Crain's Cleveland Business

By SHANNON [email protected]

Many Northeast Ohio colleges saw their coffers swell inthe last school year as benefactors opened their walletswider despite the lingering effects of the recession.

Schools such as Case Western Reserve, Kent State and John Carroll universities increased fundraising bymillions in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

“The fundraising numbers for us were up for the secondyear in a row,” said John Carroll’s president, the Rev. RobertNiehoff. “It’s been both in dollars and participation rates.Every fundraising category isup.”

John Carroll raised $16.7million in the fiscal year thatended June 30, a 36% hikefrom the approximately $12million it raised in the fiscalyear ending June 30, 2009.Much of that increase wasdue to an anonymous $4.45million gift.

CWRU also logged a banneryear, raising $115.5 million in the fiscal year that endedJune 30, which was its second-largest fundraising year in history and the third consecutiveyear the school raised more than $100 million. CWRUraised nearly $109 million in the fiscal year that ended June30, 2009.

Though figures aren’t yet official for the fiscal year thatended June 30, some colleges across the country don’t expect to have done as well as some of their peers in GreaterCleveland. According to the Council for Advancement andSupport of Education’s Fundraising Index released lastmonth, colleges expect to have raised 4.3% more than in the

“Each of the colleges havedevelopment officers who are constantly calling (potentialdonors).” – Steven Minter, interimvice president for advancement, Cleve-land State University

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Steel pricesrise as rawmaterialscosts go up

By DAN [email protected]

With lead times already long fornew orders, prices for all types ofsteel are increasing as the cost of rawmaterials go up and production capacity is held back.

That’s a concern for local manu-facturers, who use steel in all itsforms — from steel rod to makescrews and bolts and sheet steel tostamp parts to high-grade alloys tomachine parts for everything frommedical devices to aircraft.

ArcelorMittal reported on July 29that it will seek a 10% increase in what it charges for steel worldwide.West Chester-based AK Steel, whichproduces stainless, carbon and elec-trical flat-rolled steel, announced priceincreases for all three of its productlines at the beginning of August.

Down in Canton, Timken also hasraised prices for the specialty alloysteels it makes in its electric arc furnaces there.

So far, local manufacturers say theprice increases they’ve seen havebeen small and manageable — 3% to5% in most cases.

But in a hyper cost-conscious envi-ronment, they worry about price increases down the road. They also saythat the price increases are being driven by rising raw material costs for steel and a lack of steel productiononline — and the steelmakers them-selves generally agree with that assess-ment.

“There is no way that this is demanddriven. Our shipping levels are stillfairly steady, and I don’t see much increase in car sales volume,” said BillAdler, president of Cleveland-basedauto supplier Stripmatic Products. “Ithink this has more to do with the costof raw materials and the impact China’sdemand now has on them.”

That’s pretty much on the mark,said Cengiz Kurkcu, president of Industrial Engineered Solutions atTimken Steel in Canton.

For example, Timken uses scrapmetal as its feedstock and the price

See STEEL Page 17

Manufacturers bite nailsover long-term prospects

MARC GOLUB PHOTOS

Ron Clutter, an Ashtabula native and serial entrepreneur, is the mastermind behind GaREAT, theGeneva area Recreational, Educational, Athletic Trust.

Efforts pay off at area institutions

INSIDENot all businesses taking charge of energy costs

Few manufacturers and other firms are aware of a new rider that will showup on their electricity bills. But manycan avoid the higher rates on their total bills by making changes now intheir energy usage.

Read Dan Shingler’s story on Page 3.

See COLLEGES Page 17

FEELING GOODABOUT GaREAT

Interest mounts in massive Geneva sports complex

LEFT: The complex’s 5,500-seat football stadium will play host to Geneva High School football gamesstarting later this month. RIGHT: Courts play host to volleyball and basketball games and also areequipped to handle tennis. The USA men’s junior volleyball team currently is training at the facility.

By JOEL [email protected]

on Clutter has been askedthe question so much henow beats people to it.

“People ask me, ‘WhyGeneva?’” Mr. Clutter said last weekat the Geneva area Recreational,Educational, Athletic Trust, orGaREAT for short. “Well, why notGeneva?”

Mr. Clutter, an Ashtabula nativeand serial entrepreneur, is the mastermind and driving financial

force behind GaREAT, a sprawling,40-acre athletic complex just northof Interstate 90 in Ashtabula County.

The site currently features a215,000-square-foot building split upinto soccer and volleyball/basketballfields, and a 250,000-square-footbuilding with a 300-meter indoortrack, full-length football field, state-of-the-art batting cages (includingvideo screens capable of simulatingany situation) and a 30,000-square-foot banquet facility.

In the middle — with a press box

R

See GaREAT Page 9

20100809-NEWS--1-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 8/6/2010 3:32 PM Page 1

22 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM AUGUST 9-15, 2010

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BRIGHT HORIZONS

Rk Metro area Total ’08 exports (billions) Largest export industry1 New York/Northern N.J. $85.16 Chemicals

2 Los Angeles 78.54 Computers/electronics

3 Chicago 52.88 Machinery

4 Houston 51.55 Chemicals

5 Dallas 44.55 Computers/electronics

21 Cleveland 12.70 Transportation equipment

22 Cincinnati 11.82 Transportation equipment

32 Columbus 8.72 Transportation equipment

The Cleveland/Elyria/Mentor metropolitan statistical area produced $12.7 billion in total exports in2008, the best performance of any region in Ohio, according to a new Brookings Institution report.The report quantified the exports of goods and services produced in America’s 100 largest metropoli-tan areas. Those areas produced $1.037 trillion in 2008 exports. Cleveland ranked as the country’s21st-largest export market that year. Here are the top five export markets plus the six Ohio marketslisted in the report:

SOURCE: BROOKINGS INSTITUTION; WWW.BROOKINGS.EDU

In a banking climate that’s turbulent and ever-changing, what types of challenges are smaller banks facing? Plus, check out our listof downtown Cleveland office buildings,ranked by rentable building area.


By STAN [email protected]

Tom Kennedy said he’s accus-tomed to doing tough deals in urbanareas, and the real estate developerbased in Erie, Pa., said he’s excitedby the challenge his entry in theCleveland market presents.

An investor group Mr. Kennedyheads has bought the lender-ownedKing James 2 Office Building in West-lake and plans to convert it to use bymultiple tenants. But even with a star-tlingly low purchase price, real estatebrokers see it as a daunting deal.

The group, Westlake LLC, paidWells Fargo Bank $750,000 for the68,000-square-foot building thatCuyahoga County assigns a marketvalue of $2.6 million. The ColliersOstendorf-Morris brokerage origi-nally listed the building for thelender at $1.3 million.

Mr. Kennedy, who operates Profes-sional Development Associates in Erie,said downtown Erie “was just aboutdead when we started there 15 yearsago. When someone wants downtownoffice space in Erie, you learn to be creative.”

“We wanted to add somethingsuburban to our urban focus,” Mr.Kennedy said. “Cleveland is close tous so we can get there quickly. We’lldo new things there. We know itwon’t be easy.”

Not easy, indeed.Bob Nosal, managing director of

Grubb & Ellis Co.’s Cleveland office,said he had sized up buying thebuilding and “couldn’t think of a wayto make sense of it.”

“It’s in the worst market,” Mr. Nosal said, though he added, “Thepurchase price does not bother me forone reason: the building is empty.”

Grubb & Ellis puts office vacancyat 22% in the western suburbs.

Alec Pacella, an NAI Daus vicepresident who represented WestlakeLLC in the purchase and will handleleasing of the building, said Mr.Kennedy’s group as a cash buyer hasthe strength to hold and outfit thebuilding while wooing tenants.About six tenants already are sizing

AUGUST 9-15, 2010 WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 3

THE WEEK IN QUOTES“Parents are cominghere as captive audi-ence. They might notbe here for recreationalopportunity, but our goal is to convertthem into future consumers.”— Mark Winchell, executive director of the Ashtabula CountyConvention and Visitors Bureau.Page One

“The U.S. is a net exporter of scrap.Because of that phenomenon, what’shappening with steelproduction in otherparts of the world affects us here.”— Cengiz Kurkcu, president ofIndustrial Engineered Solutions,Timken Steel. Page One

“We expect peoplewho bought thecoupon to spend morethan $35 … We hopethat those peoplebring friends, andthat we make moremoney with additionalbusiness.”— Andrea Howell, general manager, Wonder Bar, Cleveland.Page 11

“If they don’t want tolose their talent …they should be sittingdown and talkingwith them.”— SueAnn Naso, president ofMayfield Heights-based StaffingSolutions Enterprises. Page 11

INSIGHTPa. investorgambles onWestlakeoffice siteDeveloper sees potentialin King James building

See WESTLAKE Page 9

Team NEO reports economic progressBusiness attraction nonprofit notes uptick in area’s employment rate, drop in jobless claims

By JAY [email protected]

As the national economy enduresthe gloom of what is being called a“jobless recovery,” Northeast Ohioappears to be offering a sliver ofhope. The region is one of the few

that is seeing growth in the numberof people working.

In its latest quarterly economic review, Team Northeast Ohio, the regional business attraction non-profit, reports that 1,000 more peoplewere working at the end of the secondquarter June 30 than were employed

a year ago in the 16-countyregion. Regional employ-ment is about 1.9 million,Team NEO reports.

In addition, the reviewfound that the number ofpeople filing initial unem-ployment claims fell in thesecond quarter to about5,000 a month, a level notseen since the third quarter of 2008.

“We were really surprised that theinitial unemployment claims were

trending the same as beforethe recession,” said TeamNEO president Tom Walter-mire. “That’s not what peoplecould perceive.”

It may also bode well foran economic recovery.

“That’s a good sign,” saidZiona Austrian, director ofthe Center for Economic

Development at Cleveland State Uni-versity. “We’re not sinking anymore.”

Team NEO also reports that

Economy.com is projecting that thegross regional product, or GRP, anumber that represents the marketvalue of all goods and services produced in the region in a year, willshow a 3.1% increase by the endof 2010 after two years of decliningGRP.

