Crain's Cleveland Business

By STAN [email protected]

Steelyard Commons, the bigshopping center near downtownCleveland, appears on the verge ofits first major expansion since itopened in 2007 on the site of a for-mer LTV steel mill.

First Interstate Properties Inc. ofLyndhurst, the developer of Steel-yard Commons, has leased land toBurlington Coat Factory, a nationaloff-price department store chain,

for a 77,000-square-foot store to bebuilt north of the Walmart SuperCenter.

The lease is a breakthrough forFirst Interstate as it looks to launcha long-planned second phase ofSteelyard Commons, which broughta contemporary, big-box retail centerwithin the city limits.

“We’re working on launchingphase two,” Mitchell Schneider,CEO of First Interstate, said in an interview last Friday, Aug. 10, as he

Landowners partner tosecure favorable terms

$2.00/AUGUST 13 - 19, 2012

Entire contents © 2012 by Crain Communications Inc.

Vol. 33, No. 31

07447083781

731 SPECIAL SECTION

SMALL BUSINESSAt some local companies, hiring family memberstops the priority list ■■ 1PLUS: CSAS BENEFIT FARMERS ■■ ADVISER ■■ TAX TIPS ■■ & MORE

NEW

SPAP

ER

Wary of welder shortageCommunity colleges are adapting

their curricula to help ease areamanufacturers’ fears of a dearth ofwelding specialists. PAGE 3

PLUS:■ The Cleveland Clinic sues a

Fla. company relating to a callbacksoftware system. PAGE 3

INSIDENew lease at Steelyardcould spur second phase

Mineral rights deals nowdone at ‘rational’ pace

Burlington would anchor 200K-square-foot center

See STEELYARD Page 17 See LEASES Page 17

By DAN [email protected]

If you thought the land rush wasover and that shale gas drilling com-panies are done buying up mineralrights in Ohio, think bigger.

It’s true that, compared with sixmonths ago, the county recorder’soffices in eastern Ohio finally arecatching their breath and dealingwith fewer oil companies filing new

mineral rights leases. But there stillare substantial mineral rights avail-able for lease in Ohio, often bylandowner groups, conventionaldrilling companies and others thateach hold thousands of acres.

“I call it the ‘rational phase’ ofleasing,” said Tom Stewart, execu-tive vice president of the Ohio Oiland Gas Association. “And that’s not abad thing at all.”

Look no further than GeaugaCounty for an example.

The county, on the northern edgeof the Utica shale play that is drivingOhio’s oil and gas industry, is home

MARC GOLUB

LAKEWOOD

SHAKERHEIGHTS

BEDFORD

BROOKLYN

Suburban mayors eye plan worthy of casino cashCounty exec FitzGerald has stated goal for tax dollars to ‘transform’

By JAY [email protected]

Mayors from some ofCuyahoga County’sinner-ring suburbswant to convince

County Executive Ed FitzGeraldand members of the CountyCouncil that their communitiesshould share in any plan for thecasino tax dollars that come tothe county.

A group of mayors and a citymanager from suburbs that aremembers of the First SuburbsConsortium met last Monday,Aug. 6, in Warrensville Heightsto start hammering out a pro-posal that will satisfy Mr.FitzGerald’s desire to use thecasino tax revenue — anamount that could be nearly

$10 million dollars a year whenall four of the state’s gamblinghalls are in operation — for pro-jects that are “transformational.”

“The message is: ‘We don’twant you to forget about us’”said Mayor Brad Sellers of War-rensville Heights, who chairedthe committee. “This is foundmoney; let’s make sure we getbang for our buck.”

Members of the committeeare Mayor Sellers; Mayor RichardBalbier of Brooklyn; Mayor EarlLeiken of Shaker Heights; MayorMichael Summers of Lake-wood; and city manager HenryAngelo of Bedford. The FirstSuburbs group is composed of19 cities, most of which werefilled out by the post-World War

See CASH Page 18

20120813-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 8/10/2012 2:50 PM Page 1

Real estate

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22 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM AUGUST 13 - 19, 2012

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A closer look at the growthin the city of Green, and resi-dential real estate agenciesappear to be hiring onceagain.

A RANGE OF BENEFITS

Private-sector service industry workers are less than half as likely to have medicalcare benefits offered through work as their counterparts in management, professional and related occupations, according to data from U.S. Bureau ofLabor Statistics. Here’s how access to employee benefits breaks down:

Occupational Percentage of workers with access to:group Retirement Medical care Sick leave

Full time 74% 86% 75%

Part time 38 24 23

Management/professional 79 87 84

Service 40 41 40

Sales/office 69 72 65

Construction/maintenance 65 77 53

Production/transportation 66 75 52

Due to an editing error, an Aug. 6,Page One story analyzing reasonsRandy Lerner sold the ClevelandBrowns incorrectly referred to formerCleveland Browns owner Art Modell as the late Art Modell. Mr. Modell isalive at age 87. In addition, the story

referenced an initial estate tax claimthe Internal Revenue Service made against the estate of former CincinnatiBengals owner Paul Brown upon hisdeath; that $29.9 million claim laterwas dismissed by the U.S. Tax Court.


result, he said, it’s a critical time tobuild the skills of local people in theconstruction trades.

However, Mayor Jackson lamenteda culture that, in his view, has beenreluctant to bring minorities andwomen into the construction industry.He likened the problem to an addictresisting efforts at rehabilitation.

The mayor also expressed a frus-tration that the community continuesto talk about solving the problemwithout ever getting to a solution.

“As long as we’re in conversationabout it, it means we haven’t over-come our addiction,” Mayor Jack-

son told industry leaders gatheredat the symposium. “When we haveaccepted that (inclusion) is just thecourse of business, we will haveovercome it.”

Progress is slowThe city’s effort has the backing

of the city’s chamber of commercegroup, the Greater Cleveland Part-nership, and of Loree Soggs, execu-tive secretary of the ClevelandBuilding Construction Trades Council,which represents unions in the con-struction field. Those unions play a

By TIMOTHY [email protected]

Northeast Ohio’scommunity collegesare planning tochurn out hundreds

of highly trained welders tomeet an intense demand forsuch workers brought on by arebound in American manu-facturing and a pending waveof baby boomer retirements.

Cuyahoga Community Collegeand Lakeland Community Collegein Kirtland are upgrading theirtraining labs with the latest tech-nology and tweaking their pro-grams’ curriculums to meet theevolving needs of an industry requiring a better-educated workforce.

Both moves are in addition

to Lorain County Community College’s already-robust weldingprogram, which since 2007 hassnared $8 million in federal moneyto establish a national center totrain welding educators.

Lincoln Electric Co., the Euclid-based producer of weldingequipment, also has its hand in

AUGUST 13 - 19, 2012 WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 3

INSIGHT

THE WEEK IN QUOTES“Big companies arenot going to want togo out and piecemealit. They’re going towant to find a blockthat they can get inone bunch.”— Dave Atha, president of D.T.Atha in Sugargrove, which ismarketing mineral rights onabout 15,000 acres in Ohio.Page One

“The main thing isthe family businessneeds to operate likeany other business. ...The business is thereto make money andbuild and preserve thefamily’s wealth.”— Chris Snider, founder andpresident of Aspire ManagementInc. Page 11

“This is a place wherepet lovers and ownerscan be relaxed andmake that final dis-position of their petsomething they’ll always remember andcherish.”— Joe Pavone, Paws Awhile PetMemorial Park and FuneralHome, Richfield. Page 13

“So many peoplecome up to me andsay, ‘I read it cover tocover.’ No one says, ‘Iread it online.’”— Donna Marchetti, co-publisher,Wine Buzz. Page 7

Clinic files suitover Fla. firm’ssoftware usageIts litigation accuses company that oncesold callback system of trade secret theftBy MICHELLE [email protected]

The Cleveland Clinic Foundationhas sued the owners of a companythat used to sell the Clinic’s copy-righted patient callback system toother hospitals and health careproviders, alleging the two menused the Clinic’s trade secrets tocreate and sell a similar softwareprogram.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 3 in theU.S. District Court in Cleveland,names Quinton D. Studer and BarryG. Porter, who, until an October2011 recapitalization, co-owned TheStuder Group LLC in Gulf Breeze,Fla. They currently own an interestin Studer Group of at least 20%, the

lawsuit states.The Cleveland Clinic in its lawsuit

is seeking monetary damages and apermanent injunction freezing andimposing a constructive trust uponmonies received by the defendantsthrough their alleged wrongful actions.

The Clinic’s callback system — nowcalled the Discharge Call Manager— was developed in 2002 and isused to automate the process ofmaking calls to patients.

When asked what kind of revenuesthe sale of the system has generated,a spokeswoman replied, “It involvesseveral million dollars. This intellec-tual property is important as hospitalscontinue to seek to increase effi-ciency and quality efforts.”

See CLINIC Page 5

See REFORM Page 17

See WELDING Page 18

MARC GOLUB PHOTOS

ABOVE: Matthew Cawley (foreground, left to right), William Check and Thomas Howard check test plates for certifica-tion at Lorain County Community College on Thursday. In the background are Jason Kraps (left) and Joe Corey. BELOW: An LCCC student practices shielded metal arc welding.

WEDDED TO WELDINGCommunity colleges update labs, tweak curricula to meet demand

Jackson wants quicker progress on construction inclusion reformMayor likens community’s inaction amid building boom to ‘addiction’ By JAY [email protected]

Efforts are moving forward on aprogram that would promote theso-far elusive goal of hiring greaternumbers of local workers and con-tractors — especially minorities andwomen — on construction projectsin Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.But Cleveland’s mayor, for one, wantsto pick up the pace on reform.

Natoya Walker Minor, Cleveland’s

chief of public affairs and directorof the office of equal opportunity,said last Monday, Aug. 6, that thecity expects to have a templateready in four months for a “com-munity benefits agreement” the citywould use when negotiating with developers of large constructionprojects.

The CBA, as it is called, would bethe basis for putting muscle into the city’s program to put more cityresidents on construction sites. In

addition, the CBA would be avail-able for broader use by other publicand private developers, includingarea hospitals.

At a day-long Aug. 3 symposiumdevoted to discussing and advancingthe CBA and other economic inclu-sion goals, Cleveland Mayor FrankJackson led off by noting that thecommunity is in the midst of abuilding boom, led by the Flats EastBank development and the conven-tion center and medical mart. As a



event series

Shale Drilling and Taxes: What’s Fair?

Questions: Jessica D. Snyder at 216-522-5388 or [email protected]

Progam Agenda:7:30 – 8:15 a.m. Breakfast & Networking

8:15 – 8:45 a.m. Keynote Speaker

9:00 – 10:30 a.m. Panel Discussion

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH:

Thursday, September 20McKinley Grand Hotel, Canton

Volume 33, Number 31 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except for com-bined issues on the third week of May and fourth 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 © 2012 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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Use of digital screens on the rise

Northeast OhioMedical Univer-sity uses theseflat-screen TVsto communicateto prospectivestudents infor-mation aboutthe school.PHOTO PROVIDED

Cost of display monitors, software drops; moresmall, midsize companies employ technology

By CHUCK [email protected]

Outside of the admissions officeat Northeast Ohio Medical Univer-sity are four flat-screen TVs that together form one big monitor designed to reel in prospective students with promotional videos,graphics and details about campuslife.

It definitely sends a stronger mes-sage than covering a wall in postersor plaques, said Christine Boyd, director of public relations andmarketing for NEOMED, which installed those flat screens and twoothers a few months ago and plansto add even more.

“I think it adds a lot of excitementto a dull hallway,” Ms. Boyd said.

Expect to see more screens likethose around town over the nextfew years: The idea of using digitalmonitors to display marketing messages and other information is becoming more popular with smalland midsize businesses as well asother organizations that weren’tearly adopters of the technique.

While the technology has beenaround for years — think of thescoreboard at Progressive Field orthe screens that line the skywalk atthe Cleveland Clinic — the cost ofthe screens themselves and the soft-ware that’s used to control the con-tent on them has come down signif-icantly over the last few years, saidLinda Fruits, director of applicationdevelopment at Beachwood-basedEDR Media LLC, which producesvideos and other visual content.

All the while, businesses and advertisers are starting to see “digital signage” as a legitimate wayto communicate with customers,Ms. Fruits said. Thus, adoption is onthe rise.

“It’s in doctor’s waiting rooms.It’s in university cafeterias. It’severywhere,” she said.

More screen timeDigital signage isn’t everywhere

yet, but it’s headed in that direction,according to a 2011 report from

technology market analysis firm ABIResearch of New York. The globalmarket for hardware, software andservices related to digital signage is expected to grow from $1.3 billionin 2010 to $4.5 billion in 2016, drivenby a growing acceptance of the tech-nology and falling costs, accordingto the report, “Digital Signage Market& Business Case Analysis.”

Big retailers such as Best Buy andCostco have been using digital signage for years. By contrast, Con-stantino’s Market got started inMay, when it opened its store inUniversity Circle.

The local grocery store chainbought five flat-screen TVs fromEDR Media for the store and plansto start running content on them ina few weeks, said owner CostasMavromichalis. The company mayadd screens at its downtown store,too, he said.

Constantino’s is planning to usethe three screens at the front of theUniversity Circle store to displayspecials, commercials for vendorsthat sell products in the store, infor-mation about local events and othermessages, Mr. Mavromichalis said.The other two will serve as digitalmenus for ready-made food sold atthe store.

“The content is the issue,” saidMr. Mavromichalis, who got theidea for using the flat screens fromhis cousin, Peter Vrettas, who isCEO at EDR.

Larger businesses are expandingtheir use of digital signage, too.Huntington Bank in June wrappedup a two-year effort to refurbish its680 branches; as part of that effort,they now all have flat-screen displays,said David Clifton, chief customerand marketing officer for theColumbus-based bank, which has abig presence in Northeast Ohio.

Though all the screens run com-mercials and messages promotingHuntington’s services, different regions and branches can use themto deliver customized messages tocustomers in their areas, Mr. Cliftonsaid. For instance, if Huntingtonwas to run a promotion targeting

sports fans, screens at branches indifferent regions could use imageryfrom local teams.

In exit surveys, Huntington cus-tomers have said they like the screens,which Mr. Clifton said create a“pleasant distraction” for customerswaiting in line.

“It gives customers something towatch, something to engage with,”he said.

Instant messagingHelping companies install and

manage digital screens is a small butgrowing line of business for MCPc,an information technology hardwareand services provider in Cleveland,said Dale Phillips, its chief informa-tion officer.

Not all those screens are used tocommunicate with retail customers.Some companies hang them in theirlobbies to greet and entertain visitors,Mr. Phillips said. Others put them intheir offices to highlight employeebirthdays or display recent companynews. Manufacturers sometimes putscreens in their plants, where theycan display information about pro-ductivity or list the last time they hadan accident that caused productionto stop, he said.

“It allows you to change your mes-sage in a heartbeat,” Mr. Phillips said.

Interest in digital signage has “definitely picked up over the lastcouple of years,” said Jason Therrien,president of interactive marketingfirm thunder::tech of Cleveland.

That’s especially true among com-panies that sell to other businesses,because that sector in the past hadbeen slower to use digital signage,Mr. Therrien said. His company is helping trucking equipment pro-vider Transport Services Inc. ofNorth Royalton set up a system thatwill allow it to display sales figures toits employees.

The market for consumer-facingscreens is bigger, though, Mr. Therrien said. On that front, thun-der::tech last summer helped CedarPoint set up several outdoor screens,including the 40-foot-wide displaythat cars drive under on their wayinto the park.

Thunder::tech also has helped afew companies set up touch screendisplays for trade shows. As the costof touch screens comes down, they’lllikely start to replace typical flatscreens in some uses, Mr. Therriensaid. As an example, a consumercould use a touch screen at a kiosk ina mall to get information on sales atnearby stores. Hotels could use sim-ilar kiosks that would let customerslook up local restaurants.

“The touch screen is going to bethe next wave,” Mr. Therrien said. ■



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Clinic: Florida company filed first lawsuit Crain’s veteran landsnational reporting honor

Jay Miller, governmentreporter for Crain’s Cleve-land Business, has been hon-ored with a national reportingaward in the annual AzbeeAwards of Excellence com-petition conducted by theAmerican Society of Busi-ness Publication Editors.

