Crain's Cleveland Business

INNOVATING ON THE FLY Increases in online ordering have created major changes in the supply chain. PAGE 4

MUSIC TO THEIR EARS: Rock Hall’s digital learning program is popular draw. PAGE 3

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM I APRIL 26, 2021

ve

Crain’s examines why millions remain unbanked, how the digital divide affects them and what can be done to help them. Focus section begins on PAGE 12

CRAIN’S ILLUSTRATION/GETTY IMAGES

TAKING ACCOUNT More agents than homes on market

Hot housing industry, pandemic drive new real estate agents into the business

BY MICHELLE JARBOE

Omega Jackson spent much of 15 years as a waiter, cycling from one chain restaurant to another and struggling to find his passion.

In January 2020, he left the food and beverage business to pursue a career in real estate sales. Two months later, the coronavirus crisis forced dining room closures across Ohio, putting scads of servers out of work. For Jackson, 45, the pandemic provided a clean break.

“I couldn’t go back to serving,” he said. “I had to walk that plank.”

When Jackson secured his sales license in September, he joined thousands of new-minted real estate agents

tussling for turf in a tight market. In Ohio and across the country, the industry’s ranks swelled last year, thanks to surging home prices and strong buyer demand, coupled with the impact of layoffs, business closures and shifts to remote work and school.

The Ohio Department of Commerce issued almost 30% more new real estate licenses in 2020 than it did in 2019, according to the division of real estate and professional licensing. And the momentum hasn’t slowed. January was a banner month for new licenses, the busiest start to a year since 2005, when home prices were nearing their last peak.

See REALTORS on Page 17

Omega Jackson quit his hospitality industry job in January 2020 to pursue a career as a real estate agent. | GUS CHAN

NEWSPAPER

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Moving forward together

in Ohio

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Partnering with local nonprofits, we’ve distributed more than 27 million masks for vulnerable populations as part of our ongoing efforts to address health-related disparities accelerated by the coronavirus.

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I’m so proud of the way our community has come together to help those who need it most. And I’m certain that Ohio has the power to be stronger than ever as a result.

Helping Cleveland move forward: • Delivered PPP funding to over 598 of our small business clients in Ohio for more than $131 millionin relief • Distributed 218,000 masks through our local partners including: – Cuyahoga Community College – MetroHealth’s – Institute for H.O.P.ETM • Expanded benefits for our employees to include additional child and adult care services plus virtual medical and behavioral health consultations at no cost

Jeneen Marziani President, Bank of America Ohio

Go to bankofamerica.com/cleveland to learn more about the work we are doing with our incredible partners.

*PPP data as of 04/04/2021 Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Credit Opportunity Lender. © 2021 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

ENTERTAINMENT

Rock Hall, led by digital learning program, went into 'acceleration mode' in pandemic Rock Hall EDU is now reaching almost one million students and has 8,000 registered teachers

BY KEVIN KLEPS

Correction The name of Canton-based Whitacre Engineering was misspelled in an article on Page 2 of the April 19 edition

Do A Ca Vi Ho Im Ne ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame launched its free digital learning platform in the fall of 2019, there were dozens of teachers utilizing its services each day.

“We celebrated like, ‘Yeah, people are using it!’ ” said Jason Hanley, the Rock Hall’s vice president of education and visitor engagement.

By the spring of last year, as the pandemic forced schools to shift to remote learning, Rock Hall EDU was being used by hundreds of teachers, sometimes even thousands, on a daily basis.

Now, the site has about 8,000 registered teachers from 100-plus countries, and Rock Hall EDU is reaching about 950,000 students, Hanley said.

“The idea that we’ve seen this growth where we’re now close to a million students, that’s really amazing,” he said.

The site has professionally developed lesson plans and activities that, according to the Rock Hall, meet national and state learning standards in a variety of subjects that include music, social studies, science, technology, math and English. There are presentations, videos, playlists and digitized materials from the Rock Hall’s library and archives.

Content is searchable by decade, grade level (from kindergarten to college), subject and media type. Teachers can create their own collections, or use one that’s been designed by the Rock Hall’s education team — which includes staffers with degrees in education, musicology and ethnomusicology, Hanley said.

The site’s featured content has collections on the Super Bowl halftime show (students are encouraged to design their own performance), legends of rock (the genre’s trendsetting role in the fashion industry is highlighted), and an examination of how artists have channeled the power of music to respond to racism.

“That’s the thing that we designed it for that was so powerful: This isn’t a curriculum in the sense that I take this and I’m teaching a 10-week class,” Hanley said. “We know what most teachers want is to bring rock and roll into their classroom.

“So our approach,” he continued, “is, well, we know you’re teaching science. Why don’t you find out how an amplifier works and let’s put that in your science class, and you’re learning about sound waves and you’re learning about modulation and you’re learning about electricity. And then you’re using an example of that of Pete Townshend playing the guitar.”

Parents, working at home while their students attended virtual classrooms, also began to use Rock Hall EDU. The organization then added assets that would cater to them, such as ways to connect the music of Prince and Lizzo, and downloadable PowerPoint activities.

Doubling down on digital A look at the growth of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s YouTube channel in 2020: 2019

2020

% change

69.5 million 3.7 million 774 million 127,000

138.3 million 7.1 million 1.5 billion 278,000

99% 92% 100% 119%

Category

Views Hours watched Impressions New subscribers SOURCE: ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

It wasn’t the same, Hanley said, as the 20,000 students a year who would attend the Rock Hall’s Rockin’ the Schools program. And staffers really missed starting their Thursdays with toddlers learning their ABCs and singing along to music.

But the positive feedback, while not nearly as immediate as an in-person program, was gratifying, and resources that have been built up in the last 13-plus months will continue to be useful when in-person activities become more frequent.

“Now, all of the time and energy that we put into Rock Hall EDU, those become pre-visit and post-visit things for classes to do,” Hanley said.

“They become materials that we, our own educators, can use in the building with students while they’re here.”

Revamped operations The growth of the education program has been a bright spot in a year of significant losses for the Rock Hall.

The museum and exhibition spaces were closed to the public twice, for a combined five months, and the

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

Rock Hall reduced its full-time staff from 129 to 79 workers. Others had their wages and benefits cut.

The organization’s revenues, president and CEO Greg Harris told Crain’s, took a hit of almost 60%.

Projects that had been on hold, including a shift to digital ticketing, became primary focuses. The Rock Hall eliminated its box office (visitors’ phones are now scanned as they enter), and brought its retail and e-commerce operations in house.

The organization also opened its vaults and began sharing more content. It starting hosting virtual programs that range from live musical performances to an interview series and digital exhibits. A new podcast, featuring replays of notable induction speeches, launched in November.

Views on the Rock Hall’s YouTube channel nearly doubled, from 69.5 million in 2019 to 138.3 million last year. There were similar gains in hours watched (up 92%) and impressions (a 100% increase), and the channel added 278,000 subscribers (following a 127,000 gain in 2019).

The Rock Hall EDU collection includes a series of slides on the bass guitar used

by Bootsy Collins. | ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME

“We did not go into maintenance mode or hibernation mode. We went into acceleration mode,” Harris said.

The Rock Hall began offering a $25 virtual membership, which provides access to monthly interviews and other digital content, along with early availability to programs and materials.

That won’t make up for the sizable losses in ticketing and program revenues, but the organization’s finances were in solid shape entering 2020.

From 2016 to 2019, the Rock Hall, according to its tax filings, had revenue totals between $34.8 million and $43.7 million. Its net income in that span was a combined $44.7 million.

The organization relies heavily on contributions and grants, which accounted for 50% to 58% of its revenues from 2016-19.

Program services have made up at least 25% of the annual tally, and

89% of that figure — almost $10 million — stemmed from admissions in 2019.

The devastation experienced in the travel and tourism industries “really focuses you,” Harris said.

“So we focused on our priorities, and remarkably, we’re a better organization right now than we were before the pandemic,” he said.

The Rock Hall, like everyone else, is looking forward to better days.

There again will be live performances on its plaza this summer, and Harris is excited that shows are being announced for Blossom Music Center and music festivals are set to return.

“We’re encouraged that outdoor will start first, and then when the time is right, indoor will follow,” the Rock Hall CEO said.

Kevin Kleps: kkleps@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @KevinKleps APRIL 26, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 3

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E-commerce has been part of the retail equation for years, but the COVID-19 pandemic pushed it further to the forefront.

In 2020, e-commerce sales made up about 14% of all retail sales, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s up from 11% the year before, a jump from the more steady growth that’s been taking place in recent years.

And that shift has had an impact up and down the supply chain. Take the trucking industry, for example.

Most of the members of the Ohio Trucking Association aren’t directly in home delivery, but a shift toward Smith e-commerce had a big impact regardless. Before they make it to a customer’s door, products still need transported to and from manufacturers and distribution centers.

“The dance that it takes to deliver whatever you ordered from Amazon to your front door is extremely complex,” said Tom Balzer, president and CEO of the Westerville-based association.

But that growth hasn’t been seen by everyone, because it’s “surprisingly difficult” for companies to pivot to new sectors, he said. Obviously, trucks delivering fuel took a hit during the pandemic when people weren’t driving as much, but even within spaces like food service that saw some customers grow while others closed, it was tough for trucking companies to make a change.

Trucks that had been delivering food to hotels for banquet centers couldn’t just switch to delivering to grocery stores. It’s dependent on customers and contracts, he said.

E-commerce and online shopping have been part of the “omnichannel” for the past 10 or 15 years, said Gordon Gough, president and CEO of the Ohio Council of Retail

Merchants in Columbus. But 2020 and the pandemic marked a big change, as companies added new ways for their customers to shop, making contactless pick-up a widespread option, and adopted new technologies.

“Essentially, we did 10 years of innovation in 10 weeks,” Gough said.

He doesn’t see any of those three options going away any time soon.

They allow retailers to meet different customer needs, and they “sell off each other,” Gough said.

And beyond what the consumer sees, this is driving change behind the scenes. Gough said the distribution supply chain and the store supply chains are starting to merge.

World Group, a shipping, logistics and warehousing services company based in Rocky River, has long had customers in the e-commerce space, but those customers’ business started “skyrocketing during COVID,” said CEO Michael Smith.

Globally, inventory levels dropped rapidly and shipping backed up, Smith said. That meant it took longer for products to make it to store shelves. Smith said he thinks that delay pushed people to “get more comfortable with e-commerce.”

And that growth was good for World Group. The company’s trucks are operating at about 90% to 95% capacity, Smith said.

The supply chain is still backed up, and it will take time to resolve the underlying issues. Smith said he thinks e-commerce will continue to grow as consumer confidence grows in that space.

The shortage in shipping capacity pushed a lot of small brands out of stores and toward e-commerce, said Tim Novak, managing partner at ePac Flexible Packaging Co. in Solon. That switch means packaging has to change, which is where ePac

comes into play.

The company offers flexible, custom-fit packaging, serving as a local supplier to a lot of small businesses.

And retail packaging and e-commerce packaging have different needs. For example, there’s no shelf appeal needed in e-commerce packaging, but it does need to be able to ship efficiently. That might mean making a package smaller so it fits a pallet or box better, or switching from a tub to a pouch, Novak said.

He said ePac also benefited from its business model that allows fast turnaround. During the pandemic, companies often waited to make decisions, but then needed suppliers that could move quickly.

Overall, ePac’s business grew three times last year, and, as a newer location, the Cleveland-area office even outpaced the company overall, Novak said. He estimated that about half the company’s growth was due to growth in e-commerce, even though the retail channel is still a small portion of the industry overall.

E-commerce had been growing consistently over time, but there were “huge jumps” once the pandemic began, said Andy Macek, president of label-maker OMNI Systems Inc. in Mayfield Village. Retailers that specialize in online sales grew. But so did big box stores and grocery stores that were converting more sales to e-commerce, said general manager Mike Murton.

That growth means OMNI has been working closely with customers to find solutions to best fit those new needs, Murton said. That ranges from creating labels that properly fit new packaging to looking for ways to reduce packaging costs as other costs rise. That kind of work helps OMNI grow, he said, but it also builds stronger relationships with customers.

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

4 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | APRIL 26, 2021

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FINANCE

Premier Bank is poised to gain market share in region ‘Interesting year’ started with merger, followed by pandemic, PPP rollout

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Had officials known a global health crisis would rattle the economy in 2020, they almost certainly would have paused on the merger that established Premier Financial Corp.

The Defiance-based holding company is the parent organization of Premier Bank, which is based in Youngstown.

The dual headquarters are symbolic of the $473 million deal between the holding companies of Northern Ohio community banks First Federal Bank of the Midwest and Home Savings Bank — which has been billed as a merger of equals and is about as close to one as it gets. That deal closed in January 2020.

Integrating any two banks is a challenge, let alone amid a pandemic, a year of social distancing, a company rebrand under the Premier moniker and the rollout of the unprecedented Paycheck Protection Program that was rife with issues of its own.

“It was certainly an interesting year to be involved in a deal of our nature,” said Gary Small, Premier’s newly minted president and CEO, reflecting on 2020. “(Combining during a pandemic) was a good team-building exercise, though not one I’d recommend doing in quite that fashion.”