The disparity between the GRPgrowth and the more anemic jobgrowth defines a jobless recovery.And while that small job growth

See ECONOMY Page 6

BUSINESSES INTHE DARK

Some manufacturers and other large usersof energy unaware of opportunities to

avoid costs of new rider on electricity bills

By DAN [email protected]

Too few businesses are aware ofa new charge they’ll soon beseeing on their electric bills —and those that are aware of it

often are still confused over just how toavoid the so-called DSE-II rider thatsoon will boost the cost of energy forFirstEnergy Corp. customers.

Inattention could end up costingbusinesses, particularly manufacturers,more than they know. Many can avoidhigher rates on their total electric billsby doing just a few simple things to saveenergy now, becoming exempt fromthe new rider in the process.

See RIDER Page 4

Waltermire


“We have businesses that may beable to save $20,000 to $30,000 a yearby avoiding this rider,” said NicoleStika, director of energy programsfor the Cleveland-based Council ofSmaller Enterprises.

However, she said too few busi-nesses are doing anything to capturethose savings. “Most won’t notice it ordo anything about it until it shows upon their bill,” which will probably beearly next year, Ms. Stika said.

DSE stands for “demand side management and energy efficiency”and the rider is the result of an Ohiolaw requiring utilities to reduce theircustomers’ current energy usage by22% by the year 2015 — not including


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Volume 31, Number 31 Crain’s Cleveland Busi-ness (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, exceptfor combined issues on the fourth week of May andfifth week of May, the fourth week of June and firstweek of July, the third week of December and fourthweek of December at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2010by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postagepaid at Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing of-fices. Price per copy: $1.50. POSTMASTER: Sendaddress changes to Crain’s Cleveland Business,Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit,Michigan 48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373.

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continued from PAGE 3

Rider: Costs to help meet mandateincremental increases from new resi-dents, business and other customers.

It was set to go into effect this yearand was delayed, but both outside observers and the staff of the PublicUtilities Commission of Ohio say theyexpect it to go into effect next year.

According to the law, FirstEnergymust get its entire customer base —business, industrial and residential —to become more energy efficient,Shaker Heights energy consultantMike Brakey said. That means theymust get those customers to do thingslike install high-efficiency T-5 fluores-cent lighting or the latest generation ofenergy-saving electric motors.

The purpose of the rider is to fundthat process — which is why the rider

will be paid by customers who don’tparticipate in the effort.

In order to come out on the winning end, businesses will be ableto take one of two approaches. Theycan either take advantage of productrebates, or they can do them on theirown and file for an exemption fromthe rider, say PUCO officials.

Either way, the savings can besubstantial, but so far relatively fewcompanies are taking steps to avoidthe rider and put in energy-savingmeasures on their own, said Mr.Brakey, who along with his son MattBrakey runs Brakey Consulting.

Both the Brakeys and COSE esti-mate the rider’s cost to be a littlemore than 1% of a user’s total bill,but they say that can quickly add upfor a company that is a big electricityuser. Worse, though, both Ms. Stikaand Mr. Brakey say they fear the riders will increase over time, asthey’ve done in other states wherethey’ve been implemented.

To avoid the cost, businesses haveto keep up with the efficiency demands put on FirstEnergy by thestate Legislature. That means they canavoid the rider in the early years of themandate by reducing their energy us-age by a few percentage points, but toavoid the rider later, they will have toshow large reductions in energy use,culminating with a 21% decrease inthe final year of the rider in 2024.

The bright side, Mr. Brakey said, isthat by cutting energy usage by, say,3% next year, a business then gets alower rate on the remaining 97% of theelectricity they still use because they’veavoided paying the rider entirely.

“There’s a huge leveraging oppor-tunity here. Not enough businessesare taking advantage of it,” he said.

The clock is tickingMachine shops such as Mentor-

based Fredon Corp., auto supplierslike Cleveland’s Soundwich and exhaust maker SuperTrapp Industriesall report that they’ve made significantinvestments to improve their energyefficiency in recent years.

The question most businesseshave is: Will investments from yearspast be counted toward a rider exemption, and how far back canthey go to count such investments?

Companies can go back threeyears from the date they file for theexemption, so the clock is ticking onimprovements made in the last twoor three years, said PUCO chief ofstaff Kim Vojko.

That means time is running out totake advantage of investments madein 2007 and 2008 and have themcount toward a rider exemption. Italso means that they’ll have to makeeven greater improvements goingforward — above and beyond energyreductions made too long ago to beconsidered toward an exemption

“You don’t want to wait and thehave to try to jump on the train whenit’s going 30 miles per hour,” MattBrakey said. “You want to jump onwhen it slows at the bend.” ■



doesn’t sound like much, it’s betterthan most regions.

Economic data compiled by thePittsburgh Regional Indicators project of 3 Rivers Connect, a Pitts-burgh nonprofit, shows that theCleveland region is one of only 15 comparable Midwest and East Coast cities it tracks that hasseen an increase in nonfarm jobs between June 2009 and June 2010.The number of people employed inthe Cleveland region, the group’sweb site Pittsburgh Today reports,grew by 0.41% in that 12-month period while, on average, employ-ment in the entire group of citiescovered by Pittsburgh Today declined by 0.43%.

Similarly, Economy.com is fore-casting one-year job growth in theCleveland metropolitan area of1.4%, higher than Atlanta, Denver,Kansas City, Los Angeles, Philadel-phia and a host of smaller cities.

Harold Miller, a public policyconsultant in Pittsburgh who helpsmanage the Pittsburgh Today site, said he suspects that cities like Cleveland and Pittsburgh are making stronger recoveriesthan other cities because of their employment base in manufacturing.

Other cities, where economicgrowth relied heavily on industriessuch as new home constructionand retailing, are having a hardertime climbing back, he said.

“Those other places that had bigbooms in terms of jobs, those jobswere created with an expectationthat the boom was going to continue,”he said. “We ended up not havingas much of a boom, so we didn’thave as big of a bust.”

Spreading the wordIf these economic trends hold,

Team NEO’s job might get easier.The nonprofit is the principal regional organization dedicated toattracting major employers to theregion. It uses its quarterly reviewsto reinforce to site selectors, theprofessionals who advise compa-nies on where to put new facilities,that the region has the fertile soil ittakes to grow a business.

Changing that perception is important to Team NEO.

“We’re trying to establish theidea that the economy here is better than they thought,” Mr. Wal-termire said during a preview of thereport to Crain’s Cleveland Businesseditorial staff late last month. TeamNEO has been tracking the regionaleconomy since March 2007.

For example, Team NEO reportsthat while the regional economy, asmeasured by the GRP, still lags thenational economy by 2.8%, the region hasn’t fallen as far below thepace of the national economy as itdid during the recession that beganin 1981. At the same point in thatrecession, 11 quarters since the decline began, the Northeast Ohioregional economy was 7.0% belowthe national level.

Dr. Austrian said that narrowingof the gap suggests to her that theregion’s businesses are strongernow than in the 1980s. “We lost allof the weak companies,” she said.

That the gap hasn’t completelyclosed after more than 20 years isan indication of how hard it is totransform an economy. Team NEOattributes that narrowing of thatgap to the efforts to diversify theeconomy into growing sectors suchas the biomedical, aerospace andother technology industries. ■

“We lost all of the weakcompanies.” – Ziona Austrian, director of theCenter for Economic Develop-ment, Cleveland State University


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Economy: Manufacturing boosts regioncontinued from PAGE 3

GOING PLACESJOB CHANGES

ARCHITECTUREBURT HILL: Loren Brockway to project architect and lead BIM modeler;Katherine Land to graduate interiordesigner; Russell Hess to job captain.

EDUCATIONKENT STATE UNIVERSITY: Terry

Schwarz to director, Cleveland UrbanDesign Collaborative. LORAIN COUNTY COMMUNITYCOLLEGE: Sydney Lancaster to director of human resources. VIRGINIA MARTI COLLEGE OF ARTAND DESIGN: Geof Pelaia to directorof marketing; Damien Campbell tochair, digital media department.

FINANCEWESTFIELD BANK: MatthewBerthold to chief financial officer.

FINANCIAL SERVICESKODA MINOTTI: Christopher MacLaren to senior manager; Marilea W. Campomizzi, NicholasA. Delguyd, Kenneth J. Goodwinand Sean Saari to managers; ErinCoudriet, Rebecca L. Ferris, Kimberly E. Garvin, Gregory J.Skoda Jr., Diane Thompson andJoseph D. Yusz to senior staff accountants; Jen Brawner to seniormarketing specialist; Teresa Conleyto senior human resource specialist.

HEALTH CAREAKRON CHILDREN’’S HOSPITAL:Tom Ogg to chief information officer.

VILLAGE AT MARYMOUNT: StacieBoyd to unit manager, continuing careunit and Clare Hall; Janie McCaskieto wellness manager, MarymountPlace

INSURANCEHYLANT GROUP: Ray Morris toclient executive, medical risk practice.

BOARDSLAKEWOOD SENIOR CITIZENS INC.:Dottie Buckon (City of Lakewood) tochair; Tom Fraser to vice chair;Chris Klym to secretary; Niel Butchto treasurer. LEADERSHIP AKRON: MartinHauser (SummaCare) to chair; LauraCulp to vice chair; J. Michael Kolk totreasurer; Ronald Kopp to secretary.OHIO AEROSPACE INSTITUTE:Peter Hennessey (Battelle) to chairman.UNITED CEREBRAL PALSY OFGREATER CLEVELAND: Beth Eaton(U.S. Bank) to treasurer.WIRE-NET: Thomas Schumann (ECKitzel & Sons Inc.) to chairman; MarkDawson to vice chairman; Scott Bogard to treasurer; Charles Mintzto secretary.

Send information for Going Places [email protected].



The hierarchy of the ClevelandBrowns — in the form of constantand needed tone-setting by President Mike Holmgren —

continues to show that the team appearsto be heading in the right direction, finally.

Of course, hope springs eternal at thestart of NFL training camp, and nowhereis that hope more reliable thanin Northeast Ohio, despite atrack record of mostly losingseasons since the revival of theBrowns as an NFL franchise.

