Crain's Cleveland Business, January 27, 2025

Modell Law may not keep the Browns in Cleveland

Legal experts say it may not hold up in court, but it’s worth the risk for the city

By Joe Scalzo

As the battle over where the Cleveland Browns will play in the near future continues to unfold — the lakefront or Brook Park — the ght has more and more centered around one speci c state law tied to Cleveland football past: Section 9.67 of the Ohio Revised Code, aka the “Modell Law."

e 137-word provision, which was enacted in 1996 after Art Modell moved the Browns to Baltimore, is either:

◗ A toothless, untested, unenforceable

piece of legislation that has no bearing on the team’s attempt to build a domed stadium in Brook Park after Huntington Bank Field’s (HBF) lease expires in 2028 (the Browns’ stance); or

◗ A crucial lever available to the city of Cleveland ensuring the Browns won’t be allowed to take $350 million in taxpayer money and ee to the suburbs (the city’s stance).

e Browns led a complaint in federal court on Oct. 24, requesting a declaratory judgment against the city’s plan to invoke the Modell Law by arguing that it’s “unconstitutional on its face” and, even if it’s not, moving to Brook Park “does not trigger or violate the requirements of R.C. 9.67.”

See BROWNS on Page 17

Northeast Ohio is at a critical point in its transformation. This year’s honorees are playing critical roles in making that happen. PAGE 8

Joann’s future depends on buyer after bankruptcy

Retailer’s rapid failure after rst Chapter 11 points to continued struggles

By Jeremy Nobile

No matter how Joann Inc.’s second bankruptcy is resolved, one thing is for certain: e craft and fabrics retailer stands to look much di erent than it did after its rst ill-fated reorganization in 2024.

“I would say that having failed in several months of their (last reorganization) plan, the chances of them having a successful reorganization now at the size they are at are slim,” said Marc Merklin, a bankruptcy attorney with Roetzel & An-

dress, whose clients include some of Joann’s creditors.

“I think the chances of them emerging and looking like Joann did three months ago are probably pretty remote,” Merklin emphasized. “If I were a betting person, that’s how I would look at it.”

Joann’s rst Chapter 11 bankruptcy was completed last spring in just six weeks. e business came out the other side with a reduced debt load but without closing any stores or conducting mass layo s. at result at the end of an exceedingly quick trip through the bankruptcy process was celebrated at the time. Joann even opened more stores after that, growing its footprint to some 850 locations in 49 states operated by a workforce of 19,000.

See JOANN on Page 16

ECONOMY

Cleveland’s largest public companies saw stocks stumble in late 2024.

PAGE 2

Stocks stumble for Cleveland’s largest companies

Local public companies saw big downturns in third quarter of 2024

By Kim Palmer

After outperforming both the S&P 500 and Russell 3000 in the third quarter of 2024, the Cleveland Index’s fourth-quarter update showed many large, local public companies experienced significant downturns in the market.

The index, created by the investment firm Cerity Partners, tracks the performance of the portfolios of the city’s 33 largest public companies within the Cleveland Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

Third-quarter 2024 results showed that Cleveland’s public companies performed 15% better than the S&P 500, but the results were not as impressive as the year came to an end.

“The Cleveland Index went the exact opposite direction in Q4,” said Cerity Partner’s Andrew Burger, a principal and client adviser at the firm. “In Q3, the biggest names in the Index were trouncing the S&P and now it's those names that are really dragging on the index.”

The index is market-cap weighted, which means the larger companies make up a bigger share of the index and a number of the city’s large-cap industrial and manufacturing companies experienced significant downturns during the last quarter.

The 11 largest companies in the index were all down, not just compared to the S&P but also from third-quarter numbers. The index as a whole was down 5.2% compared to the S&P 500.

Key companies such as Nordson and Signet saw declines, with Nordson's stock dropping 20% post-earnings. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., Nordson Corp. and Avient all saw double-digit losses near or in the

Timken Co. stock ended the fourth quarter down around 15%.

Interest rate volatility, Burger points out, can have a cooling effect on companies planning to invest in technology or looking to expand into new markets or services.

A recent higher-than-expected jobs report and other positive economic data reporting means another round of interest rate decrease is in question, he explains.

“Investors tend to apply a premium to predictable, when volatility increases or uncertainty rises that can weigh on valuations,”

Burger said. “When there is less certainty in where the rates are heading, it really challenges the capital allocators to accurately plan or at least feel comfortable with large cash outlays or invest-

ments in new technology.”

Overall, though, Cleveland still finished the year higher than the other indexes (and has outperformed both over the last decade) with the larger industrial companies “holding their own during the market downturn,” according to Baiju Shah, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Partnership.

Still, Cleveland’s disappointing fourth-quarter results show the impact the national and international market trends had on Cleveland companies, Shah explained.

“The big picture trends — when we think about economic development — shows that high-tech manufacturing has been an area of strength for our region. The companies that have performed in the markets are continuing to perform well in spite of the last quarter market,” Shah said.

Shah added that it's crucial to track the performance of the companies using the Cleveland Index, which acts as a real-time economic development indicator that frames how the region’s economy is doing.

“This data is critical for us to not only assess how our companies are doing, it's a proxy for the regional economic development and it is more real-time than some of the information we are able to obtain from federal data sources, which tend to lag quite a bit,” he pointed out.

Not all of the indexed Cleveland companies saw an end-of-2024 downturn in stock performance.

Some large industrial firms “held their own” relative to markets, Shah notes. Eaton Corp., Parker Hannifin Corp. and Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. ended the year with small positive gains.

Other Cleveland companies had a standout performance to end the year, most notably CBIZ Inc. The company made a number of large acquisitions in 2024 — including its largest ever by adding Marcum — finishing the year with stock up by more than 31%.

“CBIZ, not only over this last year but over the last several years, has completed a number of acquisitions enabling them to become one of the largest firms of their type in the country and, because of that, they are getting rewarded in the stock market,” Shah said.

Graftech International Ltd., a Brooklyn Heights-based company, also had an impressive fourth quarter. The manufacturer of graphite used in lithium-ion batteries and insulation used in the solar and semiconductor industry saw stock go up 31% at the end of the year.

Howard Hanna's Relocation Horizons acquires Executive Arrangements

By Alexandra Golden

Relocation Horizons, a Howard Hanna subsidiary, has acquired Executive Arrangements, a service that helps new executives and their partners or families be introduced to the community.

The deal took effect Jan. 1. Financial terms weren't disclosed.

Relocation Horizons is a standalone business formed about a decade ago that focuses on thirdparty relocation throughout the country.

Howard “Hoby” Hanna IV, CEO of Howard Hanna Real Estate Services, told Crain that one of the attractive elements of Executive Arrangements is that it helps "the corporation sell that (job) candidate on relocation and transferring themselves to Northeast Ohio."

“We want to do what we can, obviously, to help people achieve their goal of buying or selling, but

we can also help the corporate community attract more talent, be part of that process and continually make Northeast Ohio the best place it can to live, work and play,” Hanna said.

He characterized the deal as "two Cleveland companies coming together to work together to attract even more talent and work with the corporations to attract more talent to the region.”

Hanna called the combination a “natural fit,” as Executive Arrangements often would reach out to Relocation Horizons to help a client find a home. Or, in some cases, corporations would ask Relocation Horizons to do something similar to what Executive Arrangements does, such as helping “orientate or acclimate” the transferee to the region, Hanna said.

This makes it “one-stop shopping” for the transferee, he said.

“We can work with corporations, offer a service that’s not

leaning toward housing, that’s a separate business that focuses on helping them recruit talent to Northeast Ohio,” Hanna said “And then, when the appropriate time is there, use it as a warm transfer to the right real estate agent who knows the market that person might be looking to move to.”

There's a personal connection, too. When Hanna and his wife moved to Cleveland in 2003 after acquiring Smythe Cramer, they worked with Executive Arrangements and its president, Margy Judd, to be introduced to the community. He said he has “always admired” the work of Executive Arrangements.

“Since founding Executive Arrangements in 1979, I have always envisioned expanding our reach beyond the Cleveland and Greater Akron areas,” Judd said in a statement. “Partnering with Relocation Horizons enables us to extend the

EA experience far beyond our Cleveland roots, elevating the transferee journey across Howard Hanna's 13-state footprint. Together, we are well-positioned to deliver unparalleled value to our corporate clients and their relocating employees.”

Judd will stay in her position and run the division with her 12-person team who all have an offer to stay with the company, Hanna said. Executive Arrangements also will keep its name.

Conversations for the acquisition started in fall 2024, Hanna said, when a real estate agent told him Judd was looking to take a step back from the business but remain involved.

Hanna said the primary goal in the transaction is to continue to service Executive Arrangements clients at a high level and “not skip a beat and help them with their needs as they relocate people to Cleveland.”

He also plans to expand the company. Towards the back half of the year, Hanna said, the goal is to roll out the Executive Arrangements model in other markets that Howard Hanna is in, such as Pittsburgh and Charlotte. This would include having people on the ground in those cities with additional support from the Cleveland office from the accounting, IT and processing sides.

"This strategic acquisition underscores our commitment to innovation and leadership in relocation and talent management," Kelly Hanna Riley, president of Relocation Horizons, said in a statement. "By connecting people to communities in more meaningful ways, we are creating significant new business opportunities for our Howard Hanna agents and providing transferees with expert real estate guidance across our extensive service area."

20% range. Steris, Avery Dennison Corp. and

Jewish Federation of Cleveland receives $90 million grant

By Paige Bennett

e Jewish Federation of Cleveland on Tuesday, Jan. 21, announced a $90 million grant from the Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel Supporting Foundation to boost an initiative to transform Jewish day schools in the greater Cleveland area.

e grant will serve as matching dollars toward a $180 million initiative that encompasses a $100 million endowment fund for ve area Jewish day schools (Fuchs Mizrachi School, Gross Schechter Day School, Hebrew Academy of Cleveland, Joseph & Florence Mandel Jewish Day School, and Yeshiva Derech Hatorah) and a $80 million capital improvements fund.

