.

Do players ask you to announce them a certain way?

ere have been requests back in the day. Now, I just take rein over it. I listen to a lot of di erent announcers around the league. I listen to NFL announcers, to baseball announcers, to hockey announcers — just trying to come up with something di erent and separate myself from everybody else. e only request I can remember was from Mo Williams back in the day. (Note: Crump announced him as “Mo Gotti.”) He gave me a request and it turned out great. But the year LeBron left, in 2010, we went on a downward streak and it wasn’t a cool name anymore. So we said, “Let’s go back to Mo Williams and get back to the basics.”

What’s the most memorable game you’ve announced?

ere are two. De nitely Game 6 of the 2016 NBA Finals (which the Cavs won 115-101).

Our backs were against the wall and we had to win that game to force a Game 7. e fans from beginning to end were absolutely insane and the fanfest outside was absolutely insane. e other one — I believe the exact date was Oct. 30, 2014. at was LeBron’s rst game back and he played against the New York Knicks. And I don’t get nervous a lot, but I still get nervous every now and then and that game there ... oh, wow. e hypeness about LeBron being back. He had played in the preseason a couple games prior, but that home opener live on TNT. You had a concert outside. e entire city was just on re. And it’s crazy because we had won the lottery that year, so we were coming o of a, what, 20-, 21-win season? And you’ve got this global icon who comes back to the arena and puts on a Cavs uniform and just completely changes the whole mindset of the organization and all the fans. We were like, “You know what? is is our year. If it doesn’t happen now, it’s never going to happen.” I was nervous that game. I’ll go on YouTube and watch it every now and then. Kevin Love, who’s with the Heat right now, he was the fourth player that I announced and I knew the big moment (was coming) and LeBron was the last name to be announced. I had to take a breath and calm down and relax. And when I nally got a chance to belt it out and said, “From St. Vincent-St. Mary …” LeBron’s reaction was just like, you know, he just leaned back and couldn’t believe we’re saying that name again and the crowd is going crazy for him. at’s a moment I’ll never forget, that game right there for sure. Sorry for that long answer, but I got passionate about one.

OK, let me bring you down from there. Is there anyone who doesn’t like you? (Laughs.) I’m pretty sure. I’ll never forget the great Joe Tait used to tell me all the time when I rst got a chance to meet him. He was like, “Ahmaad, I’ve got to be honest, I didn’t like you at rst. But now, the more I started working with you and I

understand what you mean to the fans, I’m starting to like you now.” at’s one thing about Joe Tait. He didn’t sugarcoat anything. If he liked you, he liked you. He was just a straight shooter. But not everybody cares about the bells and whistles. ey just want to watch the basketball game. ey don’t care about the T-shirts. ey don’t care about the girls dancing. e re coming out of the scoreboard. ey just want to come down and see some basketball. And I respect that. But we have to remember that there are people who come to the game who don’t know the game or who don’t know any players. It’s just an escape for them and whatever is going on in their personal life. If they can come into the arena for three to four hours and forget about what’s going on outside, and I can help them have a good time and forget about what’s going on, I feel like I’ve done my job. Whether that’s a high- ve, that’s a T-shirt, a simple conversation — you just never know what a quick, ve-second convo can do for somebody’s day. I’m pretty sure there are people around who don’t like me and you can’t please everybody, but I hope there are more people who do like me than don’t like me.

How long are you going to do this?

As long as they keep me around. I love Cleveland. Cleveland is my home. I was born and raised here in Cleveland Heights. I couldn’t see myself doing this for any other organization at all. I realize how lucky I am. Anybody can be doing what I’m doing. I’m blessed that I’m able to get up and go to a place where I love being, even on non-game days. I’m in the o ce all the time, getting our scripts together for game day or out in the community or just doing things around the o ce. I’m blessed to say that I work for an organization that gets it. ey absolutely get it on all fronts. So when I hear people say, “Hey, it’s the Cavs guy,” they might not say Ahmaad, but just being a liated with the Cavs, that’s a huge feeling. I take pride in that.

Cleveland Cavaliers on-court host Ahmaad Crump hypes up the crowd during a game at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. CONTRIBUTED

MUSEUM

When the rest of the museum reopens later this year, Winner said, visitors will be in for an entirely new museum experience.

“Normally, when you go into a natural history museum, everything is on a timeline,” said Winner, the museum’s 10th director. “And then, you walk through all of the dinosaurs and all of these things, and humans are at the very end, if you get to the human piece at all.”

In the reimagined CMNH, humans will be at the center of the story — the good and the bad. Winner said the museum explores how human impact has changed the environment, as well as how humans can come up with solutions to address problems in nature.

In a recent interview with Crain’s Cleveland, Winner discussed the process behind the museum’s transformation project and what visitors can anticipate when they go to the new museum.

Note: is interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Looking back on the early days of developing this project, what were some of the things the museum wanted to accomplish?