The simple fact that the teampresident has been such a consistent, approachable leaderof this organization gives fanshope, and nothing could haveoffered more reassurance thanhis recent comments about fanbehavior at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

There is nothing like the roar at thatstadium, but when the most vocal arethe most inebriated and profane, thefootball business — as well as its ownersand managers — are tarred with thesame brush. Local business owners and

executives have deserted the team, partlybecause of high ticket prices and pooron-field performance.

But make no mistake, it’s also becauseof the scenes in the stands and how thatwould affect guests and their families.And the city of Cleveland has a role aswell. When the drinking begins in the

early morning at the nearbymunicipal parking lots, thereare many opportunities for badbehavior by the time of the 1p.m. kickoff.

Mr. Holmgren and his man-agerial team have a tightrope towalk. They know that boisterousfans can be their ally and a visiting team’s worst nightmare.But visiting fans shouldn’t be berated and children shouldn’t

have to hear the epithets and watchdrunken adults behave like louts.

The team says it will be even more vigilant this season and more apt to ejectfans and even revoke season tickets.They say they’ll be monitoring aggres-sively with scores of television cameras

and will enable fans to complain by textmessage so they aren’t victimized by retaliation.

Now the city and Mayor Jackson needto step in and partner with the team tocontrol the pre-game drunkfests in a waythat doesn’t sap the crowds’ energy butalso ensures the safety of all who attend.

****STAYING ON A SPORTS THEME, can

anyone please explain to me why LeBronJames planned to continue his bike give-away this year in Akron? Are he and histeam of advisers really that clueless as towhat he’s done to Akron, Cleveland andthe rest of Northeast Ohio?

Akron wisely scaled back the scope ofthe bike event, but The Akron BeaconJournal quoted City Council PresidentMarco Sommerville as saying the formerCavs star is a “hometown person who weneed to support.”

Really? After the intentional embar-rassment he brought to this region withthat shameful, egocentric ESPN show toannounce that he was leaving for Miami?

Please. ■


Kudos, fellas N

ow is the summer of our economic discon-tent.

The worst of this recession is behind us— we think — but hiring isn’t bouncing back

in a way illustrative of a sustained recovery. Mostdays bring reports that feed worries the economyhas weakened.

Last week, for instance, the federal governmentreported a small dip in overall wages and salaries inJune, partly because employees are working fewerhours. And the Gross Domestic Product numbers,though still positive, are going in the wrong direction:GDP growth was 2.4% in the 2010 second quarter after registering 3.7% in this year’s first quarter and5% in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Meanwhile, private-sector employers added42,000 jobs to their payrolls in June, a somewhatbetter-than-expected performance but one thatdoesn’t inspire great confidence, either.

That’s a lot of numbers. They add up to a conclusionthat there’s still work to be done to move this economy to the point where people without jobs canget back to work, and where those who have jobs aresufficiently confident about the future to make thebig-ticket purchases that drive the economy forward.

So in a bipartisan fashion that’s manifestly not ondisplay these days in Washington, we’d like to offerpraise and support for ideas advanced last week byOhio’s U.S. senators, Democrat Sherrod Brown andRepublican George Voinovich.

Sen. Brown and 10 other senators, including threeRepublicans, sent a letter to President Barack Obamaurging him to take stronger action to combat themanipulation of currency by the Chinese government.When China props up its currency rather than letting it rise and fall against the dollar, factories inChina can make steel, auto parts and many othergoods at prices that are artificially low and that undercut American manufacturers.

“An effective strategy to enforce trade commit-ments includes steps to combat currency manipula-tion, the evasion of trade remedy duties, and foreignnon-tariff trade barriers,” the senators wrote.

One helpful move toward that goal would be thereinstatement of so-called Super 301 authority,which provides support to the U.S. Trade Represen-tative to combat export barriers. We hope such a moveis included in September, when the government releases its National Export Initiative.

Meanwhile, Sen. Voinovich reasserted his backingfor a multiyear transportation bill. He said highwayprojects worth more than $47 billion are ready to go,according to state departments of transportation, andthey would provide a much-needed jobs stimulus.

So far, though, reauthorization of a surface trans-portation bill is languishing in Congress, partly theresult of political wrangling over fuel standards, andpartly because of a dispute on how to pay for it.

On Politico.com, Sen. Voinovich wrote thatthere’s no need to borrow money for the transporta-tion bill: “We can pay for it by increasing the gas tax,which has not risen since 1993. The gas tax is a userfee, and just a few cents could help create jobs, improve our infrastructure and better the climate.”

That’s common sense on a tough issue.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

BRIANTUCKER

So far, Holmgren makes right moves

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

EDITOR:Mark Dodosh ([email protected])

MANAGING EDITOR:Scott Suttell ([email protected])

OPINION

TOM PROVENZANOParmaIt’s better I think than it was afew years back. …GM is doinggood, Ford is doing good. People are spending.

➤➤➤➤ Watch other people weigh in by visiting the multimedia section at www.CrainsCleveland.com.

THE BIG ISSUE

HOLLY KLEINLorainConsidering I’m the singlemother of three kids and I haveto work two jobs to make endsmeet, we are not on the roadto recovery. … The other sideis, you’ve got to be thankful toeven have a job.

PAUL LICATATISOParmaI can’t see it getting any worsethan it is now. In the next fiveyears, hopefully it’ll be back upto what it was.

MITCH CALEYCantonEverybody thinks that we’re onthe road to recovery, but itdoesn’t feel like it because alot of people I know are out ofwork and unable to find jobs.

Do you think the U.S. economy is on the road to recovery?


up leasing space in the structure,Mr. Pacella said. He would not iden-tify them.

One advantage Mr. Kennedybrings to the property is an initialtenant. With a partner, he operatesPalace Business Centre in Erie, ashared-services firm that providesoffice services to tenants and nearbybusinesses and offers small suitesfor rent.

Mr. Kennedy plans to devote10,000 square feet in Westlake toPalace Business Centre, which heviews as a small business incubatorthat may help the building and areaby housing startup or fledglingcompanies.

“I see this as a development

rather than an investment. Devel-opment is trying to value and find away to realize value,” Mr. Kennedysaid, while investors seek secure returns.

King James Group, a Westlake-based real estate development concern, deeded ownership of thebuilding to Wells Fargo in 2009 afterthe structure’s sole tenant, informa-tion technology services firm AntaresManagement Solutions, moved toStrongsville.

Undaunted by that history, Mr.Kennedy said natives of Cleveland,like those of Erie, share a weaknessof not seeing their strengths as goodplaces to live.

In Pennsylvania, Mr. Kennedy’sprojects have included a 12-story

and luxury boxes looking out fromthe soccer building — sits a 5,500-seat football stadium and outdoortrack. A 160,000-square-foot aquaticscenter, for which ground will bebroken in the coming days, shouldbe completed by spring.

Oh, and there’s about 120 acresthe nonprofit owns around thosefacilities, on which it plans to addhotels and office and retail space.Mr. Clutter, the president of HDTEngineered Technologies of Solon— which in February bought Mr.Clutter’s Nordic Air, a maker of airconditioning units for extreme environments, such as steel millsand military outposts — said lastweek he and his staff are activelynegotiating with developers and expects some commercial develop-ment to begin by next summer.

The final price tag of the athleticfacilities will approach $60 million,financed all through private dona-tions. Mr. Clutter said he and his wifeprovided a large seed donation, theamount of which he would not disclose. Others have supported theproject as they have learned aboutit, Mr. Clutter said.

GaREAT’s impact already is being felt in the area, said MarkWinchell, the executive director ofthe Ashtabula County Convention

and Visitors Bureau.“Our typical season is Memorial

Day to Labor Day,” Mr. Winchellsaid. “Now they’re bringing indoorevents all winter. Parents are cominghere as captive audience. They mightnot be here for recreational oppor-tunity, but our goal is to convertthem into future consumers.”

The complex currently plays hostto, among other things, youth clinicsand tournaments, high school teamcamps and adult basketball, soccerand volleyball leagues. In a few weeks,Geneva High School will beginplaying its home football gamesthere. Wine festivals have been heldin the aforementioned banquet facility.

But the goal is much bigger: Mr.Clutter & Co. intend to attract higher-profile acts, such as the USA juniormen’s volleyball team, in town lastweek and this week to train for anupcoming world championshipqualifying tournament in Quebec.Stu Cordell, Mr. Clutter’s lawyerfrom Ashtabula-based Warren andYoung PLL, said the group alsomight target college conferences,such as the Mid-American, Big Tenand Big East.

On the flip side …Mr. Clutter makes no bones

about his optimism, both generally

and specifically with GaREAT. Hesays he wanted to show developerssomething, to have events beforeasking them to commit.

“They see grand plans every daythat never happen,” he said. Mr.Clutter also is a staunch advocate ofregionalism, and he cites GaREAT’spotential to Ashtabula County andNortheast Ohio as a whole for hiswork on and financial stake in theproject.

“I believe we have a moral oblig-ation to share in our success,” Mr.Clutter said. “Everyone loves region-alism if it’s in their town; we wantedto find a way for everyone to playtogether. A good business or com-munity maximizes its assets.”

That’s not to say reaching thegroup’s lofty goals will be easy.While land acquisition was relativelycheap — $10,000 to $15,000 an acre,according to Mr. Cordell, who saidGaREAT had to do some sewer linework on the property — and the siteis just steps away from an I-90 interchange, it’s facing an uphillbattle, said Alec Pacella, a seniorvice president at commercial realestate broker NAI Daus.

The I-90 corridor in which it sits,from western New York to Detroit,“isn’t the most economically viable,”he said.

Plus, one needs only to look 60


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GaREAT: Development, big events may pose challenges

Westlake: Tenant in hand helps process

miles west, Mr. Pacella said: In Avon,officials are working on a mixed-usedevelopment around the $12 million All Pro Freight Stadium,home of the independent Lake ErieCrushers. A $14 million, 66,000-square-foot YMCA is open, but otherprogress has been slow-moving.