“Today’s day school graduates are tomorrow’s Jewish community leaders,” Jehuda Reinharz, president and CEO of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, said in a news release. “ is is especially true in Jewish Cleveland, where more than 80% of Jewish adults who attended day school are among the most engaged and active in Jewish life here. We are thrilled to be able to play a meaningful role in the future of Jewish Day School education in Cleveland by providing these matching dollars to the community’s fundraising e orts.”

e campaign will have an incredibly important impact by ensuring Jewish continuity in Cleveland, Je rey Wild, chair of the Federation’s Day School Transformation Initiative and chair of the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, said in a phone interview.

"All of our day schools will now

have a $20 million endowment fund, which will allow for them not just to increase the excellence of their products, but to ensure they have the resources to provide for salary retention and recruitment, to make sure our kids are being educated by the best and that our teachers are being paid competitively," Wild said.

e Mandel grant, he said, has inspired "record donations" from families in Jewish Cleveland. e federation feels con dent that it will be able to reach its goal of matching the $90 million, he said.

“ e impact of the Mandel Foundation’s commitment to Jewish Cleveland’s future cannot be overstated,” Erika RudinLuria, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, said in the release. “ is unprecedented matching grant will challenge our community to take our already superb local Jewish day school system to the next level of excellence. is leadership investment by the Mandel Foundation – and the investments it will continue to inspire – will reverberate throughout Cleveland and beyond for generations.”

Wild described the grant as "an investment in the entirety of Cleveland Jewish day school system." He said the initiative can serve as a roadmap for other cities struggling to nd resources to ensure that Jewish day schools continue providing education for generations to come.

Fundraising for the day school initiative will run through December 2026, the news release says. e Federation, created in 1903, focuses on the health and vitality of the Jewish community.

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Notre Dame College campus draws interest, but future still uncertain

By Joe Scalzo

Since hitting the real estate market last spring, nding a buyer for Notre Dame College’s campus has been like signing people up for a marathon.

which placed a bid on the site in July with plans to use it as a training site for an expansion National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) team.

cause I know those costs are not cheap,” Love said — and there continues to be public access to the campus for people in the community.

" ere has de nitely been a lot of interest,” said Mike Love, director of planning and development for South Euclid, “but getting someone across the nish line is a very di erent story.”

e sprawling, 50-acre site, which includes 14 buildings and three houses, became available in early May after the 102-yearold college closed at the end of 2024’s spring semester.

e city has met with a “variety of groups” who have shown interest in the site, Love said, and city leaders are hoping to know the nal outcome for the property in the next few months.

Although Denver was eventually awarded the NWSL franchise, CSG co-founder Michael Murphy said he is still interested in the site as a training facility for professional soccer. CSG was awarded the rights to an MLS Next Pro team in 2022, and that team was originally expected to begin play in 2025.

“We believe that introducing professional soccer to a community like South Euclid or another Northeast Ohio locale holds tremendous potential to cultivate a deep connection to the global game,” Murphy wrote in a text message to Crain’s. “ is initiative would not only engage local fans but also help to create a vibrant soccer culture in the region.”

“Hopefully, ngers crossed, we're gonna know more before the end of the month or before the end of the quarter as to what direction things are going,” Love said.

The property is owned by Bank of America and the listing is being handled by the Cleveland office of Hanna Commercial Real Estate, but potential buyers are required to meet with the city before making a bid, Love said. BoA declined an interview request, and Mac Biggar, president of Hanna Commercial, did not respond to interview requests.

e city has met with several groups, including some who want to use it for religious education as well as mixed-use developers who would preserve the current structures and add new ones, Love said.

“To my knowledge, we're not at the point where they're able to announce who the leading bidder is,” he said.

So far, the only group to go public with its interest is the Cleveland Soccer Group (CSG),

e former NDC site is zoned for residential use, predating the suburb’s zoning code, and includes gyms, a library, an auditorium in the former Regina High School part of the campus, dormitories with a total of 300 rooms, laboratories and classrooms. Single-family homes surround most of the site. South Euclid’s zoning code currently allows one house for every 75 feet of frontage.

ere was no stated asking price when the property went on the market, but Cuyahoga County assigns the property a market value of $30 million, according to land records.

“It’s the largest site in our city that is available, and probably the largest that will be available for a long period of time,” Love said. “While the city has an active role (in nding a buyer), I would say that we're not being too active in it.”

In the meantime, Bank of America is still paying for the property’s monthly maintenance costs — “We appreciate that be-

“City Council did pass a resolution stating the city's preference that for whatever happens to the property, public and community access remain a critical component for the future of that property,” Love said. “For 100 years, the community has pretty much been able to access the property freely. And to Notre Dame's credit, they did keep it very much an open campus. ere are a lot of other college campuses that are closed o to the community. Bank of America has been committed to maintaining that community access while they own the property and that's something that we appreciate and would work to maintain for any future buyer.”

Most Northeast Ohio colleges and universities are struggling with the same enrollment andnancial issues that doomed Notre Dame College, which makes nding a buyer a “de nite challenge,” Love said.

South Euclid isn't alone in that respect; at least 73 public or nonpro t colleges have closed, merged, or announced closures or mergers since March 2020, according to Best Colleges. Urbana University, which was located about 45 minutes from Dayton, closed in 2020 and sat vacant until last year when it transitioned to a prep academy.

“We’re ready to work with anyone to nd the best solution for the community and the future of the property,” Love said. “If we have to go through a rezoning … that’s a process we’ll work through. You’re trying to ensure that you have the proper preservation of some buildings that have a lot of historic value while also ensuring the site can function for whatever the user intends.”

Notre Dame College in South Euclid closed last spring after 102 years. JOE SCALZO

The value of union strikes under Trump

engaged in rolling and targeted strikes across a handful of locations in an e ort to force those companies to commence collective bargaining during pending challenges to union representation before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Eric Baisden Co-chair, Labor & Employment Practice Group, Benesch EBaisden@ beneschlaw.com

Adam Primm Partner, Benesch APrimm@ beneschlaw.com

By Eric Baisden and Adam Primm

During President Biden’s administration, union e orts to in uence companies’ labor management actions increased dramatically, which is unsurprising given his union-friendly posture. However, union membership in 2023 continued to decrease, falling from 10.1% of the workforce to 10%, a record low. In the private sector, membership in 2023 remained at a record low 6%.

Despite this diminishing union in uence, work stoppages increased exponentially. Strikes are public and tend to draw favorable media coverage, although value may not follow. There were 354 strikes in 2023 involving 492,000 workers, four times more than in 2022 and eight times more than 2021. In 2023, the highly publicized United Autoworkers (UAW) rolling strikes involved 50,000 employees at various plants operated by the big three automakers Ford, GM and Stellantis.

While the strikes may have contributed to the UAW securing a 25% wage increase, the cost 15 months later is signi cant. In Michigan, Stellantis laid o 1,100 workers, GM laid o 1,300 and Ford downsized the scope of a planned opportunity, resulting in 800 fewer jobs than originally expected. Overall, more than 3,000 autoworker jobs were lost in Michigan one year following the celebrated UAW strikes. Similarly, in December 2024, Starbucks and Amazon

Like the UAW strikes, media coverage celebrated the strikes, but the impact appears nonexistent. The Starbucks rolling strike lasted a handful of days and only a ected 300 stores and 5,000 employees — a miniscule percentage of Starbucks’ 10,000-plus stores and almost 200,000 workers.

The Amazon strike impacted less than 10 of Amazon’s more than 100 locations, and workers generally continued working. At most, 7,000 of Amazon’s 740,000-plus workers were impacted, less than 1%. The strike did not a ect Amazon’s holiday deliveries, despite the Teamsters’ e orts to blame corporate greed for disruptions. Rather, the “strikes” were more accurately described as informational picketing.

With President Trump’s return to the White House, many predict a return to the policies of his rst term. However, President Trump has notably so ened his stance on strike activity and unions in general. The most obvious example is his statements regarding the potential International Longshoremen Association (ILA) strike against the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX).

In October 2024, the ILA struck all 36 ports a liated with the USMX, and 45,000 employees stopped working for three days. The strike contributed to a 62% wage increase in the yet-to-be nalized six-year

collective bargaining agreement, although negotiations on issues like automation continued.

With the date to renew the strike looming, Trump announced his support for the ILA over the automation issue. The strike was averted in early January when the parties agreed to a tentative collective bargaining agreement, with ILA President Harold Daggett crediting then-President-elect Trump’s support as a major factor in reaching that agreement.

While a Trump Administration is favorable for employers, it appears unlikely to shi as far as his rst administration. His statements supporting the ILA and nomination of employee-friendly Lori Chavez-DeRemer as Secretary of Labor instead signal moderation.

Nonetheless, employers should still expect Trump’s NLRB to rescind many union-friendly positions put in place by the Biden NLRB. This includes soon-tobe former NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo’s memo attacking captive audience meetings and overturning Biden-era NLRB decisions forcing employers to recognize and bargain with unions without winning a representation election. How drastic the shi will be remains to be seen.

Contact our team to ensure compliance with evolving NLRB policies.

Ohio’s moment in the political spotlight

Ohio is having its political glow-up. The state, often pretty vanilla in its political presentation to the country, all of a sudden is filled with prominent figures — all affiliated with President Donald Trump and the MAGA movement.

Attention is an important commodity — maybe the most important commodity — in a fractured information environment, and Ohio’s newfound prominence could pay dividends in a highly transactional administration. That will require the state’s new leaders at the national level to focus on Ohio’s needs, and not simply advance all the policy preferences of the Trump administration.

