Crain's Cleveland Business

$2.00/JULY 18 - 24, 2011

Entire contents © 2011 by Crain Communications Inc.

Vol. 32, No. 29

07447001032

629 SPECIAL SECTION

Crain’s profiles 15 of Northeast Ohio’s leadingbusiness women ■■ Page W-1

NEW

SPAP

ER

STAN BULLARD PHOTOS/LAUREN RAFFERTY ILLUSTRATION

The former Jim’s Steakhouse in the Flats became this empty lot

after being demolished.

Road to turnpike deal may be roughCrain’s is accepting nominations

for our annual Forty Under 40 section, honoring someof the top business and civic leaders inNortheastOhio.

For more details on how to nominate, see Page 4.

CALL FORNOMINATIONS

Indiana operator’s trouble, tight debt market make for a hard sellBy JAY [email protected]

Indiana got lucky when it leasedthe Indiana Toll Road in 2006.

“It was the best deal since Man-hattan was sold for beads,” IndianaGov. Mitch Daniels told Barron’s

business weekly in 2009. Amultinational joint venturepaid $3.8 billion for the 157-milestretch of road between Ohio andIllinois.

But Gov. John Kasich won’t do aswell, it appears, if he tries to peddlethe Ohio Turnpike. As it is, he only

hopes for around $3 billionfor the 241-mile road.

Those comparative numbers couldmake it hard to swing an Ohio deal.

In part, that’s because the Indianaoperation hasn’t performed as wellas promised, chilling investmentinterest in U.S. infrastructure deals.

A tight debt market and a less generouslease deal also will reduce the attrac-tiveness of the Ohio Turnpike.

Debtwire, a London newswire affiliated with the Financial Times,reported recently that the Indianaroad’s operator, the Indiana Toll RoadConcession Co., has been dippinginto an interest reserve account tocover debt service because operating

See TURNPIKE Page 7

Dots takingaggressiveapproach togrow brandBacking of veteran retailprivate equity firm helpsBy MICHELLE [email protected]

With its sights set on planting1,000 dots on the map and the poten-tial for an eventual public offering ofits stock, women’s fashion retailerDots LLC is working feverishly totake its brand nationwide.

Backed by a private equity firmthat has helped build retail brandssuch as New York & Co. and Aero-postale, Dots is doing more renova-

tions and openingmore stores thisyear than it has inany single year,said its CEO, RickBunka.

At present,Glenwillow-basedDots has 407stores in 28 states,all east of the

Rocky Mountains, Mr. Bunka said. Itnow is looking beyond that base.

“Our vision here is a muchgrander vision than historically wasthe case,” said John Howard, CEO ofIrving Place Capital, the New Yorkprivate equity firm that acquiredDots for an undisclosed price lastJanuary.

“We think there’s something reallyspecial that can be exported here,”

See DOTS Page 6

THE GHOSTS OFBUILDINGS PASTMore Northeast Ohiosites meet wrecking ballas way to save on tax bill

Story by STAN BULLARD [email protected]

Big demolition projects such as razing the oldCleveland Convention Center and 113 St.Clair office building for the Medical Mart andConvention Center project and the Columbia

Building on Prospect Avenue for casino-bound visitorparking in downtown Cleveland are attention grabbers.

However, wrecking balls also have been swingingwith far less fanfare elsewhere around town, like at theold Jim’s Steakhouse on Collision Bend in the Flats.

Bunka

ANALYSIS

See GHOSTS Page 5

20110718-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 7/15/2011 3:38 PM

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22 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM JULY 18 - 24, 2011

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SILVER LININGRecent economic news hasn’t been good, but there was an encouraging statistical nugget in a new data set from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.The BLS noted that from December 2009 to December 2010, employment increased in 220 of the 326 largest U.S. counties. In the meantime, the average weekly wage in those counties rose by 3% to $971 in the fourth quarter of 2010. A table in the report looked at the counties where the averageweekly wage increased the most, and it included Lorain County. Here’s part ofthe list. (What are they doing in Olmsted County, Minn.?)

Olmsted (Minn.) 31.9%

Lorain (Ohio) 6.2

Santa Clara (Calif.) 14.4

Williamson (Tenn.) 9.0

Rock Island (Ill.) 8.1

Institutions across the area are expanding their research spaces whilealso attempting to significantly increasetheir research dollars brought in. This includes schools that traditionally havelagged in this area.

20110718-NEWS--2-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 7/15/2011 10:19 AM Page 1

JULY 18 - 24, 2011 WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 3

THE WEEK IN QUOTES“The business has theopportunity to takeand own the space offast fashion apparelin strip centers nationally. … We aregood at it, and veryfew people know it.”— Rick Bunka, Dots CEO. Page One

“I really try to raisethe bar always, but Ithink you can do it ina way where peopledon’t go home on aFriday feeling exhausted.”— 2011 Woman of Note TriciaGriffith, claims group president,Progressive Insurance. Page W-6

“I made it very clearfrom the beginning,there would be no patronizing of womenin this dealership. … Idon’t think we havethat problem here,because I would ... slapthem upside the head.”—2011 Woman of Note MichellePrimm, managing partner, Cas-cade Auto Group. Page W-11

Akron online marketing outfit serves noticeSoftware developer Knotice uses profits to drive company’s desired expansionBy CHUCK [email protected]

Five years ago, Knotice Ltd. hadnine employees. Soon it expects tohave more than 10 times that number.

The Akron software developer is in the midst of a growth spurt. The company, which sells softwaredesigned to help companies tailor

web, email and mobile mar-keting messages for specificcustomers, should employ92 people by the end of August, when it finishes filling 23 new positions.

The growth is driven by new initiatives within the company andby rising interest in marketing viathe Internet and mobile phones, said

Knotice CEO Brian Deagan.Another reason behind

the current expansion isthat the company now isprofitable enough to fundit, Mr. Deagan said.

“It’s definitely a bit of aninflection point,” he said.

Knotice not only is hiringpeople throughout the

company, but it also is creating twodepartments. Three employees willform a business intelligence depart-ment, which will study data Knoticecollects on consumer behavior to

figure out what drives purchasingdecisions. That information couldinfluence how Knotice designs futureversions of its flagship Concentrisoftware.

Two more employees will form abusiness automation division thatwill analyze the company’s internalprocesses, which Mr. Deagan saidwill prepare it for more growth.

Knotice also plans to open a Seattle office by early September.The office will be staffed by two existing employees with ties to thearea as well as a few new hires from

the current expansion, Mr. Deagansaid. The Seattle office will help thecompany recruit employees from anarea known as a hotbed of IT talent,he said.

The company’s growth could accelerate over the next few yearsshould it decide to develop a versionof its software that could personalizedisplay advertisements people seewhile surfing the web, Mr. Deagansaid. The company also is thinkingabout raising equity financing tospeed up its growth, he said.

INSIGHT

Deagan

“I’m basically main-taining an old car.Even if I replaced theequipment, I stillhave a building designed for old technology.”— Tom Goins, MetroHealth vice president of facilities andconstruction. Page 4

See KNOTICE Page 10

MAC targets home basefor more tournamentsWith eye on athlete experience, Cleveland-basedleague taps new local facilities for competitions By JOEL [email protected]

Mid-American Conference schools’love of Greater Cleveland is unani-mous.

At least it has been the last twotimes the presidents of thoseschools have voted on the futuresof neutral-site postseason tourna-ments staged by the conference.

With the Cleveland-based con-ference’s June 30 announcementthat it would bring its baseballtournament to All Pro Freight Stadium in Avon for three yearsstarting next spring, the MAC nowholds five tournaments in North-east Ohio. The only neutral-sitechampionship it doesn’t hold inthis region is its football champi-onship game, staged the last seven

years at Ford Field in Detroit,home of the NFL’s Detroit Lions.(Golf tournaments typically areheld at campus-area courses andhosted by schools.)

MAC officials, whose central office is located in Terminal Tower,say there is no concerted effort tobring tournaments here. Rather,the seeming consolidation of thesetournaments in Northeast Ohiostems from providing the best possible experience to athletes ofits member schools.

“These have happened at theright time,” said Ken Mather, theMAC’s assistant commissioner formedia and public relations. “The(Lake Erie) Crushers’ stadium (AllPro Freight) is 3 years old, a greatfacility. The facilities themselves

See MAC Page 9

JASON MILLER

Jim Marra takes a break from a retreat last week for Friends of Breakthrough, an arm of Breakthrough Charter Schools,a Cleveland organization that serves as an adviser to charter schools.

DOING DOUBLE DUTYLongtime private equity exec Jim Marra heeds call

to assist fundraising efforts of Breakthrough Charter Schools

By MICHELLE [email protected]

im Marra is investing in Cleve-land, but not in the manner hehas in the past.

After 23 years in private equity— 20 of them at Blue Point

Capital Partners — Mr. Marra isstraddling the for-profit and non-profit worlds in a move he calls anexercise in faith.

Still director of business develop-ment for Blue Point, he also is thenewly minted senior director of corporate and major gifts for Friendsof Breakthrough, the fundraisingand advocacy arm for BreakthroughCharter Schools in Cleveland.Breakthrough contracts with charterschools to manage their operationsand help them grow.

Mr. Marra is to be a rainmaker forboth organizations. His goal is todevelop relationships and persuadepeople to, in the case of Blue Point,engage in transactions, and in the caseof Breakthrough, support the cause.

The pay is less, he said, but “this

is for love, not money.” He’s paidfull time by Breakthrough, which hejoined last month, and via stipend byBlue Point.

“I feel like I’m working on a missionthat’s really important to the city ofCleveland,” he said. “The more Ithought about that, the more it madesense to me that’s where my heart was.”

Mr. Marra is, as his Blue Pointboss David Given puts it, killing twobirds with one stone.

Take, for example, a recent con-versation over coffee between Mr.Marra and a local investmentbanker. On the one hand, Mr. Marrasaid, he discussed with the invest-ment banker how deal flow works at Blue Point. Then, they discussedthe investment banker’s desire tovolunteer at Breakthrough.

Mr. Given, the managing partnerwho introduced Mr. Marra to charterschools, said he believes Blue Pointis “not handicapping ourselves orimpeding our new business efforts”by freeing Mr. Marra to serve twomasters.

J

See DUTY Page 6

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Volume 32, Number 29 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except for com-bined issues on the fourth week of May and fifth week of May, the fourth week of June and first week of July,the third week of December and fourth week of December at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland,OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2011 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, Ohio,and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $2.00. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Crain’sCleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan 48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373.

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Crain’s seeks nominationsfor Forty Under 40 section

It’s time to dust off your portfo-lios and strut your stuff as Crain’sCleveland Business solicits candi-dates for the 2011 version of its annual Forty Under 40 section.

In the Nov. 21 issue, Crain’s willprofile 40 individuals under the ageof 40 who already have made marksfor themselves in Northeast Ohio’sbusiness and civic circles. Candidatescan nominate themselves or can benominated by someone else. Theonly catch is that their birthdaysmust be on or after Nov. 22, 1971.

To nominate someone via our

website, CrainsCleveland.com, go to“Features” on the toolbar and clickon “Forty Under 40,” where you’llfind the “How to Nominate” link.Or, send background information ofno more than a single page on yournominee to editor Mark Dodosh viaemail at [email protected] or viaregular mail at 700 W. St. Clair Ave.,Suite 310, Cleveland 44113. No faxsubmissions, please.

Please include the nominee’sdate and year of birth. Nominationsmust be received by the close ofbusiness on Monday, Aug. 8. ■

Metro eyes wide-ranging upgradeWith biggest focus on facilities, hospital hiresarchitect to help balance funds, improvements

By TIMOTHY MAGAW [email protected]

Officials at the MetroHealth System say it’s time to scrounge uphundreds of millions in hard-to-finddollars for campus upgrades or runthe risk of falling behind the compe-tition.

The county-subsidized health systemrecently hired HOK Inc., a global architectural and planning firm, tothe tune of $520,000 to put togethera facilities master plan by year’s endfor MetroHealth’s 38-acre Clevelandcampus off West 25th Street.

The master plan wouldbe the first of its kind thatRonald Fountain can recallin his 14 years on Metro-Health’s board of trustees.

“We’ve never had an approach like this — a reallycomprehensive one,” saidDr. Fountain, who is theboard’s chairman. “We’velooked at isolated issues around thecampus, but never a comprehensivefacilities approach.”

Officials say it would cost the system as much as $435 million overthe next five years just to maintainMetroHealth’s current facilities, muchless provide for any expansion.

“I’m basically maintaining an oldcar,” said Tom Goins, MetroHealth’svice president of facilities and construction. “Even if I replaced theequipment, I still have a building designed for old technology.”

Mr. Goins said the Chicago-basedHOK will help MetroHealth deter-mine the long-term medical needs of

the community and the impact healthcare reform might have on reim-bursements. Ultimately, the groupwill look at what kind of facilities willbe needed.

Finding the fundsHowever, Mr. Goins said the money

for significant campus upgrades isdifficult to come by because of thelarge volume of uncompensated carethe system absorbs each year andbecause of its dwindling revenuesources, such as its county subsidyand reimbursements from govern-ment payers.

Last year, the systemstomached $109 million incharity care, up from $100million the previous year,largely due to rising unem-ployment. Though thecounty’s subsidy remainedstable at $40 million for thelast three years, it fell to $36million in 2011 despite rising

health care costs.Dr. Fountain said finding the right

balance between offering a robustvolume of charity care and bringingin enough revenue to support a campus upgrade “presents a prettysignificant challenge.”

Dr. Fountain said MetroHealthhas no intention of abandoning itsmission as Cuyahoga County’s safety-net provider, but the system will needto explore how to expand its patientbase by luring more customers withcommercial insurance — somethingnew facilities can help attract.

With the help of its consultants,MetroHealth also is eyeing its variousmedical services to determine whichones are bleeding resources and shouldbe cut and which ones are generatingrevenue. The goal would be to use itsdollars more wisely so that it can invest in facility improvements.

“In the end you have to makechoices in difficult times that providethe most good to the largest number,but there may be a service othersprovide that we just don’t haveenough of a census to make it work,”

Dr. Fountain said.Cuyahoga County Executive Ed

FitzGerald has had his sights onMetroHealth’s financial reports andcontracting practices in order to determine whether the health systemis appropriately investing taxpayerdollars provided by the county.

Dr. Fountain said MetroHealth’sdiscussions with county officials regarding transparency of its opera-tions are going well and wouldn’thave an impact on any big campusupgrade.

“We know for a fact nobody at thecounty or nobody at the hospitalwants to jeopardize the mission of theinstitution,” he said. “We are workingas collaboratively as we can.”

David Merriman, a special assis-tant to Mr. FitzGerald, is leading thecharge in reviewing MetroHealth’sfinances. He said the county is awareof the health system’s preliminary plansfor a campus upgrade, but added thecounty would decline to commentuntil a final proposal is hatched.

Laying the foundationAlthough it could be more than a

year before MetroHealth knows exactly what its campus could morphinto, it recently acquired a parcel ofland from the state that could offerthe system breathing room for anyfuture construction.

As part of the recently approvedstate budget, MetroHealth obtained3.9 acres now housing the North-coast Behavioral Healthcare buildingon the southeast side of the healthsystem’s campus next to Interstate71. The Ohio Department of MentalHealth will cover the $3.4 millioncost to demolish the building.

“If you don’t have an open square,you’re in trouble,” Mr. Goins said.“You need a blank space to get started.”

Meanwhile, MetroHealth in thenext month plans to invest about $2million to improve the road near themedical center’s main entrance offMetroHealth Drive. Plans call for rip-ping up the concrete and installingmore lighting to improve patientsafety, Mr. Goins said.

To accommodate construction,the hospital’s main entrance will betemporarily located off Scranton Roadon the south end of its campus. ■

Fountain


The reason Jim’s fell is simple:Thomas Stickney, president of theScranton Averell real estate companythat owns much of the Scrantonpeninsula, said knocking it downwould slash the property’s annual taxbill by $30,000. The landmark hadsat empty for years, and he believes itwas too costly to repair for reuse.

Jim’s has company, and it’s notall small. Empty, obsolete commer-cial and industrial buildings arecoming down throughout North-east Ohio without immediate plansto replace them as part of redevel-opment projects. With a slow andtentative economic recovery underway, it may be years before ownerscan find new tenants or users.

Ford Motor Co. plans to start demolishing soon the 1 million-square-foot casting plant at 5600Henry Ford Boulevard in Brook Park.The automaker closed the foundrylast fall.

The automaker has no firm plansfor the site, but spokeswomanStephanie Denby said Ford feels“nothing good” can come from letting an empty factory remainstanding. Redeveloping the site isdifficult as Ford continues to runtwo engine plants in other buildingson the north and south sides of thehulking casting plant.