Mr. Miller received abronze award in the category ofgovernment coverage for a body ofwork that included an analysis ofthe difficulty Gov. John Kasichcould face in securing a lease dealwith a big payoff for the Ohio Turn-

pike, a story that examinedhow business attractiongroup Team NEO would be returning to its roots under the privatized Jobs-Ohio economic develop-ment nonprofit, and a pro-file of JobsOhio boss MarkKvamme.

It is the first awardCrain’s has won in the Azbee com-petition.

The gold award in the categorywent to Federal Times, and the silver award went to Crain’s sisterpublication, Investment News. ■

Miller

According to the lawsuit, theCleveland Clinic in summer 2004provided Studer Group with confi-dential copies of the callback system’ssoftware program, source code andmanual, so that Studer Group couldsell and market the system on theClinic’s behalf. The lawsuit saidStuder Group agreed to keep the information strictly confidential.

On Jan. 30, 2006, the ClevelandClinic and Studer Group enteredinto a written strategic allianceagreement, under which Studer wasto act as the exclusive distributor ofthe Discharge Call Manager, accordingto the lawsuit. The agreement termi-nated by its own terms Jan. 30, 2009.

The Cleveland Clinic claims that itdiscovered in early 2010 that StuderGroup was marketing and selling acallback system and software pro-gram called Patient Call Manager,which is “substantially similar to theCleveland Clinic’s Discharge CallManager system and program, and usesthe Cleveland Clinic’s trade secrets.”

The suit also claims Studer Groupinformed potential customers thatthe Clinic’s Discharge Call Managerwas no longer available, then mar-keted the Patient Call Manager tothose same potential customers.

The first volleyThe Clinic’s lawsuit comes nearly

two years after Studer Group suedthe health care giant.

On Sept. 2, 2010, Studer Groupsued in U.S. District Court in Cleve-land, seeking a declaration that itsPatient Call Manager product doesnot infringe upon any intellectualproperty rights of the Clinic. It main-tained the Clinic had asserted thatStuder Group’s development andmarketing of its Patient Call Managerproduct infringes upon certain intel-lectual property rights the Clinic holds.

Attorneys for Studer Group declined comment on the Clinic’slawsuit and its own court action. Avoicemail left for an executive wentunreturned.

Studer Group’s lawsuit is the reasonthe Clinic filed its suit, according toDavid Rowan, chief legal officer forthe Clinic.

“The litigation filed by the Cleve-land Clinic against the Studer Groupprincipals is in response to litigationinitiated by the Studer Group to avoidcontractual obligations regardingClinic intellectual property,” Mr.Rowan said in a statement. “We intend to fully protect our rights andexpect to prevail in court.”

Hard software casesThe Cleveland Clinic’s copyright

for its patient callback system was

continued from PAGE 3 not registered until the year it dis-covered that Studer Group allegedlyinfringed on its rights. It was regis-tered on Sept. 20, 2010, with theU.S. Copyright Office.

While the date of registration mayimpact the amount of damages theClinic might receive, infringementlegally can occur before a copyrightis registered, said George H. Carr, apartner with Gallagher Sharp inCleveland who is not involved inthis case, but handles intellectualproperty litigation frequently.

“The copyright attaches when(you) first write down your work ina fixed medium,” he said. “It doesn’tmatter that it may be several yearsbefore you register your copyright.”

However, Mr. Carr added, “It could

be argued that (you) don’t get dam-ages for something until registration.”

That said, the Clinic’s citing of theOhio Uniform Trade Secret Act bringsits claims under the scope of thatstatute, too, not just the CopyrightAct, Mr. Carr noted.

Who will prevail depends on theaccuracy of the respective parties’lawsuits and whether Studer Group’ssoftware is functionally similar toand incorporates trade secrets ofthe Clinic’s software, Mr. Carr said.

“Software cases are generallypretty complicated and expensive,”he said, noting that jury memberstypically cannot read software code,so it’s common for both sides to hiresoftware experts to assert whethercode was copied. ■

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GOING PLACESJOB CHANGES

ARCHITECTUREHERMAN GIBANS FODOR INC.:Jonathan A. Cana to associate.

AUTOMOTIVECOLLECTION AUTO GROUP: James Pilla to chief operating officer.

CONSULTINGALDRIDGE GROUP: Brad Schneiderto senior consultant.

EDUCATIONNEW HORIZONS COMPUTERLEARNING CENTERS: Steven Woodto sales manager; Vanna Robbins toenterprise account executive.

FINANCEDOLLAR BANK FSB: John Solich tovice president, commercial real estate.FIRST PLACE BANK: David G.Cogswell to chief credit officer.FIRSTMERIT CORP.: Kathy S.Bushway to senior vice president, director of brand management; Eugene J. Lucci to senior vice presi-dent, marketing; Joseph M. Gabrosekto vice president, marketing. KEYBANK: Michael Bellardine tosenior vice president and head, Enter-prise Commercial Payments ProductGroup.

FINANCIAL SERVICECORRIGAN KRAUSE: Christine M.Eichmuller to supervisor, tax services;Michael J. Moore to supervisor, assurance services; Jeffrey A.Leciejewski to senior associate, assurance services. GLENMEDE: Lawrence H. Hatch todirector, Cleveland office. MONTICELLO ASSOCIATES INC.:W. Christopher Doyle to investmentanalyst.

HEALTH CARESISTERS OF CHARITY HEALTHSYSTEM: Paul H. Jones to chieftechnical officer.

INSURANCEWILLIS OF OHIO INC.: Joni Alexander to client service specialist.

LEGALDAY KETTERER: Maria LimbertMarkakis to member. JACKSON LEWIS LLP: Morena L.Carter to associate. MCDONALD HOPKINS LLC: BridgetK. Cougevan to associate. REMINGER CO. LPA: Mike Rode toof counsel. THACKER MARTINSEK LPA: MarkI. Wallach to of counsel.

LOGISTICSPACKSHIP USA: Greg Gaither to director, logistics services; AdamHanzie to director, logistics operations.

MANUFACTURINGSIFCO INDUSTRIES INC.: Kevin Vadini to area operations manager.

MARKETINGCORKY THACKER COMMUNICA-TIONS INC.: Lisa Ferian to marketingcommunications associate.

NONPROFITBVU: THE CENTER FOR NONPROFITEXCELLENCE: Elizabeth Winter toregional vice president.

BellardineSolichCana

CarterMarkakisHatch

FerianRodeCougevan

CONSORTIUM OF AFRICAN AMERI-CAN ORGANIZATIONS: Richard T.Andrews to executive director.

RETAILSTERLING JEWELERS INC.: EdHrabak to executive vice president,COO; Stuart Lee to senior vice president, merchandising and generalmerchandise manager; Dawn McGuireto vice president, merchandising;Judy Fisher to divisional vice president,merchandising/Mall Division; LaurieKosarik to divisional vice president,merchandising/Jared Division; LaurelKruger to vice president, associategeneral counsel.SIGNET JEWELERS LIMITED: LynnDennison to senior vice president,corporate affairs and general counsel;Kevin Valentine to vice president, internal audit and risk management;David Bouffard to vice president,corporate affairs.

STAFFINGINTEGRITY TECHNICAL SERVICESINC.: Phil Kohari to director of operations; Steve Wartko to seniorplacement specialist.

BOARDSAMERICAN SOCIETY FOR INDUS-TRIAL SECURITY AKRON CANTONCHAPTER NO. 123: Tim Dimoff(SACS Consulting) to chairman; KevinPratt to vice chairman; Jennifer Taylor to secretary; AnthonyWellendorf to treasurer.EPILEPSY ASSOCIATION: KathleenSanniti (Rainbow Babies & Children’sHospital) to president; Peter Nelsonto vice president; Susan Krantz totreasurer; Mark Nuss to secretary. LAKEWOOD HOSPITAL FOUNDA-TION: Ken Haber to president; Chas Geiger to vice president; TomBaker to secretary; Bob Potts totreasurer. WORLDWIDE EMPLOYEE BENE-FITS NETWORK: Corine R. Corpora(Ulmer & Berne LLP) and Rick Chelko(Chelko Consulting Group) to co-presi-dents.

RETIREMENTSTERLING JEWELERS INC.: BillMontalto after 26 years of service.

Send information for Going Places [email protected].

Gladiators will return despite turmoilGilbert considered shuttering team after forfeitBy JOEL [email protected]

The Arena Football League’s Cleve-land Gladiators, who on June 8 wereforced to forfeit a game 18 minutesbefore its scheduled start time atQuicken Loans Arena after playerswent on strike, will be back inCleveland for the 2013 season.

But it was a close call. Multiple sources confirmed that

team owner Dan Gilbert — who lastJanuary bought the team from JimFerraro, a principal in the Kelley &Ferraro law firm — was on the vergeof deciding to shut down or sell theteam last month as the entire Cava-liers Operating Co. gathered for itsannual summer sales meetings.

Those sources indicate Mr.Gilbert was severely embarrassed bythe forfeit. Now, though, the team isfeaturing 2013 season tickets on itswebsite, and staff members have beeninstructed to begin planning for nextseason.

Cavaliers spokesman Tad Carpersaid while shutting down the team wasone consideration in a “deep, thor-ough evaluation of the Gladiators,”there never was a decision made one

way or the other to shutter the team.He said the evaluation was more intense than normal because of“challenges during the season no oneexpected” and because of the shorttime period the team had to get off theground after Mr. Gilbert’s purchase.

Mr. Gilbert, who five years agoadded the Lake Erie Monsters of theAmerican Hockey League to theCleveland Cavaliers in his sports port-folio, saw in the Gladiators a teamthat could benefit from synergies withthe Cavaliers and Monsters at The Q.

Mr. Gilbert and his staff found outquickly, though, that the problemsran deeper than a lack of synergies:In March, only a few weeks after theownership change, labor troublebetween the league and its playersunion again surfaced. The two sideslong have squabbled, with thosebattles leading to the league sus-pending operations in August 2009.

When the league returned for the2010 season with a new ownershipgroup, both owners and players saidthe league’s new economic modelwould keep it sustainable. Througha new single-entity system, playerswould be paid by the league and not individual teams, and workers’

compensation costs would be reduceddramatically. Salaries, too, weredrastically reduced, to as little as$400 per game and up to $1,000 pergame for three “showcase” players.

But in March of this year, PittsburghPower owner Matt Shaner fired theentire team hours before a game inOrlando, Fla.; replacement playerswere used in that game. Then, inJune, the Gladiators, spurred on bythe AFL Players Association and in ashow of support for the Power,struck hours before a home gameagainst Pittsburgh.

The Gladiators organization, inturn, was forced to offer free ticketsand parking for one of the team’s remaining home games as make-goods for fans disgruntled over thelate announcement of the game’scancellation.

The owners and players on June17 announced they’d reached a new,five-year collective bargaining agree-ment. However, last month, ThePittsburgh Tribune-Review reportedthat the sides hadn’t yet signed theagreement.

The Gladiators averaged morethan 14,000 fans in 2008, their firstseason in Cleveland, but have strug-gled to bring fans back, with atten-dance falling to 8,828 in 2010, 6,507in 2011, and 6,229 last season. ■

20120813-NEWS--6-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 8/10/2012 11:56 AM Page 1


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CRAIN’S HEALTH CARE DIRECTORYCrain’s Cleveland Business on

Sept. 17 will publish its 15th HealthCare Directory, a listing of companiesand organizations that provide healthcare services in Northeast Ohio.Go towww.crainscleveland.com/section/hcd to view the Health Care Directory.

If your company or organization hasnever submitted information for the directory, send an email requesting asurvey to Deb Hillyer at [email protected]. The email must include companyname, address, phone number and acontact name. Incomplete requestswill not receive a response. The dead-line to submit a survey is Aug. 22.

The directory will be divided into

20 categories: addiction services; associations and professional groups;biotechnology; dentists and dentalgroups; fitness and wellness; healthinsurance underwriters (only thosecompanies listed as Health InsuringCorporations by the state of Ohio);home health; hospice; hospitals andhospital systems; laboratories; med-ical equipment and imaging; mentalhealth; occupational health/occupa-tional therapy; outpatient services;pharmaceuticals; physical therapy/rehabilitation; physicians and physiciangroups; prescription services; seniorand long-term care services; andwomen’s health services.

Life in print after digital? Some area publishers think soNarrowly focused formats can succeed, they say

By JAY [email protected]

Noelle Celeste and her husband,Jon Benedict, wanted to createsomething that would give peopleinterested in locally produced fooda place to learn more.

“I knew there was a lot going onin the local food scene,” Ms. Celestesaid. “We knew a lot of people workingvery hard on the Ohio City farm andother places. But there wasn’t aconsistent place to share stories andencourage people to learn moreabout what they can be doing to explore local foods.”

And so, Edible Cleveland, a quar-terly, ink-on-paper magazine, wasborn this past spring. Its second issue is at the printer and should beavailable this week.

The digital age is here, we’re told.Print is dead.

Well, not exactly.A number of editors and publishers

such as Ms. Celeste believe there’slife in print, though the places in themedia galaxy where it can succeedare changing. And they are launchingnew publications to prove the point.

These ink-stained professionalsbelieve they and their backers aremaking safe — if financially modest— bets on niche publications. Theyfocus on interests of narrow appeal— such as local foods, bicycling andthe arts — that have avid audiencesthat are hard for advertisers to reachonline.

Their formats range from news-print tabloids to a bound magazinerich in color photography.

Passion projectsVeteran Cleveland journalist

Michael Gill is editor of two of thenewest publications, The GreatLakes Courier and CAN Journal. Hesaid the Courier is for bicyclists andCAN Journal targets the visual arts.

The Courier, a 12-page tabloidnewspaper that began monthlypublishing in May, tells its 10,000readers about new bicycle safetylegislation; the status of a velodrome,or indoor arena for bicycle races,that is under construction in Cleve-land; and coming family and grouprides.

CAN Journal is a nonprofit foundedby the Creative Arts Network Cleve-land, an organization of artists, galleries and arts organizations, as aresponse to the demise of visual artscoverage in other media, includingthe 2009 closing of Northern OhioLive magazine.

“The coverage of the subject has

just tanked,” Mr. Gill said. The larger arts organizations have

tried to pick up the slack on their own websites and on Facebook, Mr. Gill said, but that approach hasfragmented the arts audience.

“There was no place to go foranything comprehensive,” Mr. Gillsaid. “That’s the environment inwhich (publisher Liz Maugans) hadthis idea that if galleries worked together they could create their ownmedia.” Ms. Maugans is managingdirector of Zygote Press, a nonprofitfine arts press based on Cleveland’sEast Side.

The bicycling tabloid had a similargenesis. Mr. Gill said constructionof the velodrome, the creation of abicycling advocacy organizationand a growing number of people,300 or more, who join a monthly bicycle ride that begins at PublicSquare all suggested the publishingopportunity to him.

“There is a huge amount of activityaround bicycling,” he said. “There’sa huge amount of activity that getsvirtually no media attention.”

The Courier is a project of the Human Tribe Foundation, createdby Jim O’Bryan, founder of AGSSoftware of Lakewood, which devel-ops software for media firms.

The ‘authenticity’ of printThough it’s the goal of all three

publications to be self-sustaining,only Ms. Celeste and Mr. Benedicthave a for-profit model.

All of these publications follow asimilar template. They have beencreated by people with a passion forthe subject matter and believed themarket would support a publica-tion. They also tend to be pay-as-you-go, covering printing costs and someeditorial expense.

They all have companion websitesor a presence on Facebook, and theyare distributed for free, with much ofthe press run distributed throughthe publications’ advertisers.

Those advertisers are businessesthat cater to the specific interest thatattracts readers to the publication.

CAN Journal advertisers includeLakewood’s Beck Center for theArts, Convivium33 Gallery and theCleveland Institute of Art. The GreatLakes Courier has won the businessof Fairview Cycle, B&B Applianceand the West End Tavern.

Among Edible Cleveland’s adver-tisers are Heinen’s supermarkets,the North Union Farmers’ Marketand Phoenix Coffee.

“It’s a positioning thing for us,”said Sarah Wilson-Jones, CEO of

Phoenix Coffee Co., which operatesthree coffee shops around Clevelandand a wholesale roasting operation.

“There’s an authenticity to print,”she said. “We’re about building acoffee culture in Cleveland and thestrength of the food scene is impor-tant to us.”

Edible Cleveland distributed 15,000copies of its summer issue and Ms.Celeste said the plan is to bump thatup to 20,000 in the fall, based on theway copies are grabbed up. The

other two distribute 10,000 copies.

