The Business Journal Growth Report

The Valley’s Business MattersISSN 1047-8582 Vol. 26 No. 14 MidJANUARY 2010 $2.50

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Oliver Kuttner, CEO of Edison2, in the running for the Automotive X Prize, hopes his Very Light Car will win the $10 million purse.

Ford dealer Terry Poulton shows off the interior of one the company’s new models.

Small Automakers Race to MarketEntrepreneurs drive development of electric vehicles like industryvisionaries of 100 years ago.By Maraline Kubik

competing for the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize and one of seven competitors that were on display along Electric Avenue at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Electric Avenue, new to the auto show this year, was a 37,000-square-foot exhibit on the main fl oor

that showcased the latest electric vehicles and technology.

The Automotive X Prize, much like the Explora-tion X Prize that grabbed international headlines when it was awarded to Burt Rutan, who built and

Growth Report 2010

Ford Dealers Ride High With Culture ShiftBy Dan O’Brien

See ELECTRIC VEHICLES, page 12

The race is on, the competition stiff. Who will break away from the pack is anybody’s guess.

Only one thing is certain – the automotive industry is in the midst of the greatest revolution in its history, with hordes of startup companies that develop products worlds apart from those the major automakers put out.

Much like the visionaries of a hundred years ago, who built the forerunners of the modern automo-bile, today’s entrepreneurs envision – and in some cases build – vehicles that get the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of fuel, produce zero emissions, manuever through crowded streets and stopped traffi c, fi t between parked cars and catch the eyes of passersby.

“The Tango is the world’s fastest urban car and ar-guably the safest,” boasts Rick Woodbury, president of Commuter Cars (CommuterCars.com).

Based in Spokane, Wash., Commuter Cars manufactures the Tango, an all-electric vehicle that features tandem seating for the driver and one pas-senger, goes from zero to 60 mph in four seconds, can reach speeds of up to 130 mph in one gear and produces zero emissions. It is among 51 vehicles

When Ford dealer Terry Poulton has a question related to his business, he

goes right to the top for answers. “Every time I’ve e-mailed Alan Mu-

lally, he’s gotten back to me,” Poulton says of the president and CEO of the Ford Motor Co. “He’s answered them

all without fail, and solved every issue I’ve brought to him. Every one.”

For the CEO of a major U.S. cor-poration to take time and address questions from a small dealer from a quiet town in Ohio refl ects the seismic cultural shift at Ford – and why the automaker is at the top of its game, Poulton says.

Poulton, owner of Columbiana Ford, Columbiana, says the company’s decision in 2006 to hire Mulally, a

See FORD DEALERS, page 9

2 MidJANUARY 2010 The Business Journal

16 Taking Aim at Detroit’s Big 3 Joseph J. White, chief operating offi cer of CT&T United Inc. of Korea, stands before one of the 25 models his company brought to the North American International Auto Show. New Asian automakers are setting their sights on the domestic market.

15 Lou Zona

18 Interest Rates

19 Credit Unions

2009 Progress, Goals for 2010 More than 170 companies and organiza-tions answered our call to “Tell Us Your Story” for publication in our annual Growth Report. This 116-page edition is the most comprehensive reference guide ever pub-lished on local business. Enjoy!

105 BBB Report

110 Auto Loans

111 Mortgages

14, 44 Recession ResistanceThe CEO of McDonald Steel tells how his company reduced costs, imposed pricing discipline, developed new products and conserved energy. Its resistance to giving into tough times is hailed on Page 14 and detailed in depth on Page 44.

See RECOVERY, page 4

With more than a half-trillion dollars from the stimulus package unspent, economists agree that the economy will enjoy a

sustained recovery this year. It’s 2011 they’re not so sure about.

“A lot of correction in the economy has already taken place,” observes George Mokrzan, senior economist at Huntington Investment Management Services, Columbus. “There’s a lot of government spending in the pipeline. Spending will rise astro-nomically in the next couple of years.”

While the recovery, which began last summer with the gross domestic product growing 2.2% in the third quarter, will continue this year, the rate of unemployment will remain high. Employers, playing

Inside

Jobless Recovery AheadA.J. Summell, assistant professor of economics at Youngstown State University, understands that businesses are having a tough time getting credit. “But it’s getting easier,” he says. “It’s still a problem to get the credit they need but things will improve.”

Survey of economists fi nds some reason for mild optimism.By Dennis LaRue

their cards close to their vests, lack confi dence the rebound will last and remain loath to rehire those they laid off, economists say.

There’s another factor as well, something Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics LLC, Pepper Pike, calls “overemployment.”

Before the recession hit in December 2007, he explains, “For whatever reason, American business got complacent and lost something of its manage-ment edge. People were employed but managed not to produce at their full potential. Even though the measured unemployment rate dropped to 4.4% in late 2006, the ‘true’ unemployment rate was higher because some of the potential of employed workers was not fully tapped.”

When the recession took hold, management laid off workers then “fi gured out how to get more potential out of the remaining workers,” he says. “The extra potential was there.”

The need to hire workers back is reduced, May-

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The Business Journal MidJANUARY 2010 3

Recovery: land continues, and with management discovering they weren’t getting workers’ full potential, they won’t return to previous levels of employment. “Some jobs have been permanently lost.”

And unlike some previous recessions and recov-eries, “the job cuts and rehiring will not [Mayland’s emphasis] be symmetrical.”

By the end of 2010, says Bill Stone, senior vice president and chief investment strategist in Phila-delphia for PNC Wealth Management Institutional Investments, the formal unemployment rate should drop to 9.6%. Growth for this year should be in the neighborhood of 3% and growth for the fourth quarter of 2009 should come in at 2.8% (figures won’t be released until Jan. 29).

“Less down is the new up,” he suggests. Helping to sustain the recovery, Stone says, will

be the “greater availability of credit. It’s getting bet-ter,” he says.

That would be welcome news to small businesses in the Mahoning Valley where Lori Fuzo is a con-sultant. Fuzo, a certified public accountant, reports most of her clients have yet to feel the recovery and remain frustrated at their bankers’ unwillingness to extend credit or restore their pre-recession limits. She does not expect any to rehire any time soon.

“Businesses are still having a hard time getting credit,” agrees A.J. Summell, assistant professor of economics at Youngstown State University who tracks the regional economy. “But it’s getting easier. It’s still a problem to get the credit they need but things will improve.”

Complicating the situation, he observes: “You can’t force banks to make loans,” especially when they are resisting re-regulation from Congress, the scope and severity of which are both uncertain and unwelcome. With increased regulation comes banks’ desire for more assurance they can lend profitably.

The increased loan guarantees the U.S. Small Business Administration presented last February were temporary. Still, they “had an impact,” Summell says. “They reduced small-business owners’ costs associated with loans. But how wise is it from the government’s perspective? You want to encourage loan growth,” but should the government be as-suming bank risk? The Federal Reserve Bank can’t reduce rates any lower, he says.

Investors’ allocations of their portfolios reflect the battering the first decade of this century inflicted on stocks, Stone says, with most PNC clients more interested in safety than return. “It’s 50% stocks, 50% bonds at the moment,” he reports. “There’s still an eye on the risk out there.”

Huntington Investments’ Mokrzan expects to see growth this year of 3.4% in what he describes as a “moderate recovery.” He calls himself “more optimistic than most economists” as he see payrolls and the labor market rebounding. “There was no labor hoarding during the downturn,” he says with intended understatement.

November’s numbers buttress his optimism that unemployment may fall more than most economists predict. “The weekly hours worked rose at their quickest pace since January ’06,” he points out. “This confirms that the recovery is broad-based, covering manufacturing and nonmanufacturing as well.”

In the Mahoning Valley, Summell says, it won’t be until 2014 “before we see 2007 employment levels. 2012 is the earliest we’ll see 6% unemployment. Pes-

simistically, [national] unemployment will remain at 10% throughout the year.”

Whether the Labor Department’s figures released Jan. 21 – against expectations, unemployment claims rose to 482,000, an increase of 36,000 for the week ended Jan. 15 – is a blip or a harbinger is too soon to say.

Fourth-quarter GDP is expected to be somewhere between 3% and 4%, Mayland, says, who projects this year’s growth to end up just shy of 4%. “But I always hasten to add that recovery does not mean a return to good times,” he cautions. “There’s still a lot of unemployment.”

In the Valley, still home to heavy manufacturing, employment should recover this year, Summell says. Northeastern Ohio has reduced its reliance on manufacturing, Team NEO reports, citing the 30% of the work force who depended on manufacturing for their paychecks in 1981 to the 12% today.

“I expect manufacturing employment to in-crease,” Summell says. “It will be more dramatic and happen more quickly than in the other sectors. ... Employment, pay and salaries, all will rise,” but not enough to recoup all the jobs that disappeared.

The only bright spot in the unemployment pic-ture he sees is, “In the last six months, job losses stabilized. I expect employment manufacturing to increase. It will be more dramatic and happen more quickly than in the other sectors.”

Like Mayland, Summell sees some jobs lost for good. “We’ll never get back all those jobs. To transi-tion is neither easy nor pleasant,” he says, pointing to the need for more workers in the health and transportation sectors. That does not mean those laid off from manufacturing can switch easily to another field that might pay less.