About 16 months after the deal's close, however, and despite the fits and starts that come with any combination compounded by the challenges posed by COVID-19, Premier Bank is performing well and is poised to gain market share in Ohio’s highly fragmented ecosystem and beyond, according to analysts.

“Premier has been a market-sharegain story for a long time, and I think that continues,” said Scott Siefers, a bank analyst with Piper Sandler.

“That’s not to say there won’t be some bumps in the road. But they certainly have good opportunities to gain market share in metro areas like Cleveland.

“There is going to be a good organic loan growth dynamic,” he said.

“And I think the credit story is good.”

This April brought the ascension of Small, former president and CEO of Home Savings’s United Community Financial Corp., to CEO of Premier.

He slides into a post last held by Donald Hileman, former president and CEO of First Federal’s First Defiance Financial Corp., as part of a transition planned

demand? Premier’s combined residential mortgage operation, for one. It has helped offset weaker commercial loan demand that many expect to pick up in the second half of this year, barring any further economic sucker punches.

Among a pool of diversified revenue streams, Small, who lives in Shaker Heights, said the bank has increased business there by about 50% compared with what Home Savings would’ve achieved on its own as it’s capitalized on a hot market for home loans and refinancings spurred by rock-bottom interest rates.

“We have a much bigger oar in the water, if you will,” Small said.

On the commercial side, executives told investors during a first-quarter earnings call last Wednesday, April 21, that the company still expects growth of about 8% a year.

Benefiting the bank on both consumer and commercial fronts is its pickup in recent years of other bankers amid the shuffle of other deals.

Premier predecessor Home Savings had acquired talent from Akron’s former FirstMerit Bank since it was bought out by Huntington Bank years ago. Premier also seems to be picking up both customers and bankers from other shakeouts, which seemingly includes, coincidentally, Huntington’s rollup of TCF Financial of Detroit.

mier has some runway in front of it to capitalize on its expanded scale from its legacy banks. The company has said it wants to be top of mind when conversations arise with possible sellers, but another deal is not a top priority just yet.

Overall, analysts like Siefers see a lot of potential in Premier. And its stock has reflected this. In about the last six months, Premier’s stock has increased by approximately 73%.

This outpaces gains in the KBW Bank Index (a benchmark stock index of the 24 largest U.S. bank holding companies), which has grown about 53% in the same period.

“This was a good merger and the transition, the integration, both went very, very well,” Siefers said. “I think they’re largely hitting on all cylinders.

They have headwinds to contend with, but they are not unique to Premier, and I think they are capable of overwhelming them.”

Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

Premier Bank president and CEO Gary Small is shown outside the institution’s headquarters in Youngstown. | TIM HARRISON

Technology push

Besides claiming more share in Ohio, Indiana and Southeast Michigan are markets Premier plays in and expects to penetrate more deeply.

Disruption through M&A provides opportunities for that, especially for a larger community bank that might resonate with people turned off by doing business with a larger company. That’s the hope, at least.

With more resources behind it as a combined entity, Small notes Premier is investing heavily in technology.

In just the last few weeks, the company made a seven-figure investment in technology via an undisclosed fund that supports multiple fintech outfits. Small acknowledges that not every fintech investment will be a “home run,” but Premier is looking to make connections with some of these companies that could pay off years down the line.

“Instead of trying to pick one winner, we’re out there in a private equity way,” he said.

“WE HAVE A MUCH BIGGER OAR He indicated some of the IN THE WATER, IF YOU WILL.” company’s tech efforts will support automation of some — Gary Small, Premier Bank president and CEO work — not with the intention of culling any of its 1,200 emsince their merger was announced in ployees but to create better and faster 2019. Both Small and Hileman, who services — that likely will tie into the was serving as CEO for a transition peri- mortgage business, among other od and has shifted to chairman of Pre- things. This could show up with promier’s board of directors, are thought of cesses that enable more streamlined highly among investors. filing of mortgage applications.

The combined bank, which hiked “We can’t be on the cutting, cutits dividend 18% to 26 cents on the ting edge of everything,” Small addheels of a strong first quarter in 2021, ed. “But we want to position ourposting a 17% return on equity for the selves as a close follower.” period, is now $7.5 billion in assets The fintech investments are a longstrong. The bank recently was named term play, Small said, but they point among the top-performing large U.S. to Premier’s efforts for being as innocommunity banks by S&P Global vative as it can at its size.

Market Intelligence. It’s the only other “If you don’t invest in this stuff, you Ohio firm on the list of 50 besides will wake up a few years down the road Union Savings Bank of Cincinnati. and wish you had,” he said. “We’ve got So what is playing to the company’s to make these investments now to stay strengths in a market challenged by low even with the best players out there.” interest rates and somewhat soft loan In terms of additional M&A, PreAPRIL 26, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 5

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SMALL BUSINESS

Study outlines many challenges minority businesses face

BY KIM PALMER

Small businesses historically have been highly vulnerable to economic downturns. The trend has continued during the COVID-19 outbreak for all small businesses, and especially for those that are minority-owned.

The 2021 Small Business Credit Survey, released by the Federal Reserve Bank in April, found that of the more than 15,000 respondents, 67% of Asian- and Black-owned companies reported a reduction in business operations during the pandemic, compared with 54% of white-owned companies. Similarly, 79% of Asian-owned

and 77% of Black-owned small businesses reported they were experiencing poor or fair financial conditions, compared with 54% of white-owned firms, when the survey was conducted nationwide in fall 2020.

Black-owned companies, in particular, were hard hit: Wiersch 86% reported sales declines as a result of the pandemic.

About 50% of Black-owned firms reported difficulty accessing credit during the pandemic slowdowns, the study found, while white-owned businesses were five times more

likely than Black businesses to benefit from federal emergency funding created during the pandemic, including the Paycheck Protection Program. Only about 60% of Black-owned businesses even applied for PPP loans, compared with 85% of non-minority companies, with most of those owners saying they did not expect to qualify for the loan or loan forgiveness guidelines that were part of the initial rollout.

Ann Marie Wiersch, community development policy adviser at the

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and one of the authors of the study, said Black business owners’ indications that they face greater challenges in accessing capital was not surprising, based on the results of previous findings, but that the widening of that credit gap during the pandemic was significant and concerning.

“We have been hearing about how challenging this has been through the pandemic for people of color, communities of color and also small businesses owned by people of color, so this was an important report for us to prioritize this year,” she said

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of the study, which has been ongoing since 2016.

A major facet of the credit challenge minority businesses face, Wiersch said, stems from historically weak banking relationships that result in high levels of loan application rejections. That, in turn, means more reliance on nontraditional financing and personal credit for minority-owned businesses.

“We know that Black-owned businesses, for example, are more likely to be discouraged about their prospects for being approved for loans,” she said.

The data show why that apprehension might exist. The study found large banks approved 41% and small banks approved 48% of the PPP loans requested by Black owners, compared with 71% and 80%, respectively, for white owners.

Disparities in access to credit and capital for minority-owned businesses, according to those surveyed, have led to lower levels of wealth, lower revenues and insufficient credit history among Black business owners, Wiersch said.

As a result of barriers to credit, 74% of Black-owned businesses used personal funds to deal with financial shortfalls, compared with 61% of white-owned businesses.

“It is important to acknowledge that some of these issues that were elevated through this particular survey and the report are not new,” Wiersch said. “We have seen in the past where firms owned by people of color, and particularly Black-owned businesses, are more likely to use personal funds in response to financial challenges.”

Business owners of color were more than twice as likely to borrow funds from friends and family, at a rate of 38%, compared with 18% for white business owners, and 25% reported working a second job or extra hours outside of the business to help with costs, compared with 13% of white owners reporting the same.

In addition, companies owned by people of color were twice as likely to forgo using traditional financial service providers during the pandemic, and even minority-owned businesses with good credit were less likely to have their financial needs met.

Black business owners were three times as likely to look for credit or capital through online financial services or fintech — finance firms that use technology to automate financial services. Those firms tend to be speedier alternatives to traditional lenders, but they can have higher rates and more onerous repayment requirements.

“We found with our minority single-owner businesses, a lot of them don’t have a bank,” said Michael Obi, director of UBIZ Venture Capital, which provides growth capital to minority-owned small businesses through the Urban League of Greater Cleveland.

“Then came these easy plug-andplay credit card companies or PayPal, which has a mechanism for them to borrow money based on credit card receipts and spend it right away. Now those places have become their bank because that is who they have a transactional relationship with.”

See LENDING on Page 21

6 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | APRIL 26, 2021

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REAL ESTATE

Landlord spat has CBIZ ready to move

BY STAN BULLARD

CBIZ Inc., the publicly traded accounting and financial services company, has its headquarters at Suite 500 in Park Center Plaza III in Independence. The structure is one of three semi-circular buildings surrounding a pocket park regarded as one of the finest the Rockside Road office market has to offer.

It’s so nice, in fact, that as wealth management firm MAI Capital Inc. plans to move from downtown Cleveland by mid-2022, it looks to be headed for the same 60,000-square-foot suite that CBIZ occupies at 6050 Oak Tree Blvd.

CBIZ, which has been in protracted negotiations to renew its lease for the suite or find a new home, now looks to be in a clock-ticking property situation. Finding and readying a newly leased headquarters office for such a large tenant takes time, and its current lease expires soon.

That’s the assessment of four sources familiar with the situation.

The circumstance is regarded as an anomaly in Cleveland-area office leasing circles because it’s rare for a landlord to close the door on such a premier, creditworthy tenant.

However, two of the sources say the landlord had little choice, as the parties had reached terms but CBIZ never executed the document. That kept the door open for it to move elsewhere or extract a lower rent.

In the meantime, the building’s owner found a prospective tenant — something landlords often threaten to do.

“CBIZ must have called their bluff, and the landlord really had someone else ready to sign,” one source said.

“It’s a crazy story I’ve not seen play out before. The Cleveland office market usually has so much space available the parties come to the table.”

Another source said the landlord risked getting stuck with half the building empty if CBIZ had a move elsewhere in the works. That’s not a pretty situation as the pandemic, the work-from-home office era that ensued and the recession put the way companies use office space at a crossroads.

“I believe the landlord did nothing wrong,” that source said. “They gave CBIZ plenty of opportunities.

They faced a big financial exposure if they did not move on.”

The consensus is that more office space is available on Rockside. But not enough of it is Park Center Plaza’s top-tier quality, so CBIZ likely will have to leave the suburb where

it has been a prized, and civically active, tenant.

Independence City Council adopted legislation April 13 providing MAI Capital an incentive package to move 130 employees and its $16 million annual payroll to the suburb.

Jessica Hyser, Independence economic development director, said in an email that Mayor Gregory Kurtz has signed the legislation and the suburb is drafting an MAI legal agreement. Hyser declined to comment on if MAI had disclosed it was after the CBIZ space.

“We have not been told which suite(s) they would be occupying,” she wrote. “We have been working with CBIZ, a firm with a long history in Independence, for many months, and we will continue to do so.”

CBIZ has publicly embraced the role of helping companies resolve what to do next with their offices.

CBIZ held an online roundtable last Wednesday, April 21, called “The remote work arrangement: The tide is turning and what it means for your workspace.” One topic included helping those who attend “discern the various current work models (remote, hybrid, in-person), their benefits and disadvantages, to make the right decision for your organization and employees.”

Two of the session’s presenters were from CBIZ Gibraltar, a Chicago-based real estate advisory firm it owns. CBIZ Gibraltar, along with Allegro Realty Brokers & Advisors of Cleveland, are handling the CBIZ search here.

Robert Roe, a managing director at the JLL brokerage’s Cleveland office, said in a phone interview that it’s a rare, intriguing situation.

“Are we trading a downtown tenant for a suburban one?” Roe asked. “When you are a tenant the size of CBIZ, you run out of options pretty quickly here.” He said it’s decision comes as companies seek creative solutions for the post-pandemic office.

Principals in this landlord-tenant faceoff are not talking about their private negotiations.

For its part, CBIZ said that after 18 years in Park Center Plaza it has been reviewing options and will exit the space in early 2022.

Elizabeth Newman, CBIZ chief operating officer, said that by the fall the company might be ready to share its choice among “exciting opportunities we see within the region.”

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

CBIZ has been such a prized tenant at Park Center Plaza in Independence that its name graces the building. | COSTAR

Shawn Rech is president of Transition Studios. The documentary filmmaker, who also has interests in streaming and providing production services, will have a view of the chandelier at Playhouse Square Foundation’s Idea Center. | STAN BULLARD

Documentary filmmaker sets sights on downtown

He also said he appreciates the opportunity to use Herman Miller furniture that was left in the suite. The biggest change, besides cosmetic updating, will be the addition of a large conference room overlooking Playhouse Square’s landmark arch for presentations — and for the day he hopes Transition Studios can venture into scripted movies and provide a place for actors and actresses to rehearse.

Transition Studios taking operations from Berea to Idea Center at Playhouse Square

BY STAN BULLARD

Shawn Rech, president of Transition Studios, plans to move the documentary film concern to Idea Center, 1375 Euclid Ave. in Cleveland, from Berea in part because he loves the technological nuts and bolts of the place.