Role modelsNone of these publications is

more than three issues old, so theirfutures are hardly secure. But theyhave role models in Northeast Ohiothat are building some stability.

DD214, for example, has beenreaching its audience of military veterans bimonthly since 2010.Publisher Terry Uhl said he hadbeen involved producing a radio

show for vets when John Tidyman,an Army veteran and former re-porter, now editor of DD214, sug-gested a print publication madesense for telling veterans’ stories.

Articles tell some war stories, butDD214 — Defense Department formDD 214 certifies a soldier’s dischargefrom active duty — also writes aboutmilitary skills that can transfer intothe private sector and educationalprograms available to veterans.

“I did it because I wanted to support the cause,” Mr. Uhl said. “Withall the veterans coming home fromAfghanistan and Iraq, we wanted tobe able to tell their stories. John wasa Vietnam vet, and he wanted to tell thestories of that era and World War II.”

Advertising response has beenstrong from colleges and universities,he said. Other advertisers include arésumé service and a hospice center.

Perhaps the longest-running nichepublication is Wine Buzz, which is inits 11th year.

Co-publisher Donna Marchettisaid that because of its wine reviews,Wine Buzz is a natural impulse pick-up for people going into a wine shop.

“So many people come up to meand say, ‘I read it cover to cover,’”she said. “No one says, ‘I read it on-line.’” ■

CAN Journal and Edible Cleveland are two new Cleveland-area niche publications.


There perhaps is no better evi-dence of what I complain aboutin our political system than theresponses brought by my column

last week about Steve LaTourette.Here’s the Cliffs Notes version of what

I wrote: I complained that one of ourmost effective congressional representa-tives, the moderate Republicanfrom Lake County, was calling itquits, in large part due to hisdistaste for the rancor in Wash-ington. I wrote that it is sad whenwe lose moderates such as Rep. LaTourette, and before him Sens. Olympia Snow and RichardLugar.

I’m sick of elections in whichcountless amounts of money andenergy must be spent to shoreup the base, and the Democrats areforced to be more liberal and the Repub-licans are forced to be more conserva-tive. What is lost are the moderate law-makers who could compromise in orderto pass laws that do the most good forthe greatest number of Americans.

Some of our readers interpreted that

to their own liking and accused me ofsuggesting that only the Republicans hadto compromise (WRONG. Never saidthat) and that the Democrats never com-promise (also wrong, clearly).

I understand the impetus that spawnedthe Tea Party movement within the Republican Party — the frustration over

budget deficits, anger overmassive entitlement programs,fury over Obamacare. But itseems to me the answer isn’t tokeep doing stupid things suchas taking no-tax pledges or, aswe did in Ohio, installing termlimits so that lawmakers aren’tin office for life.

The problem with suchthinking is the same flaw in anysort of fundamentalist reasoning.

Making everything a black-and-white,yes-or-no proposition makes things easier,but rarely produces the best solutions forthe problems affecting us as a people.

Was the force-feeding of health carereform by the Democrats who followedPresident Obama to Washington in early2009 a good thing? I guess it depends on

whether you’re comfortable in your jobwhile the company keeps eating most ofthe costs of your health care or you’re a50-something dad who lost your jobthrough a downsizing and can’t find workin a sluggish economy. Few people woulddisagree that we can’t keep absorbing8% annual increases in health care, butnobody with skin in the game wants tolose anything — not the lawyers, the doc-tors, the insurers or the hospital systems.

So back to Rep. LaTourette, whosetiming may help him steer the seat towarda candidate he supports but is clearlybad for the election system in general. Asone reader told me in a letter last week,Rep. LaTourette could have chosen another way that wouldn’t have left hisconstituents in the lurch.

But what really concerns me is that regardless of whether you agree with myassertion that we need more moderates,it can’t be argued that Rep. LaTourettehad the kind of seniority that makes acongressman especially helpful to hisdistrict, region and state. And now that’sgone, and that’s so unfortunate for all of uswho care about Greater Cleveland. ■


Enemy mineE

vidence continues to pile up that Republicanoffice holders in Columbus are their ownworst enemy. They only have themselves toblame for a proposed constitutional amend-

ment pushed by labor unions that would changethe system for drawing Ohio’s congressional andlegislative districts.

Last year, Republicans overplayed their majorityadvantage in both chambers of the state Legislaturewhen they created a congressional redistricting mapthat essentially set up rigged elections, with a dozenof the 16 districts loaded with voters who favor Repub-licans. They also carved out a legislative redistrictingmap that gave them a decided advantage in electionsfor seats in the Ohio House and Senate.

Statehouse Republicans as a group must be lousychess players, because they act without seeming toanticipate their opponents’ counter move. In thecase of abusing the redistricting process, that countermove was made by a union-backed coalition thatsucceeded in collecting enough petition signaturesto put its redistricting proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot.

With its slogan of “People, not politicians,” thecoalition — going by the name Voters First — depictsitself as nonpartisan. However, nearly all the moneythat funds its operations comes from unions andother groups aligned with the Ohio Democratic Party.

Republicans now are crying foul, with Matt Borges,executive director of the Ohio Republican Party,saying that all Voters First is interested in is “undoingthe election of 2010 and getting more Democrats inoffice.” Yes, Mr. Borges, you’re probably right. Butwasn’t your party trying to keep Democrats out ofoffice with its redistricting shenanigans?

Mr. Borges and his Republican cohorts could haveavoided this whole situation had they embraced aredistricting proposal put forth three years ago byone of their own, Secretary of State Jon Husted, whowas a state senator at the time.

Under the Husted plan, an Apportionment Boardconsisting of seven members (the governor, secretaryof state, auditor, House speaker, Senate president,and minority leaders in the House and Senate)would not have been able to move a redistrictingplan forward without the approval of a supermajorityof five members. And of those members voting infavor, at least two votes would have needed to comefrom members aligned with the minority party.

Neither party was a true winner with that plan,and that was the point. But because neither partyloved it, the Husted plan faded away.

In a sad bit of irony for Republicans, it is Mr. Husted,in his secretary of state role, who last week ruledthat Voters First had secured enough petition signa-tures to put its proposed constitutional amendmenton the fall ballot. So, Ohio voters now will get to decide whether a 12-member Citizens Commissionshould be given control of the redistricting process.

We will wait to share our thoughts about the VotersFirst proposal. For now, we’ll note that the same Repubican arrogance that led last year to Ohio votersthrashing the anti-union Senate Bill 5 has producedyet another referendum on the party’s collectivewisdom, or lack thereof. Republicans shouldn’t besurprised if they’re given their comeuppance again.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

PERSONAL VIEW

BRIANTUCKER

Loss of LaTourette looms in two ways

Positive economic data masking realityBy DAVID McCLOUGH

Despite economic growth duringthe past four years of nearly$250 billion as measured byreal gross domestic product

and a decline in unemployment from arecession high of 10% to the 8.2% reportedfor June 2012, many individuals andhouseholds continue to experience therecession that “officially” ended three yearsago in June 2009.

How might we explain why key economic variables are trending in theright direction, yet consumers choosenot to spend as if the recession had notended? One reason is that the economicdata misrepresent economic reality.

The unemployment rate is calculatedby dividing the number of unemployed

workers by the civilian labor force. To beincluded in the labor force, an individual,among other criteria, must be activelyseeking employment.

If it is determined that the unemployedworker is not actively seeking work, he orshe is no longer included in the laborforce and, therefore, cannot be unem-ployed. Accordingly, the unemploymentrate can decline as unemployed workersare removed from the labor force.

This scenario explains much of the declining trend of the unemploymentrate. Government data reveal that the labor force has been declining for morethan a decade, but the decline acceleratedduring the last recession and has not

recovered. In June 2008, 66.6% of eligible adults

participated in the labor force. By June2012, four years later, the labor force par-ticipation rate declined to 64.3%.

A decline in the labor force participationrate is not necessarily a bad thing. Onecan imagine numerous benefits of lesslabor force participation, such as greateropportunity to care for family membersand more time to participate in civic affairs. Unfortunately, individuals arenot voluntarily exiting the labor force.

A committee at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has the responsibility of determining when reces-sions begin and end. Many of us may associate the start of the latest recessionwith the collapse of Lehman Brothers;

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

EDITOR:Mark Dodosh ([email protected])

MANAGING EDITOR:Scott Suttell ([email protected])

OPINION

Mr. McClough is an assistant professor ofeconomics at Ohio Northern University.

See VIEW Page 9



TIMOTHY HARRISClevelandWith everything that’s going on with the economy,I’d say cut taxes. … People are paying a lot oftaxes as it is nowadays.

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

THE BIG ISSUEIt appears Ohio will end the fiscal year with a surplus of $400 million or more. Should the state thencut taxes, or restore some spending that was cut to balance the budget?

SUSAN GALLAGHERRocky RiverI think the state should cuttaxes. Give our taxpayersa break. … (The tax burden)in Ohio is high.

MARY LOUISE MADIGANLakewood (whereshe’s on city council)Restore spending. I thinkwe need to invest in earlychildhood, in higher educa-tion, and we have to do itnow. … If we’re that muchahead of the game, theyalso could restore someof the Local GovernmentFund that they cut.

DAVID LEOPOLDBeachwoodWe need money pumpedinto the schools. We needto make sure seniors aretaken care of. We need tomake sure families withoutmeans have a safety net.Things were cut to thebone during the economicdownturn.

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however, the NBER identified De-cember 2007 as the beginning andJune 2009 as the end of the recession.

To make this determination, thecommittee members reviewed economic data pertaining to thelevel of economic activity. It shouldnot be surprising that the growth ofeconomic output as measured bythe gross domestic product (GDP)and employment as measured by theunemployment rate are key statisticsinforming the decision.

Accordingly, if output and employ-ment are contracting for an extendedperiod — typically two or more con-secutive quarters — the economy is

deemed in recession. Once outputand employment demonstrate sus-tained growth, the economy is con-sidered to be in an expansion.

Suppose, however, that the im-provement in the unemploymentrate is due to a decline in labor forceparticipation rather than an increasein employment. Suppose further that the increase in output and the resulting increase in average incomeare realized by a small proportion ofhouseholds.

Under these conditions we canunderstand why consumption is notincreasing despite higher averageincome. Indeed, consumption ofconsumer durables such as cars

Rep. LaTourette has quit on voters■ Regarding Brian Tucker’s Aug. 6commentary, “Mad as hell? You’dbetter believe it,” I’m mad as hell,too. I truly believe the Ohio delega-tion will be diminished when Rep.Steve LaTourette steps down. Hehas many excellent qualities. Butwhy isn’t anyone talking about thefact he is quitting?

Rep. LaTourette is breaking his“contract” with the people whoelected him. Politicians who wintheir party’s primary should berequired to fulfill the term of officethey sought.

Rep. LaTourette is frustrated; soare the people who elected him toserve. If he wants to step down, heshould do so after the expiration ofthe coming term and should notrun in the 2014 primary.

By quitting now, he is leaving thedoor open for an appointee of theparty establishment who may or maynot have time to mount a winningcampaign. But, most important, isthe fact the candidate will not be the candidate elected by the peopleto represent the Republican con-stituency of our district.

To hear the name of Tim “whichoffice do I want today” Grendell as

a possible replacement makes myhead numb. Although I have votedfor him in the past, I will have greatdifficulty voting for Mr. Grendell inthe future because of his stunt during a recent election when hechanged his mind about being seated for the office he won in theNovember election, preferring instead to keep the seat he held atthe time. And if nominated to fillRep. LaTourette’s seat, he will leavehis position as judge.

Yes, I’m mad as hell.

John AsimakopoulosWilloughby

Enough with moderation■ I’m mad as hell, but not for thereasons Brian Tucker suggests in hisAug. 6 commentary, “Mad as hell?You better believe it.” His outrage ismisplaced.

His assertion that the Tea Partyhas infected the GOP is ridiculous.Compromise is a two-way street.Democrats illustrated their willing-ness to compromise when they

jammed Obamacare down ourthroats with backroom deals and lies.

I’m mad as hell because ourcountry is broke and we’re headingdown a road that will take genera-tions to fix. Of course Marcia Fudgeand the Democrats want moderateRepublicans to remain in power.After all, it’s those same Republicansand Democrats who have allowedour deficit to explode.

LaTourette and Olympia Snoweare getting out before they’re thrownout. The demise of longtime senator(and moderate) Richard Lugar wouldhave become their demise.

Big-government Republicans andDemocrats beware; this countryneeds a jerk back to the right andthe Tea Party’s message of “smallergovernment, less taxes, and morepersonal responsibility” is just thecure. Sounds reasonable to me …how about you?

Jeff LongoNorth Royalton

WRITE TO USSend your letters to: Mark Dodosh, editorEmail: [email protected]

LETTERS

View: Unemployment wouldrise with greater participationcontinued from PAGE 8

and appliances actually declined inJune 2012 as one expects during a re-cession; but, according to the NBER,the recession ended three years ago.

If I were a member of the NBERcommittee, I might ask: What wouldthe unemployment rate be today ifthe labor force participation rate wasstill 66.6% rather than 64.3%? Usingdata from the Federal Reserve, I cal-culate that the unemployment ratewould be 11.6%, which is greaterthan the 10% high recorded duringthe recession.

Suppose this calculation slightlyoverstates the unemployment rate.Even so, my assertion that the economic reality is worse than thedata suggest remains plausible. Indeed,the situation worsens if we acknowl-edge that increases in income are con-centrated among a small proportionof households, a fact that is ignoredby the measurement of GDP. ■



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Cleveland loses Senior Games HQ bid tied to more eventsBy JOEL [email protected]

Greater Cleveland Sports Com-mission president and CEO DavidGilbert says planning and fundraisingfor next summer’s National SeniorGames, to be staged in Cleveland,are going well — so much so that hepredicts Northeast Ohio will playhost to the best event the NationalSenior Games Association has had.

He just isn’t sure his staff and theregion as a whole could handle stagingthe event every other year. And thatappears to have played a key role inthe association’s decision to relo-cate its national headquarters toKissimmee, Fla., in central Florida,instead of Cleveland.

The association said in a news release last Monday, Aug. 6, that itwill move its offices — and what ithopes eventually will be 15 to 20employees — to Kissimmee andstage the National Senior Games incentral Florida five times from 2016to 2025. The games, now a bi-annualoccurrence, will become an annualevent in 2016. The association nowis headquartered in Baton Rouge, La.

NSGA CEO Mike Sophia said thegroup would be shifting the games’business model and placing less ofthe fundraising burden on hostcities. Even so, he said the event

would benefit from a grant programfrom the Florida Sports Foundation,which assists with major events inthe state, and another grant fromKissimmee that kicks in when hotelroom night goals are met.

Mr. Sophia said the central Floridalocation also was attractive as a multi-year host because of Disney’s WideWorld of Sports, a 220-acre complexin Kissimmee owned by ESPN.

“It’s a huge event, a huge under-taking, and it’s hard for other com-munities to do it so frequently,” he said.

The National Senior Games Asso-ciation sent a request for proposalsto 60 or 70 cities that fit its criteria,which included ease of accessibility,Mr. Sophia said. From there, the organization received 15 letters ofintent.

Mr. Gilbert said the 2013 nationalgames’ budget is $4.3 million, abouta third of which is already committedby national sponsors. And while hesaid the return on investment forCleveland is “fantastic” — the National Senior Games Associationestimates the games bring $23 mil-lion a year in economic impact and11,000 athletes to the host city — hewas surprised by a city hosting it sooften.

“It’s a tremendous amount to raiseevery other year,” Mr. Gilbert said. “Itwould be hard to commit to that.” ■

New owner spurs Akron commercial printer to diversifyIndustry shifts require new services to keep up

By GINGER [email protected]

When Cincinnati businessmanChristopher Che bought Akron-basedDigital Color International in July2011, he had plans to transform theregional commercial printer into anational packaging and display com-pany.

Now, one year in, Mr. Che is wellon his way to doing just that.

Mr. Che, founder of Che Interna-tional Group LLC — a Mason-basedholding company — and now presi-dent of Digital Color, has upped Digital Color’s 51-person work forceby 10 people, boosted sales by 30% andsecured an additional 10,000 squarefeet in warehouse space adjacent toits 40,000-square-foot plant.

The company has expanded itsmiddle-market customer base to include the likes of Cincinnati-basedcorporate giants Procter & GambleCo., Macy’s Inc. and Kroger Co. —companies with which Che Interna-tional had prior relationships — andis pitching to other Fortune 1000companies.