“Ashtabula County isn’t growing(like) eastern Lorain County, and it’staken a while (in Avon),” Mr. Pacellasaid. “I’m not saying (development atGaREAT) can’t happen, but the com-plex would have to be well estab-lished. It becomes a chicken-or-eggtype thing. Hotels aren’t going to buildthere for two or three events a year.”

apartment and commercial buildingin downtown Erie, an adaptive reuse of a school as apartments inMeadville and residential land devel-opment. ■

Meanwhile, major college confer-ence tournaments most often areheld on member campuses. TheCleveland-based MAC, for instance,in 2010-11 will hold 17 of 23 champi-onship events on campuses, andthree others at professional facilities.Eighteen of 22 Big Ten events are oncampus, with three in Indianapolisand another at Huntington Park inColumbus, home of the Indians’Class AAA affiliate, the Clippers. TheBig East, meanwhile, holds nine of15 events on campuses, with twoothers taking place in pro facilities.

“It gives schools a chance to showoff campuses, and from our perspec-tive, it certainly takes a burden off usfrom a planning and staffing stand-point,” said MAC spokesman KenMather. ■



observations by SueAnn Naso, pres-ident of Mayfield Heights-basedStaffing Solutions Enterprises.

“Our business has seen an uptickin permanent placement,” Ms.Naso said. Of the increase that hasbeen noted over the last sevenmonths, Ms. Naso said nearly 80%of the open positions are replacingemployees who left either by choiceor due to performance issues.

And that should serve as a wake-up call of sorts for employers.

“We do see the economy improving,” said Ms. Naso, whosefirm’s client roster includes about

SMALL BUSINESSI N S I D E

AUGUST 9-15, 2010 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 11

15 HOME TEAMMARKETING DELIVERS AGOOD MESSAGE.

Retention especially important for small firmsBy AMY ANN [email protected]

The Village People have beenknown to appear at Clark-Reliance Corp. in Strongsville.Well, at least that was the

case during one of the company’sannual Halloween celebrations.

Chris Fadden, director of marketingand customer support, said employee-centric activities, like the Halloweenparty, are part of the philosophy ofthe controls manufacturer.

“Good times, bad times, they knowthey’re the most important resourceswe have,” Mr. Fadden said.

And as bad times slowly butsurely switch over to good — well,better — times, small businessowners might be well served totake a cue from Clark-Reliance andother employers who have focusedon worker retention.

According to one recent survey,conducted by Harris Interactive forwork force solutions provider AdeccoGroup North America, compared tothe end of 2008, the percentage ofworkers looking for a new job in2010 has increased substantially.

Indeed, the number of Genera-tion Y workers looking for a new jobin 2010 has more than doubled(from 14% to 30%), with more thanhalf planning to go on or alreadyhaving gone on a job interview asthe economy begins to recover.Meanwhile, 30% of Generation Xworkers, 29% of baby boomers and22% of workers 61 and older alsohave interviewed or plan to inter-view in the year ahead, the surveysaid.

Those figures back up similar

Employees’ job interests may start to stray

CONNECTINGWITH DEALS

Outfits discover new ways to market their businesses as

more coupon sites come online

By KATHY AMES [email protected]

Groupon. HeyButler.com. Myezdeal.com.

Online coupon sites — with their array of catchy names and money-saving gimmicks — are popping up all

over, and small businesses in Northeast Ohiohave been quick to try to fit them into their marketing puzzles.

Take, for example, Wonder Bar in downtownCleveland. The highly visible East Fourth Streetrestaurant in June ran a one-day online promo-tion of $15 for $35 worth of small plates anddrinks.

The deal was offered through Groupon, aChicago-based web site launched in November2008 that sends a new e-mail offer each day for abusiness located within the recipient’s city.Groupon currently has 7.1 million subscribersnationwide who have signed up for the free service. It entered the Cleveland market in January 2009.

Of the 75,000 Cleveland-area consumers whoreceived the promotion for Wonder Bar throughe-mail or got word of it through Facebook andTwitter, 486 tapped into the offer with just a fewclicks of a mouse.

See OFFER Page 14

See RETAIN Page 13

A GOOD SITUATION

Mayfield Village-based ERC saysthese factors are among thosethat keep employees happy:■ Challenging work ■ Competitive pay ■ Development and advancementopportunities ■ Work/life balance ■ Organizational success and jobstability■ Supportive work environment ■ Positive leadership and supervision■ Autonomy and independence■ Innovation and creativity■ Understanding how contributionsimpact an organization’s performance(transparency and communication)



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SMALL BUSINESS

IRS addresses complexity of health care tax creditCARLGRASSI

TAX TIPS

One of the more significantprovisions of the Afford-able Care Act enacted earlier this year is the

small business health care tax credit.This credit was created as an

incentive for small businesses to offer health insurance coverage totheir employees for the first time, or to maintain health insurance coverage already in place. Whilelimited in application, smaller employers meeting criteria described below may find the creditto be a significant tax benefit.

The credit is specifically targeted

maximum credit is 35% of premiumspaid by eligible small business employers, and it only is availableto smaller employers, those with 10or fewer full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) with annual average wages of $25,000 or less.

The credit is completely phasedout for employers who have 25FTEs or more or who pay averagewages of $50,000 per year or more.Because the eligibility rules arebased in part on the number ofFTEs, not the number of employees,businesses that use part-time helpmay qualify even if they employ

more than 25 individuals.The employer must maintain a

“qualifying arrangement,” whichmeans the employer pays premiumsfor each employee enrolled inhealth insurance coverage offeredby the employer in an amountequal to a uniform percentage (notless than 50%) of the premium costof the coverage.

One initial drawback of this credit is that the rules applicable tothe credit are extremely complicated.There are numerous requirements,many of which require calculationsof items such as the number of

FTEs, average wages paid and number of hours worked by employees.

Fortunately, the IRS recentlypublished a notice to make it easierfor small businesses to determinewhether they are eligible for thecredit. This new guidance allowssmall businesses to determinemore easily how large a credit theywill receive.

The new guidelines are illustratedby more than a dozen examples tohelp small employers determinewhether they qualify for the creditand estimate the amount of thecredit.

One area of uncertainty has beenthe calculation of the number ofFTEs for purposes of determiningwhether an employer is eligible,and if eligible, how much credit willbe available because the credit isphased out for employers with between 10 and 25 FTEs.

The notice makes it clear thatpartners in a business, as well asshareholders owning more than 2%of an S corporation, and owners ofmore than 5% of other businessesare not counted as employees whendetermining the number of FTEs.Family members of these personsalso are excluded.

The wages of these people arenot used in calculating the amountof average wages. These exclusionsare significant because owners/employees often are paid signifi-cantly more than rank-and-file employees, and including theirwages could increase the averagesignificantly.

Eligible small businesses canclaim the credit as part of the gen-eral business credit starting withthe 2010 income tax return.

Some small businesses providinghealth insurance in 2010 may notqualify for the credit in 2010 because they put their plans inplace before the credit was enactedin March 2010. For example, manysmall employers may not meet therequirement that the employer paya uniform percentage of the premiumcosts. The notice provides some relief for 2010.

The notice gives an example ofan employer that has employeesenrolled in single as well as familycoverage programs. The employerpays the same dollar amount foreach employee, regardless of thecost of the plan.

Because the plans have differenttotal costs, the payment of the samedollar amount violates the “unifor-mity” requirement that the amountspaid by the employer must be a uniform percentage of the total premium cost for each employee.

The transition relief provides thatfor 2010, the employer will bedeemed to meet this requirementas long as said employer pays anamount equal to at least 50% of thepremium for single coverage.

The credit will be a significant benefit to those eligible employerswho already are providing health insurance coverage, and it may allowsome small employers to offer healthinsurance to their employees for thefirst time. The difficulty of determiningthe exact amount of the benefit hasbeen made significantly easier withthe publication of the notice. ■

Mr. Grassi is a member and presi-dent of McDonald Hopkins LLC.

to help small businesses that employ mostly moderate- and lower-income workers.

For tax years 2010 to 2013, the


250 companies of all different sizes.“If they don’t want to lose their talent … they should be sittingdown and talking with them.”

Making the investmentClark-Reliance, which has just

under 200 employees, has a lowturnover rate, with 2% to 3% of itsemployees leaving each year, Mr.Fadden said. There are slightly morethan 30 members of a 20-year club ofemployees, and one employee evenhas been with Clark-Reliance formore than 50 years.

Along with the Halloween festivi-ties, Thanksgiving gift boxes, awardsbanquets, bowling league sponsor-ship (complete with balls, shirts andbags), fishing charters and cookoutsare just a sample of Clark-Relianceactivities geared to the employees.

Mr. Fadden calls the programs a“substantial investment,” citing as anexample the $25,000 budget that hasbeen set aside for an upcoming Oktoberfest celebration.

But, he said, noting the time ittakes to fully train and integrate anew employee, “it’s probably themost important investment.”

ERC, a Mayfield Village-based organization that deals in human resource issues, said it has seen an increase in the number of organiza-tions interested in gathering employeefeedback or conducting an employeeengagement survey, suggesting thatorganizations are becoming interest-ed in getting an objective pulse ofemployee satisfaction levels.

In addition, ERC said that organi-zations appear more inclined tomake positive changes, including


Offering your employees health care coverage is a good thing.

Affordable health care coverage is even better. Anthem has a

wide range of plans designed to fit different needs and different

budgets. Whether you have ten employees or hundreds. So if you

thought you couldn’t afford to offer health benefits, think again.

Think Anthem. Because keeping your business healthy starts with

keeping your employees healthy.

To learn more about what Anthem has to offer your business, go

to anthem.com/connects2 today.

Affordable health care makes for better health. And better business.

