02.24.12CorpOneArticle

| UPFRONT |FEBRUARY 24, 2012

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For the Record ....................................... 27Inside Report .......................................... 15

Technology & intellectual propertyThe List .................................................... 10

Innovators – patent winnersOn Stocks by Malcolm Berko ............... 33

Opinion .................................................... 32People on the Move ............................... 25Shaping Columbus ................................. 12Shop Talk ................................................... 4Week on the Web ......................................8

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Arnold bursting

at seams, looking

for room to fl ex THE ANNUAL SPORTS festival is out of space in Columbus, even though demand is growing, and

organizers say they’ll need to move activities to Ohio State if they want to land more Olympic events.

BY JEFF BELL | BUSINESS FIRST

Organizers of the Arnold Sports Festival hope to see

the annual event in Columbus become the site of more

U.S. Olympic qualifi ers, but they will need an assist from

Ohio State University to do so.

Th is year’s festival, scheduled March 1-4, will host the

U.S. team trials in weightlifting for the 2012 Summer

Games in London. Th e competition is scheduled to start

at 4 p.m. March 4 at the Greater Columbus Convention

Center.

But the chances for adding Olympic qualifi ers hinges

on fi nding other venues because the Arnold has maxed

out spaces at the convention center, Franklin County

Veterans Memorial and other downtown sites, said Jim

Lorimer, the Columbus businessman who cofounded

the sports festival in 1989 with actor and former profes-

sional body builder Arnold Schwarzenegger. Th e two re-

main partners in the event.

“If we want to expand the Arnold Sports Festival,”

Lorimer said, “we must move (some events) up the street

to Ohio State.”

OLYMPIC HOPEFULSLorimer said he has had discus-

SEE ARNOLD, PAGE 34

BY ADRIAN BURNS | BUSINESS FIRST

A Columbus corporate credit

union stands to emerge from the

ravages of the recession as the larg-

est of its kind in the nation after

agreeing to take over a troubled

counterpart in Florida.

Corporate One Federal Credit

Union, which provides fi nancial

services to 750 credit unions, re-

ceived regulatory approval Feb. 16

to merge its assets with

Southeast Corporate Fed-

eral Credit Union, a Talla-

hassee-based institution

with $1.4 billion in assets

as of Nov. 30, according

to the latest data from the

National Credit Union Ad-

ministration. Th e deal is expected

to close by June 1.

Corporate One CEO Lee Butke

told Columbus Business First the

deal is a momentous step

because it will make the

Central Ohio institution

the nation’s largest cor-

porate credit union with

about 1,150 credit union

members. Th e combined

credit unions would have

total assets of about $4.3

billion, according to the

national administration.

STRONG SURVIVE Butke said the deal also is a clear

sign Corporate One has emerged a

Corporate One emerging as king of its kind

CREDIT UNION MERGER

THE CREDIT UNION for other credit unions will become the nation’s largest following a deal with a Florida institution.

L. Butke: Corporate One CEO

SEE MERGER, PAGE 34

Chance of pain?Cloud computing can

save money, but risks

need to be evaluated.

Inside Report, 5

The Arnold Sports Festival will serve as the Olympic qualifier for women’s weightlifting this year. Founder Arnold Schwarzenegger, at left, watches the action from last year.

COURTESY ARNOLD SPORTS FESTIVAL

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34 | FEBRUARY 24, 2012 columbusbusinessfi rst.com | BUSINESS FIRST | from the front |

sions with OSU offi cials about the

Arnold holding a swimming com-

petition at the McCorkle Aquatic

Pavilion on campus. Th e festival

already hosts its indoor track and

fi eld competition for 1,600 youth in

French Field House at Ohio State.

Track and fi eld is one of 12 Olym-

pic sports included at the Arnold.

Some of the Olympic qualifying

schedules for those sports would

not align with the festival’s dates,

Lorimer said, but there may be po-

tential to land a few of them. For

instance, the Arnold and Greater

Columbus Sports Commission had

hoped to hold this year’s Olympic

team trials for weightlifting and

wrestling, but the wrestling event

was awarded to Iowa City instead.

Lorimer said other sports with

Olympic qualifi er potential at the

Arnold include table tennis, ar-

chery, boxing and martial

arts, such as karate, judo

and taekwondo.

“I would love to get table

tennis,” he said. “It’s really

spectacular. It’s not ping-

pong.”

Landing Olympic trials

is one of the sports com-

mission’s goals as it works

to raise Columbus’ profi le

as a destination for na-

tional sporting events. It

helped bring the Olympic trials for

the 2008 U.S. synchronized swim-

ming team to Ohio State.

Team trials in weightlifting will

be held in conjunction with the

USA Weightlifting National Cham-

pionships. Th e trials only will deter-

mine members of the U.S. women’s

Olympic team, however, because

USA Weightlifting rules call for

the men to qualify during

either the World or Pan

Am championships, said

Brandon Dyett, spokes-

man for the weightlifting

organization.

Men and women will

compete in the National

Championships at the

Arnold, which will draw

more than 200 athletes in

eight weight classes for

men and seven groups for women.

Th e Arnold, sports commission

and Columbus Weightlifting Club

put together the bid to land the na-

tionals and team trials.

“USA Weightlifting has had suc-

cessful events at the Arnold in the

past,” Dyett said. “Th at gave us

confi dence going forward that the

(Columbus) folks would put us in a

good place to showcase our Olym-

pic trials at a major event.”