When reuse is not an option,Ford demolishes empty factoriesfor safety reasons, Ms. Denby said.But she acknowledged that alsoFord demolishes obsolete struc-tures to reduce its carrying costs forutilities and local property taxes.

In the case of the 50-year-oldcasting plant, Cuyahoga Countyvalues the 100-acre site at about$4.6 million and the heavy industrialstructure at $13.7 million. By elim-inating the building from its annualtax bill, Ford stands to slash itsproperty taxes after demolition asmuch as 67%, to about $105,000

from the tax bill of $345,000 thecounty is levying this year.

Selling pointDemolishing an obsolete building

that may be hard to restore also canmake marketing sense.

That’s how Terry Coyne, seniorvice president of real estate brokerGrubb & Ellis Co., views the decisionby Ohio Bulk Transfer Co. of Cleve-land to raze the former Pesano’srestaurant and party center at 5225Warner Road in Garfield Heights.

Razing the structure makes iteasier for industrial users to appre-ciate the opportunities for con-struction at the 10-acre site nearthe intersection of Interstates 480and 77, Mr. Coyne said.

Mr. Coyne said he does not knowif property taxes dropped alongwith Pesano’s roof. Most of the value in the property is in the land,anyway, as the county assigned the28,000-square-foot building a value

of just $56,000 while it values theground at $1 million. Leveling thebuilding would reduce the property’stax bill just 5.4% to $77,572 from$82,000 yearly, according to countytax records.

David Browning, managing directorof the Cleveland office of CB RichardEllis, said unlike three years ago —before the advent of the last reces-sion — demolishing a building “isalways a part of the conversation”today when a structure goes darkdue to a tenant closing or leaving.

A Crain’s analysis of online realtydata provider CoStar’s demolitionrecords shows more than 300 prop-erties in Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga,Medina, Portage and Summitcounties have been razed since2006 without immediate follow-onuse planned. The goners datedfrom 1890 to 1970, CoStar reports.

Trash vs. treasureAnother big factor in commercial


Modern Healthcare wants your opinions Modern Healthcare, a sister pub-

lication of Crain’s Cleveland Busi-ness, is seeking participants for thefourth annual Healthcare PurchasingPower Survey.

The survey, which is co-sponsoredby the National Business Coalition onHealth and the Leapfrog Group, mea-sures and ranks the health care pur-

chasing power of major U.S. compa-nies.

This year’s survey also asks majoremployers whether they’re consid-ering dropping health benefits be-cause of alternatives created by thenational health care reform law.

The survey is open to all U.S.nongovernmental companies and

organizations in any sector of theeconomy with a minimum of $1 billion in annual revenue. The survey will be sent to all Fortune1000 companies.

The survey period runs from July11 through Sept. 12. ModernHealthcare will publish the resultsof the survey in its Nov. 7 issue.

An electronic version of the ques-tionnaire is available at modernhealthcare.com/surveys. It’s alsoavailable on the coalition’s website,nbch.org, and the Leapfrog Group’swebsite, leapfroggroup.org.

This year, Modern Healthcare ispartnering with several of its sisterpublications at Crain Communica-tions to distribute the survey. Thosepublications are Automotive News,Business Insurance, Crain’s ClevelandBusiness, Crain’s Chicago Business,

Crain’s Detroit Business, Crain’s NewYork Business, Staffing Industry An-alysts and Workforce Management.

A copy of the survey as well as lastyear’s results can be obtained fromJulie Weissman, research director.You can reach her at (312) 649-5459or [email protected]. David May, assistant managing editor for features, is the project manager. You can reach him at (312)649-5451 or [email protected]. ■

continued from PAGE 1

Ghosts: Value often found in land, not buildingsand industrial demolitions is the highsalvage value of steel and copper,Mr. Coyne said.

The salvage element definitely ispart of the equation in the demoli-tion planned for much of the formerChrysler stamping plant in Twins-burg. Developers Scannell Proper-ties of Indianapolis and developer/demolition contractor DiGeronimoCos. of Valley View, which togetherlast week bought the property, planto raze a part of the structure to yieldland for a vast industrial park.

Mr. Coyne thinks the idea of demolishing vacant industrial prop-erties should get wider study.

“There are a lot more buildingsthat should come down,” he said.

Likewise, Mr. Browning said hebelieves the city of Cleveland shouldrevisit its ordinances that requiresubstantial review and approval ofpotential demolitions by the city’slandmarks and planning commissions.

“There are a lot of empty buildingsthat may never be reused,” particu-larly office buildings that lack redeeming historic or local value,Mr. Browning said. ■



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“We’re confident that Jim will figureout the right moments to advocatefor Blue Point and the right mo-ments to advocate for BreakthroughCharter Schools,” Mr. Given said.

Daunting taskMr. Marra, 50, is one of several

corporate converts working forBreakthrough. He’d known nothingabout the charter school missionuntil an awareness event in 2006 forE Prep, or Entrepreneurship Prepara-tory School, a charter school servedby Breakthrough and located in arenovated factory on East 36th Street.

He first served on the E Prep finance committee, then chaired it,and chaired the school’s board in 2009.

A large whiteboard in the Friendsof Breakthrough office spells out the Friends’ fundraising goal forsupporting its schools: $5 millionover the next year.

So far in the fiscal year that beganJuly 1, $1.1 million has been raised— $700,000 from The ClevelandFoundation and another $400,000from The George Gund Foundation.

The money will cover operations,including teacher salaries and rent.Mr. Marra said Breakthrough also israising a separate capital fund forbuying buildings and setting up anendowment for scholarships.

Charter schools receive state andfederal money, but do not receiveproperty tax revenue like publicschool districts. Foundations andprivate philanthropy are majorsources of financial support.

Of course, Mr. Marra acknowl-edged, the fundraising goal is amoving target as Breakthrough andthe number of schools it supports

grows. The organization, which servessix schools today, including twothat will open in August, aims toserve 20 schools by 2020.

To reach that goal, Mr. Marra isorganizing an effort to connect withmajor organizations and entrepre-neurs in Cleveland. All 35 boardmembers of Friends of Breakthroughalso have been asked to raise $25,000apiece by the end of the fiscal year.

Treading where many don’tJohn Zitzner, president of Friends

of Breakthrough, is ecstatic to haveMr. Marra on his team.

“I think it’s a real feather in hiscap that he actually made the movethat so many want to make, butdon’t,” Mr. Zitzner said.

Mr. Marra is motivated by whathe calls the dire state of educationin Cleveland: the unimpressivegraduation rate (a little more than50% in the Cleveland MetropolitanSchool District) and the dwindlingnumber of jobs available to thosewho don’t earn a high school diplomaor a college degree.

Mr. Marra is inspired, too, by hiswife, Joni, who several years agobroke from practicing law to raisefunds for University Hospitals. Shenow is “gainfully retired,” he said.

If the model of financing charterschools is changed and new sourcesof money open up, there may not bea need for someone like him, Mr.Marra acknowledged. But he isn’tlooking for an early exit.

“I want this to be successful, andafter this is successful and we’re hav-ing a significant effect on the city ofCleveland, then I’ll figure out thenext thing to do,” he said. “I’m herefor the long haul.” ■


Duty: Rainmaker bringsbusiness knowledge to job

Dots: IPO could help exposure Mr. Howard said. “This is a businessthat can grow significantly.”

Renovations to existing stores andstore openings have accelerated, Mr.Bunka said. Some stores are closing,he said, estimating 25 will be shutthis year. None of the closures is inNortheast Ohio.

This year alone, 30 stores are slatedto open and 50 are designated for remodeling, Mr. Bunka said. Themost projects the company previ-ously has done in a year falls in themid-40s, he noted.

“The business has the opportunityto take and own the space of fastfashion apparel in strip centers nationally,” Mr. Bunka said. “We aregood at it, and very few people know it.”

By “fast fashion,” Mr. Bunkameans Dots doesn’t try to predictfashion trends, but monitors themand reacts with product createdquickly to capitalize on them. Hesaid Dots has developed a base ofsuppliers capable of producing merchandise to its specifications.

Dotting the landscapeDots’ first focus is expanding within

its current footprint, Mr. Bunka said.Later, about 400 stores will be addedin new markets in the West. In threeor four years, Mr. Bunka expects thecompany to have grown at least 50%to 600 or 700 stores.

As stores open, the company’semployee count, which currently totals more than 4,000, will grow, Mr.Bunka noted. The number of Dotsemployees in Northeast Ohio — 360— should remain fairly stable.

Mr. Howard said he hopes to open50 to 75 Dots stores a year beginningin 2012. Some of Dots’ competitorshave more than 1,000 stores, he noted.

“There are a lot of places in the

continued from PAGE 1 United States where there should beDots stores where currently we don’thave stores,” Mr. Howard said.

Neither Mr. Howard nor Mr.Bunka would reveal a dollar figurefor the anticipated capital outlay forbuilding the new stores and remod-eling the existing ones.

“We don’t have a fixed amount,”Mr. Howard said. “We just knowthat we have to do it. If we’re to pre-sent this unified brand, we need tocreate a more consistent shoppingexperience.”

Since its opening in 1987, Dotshas transformed from a closeout retailer similar to Gabriel Brothersto a company with Dots-brandedproducts ranging from denim toshirts and shoes. The company’smantra is quick fashion at a greatvalue. Stores update their productmix weekly.

Many mall-based retailers — TheLimited, Forever 21 and H&M — areregarded as Dots’ main competi-tion. So are Target, Walmart andT.J.Maxx.

“To certain people who shop atDots, they are fanatic,” Mr. Howardsaid. “The question is, how do wecommunicate to a broader audi-ence?”

Changes inside and outUpgrading the stores is one answer,

he said. Within three to four years,all the chain’s older stores should berefurbished.

About 130 stores, including 13 inNortheast Ohio, already wear the newlook, Mr. Bunka said. By the end ofthe year, almost half the stores will.

The newer look, which featuresupdated colors (more pink, whiteand gray), new fixtures and flooringand in-store graphics, was chosenin 2007, when the company re-branded itself, Mr. Bunka said. TheDots store in Steelyard Commons in Cleveland was the first to wearthe new brand. Also on deck forDots is the launch of e-commerce,or online purchasing. The companywebsite currently allows people tobrowse its current fashions, but notto make purchases. A customer loyalty program and a Dots creditcard also will be explored, Mr.Howard said.

Shortly, a new company boardwill be in place, Mr. Howard said, andit includes “world-class outsiderswho can help” grow the company.Among them are Bernie Zeichner,former chairman and CEO ofwomen’s apparel retailer CharlotteRusse, and Michelle Pearlman, whoworked for both Sears and Ann Taylor.

The big investment in Dotscomes at a time when many lower-end retailers are struggling, saidPaul Swinand, lead apparel retaileranalyst for Morningstar Inc., an investment research firm in Chicago.While higher-end retailers, such asNordstrom, are enjoying double-

digit percentage growth in same-storesales and are expanding where pos-sible, stores such as Payless Shoe-Source and Sears have experiencedflat to negative sales for severalquarters.

“Many players are not growing orhave scaled back growth plans,” Mr.Swinand said of the apparel retailsector. “So it could be an interestingstrategy if (Dots) can fill in whereother people are dropping out.”

IPO in its future? Irving Place Capital bought Aero-

postale in 1998 when it had about120 stores and took it public in 2002,Mr. Howard said. Today, the men’sand women’s clothing retailer hasmore than 1,000 stores. Irving Place,which still owns a controlling stakein 500-store New York & Co., alsogrew Vitamin Shoppe from nearly130 stores in 2002 to more than 480and took it public in October 2009.

Are similar plans in store for Dots?A spokeswoman for Irving Place saidit’s premature to discuss an exitstrategy.

While Mr. Bunka, too, said it’s toosoon to say, he acknowledged apublic stock offering is a possibility.Asked if he’d want that for Dots, hesaid yes.

“I think that it would be a positivenext step for the company,” Mr.Bunka said.

“By being public, we will exposeourselves to a much larger audiencethan we do as a private company,”he added, citing access to growthcapital and brand awareness. “Mostnational brands move that direc-tion. At some point, we’ll be readyfor it. We haven’t assessed whenyet.”

Messrs. Howard and Bunka saidDots will remain based in Glen-willow, where it opened its newheadquarters just two years ago.Also, by remaining in NortheastOhio, Dots has access to people instrong fashion programs at areaschools, including Kent State Uni-versity, both men noted.

The involvement of a private equity partner that appears to knowthe retail business is a “checkmark”toward success for Dots, said RobertAntall, managing partner of theShaker Heights retail managementconsulting firm, Consumer CentricConsulting.

“I think the economy’s right forthis kind of expansion because ofthe availability of retail space, be-cause consumers are looking for highvalue at low prices,” Mr. Antall said.

“Cleveland has lost the vast majority of its retailers over the last20 years or so,” he said. “It would benice to have this (growth by Dots),along with companies like JoAnnStores, spur the growth of other retailers. A growing, healthy retaileris … a great thing. We need more ofthose in Cleveland.” ■

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“We are opposed to leasing existingpublic highways,” public affairs director Norita Taylor said. “It usuallyresults in (toll) increases that are unfair to truckers and other highwayusers.”

Evasive actionSome truckers already have been

favoring alternate routes such asRoute 2 since October 2009, whentruck tolls on the Ohio Turnpikewere increased. The turnpike com-mission increased to 70 mph from 65mph the speed limit on the turnpikein April to lure truckers back to thetoll road.

Talking to reporters July 1, just after he signed the state’s two-yearbudget, Gov. Kasich reiterated hisdesire to lease the turnpike, and saidthe state probably would get a chunkof money upfront plus a percentageof future toll revenue. He also said hewould ensure that toll increaseswould be capped.

The governor has said if he secures $3 billion for the toll road,which would net him about $2.4 billion after repaying existing debt,he would put the money into a fund for building and fixing up infra-structure, such as roadways andbridges.

Department of Transportation director Jerry Wray has said Ohiowould not agree to a non-competeclause that would limit the state’sability to build and maintain alter-nate routes to the turnpike, as Indianadid.

Any deal would have to be approvedby the Legislature. ■

revenue hasn’t met projections. Thecompany is a joint venture betweenthe Australian Macquarie Groupand Cintra SA of Spain.

The Indiana road has sufferedfrom a decline in traffic and revenueduring the recession. According to a2010 Macquarie prospectus, toll roadrevenues “are expected to remaininsufficient to cover debt serviceobligations over the medium term.”

The situation has raised concernsthe company could default on itsobligations. The newswire reportedbut could not confirm that RoyalBank of Scotland, a principal lender,has sent the debt to its workout department.

Citing two recent toll increases,the joint venture partners have saidpayments to bondholders will notbe affected. Nonetheless, a stagnanteconomy and questions surroundingthe safety of the bonds that financedthe Indiana deal have observersquestioning whether Ohio canachieve a turnpike deal that makesfinancial sense.

Not worth the risk?“Right now is probably the worst

time they could be talking about doing it,” said Kevin O’Brien, directorof the Center for Public Manage-ment at Cleveland State Universityand a former municipal finance analyst for Moody’s Investor Ser-vices. “Maybe two years from now;(the governor) should wait until valuesare at a reasonably high value.”

Unless Ohio can get top dollar for the turnpike, it will be difficultfor Gov. Kasich to overcome thecomplaints of critics who argue thatleasing or selling the turnpikewould be a mistake.

“Doing a toll road deal in Ohio,the economics would be challenging,”said Tim Offtermatt, a public financespecialist with Stifel Nicolaus Finan-cial Advisors in Pepper Pike. “Withthe (bond market) where it is, itwould be a real challenge to get adeal so compelling you’d have tomake a deal.”

Edward “Ned” Hill, dean of the Maxine Goodman Levin Collegeof Urban Affairs at Cleveland StateUniversity, also has broader con-cerns about selling the turnpike.

“To me, the risk is too high andthe reward is too small,” Dr. Hillsaid. “Yeah, there’s some price outthere that would be fantastic (forthe state), but the only price thatmakes sense would bankrupt thecompany that bought it.”

Rob Nichols, the governor’sspokesman, said the Kasich admin-istration is considering its options.

“We’re going to look at,” Mr.Nichols said. “If it makes financial

sense for the state, we’ll do it; if itdoesn’t, we won’t.”

Mr. Nichols said leasing the turn-pike is the most likely option, but headded somewhat cryptically, “Thereare other possibilities,” though hewould not say what those possibili-ties are.

Truckers are waryDr. Hill is concerned that if the

state does not control pricing on theturnpike, tolls could rise significantly,which would make it more expen-sive to move cargo through northernOhio, especially to and from fourmajor auto plants — in Toledo,Avon Lake and Lordstown.

In Indiana, tolls nearly have doubled during the first five years ofthe lease. After July 1 of this year, according to the lease, the investorswill continue to increase tolls at orabove the rate of inflation, likelyaround 3%.