Life and Disability products underwritten by Anthem Life Insurance Company. Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the trade name of: In Colorado and Nevada: Rocky Mountain Hospital and Medical Service, Inc. In Connecticut: Anthem Health Plans, Inc. In Indiana: Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. In Kentucky: Anthem Health Plans of Kentucky, Inc. In Maine: Anthem Health Plans of Maine, Inc. In Missouri (excluding 30 counties in the Kansas City area): RightCHOICE® Managed Care, Inc. (RIT), Healthy Alliance® Life Insurance Company (HALIC), and HMO Missouri, Inc. RIT and certain affiliates administer non-HMO benefits underwritten by HALIC and HMO benefits underwritten by HMO Missouri, Inc. RIT and certain affiliates only provide administrative services for self-funded plans and do not underwrite benefits. In New Hampshire: Anthem Health Plans of New Hampshire, Inc. In Ohio: Community Insurance Company. In Virginia: Anthem Health Plans of Virginia, Inc. trades as Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia, and its service area is all of Virginia except for the City of Fairfax, the Town of Vienna, and the area east of State Route 123. In Wisconsin: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Wisconsin (“BCBSWi”), which underwrites or administers the PPO and indemnity policies; Compcare Health Services Insurance Corporation (“Compcare”), which underwrites or administers the HMO policies; and Compcare and BCBSWi collectively, which underwrite or administer the POS policies. Independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. ®ANTHEM is a registered trademark of Anthem Insurance Companies, Inc. The Blue Cross and Blue Shield names and symbols are registered marks of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.OH_CrainsCleve_080910

SMALL BUSINESS

Retain: Firms making changescontinued from PAGE 11 training and development and the

resumption of pre-recession benefitlevels and perks that either were reduced or canceled last year. Callsto the organization regarding compensation questions also haveincreased.

Of the companies that did have tomake cuts due to the economy,there were some that were mindfulof their staffs, turning to low-cost,but high-reward activities and moreopen communication, said TaraHaskett, ERC HR Helpline specialist/consultant.

For those employers who related

to their staffs in a sincere and personalmanner, they may ultimately see itpay off, Ms. Haskett said, which iscritical since retention is especiallyimportant for a small business.

“When you’re a small companyand somebody leaves, it’s more thana physical body,” she said.

Keep them coming backWhile there’s not one specific

thing that guarantees retention,business owners Lisa Nelson andChuck Glover both say they’ve seenlittle turnover on their staffs andeach credits the way in which their

employees are treated.“I look at my employees as an asset.

If you don’t take care of them, youwill lose them,” said Mr. Glover,president of Lake Management Inc.in Mentor, which offers mainte-nance and construction services inaddition to managing condominiumand homeowners associations.

Mr. Glover, who started the busi-ness 13 years ago with his motherand father, has hired 17 employeesover the past two years. The busi-ness currently has 30 employees,two of which are the first ever hiredmore than a decade ago; he’s onlyever had one employee leave, andthat was to run another company.

Mr. Glover considers his a “quality-of-life” company, where personal-ization is important. “Managers are

taught to quickly recognize what’simportant to that employee,” saidMr. Glover, who trains senior staffon human resources issues.

Ms. Nelson, president andfounder of Right Track Benefits inConcord, a full-service insurancebrokerage, believes that the flexi-bility her business offers, especiallyto working parents, is essential tostaff retention.

She started her business as a self-described “one-man show,” build-ing it to its current staffing level ofabout nine employees and a handfulof outside agents.

“Our business is very conduciveto moms,” said Ms. Nelson, whoherself is a mother of three. “Weprobably do more job sharing thanother businesses do.” ■

TEACHER’S PANTRYP.O. Box 254Avon 44011http://teacherspantry.comTeacher’s Pantry is an online and cata-log teacher supply store. Owner KatieGrzelak is a third-grade teacher in theCleveland Municipal School District. Supplies are available in a wide range ofcategories, including active play; artsand crafts; early childhood curriculum;multilingual resources; games; and rewards and incentives.Phone 888-841-5348Fax [email protected]

WE DO LINES7006 West Cross Creek TrailBrecksville 44141www.WeDoLines.comTim Janasek has opened the first franchise of We Do Lines USA Inc., a national parking lot line striping company,that serves the Cleveland area. Based inRidgefield, Conn., and founded in 2008,We Do Lines is a full-service parking lotstriping company.877-336-5463, Ext. [email protected]

To submit a new business for GrandOpenings, contact Amy Ann Stoesselat [email protected] or call 216-771-5155.

GRANDOPENINGS



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216-261-8934 • [email protected]

Offer: Sales won’t necessarily spike SMALL BUSINESS

A number of online coupon sitesare targeting Northeast Ohio.Among them are:

■ Myezdeal.com: CEO TimNiedel launched this site in June, offering deals in Cleveland and sevenother cities. At most, the site hasyielded about 200 deals in a day ineach of its markets, but Mr. Niedelhopes to imitate Groupon’s expo-nential growth.

Myezdeal.com operates nearlythe same way as Groupon, thoughits model is set up to benefit non-profits as well. He operates the sitebetween Medina and Florida.

Sales “have been streaky” sinceits founding, but Mr. Niedel expectsthat number to increase asmyezdeal.com’s visibility grows.

“It’s incredibly difficult. I’ve beenin advertising for 25 years, and thisis a different kind of business,” hesaid. “It’s more expensive than youthink.”

■ idinedeals.com: An extensionof Chicago-based loyalty program Rewards Network, idinedeals.comlaunched July 19 in Cleveland andHouston, and more city sites are inthe works. Restaurants must offerat least 50% off for the site to promote the deal through e-mail andsocial media, said Ronald Blake,president and CEO, who declined toprovide details on the revenue split.

“We picked Cleveland because itis representative of the country,”Mr. Blake said. “We’re looking totarget a mix of high-end fast foodto mid-price and casual. Clevelandis a great representation of thatmix — they have a little bit ofeverything.”

■ SavvyAvenue.com/cleveland:Launched in December 2009, SavvyAvenue Cleveland is an extension

of Chicago-based Savvy AvenueInc., which operates coupon sites infive other markets. The site typicallysplits revenue 50-50 with merchants,although the split is negotiable. Stacy Bohrer, director of sales, said the service differentiates itselffrom competitors because it is notdesigned to solicit large numbers ofsubscribers.

Savvy Avenue also donates $1from each deal to a local charityeach month; so far, the GatheringPlace in Cleveland benefited themost this year with a $1,600 gift.

■ HeyButler.com: Although thissite, based in Solon, is not a new-comer to the online promotion com-munity, operators are working onupdating deals, some of which nolonger are valid because either theoperation went out of business orthey expired and were not pulledfrom the site, said Darren Rose,president.

“The economy has taken a tollon our business,” he said. “Welost a lot of small businesses.This forces us to make decisionson which categories we want topursue.”

The site charges merchants between $40 and $300 a monthto offer deals on the site, depend-ing on the offer’s savings.

He said the restaurant categorygenerates the most business.

■ Restaurant.com: The Illinois-based online site offers various discounted gift certificates at restau-rants, including some in NortheastOhio. Restaurants must commit to a12-month partnership with restau-rant.com to offer the online certifi-cates, which consumers print outonce they purchase the deal.

— Kathy Ames Carr

Coupon sites added at quick clip

While Wonder Bar’s sales are notgoing to spike immediately as a result of the coupon that is valid forsix months, that’s not the goal of thedigital offering.

Wonder Bar expects to capitalizeon the promotion with beefierchecks from those who come totake advantage of the offer, and ithopes to grow a larger patron baseover the long term, said AndreaHowell, general manager.

“We expect people who boughtthe coupon to spend more than$35,” she said. “We hope that thosepeople bring friends, and that wemake more money with additionalbusiness.”

Indeed, small businesses and operators of online coupon websites say the promotions themselveswill not necessarily bring about animmediate boost in revenue, butthey are seen as an opportunity toexpand an establishment’s reachand draw new business.

“It’s a great way to get our nameout there,” Ms. Howell said.

Redeeming qualitiesThe majority of online coupon

sites serving the Cleveland areadon’t charge businesses to promotea product or service through an e-mailed or online offer. The merchant and site operator negoti-ate a benchmark — or the numberof online consumers that must ac-

cept the offer before it is valid. Once that goal is met, the deal

proceeds and the merchant andsite divide the offer’s revenue. Theterms often are negotiable depending on the type of business.

“We never position this service asa quick way to get money,” said JulieMossler, Groupon’s public relationsmanager. “It’s a marketing tool.”

Ryan Hunt, director of sales andmarketing of Glenwillow Grille inSolon, said the eatery lost somemoney during a mid-May Grouponoffer of $15 for $30 worth of food,which resulted in 747 purchases.

“We weren’t going for the instant profit,” Mr. Hunt said. “Ourgoal is repeat business and generalawareness, and that offer reachedout to a wide audience.”

If the restaurant were to featurea deal through Groupon or anothersimilar service again, Mr. Huntsaid the offer probably wouldn’t beas generous.

Similarly, Wesley Brown, owner of KB Clean, said his intention of offering a reduced rate on carpetcleaning services to Cuyahoga andLorain county residents in early Julywas not to make a quick few bucksbut rather to get his name out.

Mr. Brown launched his businessin 2009 and was looking to build hisclient base by promoting a one-daydeal on myezdeal.com for 50% off —or $75 for $150 — worth of work.

According to the site, two

coupons were sold the day the dealwas offered. “I’m looking to buildmy business with referrals, notcoupons,” he said.

Crain’s Cleveland Business, mean-while, sold 42 subscriptions in an offer it ran on Groupon for three daysin June. At least 30 people were required to purchase the deal of $28for a year’s subscription valued at $57.

Return on investmentStill, not all businesses say it

pays to offer deals through onlinecoupon sites.

Izzy Schachner, owner and operator of Cleveland CorporateCaterers, said he likely wasn’t targeting his niche audience and asa result lost money on the Solon-based site HeyButler.com.

As of July 16, the catering companyhad no coupons sold during the six-month-long promotion of 10% off anew customer’s first order.

“The monthly subscription is$100 a month,” with a $600 total investment for the six-month-longpromotion that ends this month,Mr. Schachner said. “But my busi-ness is very different from other retailers. We are very targeted.”

HeyButler.com charges merchantsbetween $40 and $300 a month to offer deals on the site, depending onthe value of the offer. The site coversCuyahoga, Lake, Portage, Stark, Summit and Lorain counties.

“I’m a proponent of supportinglocal businesses, and I gave them ashot,” Mr. Schachner said.