Ohio finds itself in the unique position of having two brand-new U.S. senators, in Republicans Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted, while also being the home of the new vice president, former Sen. JD Vance.

Vance, elected to the Senate in 2022, and Moreno, who won his seat in November when he defeated longtime incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, both owe their political trajectory largely to Trump. The president endorsed both in tough Republican primaries, virtually guaranteeing them the party

nod. Moreno certainly benefited from having Trump on the general election ballot last fall, though any Ohio Republican now has a clear edge in statewide races.

And Vance, obviously, showed enough in his short time in the Senate to secure the VP nod — and put himself in prime position to run for president in 2028. It has been more than a century since an Ohioan held the presidency (that would be the unmemorable Warren G. Harding), but Vance is in a decent position to break that streak.

Vance and Moreno will be loyal advocates of the Trump cause. That’s what both have said, consistently, in their relatively brief time in public life. Regardless of whether you’re a Trump supporter, dissenter or something in between, you know exactly where you stand with Vance and Moreno.

Husted’s route to national political prominence is different, since he was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine to the Senate seat Vance vacated and will have to run in a special election in 2026. He is, though, giving signals that he will be a reliable vote and voice for the president, and given political realities, there’s every reason to think Husted will be

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right there with Vance and Moreno in backing Trump every step of the way.

It shouldn’t be too much to ask, though, that the new senators remember that they represent the people of Ohio and that while they are strong supporters of the president, they can and should speak up if the administration’s priorities run counter to the interests of this state.

So far, the Trump administration is focused on using executive orders to unwind Biden administration policies. Fair enough. That’s how it works these days, as relatively little work of importance is being done legislatively. But some of that unwinding could come at the expense of infrastructure, semiconductor and energy-related legislation that has been important to Ohio. The upcoming budget fight, too, is sure to include major cuts, some of which could be detrimental to the state’s interest. Moreno and Husted will be on board for most of that, but they shouldn’t be abashed about speaking out if and when administration initiatives are harmful to Ohio.

DeWine’s pick of his long-serving lieutenant governor Husted for the Senate set up another dynamic: a more wide-open 2026 gubernatorial race on

the Republican side, featuring another person who knows how to generate attention.

Entrepreneur and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who recently exited (or was removed from) the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative now led by Elon Musk, has indicated that he will run for governor in 2026. He’ll battle at least current Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who officially announced his candidacy on Thursday, Jan. 23, and probably others, for the Republican nomination.

It’s way too early to project what will happen in that gubernatorial contest, but it’s fair to say Ramaswamy will bring an intensity and showmanship to campaigning that the state doesn’t generally see. DeWine has been, in our judgment, a good governor but "intense" and "showman" are not terms used in his vicinity.

Ohio Democrats may yet get their act together and field a competitive gubernatorial candidate in 2026, but for now, the state is moving in lockstep with the Republican Party. It’s the job of our new leaders to make sure the party doesn’t leave Ohio behind.

JD Vance

Vivek Ramaswamy

Jon Husted

Bernie Moreno

Eaton is taking on electricity’s biggest challenge

Company’s smart equipment helps to ease home power management

By Dan Shingler

Right now just might be Eaton’s moment — and the company says it has the pieces and initiatives in place to make the most of it.

“We’re incredibly excited,” said Paul Ryan, the company’s general manager for connected solutions and charging infrastructure.

Eaton sees a dramatically changing world in power management, which is the company’s core competency. Demand on the grid is expected to signicantly increase with the advent of arti cial intelligence and other data centers.

at’s putting more pressure on the nation’s electricity grid — as is increasing severe weather — and the grid needs to be protected. ose same threats are causing more homeowners to install backup batteries or generators and those all need to be integrated into each home’s electric system — and to communicate with the grid.

Electric vehicles are increasing in number globally, even in the reticent U.S., and their charging requirements usually represent the largest power loads most homes will have. at has to be managed as fo other devices that use increasing amounts of power and rely on having reliable and constant access to the internet and Wi-Fi.

And more homes and small businesses are installing solar power systems. ose need to be integrated not only with their home systems but with the larger electricity grid to which they will sometimes be sending and selling the power they generate.

“ ere are signi cant megatrends happening at this moment,” Ryan said. “All of these markets are going through a transformational change ... and we’re right at the intersection of it to help our customers with that transition.”

It represents the biggest changes and challenges for electric systems since the advent of the light bulb, Ryan and others say.

Eaton foresees a transformation away from an electrical system built around distributed power — where electricity is generated at central locations and sent out over wires that carry it in only one direction.

What lies ahead is a new electric system with a myriad of sources of power and places to store it, from the solar panels on the roof to the battery banks in the basement to the EV that’s charging or fully charged in a home’s garage.

“Everything as a grid,” is the current mantra around Eaton.

For homes to work e ectively on that grid, they need to man-

age their power better, Eaton contends.

at means not charging an EV on a hot afternoon if possible because that’s when power is the most expensive. Instead, charge your EV overnight when electric rates tend to be lowest. e power can then be sold back to the grid during those hot afternoons.

Eaton’s making smart equipment that can communicate with the grid and the devices in a home. One example is a smart circuit breaker that can tell if an EV needs charging, if the grid is operating with a heavy load, and how much power a home is drawing to power all its devices at a given time. It can use that data to automatically charge the EV at the optimum time and avoid overcharging the EV and other devices, which is hard on batteries. It also enables a homeowner to override functions via an app and a Wi-Fi connection to the circuit breaker.

“You can use smart breakers to extend the life of your battery systems,” said Rebecca Bitter, Eaton’s product-line manager for home energy management systems.

Smart circuit breakers also enable homeowners to get more out of their existing electric panels. Typically, the size of the panel determines how much power a home can draw. But with traditional circuit breakers, a homeowner usually assumes that all of their circuits are operating at full power all of the time.

at’s rarely the case, though, and smart circuit breakers can monitor and manage how much power is being used at any one time, keeping the panel from overloading and enabling a homeowner to connect more things to their existing panels. It can also turn o unnecessary loads during peak demand and peak-pricing hours for power.

As more EVs come online with their heavy charging loads, such management tools will be critical, Eaton reasons.

“It really unlocks control at the edge of the grid and in homes,” Bitter said of the company’s smart breakers.

To make the most of this opportunity, Eaton is partnering with companies like Tesla, to ensure its equipment works with third-party battery systems, other equipment and the apps that control them.

It’s also working with the companies that will install such equipment, such as major homebuilders and electrical contractors, to educate them on how the equipment works and can be installed in new houses or retro tted to existing homes.

“Eaton has long-established relationships with major home builders — and that’s exactly what we’re doing … and equally

with electrical contractors,” Ryan said. “We can’t just produce this kind of technology and expect it to be installed.”

As for homeowners, Eaton’s goal is to make its technology something they don’t need to worry about, to make smart elec-

trical systems operate like legacy systems.

“In my view, a homeowner shouldn’t even have to worry about this. is kind of system should just work and they never have to think about it,” Ryan said. “Most homeowners don’t know what a smart circuit breaker is yet.”

Eaton sees huge opportunities ahead, Bitter and Ryan said. While they might not realize it, many homeowners already have Eaton equipment in their traditional electric systems, but now they might find more reasons to use it.

About 6% of Eaton’s business comes from what it provides to residential users now, and that’s a number it expects to increase.

“We’re not trying to focus on niche use cases — we truly believe this market is scaling up now,” Ryan said. “This truly is game-changing.”

Eaton’s AbleEdge home energy management system is connected to a Tesla Powerwall. EATON

Eaton’s headquarters in Beachwood WIKIPEDIA COMMONS

Cleveland and Northeast Ohio are at a critical point in their transformation. Our Newsmakers of 2024 are playing critical roles in making that happen.

From setting lakefront and riverfront development in motion to remaking Cleveland’s airport, pulling o big deals and reimagining the work of community development corporations, the Newsmakers were busy in 2024. And 2025 promises even more.

Crain’s will honor the Newsmakers at a luncheon in March at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown. e event will feature a conversation with two prominent people on the list: Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam. Learn more and register at CrainsCleveland.com/ events.

Dr. Christine Alexander-Rager

President and CEO, MetroHealth

Uncertainty at the leadership level was a major storyline for Cuyahoga County’s safety-net hospital in 2024, one that ended with Dr. Christine AlexanderRager in the leadership position.

Over the summer, MetroHealth’s board of trustees red President and CEO Airica Steed. It was the second time in two years that the health system had red the organization’s top leader.

“It has become clear that the Board and Dr. Steed fundamentally disagree about the priorities and performance standards needed from our CEO for MetroHealth to ful ll its mission,” MetroHealth board chair Dr. E. Harry Walker said in a statement issued shortly after Steed’s Aug. 9 ring.

Steed, in a subsequent interview with Crain’s sister brand Modern Healthcare, said she had been blindsided by her termination. A press release later issued by her attorney said she would be “exploring all of her options, including legal action.”

Steed’s dismissal wasn’t the only public dispute MetroHealth had with one of its former CEOs in 2024. e Ohio Auditor of the State’s o ce released a report in November on its criminal investigation and special audit of allegations by the MetroHealth board that former president and CEO Dr. Akram Boutros paid himself $1.9 million in unauthorized bonuses.  MetroHealth’s board red Boutros in November 2022. e

Nic Barlage

auditor’s report concluded that Boutros’ action regarding the bonuses weren’t criminal. e health system’s board said that the report shows Boutros did not share the development and management of the bonus program directly with the board. e auditor’s o ce was not able to determine whether Boutros had proper authorization to participate in the program, according to the report.

Boutros, meanwhile, said through his lawyers that the investigation’s ndings clear him of wrongdoing. He led a new lawsuit against MetroHealth in November, accusing the health system of breach of contract, promissory estoppel and defamation.

Following Steed’s departure this summer, MetroHealth appointed Alexander-Rager, a longtime employee of the health system, to the president and CEO role. In October, the board extended her contract through 2025.