Dr. Hill also wonders whether aprivate operator would add new interchanges to accommodate busi-nesses, as the Ohio Turnpike Commission did at Lordstown. Inaddition, he’s worried about the potential for deteriorating conditionson alternate east-west routes, suchas state Route 2, if higher tolls movetrucks onto those roads.

The trucking industry has similarconcerns about turning the OhioTurnpike over to private hands.

Sherry Warren, general counselof the Ohio Trucking Associationsaid her group, which represents1,100 trucking companies that useOhio’s roads, isn’t opposing theleasing of the turnpike. However, its expectations suggest it wouldn’tbe happy with the kind of deal thatwould be attractive to a private operator.

It would be especially wary of anyagreement that did not put signifi-cant restrictions on the ability of aprivate operator to increase tolls,Ms. Warren said.

“We believe the turnpike could beoperated much more efficiently andthe tolls could be reduced to drivetraffic back to the turnpike” if thestate maintained control of thehighway, Ms. Warren said.

The turnpike had a surplus of revenue over expenses of $54.6 mil-lion in 2010, according to its annualfinancial statement.

The Missouri-based Owner Oper-ator Independent Drivers Associa-tion, which has 150,000 truck-drivingmembers, is flatly opposed to any deal.

“Right now is probably the worst time (state leaders)could be talking about (leasing the turnpike).” – Kevin O’Brien, director of the Center for Public Management, Cleveland State University



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Turnpike: Truckers leery of toll costs

Eaton Corp. said ithas been selectedby Southwest Air-lines as one of its component service providers.

Eaton said the companies haveentered into a contractual agree-ment for component repair andoverhaul services for the airline’sfleet of Boeing 737 passenger jets.The three-year service contract applies to aircraft equipped withEaton-manufactured hydraulic components, including AC motor-driven pumps, engine-driven pumpsand hydraulic motors.

Eaton did notestimate the valueof the contract.

“We believe this expansion of ourrelationship with Southwest Airlinesis based on our record of providingreliable, high-quality componentsbacked up by excellent customersupport,” Eric Alden, vice presidentof customer support for Eaton’sAerospace Group, said in a statement.

Eaton said Southwest Airlines willship components to its aerospacefacilities for repair and overhaul services as part of the contractagreement.

Southwest taps Eaton as providerON THE WEB Story from www.CrainsCleveland.com.


Last week, I applauded ClevelandMayor Frank Jackson for his statedwillingness to consider morecharter schools connected to his

public school system, even though theygenerally are staffed with non-unionteachers.

The mayor knows that improving theschools is the most importantthing he can do to revitalize thecity. Plenty of young people wantto live downtown, somethingthat was shown in the latestcensus, but then move once theystart a family.

If only other mayors, andtheir citizenry, had the samefeelings about the schools. Butgiven the fact that our schoolsremain choked by an outmodedfinancing model, we are fated to watchas one school system after another slidesinto mediocrity as tax levies are repeat-edly rejected by voters.

Recently I read a story in The (MedinaCounty) Gazette about new and uniqueshops that had opened in that town’shistoric district, clearly one of the Victorian-

era jewels of the Western Reserve. An official with Main Street Medina, an organization that works to improve eco-nomic development while retainingMedina’s old-world charm, said peopleare drawn to Medina because of thequality of life and the great schools.

The problem is that the schools arestressed to the breaking point.New families keep moving intothe new homes being builtwhile voters reject the tax leviesneeded to keep the schools attheir once-excellent level. Andthe same thing is happening inevery community in our region.

The Ohio Supreme Courtyears ago ordered the GeneralAssembly to reform the schoolfinancing system because of

its inequity. Instead of doing that, the Republican-led Legislature, along withGov. Bob Taft, chose to build and rehabschool buildings across Ohio.

So now we have beautiful new schoolbuildings, but tax-weary residents decliningto support them. Ohio will not move for-ward in this new world until we determine

a fair way to finance our schools and return them to the excellence they once had.

* * * **THIS MONTH’S ISSUE OF Golf

magazine prints an excerpt from a book(published by Sports Illustrated and writtenby two senior SI writers) that is, to me,woefully short of the “hilarious new novel” that the editor’s note proclaims.

Titled “The Swinger,” the book tells atale of an African-American golfer whodominated his sport and drove stratos-pheric TV ratings while leading “anotherlife fueled by drugs and dalliances, deceitand deception.” The golfer (of biracialparents) is married to an Italian bikinimodel, has a chief rival named “WillMartinsen” rather than Phil Mickelson.Oh, and to put the final cherry on thissundae of unimagination, the golfer isrepresented by an agent named “AndrewFinkleman, former star of IGM (Inter-galactic Golf Marketing).”

Is this really the next “hilarious” golfbook, or a cheesy exploitation of theTiger Woods story? I’ve reached my decision, and won’t be wasting my moneyor my reading time. ■


Crying timeG

ov. John Kasich has succeeded in pushingthe pain of state budget cuts down to thelocal level, and that’s not all bad. The budget pressures many towns and school

districts feel themselves under may force them topush back on the General Assembly to reduce the generous retirement benefits many of their employees enjoy.

Municipal leaders and school administrators inmany cities must contend with unsustainable methods of compensating their employees, whoreap fat payouts upon their retirement with the taxpayer footing a chunk of the bill. Most privatesector employees are green with envy when theylearn of veteran teachers who retire in their mid tolate 50s and rake in as much as 85% of their end-of-career salaries in their pensions. The retirement payof other public employees often is nothing to sneezeat, either.

The old excuse for these healthy retirement benefitswas that the salaries of public sector workers weren’tin the same league as private sector employees, sopublic employees made it up at the back of their careers. However, the disparity in pay betweencomparable jobs in the two sectors often is negligibleanymore. Yet, the nice retirement perks for publicemployees have been allowed to continue.

The dirty little secret of public employee manage-ment is that it’s easier to maintain labor harmonywith powerful public employee unions by laying offtheir people than by lobbying the Legislature tomake workers cover more of their retirement costs.So, when budget crunches come, you repeatedlyhave headlines of mayors and superintendents crying about the ax they must take to their staffs.Heaven forbid they whisper a word that the pensionand health care benefits they must pay are killingthem (think of the stink over Senate Bill 5, whichcurtails the collective bargaining power of publicemployee unions).

The problem for public officials, however, is thattheir pension burdens are growing so large that theythreaten to replicate the awful experience of theU.S. steel and auto industries. That is, cities andschools won’t be able to meet the obligations to theirretirees without deep, debilitating layoffs of their active workers, or significant tax increases, or both.

Steve Malanga, a former executive editor of oursister paper, Crain’s New York Business, and the authorof “Shakedown: The Continuing Conspiracy Againstthe American Taxpayer,” highlighted the quagmirecreated by public employee pensions in an op-edpiece that ran June 27 in The Wall Street Journal.

Mr. Malanga noted that many towns already arespending up to 20% of their budgets on pensioncosts. He also cited a recent study by California’sLittle Hoover Commission, a government oversightbody. It noted: “Barring a miraculous market advance and sustained economic expansion, nogovernment entity — especially at the local level —will be able to absorb the blow (from rising pen-sions) without severe cuts to services.”

There is no time to waste for the Legislature to dealwith public employee pensions. The alternative is aticking retirement time bomb.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

BRIANTUCKER

School financing remains huge issue

PUBLISHER/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR:Brian D.Tucker ([email protected])

EDITOR:Mark Dodosh ([email protected])

MANAGING EDITOR:Scott Suttell ([email protected])

OPINION

WARREN BLAZYClevelandMy grandmother told me thatthe greatest moment of her life... was the day that man wentinto space. It’s a shame thatgenerations ahead can’t experience the same thing.

➤➤➤➤ Watch more people weigh in by visiting the Multimedia section at www.CrainsCleveland.com.

THE BIG ISSUE

SCOTT HURLEYClevelandIt’s an embarrassment that theRussians have won the spacerace. I think it’s really a shamewe have let it fall so fast.

JEFF BOGARTBeachwoodI don’t think it’s a good idea.Now we’re dependent on foreigners (to go into space)and we know how well that’sworked out in many areas.

JOHN MCGOVERNClevelandI think maybe it’s an opportunityfor some global cooperation.Maybe it’s time when we canall work together.

What do you think about the United States ending the space shuttle program without a viable way to put our astro-nauts back in space ourselves (without hitching a ride with the Russians)?



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play a big role in our considerations.”Coaches in the respective sports

initially make site suggestions to athletic directors, who then makerecommendations to presidents, saidJoel Nielsen, athletic director at KentState University. In the case of thebaseball tournament, it will be relo-cated to Avon, home of the indepen-dent Lake Erie Crushers, from VAStadium in Chillicothe, which playedhost to the baseball tournament forthe last four years.

Just last February, the conferenceannounced it would bring its volley-ball tournament to SPIRE Institute,the sprawling athletic complex inGeneva, starting this fall for twoyears; that event was held at SeagateCenter in downtown Toledo the pastfive years. Firestone Park in Akronhas served as host to the MAC’s softball tournament the past foursprings; in the two seasons prior, thefour-day tournament was held inMidland, Mich.

And the MAC’s popular basketballtournaments since 2001 have beenplayed at Quicken Loans Arena. Mr.Mather told Crain’s in March thatthose men’s and women’s eventscollectively attract 1,000 room nightsdowntown.

Long drive? No problemWestern Michigan, located in

Kalamazoo, Mich.; Northern Illinois,in De Kalb, Ill.; and Central Mich-igan, in Mount Pleasant, Mich.; areon average 371 miles from Geneva,300 from Avon. Kent State and Akronare 70 miles from Geneva, 53 fromAvon.

Yet the discrepancy in the distance their teams must travel fortournaments has not stopped theMAC’s western outliers from sup-porting the conference’s moves.

“Geographically, we’re at a disad-vantage all the time, so we deal withit,” said Debra Boughton, a NorthernIllinois associate athletic directorand newly appointed senior women’sadministrator.

More important to NIU, Ms.Boughton said, is placing tourna-ments where the school’s athleteswill be received well.

“Basketball’s a good example,”she said. “Fans know where it’s going to be, when it’s going to be.The communities have embracedthese tournaments and been graciousto our teams.”

MAC: Top facilities outweigh geographycontinued from PAGE 3

FILE PHOTO/MARC GOLUB

The Mid-American Conference in February announced it would hold its next twowomen’s volleyball championships at SPIRE Institute in Geneva.

Midland, Mich., where the softballtournament was held for two years,is 27 miles from Mount Pleasant, yet a Central Michigan spokesmancalled the staging of the tournamentsin Northeast Ohio “absolutely a posi-tive.”

“Cleveland is a great city with a lotto offer our fans and participantswho attend the tournaments, andit’s an easy drive for us,” said JasonKaufman, Central Michigan’s directorof athletic communications. “Butmore importantly, we want our student-athletes to have the experi-ence of playing in the best facilitiesout there.”

Digging the digsEach school representative cited

the quality of the facilities for back-ing the moves. After a soft opening,SPIRE Institute is receiving nationalattention, including in a recent ESPNThe Magazine “Best of” edition. Alsowell-regarded is the $12 million AllPro Freight Stadium; besides holding5,000 fans, it features a turf surfacethat allows games to be played evenin inclement weather.

The MAC also holds a special distinction among so-called mid-major conferences by staging its basketball tournaments in an NBAarena. Of the 25 mid-major confer-ences that play Division I basketball,it’s the only one to do so.

“That matters,” said Kent State’sMr. Nielsen, who cited a graduatingmen’s basketball player, Rod Sherman,as saying The Q was a big part of why he chose Kent. “Recruits and

prospective recruits see that as anextraordinary opportunity, andthese other facilities are first class, as well.” ■

Warehouse District eateries just fine■ I’ve been a subscriber to Crain’sCleveland Business for about four yearsnow and always appreciated yourunbiased professional writers, unlikesome of the other rags around town.

However, your July 11, Page Onestory, “Don’t stick a fork in the Ware-house District just yet,” is biased,and in my opinion, lazy journalism.

What the story failed to mentionwas one of the main sources of fric-tion in the Warehouse District wasthe nightclub Lust, whose lease expires Aug. 31. In its place will beAces, another new concept as far asrestaurants go. Of course, mentioningthat portion in the content would haveruined the whole theme to the article.

The writer also failed to mentionanother new conceptual restaurant(at least for downtown) in the formof Tomo. Also, if Public Square isconsidered part of the Warehouse

LETTERDistrict (based on the mention ofJohn Q’s), then I also didn’t hear anymention about Pura Vida?

I didn’t see any mention of violence that has happened in thepast in both Tremont and Ohio City.

I also didn’t realize that Ohio Citywas a bastion of culinary excellence.What new concept besides some microbreweries has been introducedin the last 10 years? The only restau-rant you could put in that categorywould be The Flying Fig and nowperhaps Crop.

So to recap:1. Crop left for a space that is over

four times the size of the space it occupied in the Warehouse Districtand in its place is a new ethnicrestaurant that was sorely needed. In

general, there is a lack of good ethnicrestaurants. Both a loss and a gain.

2. Lust, the source of many of the problems in the district, will bereplaced by Aces. A huge plus.

3. Waterstreet was replaced withSixth City Diner. Probably a wash.

4. A run-down closed bathhouse isreplaced by a four-story hibachi andsushi restaurant. A huge plus.

5. An average restaurant based onprice point replaced by Bar Louie. Awash.

6. A Prime Rib steakhouse in a former pool hall. A huge plus.

Yeah, the place is dying. Put a forkin it.

If the goal of the article was sensa-tionalism and lack of research, thenthe writer accomplished her goal.

Timothy HigginsWarehouse District resident


Knotice hasn’t accepted any out-side investments since 2006, whenit received $500,000 from JumpStartInc., a nonprofit that assists and invests in startups in Northeast Ohio.

“It needs to be a great deal for usto pull the trigger,” Mr. Deagan said.

The seeds of Knotice were plantedin 2001, when marketing firm CraverMarcom Inc. created a technologydivision designed to help broad-band Internet service providers better communicate with their customers. The company hired Mr.Deagan and Bill Landers, who isKnotice’s chief technology officer,to help run that division, calledeMarketing by CMI. In 2003 theyended up buying it from CraverMarcom, which owner DouglasCraver shut down that same year togo into consulting instead.

Mr. Craver also connected thestartup to Jonathon Grimm and hisfather, Richard Grimm, who helpedfinance the launch. Richard Grimm— who was CEO of TechnicareCorp., a medical imaging companythat closed its Solon plant in 1986— remains on Knotice’s board ofdirectors. Jonathon Grimm, whopreviously worked in the invest-ment banking and private equity

fields, today is Knotice’s presidentand chief financial officer.

The company began growingrapidly shortly after receiving theJumpStart investment, which Mr.Deagan said had a “huge” impacton the business. Knotice grew fromnine employees in 2006 to 18 at thestart of 2007 and 26 a year after that,according to data from the Crain’slists of local software developers.Knotice employed 35 people onJan. 1, 2009, and that number grewto 44 people by the start of 2010.

Mr. Deagan said Knotice hasbeen profitable since mid 2007.Sales hit $7.5 million in 2010, andMr. Deagan said he expects revenuethis year in a range of $11 million to$12 million. Midway through 2010,the company finished paying backJumpStart’s money, with interest,Mr. Deagan said, noting that Jump-Start’s investment never convertedto equity because Knotice didn’traise outside financing.

Happy in VancouverMr. Deagan chalks up much of

Knotice’s growth to the way it designed its Concentri software.Buyers can use it to customize information that customers see ontheir websites based on information

such as products those customershave checked out on the websites in the past, where they live and per-sonal details they provide throughloyalty programs. The software usessimilar information to customizepromotional emails and text mes-sages.

The ability to customize websites,email and text messages has helpedKnotice stand out, Mr. Deagan said.He added that he knows of no competitors that designed all threesystems to work together when theyoriginally were built, which allowsthem to work together seamlessly.

“That differentiation has been abig driver,” he said.

The software has “definitelyboosted sales” at BuildDirect Tech-nologies Inc. since the online building supplies retailer startedusing it about a year ago, said DavidJenkins, vice president of merchan-dising and conversion for the com-pany, which is based in Vancouver,Canada.

One reason BuildDirect choseConcentri was because it could deliver personalized messages viaBuildDirect.com and email, Mr.Jenkins said.

“We’ve been leveraging it a lot,”he said. ■


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FROM A BUSINESS OWNERnsights

GOING PLACESJOB CHANGES

DISTRIBUTIONPARTS ASSOCIATES INC.: GeoffTurner to director of materials andpricing; Andrea Piotrowski to specialorder buyer; Dean Vecchio to fastener buyer; Joe Dimora to salessupport representative.

EDUCATIONINDIANA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITYCLEVELAND: Robin A. Williams toregional faculty recruitment coordina-tor, Northern Ohio.