It was really important to have strong partners. We also decided early on that the rst iteration of this project was more re ective of the West and perhaps Denver, big boulders in front. We felt when we rescoped the project and really thought about the project that, rst of all, we wanted to have as many partners as possible that were Cleveland based. So, Panzica Construction here in Cleveland, DLR Group, Paul Westlake, his group, they actually have been involved with the museum since the founding of their rm.

en we also decided that we really wanted someone, Gallagher and Associates, who are exhibit designers. ey really were able to think about how we wanted (the museum) to be as interactive and hands-on as possible for our visitors and the exhibits that we would show. ey just did an absolutely marvelous job at the World War II Museum that we had toured. We really felt they spoke to us and would listen to us.

e Great Lakes, a quarter of the world’s fresh water is in the Great Lakes. We have an amazing, glacial history here in Ohio that is so unique.

Why was a project like this necessary for the museum?

“It looked a little like a dentist of ce, and I’ve said that before, not particularly attractive, pretty dark. Now, light is coming in.”

We kind of went through this process (of asking) ‘Who are we?’ and ‘What do we want to be?’ ‘Why are we building this?’ Well, we’re building this because we want to continue to be a community asset for this region. What are we trying to show? Well, we are in such an interesting place for the geological history of this area.

We really feel like now our architecture is going to re ect our mission. When you think about institutions and you think about, ‘Well, what’s holding us back?’ It’s been our building. It looked a little like a dentist o ce, and I’ve said that before, not particularly attractive, pretty dark. Now, light is coming in. And we have tons of bathrooms. We actually did a survey of visitors of why people don’t come to museums. ere are two reasons. One, there aren’t enough bathrooms, and it’s too dark.

Also, we’ve really been working on this part that even when you make something free, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s welcoming. So, it’s been really important for us. We are really trying to do more outreach and

partnerships in the community. We’ve really tried to step forward with not only that community approach, but with evidence-based learning about science, so everyone can come here and ask questions. We tested whether people, if we created spaces where people could ask questions, would they do so? And 80% of the time people were asking questions to our scientists. So those are the ways we feel as if we’re being really unique.

Sometimes when we talk about the environment or we talk about things like climate change, it can be so overwhelming that people go, ‘I can’t even deal with it. It’s too hard to understand.’

But what we’re trying to do is talk about, ‘Yes, you know, things are happening to our planet. ey have always happened to our planet, but here’s the science behind it, and here are some solutions that could help us in the future.’

You mentioned the museum’s interest in having exhibits be immersive and hands-on. Why is that so important? And what can visitors expect to see when they come inside?

really important to us. And it’s also a place to ask questions. We have two wings. One is called Evolving Life, and one is called Dynamic Earth. And you will see dinosaurs throughout the whole building because it’s all integrated. at story of life is very integrated, and you can only tell it through an immersive experience in many ways. It’s not just as if dinosaurs are one part of the story. ey’re still here in the form of birds. And telling that story or making sure you understand that your dog or your cat and your pet, they are also part of biodiversity and part of that chain of life.

It was really important for us to be able to showcase those in our wings, but to be able for the visitor to have a personal journey. What’s going on with insect populations?

Why should we care? If insect populations are dying, that a ects food sources, that a ects all of us.

The redesigned museum is slated to open at the end of the year. Where are you in the process right now?

We are really refurbishing some of our objects. And then we’re installing all of our exhibits right now, which may seem as if it’s an easy process. It’s a really challenging process to get all of that done. e Visitor Hall is done. Happy, our favorite dinosaur, which is a sauropod (is in the Visitor Hall).

In the past, chemicals were used on things like Happy, asbestos was in it, other nasty things. When we took Happy to be refurbished in Canada, it actually shut down the plant. So, we were left with a question. We could destroy Happy, and they would just make a cast. Many natural history museums just have casts of dinosaurs. I couldn’t do that. So, for $300,000, we made the investment, and 60% of Happy is real fossil.

Natural history museums can present a 3D experience that you can touch things, you can interact, whether it’s with animals or with fossils or with other objects. at’s

I hope visitors know that when they come. We still have the two wings to open. We’re really excited to showcase and, most importantly, to share this with the public.

Three years after breaking ground, the re-imagined Cleveland Museum of Natural History is projected to open in December.

Sonia Winner, president and CEO of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

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

ARCHITECTURE

Arkinetics

CONSTRUCTION

International Countertop Consultants, Inc.

CONSTRUCTION

Rudolph Libbe Group Northeast Ohio Regional Of ce

CLIFFS

Goncalves made the initial bid for USS in August 2023; it included $17.50 in cash and 1.023 shares of Cli s stock to be exchanged for each of USS’ outstanding shares. Cli s valued that at $35 per USS share, based on its then-share price of around $15, or about $7.3 billion in total.