Mr. Che hopes to double the size

of Digital Color’s work force withintwo years and to add equipment asdemand requires.

“Digital Color is a company thathas a lot of opportunity to grow,” Mr.Che said. “They’ve got a good, valu-able position and good technologysupporting that.”

Under Mr. Che’s leadership, DigitalColor has transformed its businessmodel.

“Chris brought some fresh per-spective to the whole business model,”said David Welner, chief operatingofficer and co-founder of Digital Color, who opted to remain involvedin the Akron company after the sale.

Digital Color, which was formed20 years ago, had the business modelof a printing company, and its ser-vices had become heavily commodi-tized, Mr. Welner said. He and co-founder David Fusselman tried toimprove the business’s profitabilityby diversifying as they added creativeservices such as wide-image format-ting — producing large banners.

“I think that kept us alive over a lot of other printers that closed upshop,” Mr. Welner said.

Jim Cunningham, president ofPrinting Industries of Ohio andnorthern Kentucky, characterizedthe printing and graphics communi-cation industry as one that’s bothshrinking and evolving.

The industry continues to consol-idate as companies close or merge tooffer a wider variety of services, Mr.Cunningham said. The companiesthat aren’t aggressive and don’t keepon top of new technologies are, forthe most part, the ones struggling.

“A lot of the future of print is goingto marketing service providers,” hesaid. “Printers are becoming marketersas much as they are putting ink onpaper.”

For that reason, packaging, whichmarries print and marketing, is oneof the fastest-growing areas in the industry, Mr. Cunningham said.

Digital Color now is on a path tobecoming known for being a pack-aging and temporary retail displaycompany, a direction in which it hasidentified room for growth.

Jeff LeRoy, spokesman for P&G,said the company values packagingand shelf presentation as an effectiveway to communicate its brand toconsumers.

“It has always been, and will continue to be, a critical component

to winning at the store shelf,” Mr.LeRoy said. “We refer to this moment,when a consumer first sees ourproduct on shelf, as the First Momentof Truth.”

Digital Color is on what Mr. Welnerbelieves is the cutting edge of a newtechnology: virtual merchandising.Digital Color has developed a way toproject an image, like a hologram, infront of a retail display in what it refersto as a digital media display.

In founding Che International in 2005, Mr. Che wanted to acquirediverse companies that would serveone customer base. To that end, in2007 he purchased Hooven-DaytonCorp., a Dayton-based commercial

printer, and last month acquiredCog LLC, a Cincinnati-based graphicsproduction company.

With each of these companies, heis adopting a similar strategy forgrowth.

At both Hooven-Dayton and Dig-ital Color, Mr. Che invested in newequipment and hired employees.

“Each subsidiary will grow organ-ically and through acquisitions of itsown,” Mr. Che said.

He said Digital Color already islooking at purchasing another pack-aging company in Northeast Ohio, although he wouldn’t discuss details.

Che International has 160 employees in its three subsidiaries. ■


SMALL BUSINESSI N S I D E

AUGUST 13 - 19, 2012 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 11

14 TAX TIPS:TEMP STAFFINGUNDER MOREIRS SCRUTINY.

KEEPING IT IN THE FAMILY

CSAs offerfarmers anearly sourceof capitalRisks exist, though, inunpredictable products

See CSAs Page 12

JANET CENTURY

Joel Rathbone and his daughter, Kim, at the downtown Cleveland offices of Javitch, Block & Rathbone. The law firm places an emphasis on hiring family mem-bers of employees.

Some area companies make no bones about hiring those most familiar, though experts warn against pitfalls of treating insiders, outsiders differently

By CHRISSY [email protected]

Family is the driving forceand the corporate back-bone at Javitch, Block &Rathbone.

And it’s not just the families ofco-managing partners Joel Rathboneand Bruce Block, who lead theCleveland-based law firm special-izing in collection and insurancesubrogation. The emphasis extendsto every employee, at every level.

“We embrace family, and we hirefamily before we will hire others,”said Mr. Rathbone, whose daughter,wife and son-in-law work at thefirm. Mr. Rathbone’s daughter andMr. Block’s son both are partnersand have been designated in a succession plan to take over the firm.

“We ask all employees for rec-ommendations and family members,and we pay them for referrals,”said Mr. Rathbone, who estimates

35% to 40% of his firm’s 400 em-ployees have a relative working inthe business. “By embracing fami-ly and having family as part ofbusiness, it’s no longer about out-sider versus insider.”

That doesn’t mean that bringingnonfamily members into the man-agement ranks of a small, privatelyheld family business isn’t a delicatebalancing act.

“The first one is the hardest,” saidMr. Rathbone, adding that his firm’sfirst outside management hire wasits human resources director abouteight years ago. He now is the firm’schief operating officer.

“There is no question that the roleof the person coming in has to beclear for them and for every familymember, especially if you’re in agrowth mode and creating this posi-tion, possibly for the first time,” Mr.Rathbone said. “Nine times out of10, you’re outgrowing the family.”

Chris Snider, founder and presi-

dent of Aspire Management Inc., aStrongsville business consultingfirm that specializes in exit plan-ning, leadership transitions andmergers and acquisitions, said hisfirst recommendation to a smallbusiness — family run or not — is todo an assessment of the company,including a business valuation, before making any high-level hires.

“You have to know what youhave and you have to know whatyou need. And you also want to takethe emotion out of the decision,”said Mr. Snider, who also is thefounder and president of theNortheast Ohio chapter of the ExitPlanning Institute. “The mainthing is the family business needsto operate like any other business.Family members need to understandthe business is there to make money and build and preserve thefamily’s wealth, not to providefamily jobs or make everyone

“We can’t have the son or daughter ... going over the COO’s head to see dad.” – Chris Snider, founder and president, Aspire Management Inc.

See FAMILY Page 14

By KATHY AMES [email protected]

While the manpower involved often is no picnic, the community-supported agriculture

arm of Melanie Schenk’s farmingoperation feeds a mutual benefit,nourishing her subscribers whilekeeping her business in the black.

Ms. Schenk, who operates BathTownship-based Brunty Farms withJeff Brunty, about two years agostarted the CSA program with 15customers, and now 215 food system investors enjoy the farm’sveggies, poultry and other items inexchange for reliable cash flow.

“We wouldn’t be in businesswithout the CSA,” she said.

Ms. Schenk and others in localcrop circles acknowledge thatshared risks and unreliable prof-itability come with operating CSAs,but say the programs are valuabletools that float upfront capital andreinforce their bottom line.

“It’s a great way to get cash flowat the beginning of the year. That’sthe main reason I got into it,” saidFloyd Davis, owner of Kinsman-basedRed Basket Farm. “But I’m taking ahuge risk in accepting payment forshipment of a product that I hope-fully will have.”

CSA members pay early-seasonsubscriber fees, usually a couple toa few hundred dollars, to receiveshares of produce. The bulk pay-ment enables farmers to purchasenew seed, make equipment repairsand invest in their operation.

Many cooperatives are just gettingoff the ground as sole proprietorships,so entrepreneurs are juggling mar-keting and logistics with educatingcustomers who don’t always knowwhat to do with their gift bags.

Then there’s unusual weathersuch as this year’s drought or lastyear’s record precipitation, whichdespite months of forecasting canupend business with lower yields.

“Our shares were slim last year,and the price of our winter prod-ucts will probably go up this year,”Ms. Schenk said. “That’s part of theshared risk of the CSA.”

Mixed bagCity Fresh, a program of the New

Agrarian Center in Oberlin, inte-grates the CSA into that nonprofit’smission of building a more sustain-able local food system, even thoughthe CSA is not profitable, executive



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SMALL BUSINESS

Be prepared for inevitable IT disasters

Because being able to guar-antee uninterrupted serviceand performance despite all that nature and happen-

stance might bring, disaster recoveryplanning is a positive that enhancesthe prospects of any company andis one of the most important anduseful things you can do for yourcustomers.

So what are companies doing toprotect themselves? In most cases,not nearly enough.

About 20% of small firms rely onbackup software they’ve obtainedfree over the Internet. Many com-panies still back up data on fallibleflash drives or CDs.

Others use nationally advertisedonline backup services without realizing that the protected data doesnot include application programfiles and operating system files. (Yourraw data might be saved but thereare many hours of downtime aheadas you must reinstall the operatingsystem and all your programs.)

Computer system downtime created by unexpected events cancause your company to fail its customers, suffer huge losses andeven face bankruptcy.

But a surprising number of smallbusiness owners are in denial whenit comes to anticipating andpreparing for what industry expertsconsider not just a possibility, butsomething that eventually willstrike even the most scrupulouslymaintained IT system — all movingparts will eventually fail.

What can disrupt the performanceof an efficient and seemingly durablecomputer network?

A short list of threats that canstop your computer system in its

tracks includes an air conditioningmalfunction, which leads to over-heating; a leaky pipe; power surge;a disk drive crash; malware; andeven employee sabotage or theft.

Just one hour of downtime cancost your company dearly. Here’s aquick and easy way to calculate thedamage: Take your company’s annual revenues (A), and divide itby 250 business days (B) times eighthours a day (C) — or A/(B x C).

For example, if your companyearns $1 million a year, each hourof downtime is going to cost $500.(A deeper analysis considers thenumber of computer work stations,hourly wages and other criteria, butthis simple equation provides auseful snapshot of the cost.)

According to Infonetics Research,computer downtime costs the aver-age small to medium-size business3.6% of its annual revenue each year.

It’s been estimated that re-creatingdata from scratch can cost between$2,000 and $8,000 per megabyte. Inthe worst-case scenario, 93% ofcompanies that lose their data centerfor 10 days or more are forced to filefor bankruptcy within one year ofthe failure.

Let’s look at what steps can betaken to assure a quick recovery

without loss of data and a minimumof downtime.

The key to survival is twofold: Saveyour data and get your system backup and running as quickly as possible.

Here are some simple rules for aneffective recovery system:

■ It must have a real-time ornear real-time off-site capability:This ensures that as your data filesare created and applications areupdated, they immediately will bereplicated and saved in a remote location, protecting them from fire,floods and theft.

■ Everything must be backedup: Whatever recovery system youput in place must duplicate yourentire IT system — this means notjust all your data, but the operatingsystem and all your applicationprograms in a ready-to-run format.

■ The clock is ticking: Time ismost essential. As we’ve seen, everylost hour costs real money. Anybackup solution that doesn’t restorefull viability within 20 minutes isnot going to adequately protectyour bottom line.

Disaster recovery planning doesn’tjust preserve your company’s IT capability; it also protects your customers, ensuring that they willreceive essential products and services without interruption. (Thiscan be an important selling pointwhen competing for customers.)

And with today’s technology, it’smore affordable than ever, costingmost businesses less than $10 aday. In fact, computer consultantsadvise spending from 2% to 4% of acompany’s annual IT budget on abackup system that will protectthem in the wake of a potentiallydisruptive event.

Doing anything less could becourting disaster. ■

Mr. Husni is president of Acendex,an information technology servicesfirm in Beachwood. Acendex is aconsultancy that advises small andmid-sized organizations on how toachieve and maintain vital IT func-tionality. www.acendex.com.

JONATHANHUSNI

ADVISER

IN BRIEFLOCATION REJUVENATION:

The Cosmetic Rejuvenation Center has moved to 31100 Pine-tree Road, Suite 105, next to SantoSalon and Spa in Pepper Pike. For-merly known as the Aesthetic Lasersand Cosmetic Rejuvenation Center,the Cosmetic Rejuvenation Centeroffers a range of beauty and nonin-vasive cosmetic services and proce-dures, including laser hair removal,laser tattoo removal, microdermabra-sion, electrolysis, teeth whiteningand chemical peel treatments.

CSAs: Organizers look towinter programs for boostdirector Sandy Kish Jordan said.

“It provides a source of income,and it could be profitable if we grewour shareholders to 1,000 perweek,” from the approximately 700to 800 customers who are notlocked into a subscription, she said.

City Fresh’s CSA has potential:233 bags of food were distributed in2005 at one stop in Cleveland, andlast year about 13,000 bags werefunneled to customers throughout17 locations.

Increased competition amongCSAs also squeezes some farmers,said Stan Ernst, an agricultureeconomist for Ohio State UniversityExtension.

According to a 2009 University ofKentucky survey, which analyzedCSAs in a nine-state region that includes Ohio, there were 132 CSAsoperating in the Buckeye State, withthe average being less than 4 yearsold.

“That gives us an idea as to thegrowth of CSAs over the past five toseven years,” said Mr. Ernst, notingthe average membership in each CSAof about 75 has held steady since2009.

Still, about 60% of consumers areunfamiliar with the concept, Mr.Ernst said.

Educating customers is a key partof the experience, said Kaitlyn Sirna,CSA operator of Sirna’s Farm &Market in Auburn Township.

“I’m just not sure people join forthe right reason,” she said. “Somecustomers don’t understand thatthey can’t ask for strawberries in Maybecause they’re not ready until June.”

Sirna’s CSA has grown from eightpeople to 50 in its fifth year. It recently picked up as CSA membersemployees at Bedford Heights-based Waxman Industries and is intalks with other area companies,but its more predictable growth isthrough its wholesale business andfarmers markets.

That diversified approach supportswhat OSU’s Mr. Ernst suggests iskey to managing a farm with asteady stream of income: Farmersmust have other channels throughwhich to sell their products.

“A CSA as a stand-alone entity isnot profitable,” he said.

Beefing up Fresh Fork Market, which connects

farmers to consumers through itsCSA, has branched out its businesswith winery tours, food educationworkshops and other outreachevents, owner Trevor Clatterbucksaid. The grassroots marketing enhances customer experience,even if they’re not providing an

continued from PAGE 11 immediate return on investment.“I truly lose money on the work-

shops,” said Mr. Clatterbuck, whoorganizes for about $25 to $30 perperson classes such as how to use awhole chicken. “I lost $700 on awinery tour, and I lost about $50from the beet lab.”

Meanwhile, the expenses of fueling the intermediary betweenfarmer and foodie run the gamut.

“I have to buy animals for thefarmer, pay for the feed, pay thebutcher to harvest the animal, payfor the warehouse and distribution,and pay the farmer,” he said.

Still, Mr. Clatterbuck’s bread andbutter has swelled in recent years.

The proprietor started his CSA“on a whim” in 2009 with two customers, before reaching 40 thatyear and 400 in 2010.

Those first couple years were notprofitable, he said, but with 2,300customers this year — includingnew subscribers at companies suchas Eaton Corp., Rosetta and AmericanGreetings — revenue is up about150% to 250% over last year.

“Winter is a big target this year,”he said. “I’m hoping to triple thewinter program,” from 320 memberslast year to about 1,000 this season.

Red Basket Farm also is consider-ing bulking up its CSA — whichrepresents a steady 10% of overallbusiness —with a winter program,but Mr. Davis’ supply and wholesaleaccounts are the growth drivers.

“Some farms use the CSA as aprofit arm, but they may be in areaswhere they can charge more, andpeople are more familiar with aCSA,” he said. “Mine is more of amarketing tool.”

Growing painsChef Brian Doyle experimented

last year with a different model, inwhich he sells packaged meals using produce sourced from hisOhio City farm and other suppliers.

The fraternal twin of the tradi-tional CSA initially drew 10 customers,but Mr. Doyle said he’s planning toexpand Sow Food beyond the current 20. He addressed productionchallenges by partnering with theBeachland Ballroom to use itskitchen, and is adding dessert toeach share.

Mr. Doyle also plans to build ahoophouse — a tunnel made withplastic that functions much like agreenhouse — to extend the growingseason, but the investments, alongwith added overhead and additionallabor costs, likely will mean anotherbreak-even year, he said.

“We broke even last year, but Ican be profitable if I hit 30 sub-scribers,” Mr. Doyle said. “Prof-itability has to do with economiesof scale. The more subscribers youhave, the more effective you can beat production.”

But even expansion has its shareof growing pains.

“I’m spending more time onplanning,” Fresh Fork’s Mr. Clatter-buck said. “I get a thousand emailsa week, the phone’s ringing, we payhigher bank fees because of the sizeof our business, there’s truck repairs.I don’t know where to stop.” ■

(Editor’s note: Ms. Carr is a CSA sub-scriber of Fresh Fork Market.)