FINANCEFIFTH THIRD BANK NORTHEASTERNOHIO: Ted Walter to Akron city president.

FINANCIAL SERVICEAXA ADVISORS: Justin J. Scheeffto financial consultant. BAIRD: John Diemer to vice president,financial adviser.CARLETON MCKENNA & CO.: Dominic Brault to managing director.ERNST & YOUNG: Joe Velkos to senior manager, business tax services.THOMSON REUTERS: Sara Boyanand Cory Harless to property taxconsultants.

GOVERNMENTMEDINA COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORP.: Andrea S.Lyons to marketing director.

HEALTH CARELAKE HEALTH: Michael E. Kittoe tosenior vice president, finance, CFO.METROHEALTH: Dr. J. ScottWilliams to Department of Radiology. PREMIER PHYSICIANS CENTERS:Raymond J. Marvar to general counsel.RADIOLOGY AND IMAGING SERVICES INC.: Dr. Troy Blagraveand Dr. Mark Richards to radiolo-gists.

HOSPITALITYBAR CENTO: Michael Nowak to executive chef; Adam Lambert tochef de cuisine.MARKET GARDEN BREWERY ANDDISTILLERY: Michael Nowak to executive chef; Mike Foran andAndy Tveekrem to partners.

INSURANCEHYLANT GROUP: Tom Kelseyto client service executive, risk management.UNITEDHEALTHCARE: Trisha Hor-vath to executive director, Employerand Individual in Northern Ohio.

LEGALWESTON HURD LLP: Karl E. Mayto partner.

MANUFACTURINGCARDPAK: Greg Tisone to president;Jerry Lamm to vice president, CFO;Tom Weber to vice president, generalmanager; Seth Duckworth to nationalsales manager. DELTA SYSTEMS INC.: BillMichaels to business unit manager,outdoor power equipment. MILLWOOD INC.–LIBERTY TECH-NOLOGIES: Kirk Ambrose to directorof sales. MYERS INDUSTRIES: Ron Ulery togeneral manager, WEK Industries.

VelkosBraultWalter

AmbroseMichaelsKittoe

RichardsonHayesJackson

MARKETINGGOLDSTEIN GROUP COMMUNICA-TIONS: Jennifer A. Jackson to account manager.KNOTICE: John Shelton to web application developer; Kier Selinskyto information architect; CaseyShaulis to senior graphic designer;Kaitlin Bright to marketing coordinator;Anthony Kascak to senior databaseadministrator; Amy Chubbuck to account supervisor; Jeremy Fisherto systems administrator; ChrisJohnson to director of businessprocess automation.

NONPROFITHOUSING RESEARCH & ADVOCACYCENTER: Hilary Mason King to executive director. MARCH OF DIMES FOUNDATIONNORTHEAST OHIO: Simone Hayesto division executive director.

REAL ESTATENRP GROUP: Andrew N. Tanner tochief operating officer.

SERVICEHUMAN ARC: Terri Love to teamleader; Joshua Ebel and NicholeFoote to senior client relations specialists; Song Han to client relations specialist; Katie Giganti tofacilitator.

TECHNOLOGYEXCHANGEBASE: Mike Cottrill tovice president, marketing.

BOARDSALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATIONCLEVELAND AREA CHAPTER:Brian Richardson (Sherwin-WilliamsCo.) to president.OHIO SOCIETY OF CPAS: JamesD. Gottfried (Ernst & Young LLP) tochair.

AWARDSNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DIABETESAND DIGESTIVE AND KIDNEY DISEASES: John Young-Ling Chiang (Northeast Ohio Medical University) received the Method to Extend Research in Time Award.

Send information for Going Places [email protected].


Knotice: Versatile product stands out


Crain’s honors this year’s class of distinguished ladieswho have made a positive impact in Northeast Ohio’s

business community

Photography

by Marc Golub

For rockin’ video interviews

of this year’s Women of Note,

visit www.CrainsCleveland.com

after this Wednesday’s

awards luncheon

Debbi

e Don

ley

W

-2

Sari F

eldm

an

W-3

Amy Gerri

ty

W-4

Noreen Koppelm

an Goldstein

W-5

Tricia Griff

ith W

-6

Stephanie A.S. Harrington W

-7

India Pierce Lee W-8

Amy S. Leopard W-8

Gena Lovett W-9

Kimberly Martinez-Giering W-10

Shelly Peet W-10Michelle Primm W-11Barbara K. Roman W-12

Kristie Van Auken W-13

Mary Ann Vogel W-14


WW--22 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS JULY 18 - 24, 2011

Congratulations toMichelle Primm,

Managing Partnerof Cascade Auto

Group

A 2011 honoree for theCrain's Cleveland BusinessWomen of Note Awards.

On behalf of the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers’ Association

Processing and distributing superiorcarbon steel products for 59 years.

CONGRATULATIONS

Noreen Koppelman Goldstein,

our President and Colleague,

newly elected President of the

Lake County Bar Association and

Crain’s 2011 Woman of Note.

Mid-West Materials, Inc.Carbon Flat Rolled Steel Service Center

www.midwestmaterials.com440-259-5200

Association Of Steel Distributors

Named as Top 100Metal Service Center in North America

ISO 9001:2000Certified

DebbieDonleyprincipalVocon Inc.

By STAN [email protected]

Afew years after DebbieDonley launched the two-person Vocon architectureand interior design firm in

1987, she had a dispute with her father and mentor, the late Paul

Voinovich, who was owner of thenow-defunct Voinovich Cos. At thetime, Voinovich was a power inCleveland’s architecture and construction scene.

“I went to Princeton, N.J., to callon a potential corporate client.Dad said, ‘What are you doing? It’sa waste of time and money.’ But Igot interviewed,” Ms. Donley said.“We were included in a request forproposals by UBS Inc. The com-mittee evaluated designs withoutfirm names on them — and wewon.”

That led to fulfilling UBS’sdesign needs in a five-state regionand a long-term relationship withthe financial giant. The job taughther lessons in dealing with corpo-rate clients, and opened doors tomore corporations.

Fast forward to 2011. Ms. Donleyand her brother, also named PaulVoinovich, are the principals of thefirm serving as the architect ofrecord for the $160 millionGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co. corporate headquarters in Akron.Vocon has a staff of 112 people, including seven added over thepast year.

Do not expect Ms. Donley tospout architectural theory. Neithershe nor her brother is an architect.Even though she planned to pursue a career in a creative field,she followed her father’s adviceand majored in business adminis-tration with a minor in design atBowling Green State University.Principals at the firm with archi-tecture licenses do the designingand affix state-required architec-ture stamps. Ms. Donley and Mr.Voinovich run the business.

“It’s not about the architectureanymore,” Ms. Donley said of herfield. “It’s about helping people execute strategy. Void of strategy,we’re useless to our clients. TakeGoodyear. We designed it from theinside out. Goodyear was reallylooking to change their culture.”

As for her role, Ms. Donley seesit as assembling the teams to getjobs done.

Within Vocon, Ms. Donley’s roleis that of visionary, always lookingfor the next relationship or thenext endeavor for the firm to pursue. She often is termed thefirm’s mom and is the arbiter of its culture as a fun shop, whereconference rooms take their

names from vodkas.“She’s one of the most hard-

driving women you will ever meet,”her brother said. “She works tire-lessly to be the ringleader for all ofthe activities in her life. It was (Ms.Donley’s) idea to open a New Yorkoffice. Her role is to look at the future and see what to do next.”

Her background as a Voinovich— the third generation in the busi-ness, though Vocon was built fromscratch — and as the niece of just-retired U.S. Sen. George Voinovich,helped Ms. Donley gained a wealthof contacts dating to her youth.However, that is a two-edged sword.

“Everyone always thinks of meas a kid because that is when theymet me,” Ms. Donley said.

Ms. Donley said her Voinovichantidote was to emphasize net-working with people of her ownage. That paid benefits as theirstars rose.

One contact in that category isChandler Converse, a managingdirector at CB Richard Ellis’s Cleve-land office. He met Ms. Donleywhen she worked on a project soonafter he came here in the late 1980s.

“The fact she is doing some of the biggest projects in town reflects her relationship skills andthe ability to get work done,” Mr.Converse said.

Colleagues describe Ms. Donleyas energetic, positive and driven. Emails from her after midnight are common.

All the while she worked to growthe business, she was raising threechildren from her first marriage —a son and two daughters, now 18,17 and 14. She met Mac Donley,her second husband and a construction contractor, as bothworked on the design of the WKYCstudio in 2000.

Ms. Donley remembers howtheir relationship turned. She wastrying to fix Mr. Donley up withone of her girlfriends when he said,“How about you?”

For the future, Ms. Donley’s focus is on helping Vocon growwhile continuing what she calls its“fun” culture. The key contribu-tion to that culture was her experi-ence as a mom, she said.

“I believe in letting people do theright thing as adults,” she said. “WhenI ran out of the office to a (child’s)lacrosse game, I did not want tomake up a meeting as an excuse.” ■

“It’s not about the architecture anymore. It’s about helping people execute strategy.”– Debbie Donley (below), principal, Vocon Inc.


JULY 18 - 24, 2011 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS W-3

MY BENESCH

MY TEAMCleveland

Columbus

Indianapolis

Philadelphia

Shanghai

White Plains

Wilmington

www.beneschlaw.com

To be successful, not-for-profit Alvis House has to stay on top of itsbusiness without losing focus on the human side of things. That’swhy Denise trusts Benesch. Whether navigating complex financing and real estate deals or consulting on HR and regulatory matters, weshare the same goal: to make smart decisions that help Alvis Housepositively impact people’s lives.

To learn more about our relationship with Alvis House, visit beneschlaw.com/myteam

“What sets Benesch apart fromother firms is the fact that they’rereal people. Everyone I’ve met—every attorney, every partner—really cares about what we’redoing.”

DENISE M. ROBINSONPresident and CEOAlvis House

Featured attorneys (left to right)MARTHA SWETERLITSCH—TEAM LEADER, SUSAN PRICE, LEE KORLAND, JACOB FLEISCHMANN, JENNIFER TURK, JASON GEORGE

© 2011 Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP

Sari Feldman

executive director

Cuyahoga CountyPublic Library

By JAY [email protected]

In 1974, after earning an undergraduate degree in English, Sari Feldman wasworking at a rape crisis center

in Madison, Wis.“I discovered I didn’t want to do

counseling as a career, but what Iloved was organizing informationand educating people about thatinformation,” she recalled of herexperience putting together sourcesof information for the center’scounselors.

So Ms. Feldman enrolled in library school at the University ofWisconsin.

“Libraries give hope and inspira-tion,” she said. A professor therenamed Margaret Monroe had a particularly strong influence.

“She understood that librarieshad this unique opportunity to takeinformation — at that point it wasprimarily books — and package itin a way that people needed to usethe information, to create a personallearning track that could changepeople’s lives,” Ms. Feldman said.

Dr. Monroe even got Ms. Feld-man her first library job while ingraduate school.

“I was a jail librarian in the DaneCounty (Wis.) correctional facility,”she said. “It was a microcosm ofeverything I would do for the rest ofmy life.

“I learned a lot about people whowere very different from me and Ilearned how books and informationcan change peoples’ lives,” shesaid.

Ms. Feldman has taken thoselessons to heart, building the Cuyahoga County Public Librarysystem into one of the best in thenation.

She has taken it on a course totransform the system with a $70million-plus building program begun in 2010 that is rebuilding,renovating and relocating 13 out-moded and inefficient branches.The system has broken ground on anew branch in Warrensville Heightsand has unveiled plans for a newbuilding in North Royalton and onein Parma that will consolidate twoexisting branches.

The county library system has 28 branches and serves more than a half-million residents in 47 com-munities in Cuyahoga County.Cardholders circulated a record 20million items in 2010.

A past president (2010) of thePublic Library Association, Ms.Feldman has been executive director

of New York at Binghamton, Ms.Feldman spent 14 years with theOnondaga County Public Libraryin Syracuse, N.Y.

“She’s very sensitive to where libraries are going without gettingso far ahead of the curve that noone will follow her,” said MarilynGell Mason, who brought Ms.Feldman to Cleveland when Ms.Mason was director of the Cleve-land Public Library. “She has anice combination of vision andpracticality, and she’s also a won-derful person to work with.”

Ms. Mason, who now is a libraryconsultant and photographer inSeattle, lauded Ms. Feldman’scommitment to make librariesmore responsive to their commu-nities.

“She’s the kind of person whohas an intelligent, informed visionand the leadership abilities to

achieve that vision,” she said.“She’s very creative and hard-working, and the ability to marrythose two is very special.”

Unlike most library systems, the Cuyahoga County system does not have a main building. Instead, each of its branches operates like its own communitylibrary.

“We’re like the solar system,”Ms. Feldman said. “There is a central gravity that holds us together, common polices andcommon approach to public service. But (the branches) are likeindividual planets. They have agreater connection to their localcommunities, and I think that’s apart of our success.”

Ms. Feldman and her husband,Matt, live in Shaker Heights. Theyhave two adult daughters, Brid-gette and Margaret. ■

“She’s the kind of person who has an intelligent, informed vision and the leader-ship abilities to achievethat vision.”– Marilyn Gell Mason, formerdirector, Cleveland Public Library

of the library system since 2003.She was born in South Fallsburg,N.Y., and came to Northeast Ohioin 1997 as head of community

services at the Cleveland Public Library and later as deputy director.

A graduate of the State University


“Amy really has provenherself, especially duringthe Great Recession.”– Don Stallard, founder andCEO, The Reserves Network


Source: Barron’s “America’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors,” June 6, 2011.

Barron’s is a trademark of Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. The bull symbol, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and The Power of the Right Advisor are registered trademarks or trademarks of Bank of America Corporation. Merrill Lynch Wealth Management makes available products and services offered by Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated, a registered broker-dealer and member SIPC, and other subsidiaries of Bank of America Corporation.

© 2011 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.

243505 ARC5Q0A2-06-11 Code 448111PM-0711

WE CONGRATULATE

OUR ADVISORSON THE BARRON’S

TOP 100 WOMEN FINANCIAL ADVISORS LIST.

Merrill Lynch is proud of Kathleen Rosfelder for being recognized on the Barron’s Top 100 Women Financial Advisors list.

Our Financial Advisors demonstrate every day how a one-on-one relationship, knowledge, insight and one of the broadest platforms in the industry can impact clients’ lives.

To see what the power of the right advisor can mean to you, please contact:

Kathleen Rosfelder Senior Vice President–Investments Wealth Management Advisor

(216) 292-8040

Merrill Lynch 31095 Chagrin Boulevard Pepper Pike, OH 44124

www.StaffingSolutionsEnt.com440-461-1652

Congratulations to our President SueAnn Naso, Women of Note Finalist 2011...and to all of the outstanding female business leaders.

Amy Gerritypresident

The Reserves Network

By KATHY AMES [email protected]

Amy Gerrity has succeededin her job by placing people in theirs.

Her career began in1984, when entrepreneur Don Stallard hired Ms. Gerrity to help himgrow his new recruiting business.The commission-only job offeredno benefits at the time, but Ms.Gerrity’s commitment to The Reserves Network since has paid off.

Ms. Gerrity, now president andpart-owner of the company based inFairview Park, has helped propel TheReserves Network into an organiza-tion with 150 internal employees,more than 1,000 active customers ina variety of industries and more than30 operating locations in eight states.

“We started growing and thengrew more through acquisitions,”Ms. Gerrity said. “We’re going tokeep expanding.”

industries with thousands of em-ployees, and each employee’s situa-tion is unique. It never gets boring.”

Still, Ms. Gerrity sometimes findsherself in a tough position, citingchallenges that include labor law issues and the uncertainty sur-rounding health care reform, bothof which impact the firm’s clientele.Enduring the recession, of course,was another matter.

“In the staffing industry, when arecession hits, we’re the first to behit,” she said. “We’re also the firstto come back. We’re the bellwetherof the economy.”

The Reserves Network this yearexpects to place more than 20,000employees in temporary and temp-to-hire positions, which would be up

74% from 11,500 employees in 2009. “Amy really has proven herself,

especially during the Great Reces-sion,” said Mr. Stallard, founder andCEO. He attributes the company’sresiliency to his colleague’s leadership and visionary skills.

“She implemented some cost-cutting techniques and helpedeliminate redundancies,” he said.“We have made a significant rebound since then.”

Indeed, The Reserves Networksaw its sales increase last year byabout 45%, to $84 million in 2010from $58 million in 2009.

Ms. Gerrity will play a key role inthe firm’s ongoing expansion; shesaid The Reserves Network is eyeingacquisition opportunities in the Mid-Atlantic region. The organizationcurrently has offices in Ohio, Ken-tucky, Indiana, Illinois, Pennsylvania,North Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

“We’d like to do acquisitions inmarkets we’re not in,” she said. “Wealso are hoping to set up more offices in some of those markets.”