The most optimistic outlook comes from Joshua N. Feinman, chief economist at DB Advisors, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bank Group. He sees an annual growth rate this year of 2.5% the first quarter, 3.2% the second, 3.5% the third and 4.0% the last. And he predicts 2011 will start strong with 4.2% growth.

Fourth-quarter 2009 growth, he points out, “re-flects a slower pace of inventory liquidation rather than an acceleration of final demands.”

Feinman notes, “If the labor market follows the

pattern of the last two recoveries and gains strength only gradually, it may take longer for the virtuous cycle of strengthening income, confidence and spending to get going this time. ... And even if it does, it will take several years at least to re-employ all of the resources idled by this downturn.”

All economists see reason for mild optimism. The housing market has “stabilized,” their term for not getting any worse. “That’s a huge step,” Huntington’s Mokrzan says. The prices of houses for sale have fallen all they’re going to, providing both buyer and seller a sense of confidence.

While Americans are buying homes – sales are trending upward (“Up five straight months,” May-land notes, “and the sixth is flat) – most are moving into existing houses or condominiums, not building new houses. So the only aspect contributing to GDP statistics, Mayland points out, are the real estate agents’ commissions.

New housing starts are at an annual rate of 500,000, Mayland notes, when “the nation can sus-tain a 1.5 million or 1.6 million annual pace.”

Also contributing to the relative surge in home sales are the income-tax credits Congress has pro-vided most homebuyers. Without them, the market would still be in the doldrums.

Consumer spending is rising, even leaving out vehicle sales and gasoline, PNC’s Stone says.

“The savings rate has stabilized, even reduced,” Mayland adds. “The 90% who remain employed are more confident.”

“Consumer spending is picking up,” Mokrzan says. “Some are returning to work.” He expects to see “positive net payrolls” early this year.

With salaries and wages outside Wall Street expected to remain flat or grow only slightly, infla-tion is unlikely to threaten the economy this year, the economists agree. “I regret to say there’s been a deceleration in the growth of wages,” Mokrzan says. “Year over year, the average hourly earnings have risen only 2.2%. At the beginning of 2007, it was near 4%. And we’re not at the bottom yet.”

“We won’t see increases in real income until we see a [significant] decrease in unemployment,” YSU’s Summell says. “As long as it’s above 8%, there’ll be no increase in real income.”

“With 10% unemployment, there’s a lot of slack in the economy,” Mayland points out, and no incen-tive for employers to offer higher wages to attract new workers.

Paradoxically, an economy in recovery may well spur the unemployed no longer counted in Depart-ment of Labor statistics (long out of work and no longer looking) to seek to re-enter the work force and be counted as among the unemployed, Mokrzan says, thus making it appear that unemployment numbers are worse.

Last October the rate of inflation fell 0.2% year over year but November’s numbers saw better than a 1.8% increase over November 2008, Mayland says. He sees a 3% rise in inflation this year. PNC’s Stone concurs, noting, “The long-term average for inflation since the 1930s is a little over 3%.”

Summell and Mokrzan agree that, as the latter puts it, “Inflation is not so much a near-term worry. ... Three to five years from now it could be.” Summell says, “It’s not an immediate concern. Potentially, it’s a major problem in the not-so-distant future.”

“Stocks have moved ahead of the economic recovery,” PNC’s Stone says, “and so far the stocks have been right.”

From Page 3

Bill Stone of PNC Wealth Management Institutional Investments believes growth this year should be in the neighborhood of 3%.


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Warren Fire: Works to Prevent, Control FiresFrom Page 5

1st National Community Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Aebischer’s Jewelry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Aim NationaLease . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Akron-Canton Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Alcyon Wealth Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Allegheny County Airport Authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113America’s Insurance Agency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39American Business Center Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Associated School Employees Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Augenstein, Gabriele and Mapes CPAs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89B.J. Alan Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Basinger Auction Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Beatitude House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Belleria Pizza and Italian Restaurant, Boardman . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Belleria Pizza and Italian Restaurant, Hubbard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Berner International Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Best Western Penn-Ohio Inn and Suites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Bob and Chuck Eddy Chrysler Dodge Jeep. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Briarfi eld Health Care Centers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Bury Financial Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Butler County Community College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Butler Institute of American Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33C. Tucker Cope and Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Cafaro Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Cailor Fleming Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Canfi eld Computers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Carney-McNicholas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Castlo Community Improvement Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25Cboss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Cerni Motor Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Chappell’s House of Pictures and Frames . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Cohen and Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Columbiana County Port Authority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Come Stay and Play Pet Resort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45CommonCents Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Covelli Centre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Cure-All Professionals.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89DRS LLC. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Drywall Barn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Duncan’s Bath and Kitchen Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Eastern Gateway Community College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Empyra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Facial Plastic and Aesthetic Laser Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Fallsway Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46Farmers National Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Farmers Trust. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95Farris Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Fastsigns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53First National Bank of Pennsylvania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98First Place Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Flex-Strut Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Focal Point Coaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Gorant Chocolatier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85Gordon Bros. Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Great Garage Doors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Greenville-Reynolds Development Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23HD Davis Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Hill, Barth, and King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Home Savings and Loan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Humility of Mary Health Partners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Huntington Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35I-Conn Video Productions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73IDMI.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Infi nity Design Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73InfoCision Management Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Innis Maggiore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40J.P. Marsh and Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Jameson Health System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57JaneCo’s Sensible Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45JFS Wealth Advisors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Jolley Industrial Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89Kent State University Trumbull Campus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36Keynote Media Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Kiraly Tool and Die. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Komara Jewelers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Kravitz Delicatessen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Kutlick Realty LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Lawrence County Economic Development Corp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Lien Forward Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Lyle Printing and Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Mahoning and Columbiana Training Association. . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Mahoning Chapter of the American Red Cross. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Mahoning County Mental Health Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Mahoning Valley Electrical Contractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100Mayfl ower Wollam Insurance Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53McCarthy Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62McDonald Steel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Meridian Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Method 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89MetroPlex Hotel and Conference Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Micro Doctor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Middlefi eld Bank. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Modern Offi ce Products, Boardman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103MS Consultants Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

MultiMedia Farms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64NewBold Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68NewLife Technical Institute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Ohio Edison Penn Power Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Orthopaedic Surgery Center at Beeghly Park . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Packer Thomas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Paisley House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Palo Creative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Park Vista. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Penn-Northwest Development Corp... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27Phoenix CPAs and Consultants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Phoenix Systems Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Polish Youngstown. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86Precision Manufacturing Institute. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Premier HR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61PRM. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Prodigal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94Regional Chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Reminger Co. LPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62Salem Area Visiting Nurse Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Salem Community Hospital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Sam Pitzulo Homes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Schroedel, Scullin and Bestic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64SenSource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Service Corps of Retired Executives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65Seven Seventeen Credit Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81Sharon Regional Health System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Sharon Regional Health System School of Nursing. . . . . . . . . . . 61Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Retirement Services . . . . . . . . 63Stambaugh Auditorium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Stifel, Nicolaus and Co. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78TDDS School of Allied Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103The FitNesst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Thiel College. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Tri-County Tower Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84Trumbull County Planning Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Trumbull County Tourism Bureau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25UPMC Horizon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Valley Electrical Consolidated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Valley Offi ce Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51VisitMercerCountyPA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113W3 Wealth Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Wallace and Pancher Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97Warren-Trumbull County Public Library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Westminster College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45William Price Heating and Cooling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Window World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Windsor House . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Woodlands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101WSI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47WYSU 88.5 FM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Youngstown Business Incubator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Youngstown Foundation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Youngstown Orthopaedic Associates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110Youngstown State University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28YSU Williamson College of Business Administration. . . . . . . . . . 29Yurchyk and Davis CPAs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

GrowthReport

2010

www.ysu.edu


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See FORD, page 10

DETROIT – Ford Motor Co., the only American automaker to escape bankruptcy last year, is riding a wave of success that executives and analysts expect will carry it well into the realm of profi tability and may place it at the forefront of the American auto industry.

Touting its “doubleheader” win after capturing both the North American Car of the Year – the Fu-sion Hybrid – and North American Truck of the Year – the Transit Connect – awards, presented at the North American International Auto Show earlier this month, Ford set the stage before unveiling its new Ford Focus by bombarding journalists with the names of awards its products have won around the world.

Among the dozens of awards fl ashed on the big screen as reporters crowded into the arena were the Fiesta, named Romania’s car of the year, Consum-

Ford Says Awards Demonstrate Its Profi tability

By Maraline Kubik

Consumers are excited about Ford’s new lineup of vehicles.

former executive vice president at Boeing, marked a turning point in the history of the automaker. “When Mulally took over, he mortgaged all of Ford’s assets,” Poulton notes, securing $23.6 billion to finance a complete remake of the then-struggling automaker.

The restructuring plan worked and gave the company sufficient cushion to withstand the dev-astating economic crisis that forced General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC into bankruptcy and accept government bailouts.

“You’re seeing the results right now [of those decisions],” Poulton relates.

In December, Ford posted sales gains of 33% – a performance better than any other major automaker doing business in the United States. Moreover, in 2009 the company recorded its first full-year increase in market share in nearly 15 years while simultane-ously boosting retail market share 14 times over 15 months.

But it’s the nearly universal accolades Ford is receiving for its new line of products that is driving the most interest, area dealers say.