Some small businesses that havefound value in the digital deals saythey are cautious about if and whenthey would repeat a similar offer.

“I wouldn’t want to oversaturatethe market,” Wonder Bar’s Ms.Howell said. ■


IN BRIEF■■ LOOKING GOOD: Cabinet Hard-ware, owned by David Miller, has setup shop in Mentor in the Points EastShopping Center on Mentor Avenue.Mr. Miller, who has owned the businessfor 15 years, said the new location allows for more exposure than hisprevious store in Euclid. Cabinet Hard-ware specializes in decorative hard-ware for doors andcabinets.

■■ SHOW OFFTHOSE PEARLY WHITES: HudecDental, a dental health organization thatoffers a full range of dental services, isscheduled to open its 11th office inMacedonia on Aug. 16. Dr. Ramya

Jagannathan will be the dentist workingfrom the new office, which is located at 845 E. Aurora Road. Hudec’s otheroffices are in Strongsville, BroadviewHeights, Brooklyn, Garfield Heights, Bedford, Euclid and Cleveland.

■■ YUMMY FOR THETUMMY: Bath Town-ship residents Kit andKatie Arn haveopened a RobeksFruit Smoothies &Healthy Eats loca-tion in the Montrosearea of West Akron.

Robeks’ menu items include fruitsmoothies, salads and wraps, which aremade to order using fresh ingredients.The Montrose location is the 12th

Robeks to open in Northeast Ohio.

■■ HOME AWAY FROM HOME: Hattie Larlham Doggie Day Care &Boarding is a cage-free pet boardingfacility operation that has expanded toTwinsburg from its original location inGreen. The program employs peoplewith developmental disabilities interestedin pursing careers in the pet or animalcare industry and their job coaches. Inaddition to providing both long- andshort-term pet boarding, the Twinsburglocation features a retail section to selldog collars, dog clothes and other pet-related items, and grooming will beavailable in the future. The Twinsburgfacility is located at 7996 DarrowRoad, and it has 25 rooms for long-term boarding and day care and employs 40 people with disabilities.

■■ GROWING PAINS: Trinity PensionConsultants, a third-party administra-tion firm, is moving its offices from Fairlawn to Copley. The business is slated to reopen today, Aug. 9, at itsnew location, 202 Montrose West Ave.The decision to move was based onthe company’s need to accommodateits growing business. “We’re very excited about this new space,” saidTrinity principal Anthony Warren in anews release. “The new facilities willhelp us better serve our growing clientbase, including expansion into othercities such as Columbus. Trinity wasalso at the point where we were makingnew hires and the old space was nolonger meeting our needs.”



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Cleveland firm scores in high school sports marketing By JOEL [email protected]

As its name might suggest,Home Team Marketing isquite adept at creating teamchemistry.

The Cleveland company, which recently doubled its space in the Caxton Building in the Gateway District, establishes a presence forcorporations, colleges and other entities at high school sportingevents nationwide, in the form of signage, public address announce-ments, game programs and, most recently, customized contests (text-to-win, for instance).

And in today’s economic climate,Home Team’s sell has become easieras those entities have sought to reconnect with communities andmake more of a grassroots impact.

“When the recession hit, compa-nies’ spending came under morescrutiny,” said senior vice presidentRegan Fitzpatrick, who founded thecompany with his brothers Pete andJake, and friend Patrick Spear. “Now,they want to get into the high schoolarea. They want that exposure inhelping the community.”

A 2009 survey by New Jersey-basedTurnkey Intelligence confirmed thecompany’s anecdotal findings aboutshifting sponsorship goals: 86% ofsurvey takers said high school sportssponsors are important parts of communities; 72% of respondentssaid they’d rather see advertisers’money spent with high school sportsover college and professional.

That’s worked to the advantage ofHome Team, which employs 40 totalin five offices. The quartet started thecompany in 2001; revenue in 2009was up 145%, to more than $6 million, since 2005. The companynow works with nearly 5,000 highschools nationwide, 15 state highschool sports associations and nearly100 advertisers.

The University of Cincinnati is oneof those advertisers, in nearly 100high schools, primarily in Ohio butalso Northeast Kentucky and South-east Indiana, said spokesman GregVehr. Mr. Vehr said applications fromLakewood High School, for example,have grown from one student in 2005to nearly 10 now, but the advertisingaccomplishes more than simply increasing that number.

“It’s right in our bread-and-butterdemographic,” Mr. Vehr said. “Every-one looks for ways to communicateas directly as possible with potential undergraduates and their parents,and it energizes alumni and key supporters in the area.”

Other sponsors include the Cleve-land Clinic, a recently announcedpartnership with K-Swiss, OutbackSteakhouse and others.

Winning schools overWestlake High School has worked

with the company since 2008, whenfour football advertisers earned theschool $3,700; for the 2008-09 basketball season, the total was$1,350. Director of business affairsDave Puffer said the school uses thatonetime money for capital improve-ments, and doesn’t count on it for operating expenses. Westlake upgraded its scoreboard and boughta new field-striping machine.

“It’s a no-lose for us,” Mr. Puffersaid. “They do all lead generation,and just send me a contact number.”

Firmly established with highschools, the company has branchedout to state associations and broad-ened its offerings. Home Team andDan Gilbert-owned Fathead LLC inNovember began offering school-specific versions of Fathead’s popu-lar wall-adhesive stickers that most often depict pro athletes. In June,

Home Team and the Illinois HighSchool Association announced apartnership to jointly market anIHSA “March Madness” initiativeacross the country.

The company also assists state associations with implementingtheir programs in schools, said SteveNeil, an assistant commissioner at

the Ohio High School Athletic Asso-ciation. Home Team has helped theOHSAA take the latter’s drug-free,Buckle up! and other education programs on the road.

Additionally, Home Team’sstreamlining ability is a major ad-vantage. As Westlake’s Mr. Puffersaid, the company handles all facets

of the arrangement, something thatalso has helped the Michigan HighSchool Athletic Association im-mensely.

“That (sales) side of things takes alot of time, to maintain communica-tion with sponsors, to keep up to datethat programming,” said marketingand special programs director AndyFrushour. “We just don’t have thetime or resources to talk with spon-sors and potential sponsors, and theytake care of it.” ■



LARGEST FOREIGN-OWNED COMPANIESRANKED BY NUMBER OF LOCAL EMPLOYEES

Number of full-timeequivalentemployees

Rank

NameLocal addressPhone/Web site

Parent companyHQ location

6/30/2010

6/30/2009

Ohioemployees

Worldwideemployees

# oflocal

facilities Type of business Top local executive

1Sterling Jewelers Inc.375 Ghent Road, Akron 44333(330) 668-5000/www.sterlingjewelers.com

Signet Group PLCLondon 2,323 2,193 3,157 16,320 36 Retail jewelry Mark Light

president, CEO

2Bridgestone Americas Inc.1200 Firestone Parkway, Akron 44317(330) 379-7000/www.bridgestoneamericas.com

Bridgestone Corp.Tokyo 1,715 1,413 1,935 50,000 6 Tire manufacturer

Hank Hara, chief technology officer andvice president, Bridgestone AmericasTire Operations

3Nestle Prepared Foods Co.30003 Bainbridge Road, Solon 44139(440) 349-5757/www.nestleusa.com

Nestle S.A.Vevey, Switzerland 1,626 1,643 1,626 25,000 1

Manufacturer of Stouffer's and LeanCuisine prepared foods, Buitoni pastaand sauce, Hot Pockets and LeanPockets

Bob Leonidaspresident, CEO,Nestle Prepared Foods Co.

4ArcelorMittal3060 Eggers Ave., Cleveland 44105(216) 429-6000/www.arcelormittal.com

ArcelorMittalLuxembourg 1,612 673 2,397 281,703 2 Steel manufacturer

Terry Fedorgeneral manager,ArcelorMittal Cleveland

5Republic Engineered Products Inc.2633 Eighth St., NE, Canton 44704(800) 232-7157/www.republicengineered.com

Industrias CH S.A.B. deC.V.Tlalnepantla, Mexico

1,310 1,004 1,310 NA 4 Manufacturer of special bar qualitysteel

Jaime Vigilpresident, CEO

6Ben Venue Laboratories Inc.300 Northfield Road, Bedford 44146(440) 232-3320/www.benvenue.com

Boehringer Ingelheim Corp.Ingelheim, Germany 1,297 1,206 1,301 NA 1 Manufacturer of sterile injectable

pharmaceutical productsThomas J. Murphypresident, CEO

7Philips Healthcare595 Miner Road, Highland Heights 44143(440) 483-3000/www.philips.com/healthcare

Royal Philips ElectronicsAmsterdam, Netherlands 1,250 1,000 1,250 35,500 1 Manufacturer of medical diagnostic

equipmentJames Fultonsenior vice president,Imaging Systems

8Saint Gobain Corp.750 E. Swedesford Road, Valley Forge 19482(610) 341-7000/www.saint-gobain-corporation.com

Saint-GobainParis 839 950 893 22,000 14

Construction products, high-performance materials, glasscontainers

Thomas Kiniskypresident

9Severstal Warren Inc.999 Pine Ave. SE, Warren 44483(330) 841-8218/www.severstalna.com

OAO SeverstalMoscow, Russia 800 100 800 NA 1 Integrated flat rolled steel producer Wilbur Winland

vice president, general manager

9Luk USA LLC3401 Old Airport Road, Wooster 44691(330) 264-4383/www.lukusa.com

Schaeffler KGHerzogenaurach, Germany 800 800 800 61,000 1 Drivetrain component supplier Marc McGrath

president

11AkzoNobel Paints LLC15885 W. Sprague Road, Strongsville 44136(440) 297-8000/www.akzonobel.com

AkzoNobelAmsterdam, TheNetherlands

550 550 900 57,060 10 International paint, coatings andspecialty chemicals company

Erik BoutsCEO,Akzo Nobel Paints LLC

12Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems Corp.1204 Massillon Road, Akron 44306(330) 796-4400/www.aircraftbraking.com

Meggitt PLCDorset, England 525 600 525 NA 1 Manufacturer of aircraft wheels, brakes

and brake control systemsJ.J. Williamsexecutive vice president and generalmanager global operations