Ms. Gerrity is a member of theAmerican Staffing Association, Affiliated Staffing Group and theWomen Presidents’ OrganizationCleveland chapter.

Ms. Gerrity in 1978 earned herbachelor’s degree in social workfrom Cleveland State Universityand two years later her master’s degree in social administration fromCase Western Reserve University.

She enjoys boating and collectingseashells on Sanibel Island, Fla.,where she frequently travels withher husband, Tim. ■

The Reserves Network providesstaffing, recruiting, training andhuman resources support services.

The firm’s expansion fosteredMs. Gerrity’s professional growthin operations and management;her most recent promotion camein 2007, when she was elevated

from executive vice president to president. Her current role includes ensuring customer satis-faction, overseeing staff, coordi-nating placement services andmonitoring the bottom line.

“You never know what to expect,”she said. “We work in so many

SPECIALTHANKSCrain’s Cleveland Busi-

ness would like to thank the staff of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame andMuseum for accommodatingthis year’s Women of Note.

This year’s luncheon,sponsored by PNC andCleveland.com and presentedby Crain’s Cleveland Busi-ness and CBiz, will be heldthis Wednesday, July 20, at LaCentre

Conference and Banquet Facility in Westlake.

Tickets still are on sale,but are going fast.

Contact Jessica Snyder at216-771-5388 to purchasetickets.

We’ll have coverage, including a photo slideshow,of the luncheon, atwww.CrainsCleveland.com.,

on Wednesday afternoon.


“It was nontraditional forher to pursue a career inthe steel business. Forher to have done it in ourgeneration is even moreexceptional.”– Anne Bloomberg, longtimefriend of Noreen KoppelmanGoldstein


Thanks to Amy’s contributions, our firm is at the forefront of the health care

law arena not just locally, but also nationally.

Reputation. Strength. Results.

www.walterhav.com216.781.1212

Amy exemplifies the type of professionalism, dedication and expertise

that clients have come to expect from Walter Haverfield for nearly 80

years. That’s why we’re proud she’s part of our success story.

Saluting Our Colleague and Partner

Amy S. Leopard | PartnerPractice Head—Health Care and Bioscience2011 Women of Note Honoree

Noreen KoppelmanGoldstein

president and legal counselMid-West Materials Inc.

By STAN [email protected]

Noreen Koppelman Goldstein grew up answering the phone and writing letters for her

father, Joseph Koppelman, as hiscompany grew from a single-officesteel brokerage to a steel servicecenter that occupies a 200,000-square-foot plant in Perry, Ohio,and employs 55.

Today she is president and legalcounsel for Mid-West Materials, butthere were numerous stops alongthe way.

“When I graduated from Shakerhigh school, women worked asteachers or nurses and did notthink often of pursuing a career after they had children. It never occurred to me as a young womanto join the business,” Ms. Goldsteinsaid.

That changed in the 1970s afterher parents attended a business-succession planning conferencewhere a speaker made the pointthat female children providedadded resources to family firms; herfather would ask if she wanted tobecome part of the business.

Ms. Goldstein had spent 20 yearson Long Island, N.Y., raising threechildren and burnishing her educa-tional credentials. Originally agrade school teacher and educationconsultant with undergraduate and graduate degrees from CaseWestern Reserve University, sheadded an MBA from Adelphi Uni-versity and a law degree from HofstraUniversity, both on Long Island.

From 1976 to 1981, she managedMid-West’s sales in the Northeastfrom Long Island. She returnedhome to Northeast Ohio in 1994,when she joined the firm’s head-quarters staff.

Although her goal was to practicelaw in New York City, she found sheenjoyed the steel business.

She dove into the challenge asher children became adults, Ms.Goldstein said.

Today her father remains chairmanof the company, while her son, Brian Robbins, a former Wall Streetlawyer, serves as its CEO and man-ages Mid-West’s sales. Ms. Gold-stein’s domain is any of the firm’slegal work and human resources issues; she said she only venturesinto sales when there is a dispute.

Ms. Goldstein is also busy farfrom the nursery and farm fieldssurrounding Mid-West. In June shebecame president of the LakeCounty Bar Association. She hasrun its luncheon programs for 12years and continues to do so as sheserves as head of the 400-memberassociation.

Ms. Goldstein had a knack forfinding interesting, timely speakersfor programs meeting the OhioSupreme Court’s continuing education requirements for lawyersthat impressed Bob Gambol, an assistant Lake County prosecutorwho was president of the LakeCounty Bar in 2006. He asked her tojoin its board, which led to thepresidency.

“She knew what she was doing.She was organized. Moreover, aspart of a business, she has a differ-ent perspective from family practi-tioners,” Mr. Gambol said.

Her interest in self-educationcontinues despite her multiple degrees. While driving to Perryfrom her Beachwood home, she listens to audio books. She also belongs to a movie club that meetsmonthly — consider it a cinemaversion of a local book club — andloves the theater.

When she returned to Cleve-land, she worried about missingBroadway, but was pleased withPlayhouseSquare’s busy theaterschedule. The grandmother of fivealso starts her work day with a taichi class and often ends it watching

a grandchild’s sports game.Anne Bloomberg, a semi-retired

government and media relationsconsultant, has been friends withMs. Goldstein since the two werestudents at Shaker.

“She is so capable,” Ms.

Bloomberg said. “She was a finestudent in high school but wasalso personable. It was nontradi-tional for her to pursue a career inthe steel business. For her to havedone it in our generation is evenmore exceptional.” ■



Ratchet Up The Congratulations!Congratulations Pat Taylor,Executive V.P., HR and co-owner Wright Tool.

Pat was named a finalist for the Crain’s Women of Note.

Pat continues to be an in-spiration and beacon to the Wright Tool family and it is with pride we proclaim her our winner and our Lady.

Made in the USA

Since 1976Since 1969 Since 2002Since 1969

AUTO GROUP

Congratulations to Michelle Primm for your outstanding leadership.

Tricia Griffith

claims grouppresidentProgressive Insurance


Tricia Griffith may be a powerful executive, butshe’s not the tight-lippedkind.

The claims group president wholeads 12,000 Progressive Insuranceemployees across 350 field officesisn’t too proud to share her mis-takes. She tells unexpected stories— like the time her then-6-year-oldson pulled down his pants to feelthe seat warmers in a car she wasdriving — to remind people thatshe has “a regular family with regular crazy things that happen.”She uses humor in a self-deprecatingway.

“Probably the biggest comment Iget from people after they meet heris: ‘She’s so normal,’” said MarciaMarsteller, who manages the legalgroup within the claims organiza-tion and reports directly to Ms.Griffith. “She doesn’t come acrossas being at a different level. Somepeople would expect a feeling of,well, ‘You’re an executive, I’m not.’When you sit and talk with her, youdon’t feel the difference.”

And it appears that is the differ-ence. The same humor and com-passion that catch some by surpriseearn Ms. Griffith the respect ofthose who work for her.

“You get to a title and people

automatically think you changedbecause you have a title,” Ms. Griffith said. “I did their job, and Ithink I have some built-in respectbecause of that. I never forgetthat.”

Now 46, Ms. Griffith embarkedon her career with Progressive in1988, not intending for it to be acareer at all. The plan had been

to answer the ad in the paper, become a claims representativetrainee and go back to school toobtain her MBA shortly thereafter.

Within several months’ time,however, she was hooked. Sheliked the ability to impact peoplepositively.

A native of an Illinois farmingcommunity, Ms. Griffith moved to

a woman.”It’s been 3 ½ years since she

took the helm, and Rick Sticca,claims general manager for the East region, said the claims group is the most productive it has been in his 25 years with Progres-sive.

The morale is the highest he can recall, too, and he remains impressed by Ms. Griffith’s decision a few years ago to traveland communicate rather than holeherself up after the company reor-ganized and let go of a number ofpeople.

“She functions like a very goodcoach,” Mr. Sticca said. “She usesher humor and her outgoing per-sonality to keep the whole organi-zation loose.

“I’ve worked for a lot of people in this organization,” he added.“She’s been the most successfulleader I’ve worked for in balancingrespect for the employee whileachieving our goals relative to ourcustomers and our shareholders.”

That balance is one Ms. Griffithregards with pride.

“I really try to raise the bar always, but I think you can do it in a way where people don’t go home on a Friday feeling exhausted,” she said. “When you dothat, people want to run into thewall for you.”

She credits her conviction in bal-ance to her father, who encouragedher during her undergraduate careerto get good grades but to have fun,too.

Ms. Griffith lives in Hudson withher husband, Greg, and three oftheir children. All eight members oftheir blended family — Ms. Griffith,Greg and their six children — arescuba-certified. They also ski to-gether.

“She, to me, is a true example ofbalancing her work and her personallife,” Ms. Marsteller said. ■

Cleveland in 1999 and worked aschief human resources officer forProgressive for six years before she was promoted in 2008 to claims group president. She is the first woman to hold the posi-tion, a distinction that’s importantto her because of the example it sets.

“Hey, you can do this,” Ms. Griffith said. “You can be a man or

“You get to a title and people automatically think you changed because you have a title.I did their job, and I think I have some built-in respect because of that.”

– Tricia Griffith (below), claims group president, Progressive Insurance

NOMINATE A CFOYou have until Aug. 12 to make

nominations for the CFO of the Yearprogram, which honors top financialofficers in Northeast Ohio for theiroutstanding fiscal leadership and asset management.

Awards will be presented in 10 categories: Large, Medium andSmall Public Company; Large, Medium

and Small Private Company; andLarge, Medium and Small NonprofitOrganization; and Lifetime Achieve-ment Award.

All finalists will be profiled in theOct. 17 issue of Crain’s. Winners willbe presented at an evening awardsreception the week of Oct. 24. Visitwww.CrainsCleveland.com for info.


StephanieA.S.

Harringtonchief operating

officerFrantz Medical

Group

By CHUCK [email protected]

Maybe Stephanie A.S.Harrington deservedthat Porsche after all.

Since joining theFrantz Medical Group of compa-nies in 2005, Ms. Harrington notonly has risen to become chief operating officer of Frantz MedicalDevelopment Ltd. and several of itssubsidiaries, but she also has beena driving force behind the Mentorcompany’s efforts to commercializea wider variety of medical devices.

Given her accomplishments, it’s funny to think that she wasn’talways an overachiever.

She earned A’s and B’s as a stu-dent at Woodward High School inRockville, Md. Doing homework,however, wasn’t her top priority,Ms. Harrington said.

That changed when she camehome from her first semester at the University of Maryland with areport card full of A’s.

After hearing the news, hergrandfather, in front of the rest ofthe family, gave her a challenge: Ifshe could get straight A’s all

through college, he would buy herwhatever car she wanted.

Even a Porsche.Shortly thereafter, her grandfa-

ther, a German immigrant whostarted his own tool shop, passedaway. Regardless, she kept gettingA’s until she earned her chemicalengineering degree in 1990. Aftercollege, her mother figured she’dmake good on the deal, though sheconvinced her daughter to go with amore practical Mazda MX6.

That challenge changed her atti-tude toward work — a change thatstill impacts her today.

“It allowed me to be self-motivated,”she said.

Ms. Harrington earned a master’sdegree in chemical engineeringfrom Stanford University in 1994 andthat same year was pulled to Cleve-land by her now-husband, JohnHarrington. He and Gil Van Bokkelen,who together founded stem celltechnology company Athersys Inc.,wanted to move to be closer to genetics researcher HuntingtonWillard. Ms. Harrington ended upworking in Dr. Willard’s lab at CaseWestern Reserve University.

Since then, Ms. Harrington hasserved as director of laboratory sciences at medical device makerSteris Corp. in Mentor, and she hashelped Cleveland-based ImaluxCorp. bring its first medical imagingproducts to market.

Today, Ms. Harrington considersherself the “doer behind the vision-


thecomeback.org

I was a runner. Thanks to the cardiologists at MetroHealth, I’m now a fighter. They’re not only helping me overcome the condition that caused my heart to stop while jogging — they’re also pioneering gene studies to help make sure my four children will never be caught off guard by a heart rhythm disorder.

I am Lisa of Aurora, and MetroHealth got me back on track.

MetroHealth’s Heart & Vascular Center leads the nation in the prediction and prevention of sudden cardiac arrest.

ary” at the Frantz Medical Groupof companies, which is led by MarkFrantz.

Ms. Harrington drove the group— which is best known for producinga pump that feeds liquid food intothe stomachs of patients who can’t swallow — to develop morecardiovascular and orthopedic devices, Mr. Frantz said.

He lauded Ms. Harrington’s analytical skills, her intuition and her ability to form “collegial,productive teams” with the manycompanies and institutions thathave partnered with Frantz Med-ical Group to form subsidiaries,joint ventures and spinoffs.

“Stephanie is very successful inherding cats,” Mr. Frantz said.

Ms. Harrington enjoys workingout, visiting family on the east andwest coasts and spending timewith her two boys, Michael, 14,

and Trevor, 10. She’s also been interested in chemistry since shewas a kid, noting how she’d playwith liquid nitrogen while visitingher physicist father’s lab at theNational Bureau of Standards,which is now called the NationalInstitute of Standards and Technology.

She was a bit out of place as agirl studying chemistry through-out college: She noted how, whenshe met the professor who taughther Quantum Mechanics 450class at Stanford, he assumed shewas looking for the basic biologyclass.

Though attitudes have changedsince then, she still encouragesyoung people to reach for highgoals, even if others don’t expectthem to.

“The worst thing to do is to nottake that chance,” she said. ■

“Stephanie is very successful in herdingcats.”– Mark Frantz, managing partner, Frantz Medical Group



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India Pierce Leeprogram director for

neighborhoods, housing and community development

The Cleveland Foundation

Amy S.Leopardhead of thehealth care

and bioscience practice group

Walter & HaverfieldLLP

By JOEL [email protected]

India Pierce Lee had no com-munity development experi-ence in 1988 when she left herjob as an air traffic controller

at Cuyahoga County Airport inRichmond Heights.

But when she joined the MountPleasant neighborhood’s NOW Development Corp., she got a littlenudge from then-Mount Pleasantcouncilman Tyrone Bolden.

“‘You’ll learn,’” she said with a chuckle when asked of advicegiven by the late Mr. Bolden.

She had cut her teeth for years inair travel, first in Ypsilanti, Mich.,when she was one of 11,000-plus

unionized air traffic controllersfired in 1981 by President RonaldReagan. She subsequently movedinto banking— as a customer service rep and later in mortgagelending — and returned to her native Cleveland in 1983, splittingtime in finance and at the airport.

But in 1988, a new focus onneighborhood development wastaking shape, and Ms. Lee dove inhead first. The city just had formeda land bank initiative, and with agroup called Cleveland Action toSupport Housing, was offeringmortgages at 4.99% interest, ratherthan the 11% to 18% that then wasthe norm.

Mike White, then a city council-man in Ms. Lee’s native Glenville

neighborhood, also played a keyrole in the city’s community devel-opment efforts, and when he waselected mayor in 1990, committedeven more resources to that area.The work was helped by PresidentBill Clinton’s community empow-erment agenda, which granted acombined $1.5 billion to 33 distressed urban communities, ofwhich Cleveland was one.

Eighteen years later, after stintsat nonprofits Local Initiatives Support Corp. and NeighborhoodProgress Inc., Ms. Lee joined theCleveland Foundation in 2006 as its program director for neighbor-hoods, housing and community development. In that role, she’s theprincipal liaison between UniversityCircle’s behemoth institutions andthe struggling surrounding neigh-borhoods, which have a medianfamily income of $18,000.

Revitalizing those areas — suchas Fairfax, in which the ClevelandClinic sits — is proving challenging.She said the recent foreclosuremess has “threatened the workwe’ve done over 15 years or so,” yetshe also sees progress.

The Cleveland Foundation, be-hind CEO Ronn Richard, has madea more concerted effort to commu-nicate with the anchor institutions— to tell them “We’re not trying to change what you’re doing, and(revitalization is) not one (group’s)responsibility” — and they have responded. She said new leaders atsome organizations have beenmore open to conversations.

“It’s the most promising work ina long time,” Ms. Lee said. “We’reengaging the anchor institutionsand they are looking at the neigh-borhoods beyond their campuses.It’s a win-win for the institutionsand neighborhoods to co-invest.”

The collaboration is perhaps bestillustrated by Greater University

See LEE Page W-14

By TIMOTHY [email protected]

Swathes of red tape entanglethe ever-evolving and often-befuddling health care field,but for Amy Leopard, untying

those knots is half the fun. As head of the health care and

bioscience practice group at Walter& Haverfield LLP in Cleveland, Ms.Leopard characterizes her work as ahealth care attorney as helping herclients “cross the river without losinga limb.”