“What Ford is doing right is that they are building the best cars and trucks they’ve ever built,” observes Bob Davis, general manager at Fairway Ford-Mer-cury Inc., Canfield. “We personally had a great year in 2009,” he reports, noting his dealership logged better sales last year in both new and used units than the previous year.

Leading Ford’s product mix of passenger cars is the Ford Fusion – Motor Trend’s Car of the Year – and the Taurus, Davis relates. The Fusion Hybrid took North American Car of the Year at the North American Auto Show in Detroit earlier this month; the automaker’s Transit Connect earned the North American Truck of the Year award.

The Fusion’s best-in-class fuel economy and safety ratings – plus a roomy interior that’s just big enough to accommodate families without alienating younger, single buyers – creates a broad appeal in the market, Davis says.

And, trade-ins of passenger cars manufactured by foreign automakers such as Honda and Toyota for Fusions are on the rise since the vehicle made its debut in 2006, Davis says. “If most Americans could get the vehicle they want – and keep the money with an American company – they’d choose the American company,” he says. “Ford’s quality has improved that

much. And the needle is moving.”Meantime, he reports, sales of the Ford F-150

truck continue very strong. “It’s still the No. 1-sell-ing vehicle in the country,” he says, noting that Fairway’s showroom does more volume business of F-150s than any of the 300 dealers in the Pittsburgh metropolitan region.

Dealers say younger buyers are walking into Ford showrooms, attracted to the high-tech content avail-able in just about every model.

“Ford used to focus on trucks and sport-utility vehicles,” relates Brian McCormick, general sales manager at Fred Martin Ford, Austintown. “Now, they’ve gone to smaller cars such as the Fusion, Focus and Escape.”

The three models are the most popular at the Martin dealership, McCormick says, who adds that today even the entry-level vehicles have options once reserved for luxury cars. “Small cars never used to have a remote auto start – some didn’t have power locks or windows,” he laughs.

Options such as Sync technology would’ve been unthinkable in a small car a decade ago, McCormick says. Sync is a software system that allows drivers to remotely connect their cellular phones to the vehicle’s car radio and is activated on the vehicle’s steering wheel. The technology thereby eliminates the need to talk on a hand-held unit. Other options,

such as audio turn-by-turn directions and automatic speed reduction – a cruise-control device that kicks in and slows your vehicle when it’s coming too close to another car – are also available on smaller models. Before, such technology was limited to higher-end vehicles.

“It’s helped us boost our market share,” McCor-mick says.

That’s always been a challenge for Ford, especially in the Mahoning Valley, adds Columbiana Ford’s Poulton. “This is still a GM town,” he stresses, point-ing to the significance of the automaker’s Lordstown Complex. “Is Ford going to make a big splash in a GM town? Probably not, but we are increasing market share here.”

Still, a strong GM is much better for business at his dealership, Poulton relates. “We’re all rooting for the [Chevrolet] Cruze to do well,” he says, referring to the new model slated to roll off the production line at Lordstown in August. “When GM’s doing well, it creates money in the marketplace so other buyers can come in and buy Ford. It creates jobs, but not everybody drives a GM car.”

Along with the Fusion and Focus, buyers are also enamored with the newly redesigned Ford Taurus, says Donny Murphy, sales manager at Don-nell Auto Group, Boardman. “It’s a totally different car,” he says. “This vehicle could easily hold up to Mercedes.”

The new Taurus contains all the bells and whis-tles of a luxury automobile and comes equipped with features such as seats that can be heated and cooled.

“They’re making money and making quality ve-hicles,” Murphy says. “It’s always been difficult to compete selling Fords in Youngstown, but I’m really proud to be at the top of the game rather than just the middle of the game.”

Murphy relates customers are looking at Ford more intently because many were turned away from GM and Chrysler in the wake of their bankruptcies and the nearly $80 billion they took in government bailout money.

“There are people defecting from GM and Chrys-ler to Ford,” Murphy says. “A lot of people are proud of the fact that Ford didn’t take the bailout.”

And, he says Ford is working to keep its inventory mix low, thereby increasing the resale value of some of its latest models, Murphy says. “Used Fords are bringing top dollar right now.”

Alan Mulally, president and CEO of Ford Motor Co., answers reporters’ questions during the auto show in Detroit.

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Ford Dealers: Ride High with Culture ShiftFrom Page 1

Ford has made steady progress in the three areas all of the American automakers must address if they are to succeed: restructuring, growing in emerging markets and develop-ing new business models that include alter-native propulsion technologies.

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Ford: Automaker Says Awards Demonstrate Its ProfitabilityFrom Page 8ers Digest ranking eight models “best buys” in their classes, and the Taurus, named “Best New Family Car” by automotive journalists in Canada.

The North American Car of the Year, Ford Fusion, is also Motor Trend Car of the Year, one of Car and Driver magazine’s 10 Best Cars for 2010, an Auto-mobile magazine 2010 All Star and achieved a Top Safety Pick rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety in 2009.

The success of all of these models is part of Ford’s plan, One Ford, which Alan Mulally, CEO and president, described as “one compelling vision” that brings together one team and one goal: to build the best cars and trucks in the world.

According to Mulally, Ford is on its way, building highly desired automobiles that are recognized as the best – as demonstrated by the long list of awards – in markets around the world.

Most important, consumers are excited about the lineup and are buying them. All of Ford’s opera-tions around the world were profitable in the third quarter of last year, Mulally reported proudly. The next generation of Ford vehicles and Ford’s future is even more promising, he said.

“The new Ford Focus is a clear demonstration that our One Ford strategy is providing global con-

sumers with great products that harness the best of Ford Motor Co.,” Mulally said. “The efficiencies gen-erated by our new global C-car platform will enable us to provide Ford Focus customers with an afford-able product offering quality, fuel efficiency, safety

and technology beyond their expectations.”

Up to 10 unique mod-els will be built on the C-car platform, each tailored for the markets where they will be sold. Ford expects to sell as many as two million units built on this platform by 2012,

and achieve extraordinary economies of scale.Simultaneous production is slated to begin late

this year in North America and Europe, with indi-vidual market launches beginning early next year. Those will be followed by launches in Asia, Africa and South America.

Auto analysts are just as optimistic about Ford’s future – and the future of the domestic industry.

“Ford has been very consistent. I’m very optimis-tic about Ford,” John Casesa, managing partner at Casesa Shapiro Group LLC told journalists during the Society of Automotive Analysts 22nd Annual Outlook Conference.

Casesa says Ford has made steady progress in the three areas all of the American automakers must address if they are to succeed: restructuring, growing in emerging markets and developing new

business models that include alternative propulsion technologies.

These goals won’t be achieved quickly. “We are in an era of massive structural change,” he said. “This is true upheaval that I think will last for decades.” However, he added, “a sharp rebound [in automak-ers’ profitability] is probable – highly probable.”

“Ford is the darling now,” agreed Neil DeKoker, president and CEO of the Original Equipment Sup-plier Association.

The company’s stock price has risen from $1 to $11 in the last year, he noted, but “GM is ahead of Ford in terms of product.”

Justin Mirro, managing director and head of the automotive investment banking group at Moelis & Co. LLC, is more conservative. He believes the quick run-up in Ford’s stock price illustrates “over- excitement” on the part of investors. Both Ford and GM are on the right path, he admitted. “Chrysler has a lot of work to do.”

The crisis in the automotive industry has, how-ever, paved the way for a brighter future, DeKoker pointed out. All of the American automakers have become more efficient, making it possible to turn a profit producing fewer vehicles.

In 2007, American automakers needed to turn out 80% of their capacity to break even, DeKoker said. Today, they can break even producing 50% to 60% of capacity, or 9.5 million vehicles. In a market where the Detroit Three have lost much of their market share to foreign competitors, he pointed out, that is imperative.


American automakers may have announced plans to slash the number of models they produce, eliminating some brands altogether,

but the global market is growing evermore crowded as Asian companies, unheard of until just a few years ago, target profitable markets in the United States and Europe and map a plan to unseat the Detroit Big Three.

Chinese automaker BYD, which stands for Build Your Dreams, plans to sell the e6 in the United States later this year, an early step toward becoming the world’s largest automaker – a goal company leaders say it plans to achieve by 2025.

Considering the company’s success so far, that may not be an unreasonable expectation. BYD Auto has achieved impressive benchmarks since BYD, an electronic parts manufacturer founded in 1995, acquired Geijing Jichi Car Module Co. Ltd. in 2003 to establish BYD Auto.

It unveiled its first new car two years later and captured 68 of China’s top automotive awards within 10 months. The Chinese automaker developed its first “pure electric car” in 2006, the same year it began exporting large numbers of its automobiles to Ukraine.

By January 2007, BYD was selling more than 10,000 units of its most popular model, the F3, each month and celebrated production of its 100,000th unit that June – a milestone achieved in just 20 months. This set a record for independent automak-ers in China, and sales have continued to expand at an equally impressive rate.

During a press conference at the auto show in Detroit earlier this month, company leaders told reporters that BYD had sold 450,000 new cars in China last year, up 160% over 2008. This year, they reported, the goal is to sell 800,000 units, putting the company on track to become China’s largest automaker by 2015 and the largest in the world by 2025.