And by nuts and bolts, he means the computer network and switches left by the prior occupant of the fourth-floor suite.

“It already has one-gig fiber. We have to pay for a subscription, but it’s already connected to a high-speed fiber network, which could cost $25,000 to do in some suburbs,” Rech said in a phone interview.

Transition Studios recently leased a 9,000-square-foot suite for the 12 staffers it will move downtown.

Tripling the size of its office means its existing staff has more room, and Transition Studios will gain space to hike its staff to 20 by next year.

The talent at Playhouse Square also attracted Rech, especially the opportunity to get interns from the Cleveland State University School of Film & Media Arts, also housed in the Playhouse Square Foundation-owned building. Transition Studios might be able to accommodate as many as 20 interns, up from the four it has currently, Rech said.

“Our interns now have to drive at least half an hour to Berea from CSU, so we try to schedule them in fourhour increments,” he said. “Being at Idea Center means we will be able to fill a billboard with two-hour tasks.

We give them meaningful work to do that they can show to a prospective employer or, someday, to their kids the same way a construction contractor points to a building they built.”

Transition Studios pays interns a minimum wage, he said.

Moving to more space at Idea Center, which also houses the ideastream operator of public television and radio stations WVIZ and WCPN, means Transition Studios can launch anoth-

er line of business, providing production services for out-of-town filmmakers when they shoot here, he said.

“I want to see Cleveland become a place where people can live and pursue a film career,” Rech said. “It’s crazy when you go to Los Angeles and constantly run into people who move there from Northeast Ohio to get into films.”

See FILMMAKER on Page 17

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APRIL 26, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 7

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PERSONAL VIEW

Ohio’s law-abiding gun owners should have rights upheld

RICH WILLIAMS FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

BY JIM RENACCI

EDITORIAL

Diving in T

here has been considerable debate of late about what role, if any, companies and business leaders should take in the political process.

We won’t wade into national politics here, other than to note we find much of the discussion on the topic disingenuous, given that companies for many years have been politically engaged through donations to candidates and causes. It’s nonsensical to argue that corporate money is OK, but executives speaking out about issues is excessively “political.”

Business executives will be most effective, though, by focusing their political efforts on projects that not only serve company interests, but offer broad public benefits.

Ohio has a good example of that with the new Ohio Water Partnership, a new business advocacy group formed to focus on water quality issues.

The organization is funded by grants from the Gund Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation and Joyce Foundation, and it says it has 50 members, as large as Eaton Corp. and as small as the Winking Lizard restaurant chain. It was launched to supporting funding for H2Ohio, the IF A BUSINESS-FOCUSED water initiative Gov. Mike DeWine created in 2019 to GROUP CAN MAKE THAT address problems such as harmful algal blooms on HAPPEN, EVERYONE Lake Erie caused by phosWINS. phorus runoff from farm fertilizer; aging infrastructure for drinking water, wastewater and home sewage treatment systems; and lead contamination from old water pipes and fixtures.

The H2Ohio program has been funded at about $85 million per year. DeWine and Democrats have pushed to raise that to about $120 million per year, but Republicans in the state Legislature have objected.

The program is working on projects all over the state, and given that clean water is vital to making Ohio an attractive place to live and work, the additional expenditure is justified. The water partnership says it’s looking to create a “consensus-driven” model “to ensure a consistent, effective, fair approach to protecting and preserving Ohio’s natural water resources, and ensuring the state has high-quality water infrastructure.” If a busi-

ness-focused group can make that happen, everyone wins.

Change of heart?

Gov. Mike DeWine, portrayed by opponents as an ideologue but in our mind always much more of a pragmatist, might be ready to make a major pivot.

The governor said last week that he’s considering a change in the metric Ohio would use to end COVID-related public health orders, to vaccination levels from case levels. The vax standard is one used by neighboring Kentucky, where Gov. Andy Beshear said that once 2.5 million Kentuckians (out of nearly 4.5 million residents) get at least their first shot, he will lift most restrictions, including capacity limits on bars and restaurants.

DeWine surely has a few things in mind. First, Ohio still isn’t close to the standard — 50 cases per 100,000 residents statewide — he has set for the health orders to go away. As of last Thursday, April 22, the state was at about 186 cases per 100,000, better than the previous week’s number but a long way from 50. And second, there are clear signs that vaccine takeup is slowing, statewide and nationally. The Cincinnati Enquirer, noted, for instance, that the state reported distributing nearly 30,000 vaccine doses on Wednesday, April 21, compared with more than 100,000 doses on March 31. Nearly 40% of Ohioans have received at least one vaccine dose, but many more Ohioans need to get vaccines to achieve herd immunity, which is likely to be achieved at 70% to 90% of the population.

Also looming: the effective date in late June of Senate Bill 22, which DeWine had vetoed, only to have the veto overridden by the Legislature. The law will let lawmakers reject or modify any state health order as soon as it’s given.

All the health data so far indicate that the COVID vaccines are proving to be highly effective at preventing hospitalization and mortality. There is, as DeWine noted, a close relationship between vaccination levels and new cases.

“If you hit a certain level of vaccines, you’re going to hit that level of 50,” he said, adding, “Where that is, I don’t think anyone knows exactly.” Until we do, the state’s efforts are best concentrated on convincing more residents to get vaccinated. Fast.

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

With the signing of a recently passed bill by conservative Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa has become the 18th state in the union to enact constitutional concealed carry. Under these laws, citizens who are legally permitted to possess firearms may carry them concealed without obtaining the permission of government Renacci is a first. Ohio should quickly become the next business owner state to pass this important legislation. who served four These state laws are even more import- terms in U.S. ant now because law-abiding gun owners Congress. are under attack from the Biden administration. And one of the most frightening of these Biden attacks is what are known as “red flag” laws.

According to Ohio Gun Owners, red flag confiscation orders can allow liberal judges to target gun owners and strip away firearms from them before they’ve been charged, tried in court or even convicted of a single crime. Under this scenario, a domestic disagreement or neighborhood or business dispute could quickly escalate into that individual going to court and obtaining a court order to confiscate your weapons without your knowledge or participation in the legal process.

Sadly, even some Republicans like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine support these misguided proposals. Under DeWine’s “Strong Ohio” plan, which he recently attempted to slip into his 2,000-page budget proposal, he is trying to pass these same unconstitutional Biden proposals into state law here.

That’s just one of the many reasons why I support legislation to make Ohio a sanctuary state for law-abiding gun owners. Under Ohio House Bill 62, sponsored by State Reps.

Mike Loychik and Diane Grendell, federal officials would be legally unable to commandeer state and local officials to carry out their unconstitutional gun control measures.

More specifically, this legislation would consider any of the following federal actions to be infringements of Ohioans’ fundamental rights under the Second Amendment:  Any tax, levy, fee or stamp imposed on firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition not common to all other goods and services and that might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;  Any registering or tracking of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition that might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;  Any registering or tracking of the owners of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition that might reasonably be expected to create a chilling effect on the purchase or ownership of those items by law-abiding citizens;  Any act forbidding the possession, ownership or use or transfer of a firearm, firearm accessory or ammunition by law-abiding citizens; and  Any act ordering the confiscation of firearms, firearm accessories or ammunition from law-abiding citizens.

After eight years in Congress, I returned home, convinced that the only way to fix Washington, D.C., is by fixing our state. We must pass strong laws like this effort to make Ohio a sanctuary state for law-abiding gun owners and fundamentally strip away the federal government's unconstitutional and unlawful encroachment over our fundamental rights.

Write us: Crain’s welcomes responses from readers. Letters should be as brief as possible and may be edited. Send letters to Crain’s Cleveland Business, 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113, or by emailing ClevEdit@crain.com. Please include your complete name and city from which you are writing, and a telephone number for fact-checking purposes.

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

8 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | APRIL 26, 2021

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OPINION

PERSONAL VIEW

Inflation has added effect on your financial plan

BY VANESSA MAVEC KING

Inflation is the quantitative measure of how quickly the price of goods is increasing. The most common measure used to quantify this is the consumer price index, or CPI, which is determined by tracking the weighted average price for a basket of goods. This “basket” is made up of consumer goods and services such as food, medical care and transportation costs. The price changes reflected in that basket of goods are meant to assess the changes in cost of living for consumers. When we build financial plans for clients, there are a lot of variables to take into consideration, and many of them can be hard to accurately forecast. Inflation, and its role in a long-term plan, is a great example of this.

Over the past decade, inflation has been historically low, though this may be changing due to the unprecedented stimulus, monetary response and eventual global financial recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It is possible that inflation could begin to rise, which is meaningful as we plan for the future, because inflation causes two harmful effects on one’s savings.

The first is that increased inflation means that purchasing power is reduced at a quicker rate.

The second is that, as future goals become more expensive because of inflation, more stress is applied to your portfolio to support those increased spending needs.

For those reasons, it’s important that we stress test the impact of inflation when we run our financial plans.

This can include adjustments in future spending assumptions or target balance accumulation objectives to

build in higher margins of safety.

Another area of consideration when addressing inflation in the planning process is examining asset allocation and the impact that adjustments can have on the probability of success. As the value of a dollar declines over time, investing for growth provides much of the returns needed to maintain and even grow King is a vice purchasing power. president and Even in the uncertain times we financial planner have seen over the past year, it’s imat Ancora. portant to evaluate your portfolio’s sensitivity to potential inflation increases and adjust your allocation where needed so that your investments can adequately maintain your purchasing power. Everyone has a different level of risk tolerance for adjustments like this, but understanding the proper mix of risk and growth assets that allow your plan to succeed, including the use of alternative investments, is essential. This measured approach is more important than ever as life expectancies have risen over time, leading to a longer timeline that our assets must fend off inflation and continue to support our lifestyles.

Every financial plan is built on unique and customized goals and expectations. Each case has a different need for risk and growth but, as we face global changes ahead, the impact of inflation will certainly continue to play a role in how we think about preparing for the future, our investments, expected real rates of return and risk.

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PERSONAL VIEW

Let’s rethink job descriptions

BY GEORGE SAMPLE

“Candidate must have a four-year degree in whatever.

Candidate’s degree must come from a school that puts them in debt to the tune of five or six figures. Candidate must have two years of experience for the entry level version of this position (good luck, new graduates). Candidate must have 10 years of experience for the professional level of the position (those with eight years of proven results need not apply). Candidate must be flexible, adaptable, innovative, hostile, mobile and agile.”

How did we arrive here with job descriptions? To explore, let’s walk through the genesis of a job description.

A business leader identifies that they need a person to achieve some part of the organization’s strategic plan.

The business leader works with human resources to outline the key responsibilities of the role, based on the outcomes the business leader desires the role to produce. They then work together to figure out what knowledge, skills and abilities a person would need to successfully execute the key responsibilities of the role.

The next part of this process is where it gets dicey. We attempt to match up each skill, ability or area of knowledge with how a person would acquire it. This part is difficult, because there are so many ways to gain the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to do a job well.

Most organizations just default to “X” level college degree with “X” years of experience as a proxy for the minimum needed to the requisite knowledge, skills and abilities.

Due to this process, job descriptions often end up as an arbitrary hurdle for current employees. I have lost track of how many current employees are the perfect fit for a role but don’t have the required degree. In many cases, they’re already doing the work! However, the title (and the corresponding pay raise) is unavailable to them due to the degree requirement.

Job qualifications are often an arbitrary hurdle for external candidates. If we’re serious about hiring veterans, doing reentry programs, allowing stay-at-home parents to return to the workplace, and hiring seniors (age discrimination is super real), we need to rethink our reliance on job qualifications and actually leverage the knowledge, skills Sample is an and abilities needed for each role as assistant vice our decision-making criteria. president of the Job qualification requirements Federal Reserve serve as a filter. Nothing more, nothBank of ing less. It is very true that if you don’t Cleveland and president-elect of have job qualification requirements on your posting, everyone and their the Cleveland cousin will apply for your position.

Society of Removing job qualifications inHuman creases the work required for the Resource hiring process, but the investment is Management. worth the reward. The hiring process is the most determinative process for your company’s success (or lack thereof ).

Shouldn’t we invest the resources needed to properly evaluate the talent pool, and not arbitrarily shut out so much talent? When we shut the door on everyone who does not have a narrow scope of credentials, we shut the door on a wide array of talented people who would be able to do the job in question exceptionally well.

Look at the job descriptions for the positions in your area. If it is possible, and likely probable, for people to gain the knowledge, skill and ability to do the job without the “required qualifications” listed in the job description, it’s time for you to have a discussion with your human resources department about removing those requirements.

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Marathon runners are sweating over the future of 2021 races Some races have switched dates; others have gone virtual route

BY BLOOMBERG

Steven Rojas was ready. He had already started the program of long runs, track workouts and tempo efforts prescribed by Brooklyn Track Club in anticipation of running the 2020 New York Marathon.