GRANDOPENING


When It Gets Down to Business…Solon Gets It! The City of Solon welcomes these new businesses:Advanced Bodywork & Massage Institute

Be Well Solutions

Beauty in the Beast Grooming, Inc.

Burntwood Tavern

Honey Hut

MRI Software LLC

Rob Previte Agency Inc.

Which Wich Superior Sandwiches

Wireless Environment, LLC

And thanks these real estate professionals for bringing new business to Solon: Jeffrey Calig - NAI Daus

David Hexter - NAI Daus

Christopher Hondlik - Ostendorf Morris

Kevin Kuczynski - Ostendorf Morris

Matthew Parnell - Capstone Limited

Steve Passov - Kowit Passov Real Estate Group

Solon’s Got It!Prime industrial, offi ce and retail sites at www.solonohio.org City of Solon • 34200 Bainbridge Road • Solon, Ohio 44139 • 440.337.1313 Peggy Weil Dorfman, Economic Development Manager • [email protected]

The Solon Select is a distinguished group of more than 800 businesses that have chosen to locate in the City of Solon.

SMALL BUSINESS

Services catering to grieving pet owners a growing bizIn life and after, expenditures on furry friends show no signs of abatingBy KIMBERLY [email protected]

Pets are big business — evenonce they move on to thebig doghouse or scratchingpost in the sky.

According to the 2011-2012American Pet Products AssociationNational Pet Owners Survey, 62%of U.S. households — or about 72.9million homes — own a pet.

And those owners have proventhey are willing to pay up when itcomes to their pets.

For many, pets are replacingchildren, according to the APPA, soowners are even more inclined tobuy things to satisfy or spoil theirpets. Veterinary care, specialtyfoods, supplements and alternativetreatments are not unusual chargeson a pet owner’s credit card.

Even in death, 20% to 40% of petowners are willing to spend to either memorialize or bury theirpet, according to the APPA. Today’s pet owners have all theamenities to choose from when apet dies, including caskets or urns,memorial services, final pawprints, fur clippings, cremationcertificates, personalized monu-ments or garden stones, and evenmemorial jewelry.

Northeast Ohio companies aretaking advantage of pet owners’ desires to give their beloved pets apeaceful transition to the afterlife.In fact, some organizations areadding services that cater to pets,while other more established prac-tices are reporting substantialgrowth in that category.

Joe Pavone more than 20 yearsago opened Paws Awhile PetMemorial Park and Funeral Homeon 23 acres in Richfield. Over theyears, he’s seen “prolific” growth.

“This is a place where pet loversand owners can be relaxed and makethat final disposition of their petsomething they’ll always rememberand cherish and personalize,” Mr.Pavone said. “I had a guy who spokebroken English, a constructionworker, bring in his shih tzu. Hesaid, ‘If someone told me 40 yearsago I’d be burying my dog in a petcemetery, I would’ve punched themout. That dog stole my heart.’”

‘Together in life, together inthe afterlife’

Paws Awhile, which has buried

about 800 pets over its 21 years,has handled every type of pet fromcats and dogs, to parrots and parakeets, and even a pet pig.

And for those owners whowould like to someday be reunit-ed, Paws Awhile offers family plotsthat allow a person’s cremated remains to be buried alongsidetheir pet.

“Together in life, together in theafterlife,” Mr. Pavone said, addingthat the cremated remains of fourpeople are buried at Paws Awhilewith their pets. “There are a fewpeople who really cherish theirpets and want this.”

Mr. Pavone added he’s buried 30to 40 K-9 police dogs at PawsAwhile over the years and said theceremonies rival those of decoratedpolice officers, complete with bagpipers and police officers fromsurrounding areas attending.

Standing Rock Cemetery in Kentrecently opened a section of itscemetery to allow people to beburied with their pet’s cremains.

Cemetery clerk-treasurer JeanChrest said a section within thecemetery, which will hold up to700 graves, will allow the crematedremains of pets to be buried aloneor with their human owners. Shesaid she received a number of requests for pet burials over theyears and decided it was time tomake the option available to petowners.

“This is becoming a really bigbusiness,” she said. “People spenttheir lives with their pets, and theywant to be with them. They grievefor their pets in the same way theygrieve for their human counterparts.”

For pet owners looking for simple cremation services, thereare several businesses in NortheastOhio ready to cater to their needs.

All County Pet Memorial Ser-vices opened after the employeesof National Mortuary Shipping andGreat Lakes Crematory, all petowners, saw a need.

“We’ve all experienced that lossand not knowing what to do orwhere to go,” said Kahlen Knapik,business development manager.“It’s important to give the publicthe options of having a place theycan go.”

Mr. Knapik said business hasgrown exponentially in the last 11years, from a dozen pets a monthto an average of 30 to 60 pet ser-

vices a month.“All owners are individuals, and

people view their pet as a memberof the family,” he said. “They arelooking for a place that understandsthem as pet lovers and treats themwell.”

Saying goodbyeAlthough 99% of the work All

County does is cremations, once ina while they do have a request toprepare a pet for burial.

In those cases, the pet is broughtto the facility, where it is combed

out, placed in a pet casket with liners and a silk pillow, and thefamily has a viewing and privateprocession back to their propertyor pet cemetery for burial.

Similarly, North Coast Pet Cre-matory in Vermilion is an offshootof the Riddle Funeral Home. Owner Mark Riddle decided to getin on the pet business after losingtwo Labradors.

“I didn’t want to just bury themin the backyard,” he said, addingthat many families are transientand want to take their pets withthem when they move. “The crematory idea came to me, we putit in and it’s been successful eversince.”

North Coast Pet Crematory isseparate from the funeral home andcaters to families seeking privatecremation.

The facility can handle any animal up to 300 pounds, and ithas cremated pets ranging fromsmall hamsters to a large potbel-lied pig.

“People now care about theirpets more than they ever have,”Mr. Riddle said. “People consider

their pets more a part of the fami-ly more than they have in thepast. There are families who don’thave children, but they have pets,and those pets are their children.”

Rick Capretta, director of petservices at DeJohn Pet Services,said his family started the pet business out of its Willoughby Hillsfuneral home after his father-in-law, Ross DeJohn Jr., owner andfounder of DeJohn FuneralHomes, lost a cat.

Late last year, they built an add-on to the existing funeral homewith a separate entrance for petservices.

Today, the business is thrivingand it offers everything from a petbereavement specialist to petblessings in October and a Christmastree in December decorated withornaments showing the names ofclients’ lost pets.

“You see so much outward emotional expression with peopleand their pets,” Mr. Capretta said.“People are completely heartbroken.This is the worst thing that’s happened to them. It’s good tohave an outlet.” ■

ZIMON LLC6120 Parkland Blvd., Suite 206Mayfield Heights 44124Jeffrey D. Zimon has formed ZimonLLC, a boutique employee benefitsand compensation law firm. Mr. Zimon, formerly the chair of the employee benefits and compensationand ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) litigation groupof a large Cleveland law firm, hasmore than two decades of experiencein ERISA and employee benefits. Zimon LLC will handle a broad rangeof employee benefit and compensa-tion matters, including 401(k) planfiduciary liability and responsibility,

defined benefit pension plans, collectively bargained plans, funding,claims, plan mergers, executive compensation and all aspects of benefit dispute resolution and litiga-tion.216-678-9300 (main)[email protected]

To submit a new business, send thefollowing by email to Amy AnnStoessel at [email protected]:business name; address; city andZIP; website; brief description ofbusiness; business phone number;business fax number; businessemail address; and date that busi-ness opened.

“People spent their liveswith their pets, and theywant to be with them. Theygrieve for their pets in thesame way they grieve fortheir human counterparts.”

– Jean Chrestclerk-treasurer,

Standing Rock Cemetery



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SMALL BUSINESS

IRS paying more attention to use of temporary staffingCARLGRASSI

TAX TIPS

In today’s environment, manybusinesses are reluctant tohire full-time employees andinstead look to temporary

workers to provide needed services.The Ohio Department of Taxation

increasingly has scrutinized thesetypes of transactions for purposesof determining whether sales taxshould have been assessed andcollected on the fee paid for thetemporary workers.

When Ohio sales tax is unex-pectedly imposed, the amount canbe significant since it is based on thefull “price” the agency charges thebusiness, without any deduction forthe compensation paid to the worker.

Ohio sales tax is imposed on thesale of an “employment service.”In general, the Ohio Department ofTaxation deems that an “employ-ment service” has been provided iftwo conditions are met.

First, a business provides per-sonnel to perform work under thesupervision or control of anotherbusiness.

Second, the personnel’s wages,salary or other compensation ispaid directly by the provider of

the employment service, not thebusiness requesting the personnel.Sales tax is not due, however, ifone of five statutory exceptions tothe definition of a taxable employ-ment service applies.

These exceptions include thosefor workers qualifying as subcon-tractors and those on a long-termor permanent assignment.

An example of a transaction thatis treated as a taxable “employmentservice” is one in which a businessneeds extra secretarial support andengages a temporary staffing agency.Typically, the secretarial workerprovided is directed and controlledby the business, but is paid by thestaffing agency. In this scenario,the firm’s payment to the staffingagency is subject to Ohio sales tax.

Information technology serviceis an area that often presents salestax issues. It is not uncommon forcontracts in the IT arena to bevague, which can be an issue fortaxpayers claiming that the serviceis a nontaxable professional serviceor falls within one of the exceptions.

An example of a transaction inthe IT area that is treated as a tax-

able “employment service” is onein which a service purchaser merelydesires the provision of computer-proficient personnel to help supportthe purchaser’s existing in-house IT function. In this scenario, thetransaction is most likely a taxableemployment service because thepurchaser is merely supplementingits internal IT function with tempo-rary workers who will be supervisedby the purchaser.

In other scenarios, the transactionmay not be treated as an “employ-ment service.” Assume that XYZInc. needs an information technologyfunction performed at its headquartersbecause it does not have the tech-nology expertise.

Therefore, XYZ hires InformationTechnology of Cleveland Inc. tocomplete a specific project at XYZ’soffices. Under the contract, Infor-mation Technology of Clevelandwill use its professional expertiseto create and install a customizedcomputer program at XYZ’s officethat permits XYZ’s sales personnelto input sales data in a more efficientmanner. Assume the computerprogram is tailored to the specificneeds of XYZ and the program isnot considered the sale of “cannedsoftware.”

The delivery of this professionalservice from Information Technologyof Cleveland to XYZ may not betaxable if the project is completedentirely by Information Technolo-gy of Cleveland without oversight byXYZ (i.e., no supervision or controlof the means of completing a task)or it falls within the subcontractorexception.

Ohio Department of Taxationauditors often look to the invoicesthat are sent to the purchaser ofthe service. While a description onthe invoice is not dispositive oftaxability, it is often the reason that

an auditor will dig deeper to obtainmore facts.

Upon review, the auditors maywant to review the contract and maywish to interview the personnelabout the actual relationship,notwithstanding the contract language.

Ultimately, a review of both thecontract and the facts and circum-stances is essential for a thoroughanalysis of potential sales tax expo-sure. Each transaction should firstbe analyzed to determine whetherthe contractual arrangement fallswithin the core definition of an“employment service.”

Again, this analysis will usuallyfocus on whether the personnelare controlled or supervised bysomeone other than the providerof the personnel.

If the purchaser merely hires acompany to perform a professionalservice, rather than to provide per-sonnel to work under its control, thetransaction should not be consid-ered a taxable employment service. ■

Mr. Grassi is president of McDonaldHopkins LLC.

Family: Honest talking vital

happy.”For that to happen, everyone needs

to have clear roles, responsibilities,goals and accountabilities. Prob-lems arise when there are differentstandards established for outsidersversus family members, he said.

“We can’t have the son ordaughter of the father, for example,going over the COO’s head to seedad because he doesn’t like whatthe COO had to say or has him orher doing,” he said.

The only way to curb and defusethese human tendencies is throughserial frank, open and possibly uncomfortable communication,said Chris Cooper, program coor-dinator of the Business SuccessionPlanning Program of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center atKent State University. The program’sgoal is to help businesses transi-tion from one generation of ownership to the next by providingeducation, training, technical assistance and consulting services.

“The key prior to bringing the out-side person in is communicating tothe family members in an honestand open way. Sometimes bringingin outside experts to offer nonbiasedopinions can help family membersadjust to this idea of bringing some-one new into the business,” he said.

From there, family members inleadership roles should do theirbest to be inclusive and engage thenonfamily member in the decision-making process, Mr. Cooper said.

Many times an outsider cominginto a family-owned business is going to wonder about advancementopportunities and whether they fitinto the long-term plans of thebusiness, Mr. Cooper said.

“A lot of times the ownership ofthe business will stay in the familybut the management of the businesswill transition outside of the family,”he said.

Enter Wallover Oil Co. in Strongs-

ville, one of the oldest manufacturersof lubricants in the country.

Since its founding in 1863 therehad always been a member of theWallover family at the helm. But inJanuary 2011, Eric Kielts, a long-time member of management, wastapped to succeed George “Hub”Marquis as president.

“We always look for the rightpeople for the right job. If it meanta nonfamily member, fine. If itmeant a family member, fine,” Mr.Marquis said. “Eric joined us a littleover 20 years ago as head of ourlaboratory. He has done a great joband he was the best candidate totake over. I have a son in the businessand a nephew in the business andnone of us felt they were ready totake over the running of the com-pany. Eric was the most qualifiedperson, and the family is firmly behind him.”

Mr. Kielts said communicationand time have been the keys to hissmooth transition into a positionhe never expected to hold in thisfamily company.

“Certainly there is some trepida-tion not knowing what the familyis going to expect, and I think Hubdid a fantastic job of keeping me inthe loop as to what the family wastalking about and thinking aboutand that made me feel a lot morecomfortable with the transition,”Mr. Kielts said.

“It has been made perfectly clear(with the staff and family members)that Eric is in charge and he makesthe decisions,” Mr. Marquis said.

For Mr. Kielts, he said in manyrespects it’s easier to be an out-sider running a family business.

“At the end of the day, I don’thave to be sitting across theThanksgiving table and having adifficult conversation,” Mr. Kieltssaid. “I can be the sort of bad guyand not bring it into the family.It’s a bit of advantage for themand for me.” ■

continued from PAGE 11



LARGEST ADVERTISING AGENCIESRANKED BY NUMBER OF FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES(1)

Rank

Name of firmAddressPhone/Website

Full-timelocal

employeesYear

founded Representative clients Specialties

Top local executiveTitleCreative director

1Doner1100 Superior Ave. East, 10th floor, Cleveland 44114(216) 687-8521/www.doner.com

110 1937ADT, DuPont, Arby's, Sherwin-Williams, The UPS Store, OwensCorning, Things Remembered, Geisinger, Tuffy, OhioHealth,Purell, Owens Illinois

Strategic planning, branding retail activation,integrated creative, social media

Jennifer Deutschexecutive vice president,general managerMark Masterson

2Stern Advertising Inc.29125 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 300, Pepper Pike 44122(216) 464-4850/www.sternadvertising.com

92 1954Kay Jewelers, McDonald's Restaurants, Jared the Galleria ofJewelry, Third Federal, Southwest General, Collection AutoGroup, Edible Arrangements, Live Nation, Feld Entertainment

Advertising, media planning, buying, strategicplanning, public relations, digital

William J. Sternpresident, CEOSteve Romanenghi

3Hitchcock Fleming & Associates Inc.500 Wolf Ledges Parkway, Akron 44311(330) 376-2111/www.teamhfa.com

85 1940Goodyear, Dunlop and Kelly Tires brands, KraftMaid Cabinetry,Tremco, LP Building Products, Akron General Health System,Liquid Nails, Simonton Windows, City of Akron, Lubrizol

Integrated marketing: strategic planning,research, branding, media, digital, PR

Jack DeLeochairman, CEONick Betro

4Brokaw Inc.425 W. Lakeside Ave., Cleveland 44113(216) 241-8003/www.brokaw.com

51 1992Coca-Cola Co., Hotels.com, Fazoli's, Wonka, Quiznos,Souplantation, University Hospitals, FirstMerit Bank, Great LakesBrewing, Dealer Tire, RTA, CLE, University Circle Inc.