Alexander-Rager, who is a family

CEO, Rock Entertainment Group and the Cleveland Cavaliers

To appreciate Cavaliers CEO Nic Barlage’s big 2024, it’s best to remember something he said In October 2022, a few months after the Cavs went all-in on the Donovan Mitchell trade and Barlage was asked about the city’s sports fatalism.

He wasn’t having it.

medicine physician by training, has worked at MetroHealth for nearly three decades in a variety of roles. She served as interim chief physician and clinical executive, overseeing the health system’s clinical enterprise, spent 14 years serving as chair of family medicine and founded MetroHealth’s School Health Program, which provides health care services at area schools.  She has taken the helm at MetroHealth amid the health system’s public clashes with former leadership, as well as during a difcult period in health care in general. Hospitals and health systems are contending with labor shortages, cybersecurity threats and the rising costs of drugs and supplies.  Walker, MetroHealth’s board chair, described Alexander-Rager as “the ideal leader to guide us forward” in a news release announcing her promotion.

Leading the health system through these challenges will likely be a key part of her role in 2025.

—Paige Bennett

“We want people saying, ‘Damn it, I’m a Cleveland fan and it feels damn good to be one.’ ”

“We’ve got to kick that feeling,” said Barlage, who is also the CEO of Rock Entertainment Group (REG) and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. “We want people saying, ‘Damn it, I’m a Cleveland fan and it feels damn good to be one.’ ” e Cavs did their part in 2024, starting the season with 15 straight wins en route to an NBA-best 36-6 record as of Jan. 21. eir “Core Four” of Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen is signed through the 2027-28 season (at least), they’ve sold out 124 straight games, they lead the NBA in local TV ratings and the franchise recently broke ground on its new downtown riverfront practice facility, the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center.

REG’s other properties are also moving up and to the right, with

the Cleveland Monsters on pace to lead the AHL in attendance for the fourth time in ve years and the G League Cleveland Charge trending toward its best-ever attendance, thanks to a successful move to Public Hall in December. REG is also moving to boost women’s sports in the city, from the continued growth of the REG-sponsored “Tennis in the Land” tournament to last April’s successful Women’s Final Four at RMFH (which had REG’s ngerprints all over it) to the organization’s recent decision to bid on a WNBA team.

REG also supported Cleveland Soccer Group’s bid for an expansion National Women’s Soccer League team, with the city emerging as one of three nalists before

losing out to Denver.

At the center of all of this is Barlage, who joined the Cavaliers in 2017 as president of business operations before replacing Len Komoroski as CEO in 2022. Barlage talks like a CEO in interviews — his love a air with the word “momentum,” in particular, is a running joke among REG employees — but he’s built his career on the region’s “everything is earned” ethos, playing college basketball at Division III Saint John’s (Minn.) University, working 18-hour days as an intern with the Alexandria Beetles and applying to 172 jobs as a senior with zero callbacks.

He nally got his rst break when the Phoenix Suns hired him as a

sales consultant in 2006, beginning a meteoric rise that saw him emerge as a key leader for the Cavs — and, ultimately, Cleveland itself. Barlage helped lead the FieldHouse’s $185 million renovation and he repeatedly stressed the importance of investing in the city’s downtown, a stark contrast to the city’s professional football team.

“Every company has an independent choice that they can make, and we respect the independent choices of the companies, but our choice is to double down (in the city),” Barlage said in October. “From our perspective, we’re all in on downtown. We’re all in on the urban core.”

—Joe Scalzo

Justin Bibb

Mayor, city of Cleveland

Last year marked the halfway point of Justin Bibb’s term and the last full year before he would have to campaign for another four years as Cleveland’s mayor.

In those 12 months, Bibb has made significant headway on some big projects and addressed several critical issues affecting neighborhoods across the city. That includes historic progress on massive long-term infrastructure projects designed to transform Cleveland’s downtown.

Moving ahead on the design and funding plan for the city’s lakefront and riverfront seemed ambitious to some and impossible to others, but with millions of state and federal dollars in hand, Bibb’s Shoreto-Core-to-Shore plan is in motion.

Among the wins are the more than $150 million for the North Coast Connector, a land bridge connecting the city’s central business district to Lake Erie. Another big victory: the passage of a crucial, complicated and controversial city ordinance creating a unique taxing district set to pay for a portion of the nearly $400 million lakefront development.

The project will be managed by the nonprofit North Coast Waterfront Development Corp., formed in 2024. The end of the year also saw shovels in the ground for the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center, the first project

of the $3 billion Cuyahoga Riverfront transformation plan. The Cleveland Cavs are also partners in that project.

In March, 52 recruits made up the 155th Cleveland Division of Police Academy class. The number was larger than the last four classes combined and followed a concerted recruitment effort by the city that included increased cadet pay, added retention bonuses and signon bonuses, and moved the maximum age to join the division to 55.

A program called Raising Investment in Safety for Everyone (RISE), coupled with the 2024 Summer Safety Plan, resulted in a decline of homicides by 26%, more than 700 arrests, nearly 400 recovered guns, more than 4,300 traffic tickets and seizure of hundreds of pounds of illegal drugs.

Jerry Grisko CEO, CBiz Inc.

CBIZ Inc. has always been a serial acquirer, but a key deal by the company in 2024 is uniquely special — and not just because it’s the largest in the firm’s 28-year history.

Last summer, it announced a blockbuster deal to purchase New York-based account firm Marcum in a transaction valued at $2.3 billion.” A key piece of that deal coming together is Jerry Grisko, the accounting and professional ser-

vices firm’s CEO for nearly a decade.

CBIZ’s focus on growth has been particularly sharp since Grisko stepped in as the company’s top executive in 2016. And while there’s been a natural emphasis on organic growth for the business, acquisitions have long been a linchpin of the broader business strategy for the firm. Such deals helped the CBIZ footprint blossom to more than

Bryant L. Francis

Director of port control, city of Cleveland

Superman is the Clevelander whose flight strategy might get the most attention in 2025.

But Bryant L. Francis is a close second.

Stable neighborhoods filled with an abundance of safe and affordable housing was another Bibb administration goal that made headway in 2024.

Later in the year, the Cleveland Housing Investment Fund launched with an $18 million influx from the city, matched by $20 million from KeyBank. The goal is to grow the housing fund to $100 million with additional private, philanthropic and investment funds, in the next 10 years. The city also has embarked on a modular housing strategy and received millions in brownfield, remediation, HUD and historic preservation dollars.

In 2025, look for more news out of the Bibb camp as the West Side Market closes in on the $60 million needed for maintenance and upgrades and commercial corridors on the city’s southeast, west and middle neighborhoods see massive city investment.

There also will be another election for the young mayor, who beat out a slate of established candidates to earn his first term.

The question of whether any well-known opponents believe they can run against and defeat Bibb this time is still up in the air, as the filing deadline is still months away.

—Kim Palmer

120 locations and some 6,500 employees before its last acquisition.

As director of port control for the city of Cleveland, Francis has the huge job of running Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and Burke Lakefront Airport. The job at Hopkins, the city’s dominant airport, is getting even bigger, as the facility is in the early moments of a major makeover: a multibillion-dollar Terminal Modernization Development Program (TMDP) that in 2024 secured important grant funding and about $175 million in revenue-based lease agreements with airline carriers in 2024.

More federal grants are on the way to help fund the work, along with non-aviation-related concessions and parking fees.

The TMDP will be the biggest makeover in Hopkins’ history and, over several years, will improve the airport’s infrastructure and passenger facilities, and help make it a bigger driver of economic growth for the region.

“It’s every component of the terminal campus — everything is outdated. It’s too small and the demand is growing,” Francis told attendees at a Crain’s Power Breakfast event on March 27.

Francis noted that passenger traffic levels at Hopkins have begun surpassing pre-pandemic activity, “placing further demands on the existing airport infrastructure and facilities.” He said approval of the first phase of the TDMP “is the culmination of many months of working together” with Hopkins’ airline partners to ultimately “deliver world-class facilities which our customers desire and deserve.”

In October, one of the first steps in the airport’s master plan to create more parking space for travelers began with the demoli-

While most of the firm’s transactions have been relatively modest, CBIZ — which ranks as the 19th largest public company in Northeast Ohio, according to Crain’s research — made waves with the Marcum acquisition.

At the time of the deal, CBIZ ranked as the 11th-largest accounting firm in the U.S.

With the integration of Marcum, however, CBIZ has launched itself well inside the top 10.

The transaction now positions CBIZ as the seventh-largest accounting firm in the country with nearly $3 billion in annual revenue, more than 10,000 employees and 135,000 clients.

tion of the shuttered Sheraton Cleveland hotel.

Francis joined the city of Cleveland in May 2023, after a seven-year career as director of aviation for the Port of Oakland in Northern California. He has nearly 30 years of experience in the aviation sector, including about half of that time at the director level.

For much of 2024, Hopkins forecasted that it would reach 10.25 million passengers for the year, its highest level since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the airline business and much of the global economy.

At the end of the year, though, Francis noted that it would not quite reach that level for 2024, as passenger traffic dipped late in the year due to some airline capacity reductions that left fewer seats available.

“Select airlines have reduced capacity at CLE which makes it extremely difficult to maintain passenger levels year over year. We are engaging with airline partners to reverse this recent trend in the New Year,” Francis said.

Even so, the airport still projects its final 2024 passenger total will “exceed the 10,040,817 passengers it welcomed in 2019,” representing an important postpandemic milestone.

—Scott Suttell

On the list of largest firms, CBIZ now slots in behind some elite company that includes the Big 4, RSM US and BDO USA.

Amy McGahan, director of corporate and strategic communications for CBIZ, described the deal as a “major step forward in accelerating our growth strategy” and one that “solidifies our standing as a leading provider of professional services to the middle market.”