Then the novel coronavirus hit. Organizers canceled the 26.2-mile race that famously winds through all five New York boroughs; later they announced it would be held on Nov. 7, 2021, a date that will mark its 50th running. But uncertainty still hangs for the 30,000-plus runners entered to participate this year. In an email, a spokesperson from New York Road Runners Club, the entity that organizes the marathon, said that those chosen for a bib will be announced later this year.

“We had more than 30,000 runners registered for the 2020 TCS New York City Marathon,” said Trina Singian.

“This reflects the runners registered prior to the cancellation in June 2020.

Since it was canceled mid-year, many runners, including charity runners, international runners, etc., had yet to register. The 30,000-plus runners have been given the option to run either 2021, or 2022 or 2023, or choose a refund.”

That’s if this year’s event escapes cancellation in the event of an unanticipated wave of coronavirus cases this fall. Rojas will be ready, whether or not the race happens officially.

“In my own mind, I’m acting like it’s going to happen,” said the native New Yorker and avid trail runner. He runs three days a week with the 400-member club that works out in Manhattan’s East River Park and Brooklyn’s McCarren Park.

“Let’s say it doesn’t happen — I will still get up and run it. If they cancel, I will just get up and run it myself, alone, somewhere in the streets,” he said.

Are the races happening?

Rojas is far from the only running enthusiast preparing for an uncertain marathon season. Race organizers from Hawaii to Maine have responded variously to the rollout of vaccines and uncertain tempo of COVID-19 cases: The Union Home Mortgage Cleveland Marathon, normally held in May, has been pushed to an as-yet unscheduled date this fall; the Salt Lake City Marathon and Oregon’s Eugene Marathon both went virtual, along with many other races. The Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati might happen virtually, but “may change to in-person” if COVID cases there diminish.

Boston’s prestigious and historic marathon was postponed from spring to fall, with a field limited to 20,000. Race organizers in Chicago have tentatively scheduled the marathon for October, with updates to come in early June. Planners for the Vermont City Marathon in Burlington, Vt., have paused registration altogether.

In New York, the 60-year-old Road Runners Club has released an extensive list of safety procedures, including health screenings, time trial-style starts, and the cancellation of award ceremonies.

And those are just domestic races.

In Paris, the marathon is scheduled for October with “100% money-back guarantee if the race is canceled due to COVID-19” emblazoned prominently across the home page of the race website. Entry to the London race, also in October, is currently closed except for virtual participants and raffle winners. Tokyo will cap its number of marathon runners at 25,000, down from the traditional 38,000, and offer a virtual portion in

addition to a real-life race. Originally set for March, the Tokyo Marathon will now run in October.

The Berlin Marathon, site of the world’s record men’s time, is scheduled to offer its $1 million prize purse in September; the lottery for entry has long since closed.

Many Ironman Marathon races across North America and Europe remain scheduled and even sold out, although organizers say that’s no guarantee they will take place.

Uncertainty abounds for the 30,000-plus runners who have entered the 2021 New York City Marathon. | BLOOMBERG

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ADVISER Eight post-COVID ideas for business owners to consider

FINANCE

PAGE 16

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TAKING ACCOUNT Pandemic, other factors are keeping millions unbanked and separated from financial stability

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Across Ohio, 4.6% of households have yet to take what many consider the first step toward financial stability and economic inclusion: having a bank account.

These people are known as the unbanked, and there are millions of them in the country.

Their numbers have reduced in the past decade, but the economic gut punch of the COVID-19 pandemic is thought to have knocked more people back into the unbanked ranks.

Roughly 5.4% of U.S. households (about 7.1 million) had unbanked adults in 2019, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., down from 7.6% in 2009.

In the Columbus metro area, 5.8% of households are unbanked.

In Cleveland, it’s 3.5%. In Cincinnati, 2.6%.

FDIC surveys show unbanked in-

 The technology gap creates more financial hurdles for the unbanked and elderly. PAGE 14  What’s being done to help Cleveland’s unbanked? PAGE 14

dividuals tend to distrust financial institutions and view account fees and minimum balances as barriers to them opening and maintaining accounts.

While research shows that these are among the top reasons people are unbanked, they are among a mix of often nuanced factors at play, from technology access to unemployment.

Overdraft fees and policies factor in, too. By some estimates, banks collectively bring in somewhere between $17 billion and $34 billion in overdraft fees annually.

While some banks have become more progressive on overdrafts recently by crafting products to help prevent overdraws through account alerts, or reducing or eliminating related fees, this has long been a source of profit for some banks. According to The Brookings Institution, overdraft fees compose about 9% of regional banks’ annual profit on average.

Federal regulators urged banks to waive overdraft fees at the start of the pandemic as many people struggled. Several overdrafts or failure to pay the related charges can prompt a bank to close an account, something that consumer advocates and the FDIC itself fear occurred as unemployment surged during the pandemic.

“The percent of households that have bank accounts is basically, in 2019, the highest it’s been since we started looking at this in 2009,” said Karyen Chu, chief of the banking research section at the FDIC’s Center for Financial Research. “While that was cause to celebrate, we’re worried the unbanked rate will rise.”

Unemployment is a key cause for these concerns. A household with an unemployed adult is four times more likely to be unbanked than one with full employment, Chu said.

The unbanked also tend to be in households with low or unstable incomes. Approximately 75% of poor people globally don’t have bank accounts, according to the World Bank.

Once a person is kicked out of their bank, it can be more difficult to get into another one. This is because of ChexSystems reports, which create semi-permanent re-

cords that let banks see a person’s past banking mistakes, including unpaid fees and fraudulent activity.

Too many issues could prevent someone from opening an account at a new institution.

“The unbanked population is not merely people who never wanted to have a bank account or never did,” said Ellen Harnick, an executive vice president with the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. “It is people who had one and got bounced out. And that adds to their burden of trying to open another account.”

Those without banks tend to turn to alternative financial service providers — such as payday lenders, car title lenders and check cashers — where layers of fees often perpetuate cycles of debt.

“As traditional banking has changed, and branches go away, other financial institutions have moved into the market to try and fill

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FOCUS | FINANCE

for

those needs,” said Kalitha Williams, a project director with Policy Matters Ohio. “Sometimes those services are expensive and, unfortunately, downright exploitative.”

Though Ohioans many years ago voted to cap annual interest rates at 28% for short-term credit products related to payday lenders, a 2019 report by the Ohio Department of Commerce found the weighted contracted annual interest rate is closer to 148% when factoring in added fees.

“It’s a sort of irony we are talking about: People who aren’t banked are actually paying a lot on banking-type services,” said David Rothstein, a Cleveland-based principal at the Cities for Financial Empowerment fund, where he leads the national Bank On initiative.

The Bank On inititiative aims to get people banked through Bank On-certified accounts that feature low or no

Harnick

Williams

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION MICHAEL STASSUS, SOURCE ISTOCKPHOTO

open a small business or buy a car … a bank account is necessary for those steps by and large to be successful.”

The pandemic further exposed the challenges for the unbanked, who were often forced to pay check-cashing fees to access stimulus payments, which for millions of others were instantly dropped into bank accounts for free via direct deposits.

More broadly, without traditional bank accounts, the unbanked aren’t building savings for emergency funds or capital to buy a car, home or college degree. And they don’t “THESE PROBLEMS have access to quick and cost-effective tools for paying bills or DISPROPORTIONATELY HIT transferring money. This is where COMMUNITIES OF COLOR,” the alternative financial service — Ellen Harnick, executive vice president, providers step in.

Center for Responsible Lending “The ultimate goal is that people should have access, and we’d minimum balances, low servicing like to see broadly racially just and equal access to the financial system fees and no charges for overdrafts.

“Banking access and accounts are that is necessary to create financial the steppingstone and bridge to all stability and allow engagement in so other things financial empowerment many transactions that make up or financial growth,” Rothstein said. normal life,” Harnick said. “There are “People who want to pay down debt just so many negative consequences or improve a credit score, or save to of not being banked and not having

urn rors, ers et-

Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

Unbanked in Ohio While the number of households with unbanked adults has been trending down in the state, economic struggles related the pandemic likely have forced more people into the unbanked ranks. According to 2019 data, among Ohio’s three largest metro areas, the Cleveland-Elyria MSA falls in the middle in terms of the most unbanked, with Cincinnati faring better and Columbus doing worse.

Unbanked Rates 2015 2017

2019

12% 10 8 5.8%

6

4.6%

4

3.5% 2.6%

2 0

Ohio overall

Cincinnati

Cleveland-Elyria

Columbus

Banking status of U.S. households, 2018 16% Underbanked 6% Unbanked 77% Fully banked

SOURCES: FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE, FEDERAL RESERVE

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

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About 14% of Black and 12% of Hispanic households did not have a bank in 2019, per the FDIC, compared with just 2.5% of white households.

“There’s a racial justice element to all this,” Harnick said. “These problems disproportionately hit communities of color. And often families of color are set up for these kinds of abuses because of ongoing present and historic discrimination.”

A top focus for the banking industry as it looks to bring more people into the traditional system is building trust, said Naomi Camper, chief policy officer for the American Bankers Association. This means countering preconceived notions that banks don’t want some people — because they are, after all, people banks can make money on if they become financially stable customers — or that they don’t have enough money to be banked, something half of unbanked individuals report believing in surveys.

But there’s also a need to address the rift in access to technology that plays a role for the unbanked.

According to the FDIC, nearly one-third of unbanked households in 2019 didn’t have access to reliable internet or a smartphone.

“In addressing this problem, it’s clear the digital divide has to be closed,” Camper said. “There is a reason broadband internet is a part of the infrastructure build.”

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Tech gap creates more hurdles Access, training affect unbanked, elderly

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

When it comes to banking, the digital divide goes deeper than just access.

Access is part of it, of course, but there’s also an educational component, as people need training on both how to use the devices available to them and how to use them Wilson Jacques MEDINA, OH safely and securely. former member of the U.S. DepartAnd there’s the question of trust.

1-800-547-1538 For members of marginalized ment of the Treasury.

Salt Distributors Since 1966 “What I would tell you is the digicommunities who have been taken advantage of over the years, going tal divide affects people on both www.saltdistributormedinaoh.com into a bank and talking to someone sides, probably simultaneously,” face to face feels different than try- Jacques said.

On the investor side, increased ing to navigate online banking, said Leon Wilson, chief of digital innova- access to digital tools has given the tion and chief information officer at consumer more control. For examthe Cleveland Foundation. There’s a ple, instead of having to call a broker “psychological component” exacer- to buy a stock, someone who has acbating the digital divide, Wilson cess to and is comfortable with the technology can take care of that onsaid.

The digital divide is a term for the line on their own within minutes. ways in which a lack of reliable in- New digital banking and investing ternet access affects people’s day- tools make it more cost- and to-day lives. The financial sector is time-efficient.

That goes for the borrowing or no exception.

There are two components to our spending side of things, too, Jacques financial lives: one as “a saver or an said. During the pandemic and the investor” and the other as “a bor- postal slowdown, people who paid rower or a spender,” said Kevin bills by mail versus online were at a Locally owned and family disadvantage. The slowed-down Grimm spring mix 05-04-20.indd 1 4/28/2020Jacques, 1:25:01 PMthe Murch Chair in Finance operated brokerage at Baldwin Wallace University and a system meant that their bills could

WE GET DEALS DONE.

Fifth Third Bank has worked to connect with the unbanked, before and during the pandemic. | CONTRIBUTED

be getting delivered, and ultimately paid, late. And times of crisis make this divide more apparent.

A lack of technology may not be a driving factor for why someone is unbanked, said David Rothstein, senior principal at the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund. But it can be a compounding factor.

Take, for example, the economic stimulus payments that for many were direct deposited last year. Paper checks took longer to arrive, and recipients who were unbanked had to find ways to cash checks once they did receive them — and they usually had to pay a fee to do so.

“It’s really costly to be unbanked,” Rothstein said.

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What's being done to help the unbanked in Cleveland and beyond?

BY JEREMY NOBILE

Bringing people into the financial services mainstream means simultaneously addressing systemic issues of distrust of banks while enabling access to an increasingly digital system.

This is where efforts like Bank On, for which a Cleveland coalition will soon be formed; America Saves; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s #GetBanked campaign; and others come into play. All aim to counter notions about access to either traditional checking or savings accounts and steer people toward opening them.

Such initiatives likely helped the gap of unbanked individuals that has shrunk this past decade. And they’ve become increasingly important as the visibility of banks slowly fades with the consolidation of branches.

According to research by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 14% of all branches (about 13,000) have closed between 2008 and 2020. And for many companies, the rate of closures is increasing as the focus on digital banking grows.

About 15% of branches in Ohio have closed in the same time frame. Those closures disproportionally impact places where few branches existed, including rural and low-income urban areas.

With millions still without tradi-

“WE CERTAINLY KNOW THERE IS A POPULATION OUT THERE EITHER DRIVEN AWAY FROM BANKING OR DON’T FEEL THEY HAVE ACCESS TO IT.” — Pat Pastore, Cleveland market president, PNC Bank

tional bank accounts, and with more people expected to have lost their accounts during the pandemic, consumer advocates say it’s critical to redouble efforts to promote both racial equity and economic prosperity.