13V&M Star2669 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Youngstown 44510(330) 742-6300/www.vmstar.com

Vallourec GroupBoulogne-Billancourt,France

474 420 474 18,600 1 Seamless steel pipe, mainly OCTG andline pipe for the energy industry

Joel Mastervichpresident, COO

14TTI Floor Care North America7005 Cochran Road, Glenwillow 44139(440) 996-2000/www.ttifloorcare.com

Techtronic IndustriesHong Kong 451 451 486 2,848 3 Vacuum cleaner distribution, developer,

corporateChris Gurreripresident

15Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems LLC901 Cleveland St., Elyria 44035(440) 329-9000/www.bendix.com

Knorr-Bremse GroupMunich, Germany 400 430 NA 2,043 1

Leading developer and supplier ofactive-vehicle safety technologies, airbrake charging and control systemsand components

Joseph J. McAleesepresident, CEO

16Hitachi Medical Systems America Inc.1959 Summit Commerce Park, Twinsburg 44087(330) 425-1313/www.hitachimed.com

Hitachi Medical Corp.Tokyo, Japan 350 350 150 NA 1 Medical imaging OEM Donald Broomfield

president, CEO

17The Akron Beacon Journal44 E. Exchange St., Akron 44309(330) 996-3000/www.ohio.com

Black Press Ltd.Victoria, British Columbia 320 335 320 NA 1 Akron Beacon Journal and Ohio.com Andrea Mathewson

publisher

18Thomas Steel Strip Corp.Delaware Ave. NW, Warren 44485(330) 841-6222/www.corusgroup.com

Tata Steel Ltd.Mubai, India 286 286 286 350 1 Manufacturing William Boyd

president, CEO

19Elster Perfection436 North Eagle St., Geneva 44041(440) 415-1600/www.elster-perfection.com

Elster GroupLuxembourg 276 256 276 7,000 3

Mechanical joining products for naturalgas and propane gas distributionsystems

Robert Diakdirector of operations

20Foseco, A Division of Vesuvius USA Corp.20200 Sheldon Road, Brook Park 44142440-826-4548/www.foseco.com

Cookson Group PLCLondon 270 250 280 12,100 2

Leading manufacturer of refractoryproducts for the molten metalsindustries

Glenn A. Cowieregional vice-president, Americas

21XChanging31500 Solon Road, Solon 44139(440) 914-2000/www.xchanging.com

Xchanging PLCLondon, England 250 250 250 8,200 1 Business process outsourcing

William A. Whitehead of production,Solon Production Center

22Koyo Corporation of U.S.A.29570 Clemens Road, Westlake 44145(440) 835-1000/www.koyousa.com

JTEKT Corp.Osaka, Japan 180 90 180 35,465 2

Leading international manufacturer ofball and roller bearings for automotiveand industrial applications

Rob Hamiltondirector of industrial sales

23The Genie Co.22790 Lake Park Blvd., Alliance 44601(330) 821-5360/www.geniecompany.com

Sanwa Holdings Corp.Tokyo 170 170 400 NA 1 Manufacturer of remote-controlled

garage door opening systemsRick Johnsondirector of operations

24EYE Lighting International of North America Inc.9150 Hendricks Road, Mentor 44060(440) 350-7000/www.eyelighting.com

Iwasaki Electric Co.Tokyo 160 140 160 2,370 1 Manufacturer and distributor of HID

light sourcesTom Salpietrapresident, COO

25Pepperl+Fuchs Inc.1600 Enterprise Parkway, Twinsburg 44087(330) 425-3555/www.pepperl-fuchs.us

Pepperl+Fuchs GmbHMannheim, Germany 155 170 155 3,700 1 Manufacturer of sensors, controls, and

safety devicesWolfgang MuellerCOO

26Lafarge North America Inc.10325 State Route 43, Unit F, Streetsboro 44241(330) 954-1750/www.lafargenorthamerica.com

Lafarge S.A.Paris 130 149 90 90,000 6 Construction material supplier and

producerNathan Creechvice president, general manager

27Radici Plastics USA960 Seville Road, Wadsworth 44281(330) 336-7611/www.mdayinc.com

RadiciGroupBergamo, Italy 89 85 85 0 1 Thermoplastics resins Michael T. Cain

COO

Source: Information is supplied by the companies unless footnoted and from corporate websites. Worldwide employee numbers are for the parent company and may be from theannual report or website. Crain's Cleveland Business does not independently verify the information and there is no guarantee these listings are complete or accurate. Wewelcome all responses to our lists and will include omitted information or clarifications in coming issues. Individual business lists and The Book of Lists are available to purchaseat www.crainscleveland.com.

RESEARCHED BY Deborah W. Hillyer


of that scrap has gone from $200 a tonto $400 in the last 12 months — andnot due to domestic demand alone.

“The U.S. is a net exporter ofscrap,” he said. “Because of that phe-nomenon, what’s happening withsteel production in other parts of theworld affects us here.”

In other words, since scrap priceshave gone up in China, India andTurkey, they’ve also gone up here,even without a huge spike in domesticdemand, he said.

The other factor pushing up pricesis production. Steelmakers do not liketo run at full capacity unless they can sell everything they make at an acceptable profit, and if they can’t,they keep mills idle to maintainpricing. Then, when prices turnaround, it can take them some time toget back to full capacity.

In Canton, Timken is climbing theproduction utilization curve now. After its production dipped to 25% ofcapacity in the second quarter of 2009— a company low — it’s now rampedback up to about 75% and growing,Mr. Kurkcu said.

That will be good news for customers, who have had to waitlonger to get their steel. Mr. Kurkcusaid lead times this year have gone

from about six weeks to 20. That’s because Timken was not at a high level of production when customersbegan to restock their inventories,causing a mismatch between demand and production.

Now, Timken has rehired workerslaid off during the recession andlooking to go to three shifts, sevendays a week, Mr. Kurkcu said.

“We’ll be ramped up and, barringsome double-dip recession — and weare not in the camp of predicting thatwill happen — our lead times shouldcome down even with strong demandnext year,” he said.

But in Cleveland, neither marketdemand nor potential price increaseshas so far translated into extra work atArcelorMittal’s mill in the Flats.

“Right now we’re pretty slow actu-ally; we’re probably running the plantat around 60% of capacity,” said MarkGranakis, president of SteelworkersLocal 979, which represents about1,100 workers at the plant.

“We won’t know what the businesspicture looks like for a couple ofweeks. When the orders come in forSeptember, we’ll know what we’redoing for the fourth quarter. We couldbe busier, we could be slower, wedon’t know yet,” Mr. Granakis said.

If the company is right, busier

fiscal year that ended June 30, 2009.“A lot are seeing improved

fundraising (but) it’s nowhere closeto returning to where it was (beforethe recession),” said Kathryn Master-son, a staff reporter for the Chronicleof Higher Education. “The year beforewas pretty bad. It had the steepestdrop in a long time.”

In the fiscal year that ended June30, 2009, the number of people donating to colleges dropped by 4.7%and colleges’ “annual funds” declinedby 13%, according to a report fromTarget Analytics, a Charleston, S.C.,firm that provides management services to nonprofits.

“The folks that had been givingfor a long time continued to givebut they gave a little less,” he said.“(Others) just didn’t want to makethat first gift at the rates one would

normally expect.”

Making adjustmentsNortheast Ohio’s colleges antici-

pated the economy’s effect on givingand took measures to nip it in thebud.

“We detected early on where theeconomic times had changed and we had to make a lot more contactand have more creativity,” said BruceLoessin, CWRU’s senior vice presi-dent for university relations and development.

CWRU significantly increasedmailings, phone calls and personalvisits with donors, he said. One rela-tionship formed by CWRU presidentBarbara Snyder culminated in a $20million gift from 1937 graduate Tinkham Veale II, whom she first vis-ited before officially becoming presi-dent of the university in 2007.

Kent State over the last two yearshas added 10 people to its advance-ment office, bringing the staff to100, said Gene Finn, vice presidentfor institutional advancement atKent State. The public school alsoappealed to donors and existingstudents to help fund scholarshipsfor those in need, he added.

Those pleas resulted in raising$37 million in the fiscal year thatended June 30, 2009, and $39.8 million in the fiscal year that endedJune 30, 2010, he said. Prior to that,Kent State averaged $25 million inannual donations, he said.

Internet giving has paid off forNotre Dame College, said MyrtleMuntz, vice president of advance-ment at Notre Dame. The annualfund raised $300,000 in the fiscal yearthat ended June 30, which is 12%higher than the $268,000 raised the


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Colleges: Schools braced for economy’s impact on giving

Steel: Demand holds steady

year before, she said.The college also has created more

advisory councils on which local professionals can serve — a move shehopes will lead to more donations later. “Relationship building is whatit’s all about,” Ms. Muntz added.

Cleveland State University’s devel-opment team increasingly has beenforging new relationships and statingthe university’s case for donations,said Steven Minter, interim vice pres-ident for advancement at the publicuniversity.

“There are a lot of people workingwith alumni and encouraging gifts,and each of the colleges have devel-

opment officers who are constantlycalling (potential donors),” he said.

Donors responded to student tuition needs, new programs andconstruction projects with $11.4million in donations in the fiscalyear that ended June 30, which is19% higher than the $9.75 millioncollected the previous year, Mr.Minter said.

Donors also stepped up to support Baldwin-Wallace College’scomprehensive campaign, whichhas raised $93.6 million on an $82million goal, said Bill Spiker, vicepresident for advancement at Bald-win-Wallace. ■

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seems like a real possibility. “The global steel market is contin-

uing to improve gradually. While weremain cautious, we still believe thatthe global steel market should grow byat least 10% in 2010,” ArcelorMittalspokeswoman Mary Beth Holdfordsaid in an e-mail. ■



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Region researches waysto be a bigger R&D player■ Case Western Reserve University is doingmore than its fair share to increase theamount that Northeast Ohio colleges spendon research, but schools elsewhere still do alot more R&D than schools here.