While BYD was the only Chinese automaker with a full-blown display at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit this year – ap-pearing on the main show floor rather than the lobby where it exhibited last year – auto analysts have identified at least three other Chinese automakers with the potential to become major players in the global auto industry. They include Geely Automobile Holdings and Chery Automobile – both exhibited at the NAIAS last year – and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

Korean automaker CT&T, founded in 2002, made its first appearance at the Detroit show this year with 24 models of its all-electric vehicles on display, including three concept cars: a flashy sports car, a six-wheeled amphibian capable of going from land to water and vice versa, and its next-generation passenger car.

CT&T has already sold 5,000 of its cars in the United States and is ramping up regional assembly and sales centers in Atlanta, Duncan, S.C., and Long

Asians Map Course to Unseat Detroit Chinese automaker BYD aims to be the world’s largest by 2025.By Maraline Kubik

Beach, Calif. Three other assembly and sales centers are in the works, one slated to open near Philadel-phia later this year, with another 34 set to open throughout the country by 2012, reports Joseph J. White, chief operating officer.

Young Gi Lee, a former executive at Hyundai Motor Corp., established CT&T after becoming frustrated because all of the golf cars in Korea were produced by foreign manufacturers, White says. Today, CT&T, he notes, is the world’s largest manu-facturer of electric vehicles.

The privately held company has manufacturing sites in Korea and China with plans to add seven more throughout Asia and 30 regional assembly and sales centers throughout Europe. This is in addition to the 40 assembly and sales centers it plans to open in the United States.

The regional assembly sales center (RAS) is an entirely new business model that locates manufac-turing sites near target markets and eliminates chains of dealers, White says. Buyers visit the assembly plants, which also include a showroom and track for test-drives, to order and pick up their vehicles. Cars can also be ordered online.

Not only does this greatly reduce costs – because vehicles need not be shipped long distances – White says, but it allows managers to be more accessible and responsive to customers. Buyers are also more likely to identify with and choose to purchase vehicles manufactured in their communities by companies that employ their friends, families and neighbors.

Eash RAS in the United States is expected to employ about 100 hourly and 15 salaried workers and produce 10,000 vehicles a year while operating on one shift.

CT&T began exporting vehicles to the United States in October 2009. As the regional assembly and sales centers ramp up, partially assembled cars

will be shipped from Korea with final assembly performed in the United States, White explains. Within two years, he adds, the company hopes to source most of the parts required for its electric cars from domestic suppliers near its assembly and sales centers.

Target markets include coastal and retirement communities where small, low-speed electric ve-hicles and recreational vehicles are likely to be in strong demand from residents, White says. Although the vehicles can be registered and licensed for opera-tion on public roadways, laws that restrict how fast they can travel prevent them from using high-speed thoroughfares.

The car company is also targeting customers that could benefit by using electric utility vehicles for commercial purposes: municipalities that could use them to patrol parking areas, postal services that could use them to deliver mail, amusement parks and other entertainment centers that could use them to transport visitors, factories that could use them to provide meal services to workers, companies that could use them to replace existing fleets of delivery vehicles and the list goes on.

Cost of CT&T’s electric cars range from $10,000 to $24,000 reports its president, CEO and founder. Factor in federal and state tax credits designed to encourage consumers to buy environmentally friendly cars – credits that range up to $7,000 – and final costs could be as little as $6,000 or $7,000, Lee says.

The greatest challenge Lee says his company faces in the United States is “educating Americans to the benefits of electric vehicles.” In Korea, CT&T has captured nearly 90% of the electric vehicle market.

The company forecasts global sales of its electric vehicles designed for use in cities will generate $25 billion this year and $250 billion in 2013.

CT&T’s amphibious concept car drew the attention of this reporter, who lingered long after the vehicle was unveiled.

flew the world’s first private vehicle into space in 2004, was developed to inspire “radical break-throughs for the benefit of humanity,” says an X Prize Foundation spokeswoman.

The Automotive X Prize, she explains, is designed “to inspire a new generation of super fuel-efficient vehicles” – cars that achieve the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of fuel or better – and are safe, produce little or no emissions, and are capable of being produced in mass and sold at prices most consumers could afford.

Winners, selected based on their performances in a series of competitions and evaluations slated to take place from April through August, will be announced in September and awarded a share of the $10 million purse.

“There are 140 million workers in the United States and 106 million of them drive to work alone. Commuting is a single-occupant job,” Commuter Cars’ Woodbury observes.

Citing statistics from the U.S. Department of Transportation, he reports that 90% of all automobile trips involve a single occupant. For these trips, he says, the Tango is ideal. It isn’t designed to replace the family car, but to provide more efficient trans-portation for commuters.

The Tango, its developer explains, is especially suited for congested urban areas because of its size and functionality. It is 8-feet, five-inches long, 39 inches wide and 60 inches high, making it more comparable to a motorcyle than traditional auto-mobiles.

Much like a motorcycle, Woodbury says, the Tango can park in tight spaces and maneuver through traffic easily. In communities where lane splitting is legal, he says, the advantages Tango of-fers can be “staggering,” reducing the time it takes to travel along congested roadways to a fraction of what it would take to cover the same distance in a traditional car or truck.

Some drivers may be hesitant to operate the tiny car on the same roads and highways as large com-mercial vehicles, Woodbury acknowledges. But, he insists, the Tango “is arguably the safest” vehicle on the road. It incorporates a racecar-style roll cage and four-point harness system, has four times more steel in its doors than an SUV and, Woodbury reports, “so much acceleration you can just squirt out of the way [of larger vehicles] in a hurry.”

Thus far, Commuter Cars has sold 11 Tangos, the first in 2005 to actor George Clooney. The downside, Woodbury says, is its price: $150,000 and cars are built to order with a $75,000 deposit.

With enough capital to go into mass produc-tion, Woodbury says the price could come down substantially. “With $50 million of capital we could build 5,000 units over two years and sell them for $44,000,” he says. With $150 million, Woodbury says his company could build 30,000 units and sell them for $29,000 apiece.

The Tango can travel up to 60 miles on a full charge using lead-acid batteries and more than 200 miles using lithium-ion batteries.

Another contender in the X Prize competition,

SABA Motors’ Carbon-Zero Roadster, is a sleek, 100% electric two-seater that goes from zero to 60 in five seconds, can reach a top speed of 105 mph and travels up to 140 miles on a single charge.

The Carbon-Zero Roadster’s traditional styling offers “mass appeal,” observes Chris Arcus, direc-tor of electrical engineering at SABA Motors Inc. (SABAMotors.com). “It’s a very conventional-look-ing sportscar.”

The Carbon-Zero Roadster consists of an aircraft-strength aluminum and steel frame and fiberglass shell and could be on the market within six months if the San Jose, Calif.-based company is successful in securing funding. Arcus estimates $75 million would be required to begin mass production of the

car, about one-tenth of what he says it would cost to ramp up production for a steel-bodied car.

One of the require-ments contenders for the Automotive X Prize must

meet, Arcus notes, is submission of a viable busi-ness plan that demonstrates the feasibility of mass producing the vehicle. According to SABA Motors’ plan, the price of the Carbon-Zero Roadster would initially be in the mid-$40,000s and drop as produc-tion increased.

Yet another contender, The Very Light Car, built by Edison2 (Edison2.com), based in Lynchburg, Va., stood out along Electric Avenue not only because of its unique design, which loosely resembles a wing-less airplane, but because it runs on E85.

The Very Light Car “is extremely simple and ex-tremely reproduceable,” says Oliver Kuttner, owner and CEO. “We’ve incorporated all conventional

technology and taken it to the max.”What that means is that engineers and designers,

using traditional methods and materials, have suc-cessfully reduced the weight and aerodynamic drag of the vehicle to achieve extreme efficiencies.

The Very Light Car, Kuttner reports, weighs less than 1,200 pounds, can travel up to 100 miles per gallon of E85, reaching speeds up to 110 mph and going from zero to 60 in seven seconds. It can accommodate up to four passengers and has more than 10 cubic feet of storage space. So, unlike some of the other X Prize contenders, it could replace the family car.

Kuttner says his team chose to develop a vehicle that could run on E85 rather than electricity for a number of reasons. First, he says, E85 is available. Many consumers, he notes, don’t have the facilities to charge electric vehicles at their homes or places of business and the infrastructure is not in place to open charging stations.

Second, electric vehicles may produce zero emissions but most electricity in the United States – electricity used to recharge the batteries of electric vehicles – is generated by burning coal and other fossil fuels. So, describing electric vehicles as emis-sions-free is misleading, Kuttner explains. Further, increased demand for electricity to charge vehicles should they displace traditional vehicles would require substantial investment in power plant up-grades and expansion of existing infrastructure.

Finally, Kuttner says, electric vehicles are best suited to urban environments where commuters travel distances that remain within the range of a single charge.

Although Kuttner declined to say how much

“There are 140 million workers in the United States and 106 million of them drive to work alone. Commuting is a single-occupant job,” Commuter Cars’ Woodbury observes.

The EVI Special from EV Innovations Inc. is among several lithium-powered vehicles the Charlotte, N.C.-based company makes.

CONTINUES NEXT PAGE


Electric Vehicles: From Page 1

The Carbon-Zero Roadster from SABA Motors offers traditional styling that appeals to consumers, says Chris Arcus, director of electrical engineering. The car is among 51 competing for the Progressive Automotive X Prize.