In addition to a number of supporting groups like the Cleveland Foundation, a key individual behind the effort to form a Bank On coalition for Greater Cleveland is Kathy Matthews, a senior program director with the nonprofit Enterprise Community Partners. “When we were approached to bring a Bank On coalition to the Cuyahoga County community, we thought, you couldn’t get to the realities of what happened this past year without using race as a lens through which we look at why are we here?” Matthews said. “How did this happen? And what needs to happen so we can stop systemically ongoing racism that continues to limit and or prohibit people of color from accessing

financial products and services?”

According to a 2019 study by the Federal Reserve, 22% of Americans are either unbanked or underbanked.

The latter refers to someone who may have a bank account but still makes use of alternative, fringe financial services products, such as payday or car title loans or bill-pay services.

Fed research shows that the unbanked and underbanked are more likely to have low income and less education and belong to racial or ethnic minority groups.

Just 1% of people earning more than $40,000 a year are unbanked versus 14% of those with incomes below that, according to the Fed. In findings similar to those of the FDIC, the Fed reports that 14% of Blacks and 11% of Hispanics are unbanked, compared with about 4% of whites.

Bank On Cleveland Matthews said the point of the lo-

14 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | APRIL 26, 2021

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The Phe’be Foundation typically delivers its programs in schools and the community, Murphy-Williams said. But the pandemic brought the digital divide to the nonprofit’s attention. There’s the financial hurdle, which the foundation has attempted to tackle on a small scale by paying for a year of internet service for some individuals and providing hotspots to others. But it has also worked to serve seniors at a women’s shelter, helping check for fraud since many didn’t have access to digital or in-person banking services.

To close the digital divide, it’s important to not just provide access to tools, but also training. The Phe’be Foundation requires anyone who receives a device to go through financial literacy training to help close the financial gap contributing to the digital divide. And it offers training on the devices themselves.

That training is “critical,” Murphy-Williams said, particularly for the elderly who are learning how to use entirely new tools.

Wilson of the Cleveland Foundation also spoke of the importance of financial and digital literacy training. People in underserved communities might be using less expensive — and less secure — cellphones or computers, Wilson said. But often, no one’s teaching them about the potential dangers of banking on public Wi-Fi, for example.

The way the digital divide affects the financial sector is multilayered and complex, but it’s critical that communities find ways to address and close the gap.

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Fifth Third Bank has worked to understand why people are unbanked, offering education through its Lives Improved through Financial Empowerment program, said Pat Ramsey, vice president of community and economic development. The program addresses everything from how to open a bank account to how to improve a credit score. Prior to the pandemic, the bank would take this education into underserved communities across the country, using a bus for mobile programming or setting up computers at a site. But COVID-19 complicated that approach.

Ramsey said Fifth Third reached out to its partners to offer program-

ming in a virtual format instead.

Fifth Third found that many people who are unbanked or underbanked still have access to cellphones, allowing them to take classes or use credit-tracking websites online, Ramsey said. But that access is important. To close that gap, the bank has worked with outside organizations such as the Phe’be Foundation in Beachwood, a financial literacy program that has been providing hotspots to people and organizations in need.

Digital connectivity and finances both are as “individual as a thumbprint,” said Sharron Murphy-Williams, founding executive director of the Phe’be Foundation. No one

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

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cal Bank On coalition is to convene various community groups, nonprofits and other stakeholders in the market to address these very issues.

The goal is to launch the Cleveland initiative by the end of June.

A core component of Bank On is certified checking accounts that have features such as low or no fees for servicing accounts, no required account balances and no overdraft fees.

There are dozens of banks with Bank On-certified accounts available across the country. One of the newest entrants is PNC Financial Services’ Low Cash Mode, which uses alerts to notify customers when balances are about to go negative and provides a 24-hour window to block transactions that could push an account into the red or to add funds before fees are assessed.

The bank said it piloted the program to some 20,000 customers who reported it reduced their assessed fees by 60%. Implementing this will likely trim between $125 million to $150 million from the banking giant’s annual fee revenue. The bank had a net income of $7.6 billion in 2020.

“We certainly know there is a population out there either driven away from banking or don’t feel they have access to it,” said Pat Pastore, Cleveland market president for PNC Bank.

“So it is important to us to be developing products that will help them become part of the financial mainstream.”

Matthews said more details are coming about a May 27 virtual event that will feature city and county representatives, the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, the Center for Community Solutions, United Way,

local foundations and more. The event is designed to get the conversation going about a Bank On group and how it might approach nuanced issues related to the unbanked and racial equity, including the digital divide.

“The pandemic just illuminated the real challenges families and individuals encountered as a result of the digital divide, finance being one of them,” Matthews said.

A Cleveland Bank On chapter was in the works years ago but eventually lost steam. Matthews said making sure that doesn’t happen again means securing buy in from community stakeholders, which she feels is there today.

“The solution seems easy in that we know what the goal is,” said David Rothstein, a senior principal with Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund where he leads the national Bank On initiative. “But getting there is far more complicated.”

What else can be done?

Kalitha Williams, a project director with Policy Matters Ohio, said she has concerns about the scalability of Bank On, which has dozens of chapters nationwide with their own approaches tailored to each market — a Bank On Rubber City focuses on Summit County. Bank On also focuses exclusively on getting people to open checking accounts.

This underscores how one program can’t address such an expansive issue on its own.

See BANK ON on Page 16

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FOCUS | FINANCE

BANK ON

From Page 14

America Saves, alternatively, is more about getting people to open savings accounts, which can help foster generational wealth that provides an updraft out of poverty.

“Our research shows even low-income people who have a savings plan save twice more effectively than people with higher incomes who have no plan,” said George Barany, director of America Saves, which is managed by the Consumer Federation of America.

Barany suggests banks need to tweak the business models to promote savings accounts as one of the ingredients in the recipe for helping the unbanked. Such accounts are not typically a focus in banking because they are not sources of revenue.

Banks do make money on overdrafts, however, which some consumer advocates say should be eliminated entirely — something banking industry representatives don’t agree with.

“I think what is really important is to rein in the practices that push already vulnerable people into a worse position,” said Ellen Harnick, an executive vice president with the nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending. “That means maintaining usury limits, getting rid of high-cost loans or expensive charges on larger balance loans, and really reforming the way overdraft fees are charged and eliminating them.”

Williams is a fan of the so-called Fed Accounts proposed by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) as part of the Banking for All Act. The legislation, inspired by the challenges some unbanked individuals faced when accessing pandem-

Who are the unbanked?

ADVISER

The unbanked are statistically more likely to be poorer, less educated and members of minority groups. This is why many view getting people banked as a matter of racial equity and one aspect of lifting individuals out of poverty.

Immunizing your business post-COVID: What’s next?

Percent of unbanked families for U.S. households in 2018, by income Less than $40,000

14%

$40,000-$100,000

BY LEON LABRECQUE

2%

More than $100,000 1% Percent of unbanked families for U.S. households in 2018, by education High school or less

13%

Some college/ associate degree Bachelor’s degree 1% or higher

4%

Percent of unbanked families for U.S. households in 2018, by race White

4%

Black

14% 11%

Hispanic SOURCE: FEDERAL RESERVE

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

ic stimulus money, would establish free, government-backed digital wallets that would include traditional checking accounts with zero fees, debit cards and ATM access.

The accounts could be accessible through any bank, credit union or U.S. Post Office branch.

Democratic aides say passing the bill, which has been met largely with incredulity from banking industry officials and conservative politicians, is one of Brown’s core priorities.

“Too many working Americans don’t trust banks — especially the biggest banks. They’ve been burned over and over again by fees, by minimum balances, by waiting periods,

by segregated ‘second chance’ accounts and are increasingly turning to check cashers and payday lenders, and other fintech products that come with even fewer protections,” said Brown, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, in a prepared statement. “It is time for us to reimagine a banking system that helps consumers instead of hurting them. That’s why we need to create no-fee accounts backed by the Federal Reserve so that more people have access to the financial system and more control over their money.”

Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

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ward forgiveness. Talk to your accountant about the Employee Retention Credit (ERC), a “hidden stimulus.”

2020 was an unprecedented year for small businesses. We had the  Manage large purchases. biggest drop in gross doAs the recovery progresses, mestic product in U.S. histhere are cost increases tory, followed by a boobrewing in raw materials. merang of recovery.

The Philly Fed reports a maWith a potential 9%- LaBrecque is jor increase in the prices 10% boost in GDP and chief growth trillions of dollars of stim- officer at Sequoia paid on inputs. Steel, copulus, coupled with what Financial Group. per, construction materials and skilled labor are in short appears to be an effective supply and costs are all govaccination program, we should be asking ourselves many ing up. Think about potential acquisiquestions: What’s next? What if the tions early and getting in line sooner economy booms? What if your busi- than later. Similarly, there are disparness booms? What if competitors ities in supply and cost. Need microchips? Good luck. Steel? Take a Tums. hire your best employees?

We’ve identified eight post- On the other hand, assets related to COVID ideas for business owners to pandemic business casualties might be useful. consider:  First, do a financial gut check.

Coming out of an illness, it’s always a good idea to get a physical. A financial gut check is like a physical for your small business. How much is the business making (cash flow)? Analyze your assets (what your business owns) and liabilities (what your business owes). Check in on taxes, legal matters and risk management as well. Have a good starting point.  Next, lean up. Think about what’s next as the economy heats up and the world comes back from the pandemic but in a different form. Consider the “Clint Eastwood” approach: 1. The Good (status quo at a minimum, or revenue increase) 2. The Bad (revenue drops 10%20%) and 3. The Ugly (revenue drops 25%40%) Being lean will be helpful in any of those scenarios. Consider the leaning process as an exercise in minimalism. What is superfluous and unnecessary? What is essential?

 Competition. This is the time to fully assess your competition. Disruptive events like COVID are evolutionary — the strong typically survive and the weak don’t. Someone will make it through this — make sure it’s your business. Build a matrix of your competitors: Who they are, where they are, and what they are? Consider building a Strategy Canvas, like the kind in the Blue Ocean Strategy, to assess the competitive landscape. Who’s winning on price? Quality? Team?

Who’s losing? In this recovery, there has never been so much access to digital information. Weaponize social media. Put Google alerts on your competition. Follow them on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Look at their websites and teams.

Who are their best players? Where are the chinks in the armor?  Look for new ideas. What is the latest and greatest? Who is involved?

What ideas or R&D got left behind in the pandemic? What companies went out of business, and did they have any tailings? What talent is out and about? Incubators? The pandemic changed a lot of things about how we do business; what new ideas can you take out of the pan-

 Have dry powder. Who doesn’t like a good sale? The pandemic put many quality things on sale: people, assets and businesses. There is a vast amount of new money in the system. Having dry powder in the form of liquid THIS IS THE TIME TO FULLY assets allows you to buy low — whether assets for the ASSESS YOUR COMPETITION. business, investments or new hires. Consider your cash burn demic that wouldn’t have occurred rate per period. How much do you to you before? want as a war chest in weeks/ months? If you have a three-pronged  Finally, build and protect the budget (Good, Bad and Ugly), what is team. We are going to see an explothe burn rate in each scenario? Dry sion of hiring as the economy recovpowder is important as we all navi- ers, so take care of your A Team. Get a pulse on their happiness and pain gate this transition out of COVID. points. What’s their “deal breaker?”  Check credit lines. The response It seems likely there will be a shortto the pandemic has been flooding age of good people, so don’t take the economy with money, and now yours for granted. Does everyone the enormous stimulus may lead to know the late cycle plan, and your higher interest rates from their cur- mission, vision and values?

Bottom line: We can say hindsight rent near-historic lows. Having access to debt will be important in the is 2020, but we should look forward “what’s next” world. This could be and be asking, “What’s next?” Robthe time to take on credit for more ert Shiller said, “Tough times never ample dry powder. Check your last, but tough people do.” How did credit and lines of credit. Make sure your business navigate the unthinkall Paycheck Protection Program able in 2020, and how are you preloans are in order and working to- paring for the recovery?

4/19/21 2:39 PM

4/22/2021 3:11:58 PM

REALTORS

FILMMAKER

From Page 1

From Page 7

By March, there were more real estate agents than homes for sale in the Buckeye State. The Ohio Realtors, a trade association, had 35,453 members last month — about 1.3 agents for every available property in the state, based on data from Redfin, a Seattle-based brokerage.

Jackson, who joined Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Professional Realty in Moreland Hills, has yet to wrap up a sale. “I’ve come close,” he said, adding that he’s handled residential leases, is representing a few buyers and is lining up his first listing, set to go live next month.

“It’s sort of rough,” he said.

“There’s so much competition right now, that’s the thing.”

Local office managers and real estate team leaders say the types of people entering the field haven’t changed. There are mid-career professionals looking to shake things up, full-time employees seeking a side hustle, entrepreneurs who want to be their own bosses and parents in need of flexible hours.

It’s the sheer numbers that are striking.

“I do think that COVID has created pause in lots of people, especially those in fields that were drastically hurt by the virus. … It really gave a lot of people thought about what they want to do with their lives, how they’re spending their lives,” said Seth Task, president of the Ohio Realtors and the leader of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices team that Jackson joined.