Allan Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group, a well-known advisor in the accounting industry, estimates that the CBIZ and Marcum combination represents the third largest M&A deal in ac-

Lourenco Goncalves

Chairman, president and CEO, Cleveland-Cliffs

Lourenco Goncalves, the chairman, president and CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs Inc., has seldom had trouble making the news, but 2024 was a banner year for headlines, even by his standards.

Goncalves picked up where he left off in 2023 when he garnered plenty of attention by making an unsolicited bid for U.S. Steel. He closed out that year trying to convince investors and policymakers that his bid for the company, initially $7.3 billion, was a better offer than the $14 billion in cash that U.S. Steel wanted to accept from Japan’s Nippon Steel. He spent the early months of 2024 raising his bid to about $13.8 billion in the form of Cliffs’ shares, at least in terms of the stock’s pre-transaction value at the time. Goncalves argued that his increased offer of $54 per share was actually worth more than Nippon’s $55-per-share offer because of the upside potential of Cliffs’ shares.

Then, as Cliffs’ share price plummeted from more than $20

per share in April to less than $10 in December, Goncalves spent much of his time courting a diverse array of politicians he hoped would kill the deal. Goncalves’ cause was one of the few in recent memory to garner support from both sides of the aisle. He made numerous appearances with now-former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who opposed the deal, and also found he had Republicans such as former U.S. Sen. (and now Vice President)

JD Vance also opposing the Nippon deal.

President Joe Biden even jumped in on Goncalves’ side and eventually blocked Nippon’s deal with an executive order in the first week of 2025.

Nippon and U.S. Steel are now suing the government over what U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt said was a “shameful and corrupt” action that harmed his company, its workers and national security, not to mention U.S. relations with Japan or company shareholders.

Goncalves, who withdrew his bid last year, but also said, “I never give up,” is now back in the running and fray to buy the big Pittsburgh-based steel company. This time, with the stock he offers as currency significantly devalued from its previous high, he apparently needs help.

Cliffs reportedly is working with Nucor on a joint bid to buy U.S. Steel and could unveil it once the Nippon deal is formally abandoned.

—Dan Shingler

“Every day something now seems to happen in the accounting profession that has never happened before and/or was something we could never have imagined.”

Allan Koltin, CEO of Koltin Consulting Group

counting history by dollar value.

Koltin described the deal as “groundbreaking,” and not just because of the price tag.

“Every day something now seems to happen in the accounting profession that has never happened before and/or was something we could never have

imagined,” Koltin told Crain’s. “If someone had asked me a year ago if CBIZ and Marcum would ever combine I would have said, ‘not in this lifetime.’”

The deal positions CBIZ as a trendsetter going forward. If nothing else, it sends a signal to the industry that blockbuster deals like these are not just do -

Chris Gorman

Chairman and CEO, KeyCorp

Cleveland’s KeyCorp made some big moves in 2024 that set it up for what could be a particularly interesting 2025.

And a major figure behind all of it is Chris Gorman, the financial services company’s chairman and CEO, who will mark five years as the business’ top executive this May.

The parent company of KeyBank has been growing steadily over the last several years. And while some competitors have chipped away at its dominant presence in Northeast Ohio, the bank is still the largest in this region and the third largest in the state by deposit market share.

Separately from a strong market position, the company grappled with profitability in 2024 in what proved to be a challenging banking environment.

This was not totally unexpected. At the beginning of the year, Gorman acknowledged to investors that the bank was “not well positioned” for the rapid rise in interest rates that occurred in 2023.

But the bank continued to improve. Its income benefited from a repricing in securities and good fee income. The wealth management business was a prime driver of that.

that “We, Key, are not for sale.” Getting regulators to approve the deal, which was completed through two transactions, was surely an undertaking all its own. As such, Key’s board awarded several of its top executives with a combined $16.7 billion in stock awards — including $7.5 million for Gorman himself.

Now, the question is how Key puts its additional capital to work.

able, but potentially necessary when jockeying with larger competitors.

The transaction could also have an influence on private equity firms and other investment groups getting into the accounting profession, which could stimulate more deal flow.

“I think this is going to spur a whole other round of outside investors wanting to get into the space,” Koltin predicts. That could include private equity as well as sovereign wealth funds, large family offices, pension funds and other investors outside the U.S.

—Jeremy

Nobile

And come summer, Key made waves as it announced a strategic deal with The Bank of Nova Scotia, a large Canadian financial institution operating as Scotiabank.

In August, Key agreed to a $2.8 billion equity deal with Scotiabank that gives the latter a 14.9% stake in the company, cementing it as Key’s largest minority shareholder. Gorman celebrated the investment as a “very exciting day” for the company.

While Key’s profitability lagged, it was not necessarily in need of capital. Many observers speculated that the investment might be the first step in the Canadian company kicking the tires on a controlling acquisition.

But Gorman quickly poured water on that idea, emphasizing

While enhanced capital levels would enable Key to even better weather an economic downturn, should one occur, it also gives it a war chest to invest in operations or pursue another bank deal — something that becomes even more intriguing under a new presidential administration that is expected to present an environment more favorable toward banks and less scrutinizing of mergers and acquisitions.

Key’s last bank acquisition involved the roll up of First Niagara Financial Group of Buffalo, New York, which was completed in 2016 under then-CEO Beth Mooney.

Indeed, the timing could be right for Key in 2025 to buy another bank to enhance its franchise and further expand its footprint.

“Clearly, we have dry powder,” Gorman told investors in October, adding that if there is “dislocation in the market, we could take advantage of that.”

—Jeremy Nobile

Beth M. Hammack

President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland

It didn’t take long for Beth M. Hammack to stand out as a new member of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Hammack, who on Aug. 21 became president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, was the sole dissenter in an 11-1 vote on Dec. 18 (her third meeting at the central bank) to cut the federal funds rate to a range of 4.25% to 4.5%, Her preference was to hold rates steady, in the range of 4.5% to 4.75%.

Hammack’s dissent was just the second at a policy meeting since mid-2022.

The rationale, Hammack wrote in a statement after the vote, was straightforward: Inflation “remains elevated, and recent progress in returning inflation to 2 percent has been uneven.” She argued that keeping rates somewhat higher was “the best choice given the strength of recent economic data, accommodative financial conditions, and my forecast that inflation

will remain somewhat above 2 percent over the next year amid a healthy labor market.” To get back to the 2% goal, she noted, “monetary policy will need to remain modestly restrictive for some time.”

Inflation has been tamed a bit but remains stubbornly above policymakers’ preference.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Jan. 15 reported that the Consumer Price Index, a key infla-

tion gauge, rose 2.9% on an annual basis in December, up from 2.7% in November. Energy, food, new and used vehicles, car insurance and airline fares were among the contributors to the increase.

Bloomberg noted recently that the Fed “may only lower rates twice in 2025 amid slowing progress on cooling inflation” to the 2% goal.

As head of the Cleveland Fed, Hammack succeeded Loretta Mester, who retired last June 30 due to Fed rules that limit officials’ service based on age and length of service. Mester was one of the Fed’s more hawkish voices and often favored a tighter monetary policy stance than her colleagues. Hammack looks to be of a similar stripe. She told The Wall Street Journal recently that when it comes to making further cuts, “We can be very patient.” The Journal noted that “She now thinks it is likely that, decades from now, the ultralow rates of the 2010s will

YOUR VISION, OUR EXPERTISE

look more like the exception and not the norm.”

Hammack came to the Cleveland Fed after a three-decade-plus run at

“You can see this effort of everyone really working together to support the city and make this as vibrant a place as it could possibly be.”

Goldman Sachs Group Inc., where she began working in 1993 as a capital markets analyst. Her last role at Goldman was as co-head of the firm’s global financing group. She also chaired the Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee, a group of Wall Street executives who advise the U.S. Treasury on debt issuance, from 2018 to 2023.

She may be new to the Cleveland Fed, but she brought some familiarity with Cleveland.

Hammack told Crain’s in an early December interview that her husband, Peter, is from Shaker Heights, and his father, David Hammack, was a professor at Case Western Reserve University for 30 years.

She characterized the region’s economy as being “in a good place” and had this observation about the Cleveland business community:

“One thing I’ve noticed when meeting with business leaders is there’s a real spirit of collaboration in the city, both the business leaders amongst each other and with the nonprofit and community leaders. That really comes through and resonates. You can see this effort of everyone really working together to support the city and make this as vibrant a place as it could possibly be.”

—Scott Suttell

Dee and Jimmy Haslam

Owners, Cleveland Browns and the Haslam Sports Group

It was a busy year for Dee and Jimmy Haslam on multiple fronts as they pitched a new home for the Browns while the team tried to repeat its playoff-bound performance from the 2023-24 season. And events both on and off the field generated controversy — and plenty of news.

Since officially unveiling their plans for a $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park, the Haslams have faced opposition from city and county officials, most notably from Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne, who both want to see the team remain downtown, either on the current site or on land currently occupied by Burke Lakefront Airport. Bibb even sent a letter to the Haslams in late December saying the city intends to invoke the “Modell Law” to prevent them from leaving the lakefront.

But the Haslams have a lot of friends in the political world — they’ve spent more than $6.5 million on politics over the last two years, much of it to support Republican candidates — and they’re hoping that will translate to financial support for their stadium plan, particularly in Columbus.

The complex path ahead isn’t lost on the team owners, though.  “No matter which direction we go into, it’s complicated,” Jimmy Haslam told reporters in July. “Any

time you have a public-private partnership, it’s not easy. (It’s) a $2.4 billion project, plus the real estate development around it would make about $3.5 million. That would be the third- or fourth-largest construction project ever done in Ohio.”

The Browns have another big — and costly — project ahead after the most expensive roster in NFL history started 1-6 and lost quarterback Deshaun Watson to a season-ending Achilles tear in Week 7. The season never improved as the team finished 3-14 and might have lost Watson for next season after his injury was reaggravated.