Very Light Car might cost if put into production, he said most of the expense to develop the vehicle was spent to engineer “completely new components.” The greatest savings, he stresses, will be experienced as a result of the greatly reduced operating costs.

Other Automotive X Prize contenders that were on display at the auto show in Detroit are the 2SSIC-65 (Simple Solutions Inclusive Car) from SSI Racing in San Diego (SSIRacing.com), the EVI Special from EV Innovations Inc. (EVIInnovations.com), based in Charlotte, N.C., the Alias from ZAP Electric Vehicles (ZapWorld.com) in Santa Rosa, Calif., and the Amp electric car.

Amp Inc., (ampmotorworks.com) based in Cin-cinnati, developed an all-electric, high-performance drive train for installation into the Saturn Sky and Pontiac Solstice.

ZAP’s Alias is a high-performance, three-wheeled electric roadster with a list price of $35,000 and is expected to be in showrooms throughout the United States late this year.

EV Innovations, incorporated 10 years ago in Nevada, focuses on developing and marketing lithium-powered vehicles including automobiles, motorcycles and scooters.

SSI Racing specializes in high-performance elec-tric vehicles and conversions. The 2SSIC goes from zero to 60 in less than four seconds and has a range of 100 miles. Prices start at $120,000 and 10 are available for delivery this year.

In addition to the X Prize contenders, Electric Avenue featured more than a dozen other innova-tive vehicles from traditional automakers, private companies and independent entrepreneurs.

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Journal Opinion

Locally owned by the Youngstown Publishing Co.

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Telephone 330 744 5023Fax 330 744 5838 • 330 744 0634

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BY LOUIS A. ZONA

Impressions

Joining the Resistanceter some 30 years is no miracle, but a testament to prudent management, a work force that turns out a competitive product, and being sufficiently nimble to respond to changing conditions and op-portunities.

Then there is this story, reported on Business-JournalDaily.com as Growth Report 2010 went to press, of Michael Garvey of M-7 Technologies and Jack Scott of ASC2, who have pooled their resources to form Ohio Clean Technologies Group.

Their venture will act as a “commercialization engine,” as Garvey put it, for the green technolo-gies expected to emerge from the Warren incubator under development. The businessmen plan to spend $1 million to start their venture, which includes construction of a headquarters building to house demonstration projects showcasing how these technologies work.

Stories such as these are far from uncommon in the Mahoning Valley, as readers will see in these pages. Refusing to participate in the recession is simply having a strong work ethic and harnessing it to the innovative thinking for which this region has been known.

We received a record number of submissions for Growth Report 2010. Such an outpouring, we believe, is a response to the economic environment in which we all operate. Yes, there are challenges, markets have shrunk and some of our customers have gone out of business or gone bankrupt. But we survive to grow another day. And grow we will.

“I refuse to participate in the recession.”That simple message, on a button worn by a

visitor to Prodigal in late 2008, stuck in the mind of Prodigal founder Jeff Hedrich. He recalled it as his company submitted its story for this, our 25th Growth Report.

The man knew all was not well with the economy. Pretending otherwise is a prescription for failure but don’t let bad times blind you to the opportunities within reach, he was saying. Take some effort and develop a plan so you’ll emerge prepared for better times ahead.

Or as George Bernard Shaw wrote in another context: Others look around and ask, Why? I look around and ask, Why not?

Another company, McDonald Steel, relates in its Growth Report how it has adapted to the crash it saw coming. CEO Timothy Egnot writes that his management team identified and addressed potential problems before they became insurmountable. The mini-mill continued to diversify its product mix. Among its new shapes are prototype door hinges that will be used in a Volkswagen midsize sedan built in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Few industries have seen the turmoil that has af-flicted steel, and certainly not here in the Mahoning Valley. Global competitors that don’t play fairly to reluctance by labor and management to acknowl-edge the shifts in the industry are only two aspects of this turmoil.

That McDonald Steel continues to operate af-

The Business Journal is published semi-monthly (twice a month) in Youngstown, Ohio. Copyright 2010 by Youngstown Publishing Co. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use, with-out written permission, of editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited.

Average Issue Readership: 45,000 Mail Subscription Rates: $42 for 12 months; $77 for 24 months; $96 for 36 months. Back Issues: If available, $4.75 apiece prepaid (mailed); $3.25 apiece prepaid (picked up at our office).

Submission Policy: News articles and photographs may be submitted but cannot be returned. We reserve the right to select and edit all articles and letters. All submissions become the editorial property of The Business Journal. Submissions may be edited and may be published or re-used in any medium including Business Journal television and radio reports and the Daily Business Journal Online.


BY LOUIS A. ZONA

Impressions

See ZONA, page 16

Bullies Then and Now,In Their Bully Pulpits

BY GAIL WHITE

Commentary

See WHITE, page 16

From the schoolyard to the workplace to the media to politics.

¡Viva la Revolución!

In an early episode of the Andy Griffith show, a bully confronts Andy Taylor’s small son, Opie.

This much bigger and tougher kid terrorized Opie and extorted his lunch money every morning. “Gimme that nickel or I’ll punch you in the eye,” the bully would threaten.

And with each threat, Opie reached into his pocket for the money – that is, until Andy figured out what was go-ing on. After a pep talk when he told his son that the only way to end the threat was to confront the bully, Opie did. Opie ended up with a black eye but he stood up to his tormentor and the bullying stopped.

All of us have experienced some form of bullying at one time or another. Back when I was a sopho-more in high school, the toughest, meanest rogue senior, a fellow named Gary Schuster, bullied my good friend Bill Wise and me. I dreaded arriving at school each morning wondering

what new form of humiliation Gary would come up with. One of us might have to retie his shoes, carry his cafeteria tray, or serve as a look-

out so Gary could pull off some sort of mischief.

I still see him in my mind – a char-acter right out of the movie version of “Grease,” with his T- shirt, tight jeans and oiled hair in a D.A. cut. Gary ru-ined my sophomore year and I regret that I did not stand up to him. If I had, though, I probably couldn’t brag today

There are big-time bullies in our own country who use their bully pulpits to promote hatred against anyone with whom they disagree.

When we launched our new multi-media Web site, BusinessJournalDaily.com,

last year, we thought it was a pretty good idea.

We were wrong.It was an incredibly, stupendously

great idea!There was no way for us to antici-

pate the reaction to this brainstorm.Since the dawn of the Internet,

the media industry suspected that this new communication outlet was going to be a force to be reckoned with.

I liken it to the days when every-one gathered around the radio every evening – and then television came along.

Much like the Internet naysay-ers, many thought the “picture box” would be a passing fad.

Instead, television became a revo-lution.

We l c o m e t o R e v o l u t i o n 2 (squared).

As a child, I remember life stopped at 6 p.m. when Mom and Dad sat down to watch the news. Unless the house – or a sibling – was on fire, you knew better than to disturb them. Back then, nearly 100% of the homes that had their televisions on at 6 p.m. were watching the local news. (Of course, there were no other programs to watch back then.)

According to most recent Neilson

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White: ¡Viva la Revolución!From Page 15

Zona: Bullies Then and Now in Their Bully PulpitsFrom Page 15

that I still have all my own teeth. I visited my old school chum Bill a

little while ago. We reminisced about our high school years and, yes, we discussed Gary Schuster. Bill con-fessed that in the summer after Gary graduated, he got back at Gary for both of us. Bill, armed with two eggs and under cover of darkness, quietly approached Gary’s house. He found the bully in his back yard talking with a friend.

Bill, who was a terrific baseball player, reared back and fired both eggs at Schuster. Both hit their mark. Screaming, “I’ve been shot and I’m bleeding,” Gary called out for his mother as Bill hopped on his bicycle and sped away.

“I did it for both of us,” Bill said. Incidentally, Bill is now a retired teacher, counselor and respected western Pennsylvania coach.

Unfortunately, bullies exist in every facet of life, from the schoolyard bully, like Gary, to the to the workplace bully. There are corporate bullies and those who use their positions of authority to coerce others so they can unfairly get their way.

Josef Stalin was a political bully

who had no scruples about elimi-nating anyone he even suspected of thinking about challenging his authority.

Today we have such international bullies as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran, Kim Jong Il in North Korea, and an assortment of others in nations where dissent is equated with treason, no matter how noble-sounding their constitutions.

I also feel strongly that there are big-time bullies in our own country who use their bully pulpits to promote hatred against anyone with whom they disagree.

Sadly, there are people in the me-dia today who feel that the only way that they can maintain their ratings is by spreading fear of, and promot-ing hatred toward, people who don’t agree 100% with their political view-points.

I love history, particularly Amer-ica’s 20th century. One of the most disgraceful chapters, though, was Sen. Joe McCarthy’s use of the fear of Communism to bully and destroy the lives of many people to promote himself. He even accused Charlie Chaplin of being a Communist sympa-thizer and ultimately forced Chaplin

to leave the United States.One bright spot of that sordid

time, still rerun on documentaries, was one man who publicly stood up to him, Joseph N. Welch, counsel for the U.S. Army during what have become known as the Army-McCar-thy hearings: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. … Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”

And of course, Joe McCarthy ex-ited the stage of history as have so many bullies in this country, before and since, once someone stood up to them. And we always ask, What took so long? Why didn’t anyone stand up or speak out earlier?