But that was not Cli s’ last or highest o er, according to a Jan. 24 preliminary proxy statement led by USS and information provided by Cli s.   at statement reports that Cli s, referenced as “Company D,” submitted a nal bid of $54 per USS share, consisting of $27 cash and $27 in Cli ’s stock, or 1.44 shares of Cli s based on its price of around $19 at the time. Cli s reports it was bidding for all of U.S. Steel’s 256.3 million available shares, which would make its $54 per share worth a little more than $13.8 billion and very close to the Nippon bid.

Nippon then increased its bid the next day to $55 in cash per USS share, Cli s said — $1 more per share than what Cli s said was its nal o er, at least in terms of competing with Nippon.

Cli s’ bid is now o the table, but Goncalves has not ruled out another one and his company has been joined in its opposition to the Nippon bid by the United Steelworkers and numerous politicians in addition to Biden and Brown. It’s one of the few issues to have bipartisan support and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, a Trump Republican, has also come out against Nippon’s bid and said it’s bad for the nation’s security and its industry. Vance and Brown have both promised to work to kill the Nippon deal.

If that happens, Cli s will probably get a second chance. Goncalves has said he’ll likely take it, but that his next bid might not be as high as his last one.

At his March 27 event alongside Sen. Brown, Goncalves defended his bid for USS as the best one the company was o ered.

“ e problem was, my o er was not cash,” he said, contending that his bid was worth more than what Nippon was o ered due to the value of Cli s’ stock and its upside potential.

Goncalves has said publicly, including to Bloomberg News last month, that he will bid on USS again only if and when the deal with Nippon is killed. en, he would likely make a lower bid with union support, Bloomberg reported.

Dan Barney, AIA, has transitioned into the role of Director of Operations at Arkinetics. He replaces Bruce Taylor, who will remain as Chief Executive Of cer, focusing on the day-to-day operations of the rm. Barney will manage the day-to-day operations of the production department, including design, culture and talent. Dan will remain involved in design projects and continue to work directly with clients, leading the hotel and automotive markets.

INVESTMENT FIRM

Cyprium Partners

Cyprium is pleased to welcome Dozie Agbim as a Senior Associate to the rm. Dozie will evaluate and execute new investments and support portfolio company initiatives. He has been involved in transactions across a range of industries, including technology, business services and natural resources. Prior to Cyprium, he executed investments and facilitated add-on acquisitions at Delta-v Capital and was a Finance Associate at Google. He started at Barclays in the Investment Banking Analyst Program.

International Countertop Consultants (ICC) welcomes Tom Musser as our new Order Ful llment Director. With over 9 years of experience as a Sales and Estimating Manager, Tom brings expertise in natural stone and solid surface countertops, custom cabinetry, and millwork. His exceptional ability to establish and nurture long-term relationships with builders, contractors, architects, designers, and retail clients directly contributes to ICC’s projects owing smoothly.

Rudolph Libbe Group’s Northeast Ohio of ce welcomes Molly Leitch Leitner as a Business Development Manager. Leitner will identify and develop new business opportunities to support continued growth in the region. She has a master’s degree in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester. The Rocky River native has extensive experience in engineering, people management, and business and economic development in diverse industry sectors.

But since making its bid Dec. 11 Cliffs’ share price has gone up by nearly 30%, from about $17 per share to more than $22 per share. With that taken into consideration, USS shareholders would actually be ahead of the game now, compared to the Nippon cash-only bid, had they accepted Cliffs’ last offer, Goncalves says.

If Cli s’ recent price of $22.64 per share from March 28 is used, for example, Cli s’ bid would now be worth $59.60 per USS share, or more than $15 billion. at’s what Cli s would have paid for U.S. Steel’s total equity. It would have also assumed $1 billion in USS debt, making its cost more than $16 billion.

LAW

Brennan Manna Diamond

It is, of course, impossible to say how the market would have valued Cli s’ shares if it had done the deal with USS. But Goncalves has a track record of increasing his company’s share price, which has increased tenfold since the beginning of 2016 under his watch.

With that end now seemingly in his sights, Goncalves is drawing both his political and union allies close, as evidenced by the recent event with Brown, which also included United Steelworkers District 1 President Donnie Blatt speaking in support of Cli s.

If Goncalves is successful in driving off Nippon, the last hurdle he might need to clear is antitrust concerns. Buying USS would make Cliffs by far the largest U.S. steelmaker and dominant in important markets such as automotive, to which Cliffs is already the largest provider of steel.

“I have a plan,” Goncalves said when asked about that issue. It can be overcome if Cliffs is willing to make agreements with the government not to make anti-competitive moves after the deal is done, and Cliffs is working out how it would assuage governmental concerns, he said.

BMD is pleased to welcome Kirk Roessler as a Member to its Cleveland of ce. Kirk has over three decades of experience in corporate, real estate, and commercial nance matters. His practice encompasses commercial lending and workout, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and commercial real estate with a focus on serving the hospitality industry.

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Cleveland-Cliffs CEO Lourenco Goncalves gathers USW members around him before an event with Sen Sherrod Brown at Cliffs’ Cleveland Works, opposing the pending purchase of U.S, Steel by Nippon Steel of Japan. | DAN SHINGLER