Research expenditures at CWRU grew to$416 million in 2008 from $268 million in

2004 — a 64% increase, accordingto statistics from the NortheastOhio High-Tech Economy Report. An official from theuniversity was unable to pro-vide more recent statisticslast week.

The increase, however, isn’t enough to put Northeast

Ohio’s colleges on par with otherregions in terms of how much they spend onresearch and development, according to thestudy, which was conducted by ClevelandState University and financed by regionaltechnology advocacy group NorTech.

As a whole, colleges in Northeast Ohiospend just $248 for each employed citizen inthe 21-county region, compared with $351for the Midwest and $387 for the country asa whole.

Northeast Ohio’s numbers would lookbetter if they included the $258 million in research the Cleveland Clinic conductedduring 2008, or the $961 million that NASAGlenn Research Center put toward researchduring that fiscal year. And though North-east Ohio’s numbers lag other regions’ stats,NorTech president Rebecca Bagley said she

expects that won’t always be the case.Schools such as Kent State University and

the University of Akron — which when combined accounted for about $50 millionin research and development expendituresin 2008 — are intent on becoming biggerforces in the research arena. Plus, CWRU isworking to recruit more researchers to viefor federal grants, Ms. Bagley said.

“All of this comes down to ‘Do you havethe researchers in place to compete for whatis mostly federal money?’” she said. —Chuck Soder

The name is Sideways, butthe company is moving up■ Sideways, the publishing-oriented softwarecompany, is growing in the penthouse, asthe 21st-floor of the Keith Building is known.

Eliza Wing, Sideways president and chiefoperating officer, said the company recentlydoubled its offices on the top floor of thebuilding. She said the firm plans to add sixmobile app developers soon to its 12-personstaff. The new space may hold Sideways forsome time; it can accommodate 28 people.

Sideways is a software company that enriches the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touchversions of books, magazines and otherpublications. Ms. Wing, former CEO ofCleveland.com, launched the venture earlierthis year with Charles Stack, best known asthe originator of Books.com in 1992, whichBarnes & Noble acquired.

Bill West, who heads the Keith’s ownershipgroup, said the space has been the host ofmany growing companies through the years.

Mr. West credits a more basic reason for theKeith’s tech-nurturing role: a location ontwo fiber-optic lines outside its doors at 1621Euclid Ave. — Stan Bullard

After a rocky 2009, SageRocksees solid results in new home■ Sage Lewis today isn’t nearly as worried ashe was back in March.

Five months ago his company, SageRockInc., bought a building that would becomeits new headquarters. However, the Akronfirm, which helps companies optimize theirweb sites and market themselves online,had a rough 2009.

SageRock wasn’t carrying any debt, butMr. Lewis got a little nervous at the thoughtof buying a building for the small firm duringwhat he described as “the tightest cash flowpoint in the history of the company.”

But wouldn’t you know, right afterward,sales started picking up. All of the suddenthe down payment and all the fees associatedwith buying property were no longer noworrisome. “It all just flipped very sudden-ly,” said Mr. Lewis, who started the compa-ny in 1999 with his wife, Rocky.

SageRock got the previous owner to lowerthe price of the property at 15 Broad St. to$225,000, which was about $100,000 belowits listed price. So now the search enginemarketing firm’s mortgage is about halfwhat it used to pay in rent at its old space at theIce and Coal Warehouse near downtown Akron.

Plus, the company now has more space.It already leases some of it to Skytech Train-ing LLC, an IT training firm. — Chuck Soder

MILESTONE

COMPANY: Kaufman ContainerCo., ClevelandTHE OCCASION: Its 100th anniversary

The family-owned company, which makescontainers and packaging for a variety of in-dustries, earlier this summer hit a mark fewbusinesses can claim: a century in business.

Eliezer Kaufman started the company in1910 in Cleveland as L.S. Kaufman & Sons.Its original concept was one that’s familiar topeople today — recycling. The companywould pick up used glass bottles, wash themand resell them. Its first products were glassbottles and containers for a variety of markets,including food, beverage, chemicals andpharmaceuticals.

The company got into the business of sellingplastic containers in the late 1950s. Its namewas shortened to Kaufman Container in 1964.

Decorating services were added in 1982.A big acquisition in 1999, of Minneapolis-basedTwin City Bottle, expanded the company’sgeographic scope. The two companies oper-ated separately until they were merged foroperational purposes on Jan. 1, 2004.

For information, visit www.KaufmanContainer.com.

Send information about corporate anniver-saries to managing editor Scott Suttell [email protected].

REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOKBEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS

THEINSIDER

THEWEEK AUGUST 2 - 8

The big story: TFS Financial Corp., the holdingcompany for Third Federal Savings and LoanAssociation of Cleveland, said it will stop payingdividends to investors and has halted its stock repurchase program. The company also announcedit has suspended the origination of all new equityloans and lines of credit and is “working diligently”to resolve concerns of the Office of Thrift Super-vision with respect to its home equity line ofcredit portfolio. Those announcements came asTFS Financial reported net income of $10.2 million for the second quarter ended June 30,virtually identical to earnings of $10 million forthe like period a year ago. In a measure of howhard the recession has hit the region, TFS Finan-cial said its nonperforming loans as of June 30stood at $290.7 million, or 3.25% of total loans,compared with $238.4 million, or 2.53% of totalloans, on June 30, 2009.

Recipe for growth: Nestle Prepared FoodsCo. is expanding in Solon with the purchase of aKeithley Instruments Inc. building at 30500Bainbridge Road. Nestle is paying $3.8 millionfor the 75,600-square-foot office/warehousestructure, built in 1985. Roz O’Hearn, a Nestlespokeswoman, said the company needs thespace for its expanding food products businesses,including Stouffer’s and Lean Cuisine brands.She would not speculate on the number of employees the company might add when itmoves into the new building in three to fourmonths, after a renovation.

Transition keeps rolling: Directors ofGoodyear Tire & Rubber Co.announced that presidentand CEO Richard J. Kramerwas elected chairman of theboard, effective Oct. 1. He succeeds Robert J. Keegan,who will step down as chairmanand a director and retire fromthe Akron-based tiremaker.Mr. Kramer, 46, succeeded Mr.Keegan as president and CEOon April 13. Mr. Keegan, 63,joined Goodyear in 2000 aschief operating officer. Hebecame president and CEOin January 2003 and chair-man of the board in July of

that year.

The Wright stuff: Diversified industrial man-ufacturer Eaton Corp. agreed to buy Wright LineHolding Inc., a maker of data center enclosuresand air flow management systems. Terms of thedeal were not disclosed. Eaton said Worcester,Mass.-based Wright Line posted sales of about$101 million during the past 12 months and hasmore than 350 employees.

Engineering a deal: Applied IndustrialTechnologies Inc. said it acquired the assets ofUZ Engineered Products, a Cleveland companythat distributes products for maintenance, repair and operational needs. The seller wasState Industrial Products Corp., also based inCleveland. UZ employs more than 170 peopleand generated 2009 sales of about $23 million.David DeBord, currently president of UZ, willcontinue to serve in that position.

Fruitful exploration: Health data technologycompany Explorys Inc. secured a $2.55 millioninvestment from Santé Ventures of Austin,Texas, with follow-on financing from ClevelandClinic Innovations. The Cleveland company iscommercializing software the Cleveland Clinicdeveloped to study its own patient records. Thecompany has launched a version of the softwarethat allows health care providers to contributepatient records to the database and analyze in-formation uploaded by participating providers.


Excerpts from blog entries on CrainsCleveland.com.

BEST OF THE BLOGS

Cleveland’s an export hub, butnot a hub of export growth■ The New Republic took a look at what itcalled the “Cleveland conundrum” when itcomes to exports.

Jennifer Bradley, a senior research asso-ciate at the Brookings Metropolitan PolicyProgram, wrote that while Cleveland— and by extension all Great Lakesmetro areas — remains an export power-house, its export growth “has been lackluster.” In the Midwest, she wrote,only Des Moines and Madison had“better-than-middling export growthbetween 2003 and 2008.”

The problem for Clevelandand other Great Lakes cities,she wrote, is that they “are exporting things for whichglobal demand is dropping or beingmet by other countries. Or, demand is fairlysteady, but the number of workers it takesto meet that demand has taken a nose dive.”

More troubling, Ms. Bradley wrote, is thatCleveland and most Great Lakes metros“have unimpressive rates of innovation.Metros that are manufacturing-oriented orexport intensive (or both) tend to generatepatents at much higher rates than othermetros. But most Great Lakes metros underperform on innovation.”

The region’s best hope for growth, sheconcluded, is to “ramp up its innovationswithin the manufacturing sector to fully realize the promise of a global-oriented export economy.”

In families these days,it’s the more the merrier■ Four is the new two.

Or so said Forbes.com in a piece aboutprofessional women “shattering the two-children, nuclear-family norm” by favoringlarge numbers of children, which quoted aCase Western Reserve University professor.

Susan W. Hinze, professor of sociologyand women’s and gender studies at CaseWestern Reserve, told Forbes.com that National Center for Health Statistics show

fertility rates increased steadily until 2006to 2.1 children per American woman,

hitting a high since the baby boom in1961. (There has, though, been a slightdecrease in births in the past coupleyears because of the recession.)

Prof. Hinze said there’s evidencethat affluent families are beginningto have more children. Accordingto the Council on Contemporary

Families, “there’s been a signif-icant increase in three- and

four-children families amongthe ‘super rich,’ or the top-earning

2% of households, which translates toan annual household income of about$400,000 or more,” according to Forbes.com.

Aiding this trend, Prof. Hinze said, is thatmany companies offer better parental leavepackages and more flexible scheduling forboth women and men.

They’ll have to wait ’til nextyear to be more helpful■ Satirical web site The Onion, as always,nailed it with this headline: “Indians Apol-ogize for Not Having Ace Pitcher to Trade toContender This Year.”

In the (fake) story, Cleveland Indians GMMark Shapiro said he feels “just awful” thatteams have worked so hard this season andthe Indians have no way to help them.

“But I assure you, we’ve been developinga number of prospects we soon won’t be ableto afford,” Mr. Shapiro “told” The Onion.

Kramer

Keegan


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