In 1984, George Orwell laid out an ugly truth, that bullies try to keep themselves in power by creating a boogieman for the people to hate and fear.

In Orwell’s dystopia, it was Gold-stein. Let down our guard and traitor

Goldstein’s armies will attack Oceania, its citizens were reminded daily. His force will attack and destroy what we have, Big Brother warned. It’ll be ever so much worse.

When the Communists were a threat, voices in the media and Con-gress focused on the menace from the Russians, the Chinese and the North Vietnamese.

Now that Communism is much, much less of a threat, a new boogie-man had to be invented. The new boogiemen are in our midst and have adopted the guise of anyone on the other side of the political spectrum. So we’re told.

And what is so sad is that political debate has been replaced by bullying those of the opposing point of view. No matter what form bullying takes, the only way to get rid of it is stand-ing up to it and saying, “Enough is enough!”

As Opie told his dad when Andy asked about his black eye, “Yeah, Dad, it’s a beaut. But you should see the shiner on him!”

Ratings for the Youngstown television market, fewer than 45% of the house-holds with their TVs on at 6 p.m. are watching the local news these days.

Statistics like this prompt the question – Where are people getting their news?

The answer to this question has been studied for years and, quite frankly, is not rocket science. With more news outlets and all-day news programming, people don’t have to wait for 6 p.m.

At The Business Journal, we chose to answer a different question: How do people WANT to get their news?

The concept of multi-media news when you want it, for as long as you want it – and delivered to your desk-top – has struck a chord with our readers (and viewers).

When you visit our Web site today, you can read local business news stories that you may first have learned about by reading our Daily Headlines e-mailed to your in-box or watch video segments on our daily newscast, the Business Journal Daily Buzz, and on our “3 Minutes With…” interview series. If the phone rings while you are watching our video news, one click and the news is paused. One more click and our newscast or interview resumes right where you left off. Then there is the most com-prehensive source of local business news you won’t find anywhere else, the print edition of The Business

Journal.Couple the Web news videos with

daily e-mail blasts, distributing the day’s news to thousands of desktops, and you have Revolution2.

Of course, all of this is just a fancy schmancy newfangled idea unless it can positively affect the bottom line.

It would be a lie to say we knew this would be profitable. At best, we kind-of-thought it maybe-might make some money. Accounting blew a gas-ket more than once in the early days as the publisher submitted invoice after invoice while setting up our in-house video production department.

We delayed going live with our first video newscast to iron out the glitches; for one month the produc-tion team rehearsed and revised to ensure a flawless launch. But the mo-ment the segments hit, we knew we had a winner.

Our eclectic readers know quality news and from Day One that is what they received from BusinessJournal-Daily.com.

The dollars have followed, which has eased the tension in accounting.But more important, we are pleased to provide more local business news and more advertising opportunities to Mahoning Valley businesses.

The video production department received a call from a paper in Indiana the other day. They wanted to know how we do this.

¡Viva la Revolución!

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YOUNGSTOWN - WARREN

Regional Chamber ReportWatch Our Video ReportRegional Chamber Report runs Mondayon the Daily Buzz.

Catch the Regional Chamber Report as part of every Monday’s “Business Journal

Daily Buzz” webcast. We’re excited about the possibilities this partnership with The Business Journal brings the chamber and our members: It’s a chance to spotlight members and projects like never before.

Each week, The Business Journal records, edits and produces our video segments, and carries them Monday within its “Business Journal Daily Buzz” webcast, posted at Business-JournalDaily.com and sent to the boxes of 4,500 e-mail subscribers.

A longer version of each segment is posted on the home page of the Regional Chamber’s Web site, Re-gionalChamber.com, for an entire week, for hundreds of the site’s daily visitors to see. Archives of the videos are kept on the Chamber’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/user/Re-gionalChamber.

If you would like to be considered for a video segment, call Kim Gonda at 330 744 2131, ext. 35, or e-mail [email protected].

You’ve probably heard about the Regional Chamber’s recent economic development trips to China, Taiwan and Israel, but the February issue of Valley Magazine will take a more in-depth look at chamber officials’ travels and efforts to drum up business over-seas. We invite you to read the story and learn about the opportunities that exist beyond our borders.

Each year, the Chamber’s Economic Forecast Breakfast provides a glimpse of the new year’s economy.

This year, we’ve brought back a favorite, Dr. Edward (Ned) W. Hill, professor and distinguished scholar of economic development at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University. Hill will provide insights into the

economy’s reported turnaround. Also at the breakfast event, the chamber’s Walter Good will recap his economic development team’s efforts in 2009 with our second-annual economic- development video.

The event is Jan. 27 from 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. To learn more about this event, spon-sored by First National Bank, or make reservations, go to RegionalChamber.com, and click “Event Calendar” or call 330 744 2131, ext. 12. The cost is $20 for chamber members, $30 for nonmembers.

On Feb. 5, the Regional Chamber’s Government Affairs Council and sponsor Youngstown State University will welcome back Ohio Speaker of the House Armond Budish at a 7:30 a.m. breakfast in the Chestnut Room of YSU’s Kilcawley Center.

And on Feb. 17, the Government Affairs Council and sponsor AT&T will host a luncheon featuring U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, in his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives serving the 17th congressional dis-trict. The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. at Leo’s Ristorante in Warren.

The cost for each event is $20 for chamber members, $30 for non-members. For more information or to register, go to RegionalChamber.com and click “Event Calendar” or call 330 744 2131, ext. 12.

Nominations are being accepted through March 1 for the 18th an-nual Athena Award, which will be presented May 20 to an outstanding professional woman from the Mahon-ing Valley.

The award, sponsored by the Regional Chamber and The Vindica-tor/Vindy.com, honors women for ac-complishments in their organizations, leadership in the community and mentoring of other women. Nomina-tion forms have been sent to members and are available at the chamber Web site, RegionalChamber.com.

For more information, contact Kim Gonda at 330 744 2131, ext. 35, or [email protected].

An International Approach To Mahoning Valley’s Future

Economy Turning Around?Find Out at Breakfast Event

Government Affairs Council To Host Big Political Names

Nominations Due March 1 For Athena Awards

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*Annual Percentage Yield Arrows tell whether rates rose or fell since last issue. Dashes indicate “unchanged.”

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MIDDLEFIELD BANKING COMPANY 1 Year 1.15 — .50/Cortland 13 Mos. 1.91 — .75 2 Year 1.91 —

PNC BANK 1 Year .70 — N.A./Youngstown 48 Mos. 1.25 — N.A.

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Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of The Business Journal compilations. Rates are subject to change without notice and should be confirmed with the individual financial institution before entering into transactions. ©2010 Youngstown Publishing Co. All rights reserved.

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Interest RatesBy Tom HumphriesRegional Chamber President & CEO

2010 will be a year of growth and change for the Chamber after seeing a surprisingly productive 2009 despite the economic downtown.

Here are some expectations for the new year:• There is hope that the proposed $1 billion ex-

pansion of V&M Star in Youngstown will materialize and include opportunities for spinoff industries.

• After trade trips to China in 2009 and Israel earlier in January, the chamber will conduct more business-seeking forays to Europe and Asia and possibly a follow-up trip to China.

• The chamber’s Regional Entrepreneurial As-sistance Channel of the Mahoning Valley (REACH), created in 2009 to help businesses start up and grow, should double its caseload this year.

• Business services, which saw a decline in cham-ber membership last year, is developing strategies to recover the losses and see significant membership growth in the region’s MSA. The division also will reinvent its programs department and market the region using advertising in the Wall Street Journal.

• The chamber’s Project 360° fundraising cam-paign for economic development will continue to grow after a successful transition in 2009 from a

five-year campaign to an annual drive. The Economic Development Action Team com-

pleted 20 projects, resulting in 1,052 new jobs and investments of $81 million. Projects included:

• Reinforcement Systems’ $28 million manufac-turing plant/headquarters in Warren.

• VXI’s new call center in downtown Youngstown that created hundreds of jobs.

• Spearheading efforts to secure V&M Star’s proposed $1 billion expansion.

The chamber won NE Ohio’s Business Attraction Project of the Year award for landing Patriot Special Metals’ $64 million complex in North Jackson.

The REACH program assisted more than 100 clients last year, and obtained funding for two start-ups with investments of $520,000 that will create 35 jobs over three years.

With the hiring of international banker Eric Planey, the chamber entered the international busi-ness attraction arena by traveling to China and Taiwan and coming back with five short- and long-term business prospects.

Our business services division added another cost-savings benefit to its membership package with an office supplies discount program in partnership with Staples Business Advantage. Giving smaller companies discounts that larger companies typi-cally receive, this new program is saving chamber members an average of $200 per month.

Additionally, the chamber will promote its

members through a partnership with The Business Journal and its Daily Buzz video webcast at Busi-nessJournalDaily.com. Each week, Kim Gonda, vice president of marketing & business services, will take viewers on location to feature companies, organiza-tions, individuals and projects in the works.

In spite of the economic downturn, the Regional Chamber Foundation had a robust 2009. Since 1994, the foundation has raised an average of $400,000 annually for local economic development activi-ties. During 2009, the foundation garnered nearly $700,000 in private investment through the Project 360° Campaign, led by Anthony Cafaro Jr.