“It gave a lot of people time to watch TV,” Task added. “And a lot of HGTV.”

Michael Deemer, executive vice president for business development at Downtown Cleveland Alliance, said in a prepared statement, “We are excited to welcome Transition Studios to downtown Cleveland. This adds further momentum to the creative and knowledge economy job hub we are building in the city’s core.”

Connor Redman, a Cushman & Wakefield CRESCO sales associate who represents Playhouse Square Foundation in leasing Idea Center and its other buildings, said he felt like a celebrity while he worked on the deal with Rech for Transition Studios.

“It’s not every day you get to hang out with a producer of documentaries on Netflix,” Redman said.

The six-story building, which dates from 1912 and was massively updated in 2005, is more than 80% occupied, he said. Redman said his brokerage and Playhouse Square are negotiating with a tenant he declined to identify for a full floor that’s available.

Neither Redman nor Rech would disclose the rent that Transition Studios will pay under its five-year lease. The building has a stated asking rent of $15.50 to $20 per square foot, according to the CoStar online realty data service.

However, Rech said he felt that Playhouse Square “bent over backward” to help the firm lease the space.

Transition Studios has drawn notice for documentaries such as “White Boy,” about a 17-year-old drug dealer in 1980s-era Detroit,

“For sale” signs hang in front of two houses on Cleveland’s West Side in February. Record-low inventory is posing a challenge for buyers and real estate agents alike. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Real estate ranks grow even as inventory dwindles A record-low supply of available homes isn’t stopping Ohioans from pursuing careers in real estate sales. Membership in the Ohio Realtors trade association keeps growing. In early April, there were 48,865 licensed salespeople in the state, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. That’s almost twice the number of homes that were listed for sale statewide throughout the month.

‘Taking their time’

Number of Realtors and listings

Jodi Santosuosso started taking real estate classes last fall, after the pandemic and rising costs forced her to close her cold-pressed juice shop in Cleveland’s Gordon Square Arts District. She took her business, Daily Press, online and spends Mondays delivering juice to customers’ doorsteps. The switch to e-commerce left Santosuosso with plenty of free time.

She passed the state real estate exam in early January and signed on with eXp Realty, an online brokerage. In March, she closed her first sale, in the city’s Old Brooklyn neighborhood.

“I’m working with a handful of buyers right now, but some people are just taking their time,” said Santosuosso, who is 38. “They want to wait until it’s the perfect home for them, or property for them. And then I’m working with an out-ofstate client who’s an investor. Those are also just going so quickly, homes to rehab. We’ve put in three offers so far that have gotten outbid.

It is tough, but I feel pretty good about where I’m at.”

The state requires agents to complete 120 hours of classes, secure sponsorship from an Ohio real estate broker and take a licensing test.

About 72% of in-state test takers passed that sales exam in March, according to a recent report provided to the Ohio Real Estate Commission by Anne Petit, superintendent of the commerce department’s real estate and licensing arm.

As of April 5, there were 48,865 active, inactive or suspended sales licenses in Ohio.

“It’s not expensive to get a real

80,000

Realtors for March of each year

Listings per month

60,000 35,453 Realtors

40,000 20,000 0

26,664 listings in March

’12

’13

’14

’15

’16

SOURCES: REDFIN, OHIO REALTORS

estate license, and I think many people would think that it’s relatively easy to get a real estate license,” said Task, a former restaurateur who launched a real estate career after his business crumbled in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“But it is not easy to become successful in real estate — or any other business venture,” he said. “It takes determination and hard work and perseverance.”

Record-low inventory might be daunting, but the shortage of listings doesn’t necessarily mean that new agents are more likely to fail.

Sales are up overall, despite the meager supply of homes on the market. In Cuyahoga County, for example, March sales topped last year’s levels by 6%, according to the MLS Now listing service. The average sale price for a home last month was $210,944, a 5.2% increase from March 2020.

And new listings are picking up, said Jackie Cassara, vice president and manager of the Cleveland Heights office for Howard Hanna Real Estate Services. The Pittsburgh-based company is putting a

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’18

’19

’20

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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS GRAPHIC

heightened emphasis on teaching new agents how to scout for listings, she said.

“A pivot that we’ve really done is how to do it in the time of COVID, how to do it safely, how to work with sellers who, for various reasons, might be hesitant to put their houses on the market,” said Cassara, who has two decades’ worth of experience in real estate education.

‘Off the charts’ The rise of Zoom and other online platforms has made it easier to teach agents, whether they’re new or experienced, said Mike Valerino, chief operating officer at the Akron Cleveland Association of Realtors, a trade group that also has experienced an uptick in membership.

“Before the pandemic in Ohio, we couldn’t offer education virtually for credit, and the pandemic sort of forced that issue,” he said. “Now we can. And in our programs and our classes … our engagement and attendance from Realtors is really kind of off the charts.”

Working from home prompted

Kishia Williamson Townsend to return to the real estate business after several years away. She took online classes and joined a virtual study group after logging off from her day job, as a membership development manager at the Greater Cleveland Partnership. She obtained her license in November and joined Key Realty’s Beachwood office.

“When we had the first lockdown order, I found myself with a lot of extra time, because I didn’t have to think about what I was going to wear to work or sit in traffic,” said Townsend, who had been away from the business long enough that she had to start from scratch.

In her 40s — she wouldn’t provide her exact age — Townsend isn’t planning to leave her full-time job. Instead, she’s waking up early to answer emails, squeezing in phone calls during her lunch breaks and carving out time for clients in the evenings.

“I guess you could say it’s parttime,” she said, “but as an agent you’re always pretty much on.”

Connor Kobilarcsik, a 27-yearold social worker who passed the licensing test in January, is set to leave his job in late May. As an agent with Russell Real Estate Services in Brecksville, he — like most salespeople — is an independent contractor, reliant on commissions.

While he’s building up his business, Kobilarcsik plans to work part-time in a warehouse for a friend who sells oddities, from dollhouse furniture to coyote urine, on Amazon.

“It’s a calculated leap of faith,” said Kobilarcsik, who is scheduled to close his first sale in May. “I’ve run the numbers. I’m pretty conservative with money. I’m not a huge risk-taker. … I think that I’m ready to hit the phones, and I already have been.”

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

“IT’S NOT EVERY DAY YOU GET TO HANG OUT WITH A PRODUCER OF DOCUMENTARIES ON NETFLIX.” — Cushman & Wakefield CRESCO sales associate Connor Redman

and “A Murder in the Park.” It also produced two documentaries, “American Gospel: Christ Crucified” and “American Gospel: Christ Alone.” The latter programs helped it launch Watch AGTV.COM, a reformed Christian streaming service.

Rech said the company plans to add more streaming ventures in the future.

He said Transition Studios is dedicated to proving it can make a go of making documentaries on speculation. Originally, it engaged in corporate video work because, he recalled, “everyone said you had to do corporate work to survive,” but now Transition Studios does so only on a selective basis.

Crime is a focus for Transition Studios, Rech said, because it’s always in demand by TV and cable channels.

“We’re proud to say we’ve had a part, in some way, in getting three innocent people released from prison,” Rech said.

He knows the value of paying the bills to build a business from prior stints in owning an engraving company and a software company. But the outfit has an outsized goal besides survival on its home page: “To positively affect history.”

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter APRIL 26, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 17

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4/23/2021 1:15:19 PM

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$9,249

AUM-based fee; set fees for noninvestment services

Financial planning, portfolio management for individuals, selection of other advisers

John Zaller

Richard Buoncore, managing partner

3

LEGACY STRATEGIC ASSET MANAGEMENT OF WELLS FARGO ADVISORS 1891 Georgetown Road, Hudson 330-655-7065/legacystrategicassetmgmt.com

$8,200 5.1%

$102

$1,900,000

Percent of AUM, fee only

Financial planning, portfolio management for individuals, businesses and institutional clients, pension consulting services

Darrell Cronk

Doug Krapf; Matt Shannon; James Barsella, managing directors

4

SEQUOIA FINANCIAL GROUP LLC 3500 Embassy Parkway, Suite 100, Akron 330-375-9480/sequoia-financial.com

$3,685 16.2%

$2,250

$5,547

Percent of AUM, hourly rates, fixed fees

Financial planning and portfolio management for individuals and businesses

Chad Roope

Tom Haught, president, CEO

5

CM WEALTH ADVISORS 2000 Auburn Drive, Suite 400, Beachwood 216-831-9667/cmwealthadvisors.com

$3,037 3.4%

$2,888

$3,037

Percent of AUM, fixed fees

Financial planning, portfolio management for individuals, businesses and institutional clients, selection of other advisers

Cynthia Koury

James Wert, CEO, managing member

6

FAIRPORT WEALTH 1350 Euclid Ave., Suite 400, Cleveland 216-431-3000/fairportwealth.com

$2,915 13.9%

$2,302

$79,600 1

Fee only

Financial planning (wealth management), portfolio management for individuals/small businesses, seminars/workshops

John Silvis

Kenneth Coleman; Heather Ettinger, managing partners

7

CERITY PARTNERS LLC 50 Public Square, Cleveland 216-464-6266/ceritypartners.com

$2,462 11.9%

$2,425

$26,709

Fee only and percent AUM

Financial planning, portfolio management, retirement plan consulting, tax planning and preparation

Benjamin Pace

Robert Smith, partner, Ohio Market leader

8

FAIRWAY WEALTH MANAGEMENT LLC 6055 Rockside Woods Blvd., Suite 330, Independence 216-573-7200/fairwaywealth.com

$1,847 14.2%

$5

$1,847

Fee only based on assets and/or services

Financial planning/wealth management, portfolio/investment management, retirement planning, family office services

Matthew Garrott

Mark Weiskind; Daniel Gaugler, copresidents

9

CEDAR BROOK GROUP 5885 Landerbrook Drive, Suite 200, Mayfield Heights 440-683-9200/cedarbrookfinancial.com

$1,426 6.2%

$1,282

$1,426

Negotiated

Financial planning, wealth management, protection planning/risk management

Azim Nakhooda

Bill Glubiak, CEO

10

MARCUM WEALTH 6685 Beta Drive, Mayfield Village 866-605-1901/marcumwealth.com

$1,292 28.5%

$1,285

$1,292

Fee only

Financial planning, investment management, 401(k) plan consulting, business consulting

Michael McKeown

Eric Wulff, CEO

11

MCDONALD PARTNERS LLC 1301 E. 9th St., Suite 3700, Cleveland 216-912-0567/mcdonald-partners.com

$1,081 5.5%

$687

$1,351

Fee and commission

Portfolio management for individuals, businesses and institutional clients, financial planning, pension consulting

Thomas Yako Bill Hegarty

Thomas McDonald, chairman, CEO

12

MGO INVESTMENT ADVISORS INC. 24400 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 310, Beachwood 216-771-4242/mgo-inc.com

$911 8.2%

$455

$911

Percent of AUM

Portfolio management for individuals/small businesses

Michael Moskal

Ronald Gross, president

13

CAPITAL ADVISORS LTD. 20600 Chagrin Blvd., Shaker Heights 216-295-7900/capitaladvisorsltd.com

$856 11.2%

$849

$856

Percent of AUM

Financial planning, portfolio management, adviser consensus building, retirement modeling

Rob Holub Zachary Abrams

Neil Waxman; Mark Ciulla, managing directors

14

PROSPERITY CAPITAL ADVISORS 30400 Detroit Road, Suite 201, Westlake 888-240-0064/prosperitycapitaladvisors.com

$775 18.4%

$775

$1,487

Fee only, percent of AUM

Financial planning; portfolio management for individuals, businesses and institutional clients; seminars

Dave Alison Jerry Herman

Jason Smith, CEO

15

ST. CLAIR ADVISORS LLC 6120 Parkland Blvd., Suite 306, Mayfield Heights 216-925-5670/saintclairllc.com

$726 6.5%

$726

$726

Fee only, fixed or based on AUM

Integrated wealth planning, investment advisory, tax planning and compliance services

David Sommer

Ronald Bates, chairman

16

LANDING POINT FINANCIAL GROUP 36350 Detroit Road, Avon 440-934-7100/landingpointfinancialgroup.com

$612 9.5%

$155

$612

Fee and commission

Portfolio management for individuals/ businesses, financial planning, pension consulting

Matt O'Bryon

Joe Flinner, president, CEO

17

SCOTT SNOW (FINANCIAL ADVISORS) LLC 1991 Crocker Road, Suite 210, Westlake 440-871-7669/s2fa.com

$565 14.6%

$0

$565

Fee only, percent of AUM

Porfolio management for individuals

Scott Snow

Scott Snow, managing director

18

LINEWEAVER WEALTH ADVISORS 9035 Sweet Valley Drive, Valley View 216-520-1711/lineweaver.net

$556 2 37.2%

$556 2

$556 2

Fees, percent of AUM

Wealth management for private and corporate clients, retirement plans for corporate clients, tax and risk management

Jim Lineweaver

Jim Lineweaver, president, founder

19

W.A. SMITH FINANCIAL GROUP 5070 Waterford Drive, Sheffield Village 440-934-8691/wasmithfinancial.com

$542 32.1%

$502

$542

Percent of AUM, financial planning fees

Financial planning, portfolio management for individuals, seminars/workshops/webinars

William Smith

William Smith, founder, CEO

20

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES INC. 9200 South Hills Blvd., Suite 310, Broadview Heights 216-642-1099/fmstrategies.biz

$525 17.3%

$415

$525

Fixed fee, percent of AUM, hourly consulting

Portfolio management, retirement plan consulting services, financial planning

Charles Elliott

Jeffrey Knox, president, CEO

21

VANTAGE FINANCIAL GROUP INC. 6200 Rockside Road, Independence 216-642-7878/vanfin.com

$510 11.1%

$401

$646

AUM fees, consulting and planning fees

Portfolio management for individuals/small businesses, pension consulting, financial planning and consulting

—

William McCormick, president, CEO

22

DEMMING FINANCIAL SERVICES CORP. 13 New Hudson Road, Aurora 330-562-2122/demmingfinancial.com

$470 2.9%

$470

$470

Fee based on AUM and retainers

Financial planning

David Demming Jr.