It’s a demanding job — one thatrequires she bury her nose in astack of papers for at least 10 hoursa week to brush up on the latest legislative proposals and healthcare regulations.

“Since health reform passed, theindustry has changed at lightningpace,” Ms. Leopard said. “There areso many different provisions of thehealth reform legislation that haverules that come out constantly, but it’s fascinating. I can’t believepeople pay me to read that stuff.”

Ms. Leopard’s colleagues credit herwith elevating Walter & Haverfield’shealth care practice to the nationalstage. Previously, the firm had represented small physician groups,but now handles legal work forhealth systems around the country.

She suggests her ability to trans-form the firm’s health care practicewas due to the strength of her team.And while her boss Ralph Cascarillaagrees, he credits Ms. Leopard’sstrength as a communicator as thething that has led to the firm’s successes in the health care arena.

“Lawyers can talk to otherlawyers, and certainly Amy doesthat as well as anyone, but what’skey is that she’s able to translatethese concepts into workable and

understandable advice for adminis-trators and other health professionals,”said Mr. Cascarilla, managing partner at Walter & Haverfeld.

Although Ms. Leopard has been ahealth care attorney for about 15years, it wasn’t her first career choice.While an undergrad at AuburnUniversity, she shadowed an executive at Huntsville Hospital inHuntsville, Ala., and decided that’swhat she wanted to do for a living.

“It was the coolest job ever,” Ms.Leopard said. “He was like the mayor of a little city.”

She spent about 10 years as a hos-


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If you want to be remembered, do something memorable.SM

Congratulations, India.

GenaLovett

director of manufacturing,

forgingsAlcoa Cleveland

WorksBy DAN [email protected]

Gena Lovett used to have arecurring dream within adream, back in the dayswhen she worked for Ford

Motor Co. in Michigan.She would dream that she was

taking a job outside her belovedCleveland — but right then, shewould wake up, in a dreamy haze.Thinking she was still comfortablyin Cleveland, she felt a huge senseof relief. Then she would wake upagain — this time for real — andthere she was, far from home andfamily, working in a job that she really did take after a big move thatshe really did make.

Not that her reality was a badone. Ms. Lovett was working for acompany she dearly loved — andone she says invested the time andresources to take her from being anentry-level supervisor to a “turn-around queen” with the businesschops to take on just about anymanufacturing management chal-lenge. She just always missedhome, she said, no matter howgood things were going elsewhere.

Ms. Lovett doesn’t need to havethat dream anymore. Her realdream has come true, and she’sback home with a job that she lovesrunning Alcoa’s Cleveland Works,where 1,000 people make aircraftparts, wheels for trucks, cars andmotorcycles, and other forged alu-minum products.

And she’s lived up to her reputa-tion since coming to Alcoa in 2007,as she has found plenty of chal-lenges and lots to turn around.

For one thing, the unit of Alcoawas not profitable when she cameaboard. It also had lousy labor rela-tions, after going through two workstoppages as a result of labor strifethe year before she arrived.

Before she could work her magicand fully turn things around, theygot worse the following year. Muchworse.

In August 2008, Alcoa’s 50,000-ton forging press, one of the largestin the world, went down. Repairingit would take years and cost $100million or more.

Ms. Lovett’s challenge becamegreater and more urgent. Now shehad to convince Alcoa that investingall that money and time in a plantthat was losing money and suffer-ing labor strikes was worth it.

She did it by re-establishing aworking and cooperative relation-ship with her union employees —and convincing Alcoa that thoseemployees were an asset — whilecontinuing to improve the plant’sorganization, efficiency and prof-itability. In the end, local commu-nity leaders rallied around theplant, too, and Alcoa ponied up the

See LEOPARD Page W-14

pital administrator, including stintsat a community hospital in Birming-ham, Ala., and West Virginia Univer-sity Hospitals in Morgantown, W. Va.

But while she enjoyed her time asan administrator, Ms. Leopard saidshe was drawn to the legal and regulatory issues facing health careorganizations. She enrolled at CaseWestern’s law school and said itwas like waking up one morningand thinking, “I’ve got to do this,and I’ve got to do it now.”

“It was like jumping off a cliff,”Ms. Leopard said about her sudden

cash to get the press fixed.It is scheduled to come back on-

line this December, Ms. Lovett said,and she is looking very forward tothe day when it does.

But Alcoa might have been investing in Ms. Lovett as much asin the plant. Her love of her home-town is well known, and her abili-ties as a manager are unquestioned,said her boss, Eric Roegner, presi-dent of Alcoa Forgings and Extru-sions.

“I’ve seen plant managers who

are great at union relationships, butthey don’t drive productivity,” Mr.Roegner said. “And I’ve seen man-agers who improved productivity,but they lost a lot of good peoplealong the way. Gena can do both —and manage a $100 million con-struction project at the same time.”

Not that she’s all business,though. In addition to her job, Ms.Lovett somehow finds time to sit onfive area boards, including the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’sadvisory board and University Hospitals. She divides the timethat’s left between her family and localyoung women, whom she mentors.

After all, says Ms. Lovett, if onegirl can come out of East Clevelandand make a big success of herself inthe corporate world, so can others.And she’s more than keen to seethem follow in her footsteps.

“I’m all for girl power,” she sayswith a grin. ■



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Shelly Peetvice presidentNordson Corp.

Kimberly Martinez-Gieringpresident and owner

KLN Logistics Corp.

By CHRISSY [email protected]

Kimberly Martinez-Gieringis the full package.

The strategic force behindKLN Logistics, an indepen-

dently owned and operated divisionof AIT Worldwide Logistics, Ms.Martinez-Giering is a resourceful,high-energy president and owner.

She methodically has grown herlogistics business into a 24/7 operation with 16 employees andhas increased revenue by morethan 125% since purchasing it in2005. Her strengths are deliveringwhen the stakes are high and thedestinations are complex.

Ms. Martinez-Giering, 45, over-sees an intricate schedule of freighttransports that dot the globe andcontain everything from parts to fixidle manufacturing lines costingcompanies hun-dreds of thousandsof dollars a day tocritical medicaland scientificequipment thatmust be deliveredto an exact loca-tion at an exacttime.

In just one spe-cialized segmentof the Middleburg Heights busi-ness, which customizes logisticsservices for industries such as auto-

By DAN [email protected]

You often can tell a lot about a person by whatthey majored in at college.

Take Shelly Peet, vicepresident of Westlake-based Nordson Corp. and head of its human resources and informationsystems. Before earning a master’sin systems engineering from CaseWestern Reserve University, shemajored in physics at WittenbergUniversity.

Physics is the realm of megathinkers, such as Stephen Hawkingor Albert Einstein — an intimidatingsubject, to say theleast. Only someonereally good at itwould actually major in it, right?

Wrong.“I chose physics

for my degree, because it was thehardest subject forme in high school,” Ms. Peet said.

Which is why her major does tellan interested observer somethingabout her — Ms. Peet always hasbeen drawn to a challenge. And she’saccustomed to overcoming them.

She earned that degree, ofcourse. To be fair, it was not as if

she took on something she hadfailed at before. She got A’s inphysics at her high school inPoland, Ohio, just like she did inever other subject. She just had towork a little harder.

Hard work is another thing Ms.Peet does not shy away from, andshe’s always been willing to put inthe extra time and effort to master

new tasks and learnnew skills. That drivelanded her an intern-ship at NASA, servedher well as she rosethrough the ranks ofTRW Inc. and hasbeen crucial sinceshe joined Nordsonin 2003, she said.

Most recently, her love of hardwork and a challenge landed herpositions running Nordson’s humanresources department, as well as itscharitable foundation, which givesbetween $2 million and $3 million ayear to a variety of causes and char-ities. As you might guess, they don’ttrain people to run foundations andHR departments when you’re workingon degrees in physics or systemsengineering.

But Ms. Peet so far has masteredthose tasks. And at Nordson, whereshe reports directly to the CEO, theproducer of automated sprayingand dispensing equipment gives hercredit for part of its overall success.

“Shelly’s efforts contributed to anoutstanding year for Nordson in2010, as the company set all-timerecords for operating profit, net income and earnings per share,”said company spokesman Jim Jaye.

Nordson’s challenge might be tofind her enough to do.

“I still don’t know what I’ll be doing down the road,” jokes Ms.Peet, who says she hasn’t plannedout her career. Rather, she’s just accepted what she thought werethe most interesting challenges presented to her and thrown herselfat them.

She likes HR, though, becauseshe said she has come to realizethat, as business becomes morecompetitive, the companies withthe best work forces are the ones

motive, aerospace and medical, shemanages 350 next-flight-out ship-ments a month.

What’s in the box — be it pros-thetics that needto get from NewYork to Germanyor 1,665 units ofStar Wars tradingcards and toysfrom Dallas toHolland — is notas important toMs. Martinez-Giering as think-ing outside of it

to make sure she over-delivers forher clients.

“I am extremely hands on,” she

“Shelly’s efforts contributed to an outstanding year forNordson in 2010.”– Jim Jaye, spokesman, Nordson Corp.

said. “I worked as a salesperson atAIT for 3 ½ years before I bought thecompany. I still sell for my business. Iam still the one going out and meetingwith my customers. I oversee every-thing. … I even sleep with my Black-Berry right next to me. If there’s amajor problem in the middle of thenight, I’m involved in fixing it.”

Scott S. Hardwick, manager ofstrategic sourcing and in charge ofsupplier diversity for Rockwell Automation, met Ms. Martinez-Giering three years ago at a net-working event at Lorain CountyCommunity College. Now she handles more than $2 million ofRockwell’s shipping needs.

“Kim is one of the most impres-sive women in Cleveland’s resur-gence in the economic movement,”Mr. Hardwick said.

Ms. Martinez-Giering has taken astartup business to more than $5million in a few short years, growingher customer base to include suchcustomers — and mentors — asRockwell, Toyota, United Tech-nologies Corp., The Limited andHonda of America Manufacturing.

“These companies have been unbelievable to me and so instru-mental in the growth of my businessand my continuing education,” saidMs. Martinez-Giering, a graduate ofthe Tuck Executive Education program at Dartmouth University.

She attributes her solid work ethic

“Kim is one of the mostimpressive women inCleveland’s resurgencein the economic move-ment.”– Scott S. Hardwick, managerof strategic sourcing, RockwellAutomation

See MARTINEZ-GIERING Page W-14



Medical Mutual®

proudly recognizes

our own Sue Tyler

along with all of

the 2011 Women

of Note honorees

and finalists.

Congratulations foryour outstanding achievement.

Michelle Primmmanaging partnerCascade Auto Group

By JENNIFER [email protected]

Stroll around the 8½-acre lotthat’s home to Cascade AutoGroup in Cuyahoga Falls,and you’ll hear tale after tale

of the personal impact MichellePrimm has made on her employees.

Like the young man who joinedCascade as a troubled teen, rising tothe position of brand manager withMs. Primm’s mentoring. Or the sales-man encouraged to adjust his working hours to join his family fordinner each night. Or the partsmanager who, with Ms. Primm’s sup-port, has been successful as the onlywoman in the service department.

Perhaps it’s the female touch in amasculine industry — Ms. Primm isone of only 450 female leadersfound among the 17,000 dealer-ships that comprise the NationalAutomobile Dealers Association.

“If there were women (at a deal-ership), they were the phone opera-tor or the office manager. That’sabout it,” said Ms. Primm of herearly memories at Cascade, ownedsince 1969 by her father, DonaldPrimm. “But times are changing.”

As a kid, Ms. Primm recalls search-ing trade-ins for abandoned penniesand tagging along to car shows in the1970s. In her teen years, she cleanedbathrooms, filed paperwork anddrove the parts truck, but after

college she chose to find a job in fi-nance instead of cars.

“I wanted to see what else wasout there,” said Ms. Primm, 54.

When her dad asked her to comeback in 1985, Ms. Primm returnedto Cascade and became generalmanager eight years later.

“She’s perfect for the job,” saidDonald Primm. “(She) was almostborn an adult, very efficient.”

To meet Ms. Primm, it’s easy tosee why her gender hasn’t inhibitedher success in a male-dominated field.She’s confident and personable.She selects her words thoughtfullyand uses humor to deflect anyresidual female stereotypes shefinds among customers, car manu-facturers and other dealers.

“You have to know your facts, speakfrom facts and pick your battles,” shesaid. “You have to prove yourself.”

Ms. Primm is a dogged supporterof the embattled automotive indus-try. Never mind that Cascade sellsonly imports — brands such as Mazda, Audi, Subaru and Porsche.She visited legislators on Capitol Hillno less than 20 times to defend deal-ers of U.S. brands and the industry.

“She is an advocate for dealers,and for minorities (in dealerships),”said Lou Vitantonio, president ofthe Greater Cleveland AutomobileDealers’ Association. “She’s alwaysready and willing to do what will

that will survive and grow.It also fits in with one of her per-

sonal pursuits outside of work, whichis helping to put disadvantagedpeople back to work. For 12 yearsshe has been an active board mem-ber of the nonprofit Towards Em-ployment, which works with formerprison inmates, people who havebeen homeless and others who facean uphill battle to land good jobs.

After all, she says, plenty of bosses, co-workers and others havehelped her in her career, why notdo the same for others? ■ See PRIMM Page W-14



Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP

Cleveland - 216.622.8200 www.calfee.com Columbus - 614.621.1500

1400 KeyBank Center, 800 Superior Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44114

1100 Fifth Third Center, 21 East State Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215

congratulatesMarcia J. Wexberg

on her selection asa Women of Notefinalist and ourlaw firm joinsCrain’s insaluting theaccomplishmentsof all the 2011honorees.

Barbara K. Romanpartner and chair, domestic relations practice

Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis


After practicing the speechprobably 10 times, BarbaraK. Roman had becomepretty immune to the

toughest part.But at the podium in early June,

when she spoke the words she’dpenned about her late parents, hervoice trembled audibly throughout

the banquet hall.Ms. Roman credits her parents,

Raymond and Gladys Klein, for dri-ving her to accomplish all that shehas: most recently, becoming presi-dent of the Cleveland MetropolitanBar Association, and before that,graduating from law school and becoming a named partner of thelocal law firm Meyers, Roman,Friedberg & Lewis.

“They taught us love,” Ms. Romansaid. “They taught us to work hard.When it comes down to it, that’swhat’s really important. It’s who weare day to day that really matters.”

Ms. Roman’s law partner, AnneL. Meyers, will tell you she’s well-respected.

But don’t take Ms. Meyers’ wordfor it, Ms. Meyers herself said. Takethe word of the 5,500 NortheastOhio lawyers who elected Ms. Romanto lead their bar association.

“That’s the highest respect,” Ms.Meyers said. “The client doesn’t often know enough about whatyou’re doing for them. … Yourpeers, they do know what you’redoing.”

Ms. Roman, 61, is only the 11th

woman to become bar president inthe history of The Cleveland Bar Association and the CuyahogaCounty Bar Association, whichmerged in 2008 to form the CMBA,according to bar spokeswoman RitaKlein. The Cleveland bar dates to1873, and the Cuyahoga bar to1927.

Ms. Roman became the first inher family to earn a law degree in1977, when she graduated fromCleveland-Marshall College of Law.As she recalls it, she was a memberof one of the first classes that had a double-digit number of femalestudents.

After graduating, she worked in

Columbus for public governmentand a labor union. After nearly adecade, the South Euclid nativemoved home and in the late 1980sjoined a private practice.

Compassion is a running themein others’ descriptions of her.

“Throughout the whole processof her graduating from college,starting work, then picking herselfup, putting herself through lawschool, through all of her accom-plishments, she’s never changed asa person,” said Edrea Lazerick, afriend who has known Ms. Romansince elementary school. “She always has been very true to whoshe is and has never stepped onanyone to move forward.”

In speaking of career momentsthat reverberate, Ms. Roman recalled how two years ago, after her father had passed away,she opened one card from a stack of sympathy cards and confetti fellout. Inside was the picture of ayoung man in an ROTC uniform.He wrote to thank her for securingcustody of him for his father. Itmade her cry.

“I couldn’t believe I was getting anote 14 years later from an 18-year-old,” she said. “I thought about it.You don’t know when you’re having an impact.”

Ms. Roman feels this is the peakof her career. “It can’t get betterthan this,” she said.

Ms. Roman and her husband,Rick Dorman, live in Beachwood. Inthe nearly 20 years they’ve beenmarried, they’ve traveled to 66countries. Ms. Roman’s favoritedestination is Africa, where she enjoys the culture. She also likes tocook (and doesn’t follow recipes),and learned to love golf so shecould spend time on the coursewith her husband. ■

“Throughout the whole process of her graduating from college, starting work ... putting herself throughlaw school, through all of her accomplishments, she’snever changed as a person.”– Edrea Lazerick, friend of Barbara K. Roman



Kristie Van Aukensenior vice president and

chief marketing and communications officer

Akron-Canton Airport

By JAY [email protected]

In the 15 years Kristie Van Aukenhas led the marketing effort at Akron-Canton Airport, itspassenger traffic has more than tripled, from under500,000 a year to nearly 1.6 millionin 2010.