Government Affairs had a productive year in government and education advocacy, collaboration and reform including the following activities:

• Created the first two-year, public policy agenda that advances the business community’s priorities.

• Strengthened ties with groups that promote the chamber’s priorities including EfficientGovNow, Ohio Metro Chambers of Commerce and the Great Lakes Chambers of Commerce.

• Coordinated activities of two Valley institu-tions involved in local government collaboration: Mahoning County Metro Leaders Roundtable and Trumbull County Roundtable.

• Assisted in forming the Eastern Ohio P-16 Partnership for Education that will promote student achievement and career preparedness in Mahoning, Columbiana, Trumbull and Ashtabula counties.

Regional Chamber Grows Business Here, GloballyReaches out to local startups, companies overseas.

An equal opportunity employer and service provider.

Business Journal - Jan 2010 For Growth Edition— COLOR VERSION [email protected] Attn: Jan in Advertising

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Credit Union RatesJanuary 22,2010


The Shenango Valley Chamber of Commerce’s goal for 2010 is to establish an alliance of Mercer

County development agencies to bring more business to the county and create more jobs for its residents.

George Gerhart, executive direc-tor, says major efforts by the chamber in 2009 included communicating with public officials about business concerns relative to legislative issues, such as the proposal to levy tolls on Interstate 80, federal health care leg-islation and the proposed “card check” organized labor would use to recruit.

“Local issues with which the cham-ber was involved and supported in-cluded consolidating some school dis-tricts and changing the city of Sharon’s form of government,” he says.

The chamber welcomed 40 new members last year but also lost some due to the economy, Gerhart says.

Chamber events included its Busi-ness Expo and banquet, during which Jack Laeng, CEO of the Primary Health Network, was honored as per-son of the year.

Also given special recognition were

Last year marked 30 years in business for the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp.,

an agency devoted to job creation and economic diversification activities in the Mahoning Valley.

As it looks ahead to the next 30 years, the agency is committed to further helping small companies take root or expand in the region, as it improves MVEDC’s rail lines and industrial parks, says its executive director, Don French.

“MVEDC begins 2010 with a sub-stantial amount of business develop-ment work in progress and expects 2010 will be a productive year for economic diver-sification in the Mahoning Valley,” relates French.

During the past 30 years, MVEDC has directly assist-ed 1,725 compa-nies, which collectively have invested $867 million while creating and pre-serving over 19,000 jobs, he reports.

Through its affiliates and various lending programs, MVEDC assisted 67 companies with development projects in 2009. These companies represent a broad range of industries, which together created and preserved over 1,350 jobs in the Mahoning Val-ley, French says.

During 2009, MVEDC assisted 40 Mahoning Valley companies with loans totaling $4 million through its own funds and several public-lend-ing programs it administers. Total investments by these companies will be $12.2 million and 1,057 jobs will be created or preserved. These lend-ing activities also leveraged additional

financing from local commercial lend-ing institutions to help complete these projects, he reports.

Among the loan programs MVEDC spearheads are the state of Ohio 166 program and the Mahoning Valley Industrial Loan Fund. MVEDC as-sists Mahoning County and the cities of Youngstown, Struthers, Niles and Girard by lending funds for business expansions and retention. A micro-loan fund was recently established to assist the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority, or YMHA, to make loans to businesses owned by YMHA residents.

The agency administers mini-loan funds in both Columbiana and Mahoning counties. The programs – funded by consortiums of banks

and governmental agencies – provide smal l -business loans to individu-als and companies unable to secure financing through traditional lending

sources, French says. “MVEDC can also assist companies

located anywhere within the state of Ohio as well as Beaver, Lawrence and Mercer counties in Pennsylvania, with funding through programs sponsored by the U.S. Small Business Adminis-tration,” French relates.

The Technical Procurement Cen-ter, jointly operated by MVEDC and the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, assisted 18 companies last year to obtain $10.1 million in contracts for the sale of goods and services to various agencies of the federal government. This activity created and retained 288 jobs in the Mahoning Valley.

The Youngstown Commerce Park located in Jackson Township and the

MVEDC’s 30 Years Bring $867M, 19,000 New Jobs Development agency helps 67 firms in ’09.

Warren Commerce Park located in the city of Warren have a combined total of 411 acres of industrial land, which includes sites ready for immediate development. The two parks currently have 25 tenants that collectively em-ploy 950 people.

The parks have been improved with utilities, roadways and railroads, and are close to the interstate highway system. In addition, the parks offer a variety of existing structures for lease

or sale, French says. Last year, MVEDC upgraded its rail

line that serves Warren Steel Holdings, the former Copperweld Steel complex in Champion, French says.

“Economic Development Rail Corp. and Economic Development Rail II Corp., both affiliates of MVEDC, experienced an active year of rail-car hauling of raw materials and finished products to numerous companies in the Valley,” he reports.

Development Network Tops Agenda at Shenango Chamber

the leaders of the three agencies that collaborated to form OH/PENN, the first multi-state work-force develop-ment alliance in the country. The individuals recognized were Bert Cene of Mahoning and Columbiana Train-ing Association, Sam Gianetti of the West Central Workforce Investment Board, and William Turner of Trum-bull County One-Stop.

Recipients of the chamber’s annual Phoenix Awards included Anytime Fitness, a startup; Minuteman Press, entrepreneur; Cross IT Services and Solutions, innovation; Crosstex In-ternational, growth, small manufac-turing; Dean Dairy Products, growth, large manufacturing; Buhl Mansion Guesthouse and Spa, growth, small service; Wallace and Pancher, growth, large service; Community Action Partnership of Mercer County, non-profit/service organization; and Ava-lon Golf and Country Club at Buhl Park, beautification.

Other activities promoted by the chamber included Leadership Shenan-go and various networking events and informational workshops.

During 2009, MVEDC assisted 40 companies with loans total-ing $4 million through its own funds and several public-lending programs it administers.

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Development officials hope for racino project.

A tour of Lawrence County yields snapshots of business activity and new projects in the midst

of a very difficult economy, reports Linda Nitch, executive director of the Lawrence County Economic Development Corp.

“During the past 12 months, Lawrence County’s residents and businesses cre-ated many op-portunities while living within the constraints of the global economy,” she says.

In Mahoning Township, sewer improvements are under way for residents there as hopes run high that Centaur LLC could secure sufficient financing through bankruptcy court to begin construction on Valley View Downs, one of the largest potential commercial development endeavors to hit the region in decades.

“With the success of Washington County’s Meadows Racetrack and Casino and the Rivers Casino now open, Valley View Downs is poised to capture the gaming dollars of the community and the region,” Nitch says.

In the southern part of the county, Ellwood City is working on a capital improvement project that will trans-form the downtown business district into an avenue lined with trees, side-walk cafes, and anchored by a com-munity plaza, Nitch says. Meantime, a number of initiatives stand to benefit this part of Lawrence County in terms of job creation and retention.

The Horsehead Corp. recently pur-chased locally operated International Metals Reclamation Co., or Inmetco, for $35 million, she says. Inmetco em-ploys 97 people and operates the only secondary smelter in North America dedicated to recycling nickel, chromi-um and other metals from hazardous and nonhazardous wastes.

In addition Appalachian Lighting Systems Inc. located its corporate headquarters in Wayne Township.

“This company is in the vanguard of producing LED lighting that can save at least 70% of energy consump-tion and produce a brighter, longer- lasting light for business and govern-ment,” Nitch relates. Appalachian

Lighting was recently awarded a con-tract to supply LED lighting fixtures to the parking lots of the Pittsburgh International Airport as well as the Allegheny County Jail.

In Shenango Township, the 15 tenants in Shenango Commerce Park continue to manufacture a variety of products ranging from Berner Inter-national’s air curtains to Ferguson Perforating’s metal products. About 300 people are employed at these companies, Nitch says.

In the city of New Castle, the insurance com-pany Treloar & Heisel is redevel-oping a building on East Washing-

ton and Mill streets into new, modern offices for its 30 employees.

“Richardson Cooling Packages is another bright star shining in New Castle,” Nitch adds. The com-pany started seven years ago in a rented building and then moved to the New Castle Commerce Park, where it has expanded over the last three years.

In Union Township, retail activity remains strong. A new arrival in the township, Beaver County Commu-nity College at Lawrence Crossings, marked its first year in its new 25,000-square-foot building. The school has experienced “unprecedented growth and is planning for additional stu-dents,” Nitch says.

Traveling northeast, many of Ne-shannock Township’s businesses con-tinue to do well. IPEC, the Interna-tional Plastics and Equipment Corp., continues to grow, largely because of the owners’ decision to reinvest profits in infrastructure improvements, Nitch says. Axion Power, which has opera-tions at the former New Castle Battery sites as well as in Neshannock Busi-ness Park, is poised to take advantage of green technology, providing new products to the auto industry.

Neshannock Township last year completed a sewer installation provid-ing Millennium Technology Park with trunk lines and a lift station capable of handling more than 800,000 gallons of waste per day, Nitch says.

In New Wilmington, Westminster College is a strong catalyst for the lo-cal economy, she adds. With its 1,900 students and faculty, its economic ef-fect is estimated at $96 million with $32 million spent locally.