Asked in August if a good season would help the stadium project, Jimmy Haslam said, “It doesn’t hurt, right? We’re big on customer service scores and our

Bernie Moreno

U.S. senator

Bernie Moreno grew his profile and fortune as the president of Moreno Cos. Now he has a new title: Republican U.S. senator for Ohio.

The former car dealer, a political novice, earned the Senate seat when he ousted incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown, who had held the seat for 18 years. Moreno won with 50.2% of the vote to Brown’s 46.4%.

Moreno was sworn in as a

member of the 119th United States Congress on Jan. 3 by thenVice President Kamala Harris, becoming the first Latino to represent Ohio in the Senate. Moreno was born in Colombia and became a U.S. citizen at 18 years old, but now claims Westlake as home.

Not only is this Moreno’s first time holding a political office, the 2024 election was the first time he was even on a ballot.

Tania Menesse

President and CEO, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress

Since joining Cleveland Neighborhood Progress (CNP) in 2020, Tania Menesse has set out to ensure that critical community development corporations (CDCs) have the resources, direction and accountability needed to serve the city’s neighborhoods.

As president and CEO of the organization that acts as an intermediary to Cleveland’s nearly two dozen CDCs, CNP is charged with helping the small, grassroots groups do the important work of community stabilization and revitalization.

2024 marked the third year of CNP’s 2022-2027 strategic plan created to guide decades-old organizations back to what they were originally created to do after decades of trying to be all things to all residents.

and the opening of an upscale sitdown restaurant in October.

highest scores are when we win and our lowest is when we lose. Was the service really worse? I don’t know.”

Despite the pushback from Cleveland’s political leaders, the Haslam Sports Group is moving forward with the Brook Park plan in 2025, believing it can be a “transformational” project for the region, one that boosts the economy, solves the current stadium’s ingress/egress issues and allows them to attract major concerts and events, including the NCAA Final Four and, maybe, bring a Super Bowl to Cleveland.

But after sitting through 22 losing seasons since the current stadium was built, many Browns fans are growing restless about the on-the-field performance no matter where the team plays.

—Joe Scalzo

While on the Buckeye Patriots podcast in October 2023, Moreno classified himself as the “only

In 2024, under Menesse’s leadership, CNP put into motion a new funding process for the CDCs using data collected and published in the first Advancement & Resilience Initiative (ARI) report. The report lays out a baseline for measuring CDC activities and creates metrics so CNP can direct resources and enhance that work. More than $2 million — CNP’s largest oneyear grant amount — was awarded to 17 CDCs as a result.

The organization also took over management of Shaker Square, the city’s 95-year-old shopping district, in partnership with Burten, Bell, Carr Development Inc.

Menesse is also overseeing initiatives in Cleveland’s Middle Neighborhood after Cleveland City Council members passed $7.3 million in funding designed to invest in the city’s stable but aging communities.

That program, along with the city’s Southeast Side Promise initiative, culminated in an investment in a commercial corridor in the Lee-Harvard neighborhood

outsider in the race.”

“I’m the only one who is not part of the political system,” he said.

Moreno purchased his first car dealership in 2005, and from 2016 to 2022, he owned up to 15 automotive dealerships. He sold his last dealership in April 2022. Moreno also made significant investments in software technology companies using blockchain.

During the recent senate race, donations supporting Moreno poured in from cryptocurrency proponents who targeted the crypto-wary Brown.

He previously entered the Republican primary for the U.S.

Last year, CNP partnered with Cleveland Development Advisors and the Washington, D.C.-based Capital Impact Partners to support and expand opportunities for emerging real estate developers of color in the community.

The Cleveland Equitable Development Initiative selected two cohorts of entrepreneurs to diversify real estate development and better advance the economic growth of underrepresented communities.

This year will see big changes in how CDCs are funded and how they operate. A city councilsponsored ordinance aimed at overhauling the current use of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grants for CDC funding from the city will be replaced with general fund dollars.

The ordinance seeks to address the difficulties and limitations of using Community Development Block Grant funds for small, grassroots neighborhood organizations. The new model, developed over 18 months, creates more accountability and consistency for the CDC operations with a goal to improve effectiveness and free up staff from onerous federal reporting requirements.

—Kim Palmer

Senate race in 2022, but he suspended his campaign following a meeting with now-President Donald Trump, who endorsed JD Vance in that year’s race. Vance won the election to the Senate that year and has since gone on to even bigger things, being sworn in Jan. 20 as vice president. Vance’s resignation as senator left Moreno in the unusual position of being the state’s senior senator, even though he had been in the Senate for less than a month.

He will soon have a new colleague in the Senate, as Gov. Mike DeWine recently appointed Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill the Senate

Craig Hassall

President and CEO, Playhouse Square

Under President and CEO Craig Hassall’s direction, Playhouse Square Foundation has continued to make progress toward its goal of developing the north side of its home on Euclid Avenue.

In April, the foundation purchased the landmark Greyhound station on Chester Avenue for $3.3 million. It has been working with consulting firm Streetsense to devise a strategy for the building. Hassall said in the fall he expected a report from the company by early 2025 that features the perspectives of city officials, Greater Cleveland Partnership and Downtown Cleveland Inc., as well as residents and companies located in the area.

Larisa Ortiz, managing director of public nonprofit solutions at Streetsense, said in a 2024 interview with Crain’s that the firm planned to take a holistic approach to the site that focuses on the Playhouse Square district as a whole.

The Greyhound building wasn’t Playhouse Square’s only purchase on the northern edge of its campus last year. The nonprofit bought a three-story building on East 17th Street for $1.6 million in September, which it intends to use as a rehearsal space and for new educational programming.

Moreover, Playhouse Square has continued to reap benefits from an increase in the state’s motion picture tax credit, which legislators approved in 2023. The move raised the annual amount designated for movie and TV projects in Ohio from $40 million to $50 million and earmarked $5 million specifically for theater productions.

The tax credits aided Playhouse Square in bringing “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” to the Broadway in Akron series during the 2024-2025 season, along with “The Notebook” and “Hell’s Kitchen,” both of which will launch this fall as part of the 2025-2026 KeyBank

Broadway Series.

Hassall, in a previous interview, said Broadway producers know Cleveland is a strong market. The tax credit, he said, gives them more incentive to start their shows at Playhouse Square.

The new year ushers in some changes at the executive level. Playhouse Square said goodbye to a trio of longtime executives at the end of 2024. Patricia Gaul, chief operating officer and general counsel, and Tom Einhouse, vice president of facilities and capital improvements, retired at the end of the year. And Art Falco, former president and CEO, retired from his role as special adviser to the foundation. Falco, who retired from the president and CEO position in 2019, had served in that spot through the construction of the Lumen apartment tower.

The organization named Laura Smith as chief operating officer and Nathan Kelly as president of real estate services, both of whom are new to the organization. Smith previously worked for the Foundation for the Carolinas in Charlotte, North Carolina, while Kelly served as president and managing director of the Cushman & Wakefield/ Cresco realty brokerage based in Independence.

Playhouse Square is likely to continue work on its northern development in 2025.

—Paige Bennett

Moreno is expected to be a reliable vote for Trump’s initiatives and a strong voice defending the president’s agenda and team.

seat vacated by Vance.

In his new position as senator, Moreno had to step down as the Ohio state chair of U.S. Term Limits. Former state Rep. and state Sen. Kevin Coughlin has succeeded him.

Moreno is expected to be a reliable vote for Trump’s initiatives and a strong voice defending the president’s agenda and team. On Jan. 15, for instance, he defended Trump’s

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nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Russell Vought from Democrats “who fear he’ll ignore Congress’ spending decisions.”

The first-time senator has been appointed to four committees: Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs; and Budget.

—Alexandra Golden

Ohio State championship means big bucks for retailer

By Joe Scalzo

“Where I’m From” co-founder Ryan Napier spent the days leading up to Ohio State’s national championship game preparing for a “second Christmas.”

Problem was, he didn’t know if this one was coming.

The Columbus-based apparel company owned official licenses for Ohio State and the College Football Playoff and had more than two dozen items ready to launch as soon as the game ended. All Napier needed was for the Buckeyes to win — something that seemed inevitable midway through the third quarter.

And then... not so much.

“It was a tricky proposition to get ready for, to be sure,” said Napier, a Canton native. “Toward the middle part of the game, it felt like the Tennessee and Oregon (playoff) games, where we wouldn’t have to sweat too much. But when Notre Dame started mounting that comeback, it started to get really, really nervy.

“I mean we had everything completely, completely prepped. Just basically needed to push a button and set some stuff out live — send out emails, send out socials. Then Notre Dame cut it to a two-score lead and a one-score lead and then Ohio State was staring down that third and 11. Thankfully, the Buckeyes pulled it off.”

Although Where I’m From (WIF) has a strong presence in Ohio — the company has four retail stores in Northeast Ohio and its apparel can be found in partner stores such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Rally House and DSW — it’s not big enough to print thousands of shirts beforehand. Napier estimated that the company printed about 200 items before the

JOANN

From Page 1

But that first reorganization plan and the future that the company envisioned didn’t play out as hoped. And it shouldn’t be expected now that Joann could emerge from this next bankruptcy in a virtually unchanged condition as it did previously.

‘Chapter 22’ bankruptcy

Merklin said it’s not that uncommon to see a confirmed reorganization plan fail and for companies to go through more than Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In the bankruptcy arena, a subsequent Chapter 11 is commonly referred to as “Chapter 22.”

“But what is unusual here is the rapidity of how it failed,” Merklin said. “Joann failed pretty spectacularly in about seven months.”

As Crain’s previously detailed, Joann has a long history of debt, which it has been saddled with ever since a $1.6 billion leveraged buyout by private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners in 2010.