ALREADY IMPACTFULOverall, the Arnold will host 45

sports and events drawing 18,000

athletes, including 16,000 under 18

years old. Th e festival is expected

to draw 175,000 people over four

days, many of them attending the

Arnold Fitness Expo at the conven-

tion center.

Th e expo has sold out its 700

booths for exhibitors – at $2,000

per booth – and has a waiting list.

Revenue from the expo allows the

festival to provide free space to

groups that stage the athletic com-

petitions, Lorimer said.

“It’s the only thing that enables

us to get this thing in the black,” he

said.

Th e Arnold remains one of the

top revenue generators among spe-

cial events in Central Ohio. It pro-

duced an estimated $42.4 million

in visitor spending last year, trail-

ing only the $180 million generated

by the month-long All American

Quarter Horse Congress at the

Ohio Expo Center, according to

data from Experience Columbus.

Compared with other three- and

four-day conventions, trade shows

and conferences, the Arnold Sports

Festival is “hands-down, the larg-

est, most impactful event we host

each year,” Experience Columbus

spokesman Scott Peacock said in

an email.

“We are very proud of that fact,”

he said, “and very grateful to Jim

Lorimer and the rest of the team

for their unwavering commitment

to Columbus over the years.”

614-220-5456 | [email protected]

winner from the economic downturn, which punished

many corporate credit unions that took fi nancial hits

when loans went bad.

“Th ere obviously was a little bit of a crisis,” Butke said.

“Some institutions came out a little bit better from that

crisis, and we count ourselves as one of those.”

“I think it is a great Central Ohio business success sto-

ry that Corporate One navigated the fi nancial meltdown

and the recession as well,” said Paul Mercer , president of

the Ohio Credit Union League. “Th ey’ve not only come

out the other side but are thriving.”

Th at wasn’t the case for all corporate credit unions.

Of the 27 in operation prior to the fi nancial crisis, fi ve

failed between 2008 and mid-2011 because of “poor in-

vestment and business strategies,” a January report from

the Government Accountability Offi ce said.

Corporate One boasted a capital ratio, which mea-

sures its fi nancial cushion against losses, of 8.39 percent

on Nov. 30, according to the national administration.

Corporate credit unions are generally required to show

a capital ratio of 4 percent or higher.

Southeast Corporate’s ratio has improved but stood

at 2.42 percent Nov. 30, the national administration re-

ported. Th e company lost $23.9 million in 2009, made a

profi t of $240,000 in 2010 and a reported a $2.5 million

profi t in 2011 through Nov. 30, according to national ad-

ministration data.

Southeast still must raise $12 million from its mem-

bers as part of the deal with Corporate One, Butke said.

LOCAL WINCorporate One will keep

Southeast’s offi ces in Jackson-

ville and Tallahassee, but it

plans to cut jobs, Butke said.

“From our standpoint, we’re

looking at some aggregation

of some things, but I’m not

comfortable giving you that

total (number of job cuts),” he

said.

Th e merger will set the

stage for more growth at Cor-

porate One’s headquarters at

Polaris where it employs 110

workers, as it begins off ering

some of Southeast’s services

to Corporate One’s members,

Butke said. Corporate One

expects to pick up an invest-

ment advisory business and

business lending services sub-

sidiary in the deal.

“Th ere is no doubt that it

gives us the path forward for

the next few years,” Butke

said. “Without opening up or

growing or adding new terri-

tories, I think it would be just the opposite.”

Getting bigger also helps its members because Corpo-

rate One negotiates for services based on volume, Butke

said. Th e more credit unions Corporate One serves, the

better pricing it can secure.

“JPMorgan Chase is an example,” he said. “We use

their cash distribution network for our credit unions all

over the country, but we are the aggregator. We have 300

to 400 credit unions using that service, but to JPMorgan

it’s not 300 to 400 small credit unions – it’s one big cor-

porate credit union.”

614-220-5450 | [email protected]

CORPORATE ONE FEDERAL CREDIT UNION

Business: Credit union serving other credit unions. Its ap-proximately 750 credit union customers are also its owners. It has a deal to merge with South-east Corporate Federal Credit Union, which has about $1.4 billion in assets, 400 customers and two Florida offi ces.

Based: ColumbusCEO: Lee ButkeEmployees: 110Offi ces: 12011 net income through

Nov. 30: $2.4 millionTotal assets on Nov. 30:

$2.9 billion Website: corporateone.coop

Source: National Credit Union Administration

MERGER: Keeping pair of Florida offi cesFROM PAGE 3

COURTESY EXPERIENCE COLUMBUS

USA Weightlifting will hold its National Championships at the Arnold, although the men’s Olympic qualifier is at other events.

ARNOLD: Always one of Columbus’ top drawsFROM PAGE 3

ARNOLD SPORTS FESTIVAL

When: March 1-4Where: Greater Columbus Convention

Center, Veterans Memorial, LC Pavilion and other sites

Sports and events: 45Athletes: 18,000Vendors: 7002011 attendance: 175,0002011 visitor spending: $42.4 millionWebsite: arnoldsportsfestival.com

ARNOLD SPORTS FESTIVAL

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J. Lorimer: Arnold co-founder

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02.24.12CorpOneArticle

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