Brand strategy; digital and social mediastrategy/execution; in-house production/video/animation; PR/events; local marketing

Tim BrokawGregg Brokawco-CEOsSteve McKeown

5Innis Maggiore4715 Whipple Ave. NW, Canton 44718(800) 460-4111/www.innismaggiore.com

34 1974Alside, Aultman, Bank of America, Gerber Foods, GOJO,Goodyear, Guidestone Financial, Nickles Bakery, Republic Steel,RTI, Shearer's Foods

Strategic brand positioning and executionDick Maggiorepresident, CEOJeff Monter

6Arras Keathley1151 N. Marginal Road, Cleveland 44113(216) 621-1601/www.arraskeathley.com

22 1991 NA Brand planning, fully integrated MarCommprograms

Jim HickeypresidentTom Keathely

7AMG Marketing Resources Inc.2530 Superior Ave. East, Suite 601, Cleveland 44114(216) 621-1835/www.amgmarketingresources.com

20 1973 Bendix, Honeywell, Nestle, Paytime, Sherwin-Williams, WestDevelopment Group, Lubrizol, federal government

Strategic marketing planning, branding,creative development, media planning andplacement, public relations, social media

Anthony M. FaticapresidentAnthony M. Fatica

7Melamed Riley1375 Euclid Ave., Suite 410, Cleveland 44115(216) 241-2141/www.mradvertising.com

20 2004The MetroHealth System, Vitamix Corp., FMC Corp., ArizonaTile, CMI, Ohio University, Marketplace Events, RGH, Shoes &Clothes for Kids

Branding, research, strategic planning,creative, production, media planning andbuying, interactive solutions

Sarah MelamedpresidentRick Riley

7ST&P Marketing Communications Inc.320 Springside Drive, Suite 150, Fairlawn 44333(330) 668-1932/www.stpinc.com

20 1992 NA Sales promotions, consumer, sales incentives,merchandising, fulfillment, advertising, media

Richard KenneyCOORuss Kern

10WRL Advertising4470 Dressler Road N.W, Canton 44718(330) 493-8866/www.wrladv.com

19 1954Best of Ohio's Amish Country, Mercy Medical Center, Quickdraft,Roca Tile, Stark County District Library, Stark State College ofTechnology, The Canton Ballet, Windsor Laurelwood

Website design and programming, multimedia,broadcast, print, branding, traditional/Internetmarketing, PR

C. Todd LockepresidentBob Isenberg

11flourish Inc.1001 Huron Road E., Suite 102, Cleveland 44115(216) 696-9116/www.flourishagency.com

17 1998 NA Marketing, creative, photographyHenry B. FreypresidentSteve Shuman

12The Marshfield Group11241 Exmoor Drive, Concord Township 44077(440) 974-8448/www.marshfield.com

16 1979Holz Rubber, Holmbury Inc., John Palmers Bistro 44, Dyson,MEACO, Tecmark, Concord-Painesville JEDD, ConcordTownship, Lake County General Health District, Astro Mfg.

B-to-B marketing: advertising, branddevelopment, crisis communications, directmail, website development SEO, SEM

Thomas A. Mitchellpresident, CEOMary Riddell

12Razor Ltd. LLC180 Linwood Lane, Aurora 44202(330) 562-9635/www.razor-marketing.com

16 2003Montrose Auto Group, Toshiba Business Solutions, GBS Corp.,Alliance Staffing Solutions, Ohio Technical College, AdessoFashions for Men, Interstate Lift Trucks, Redidoc.com

Business development, corporate strategy andcommunications, brand building and extension

C. Peter Cimoronichairman, CEOValerie A. Cimoroni

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. Business lists and The Book ofLists are available to purchase at www.crainscleveland.com. (1) Numbers as of June 30, 2012.

RESEARCHED BY Deborah W. Hillyer

LARGEST PUBLIC RELATIONS FIRMSRANKED BY NUMBER OF FULL-TIME LOCAL EMPLOYEES(1)

Rank


Full-timelocal

employeesYear

founded Representative clients Specialties Top local executive

1Falls CommunicationsTerminal Tower, 50 Public Square, Fl 25, Cleveland 44113(216) 696-0229/www.fallscommunications.com

48 1994BioEnterprise, Calfee, Cleveland +, Downtown ClevelandAlliance, Gunlocke, Hylant, Huntington, Lincoln Electric, Moen,Sherwin-Williams, ShurTech, Things Remembered, Vitamix

Media relations, marketing communications,digital, business and reputation management,crisis communications, creative services

Rob Fallspresident, CEO

2Dix & Eaton200 Public Square, Suite 1400, Cleveland 44114(216) 241-0405/www.dix-eaton.com

46 1952A.Schulman, AkzoNobel, Coca-Cola, Diebold, Eaton, Forest City,KeyBank, Lubrizol, NetJets, Parker Hannifin, PG&E,UnitedHealthcare

Investor relations, crisis communications,customer communications, media relations,digital communications, reputation valuation

Scott Chaikinchairman, CEO

3Akhia Public Relations & Marketing Communications85 Executive Parkway, Suite 300, Hudson 44236(330) 463-5650/www.akhia.com

45 1996AmTrust Financial Services, GE Lighting, Diebold, WausauPaper, Smithers-Oasis, Dots, Matco Tools, ParkerInstrumentation, Quanex, Lubrizol

Strategic marketing, product launches, branddevelopment, trade shows, media relations,social media, customer programs

Janice S. Gusichpresident

4Landau Public Relations(2)700 W. St. Clair Ave., 4th floor, Cleveland 44113(216) 574-8720/www.theadcomgroup.com

22 1983MeadWestvaco, Daimler Trucks North America LLC, Giant Eagle,Kichler Lighting, The Libman Company, RIDGID, Fund For OurEconomic Future

Corporate communications, media andcommunity relations, social influence, productmarketing support, crisis management

Howard Landaupresident

5Stevens Strategic Communications Inc.1991 Crocker Road, Suite 500, Westlake 44145(440) 617-0100/www.stevensstrategic.com

19 1976Eriez, GMi Cos., Cleveland Vibrator Co., Ross Environmental,Cleveland Furniture Bank, IngenuityFest, Lancaster Colony,MMO, Materion, King Nut, Ohio Semitronics

Integrated marketing communications,corporate and crisis communications, mediatraining, social media, research

Edward M. Stevenspresident

6Fahlgren Mortine1100 Superior Ave, Suite 1600, Cleveland 44114(216) 298-4646/www.fahlgrenmortine.com

14 1962Albert M. Higley Co., Associated Estates, Cliffs NaturalResources, Kent State Univ., Kidde, Materion, McDonald's,Nottingham Spirk, Scentsy, Sherwin-Williams, TransDigm

Advertising, branding, design, digital, investorrelations, marketing communications, mediaplanning/buying, media relations, social media

Christy Bykowskivice president,managing director

7PR 20/20812 Huron Road, Suite 780, Cleveland 44115(800) 920-1623/www.pr2020.com

10 2005 NAInbound marketing agency and PR firmspecializing in content marketing, PR, socialmedia and search

Paul RoetzerCEO

8Roop & Co.3800 Terminal Tower, 50 Public Square, Cleveland 44113(216) 902-3800/www.roopco.com

8 1996KeyBank, Fisher & Phillips, Ohio Aerospace Institute, SportsConstruction Group, Alego Health, Grace Hospital, RPMInternational Inc.

Marketing communication, public relations,financial communication, graphic design

James J. Rooppresident

8Sweeney20325 Center Ridge Road, Cleveland 44116(440) 333-0001/www.sweeneypr.com

8 1986Acuity Brands, Chef's Planet, High Performance Fitness, HealthyHouse Institute, Insurance Board, Jo-Ann Fabrics, KSU, LithoniaLighting, Plaza Group, Westfield Shoppingtowns, Yube

Strategic marketing and public relations firm;consumer, retail, health care, education,insurance and environmental practices

James B. SweeneyCEO

10Highland Public Relations935 W. Market St., Akron 44313(330) 996-4140 /www.highlandpr.com

6 1993Kent State, Cleveland Marathon, Akron Zoo, Akron City Council,Lorain Public Library System, Buckingham, Doolittle &Burroughs, Veterans Services Summit County

Integration of public relations, marketing andadvertising strategies to achieveorganizational objectives

Robert Zajacpresident

11LiefKarson Public Relations Ltd.23533 Mercantile Road, Suite 118, Beachwood 44122(216) 831-3767/www.liefkarson.com

5 1993 NAProfessional public relations and marketingcommunications counsel for restaurant,hospitality, interior design, furniture and retail

Crickett Karsonowner

12Hennes Paynter Communications50 Public Square, Suite 3200, Cleveland 44113(216) 321-7774/www.crisiscommunications.com

4 1989Carpenter Technology, CONSOL Energy, Great LakesConstruction, KSU, Lake Health, Lubrizol, MetroHealth, NASA,Riverside, RTA, Saint Ignatius, Tri-C, Westfield Insurance

Crisis communications, media training andlitigation communications

Bruce Hennes,managing partner;Barbara Paynter,partner

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. Business lists and The Book ofLists are available to purchase at www.crainscleveland.com. (1) Numbers as of June 30, 2012. (2) Effective April 1, 2012, Landau Public Relations merged with The AdcomGroup.


See LIST Page 16



LARGEST MARKETING FIRMSRANKED BY NUMBER OF FULL-TIME EMPLOYEES(1)

Rank


Full-timelocal

employeesYear

founded Representative clients Specialties

Top localexecutiveTitle

1Rosetta Marketing Group LLC629 Euclid Ave., 15th Floor, Cleveland 44114(216) 896-8900/www.rosetta.com

403 1998Otsuka America Par Inc. OAPI, Research in Motion,Apple, United States Mint, HTC, Citizens Bank,Nationwide, Safeguard Properties, Purdue Pharma

Consumer products, retail and technology, healthcare, financial services, B2B and emerging markets,travel and hospitality, mobile

Mark Taylormanaging partner

2Adcom Communications Inc.1370 W. Sixth St., 3rd floor, Cleveland 44113(216) 574-9100/www.adcom1.com

145 1989 NAResearch, advertising, social influence, contentstrategies, web and app development, emailmarketing, PPC, videos

Joe KubicCEO

3Marcus Thomas LLC4781 Richmond Road, Cleveland 44128(216) 292-4700/www.marcusthomasllc.com

140 1937Akron Children’s Hospital, Bendix, Diebold, FirstEnergy,GE, Goo Gone, MTD, Nestle, Swagelok, Ohio Lottery,Ohio Tourism, Westfield Insurance

Idea generation, brand planning, digital strategy andexecution, experiential and social media marketingand analytics

James B. Nashmanaging partner

4Fathom8200 Sweet Valley Drive, Suite 100, Valley View 44125(216) 369-2220/www.fathomdelivers.com

138 1997Key Bank, American Greetings, Eaton, LifeLineScreening, Mead, Cleveland Clinic, Bissell,UsedCars.com

Full-service online marketing: B2B & B2C, healthcare, IT/software, education, manufacturing,government

Scot Lowrypresident, CEO

5Level7(2)4807 Rockside Road, Independence 44131(216) 524-9055/www.lvlsvn.com

76 1979Safeguard Properties, Steve Madden, Leadbetter GolfAcademy, Medical Mutual of Ohio, Diebold, Icon SportsManagement, Groupize, Compliance Connection

Consulting-centric marketing and technology agency Stuart Taylorpresident, CEO

6HMT Associates Inc.151 Orchardview Road, Seven Hills 44131(216) 369-0109/www.hmtassociates.com

33 2002 Kraft Foods, Mondelez, Gallo Wines, Promoworks, EasterSeals

Shopper marketing, consumer promotions, eventmarketing

Patti Contipresident, CEO

6thunder::tech3635 Perkins Ave., Studio 5, Cleveland 44114(216) 391-2255/www.thundertech.com

33 1999Munchkin Inc., Cliffs Natural Resources, PrestolitePerformance, Grecian Delight, Lube Stop, DDR Corp.,COSE, AC Milan, Baldwin Wallace University

Integrated marketing agency servicing local andnational brands with advertising, communications,digital and design services

Jason Therrienpresident

6WhiteSpace Creative24 N. High St., Suite 200, Akron 44308(330) 762-9320/www.whitespace-creative.com

33 1994American Greetings, Lifebanc, Team NEO, KichlerLighting, City of Charlotte, Davey Tree, The Will-Burt Co.,Parker Hannifin, OEConnection

Market research, strategic planning, social media,public relations, website/interactive, advertising/promotions, direct marketing, packaging

Keeven Whitepresident, CEO

9Home Team Marketing812 Huron Road, Suite 205, Cleveland 44115(216) 566-8326/www.hometeammarketing.com

27 2001Shurtech, AT&T Wireless, Wal-Mart, Marathon Oil,Farmers Insurance, American Family Insurance, U.S.Army, National Guard, University of Cincinnati

Delivering integrated marketing campaigns into highschools and state high school association eventsacross U.S.

Peter Fitzpatrickpresident, co-founder

9OuterBox Solutions Inc.453 S. High St., Akron 44311(866) 647-9218/www.outerboxdesign.com

27 2004Ace Hardware, ABB, Groupe SEB, Waxman, Van DornDemag, Sportcraft, Home Products International, ActionDoor

Full-service web development and ecommerce webdesign firm specializing in SEO, branding, customdevelopment and online marketing

Justin SmithCEO

11Caler & Co.66 E. Cuyahoga Falls Ave., Akron 44310(330) 535-8053/www.caler.com

19 1984ACRT Inc., Akron Area YMCA, AMHA, Bonnot Co.,Buckeye Corrugated Inc., Edison Innovation Foundation,Network Polymers, Steris, Winer + Bevilacqua

Brand development, selling strategies, marketingplanning and positioning, web development, socialmedia strategies, advertising, product packaging

Steven L. CalerCEO

12BFL Marketing Communications/GRA Group1399 Lear Industrial Parkway, Avon 44011(216) 875-8860/www.bflcom.com

18 1955 NANew product and brand launch specialists for home,outdoor and business products and services.Strategic brand marketing, web design

Dennis J. Pavanpresident, CEO,BFL Marketing

12Insivia2020 Center St., Cleveland 44113(216) 373-1080/www.insivia.com

18 2003 Cleveland Aquarium, Positively Cleveland, Microsoft,Cleveland Clinic, Cresco, Calfee, Lilly Tremont

Integrated strategic marketing. Web, search, video,social, print, software, environmental, mobile,animation and apps

Andrew HalkoCEO

12Knox Marketing Inc.1730 Akron Peninsula Road, Suite 201, Akron 44313(330) 929-7700/www.knoxmarketing.com

18 1998Summa Health System, Humility of Mary Health Partners,Citizens Bank, Parker Hannifin, Moen, Premier PhysicianServices

Marketing and brand advertising, corporate identity,media planning/buying, interactive/web, TV andradio, in-house editing, health care

Rollin K. Godding IIIpresident

15Linkmedia 3604700 Rockside Road, Suite 310, Independence 44131(216) 447-9400/www.linkmedia360.com

17 2004 NALead generation, website development, pay-per-calladvertising, pay-per-text, search engine marketing,social media management, reputation monitoring

Dave Wolf,managing partner;Betty L. Brown,president

15Point to Point Inc.23240 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 200, Cleveland 44122(216) 831-4421/www.pointtopoint.com

17 1982 Sherwin-Williams, Fauquier Health, United Way,FlavorSeal, Schindler Elevator, Avery Dennison B to B digital marketing agency Mark Goren

president

17Grabowski & Co.10689 Cleveland Ave., Uniontown 44685(330) 498-0753/www.grabowskiandco.com

16 1997The Timken Co., Diebold, Progressive Insurance,Veyance Technologies, Akron Children's Hospital, MaloneUniversity, DeHoff Realtors & Development

Honing messages, writing compelling content,building strategic communications plans, designingaward-winning campaigns

Sue Grabowskipresident

18DigitalDay122 Broad Blvd., Cuyahoga Falls 44221(330) 940-2565/www.digital-day.com

15 2001Hefty Bags, Reynolds Wrap, Duck Tape, RalCorp,Backyard Discovery, Schwebel's Baking Co., Hygenic,Cleveland Vibrator

Full-service online marketing agency: website andpromotions strategy and design, email throughSilverpop, Sitecore CMS Certified

Mark Vitullomarketing director,partner

19Studiothink1301 E. Ninth St., Suite 608, Cleveland 44114(216) 574-9533/www.studiothink.net

14 2004 NAFull-service, internal and external brand managementand strategic communication planning, design andexecution

Christine A. Lobasfounder, CEO

20Prodigal Media Co.42 McClurg Road, Boardman 44512(330) 707-2088/www.prodigalmedia.com

13 1994V & M Star, Farmers National Bank, GBS, Cohen & Co.,Sheely's Furniture and Appliance, Benesch, YoungstownBusiness Incubator, Patriot Water

Branding, market research, interactive development,creative services

Jeff Hedrichpresident, CEO

21Goldstein Group Communications Inc.30500 Solon Industrial Parkway, Solon 44139(440) 914-4700/www.ggcomm.com

11 1992Keithley Instruments, Littelfuse, Harting, HeartSine,Weatherchem, Bud Industries, Radisphere, Abanaki, LJStar, Accu-Sort, Avtron, AT&F, University of Phoenix

Technology, branding, lead generation, Internetmarketing, social media, public relations

Joel Goldsteinpresident

22BTZ Brand2019 Center St., Suite 100, Cleveland 44113(216) 861-1500/www.btzbrand.com

10 1993 NABrand development, integrated marketing, designand PR, health care, nonprofit, education, B2B andB2C

Darcy L Zehemanaging partner

22McKinney-Cerne Inc.7466 Auburn Road, Concord Township 44077(440) 352-2081 /www.mckinneyad.com

10 1936Thermodisc Inc., Greenkote PLC, Case Alumni Assoc.,The North American Menopause Society, Lake CountyBoard of DD, Lake County YMCA, CareerCurve.com

Integrated marketing communications, strategicplanning and brand management programs. Includesadvertising and public relations programs.