David Demming Sr., president

23

PEAK WEALTH SOLUTIONS 30195 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 360, Pepper Pike 216-370-7887/retirepeak.com

$470 21.1%

$379

$470

Percent of AUM

Financial planning, portfolio management for individuals, education seminars, pension consulting

Greg Gromek

David Kocsis; Greg Gromek, managing principals

24

JENTNER WEALTH MANAGEMENT 3677 Embassy Parkway, Akron 330-668-1000/jentner.com

$452 12.8%

$452

$452

Fee only, percent of AUM

Financial planning and investment management

Seth Jentner

Bruce Jentner, president

25

ONE SEVEN 24400 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 200, Beachwood 216-865-1700/weareoneseven.com

$448 19.0%

$448

$886

AUM fee, financial planning fee

Portfolio management for individuals, businesses and institutional clients, financial planning, seminars/workshops

Pascal Roduit

Ronald Gross, CEO, cofounder; Todd Resnick, president, cofounder, CCO

Research by Chuck Soder and Darleen White (researcher@crainscleveland.com) | This list of registered investment advisers excludes companies that invest most of the assets they locally manage directly into stocks and bonds; those RIAs appear on the Money Managers list. AUM stands for "assets under management." ADV assets represents total regulatory assets under management as of Dec. 31, 2020. Data is supplied by the companies. NOTES: 1. Represents assets managed by Fairport Wealth's parent company, Hightower Advisors. 2. As of Feb. 15, 2021.

Get 36 companies and 120 executives in Excel format. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data 18 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | APRIL 26, 2021

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CRAIN'S LIST | MONEY MANAGERS Ranked by regulatory assets under local management ASSETS UNDER LOCAL MGMT (MILLIONS)

RANK

COMPANY LOCAL ADDRESS

12-31-2020 % CHANGE FROM 2019

WITH DISCRETION

ADV ASSETS (MILLIONS)

COMPENSATION

PRIMARY LOCAL ADVISORY SERVICES

HEAD OF INVESTING

TOP LOCAL EXECUTIVE

1

BOYD WATTERSON ASSET MANAGEMENT LLC 1301 E. 9th St., Suite 2900, Cleveland 216-771-3450/boydwatterson.com

$13,278 19.6%

$12,644

$13,278

Fee only, percent of AUM

Portfolio management

Brian Gevry

Brian Gevry, CEO, CIO, chairman; Timothy Hyland, president, director; Brian Convery, EVP, director; Michael Bee, EVP, director

2

AB BERNSTEIN 127 Public Square, 50th Floor, Cleveland 216-263-8090/bernstein.com

$9,764 49.8%

$9,764

$686,000

Performance based or percent of AUM

Portfolio management for individuals, businesses and institutional clients; financial planning

Alexander Chaloff Beata Kirr

Kara Lewis, managing director

3

ANCORA 6060 Parkland Blvd., Suite 200, Mayfield Heights 216-825-4000/ancora.net

$8,821 10.6%

$5,727

$8,821

Percent of AUM

Portfolio management, financial planning, retirement plans

John Micklitsch

Fred DiSanto, chairman, CEO

4

VICTORY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC. 4900 Tiedeman Road, 4th Floor, Brooklyn 216-898-2400/vcm.com

$8,255 -3.9%

$8,047

$153,457

Percent of AUM

Portfolio management

CIO at franchise level

David Brown, chairman, CEO

5

CARNEGIE INVESTMENT COUNSEL 30300 Chagrin Blvd., Pepper Pike 216-367-4114/carnegieinvest.com

$2,943 20.4%

$2,934

$2,943

Fee only, percent of AUM

Investment research, portfolio management, wealth management

Richard Alt

Gary Wagner; Richard Alt; Arthur Merriman III, principals

6

OAK ASSOCIATES LTD. 3875 Embassy Pkwy., Suite 250, Akron 330-668-1234/oakltd.com

$1,803 -3.0%

$1,803

$1,803

Percent of AUM

Portfolio management for business/ institutional clients and investment companies

James Oelschlager Robert Stimpson

Margaret Ballinger, chief compliance officer, COO; Robert Stimpson, co-CIO, portfolio manager

7

BEESE FULMER PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT 220 Market Ave. S., Suite 1150, Canton 330-454-6555/beesefulmer.com

$1,082 6.9%

$1,082

$1,082

Percent of AUM, fee only

Portfolio management for businesses, institutional clients and individuals

Ryan Fulmer

Ryan Fulmer, president, principal

8

NORTH POINT PORTFOLIO MANAGERS CORP. 100 Park Ave., Suite 200, Orange Village 440-720-1100/nppmcorp.com

$870 11.8%

$866

$870

Percent of AUM

Portfolio management for individuals, businesses, nonprofits and retirement plans

Diane Stack

Ronald Lang, president, secretary

9

VAN CLEEF ASSET MANAGEMENT INC. 3201 Enterprise Pkwy., Suite 140, Beachwood 216-464-0253/vancleefinc.com

$757 17.4%

$733

$757

Percent of AUM

Portfolio management for individuals and institutional clients

Lino Sergo

Geoffrey Hauck; Martin Burke Jr., principals

10

ELLSWORTH ADVISORS LLC 1521 Georgetown Road, Hudson 234-281-2894/ellsworthadvisors.com

$562 45.7%

$560

$562

Percent of AUM

Portfolio management for individuals, businesses and institutional clients, pension consulting, financial planning

Kelly Kuennen

Tim Clepper, managing partner

11

WINSLOW ASSET MANAGEMENT INC. 3333 Richmond Road, Suite 180, Beachwood 216-360-4700/winslowasset.com

$531 7.1%

$531

$531

Percent of AUM

Portfolio management for business/ institutional clients, individuals and investment companies

Gerald Goldberg Mac Muirhead

Gerald Goldberg, CEO, CIO

12

WELLS TRECASO FINANCIAL GROUP 3560 W. Market St., Suite 340, Akron 330-752-1547/wellstrecaso.com

$405 15.9%

$405

$405

Percent of AUM

Investment management, retirement planning, estate and tax planning

Douglas Wells

Ralph Trecaso, managing director, CFO

Research by Chuck Soder and Darleen White (researcher@crainscleveland.com) | This list consists of registered investment advisers that invest at least half of the assets they manage locally directly into stocks and bonds. RIAs below that threshold appear on our Investment Advisers list. AUM stands for "assets under management." ADV assets represents total regulatory AUM as of Dec. 31, 2020. Information is provided by the companies.

Get 19 companies and 50-plus executives in Excel format. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data

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12656983-UFD-4/16/2021 APRIL 26, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 19

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AKRON

Coventry Towne Plaza sold to group led by Paran Cleveland development firm pays $4.5 million for Portage Lakes site

BY DAN SHINGLER

Drawn in part by what it sees as an increasingly wealthy Portage Lakes community, a partnership formed

by Cleveland’s Paran Management has purchased Coventry Towne Plaza on Manchester Road, just north of Coventry High School.

Paran chairman and CEO Joseph Shafran said he’s been interested in the site for years and hinted that his firm will be investing in it.

“I’ve probably looked at Coventry Plaza for five, maybe seven years,” Shafran said. “From a location perspective, it’s in the area that I want. I feel it can be a change agent in the neighborhood, and it’s a nice thing to be in a neighborhood that’s already good but can be made better. … We can find roles for Coventry Plaza to play that are either unexplored or have new elements, and that’s what’s exciting.”

Paran paid $4.5 million for the property in a sale that closed April 15, the firm reported. For that, it said it got just under 105,000 square feet of retail space — 19 spaces in two buildings that make up the L-shaped shopping center on nearly 11 acres of land.

The sale was handled with Paran represented by its own commercial real estate brokers, while agent Jennifer Fernandez of Fairlawn-based Hoff & Leigh representing the sellers, Paran reported.

To purchase the site, Paran formed Coventry Plaza Associates, a limited partnership that Paran’s director of marketing communications, Paula Accordino, said includes several area investors and was formed to make the purchase, with Paran managing the property going forward.

Tenants at the site range from a 16,000-square-foot Save A Lot grocery store and a 19,000-square-foot Harbor Freight Tools store, to smaller service businesses, a Dollar General store, pet store and restaurants such as the Coventry Diner and Tito’s Mexican Grill.

Those tenants won’t be immediately affected by the recent sale, save for some investments that Paran will

With more than 100,000 square feet of space, Coventry Towne Plaza is an important site for local retail and the Portage Lakes economy. | PHOTOS BY PARAN MANAGEMENT

that’s now on hold as financing for hotel projects has dried up due to the pandemic, Gateway CEO Tom Chema said previously.

All told, Paran owns at least 15 shopping centers, in addition to several apartment buildings, such as the Highland Towers Apartments in Akron’s Highland Square neighborhood, and other commercial properties, according to its website.

How much the firm will do with Coventry Towne Plaza remains to be seen, and may take some time to figure out, according to Shafran.

“We’re in it for the long haul,” he said. “We basically will spend as much as a year — I don’t know if this will take that long — to really get to know the property. We get to know the property, the neighborhood, and then we develop a plan for improvement. … As far as ideas go, those will unfold as we go through the project.”

What it might spend to improve the shopping center will also be deter“WE GET TO KNOW THE PROPERTY, mined later.

THE NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THEN WE “In six months, I’ll be able to answer that DEVELOP A PLAN FOR question better,” ShaIMPROVEMENT.” fran said.

The shopping center — Joseph Shafran, chairman and CEO, Paran Management is in decent shape and was well kept by the soon make to spruce up the exterior former owner and seller, Akron busiof the shopping center and its sig- nessman Dean Corpas, Shafran said.

Paran reports the property also is nage, Shafran said.

But Paran is known for buying nearly fully occupied, with only two properties and redeveloping them, vacancies representing about 15,000 perhaps most notably in Cleveland’s square feet of space. And it’s seeing University Circle neighborhood, new interest in leasing those, Accordiwhere it turned a former mansion no said in an email correspondence.

That said, the shopping center into the Glidden House boutique hotel. Before COVID struck, Paran was built in 1959, and improveand its partner, Cleveland's Gateway ments or redevelopment would likeGroup, were working to convert the ly be welcomed by residents and Martin Center at the University of Coventry Township, said township Akron into a boutique hotel, though administrator Anna Bryant.

Coventry Towne Plaza’s new owner says the local retail center is in decent shape, with large, healthy anchor tenants and small businesses all calling it home.

Coventry Towne Plaza is one of only a few retail centers in Portage Lakes and one of the largest in the area.

“It could use some fixing up,” Bryant said, not just due to its age but also because of its importance to the local business environment and economy.

“It’s a prime location as far as one of our business districts, and we don’t have a lot of business districts.

In terms of a retail district, it’s one of the only ones we have,” Bryant said.

It’s also in an area that has seen increasing numbers of wealthy peo-

ple move in, many drawn to the picturesque setting of Portage Lakes that Shafran said is unlike other parts of the region, or for that matter the state.

“I’ve known it all my life. I spent a lot of my formulative years in Akron and Coventry Township, and the Lakes is something I’ve known forever. … It always struck me as a misplaced Florida,” Shafran said.

Whatever happens, Paran ap-

pears likely to improve the site.

“The overarching goal is to increase the value of the asset and its income potential. The team is interested in rebranding the center and working cooperatively with the local business community and government to promote it,” Accordino said via email.

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

20 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | APRIL 26, 2021

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THE WEEK START IT UP: A largely residential overhaul of the Rockefeller Building, one of downtown Cleveland’s largest untapped redevelopment plays, could kick off as soon as late June or early July. The Cleveland Landmarks Commission last week approved renovation plans for the 17-story historic office building at Superior Avenue and West Sixth Street. Commission members also signed off on demolition of a century-old garage that sits behind the building. Companies tied to Akron-area entrepreneur Agostino Pintus and Kenny Wolfe, a Texas-based investor, bought the property in August for $13.35 million. The half-vacant building sits just west of the Warehouse District parking lots where the Sherwin-Williams Co. plans to build its new headquarters, which is slated to open by late 2024.