She’s reluctant to take a bow forthat achievement, calling it theproduct of a team effort and the relationship between airport management and AirTran Airways,the most active airline at CAK, as the airport is known to pilots and travel agents. But others dogive her credit for a big role in theairport’s surge in popularity withtravelers.

“She was brought in with the specific task in mind of building theairport’s brand and awareness inthe community,” said Richard McQueen, the airport’s presidentand CEO, who has been at the airport since Ms. Van Auken washired. “You can take a look at theresults of the last decade or decadein a half.

“As I look around there’s reallynobody better at what Kristie doesin the airport world than Kristie;she’s the best,” he said.

Mr. McQueen describes Ms. VanAuken as a relationship builder.

“Watching her at conferencesand meetings, I’ve never seen any-body work a room any better thanKristie,” he said. “That’s her job,and that’s why she’s really good atwhat she does.”

A Lansing, Mich., native, Ms. VanAuken earned a bachelor’s degreefrom Austin College in Sherman,Texas, and a master’s degree inpublic administration from West-ern Michigan University.

Ms. Van Auken started at Akron-Canton in 1996 as director of mar-keting. She had moved to Akrontwo years earlier as a trailing spouseto her husband, Mark, and workedas an economic development spe-cialist for the Akron Regional Devel-opment Board. They now have twopre-teen children, a daughter and ason.

While working on the develop-ment board’s aviation committee,the late Akron-Canton leader FredKrum wooed her to CAK, into an industry that traditionally wasdominated by men.

It was also a time when airportswere attracting low-cost airlinesthat needed help marketing theirservice.

With no marketing experience inher background, Ms. Van Aukenjumped in and learned the busi-ness.

After her first five years, with theaid of AirTran, Akron-Canton Air-port was beginning to grow beyondits original market of southernSummit County and Stark County.In 2001, Delta Airlines came toAkron-Canton, and it became clearto airport management that the airport’s market territory would beexpanding.

“That was the moment we saidwe had to tell all of Northeast Ohioabout this,” Ms. Van Auken

recalled.But then, before any marketing

strategy could be put in place, theindustry changed. The terroristbombings of Sept. 11, 2001, sent apall over the industry that lasteduntil 2004. That year, Ms. VanAuken got CAK back in the market-ing game with a string of television ads starring a red and yellow inflat-able punching bag clown,“Punchy.”

The ads showed Punchy beingbattered and bewildered in an airport terminal that never wasidentified as Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, but the infer-ence nonetheless was made. Theads carried the copy, “Rememberhow you felt the last time you flew out of that big airport?” beforetouting Akron-Canton as “a betterway to go.”

The message apparently worked.In 2003, Akron-Canton had1,164,755 passengers. In 2004, thatfigure jumped 17% to 1,358,079,during a span when U.S. domesticpassenger traffic was up only 7.8%.

“I like having the opportunity totake nothing and create somethingreally phenomenal,” Ms. Van Aukensaid. “To not have any boundariesand not have any previous thinking,that would limit my ability toachieve new heights.” ■

“I like having the opportunity to take nothing and create something really phenomenal.”

– Kristie Van Auken (below), senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer, Akron-Canton Airport


“She was given an opportunity to co-invent the school.... She had the creativity and ability to make realchanges.”– Rich Clark, president, Saint Martin de Porres High School


All of the employees at Advance Payroll Funding heartily

congratulateJudy Nystrom,

President of Legacy Staffingand all of the 2011

Crain’s Cleveland BusinessWomen of Note finalists

1-888-651-6500 • 26-831-8900www.advancepayroll.com

Mary AnnVogelfounding principal

Saint Martin de Porres High SchoolBy JOEL [email protected]

When Mary Ann Vogelbecame the foundingprincipal of Saint Martin de Porres High

School, located in Cleveland’s St.Clair-Superior neighborhood, sheinstantly became responsible for1,900 fewer students.

But with the smaller enrollment,Ms. Vogel’s influence on studentslives’ has gotten larger.

Ms. Vogel joined Saint Martin dePorres in spring 2004 as the 26th

person to interview for the job. Apart of the 24-member Cristo Reynetwork of Catholic high schoolswith their hallmark work-study programs, Saint Martin de Porres

dent body was 2,000 students strong.Then, in early 2004, she got a call

— actually, her parents did — froma familiar voice: Joseph Boznar,her pastor at St. Vitus CatholicChurch, with which the new SaintMartin de Porres would be affiliated.Ms. Vogel grew up in the neighbor-hood and still attends churchthere; Father Boznar urged her tocall Rich Clark, the president of thenew school and former principal atSt. Ignatius High School.

Mr. Clark said Ms. Vogel stoodout from the other 25 candidates towhom he spoke because she “wassomeone completely dedicated tothe position.

“It was really in her heart,” he said.The new position also allowed

Ms. Vogel to have a bigger impacton students’ lives.

“She was given an opportunityto co-invent the school,” Mr. Clarksaid. “It’s every principal’s dreamto come in and not live with thepast. You get to create all of that.She had the creativity and abilityto make real changes.”

Now, Ms. Vogel hopes to continuethe school’s growth. A formerbutcher shop now is the school’sbusiness office. It owns vacantland around its current footprinton Lausche Avenue, and has afarm on a vacant plot a block southof the school’s main building.

The school in June graduated itsfourth class, with 100% graduationand college acceptance rates; Ms.Vogel said there now are 265 SaintMartin de Porres alumni, includingthe 100 students who were part ofthe school when Ms. Vogel becameprincipal.

Ms. Vogel also contributes to thecommunity in other ways. Her parents came to the United Statesin 1949 and 1951, respectively, after struggles in Yugoslavia; she’sthe first female board chair atSlovenksa Pristava, a private clubfor Slovenian Catholics. She alsoserves on the board at Facing History — a professional develop-ment group for teachers — and isinvolved with Schools That Can, alocal education cooperative. ■

emphasizes personalized learning:Teachers and administrators treatand teach no two students alike.

“We want to get to know the kidsand find out what they alreadyknow,” said Ms. Vogel, who notedthe school in August will have itslargest enrollment of 475 students.

Qualifying students of modesteconomic means — residing inCleveland or inner-ring suburbs —are eligible for enrollment and paytuition between $700 and $2,000per academic year, depending onneed. The students also participatein a work-study program in which

they are paired with a local employerfor 400 hours a year and 1,600hours by the time they graduate.Over 100 Northeast Ohio employersare involved with the program.

Ms. Vogel received her bachelor’sdegree from Miami University anda master’s degree from ClevelandState; she taught at the old JohnHay High School in University Circle, where she said she fell inlove with urban education. Shethen moved to the administrationside as an assistant principal atCleveland South and Collinwoodhigh schools; at the latter, the stu-

continued from PAGE W-8

Leecontinued from PAGE W-9

Leopardcontinued from PAGE W-11

Primm

continued from PAGE W-10

Martinez-Giering

help her business and the industry.” The enthusiasm for mentoring

that Ms. Primm demonstrates in herdealership follows her home. She andhusband, Eric Thomas, serve as vol-unteers for Youth for UnderstandingUSA, hosting exchange studentsand training other potential hostfamilies. They have opened theirhome to 15 students from seven

countries over the last 10 years. “She’s phenomenal,” said Alka

Bhaskar, a Youth for UnderstandingUSA district director. “Michelle isunique because she not only sup-ports international students but alsorecruits American children … andmeets with parents to talk about theimportance of studying abroad.”

You can still find car dealers outthere who don’t take female buyersseriously. Cascade Auto Group isn’t one of them.

“I made it very clear from thebeginning, there would be no pa-

tronizing of women in this dealer-ship,” said Ms. Primm, adding witha laugh: “I don’t think we have thatproblem here, because I would goout and slap them upside the head.”

That philosophy isn’t just femalesolidarity; it’s good business.Women influence or make 80% ofcar decisions in the United States,she estimated, “so you better respectthem.

“Shame on the dealer who does-n’t appreciate the importance of awoman in the car-buying experi-ence,” she said. ■

Circle’s cooperative initiative, including the Evergreen CooperativeLaundry. The Cleveland Foundationinvested $3 million to launch it andother co-ops, including Ohio Solarand Green City Growers.

Ms. Pierce Lee’s ability to helpboth sides better understand eachother has played a key role in theprogress, said Chris Ronayne, presi-dent of University Circle Inc.

“The nature of working in an urban development environment islike (ancient Greek figure) Sisyphus,rolling the rock up the hill,” Mr.Ronayne said. “But she is unique;she’s as comfortable in the boardroom as she is in the church andthe community room. She helpsbusinesses understand the lay ofthe land better, and helps residentsunderstand the business side, too.”

Ms. Pierce Lee said she and her sister, former Cleveland city council-woman Sabra Pierce Scott, take aftertheir parents, both of whom werecommunity activists. Ms. Pierce Lee,who is an administrator at her churchin her spare time and with her hus-band still lives in Glenville, said sheremembers her mother helping shutdown a seafood market on East 105th

Street — as her 13-year-old sisterheld a picket sign. ■

career change. “I had no idea whereit was going to take me, and it wascompletely different than anythingI’d done. ”

Ms. Leopard has had no regretsabout changing courses and pas-sionately describes her work muchlike she talks about her 3-year-oldgrandson, Aiden, who lives withher. Her husband, Karl Wilkens,said when the federal governmentissues a new regulation, it’s like“Christmas coming early” for his wife.

“There are people who are likethat who are not fun, but the thingabout her that’s wonderful is thatshe’s a blast to be around,” Mr.Wilkens said. “She can work hard,but she also keeps it light and fun.”

Ms. Leopard took a step back fromjoking about jumping on the bedwith her grandson to reveal that oneof the things she’s most proud is thatshe’s the only woman on her firm’smanagement committee.

In a field that traditionally hadbeen dominated by men, she saidit’s a remarkable achievement.

“It means that our managingpartner of our firm understands I’man important part of the team as awoman and a representative of otherwomen in our firm,” Ms. Leopardsaid. “I think that’s really cool.” ■

and business acumen to her parents,Ronald and Judith Martinez, whoboth were entrepreneurs. Her motherran a car wash and her father was ajanitor before starting JanitorialServices Inc. in Cleveland, whichnow has about 600 employees.

Ms. Martinez-Giering also be-lieves in giving back to the commu-nity in a big way. She donates hertime and support to many localcharities and organizations, including

the American Cancer Society, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, East-lake Youth Basketball, St. Jude Chil-dren’s Research Hospital, RainbowBabies and Children’s Hospital,Akron Children’s Hospital, MerrickHouse and Northeast Ohio FallenHeroes Fund.

What sets Ms. Martinez-Gieringapart from her competitors is herkeen knowledge of the businessand her innovative solutions, Rock-well’s Mr. Hardwick said.

“She is a very good listener,” hesaid. “She is definitely a partnerwith all of her customers and she iswell-respected in the industry. It isso easy to recommend her company,and I do so all the time.” ■



SOUND SOLUTIONS FOR ASSISTED LIVINGSContact Mike Mullee + [email protected] + 216.363.0100

LARGEST ASSISTED-LIVING CENTERSRANKED BY NUMBER OF RESIDENTS(1)

Rank

NameAddressPhone/Web site

Number ofresidents

Number ofliving units

Number ofRNs (FTE)

Number ofLPNs (FTE)

Total staff(FTE) Profit status

Monthly rate indollars ($)

Yearfounded

OwnershipAdministrator

1Woodside Village19455 Rockside Road, Bedford 44146(440) 439-8666/www.horizonbay.com

182 229 0 17 85 profit 1,900-2,900 1988 Horizon Bay

2Abbewood Senior Living Community1210 S. Abbe Road, Elyria 44035(440) 366-8980/www.centurypa.com

162 165 NA NA 65 profit 1,700 1986 Century Park Associates Inc.Jeff Nieberding

3Stone Gardens Assisted Living27090 Cedar Road, Beachwood 44122(216) 292-0070/www.stonegardens.org

122 116 9 0 71 nonprofit 3,439-5,647 1994 Board of trusteesRoss Wilkoff

4Wiggins Place27070 Cedar Road, Beachwood 44122(216) 831-2881/www.wigginsplace.org

121 114 1 0 33 nonprofit 2,785-4,292 2004 Board of trusteesNancy Sutula

5Rockport Independent and Assisted Living20375 Center Ridge Road, Rocky River 44116(440) 356-5444/www.rockportretirement.com

109 125 1 2 14 profit 1,750-3,220 1995 Rockport Retirement Ltd.Penny Kelly

6Harbor Court & Annie's Place Memory Care22900 Center Ridge Road, Rocky River 44116(440) 356-2282/www.theharborcourt.com

108 118 3 6 95 profit 2,875 1987 Harbor Court Ltd.Donna Zapis

7The Gardens at Westlake27569 Detroit Road, Westlake 44145(440) 892-9777/www.gardensatwestlake.com

103 95 NA 4 50 profit 3,100-4,100 1988 Spectrum Retirement CommuntiesChristina Melaragno

8Judson at University Circle2181 Ambleside Drive, Cleveland 44106(216) 721-1234/www.judsonsmartliving.org

102 107 6 6 47 nonprofit 4,800-6,000 1906 Judson Services Inc.Cynthia H. Dunn

9St. Augustine Health Campus-Towers Assisted Living7821 Lake Ave., Cleveland 44102(216) 634-7444/www.staugustinemanor.org

100 99 1 1 37 nonprofit 800-1,989 1996 Catholic CharitiesK. Patrick Gareau

10Emeritus at Mentor5700 Emerald Court, Mentor 44060(440) 354-5499/www.emeritus.com

95 85 NA NA 60 profit 2,900-5,000 1999 Emeritus Senior LivingTerry Sombat

11Elmcroft of Sagamore Hills997 W. Aurora Road, Sagamore Hills 44067(330) 908-1166/www.elmcroftal.com

93 102 NA NA 30 profit 2,821-4,673 1999 Senior Care Corp.Jackie Mitchell

11The Inn at Belden Village3927 38th St. NW, Canton 44718(330) 493-0096/www.theinnatbeldenvillage.com

93 91 1 7 85 nonprofit 3,000-4,700 2000 The Cathedral of Life MinistriesNanette Gammill

13Berea Lake Towers Retirement Community4 Berea Commons, Berea 44017(440) 243-9050/www.berealaketowers.com

90 94 2 4 35 profit 2,100-3,800 1989 Robert M. Coury TrustTammy Cummins

14Wellington Place4800 Clague Road, North Olmsted 44070(440) 734-9933/www.wellingtonplace.net

89 87 1 15 56 profit 2,250-5,460 2001John T. O'NeillRick M. MeseriniPatricia Disch

15KentRidge at Golden Pond5241 Sunnybrook Road, Kent 44240(330) 677-4040/www.kentridgeatgoldenpond.com

85 91 2 14 90 profit 2,700-4,480 2005 Inn at Golden Pond LLCSandy Warner

15Marymount Place5100 Marymount Village Drive, Garfield Heights 44125(216) 332-1070/www.villageatmarymount.org

85 104 NA NA 32 nonprofit 2,028-3,461 1988 The Village at MarymountPeggy Mathews

15Vantage Place Inc.3105 Franklin Blvd., Cleveland 44113(216) 566-8707/http://vantageplace.com

85 86 2 14 46 profit 878-1,775 NA Vantage PlaceRobert L. Royer Jr.