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reorganization plan set last year

game, both for photo shoots and for influencer boxes that get sent to big Ohio State fans.

“If they had lost, it would have been a pretty nominal amount of shirts that would have had to go by the wayside,” he said.

But a loss would have significantly impacted WIF's eventual bottom line. A few of the company’s print shops started printing merchandise overnight, and all were expected to continue printing on Jan. 21. Napier anticipated

was designed to reduce what was then a $1.1 billion debt load by roughly half and lay out a viable path for the company moving forward.

According to a proposed deal in its latest Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed on Jan. 15, Joann still owes a group of creditors more than $450 million.

The company must now hold an auction within 30 days of its petition or risk losing access to cash being held as collateral.

In bankruptcy documents, Joann interim CEO Michael Prendergast states that while the company “immediately turned to implementing its post-emergence business plan” in April 2024, “unanticipated inventory challenges post-emergence, coupled with the prolonged impact of an excessively sluggish retail economy, put JOANN back into an untenable debt position.”

That plan included expectations that Joann’s vendors would continue providing merchandise to the company as they did prior to the first bankruptcy process.

“Instead, the Company faced an unexpected ramp-down, and, in some cases, the entire cessation of production of key JOANN invento-

having merchandise available that afternoon in WIF’s flagship store at Polaris Mall in Columbus, and the company planned to spend the next few days stocking its other retail outlets statewide.

“It's hard to say what it's going to look like (saleswise), but I mean it's very, very, very significant,” Napier said of the difference between winning and losing. “Obviously, if they would have lost, there would have been no sales whatsoever. I would suspect that

ry items in the post-emergence period,” according to court documents. “The retreats of in-stock levels had significant effects on JOANN’s core business, and when in-stock levels eventually dropped by upwards of 10%, JOANN entered a new phase of operational distress that was not anticipated as part of the Prior Cases or its post-emergence business plan.”

Joann logged approximately $2 billion in net sales for 2024, according to court documents.

“Although the Company has seen marked improvements in inventory management and revenue in the past several months, the unfortunate reality is that the inventory challenges did irreparable harm to JOANN’s ability to service its restructured funded debt,” writes Prendergast, according to bankruptcy papers.

The fact that Prendergast is pointing fingers at the creditors as a cause for the company’s latest struggles is an interesting detail to Merklin.

“Some would view the creditors as victims of this, not the perpetrators,” he said.

Joann officials have so far declined to discuss this latest bankruptcy with Crain’s.

Once that deal expired, WIF applied for a two-year, renewable OSU license, an extensive process that took about three months “and lots of back and forth with Ohio State’s awesome in-house licensing team,” Napier said.

“There's no reason to believe that we won't be able to basically maintain the licenses as long as we'd like,” he said. “We've been driving some nice sales and some nice royalties for the licensing group and we have just had a really awesome relationship with them.”

WIF owns licenses for about 40 college programs — including Cleveland State, Akron and Kent State — and the company hopes to grow that number in the years ahead. WIF also has licensing deals with two high-profile Buckeyes — quarterback Will Howard and safety Caleb Downs.

And while WIF doesn’t have any NFL licenses, it has partnered with Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and Browns players such as Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward and (famously) Joe Flacco.

(last) week is going to be one of our biggest weeks, potentially, of our entire existence. At least, that's what we're planning for. So it’s definitely a really, really big deal for us and our team that they won.”

This season was WIF’s first as an official Ohio State licensee, a process that began last winter. Ohio State had an exclusive 10-year licensing deal with Fanatics that began in 2013, “so we weren’t even able to apply for a license for basically all of our 11-year existence.”

The path ahead

In its 2025 bankruptcy, Joann said there is already a “stalking horse” bid in place for the company by Boston-based Gordon Brothers, a well-known liquidator.

This means that either Gordon Brothers wins the auction, or someone outbids them.

Either way, Joann will have a new owner.

So, what happens then?

There are a few scenarios at play that depend in large part on who the buyer is.

It’s possible that Joann will continue to exist in a new form with different ownership, a condensed footprint and reduced headquarters.

“I think Joann uses the Gordon Brothers offer to get other people looking at buying components or the whole operations,” Merklin said.

It’s also possible that all of Joann’s stores and assets are liquidated and there’s nothing left to run.

The company did recently warn that it may lay off more than 600 employees at its Hudson home base depending on how this bank-

But with Ohio’s two professional football teams missing the playoffs, those items aren’t exactly flying off the shelves this month, which is why WIF went all-in on the Buckeyes, designing about 30 different items “in every single possible style you can imagine,” from men’s apparel to unisex to women's to toddler to youth to onesies to collectible glassware sets and stickers. There’s even something called the “Journey Pack,” which features a shirt from each of OSU’s four playoff games along with a championship shirt. “We’ve got a lot of awesome items for the Ohio State fan base,” Napier said. “It’s just a really, really huge honor for us to be a very, very small part of this.”

ruptcy shakes out.

Liquidation is the path that most would expect Gordon Brothers to take. Notably, the firm is in the process of selling off leases for Big Lots Inc., the Columbus-based retailer that entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy last fall.

“That is not to say they couldn’t buy something and operate it,” Merklin said. “They could possibly operate Joann and keep the headquarters.”

“But when I see retail liquidators in there making an offer, my assumption is one of the serious considerations is whether or not they liquidate and sell everything off,” he added. “Gordon Brothers is pretty expert at liquidating inventory. And the chances of them operating Joann as it was in the past is not realistic.” Gordon Brothers officials did not respond to requests for comment about Joann or any of their potential plans for the business. In a full liquidation scenario, Merklin notes that it’s possible someone could purchase the Joann name and revive the brand at some point in the future with a refreshed identity — which is what happened a few times with Toys "R" Us.

Ohio-based apparel company Where I’m From expects a flood of sales from Ohio State’s national championship. WHERE I’M FROM

BROWNS

On Wednesday, Jan. 16, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost red back, saying the law should rst be considered at the state level before it heads to federal court and that accepting millions in taxpayer money for the stadium over the last 25 years “comes with small strings.”

e city, meanwhile, made good on its threats to invoke the law on Jan. 15, ling a lawsuit against the Browns owners in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas that claims the team is “attempting to circumvent the law through a hastily led federal lawsuit aimed at evading compliance with the Modell Law.”

e Modell Law has yet to face a sti legal challenge, although it did play an important role in allowing Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam to purchase the Columbus Crew when the Major League Soccer team was considering a move to Austin, Texas.

But will it keep the Browns downtown? To answer that, Crain’s reached out to two Cleveland-area legal experts: Alan Weinstein, a professor emeritus of law and urban studies at Cleveland State University, and Eric Cha ee, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University.

eir conclusion? Well, to use a football analogy, the Modell Law is probably closer to a Hail Mary than Vince Lombardi’s famed Packers Sweep — “It doesn’t really do a whole lot,” Weinstein insisted — but at this point in the game, it makes sense to try it.

“As a political matter, the city doesn’t have a choice,” Weinstein said. “It’s certainly in the interest of the city to ght this. So, to have a law on the books that allows them to frustrate the move and not use it, no matter how weak the law is, as a political matter, you can’t not do it.”

Added Cha ee, “Mayor Bibb would like to keep the Browns and he’s going to use literally every tool at his disposal to make the negotiation process more complicated. It’s only going to help the City of Cleveland regardless of whether or not the statute is enforceable.”

Plus — win or lose — invoking the Modell Law is a powerful PR tool, Cha ee said. ree decades after announcing the move, Modell is still the most unpopular sports gure in Cleveland history.

e Haslams are already saddled with the most unpopular quarterback in Browns history in Deshaun Watson and they’re coming o a disastrous 3-14 season.

“ e Haslams do not want to have their name attached to the Modell name,” he said. “So what the city has been doing is heaping controversy upon controversy (on the Browns) and including the Modell name in a negative way with the Haslams’ legacy. at has to put real pressure on them to gure out a good path forward.”

Closer look at the law

e Modell Law says no professional sports team owner who

uses a tax-funded facility and gets state or local nancial sport “can begin playing most of its home games elsewhere,” unless the owner makes a deal with the local government allowing the move or gives at least six months’ notice and o ers locals or the local government a chance to buy the team during that time.

In his ling, Yost disagreed with the Browns that the law is unconstitutionally vague, saying it will survive a void-forvagueness challenge so long as it provides “the person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited and o er(s) clear standards to judges, juries, and police that prevent discriminatory or arbitrary enforcement.”

at said … it’s still pretty vague, which is almost certainly intentional, Weinstein said. A more speci c law would likely violate the Dormant Commerce Clause, which prevents states from passing laws that restrict interstate commerce.

at vagueness presents a lot of problems. For one thing, what does “elsewhere” mean — especially when combined with a later phrase that refers to “the political subdivision or any individual or group of individuals who reside in the area”?

In their ling, the Browns argued the city has “inaccurately likened the construction of a stadium in Brook Park, on land that borders the city, to the decision made by a previous owner of the Browns, Art Modell, to move the franchise over 400 miles away to Baltimore, Maryland in 1995.”

Weinstein (mostly) sides with the Browns on this one, but Chaffee sides with the city, arguing that Cleveland is a “di erent and distinct entity from Brook Park,” so it doesn’t matter if the Haslams are moving to the suburbs or another state; they’re clearly moving elsewhere.

e lease is another issue. e Browns argue that when the lease expires, so does the requirement to play downtown since there won’t be “any obligation for there to be taxpayer funds used to sup-

port HBF, the Browns, or the team’s use of HBF.”

While Weinstein thinks the Browns have a compelling argument here — “I wonder if certain contractual obligations disappear once the lease is up,” he said — Cha ee sides with the city, arguing that just because the lease expires doesn’t change the fact that you’ve spent 30 years beneting from tax subsidies.