Pintus didn’t speak during the virtual Landmarks Commission meeting, and he didn’t return a phone call. But consultants working on the project said he and Wolfe aim to close on financing this summer, with hopes of completing renovations by mid-2023.

MORE, PLEASE: GOJO, the maker of Purell hand sanitizer and other products, is gobbling up 200,000 additional square feet at the I-X Center, the shuttered event venue on Cleveland’s West Side. The Akron-based company confirmed to Crain’s that it recently inked a short-term lease on the space, a quarter of the main floor that hosted popular consumer shows for decades. The lease runs through Sept.

30, a spokeswoman wrote in an email.

It’s an add-on to a longer-term, 700,000-square-foot deal that GOJO signed last fall to store packaging and excess inventory in the building’s warehouse-like south hall. The coronavirus pandemic, which is driving GOJO’s near-insatiable need for space, has cast tremendous uncertainty over the future of the massive complex next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Longtime operator I-X Center Corp. announced in September that it was exiting the events business, after six months of public health rules that nixed large gatherings and forced the company to first furlough and later lay off most of its staff. The private company,

LENDING

From Page 6

Obi said the rise in the use of fintech, including companies like PayPal, Square and Kabbage, is about familiarity for minority businesses, and it counters a tendency, based on a history of being rejected, for some minority business owners not to apply for credit at all.

“A study done years ago shows that 60% of Black businesses who are

Remaining proceeds were retained as cash. RVI did not identify the buyer.

However, Ben Snyder, executive vice president and national director at Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, which RVI retained as exclusive adviser for the sale, said the buyer was a San Francisco-area company, United Growth. Uptown Solon has 182,334 square feet of leasable area. The Solon property is anchored

by Bed Bath and Beyond, Old Navy, Petco, Ulta Beauty and Lumber Liquidators, and it’s about 66% occupied, according to Snyder.

CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

A pedestrian passes the Rockefeller Building on Superior Avenue in downtown Cleveland. | MICHELLE JARBOE/CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

which controls the 2.2 millionsquare-foot I-X Center through a lease with the city of Cleveland, is mired in contract fights with four major event producers. The parties recently agreed to start mediation in an attempt to resolve their differences.

GROWTH SPURT: Sequoia Financial Group of Akron acquired Wealthstone Advisors of Columbus in a deal that grows Sequoia to more than $7 billion in assets under management and adds to its footprint a new office in central Ohio. Financial terms of the deal, slated to close in the second quarter, were not disclosed. Sequoia president and CEO Thomas Haught said for his firm, the merger largely is a talent play amid a competitive market for financial advisers and wealth managers. This all comes, he said, as the pandemic contributed to some increased demand for wealth man-

turned down by a bank, which is close to double the rate that whiteowned businesses are turned down, do not ever go back again,” he said.

There is some good news. Black business owners were more likely to say they expected to see increases in both revenue and employment in the next 12 months and “would apply for future government-provided emergency assistance,” according to the study.

Obi believes some of that optimism can be attributed to financial

agement services as clients are “reminded again that external shocks to the system can occur.” He said that a larger, expanded firm leads to additional opportunities for personnel looking to take on new responsibilities and specialize in certain areas.

Wealthstone will be rebranded under the Sequoia name.

WELCOME TO BEACHWOOD: Industrial Commercial Properties LLC, a Solon real estate owner and developer, added the first Beachwood property to its 150-property portfolio in five states.

ICP acquired from the city of Beachwood the northern portion of the city’s service garage with an entrance at 23550 Commerce Park Drive. The deal gives the company a 112,000-square-foot office/warehouse property. The suburb retained another part of the property, of more than 140,000 square feet, facing Mer-

education by groups such as the Urban League. He said some lending programs’ modifications to accommodate smaller businesses “has begun to move the needle” by getting more people approved for loans.

“It has had a trickle-down effect,” he said. “I can see that number of Black businesses getting loans has improved over time is not where it should be, but I think it’s getting better.”

Kim Palmer: kpalmer@crain.com, (216) 771-5384, @kimfouroffive

Coping with the credit challenge A look at how minority- and white-owned small businesses dealt with the credit and financial crisis brought on by the pandemic.

Actions taken to address financial challenges in the last 12 months Black Asian Hispanic White 75% 50

74%

65% 65% 61%

53%

59%

59% 57% 54% 40%

25 0

Used personal funds

SOURCE: FEDERAL RESERVE BANK

|

Cut staff, hours and/or downsized operation

46%

SOLON CENTER SOLD: Retail Value Inc., the Beachwood-based company formed to sell shopping centers owned by the former DDR Corp., closed on the sale of Uptown Solon for $10.1 million. The company, known as RVI, said 90% of net proceeds were used to repay mortgage debt associated with the company.

49% 36%

43%

51%

JOINED TOGETHER: Lake Health is officially a member of the University Hospitals Health System, making the Lake County provider UH’s largest addition to date. The two organizations, which in December announced their intention to integrate, have completed the member substitution process to bring Lake Health into UH, adding multiple hospitals and ambulatory centers and more than 3,000 caregivers and 600 physicians to the Cleveland-based health system. Lake Health will become UH’s flagship community-based health care provider in Lake County. The two organizations said they will work to ensure patients continue to receive care from the Lake Health doctors and nurses in the same locations they’ve come to know and trust.

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cantile Road. City records show ICP paid $2.7 million for the building and its nearly 9-acre site. Chris Semarjian, ICP’s owner, said the company will renovate and restore the property completely, so its office and industrial portions will be available by early summer.

DCA LOOKS TO FUTURE: Downtown Cleveland Alliance named Michael Deemer as interim president and CEO, effective May 1. Deemer, who has worked as DCA’s executive vice president of development since 2011, will assume the interim leadership role upon the retirement of current president and CEO Joe Marinucci. On Jan. 15, DCA announced that Marinucci would step down after more than 14 years at the helm of the organization. DCA also said it has retained the services of Sally M. Sterling SExecutive E P T E M B E R Search 3 - 9 , 2 018 | PA G E the 21 to support search for its president and CEO.

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APRIL 26, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 21

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PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

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

ACCOUNTING

BANKING

LAW

LAW

Apple Growth Partners

J.P. Morgan Private Bank

Buckley King LPA

Gallagher Sharp LLP

David Long joins Apple Growth Partners as assistant controller.

Experienced in corporate accounting, David joins AGP with a broad career in hospitality, most recently as the director of finance and accounting for Marriott International in downtown Cleveland. David’s background includes tax accounting and daily reconciliation, capital expense forecasting and budgeting, purchasing, financial reporting, project management, and leadership.

Jim Kavalec is an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Cleveland. In this role, he guides affluent clients through a range of complex wealth matters, including investing, lending, banking and estate planning. He is especially focused on working alongside individuals and families who seek to preserve their capital and leave a legacy for the next generation. With a career spanning more than 25 years, Jim has direct entrepreneurial experience, and an understanding of the distinct financial language and concerns of startups and business owners.

He draws from his real-world knowledge to help bridge the gap between personal and professional goals. Most recently, he was a Financial Advisor with AB Bernstein Private Wealth Management.

The attorneys of Miller Goler Faeges Lapine LLP join Buckley King LPA including Deborah J. Michelson, a former Michelson Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan, representing clients in financial and securities fraud, real estate and contract disputes, business wind-downs, corporate matters and business torts, as well as in emergency action litigation.

David A. Kunselman focuses on corporate transactions and dispute resolution.

His experience includes lease and operative agreement formation, public/ Kunselman private offerings, asset sales, intellectual property, and creditors’ rights matters. David has appeared in federal, state and appellate courts on a wide range of corporate matters.

Gallagher Sharp is pleased to announce the addition of Associate Michael P. Ginty, Esq. Mike focuses his practice on the defense of personal injury, wrongful death, and property damage claims involving auto accidents, premises liability, construction defect, product liability, environmental, and toxic torts. He also prepares insurance coverage opinions and defends insurance carriers in bad faith litigation. Mike received his law degree from The University of Akron School of Law.

BANKING

Roetzel & Andress LAW

ERIEBANK Cheryl-Ann Madsen joins ERIEBANK as Vice President of Commercial Banking.

She will be responsible for commercial and industrial relationship growth within Northeast Ohio, supporting the goals and financial needs of middle-market companies. During her 40-year banking career, Cheryl-Ann has worked within every market segment of business lending.

Her breadth of experience spans large money center banks to regional and community banks.

Cheryl-Ann volunteers her time with Manufacturing Works.

INDUSTRY

CONSTRUCTION

Gallagher Sharp LLP

Diamond Roofing Systems

Gallagher Sharp is pleased to announce the addition of Associate Samuel N. Dodoo, Esq. Sam represents businesses, insurance companies, and individuals throughout Ohio in matters involving personal injury, wrongful death, and property damage. He has a range of experience, including emergency response investigation and litigation involving the trucking industry, municipal liability, employment litigation, and product liability. Sam received his law degree from Case Western University School of Law.

Mike Mills, Chief Operating Officer, graduated from Bethany College with a BSAS, Managerial Economics. Prior to joining Diamond Roofing Systems, he held the position of Vice President of Regional Accounts for a national contracting service provider working extensively in Ohio and Pennsylvania coordinating and managing capital roofing projects and roofing services.

Mike’s expertise is working with our clients to develop strategic approaches, helping them to reduce costs and maximize their ACHIEVERS budgets. ADVANCING

THEIR CAREERS

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For listing opportunities, contact Debora Stein at dstein@crain.com or submit directly to

CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM/PEOPLEMOVES 22 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | APRIL 26, 2021

LAW

Roetzel is pleased to announce that Susan Keating Anderson has joined the firm as a Shareholder and named Chair of the firm’s Education Law Group.

Ms. Anderson concentrates her practice in education law, representing school districts throughout Ohio. She advises boards of education and their superintendents, treasurers and other school administrators on an array of issues, including personnel and student issues, evaluation and discipline, policy, contracts and residency disputes.

LAW

ADVERTISING SECTION

COMPANIES ON THE MOVE To place your listing, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com HONORS, AWARDS / CERTIFICATIONS

Bin There Dump That Brunswick, OH 330-386-7783 northeastohio.bintheredump thatusa.com/home

Bin There Dump That, Northeast Ohio celebrates for 2021 being awarded the first time issued “Award of Excellence” from its Franchise Home Office. This family-owned & operated business maintains seven (7) locations in Northeast Ohio, including Canfield, Akron, Cleveland, Walton Hills, Mentor & Brunswick/Hinckley, as well. “Delivering the friendly” and “exceeding its customers’ needs & expectations” is its primary focus in Residential Friendly Dumpsters for commercial & residential use, whether the need is for purging junk & debris from a home cleanout, remodeling or a roofing project, Bin There Dump That, Northeast Ohio is definitely getting attention.

Give them a call to find out what makes them unique.

Call 330-386-7783 SHARE YOUR (330-DUMPSTEr).

C O M PA N Y ’ S JOURNEY

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Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell Schneider Smeltz Spieth Bell is proud to announce that Ryan P. Nowlin has been accepted into the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) as a Fellow. AAML Fellows are highly skilled negotiators and litigators who represent individuals in all facets of family law. Ryan is also board certified by the Ohio State Bar Association as a specialist in the practice of Family Relations law. His legal practice is focused on the areas of family law, commercial litigation, and probate litigation.

For more information, contact Debora Stein at dstein@crain.com or submit directly to CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM/COTM

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APRIL 26, 2021 | CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS | 23

P023_CL_20210426.indd 23

4/23/2021 9:04:49 AM

is proud to honor

CAROLE F. HOOVER & VANESSA L. WHITING

as the recipients of the 8th Annual Maltz Heritage Award for being a force of positive change in the community Monday, May 24, 2021 at 7pm • Held virtually For tickets and sponsorship information visit www.maltzheritageaward.org/2021

THANK YOU TO ALL OF OUR GENEROUS SPONSORS AND SUPPORTERS! Presenting Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

Milton & Tamar Maltz

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Gold Sponsors

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Sandy and Sally Cutler Grant and Jennifer Dinner

Gloria Fine and Family

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Silver Sponsors Dr. Georgette Bennett Richard Bogomolny & Patricia Kozerefski Cleveland Clinic

Cleveland State University Cohen & Company Connor Foundation Cuyahoga Community College

Dollar Bank Glenmede Beth Mooney The NRP Group

Oatey Company Olympic Steel PNC PwC

Irving and Ileen Rosner Jerry Sue Thornton Dan and Ellen Zelman

McDonald Hopkins, LLC MetroHealth Foundation John and Karen Moss MVP Plastics Jakki and Fred Nance Pierre’s Ice Cream Company Dick and Pat Pogue Julia and Larry Pollock

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Bronze Sponsors AB Bernstein The AKA Team, Inc. Warren Anderson Case Western Reserve University Cerity Partners CLE Consulting Firm Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Museum of Art

Mary Ann Corrigan-Davis David and Debbie Daberko Bober, Markey & Fedorovich GAA Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management Hahn Loeser + Parks LLP Brian Hall Susan and Bob Hurwitz

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Community Partners Teresa Metcalf Beasley

Adam and Stacey Berebitsky

Citymark Capital