18Sunrise of Poland335 W. Mckinley Way, Poland 44514(330) 707-1313/www.sunriseseniorliving.com

83 67 1 2 47 profit 3,500-4,200 1998 HCPKerry Collins-Smith

19The Fairways30630 Ridge Road, Wickliffe 44092(440) 943-2050/www.brookdaleliving.com

77 80 4 8 45 profit 3,722-4,447 1998 Brookdale Senior Living Inc.M J Giovanetti

20The Weils16695 Chillicothe Road, Chagrin Falls 44023(440) 543-4221/www.theweils.org

76 74 1 5 53 nonprofit 3,761-6,272 2002 Montefiore Housing Corp.Ella Barney

21Crystal Waters Retirement Community18960 Falling Water Road, Strongsville 44136(440) 238-3600/www.crystalwatersrc.com

75 76 1 4 33 profit 2,700-4,200 2001Falling Water RetirementCommunity Inc.Stephanie Chambers

22The Village at St. Edward3131 Smith Road, Fairlawn 44333(330) 666-1183/www.vased.org

73 73 1 2 15 nonprofit 1,053-1,816 1964 The Village at St. EdwardShawn Allan

23Sunrise of Parma7766 Broadview Road, Parma 44134(216) 447-8909/www.sunriseseniorliving.com

71 54 NA NA 70 profit 3,000-4,560 1982 Sunrise Senior Living Inc.Rima Hansen

24Shepherd of the Valley-Niles1500 McKinley Ave., Niles 44446(330) 544-0771/www.shepherdofthevalley.com

69 78 1 6 35 nonprofit 1,960-2,780 1972Shepherd of the Valley LutheranRetirement ServicesFrederick Mattix

25Royalton Woods Retirement Living14277 State Road, North Royalton 44133(440) 582-4111/www.royaltonwoods.org

68 70 1 4 28 nonprofit 2,100-3,500 2003 Parma Community General HospitalLinda Arduini

26Anna Maria of Aurora889 N. Aurora Road, Aurora 44202(330) 562-6171/www.annamariaofaurora.com

64 64 3 2 16 profit 3,500-4,000 1965Robert Norton, George NortonAaron BakerChris Norton

27Shurmer Place at Altenheim18821 Shurmer Road, Strongsville 44136(440) 238-9001/www.altenheim.com

62 60 2 4 27 nonprofit 2,474-4,058 2001West Side Deutscher Frauen VereinInc.John P. Coury

Source: Information is supplied by the companies unless footnoted. Crain's Cleveland Business does not independently verify the information and there is no guarantee theselistings are complete or accurate. We welcome all responses to our lists and will include omitted information or clarifications in coming issues. Individual lists and The Book ofLists are available to purchase at www.crainscleveland.com. (1) All information as of May 1, 2011.

RESEARCHED BY Deborah W. Hillyer



REAL ESTATEContact: Toni ColemanPhone: (216) 522-1383Fax: (216) 694-4264E-mail: [email protected]

Copy Deadline: Wednesdays @ 2:00 p.m. All Ads Pre-Paid: Check or Credit Card

OFFICE?WARHOUSE SPACE FOR SALE

BUSINESSES FOR SALE

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

FOR SALE

BUSINESS SERVICES

SPORTS &ENTERTAINMENT

ARE YOU READING THIS?This small ad space could bring BIG BUSINESS.

Contact Genny Donley at (216) [email protected]

CCrraaiinn’’ss CClleevveellaanndd BBuussiinneessss’ classifiedswill help you fill that space.

CCaallll 221166..552222..11338833

EastlakeApproximately 7,000 and

30,000 square feet ofwarehouse space for rent.Will subdivide. Truck dock

available. Easy access to StateRoute 2. $2.50/square foot

including utilities.

Call 440-946-4767for details.

LOW COSTFLEX SPACE

Lease or BuyI-271 & Rt. 8 ramp.230 to 23,000 sq. ft.

1-800-447-2343

WAREHOUSE FOR LEASE

46,000 SQ. FT.Will divide. Crane, 2 Truck Loading

Docks, near I-490.

[email protected]

BANKRUPTCY!23K SF of industrial space

(20K Warehouse, 3K Office)with 2 cranes at 30 Industry Dr.

in Bedford Heights.$600,000!

CallJerry Fiume or Tom Fox

NAI Cummins330-535-2661

RECEIVER ORDEREDSALE

Marcella ArmsApartments

61 Units.Richmond Hts,, OH

$1,420,000

W. Greg Reed,Receiver

(614) 833-0602www.reedrealestatepartners.com

Building & Land For SaleValley View

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Stys Inc.216-641-7897

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440-477-1967

CLASSIFIEDPUBLIC NOTICES

By Appointment Only:4- Hussman Walk in Freezers

Coolers, Toyoda ForkliftPallet Racking in Cleveland

Stys Inc.216-641-7897

CITY OF INDEPENDENCE, OHIO, USARequesting Ideas, Concepts, Plans for the redevelopment of the Old Middle

School building and/or land in the Downtown Historical District at 6565Brecksville Rd., Independence, OH 44131 through an RFP process.

Receive a copy of the RFP for review and response at the City’s Websitewww.independenceohio.org/CommercialLife/MiddleSchool.aspx

RFP due by 9/2/11

Questions, comments, or additional information requests contact:Ron White, Economic Development Department

[email protected]

The Jointly Administered Trust Fund for the Benefit of Lorain CitySchool District Employees is requesting quotes from qualifiedinsurance carriers and/or third party administrators to administerits employee health benefits programs which include medical,pharmacy, dental and vision benefits. Additionally, proposals areinvited for wellness, disease management and populationmanagement programs. Interested parties can bid on any one or acombination of the above services and programs.

Interested parties should contact Jeff Smith directly for a copy of therequest for proposal documents.

Jeff Smith, MAAA, FCAMilliman, Inc.

1335 Dublin Road, Suite 209BColumbus, OH 43215

[email protected]

Proposals are due no later than 4:00 pm (EDT) Tuesday, August2, 2011. Potential bidders should not contact The District or any ofThe District employees directly.

NOTICE OF BUSINESS OPPORTUNITYThe Cleveland Airport System of the City of Cleveland is soliciting State-ments of Qualifications from qualified firms to undertake the planning,implementation and management of a comprehensive strategic eventplanning calendar. Interested parties may obtain a copy of the Requestfor Qualifications, free of charge, under the Business Information sectionat www.clevelandairport.com; by calling (216) 265-6086; by writtenrequest addressed to Procurement Section, Department of Port Control,5300 Riverside Drive, P. O. Box 81009, Cleveland, Ohio 44181-0009 orby e-mail to [email protected].

Statements of Qualifications are due by4:00 p.m. EDT Tuesday, August 23, 2011.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITYDance Studio/Martial Arts/Pilates/Yoga/Rehab Services

3000 sq.ft.suite, two separate studios with hardwood floors and waitingroom glass viewing, changing rooms, and office. Available immediatelyfor Fall Season. Located center of Solon, Ohio. Short or long term lease.

Call Dave at 440-220-0700 for more information

Assisted LivingBusiness & Real Estate

For SaleInvestors & Owner/Operators Wanted

Lake County25-Bed Profitable

Assisted Living Facility

$996,250

Warren/Youngstown Area

38-Bed ProfitableAssisted & Independent Living

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Contact:Oreste Realty LLC

Chris Foley(614) 915-8835

[email protected]

TAVERN BusinessWestpark Area

Located in free standing building.Well known establishment.

Sunday Liquor License. Largekitchen with pizza oven.

Contact Wayne 216-476-1999

Indians Loge BoxShare our home plate

suite. At cost.

Jen 614-218-3884www.SuitePartners.com

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DON’TFORGET:

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Cops could go ballisticfor these clipboards■ Captain America has a shield he uses to deflect bullets, and a Northeast Ohiocompany thinks cops, paramedics and others

who get shot at ought to atleast have a clipboard.

“If we save one life withthese clipboards, we’rea success,” said RobSlattery, sales managerof Cleveland-based Im-

pact Armor Technologies.OK, yeah, the concept sounds amusing.

But it’s no joke and neither is Impact Armor,which has made bullet-proof briefcases forthe Secret Service and other potentially life-saving armor for the military and police, Mr.Slattery said.

Impact Armor’s ballistic clipboards measure about 12 inches square and weighabout a pound and a half, he said. Theyfunction like most other clipboards, exceptthey can stop a bullet — even one fired froma .44 Magnum. You remember those — “themost powerful handgun in the world” backwhen men were men and Clint Eastwoodwas Dirty Harry.

The prospect of fending off a bullet with aclipboard might not sound like a good time,but it’s better than using your bare hands or,say, a pizza box, which is why Mr. Slattery, aformer cop, thinks they’ll sell to both law enforcement agencies and others who sendemployees into risky situations. (You listening,Domino’s?)

Law enforcement officials are testingthem now — in other words, blasting away at

them — and when testing is finished they’llsell for about $150, Mr. Slattery said. — DanShingler

A fest within a fest,technically speaking■ Tech geeks. Volunteers. Rappers.

All of the above will be participating in thesecond annual Ohio Homecoming Festival.The five-day series of events is designedboth to entertain and to push Ohio’s citizensto “aspire to greatness,” according to thefestival’s website.

Among those assigned to help achievethose lofty goals are more than 100 startupsscheduled to participate in the 6th City TechFest this Saturday, July 23, at Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland.

They’ll get a little bit of help from BoneThugs ‘N’ Harmony: The rap group, which wasstarted in Cleveland, will perform a reunionconcert on Saturday night behind ClevelandBrowns Stadium. Opening for Bone Thugswill be Drake, who received two Grammynominations for the song, “Best I Ever Had.”

Before they take the stage, though, 26 ofthe young companies at the 6th City TechFest will make pitches to a panel of judges,who will award the best company a prizepackage that will include business develop-ment services and a cash prize, the size ofwhich had yet to be determined as of lastThursday, July 14.

The main point of the Tech Fest, however,is “to get that critical mass of entrepreneursinto one building,” said Dar Caldwell, apartner with LaunchHouse, a business development group that’s organizing that

portion of the festival. More tech networkingwill take place at the House of Blues thisThursday evening.

Other events on the Ohio Homecomingschedule include a “Celebrity Football Chal-lenge” led by pro athletes from the Cleve-land area and a competition among area highschool marching bands. — Chuck Soder

Score one for downtown■ With billions of dollars in constructionunder way, downtown Cleveland may notbe in crisis — things may be looking up, actually. But the center of town soon will behome to a firm specializing in crisis commu-nications nonetheless.

Hennes Paynter Communications, a specialty PR firm that industry veteranBruce Hennes started out of his home inCleveland Heights nine years ago, is taking3,000 square feet of office space in the Terminal Tower. But with plans to double astaff of three full-time employees in twoyears, Mr. Hennes and his partner BarbaraPaynter were ready for an office home.

“We weren’t convinced (downtown) waswhere we needed to be,” Mr. Hennes said ofhis initial space search. But after downtownadvocates Joe Marinucci, president andCEO of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance,and real estate broker Sandy Coakley startedshowing Mr. Hennes office space and pitchingdowntown, he thought otherwise.

“There’s absolutely a new energy down-town,” he said.

Hennes Paynter plans to open its 32nd

floor office in September. — Jay Miller

WHAT’S NEW

COMPANY: EyeLighting Interna-tional, MentorPRODUCT:kíaroLED

The manufacturer of lighting products is introducing what it describes as a line of“rugged outdoor LED luminaires.”

Eye Lighting says the luminaires feature“an exclusive (patent pending) optical designthat delivers superior performance in controllingbacklight, uplight and glare while increasinglight on task and reducing energy consump-tion.”

The product “delivers more light at a lowerwattage than competitive LED luminaires,and an increased number of streetside lumensresults in better visibility and minimizes thenumber of required poles.”

It’s approved for use on bridges and over-passes. Eye Lighting says kíaroLED’s electricaland optical chambers protect the luminaire“from the intrusion of water, insects anddust.” A thermal protection control feature“monitors the board temperature, assuringthat the LEDs do not overheat and the minimized number of critical componentsprevents further opportunities for prematurefailure,” according to the company.

For information, visit www.EyeLighting.com.

Send information about new products to managing editor Scott Suttell at [email protected].

REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOKBEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS

THEINSIDER

THEWEEK JULY 11 - 17

The big story: In memory of their daughter,Angie, who died of melanoma at age 14, Fair-mount Minerals CEO Chuck Fowler and hiswife, Char, have donated $17 million to estab-lish The Angie Fowler Child & Young Adult Cancer Institute at University Hospitals’ Rain-bow Babies & Children’s Hospital. The gift is thelargest individual donation in Rainbow’s history.UH said the new cancer institute will include adedicated outpatient treatment facility and anexpanded inpatient unit for pediatric and youngadult patients, along with a rooftop garden atRainbow.

Spaced out: NortheastOhio will not be home to a newnational laboratory designed tomake better use of the Interna-tional Space Station. NASA insteadchose to locate the lab at theKennedy Space Center, which is justeast of Orlando, Fla. A joint venture between Battelle Memorial Institute ofColumbus and Universities Space ResearchAssociation of Columbia, Md., had sent NASA aproposal recommending that the lab be locatedon Euclid Avenue in Midtown Cleveland. Thejoint venture, Space Laboratory Associates, wouldhave managed the U.S. portion of research onthe International Space Station if it had won thecontract. NASA Glenn Research Center in BrookPark did not participate in the proposal.

Brazilian connection: Flight Options LLC,a provider of fractional jet ownership programs,has secured a large financing commitment fromBrazil’s development bank in order to expand itsfleet of aircraft from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer. Flight Options said the three-year,$167 million financing agreement with BancoNacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) will help the company financeits purchase of Embraer Phenom 300 jet aircraft.Flight Options in 2007 placed an order for 100Phenom 300 business jets, plus an option to buy50 more. The order’s total value exceeds $1.2billion, at the Phenom 300’s current list price.

The men for the job: Two Northeast Ohioanswill serve on the board of directors of JobsOhio,the new nonprofit corporation that will take overfrom state government much of the economicdevelopment and job creation effort run by theOhio Department of Development. James C.Boland, retired vice chairman of Ernst & Youngand former president, CEO and vice chairman ofthe Cavaliers Operating Co., and Dr. C. MartinHarris, chief information officer of the ClevelandClinic, were among eight people named by Gov.John Kasich to the JobsOhio board.

Fastening down a deal: FFR-DSI Inc., a 49-year-old company in Twinsburg that formerlywas known as Fasteners for Retail, has changedhands. Olympus Partners, a private equity firmbased in Stamford, Conn., said it has acquiredFFR-DSI from Cortec Group, a private equityfirm in New York. Olympus did not say what itpaid for FFR-DSI, which produces point-of-purchase displays, rack systems, signs and otheritems for the retail field.

Bits and pieces: CPI-HR, a Solon-basedprovider of business services, has acquired Summit Payroll Services LLC of New Jersey foran undisclosed price. … To make way for Cleve-land’s new casino, the Greater Cleveland Part-nership and the Council of Smaller Enterprisesover the weekend moved their 100-plus employeesfrom the Higbee Building on Public Square to 1240Huron Road at PlayhouseSquare. Constructionis in progress inside the Higbee Building on thenew Horseshoe Casino, with a targeted openingin spring 2012.


BEST OF THE BLOGSExcerpts from recent blog entries onCrainsCleveland.com.

Baker Hostetler starsremain team players■ Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Anout-of-towner with big bucks tries to recruita major Cleveland figure with ties to the

sports world.Probably ends badly,

right? Not according to arecent DealBook blogpost from The New YorkTimes.

The out-of-towner inthis case was a New Jersey law firm, Green-baum Rowe Smith &Davis, which late last

year tried to poach the team at Cleveland’sBaker Hostetler that is unwinding theBernie Madoff fraud case, The Times reported.The prize: the “enormous stream of legal feesbeing generated by the Madoff litigation.”(The sports connection is how the Madofflitigation is tied to the financial future of theNew York Mets.)

Irving H. Picard, the court-appointedMadoff trustee, and his chief counsel, DavidSheehan, “carefully considered leaving(Baker) but decided to stay after additionalresources were committed to their group,”according to The Times.

The Madoff trustee litigation has been a boonfor Baker, which has 740 lawyers firmwide.

“So far, Mr. Picard has recovered about$10 billion in settlements and asset sales,far more than what legal specialists had expected,” The Times reported. “It has beena hugely profitable assignment, havingbrought in about $180 million in legal feesfor Baker Hostetler. The firm is expected toreceive roughly $603 million more for itswork from 2011 to 2014.”

Mr. Picard, as trustee, has been paid $4.3

million through January, according to courtrecords. He stands to make an additional$12.5 million over the next three years.

For small businesses, signsof recovery are few■ While large public companies are poisedto report strong second-quarter profits,small businesses still are grappling with “jit-tery customers, rising costs and tight cred-it,” according to a Wall Street Journal storythat included comments from two North-east Ohio firms.

The Journal reported that 70% of smallbusinesses “have no plans to expand theirstaffs over the next 12 months,” accordingto a recent U.S. Bancorp survey.

Tribute Inc. of Hudson, a developer of in-ventory-management programs, last year“thought it was seeing a rebound when thetime required to close deals improved,” TheJournal reported. “But by the end of theyear, sales had leveled off and the recoveryfaded.” It’s taking as long as six months tosecure new contracts.

The company continues to require its 35employees to take a day of unpaid vacationevery month, The Journal reported. It also isdelaying investment, putting off buying software that would help manage salesprospects and customers but could cost asmuch as $50,000.

Faucet maker Phoenix Products Inc. ofAvon Lake is “proceeding with caution,putting hiring, system upgrades and productupdates on hold to conserve cash in case ofanother downturn,” the newspaper said.

President Raymond Arth told The Journalhis caution “stems from recent unemploy-ment and housing-market data, as well as thegrowing federal deficit.” Phoenix Products’main customers make recreational vehiclesand factory-built housing, and if RV buyers getspooked, the newspaper said, “he worries thatorders for his faucets will eventually suffer.”

Picard


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