Judy Cernepresident, CEO,owner

24BMA Media Group4091 Erie St., Willoughby 44094(440) 975-4262/www.bmamedia.com

9 1991 NAMarketing, special events, TV and video production,web, interactive and social media, promotionalmerchandise

Jerrod T. Borkeypresident

24Sonnhalter633 W. Bagley Road, Suite 4, Berea 44017(440) 234-1812/www.sonnhalter.com

9 1976 Viega, Nissan Forklift, Osborn, Wright Tool, Molex,Brennan Industries, Buyers Products, Knipex

A communications firm marketing to theprofessional tradesman in the construction,industrial and MRO markets

Matt Sonnhaltervision architect

26Benghiat Marketing & Communications23240 Chagrin Blvd., Suite 445, Beachwood 44122(216) 831-8580/www.benghiat.com

8 1983AJ Antunes, Athens Foods, Bliss Foods, Eagle Group,Gendron, Hamilton Beach, Hampton Farms, MeherrinAgricultural & Chemical Co., North American/NVISION

Advertising, public relations, digital communications,creative services, SmartMarketing Strategy &Research

Russell Benghiatpresident

26Pumphrey Marketing Inc.4853 Galaxy Parkway, Suite A, Cleveland 44128(216) 464-9687/www.pumphreymktg.com

8 1975ATI Stellram, Cleveland Black Oxide, DealerPro, Drake,Gleason, Hautau, IMTS, Oerlikon Drive Systems, Pines,Romi, Stauff, Tru-Cut Saw

Industrial, full-service, project basis. Develop,implement integrated strategic marketing programs.Unique electronic solutions. SalesCat.

David C.Pumphrey,president, creativedirector

26R solutions LLC33730 Bainbridge Road, 2nd Floor, Solon 44139(440) 735-9280/www.rsolutions.us

8 2002Moen, Steris, Baskin-Robbins, Sherwin-Williams,LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, DuPont, Tempur-Pedic,Standard Parking, Oatey

Merchandising, packaging, sales promotions,incentive and loyalty programs, local storemarketing

Rob Adelsteinfounder, principal

26Sampson/Carnegie Co.1419 E. 40th St., Cleveland 44103(216) 881-2556/www.smarterthinking.com

8 1992Busch Funeral & Crematory Services, Presque IsleDowns and Casino, Don's Pomeroy House, Don'sLighthouse Restaurants, Austin’s, Chili's Bar and Grille

Serious brand strategiesPeter R. Sampsoncreative director,president

26Skoda Minotti Marketing LLC6685 Beta Drive, Cleveland 44143(440) 449-6800/www.skodaminottimarketing.com

8 2011Benefits Resource Group, Cincinnati Bell TechnologySolutions, CLS Facility Services, Explorys, Millwood,Rockwell Automation, University of Akron, Verizon

Connecting brands to customers: branding, creativedesign, market research, SEO, strategic planning,visual marketing, websites

Jonathan Ebensteinmanaging director

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. Business lists and The Book ofLists are available to purchase at www.crainscleveland.com. (1) Numbers as of June 30, 2012. (2) In December 2011, 9Threads (Ohio) and Stone Crossing Solutions merged toform one agency. The 33-year-old firm rebranded as Level7 in July 2012.



key role in who gets hired onto construction sites.

The Commission on EconomicInclusion, an arm of GCP, in March2011 commissioned a study seekinga plan for improving opportunitiesfor minorities and women in theconstruction industry. The studywas completed in March of this yearbut has not been released publicly.It includes 10 recommendations foraction, including the creation of acommunity benefits agreement.

Among the recommendations isthe adoption by GCP of a policystatement encouraging developersto hire more minorities and womenand to use contractors owned bythose groups.

“The policy should recognize thatminorities are currently under-represented in the local construc-tion sector,” states a draft of theGCP report obtained by Crain’sCleveland Business.

In addition, the report recom-mends that, “Efforts should be initi-ated to encourage and support sustainable joint ventures, strategicpartnerships and other alliances to expand capacity and offer real opportunities for (minority businessenterprises) to gain business expe-rience, technological expertise andon the job training and development.”

Joe Roman, CEO of GCP, said the organization has not formallyadopted the recommendations butwill work cooperatively with the cityand the construction industry tocreate a CBA and a process for enforcing it.

“The first step we have to take is exactly what the mayor launchedin terms of trying to create this part-nership and consensus aroundwhat a Cleveland CBA might looklike,” Mr. Roman said after the Aug.3 symposium.

Mr. Soggs expressed his support tothe mayor and the industry leadersat a session of the symposium.

“I say to you, mayor, the buildingtrades stand ready to work with youand Natoya (Walker Minor) … andwe will go ahead with the findingswe heard today and we will goahead and develop the culture youtalk about,” Mr. Soggs said duringthe symposium.

Proving skeptics wrongIncreasing the presence of minori-

ties and women in construction has

been an ongoing struggle for yearsdespite largely voluntary affirmativeaction efforts. So, too, have been efforts to ensure that when out-of-town construction firms win localcontracts, they use a significant per-centage of local tradespeople andnot hire from the contractor’s hometown.

This is the first time, though, thatlocal government and the privatesector have pledged publicly tomake economic inclusion in thebuilding industry a high priority.

CBAs have been evolving sincethe late-1990s. A CBA is an agreementbetween a developer and a commu-nity coalition that outlines the community’s goals for the projectand usually offers incentives to developers for meeting those goals.The CBA may be used to set a mini-mum wage for the project and hiringgoals for minorities, women and local workers. It also may be used toset green construction standardsand allocate funds for communityprograms or public art.

Some in the construction industryhave been skeptical about the abilityto achieve goals set for economicinclusion, either because of a lack of skilled minority or female trades-people or because of inexperiencedor financially shaky contractors.

But several projects in NortheastOhio have been built and met highgoals with less formal agreements toachieve hiring goals; among themare projects at University Hospitalsand at the new Eaton Corp. head-quarters at Chagrin Highlands.

The best example, though, maybe the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland.There, Rock Ohio Caesars LLC, thecasino developer, set a goal ofspending 20% of its constructioncosts with minority and female-owned businesses.

In June, after the casino opened,the company reported that it hadspent $47.1 million of the $108 mil-lion in construction contracts withminority and female-owned firms,or 43.5%.

“We held people’s feet to the fire.We made people accountable,” saidJeff Cohen, a principal with RockGaming, a partner in Rock OhioCaesars. “It didn’t make it more expensive but it took a little moretime. But the benefit we got, the enthusiasm from people able towork on a project like the casino,was immeasurable.” ■


confirmed Burlington’s commitmentto Steelyard, which sits at the centrallocation of Jennings Road and Inter-state 71.

“It’s been difficult to do in this retail and economic environment,”Mr. Schneider said. “We’re thrilledto have a lease with Burlington CoatFactory. We’re looking to get addi-tional tenants and financing andhope to be under construction inthe spring.”

First Interstate wants to includeBurlington in a new, 200,000-square-foot retail center it plans on the site,Mr. Schneider said.

The developer said Burlingtonwould bring additional soft goodsto customers at Steelyard Com-mons to meet his goal of filling theproperty with retailers “providingeverything one needs for living inthe city of Cleveland.”

A site map of Steelyard Commonson the website of Goodman RealEstate Services LLC, which serves asthe property’s broker, indicates thata second phase on 19.25 acres of theSteelyard complex now is leasing.That acreage includes a locationtagged as the site of the plannedBurlington store.

Trolling for tenantsMr. Schneider said the second

phase would be the first significant

expansion of the 700,000-square-foot shopping center since its opening. In the years since, a smat-tering of casual restaurants and aKeyBank branch have taken outlotsthat are part of the original plan.

Mr. Schneider acknowledged thesecond phase has taken longer thanexpected after the crippling GreatRecession. Only within the last yearhave some retailers regained theirappetite for new space after thespate of store closings and retailerbankruptcies that occurred in therecession’s wake.

When First Interstate and Good-man Real Estate were recruitingtenants for Steelyard’s inception,their challenge was selling retailerson an untested urban locationcompared to the suburbs.

This time around, the challengeis getting commitments from thefew tenants who are in expansionmode.

“If you have a retailer adding, forexample, 15 new stores this yearcompared to 50 before the down-turn, it’s far more difficult now because you compete with all thelocations with empty big-box storesor unused sites all across the coun-try,” Mr. Schneider said.

However, the sales track recordestablished by Steelyard Commonsretailers, he said, has helped makethe case to prospective tenants.

‘It’s a coup’

The plan for phase two at Steel-yard was not news to CBRE GroupInc., as the brokerage included theBurlington store and a new shop-ping area at Steelyard of more than200,000 square feet on a map ofplanned construction projects in itsrecent mid-year retail survey.

Keith Hamulak, a CBRE seniorassociate, views Burlington as aperfect match for Steelyard.

“It’s a coup for the ownership,”Mr. Hamulak said. “It kicks offphase two for the ownership. Thedemographics are ideal for Burling-ton. It loves population density andchases discount-oriented customers.Where would be better for them tolocate than in a market area with little substantial retail competitionfor three to five miles?”

Despite its coat factory name,Burlington has broadened its mer-chandise line to include appareland home décor at 470 stores in 44states and Puerto Rico. Bari Kurzman,a Burlington Coat Factory spokes-man, declined comment on aprospective Steelyard location.

With the tenant commitment inhand, First Interstate now is makingthe rounds at financial institutionsin search of financing, according toone of the prospective lenders whodeclined to be identified. ■

to a group called the Eastern Geauga Landowners. The group,which opened its office in Middle-field on July 4, represents about 300land-owners with land or mineralrights to about 17,000 acres and iscontinuing to add members, said itspresident, real estate agent MarkDolezal.

Mr. Dolezal’s group functionssomething like a cooperative. He andtwo other directors don’t chargefees and won’t collect any percentageof other landowners’ up-front bonuspayments or the royalties theymight get later when gas is producedon their land. Instead, they’ve puttheir own land — more than 1,000acres of it — into the group. Thestrategy is to use the larger acreageto negotiate better terms withwhichever drilling company showsthe most interest and is willing toprovide landowners with the bestdeal, Mr. Dolezal said.

The Northcoast EnvironmentalLandowners Association, which according to its website chargesparticipating landowners a fee of6% of bonus payments and 15% ofroyalty payments, has been holdingmeetings for months to solicitlandowner participation in Ashtab-ula, Geauga, Lake, Portage andTrumbull counties. However, a rep-resentative for NELA Shale, as it isknown, said it was too soon for thegroup to discuss its plans publicly.

Mr. Stewart, of the state oil and gasassociation, said he fully understandswhy landowners are joining forces.

“I’m a spokesman for the pro-ducers, but it would be absurd to saythat banding together on the otherside of the equation doesn’t makesense for those folks,” he said.“They have more negotiating power, and there’s nobody that canargue against that.”

Marketing muscle

There are groups of landownerswho, while they don’t necessarily tietheir parcels together, still choose tomarket them collectively with thehelp of a third party. One such mar-keter is Encore Energy of BowlingGreen, Ky., which announced July30 that it was marketing mineralrights for 175,000 acres in southeastOhio.

A longtime player in the Midwestoil and gas industry and a driller itself, Encore also has connectionsto the big oil companies that tendto dominate the capital-intensiveworld of horizontal drilling andfracking.

“I’m marketing acreage in Ohioto the oil and gas industry, which isin places like Houston, Denver andTulsa,” said Encore president SteveStengell.

Encore generally does not repre-sent landowners directly, Mr. Sten-gell said, but it works with othercompanies and organizations thatalready have substantial lease hold-ings in Ohio.

Encore’s client base includes another source of bundled leases —smaller drilling companies, manyof which have been drilling smallvertical wells in Ohio for decadesbut lack the capital or technologyrequired to drill horizontal wellsinto Ohio’s deep shale deposits.

‘Everyone knows me’

One such company is D.T. Atha,in Sugargrove, Ohio, near Lancaster,which is using Encore to help itmarket mineral rights on about15,000 acres.

Company president Dave Athasaid he’s known and done businesswith Mr. Stengell and Encore formany years and believes its connec-tions, combined with aggregated

acreage, can help him get a betterdeal for the mineral rights he wantsto sell.

Not that D.T. Atha wants to getout of the oil and gas business. Farfrom it. Mr. Atha only wants to sellmineral rights for Ohio’s shale deposits. He intends to hold ontomineral rights for conventional gasand oil deposits and sell off rights tothe shale, where horizontal drillingis required to extract gas and oil.He’ll drill the conventional depositshimself, but mostly after gas pricesrise, he said.

Holding a big chunk of mineralrights is an advantage, according toMr. Atha, because it makes it easierfor big drilling companies to leasethe rights they need without sendingan army of agents out contactingindividual landowners.

“Big companies are not going towant to go out and piecemeal it,”Mr. Atha said. “They’re going towant to find a block that they canget in one bunch.”

Controlling substantial acreagealso helps to negotiate lease terms,including those that protect theland at the surface, Mr. Atha said.That’s important, because eventhough Mr. Atha does not own orlive on most of the land for whichhe holds the mineral rights, he stilllives in the same community and,more often than not, knows thelandowners.

“I feel a big responsibility to mylandowners and I take that very seriously,” said Mr. Atha, whobought most of his mineral rightsfor about $5 an acre, before he oranyone else knew about using horizontal drilling and hydraulicfracturing to extract shale gas —and the lease price jumped to thou-sands of dollars per acre.

“I’ve been down here 25 yearsand everyone knows me,” he said. ■

Leases: Bulk leases easier on drillers

Steelyard: Luring retailers tougher




Reform: Previous localprojects have met goals

WhiteSpace Cre-ative, a marketingcommunicationsagency in Akron, has acquired SmileyHanchulak Marketing Commu-nications of Fairlawn, an advertising,marketing and PR agency.

The acquisition accelerates White-Space’s move into public relationsand social media, areas in which thecompany has been seeking to grow,said Ralph Davila, senior director ofpublic relations for WhiteSpace.SmileyHanchulak’s staff also will addto the agency’s creative design,marketing, interactive and accountservice capabilities. Terms were notdisclosed.

WhiteSpace’s client base willgrow by one-third as a result of the

deal, Mr. Davilasaid. WhiteSpacealso increased

its staff to 33 people with its addi-tion of SmileyHanchulak’s seven em-ployees, all of whom are relocatingto WhiteSpace’s offices on NorthHigh Street in Akron.

John Hanchulak, president of SmileyHanchulak, approachedWhiteSpace about a potential salebecause he was ready to retire.

“It didn’t take long to recognizethat WhiteSpace Creative had thesame moral fiber and creative drive, and would be the perfectagency to make sure our employ-ees and clients would prosper,”said Mr. Hanchulak, 64, in a state-ment. — Ginger Christ

WhiteSpace buys Fairlawn PR outfit ON THE WEB Story from www.CrainsCleveland.com.



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the game, providing welding equip-ment and logistical support for thecolleges’ programs. Because, with-out trained welders, said LincolnElectric’s Carl Peters, “Who’s goingto buy our product?”