“You at least have to try and work with the city on a reasonable new deal,” Cha ee said. “ e alternative is to give them the opportunity to purchase the team.”

e question is: does the Modell Law require the owner to sell the team, or just listen to o ers?

Weinstein believes it’s the latter.

“I could send you a letter today saying, ‘Hey, listen, I’ve got a great deal for you. You have an opportunity to buy my house. Make me an o er,’” Weinstein said. “And then you make me an o er and I say, ‘No, thanks.’

“ e city could literally o er the Haslams twice what it’s worth and the Haslams could say no. Ditto for any individual or group of individuals. So it’s toothless in that sense.”

Cha ee, meanwhile, admits that section of the law is vague, but ultimately believes the Haslams would be required to operate in good faith, assuming it’s a reasonable o er that comes from inside the political subdivision.

“I could nd a path to enforcing it,” Cha ee said.

Bigger picture

Regardless, neither professor believes the Modell Law is the solution to the current controversy. Although the Browns originally planned to renovate the existing stadium, they had changed course by last summer and made it o cial in October, announcing they would move forward with the Brook Park plan and split that $2.4 million cost with taxpayers.

Mayor Justin Bibb and County Executive Chris Ronayne have repeatedly said they’ll do everything they can to keep the Browns

at condensed timeline — and the lack of private nancing — made a domed stadium untenable.

e Browns have criticized the stadium as being poorly built and outdated, and say it will require $400 million in capital repairs over the next 30 years just to stay open. at money won’t solve the ingress/ egress problems inherent in building a stadium on Lake Erie, the team said, nor would it provide the type of gameday (or concert/event) experience fans can get at the NFL’s better stadiums.

“It’s great that he (White) got a team, but that stadium was, shall we say, located, designed and put up in haste,” Weinstein said. “But I think Browns fans, really, would have been ne still playing in Municipal Stadium. It might even be better because there were so many seats.”

downtown, either by partnering on a renovated stadium or working with the Browns to build a new domed stadium at Burke Airport.

“It’s going to be hard to get this law enforced and the likely result is a court says it’s too vague to be enforced and kicks it back to the legislature,” Cha ee said. “I do think the Haslams would like to have this behind them and they’d like to nd a path to do that, whether it involves staying in Cleveland or doing something to placate the city. To be mentioned in the same sentence as Art Modell, that’s not something any sports team in Cleveland wants. at anger (over the move) still echoes today.”

And the city’s response still echoes, Weinstein said, saying “ e original sin, in some sense, goes back to (former Mayor) Mike White.” White, feeling pressure from both the city and the NFL, secured a promise from the league in early 1996 to provide an expansion team for the 1999 season provided the city could build a stadium to the NFL’s speci cations in time.

Sources say the Haslams have been stunned by the stadium backlash, which has come from all sides: city, county and state politicians, along with local media outlets and fans. ey believe the Brook Park stadium would be “transformational” for Cleveland, allowing the city to attract the type of events (Super Bowls, NCAA Final Fours, Taylor Swift concerts) that are unavailable now.

e Haslams have also spent more than $6.5 million on political causes over the last two years alone, according to Cleveland.com, with much of that money going to Republicans. But there doesn’t yet seem to be much political support — locally or in Columbus — for using signi cant taxpayer funds on a project that helps the Browns leave Cleveland.

Ultimately, it could be money — not the Modell Law — that drives the Haslams back to the negotiating table, Cha ee said.

“ e Haslams have already made substantial moves toward Brook Park, so it’s going to be di cult to undo what they’ve done so far and the costs associated with it,” he said. “But if the city and the county are able to o er enough, probably the Browns and the Haslams could undo what has happened.”

Huntington Bank Field was built on the site of the former Cleveland Municipal Stadium. The Browns’ lease expires at the end of the 2028 season. | DAN SHINGLER

Cleveland Big Lots among those having leases sold by Gordon Brothers

By Alexandra Golden

Just a week after Gordon Brothers Retail Partner LLC completed the purchase of Columbus-based Big Lots Inc., it has listed almost 500 store leases for sale nationwide.

The new-to-market stores are

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

LAW

Brennan Manna Diamond

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA

LAW

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA

mostly located in shopping centers, according to a press release from Gordon Brothers. Offers for purchase are due no later than Jan. 24, the release stated. They are subject to court approval.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for expansion-minded retailers to grow their footprint by acquiring well-

located stores with long-term, below-market rents,” Michael Burden, co-head of North America Real Estate Services at Gordon Brothers, said in the release.

Gordon Brothers' purchase of Big Lots Inc. was completed Jan. 9, according to a press release from the firm, but the agreement was announced Dec. 27. Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September and has already closed or sold leases for hundreds of stores as part of that process.

Of the almost 500 listed for sale, 23 are in Ohio with five of those in Northeast Ohio.

LAW

Taft

Brennan Manna Diamond is pleased to announce the appointment of Kirk Roessler as Office Managing Partner of its Cleveland office. Kirk joined BMD as a Member in January 2024, bringing over 35 years of experience in corporate, real estate, and commercial finance law. His leadership will contribute to the growth and continued development of the Cleveland office. Roessler succeeds Kate Hickner, who will continue her transactional healthcare practice at BMD.

LAW

Brennan Manna Diamond

Brennan Manna Diamond is pleased to welcome Robert Ratliff to its Cleveland office. Robert joins BMD as a Member, bringing over 25 years of trial experience across Federal, State, and Immigration Courts. A former United States Immigration Court Judge, he now advocates for clients in deportation proceedings and other complex legal matters. With a strong background in criminal defense as well, Robert brings a wealth of experience to the firm.

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA is pleased to announce Ann-Marie Ahern and Charles Nemer as the firm’s new Co-Managing Principals. With decades of combined legal and leadership experience, they bring exceptional guidance to these roles while continuing their active legal practices. As a Certified Specialist in Labor & Employment Law, Ahern’s practice spans complex workplace issues such as severance negotiations, employment contracts, discrimination, non-compete agreements, and whistleblower advocacy.   With a diverse legal practice, Nemer is experienced in municipal law, land use & development, real estate transactions, hospitality & liquor law, and title joint ventures and insurance defense, among other areas.

LAW

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA is pleased to announce the election and promotion of Frank George to Principal of the firm. Frank primarily practices in the area of employment law.  He helps employees facing unlawful discrimination, harassment, contractual disputes, workplace discipline, and unfair pay practices.  He also advises the firm’s corporate clients to help them comply with employment laws and avoid costly disputes.

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA is pleased to announce the election and promotion of Adam Glassman to Principal of the firm. Adam’s journey at McCarthy Lebit began in 2014 as an office clerk, progressing to a law clerk role during law school, and ultimately transitioning to an associate attorney position upon his graduation. During his tenure as an Associate, Adam has built a diverse legal practice, gaining experience in both transactional and business litigation matters.

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA

McCarthy, Lebit, Crystal & Liffman Co., LPA is pleased to announce the election and promotion of Colin Ray to Principal of the firm. Colin handles complex medical malpractice cases, general negligence matters such as car and truck accidents, premises liability claims, and sexual abuse cases, advocating for victims and holding wrongdoers accountable. He works closely with clients, guiding them through every step of the legal process with care and dedication.

PROMOTE. Why not?

Allison McFarland is an associate in Taft’s Cleveland office. She focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation and has experience with trust and estate disputes, corporate, and trademark matters. She has varied experience working across industries and practice areas, including insurance, sports and entertainment, commercial agreements, and employment law. Allison earned her J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law and her bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Rochester.

REAL ESTATE

Vistula Management Companyement Company

VMC is proud to announce the promotion of Jill Narron to VP of Human Resources and Payroll Administration.

With over 15 years of experience in HR, Narron has been a key leader in driving employee development, strategic HR initiatives, and organizational growth. “Jill’s expertise and leadership have been instrumental in strengthening our HR and payroll operations,” said Selena Vives, COO of VMC. “Her deep knowledge and commitment to excellence will continue to propel VMC forward as we expand.”

Celebrate your success with promotional products!

Contact: Laura Picariello Sales Manager

One Cleveland store, at 14901 Lorain Ave. in West Park, is listed with a size of 34,360 square feet.

The other four NEO locations listed in the newest brochure are:

Ashtabula (2466 W. Prospect Rd., 35,119 square feet).

Chardon (540 Water St., 39,901 square feet).

Willoughby (35101 Euclid Ave., 29,928 square feet).

Youngstown (4341 Kirk Rd., 30,000 square feet).

The closure of locations in Brunswick, Highland Heights and North Olmsted were announced in an Oct. 11 bankruptcy court filing.

Neither the Beachwood nor Mentor leases are listed as available but each store had the same greeting when reached by phone: “Thank you for calling. Unfortunately, all Big Lots stores will be closing soon, but we’re still open and the entire store is on sale. When it’s gone, it’s gone. Please check BigLots.com for additional information.”

Some of the leases in Ohio expire as early as Jan. 31, 2026, and some expire as late as Jan. 31, 2034.

In the Jan. 9 release, Gordon Brothers states that the sale “enables the transfer of Big Lots’ assets, including its stores, distribution centers and intellectual property, to other retailers and companies, including Variety Wholesalers, Inc.” Variety Wholesalers will acquire at least 200 stores that will operate under the Big Lots brand name, according to the release, and it will retain employees needed for operations. No specific locations were listed, but, according to CoStar, the leases for sale do not include stores Variety has expressed interest in buying.

Gordon Brothers is the same firm that has placed an offer for Joann Inc., which just filed for bankruptcy for the second time on Wednesday, Jan. 15. If there are no higher bids, Joann will sell to Gordon Brothers, which specializes in shutting down retailers and conducting going-out-of-business sales, according to Bloomberg.

Crain’s has reached out to Gordon Brothers for more information.

Nemer

Ahern

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The former Big Lots in Highland Heights which closed at the end of 2024.

CrainsCleveland.com

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