“There is a very big need forwelders,” said Mr. Peters, the com-pany’s director of technical training.“Not just in Cleveland but acrossthe country. You can’t get enoughgood welders.”

By 2019, the American WeldingSociety anticipates a shortage ofabout 239,000 welders. But evennow, there is a huge demand for theskilled workers.

Project managers for roughly8,900 industrial projects nationwide

are searching for trained welders andtypically are coming up short inmeeting their needs, according to arecent report from Industrial InfoResources, a Texas-based research firm.

Follow the moneyLakeland Community College

hopes to become the region’s easternhub for welding training. The collegeplans to transform its small, eight-station training center into onewith 16 stations, with the potentialto add four more. The State Con-trolling Board this summer signedoff on $472,000 in state money forthe project, and Lincoln Electric willdonate a precision TIG 225 welder— cost: $2,800 — for the classroom.

“We have some great potential,”

said Dr. Gary Eith, dean of Lake-land’s business and engineering division.

Lakeland this fall also is expectedto launch an associate degree pro-gram in industrial welding that itdeveloped in collaboration withrepresentatives from Lincoln Elec-tric. The program’s graduates couldearn annual salaries ranging from$33,700 to $50,200, according to thecollege’s market research.

Cuyahoga Community College,meanwhile, will open this fall a2,000-square-foot welding lab with12 workstations in its new technol-ogy training center under construc-tion at the intersection of Wood-land Avenue and East 30th Street inCleveland. The college already oper-

II building boom.When the subject of casino rev-

enue for the suburbs initially wasdiscussed at a consortium meetingAug. 2, South Euclid Mayor GeorgineWelo said a strong vote from thesuburbs in fall 2009 that helpedpass the constitutional amendmentcreating the casinos justified usingthe money outside of downtownCleveland.

Mayor Welo said she believes theinner-ring mayors should suggestusing some of the casino money forinfrastructure improvements or foreconomic development.

“I really need the money to return(to South Euclid) and grow newbusinesses,” she said.

Mayor Welo suggested an inner-ring suburbs fund could be createdwithin an existing, countywide in-

frastructure program that adminis-ters state public works money. An-other alternative would be to putfunds into a storefront renovationprogram, she said.

In the mixEd Jerse, Mr. FitzGerald’s director

of regional collaboration, attendedthe Aug. 2 First Suburbs consortiummeeting and later said the adminis-tration would consider alternatives.

“As you would expect when there(are) revenues involved, there are alot of ideas about where (they) shouldgo,” Mr. Jerse said in a telephoneinterview last week. He said the pro-posal from the suburban mayors“would be additional input that isput into the mix.”

Mr. Jerse stressed that Mr. Fitz-Gerald does not want the casino rev-enue portioned out in small amounts.

“What the executive has stressedis that he wants (the casino money)to be catalytic and transformationaland not dispersed too widely,” he said.

Mayor Sellers said because thegroup wants to get its message toMr. FitzGerald quickly, the suburbs’proposal may be more conceptualthan concrete.

Mr. FitzGerald has told countycouncil that he believes a decisionshould be made soon, in September,to have a plan in place before thestate Legislature decides to restrictthe way casino money is spent.

A bill passed by the Legislature inJune that provided regulations forcasinos and race track video gaminginitially included a provision thatwould have required counties andcities that received casino tax moneyto spend at least 50% of that moneyon police, fire or other safety services.

Mr. FitzGerald is concerned theGeneral Assembly will take the issueup again in the fall.

Mayor Sellers said the First Sub-urbs group will suggest any plan fordivvying up the casino tax moneyhave a two-year sunset provision sothe program is re-evaluated.

Spread the wealthMr. FitzGerald in his State of the

County address last Feb. 1 proposedusing the entire proceeds of thecounty’s share of casino revenuesfor redevelopment and improvementsin the area from West 25th Street tothe Cleveland State Universitycampus, and from the lakefrontsouth to the Inner Belt freeway. Ascounty council has taken up the issue and offered other alternatives,Mr. FitzGerald has expressed a will-ingness to compromise.

The Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office has estimated that $9.7 millioncould flow annually to the countytreasury once all four casinos areup and running in 2014 as thecounty’s share of the 33.3% tax oncasino revenue.

Ohio’s 88 counties are set toshare in 51% of the tax revenue gen-erated by the state’s four casinos. The51% amount is divided among thecounties based on population. Cur-rently, based on the 2010 census,Cuyahoga County will get 11.09% ofthe counties’ share. School districtwill share 34%. The rest goes to thehost cities and for casino oversight.

In the first monthly distributionof casino tax revenue last month,Cuyahoga County received$554,424, Lake County got $200,668and Geauga County received$81,379. ■

Cash: Legislature could revisit restrictions on using revenuecontinued from PAGE 1


Welding: Emphasis on skilled trades fadesates a 1,200-square-foot lab, whichhas been running at capacity due tothe popularity of Tri-C’s weldingprograms.

“Because of the high utilizationrate, we’re starting to schedule ourold lab for additional corporatetraining,” said John Gajewski, execu-tive director of the college’s manu-facturing programs. “That old labwill still be used, but our challengeis scheduling it all so students canbe exposed to the new technology.”

Out with the old …Industry observers suggest that

community colleges have trendedtoward offering more advancedwelding training as the technology— much of which has been devel-oped by Lincoln Electric — has grownincreasingly complex, and manyjobs in the manufacturing sectornow demand an associate or bach-

elor’s degree.Lincoln Electric’s Mr. Peters said

his company, for one, has operatedits own welding school since 1917but as of late has encouraged localcommunity colleges to beef up theirprograms so its own graduates couldpursue more advanced degrees.

Cindy Weihl, a spokeswoman forthe American Welding Society, saidmuch of the welder shortage is dueto a weakened emphasis of theskilled trades over the last 20 years,as parents encouraged their childrento get degrees, for example, in com-puter science rather than becomecertified welders.

Ms. Weihl noted that the averageage of a welder hovers at 55 yearsold, and “as this existing work forceages, a gap has been created wherethere are not enough young peopleto come and take over these newand replacement jobs.” ■


Sounds like he could usea Cash Mob himself■ For the first time, the Cash Mobs move-ment is looking for cash itself.

Andrew Samtoy, the local attorney whocreated the WordPresswebsite used by CashMobs organizers aroundthe world, is launching afundraising campaign hehopes will net the incor-porated group $20,000— money he intends touse to develop a newwebsite, www.cash-mobs.com, and to protect the

Cash Mobs trademark. Cash Mobs is the movement that rallies

people to show up at local businesses,spend money and socialize, enabling mobsto impact the local economy more than individual shoppers.

The central blog was created by Mr. Samtoy, co-founder of the local and nationalCash Mobs movement and an associate atPainesville law firm Dworken & Bernstein.

Mr. Samtoy said he intends to do hisfundraising via the crowdfunding portal Indiegogo, which asks donors to give tocauses about which they care. He hopes toraise $20,000 by mid-October.

As for protecting the group’s trademark,which was filed April 19, Mr. Samtoy said hewants to make sure the Cash Mobs brand isused appropriately. There have been reports,he noted, that marketers and businesseswere promoting Cash Mobs of their respec-

tive companies to reap more business.“We don’t think that’s right,” he said. “We

want to make sure these are community-generated events.” —Michelle Park

Aircraft parts from a printer? That’s the goal■ Two Avon Lake companies are part of ateam using a $3 million Ohio Third Frontiergrant to develop materials and productionparts by means of additive manufacturing,or three-dimensional printing technology.

Rapid Prototype + Manufacturing LLC, amaker of 3D prototypes, and PolyOne Corp.,a provider of specialized polymer materials,are working with the University of DaytonResearch Institute on a three-year project todevelop advanced materials and productionparts using 3D printing technology.

The project is expected to create 30 jobswithin three years and 85 jobs after five years.

The two local companies will collaboratewith the Dayton research institute and Min-nesota-based Stratasys Inc., a rapid proto-typing machine manufacturer, to developaircraft-engine components for GE Aviationand parts for Boeing Co., Northrop GrummanCorp. and Goodrich Corp., among others.

“We are delighted to apply our expertiseto this project and extend this collaborativeeffort across the state to further strengthenOhio’s economic position in high-tech ma-terials and 3D printing technology,” saidMatt Hlavin, president of Rapid Prototype.

Rapid Prototype, which originated as a di-vision of Thogus, a custom plastics injectionmolder in Avon Lake, was founded in 2011

and shares space with Thogus. — GingerChrist

Reminger gets inthe agent ballgame■ Back when Anthony Catanzarite wasstudying law, he was offered a legal intern-ship at the Cleveland Browns but chose tolaw clerk at Reminger Co. LPA in Cleveland— the “realistic approach” he expected tolast longer term.

Now, after nine years with Reminger, he hasbrought a sports slant to his practice after all.

Mr. Catanzarite, who co-chairs the archi-tects and engineers/construction liabilitypractice group for Reminger, is the loneagent behind Reminger’s new limited liabilitycompany, Arrow Sports. Through it, he’s ad-vising baseball players who want to go pro.

The LLC was launched in February afterMr. Catanzarite was approached by a formerCleveland Indians pitcher, Jason Stanford,who asked Mr. Catanzarite to be his agent ina hoped-for comeback.

After some research and getting the go-ahead from firm president Stephen E.Walters, Mr. Catanzarite began building hislineup. Six months later, Arrow’s client basenow numbers slightly more than a dozen.

Though it has clients, Arrow Sports hasyet to generate revenue. Sports agency workgenerates revenues only when a player hasbeen drafted or later in a player’s careerwhen he or she attains a certain salary level.

“It’s something that we believe long termis a good fit for our firm,” he said. “It’s amarathon, not a sprint.”— Michelle Park

MILESTONE

THE COMPANY: Impullitti Landscaping Inc., BurtonTHE OCCASION: Its 60th anniversary

In 1952, Clifford Impullitti (top) started thecompany that today is known as ImpullittiLandscaping Inc. But the company’s roots inthe landscaping business stretch even deeper.

Mr. Impulllitti’s father-in-law, Leo Lucarelli,also ran a landscaping business. When Mr.Impullitti met Mr. Lucarelli’s daughter, Elvira,and married her, he began to apprentice underhis father-in-law and later started his owncompany. Sixty years (and five children) later,Impullitti Landscaping is going strong, withabout 60 employees and more than 30 vehicles,21 trailers and 11 pieces of heavy equipment.

Wayne Impullitti (bottom photo), theyoungest son of Clifford Impullitti, took soleownership of the company in 1990 and con-tinues to run it today. Nearly 25% of the com-pany’s staff has a degree in various aspectsof horticulture and management from OhioState University, John Carroll University, theUniversity of Dayton and other schools.

Among the company’s services are designconsultation, site development, plantings,outdoor kitchens and theme gardens,

For information about Impullitti, visitwww.EnjoyTheView.com.

REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOKBEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS

THEINSIDER

THEWEEK AUGUST 6 - 12

Hyland highlights publicbenefit of private equity■ A campaign to convince the public thatthe private equity business creates jobs —you might have noticed the presidentialcandidates arguing this point — highlightsthe experience of Westlake-based HylandSoftware.

The New York Times called attention to avideo that’s the latest installment in themonths-long campaign.

The video, which lasts nearly four minutes,focuses on Thoma Bravo, which invested inHyland Software in 2007. In the five yearssince, the company’s employee count hasdoubled, according to the Private EquityGrowth Capital Council. (Crain’s most recentresearch had Hyland with 1,048 employeesas of Jan. 1.)

“The management team is exactly thesame today, running a company nearlythree times the size,” says Orlando Bravo,managing partner of Thoma Bravo, in thevideo.

Members of Hyland managementappear in the video and extol thevirtues of working with ThomaBravo. For instance, Bill Priemer,Hyland’s chief operating officer,says in the video that Hyland has purchased five companies sinceThoma Bravo came on board.

“It’s unlikely that Hyland Software would be where we aretoday without our private equity partner,”he says.

Talk aboutstate of the art■ Auto insurance giant Progressive Corp.“boasts one of the most extensive contem-


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

porary art collections in the corporate world,”according to Forbes.com.

At the company’s Mayfield Village head-quarters, “a walk down the stairs is a littlemore exciting than at most companies,”Forbes.com noted. “The main stairwell isdraped with candles, steel, wire, silk flowersand ribbons all dripped in wax.”

The installation, by artist Petah Coyne,gives the space the feel of a “haunted ball-room,” said Kristin Rogers, art educationand communications manager for the Pro-gressive Collection. But the collection ismore than just decorative, as Progressive officials say the company “uses the art to encourage its employees to think creatively.”

Forbes.com said it consulted “a range ofwriters, art advisers and curators” to comeup with a list of the world’s best corporate artcollections. The list isn’t ranked, but joiningProgressive on it are Bank of America,Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoftand UBS.

We love Ohio, but thisisn’t one of the reasons■ An Associated Press analysis of ad spending

in the race for the White Housenoted that Ohio is one of nine

states where ad spending isbeing concentrated.

Those states — in addi-tion to Ohio, they are Col-

orado, Iowa, Nevada, NewHampshire, North Carolina,

Pennsylvania, Virginia andFlorida — have “absorbed an

eye-popping $350 million in commercialsso far,” the AP said.

Ohio’s getting the worst of it.“No state has been flooded with more

campaign advertising than Ohio, where anaverage viewer in the Cleveland televisionmarket is seeing about 87 presidential cam-paign spots a week,” the AP reported.

Samtoy

The big story: Under the ornate, four-storyCleveland Trust Co. rotunda at East Ninth Streetand Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland,Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald onAug. 7 kicked off what he hopes will be a modern-day land rush. He spoke to about 100 architects,real estate developers, brokers and investorsabout his hope that the county’s property con-solidation effort — in particular, the redevelop-ment of the AmeriTrust complex that adjoinsthe rotunda — will spark a round of redevelop-ment around the county. In addition to sellingor leasing 13 properties, the county is looking fora new administrative headquarters to replace itscurrent, cramped home at 1219 Ontario St.

Kids’ stuff: Akron Children’s Hospital plansto invest $200 million in its physical plant overthe next three years, which would be its loftiestcapital investment in more than two decades.The centerpiece of the project will be a new criticalcare tower that will include a neonatal intensivecare unit with private rooms, a new emergencydepartment, outpatient surgical suites and adedicated space for several pediatric subspecialtyprograms. Also planned are an expansion of the Ronald McDonald House of Akron, a 1,200-space parking deck already under construction,and a new welcome center for the hospital.

Collaboration pays: Case Western ReserveUniversity received a $64.6 million federal grant— the largest of its kind ever awarded in North-east Ohio — to help usher medical breakthroughsfrom the laboratory to the bedside. The grant,formally known as the Clinical and TranslationalScience Award, from the National Institutes ofHealth, is in recognition of Case Western Reserve’swork over the last five years to advance medicaldiscoveries in collaboration with the ClevelandClinic, MetroHealth, University Hospitals CaseMedical Center and Louis Stokes Cleveland VAMedical Center.

Sounds good: The Ohio Music Edu-cation Association signed on to hold itsannual professional development con-

ference at the under-constructionCleveland convention center in 2015,2017 and 2019. The event will bring2,900 music teachers for educationalsessions, a trade show that drawsmore than 170 exhibitors and concerts

by several youth ensembles. Thecomplex is scheduled to open July 1, 2013.

Goodbye, and hello: University Hospitalsannounced it will lose one top administratorand gain another. Dr. Achilles A. Demetriou, thesystem’s chief operating officer, will retire fromfull-time employment at year’s end. A nation-wide search for his replacement has begun. Thehealth system also named John Foley as its newchief information officer. He was with the WestPenn Allegheny Health System in Pittsburgh.

Estate planning: The estate of DorothyEbersbach, a former World War II pilot, pledged$2 million to support Case Western ReserveUniversity’s Frances Payne Bolton School ofNursing. The announcement came less than a yearafter Ms. Ebersbach, an alumna of the university,pledged $2 million to support a program thattrains nursing students to care for patients beingtransported by aircraft to medical facilities.

What they bargained for: Kent State University trustees signed off on a three-yearcollective bargaining agreement for full-time,tenure-track faculty. University faculty will re-ceive across-the-board 2% salary increases,which will be applied retroactively to the start ofthe 2011-2012 academic year. Faculty membersalso are guaranteed 2% pay hikes for each of thefollowing two academic years.


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