Lawrence County Bets On Business Growth

Ellwood City is working on a capital improvement project that will transform the down-town business district.

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First Place Bank introduces SBA Lender as part of $10 million stimulus programfor local small businesses


New ventures for the Youngstown Business Incubator slated for 2010 include building a stronger, more viable technology base in

the Mahoning Valley, says Julie Michael Smith, chief development officer.

This year marks an expansion to the tech foot-print in downtown Youngstown as renovations for the Semple building are finished and new tenants move in.

Smith says the Youngstown Business Incubator welcomed two new tenants last year. Knotable, a software company that develops task-management solutions, set up shop in 2009, while another tech company, BizVeo, became the first graduate of the incubator’s new Inspire program. The program al-lowed the company to build a management team, secure funding and prepare for beta testing at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital of its Web-based software.

“Inspire allows entrepreneurs to easily interact with other entrepreneurs and begin their companies in a professional setting,” Smith says. The develop-ment suite is designed for early-stage businesses and was launched by the incubator in May after securing $65,000 from the Youngstown Foundation, Domin-ion Foundation, the Kennedy Family Foundation of the Community Foundation of Mahoning Valley and the Philip Thompson Charitable Trust.

Last year also brought with it a series of new partnerships, Smith says. The Ohio Department of Development awarded $1 million to the Innovation Fund, a pool that makes pre-seed investments in

Youngstown Business Incubator Builds Tech Basetechnology companies in northeastern Ohio. The award is the result of a partnership involving the YBI, Youngstown State University, Lorain County Community College and the University of Akron.

Two Incubator companies – BizVeo and Zethus Software – secured funding of $25,000 and $100,000 respectively for various projects, Smith reports.

And YBI, along with YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration, developed the Entrepre-

neurial Internship Program, which gives students experience working with startup companies. Among the initiatives was IdeaLaunch, a new student busi-ness plan competition, Smith says.

The Incubator crafted another entrepreneurial partnership with YSU called the Garden Club An-gels. The effort’s goal is to create a fund that can invest money and talent in local businesses that could bring benefits to the Mahoning Valley.

There’s evidence that business in the Green-ville, Pa., area is starting to rebound, says Brad Gosser, executive director of Greenville-Reynolds Development Corp.

“This time last year, many companies were laying off employees,” he observes. “Now, it appears some of them are starting to grow their work force. I hope that this is a sign that the economy is recovering.”

Greenville-Reynolds has developed three industrial parks totaling over 1,200 acres – one of the largest planned and managed industrial developments in the tri-state area, Gosser says. The three parks have more than 300,000 square feet of buildings owned and managed by Green-ville-Reynolds that are available for purchase or lease and priced competitively.

Last year, two businesses relocated their op-erations to the Reynolds Industrial Park, Gosser notes. America’s Basement Contractor moved to the park in January, and in June so did Specialty Surface Preparation Co.

The industrial parks provide amenities such as high-speed wireless service, rail access, Keystone Opportunity Expansion Zones, and PA Select Sites, Gosser notes. Freight services are abundant throughout the area.

Prospects for future development received a boost last year when the state modified its Key-stone Opportunity Expansion Zones, set to expire in 2013, and extended them to 2020. “Any busi-ness operating in an expansion zone is exempt from paying state and local taxes such as capital stock tax and property taxes,” Gosser says.

Greenville-Reynolds Sees Signs of Recovery


Award Winning Health Care

Premier Healthcare Alliance

Premier Award for QualityRecognizes outstanding patient care and clinical

excellence. St. E’s is the only hospital in the region andone of just 23 winners selected nationwide.

National Research Corporation

2009/10 Consumer Choice AwardFor the fifth consecutive year, healthcare consumers

rated St. E’s quality and image above all others.

American Heart Association Get With The GuidelinesSM

2009/2010 Heart FailureGold Performance Achievement Awards

The Gold Award represents more than two years of at least85 percent adherence to the program guidelines.

Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.

MIDAS+ Platinum Quality AwardsSt. E’s and St. E’s Boardman are among 28 hospitals/

medical facilities nationwide to be recognized forexcellence in clinical health care.

Thomson Reuters

Top 10 Health Systems® in the NationCatholic Healthcare Partners (CHP) named one of the

top 10 health systems in the United States.

Interactive Health Solutions

Healthiest Companies in AmericaHMHP named one of the

“Healthiest Companies in America” for 2008.

Thomson Reuters100 Top Hospitals®Cardiovascular

Benchmarks for Success AwardRecognizes the excellence of St. E’s cardiovascular clini-cal and management teams as one of the top in the na-

tion.

American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence®

Recognizes the St. Elizabeth and St. JosephSurgical Weight Loss Center for a demonstrated track

record of favorable outcomes in bariatric surgery.

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services

2009 Outstanding Employer of the Year Awarded based on HMHP’s support of, andparticipation in, Ohio’s One-Stop System.

HomeCare EliteHM Home Health Services identified as one of

the Top 500 of home care agencies in the nationbased on quality outcomes, quality improvement and

financial performance.

In 2009, St. E’s earned 27 five-star awards froma national hospital rating company

and has been named a “Distinguished Hospital for Clinical Excellence”

for the fourth consecutive year.

MIDAS+ Platinum Quality Awards

Top 10 Health Systems®

in the Nation

Healthiest Companiesin America

Bariatric SurgeryCenter of Excellence®

2009 OutstandingEmployer of the Year

HomeCare Elite

American Stroke Association Get With The GuidelinesSM

2009 Stroke SilverPerformance Achievement Award

The Silver Performance Achievement Award recognizesSt. E’s commitment and success in implementing a

higher standard of stroke care.

2009 Stroke SilverPerformance Achievement Award

2009/2010 Heart FailureGold Performance

Achievement Awards

27Five-Star Awards

in 2009


By Sarah V. LownVice President of Park Management

Castlo Community Improvement Corp. is looking forward to a productive 2010 as it strives to

expand its 120-acre industrial park, refurbish buildings and promote development opportunities along the Mahoning River.

The Castlo industrial park serves as a model for regional development efforts undertaken throughout north-eastern Ohio. Currently, 17 companies are operating in the park and collec-tively employ 130 people. This effort couldn’t have been realized were it not for the vision and capable leader-ship of William D. DeCicco, Castlo’s founding executive director.

Last year, Bill retired after nearly 30 years of hard work and dedication, and was honored with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s Business Advocate of the Year award. Attorney Michael Hoza was retained as execu-tive director on a part-time basis.

Castlo continues its efforts to re-furbish and revitalize every building and every acre of the industrial park. In 2009, stimulus funds were awarded to Castlo to remove five abandoned storage tanks from the property.

And last year, Castlo was granted a covenant-not-to-sue on 43 acres on the western end of the park. By the end of this year, with the assistance of

Castlo Serves as Model For Redevelopment

stimulus funds and a grant from the Clean Ohio program, the rest of the industrial park will receive a clean bill of health and open the way for new development opportunities.

Two new companies entered the Castlo Industrial Park in 2009, South-side Environmental Services and Aesir Metals. Future plans call for con-structing a 30,000-square-foot green energy complex in the park.

Castlo’s mission is to promote industrial, economic, commercial and civic development in Campbell, Struthers, Lowellville and Poland and Coitsville townships. This is done by creating jobs in the industrial park, as-sisting Castlo communities in market-ing and developing new industry, and promoting regional development.

Among these regional efforts, Cas-tlo is involved with is the Mahoning River Corridor Initiative, or MRCI. Administered by the Youngstown State University Center for Urban and Regional Studies, the initiative expands on the idea of the Mahon-ing River Corridor of Opportunity, which focused on pooling the re-sources of core urban communities along the river to accelerate regional growth.

The initiative identified 18 sites in the nine cities and townships along the Mahoning River in two counties. This 31-mile stretch of land employs more than 17,000 and generates more than $700 million in annual payroll.

Castlo and the MRCI came together Nov. 11 to showcase the development opportunities along the river and its host communities with 100 commu-nity leaders attending the event.

The Trumbull County Tourism Bureau, a destination marketing organization based in Warren and funded by the hotel lodging tax, took a severe hit last year as revenues dropped by $35,000, reports Stephanie L. Sferra, execu-tive director.

The purpose of the bureau is to promote the area’s attractions, outdoor activities, shopping op-portunities and dining and enter-tainment venues.

Two of Trumbull County’s major attractions, the National Packard Museum in Warren and Wagon

Trails Animal Park in Vienna, re-ported increases in attendance last year, Sferra says. Also, the number of visitor requests for information on Trumbull County increased last year to 15,341 from 5,341 in 2008. Most of those inquiries came from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, In-diana, Illinois, Kentucky and New York, Sferra says.

Much of this increase, Sferra adds, can be attributed to the organization’s media advertising campaign. A total of $57,000 was spent, translating to a per-inquiry cost of $3.69.

Inquiries Up at Trumbull Tourism Bureau

2009 marked by retirement of founding executive director, William D. DeCicco.

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The Trumbull County Planning Commission helped implement a variety of important projects

in 2009, ranging from economic-development initiatives to long-range plans for the county’s townships, says its executive director, Bill Miller.

“We also pressed forward with housing assistance, protecting Trum-bull County’s water resources and continuing as a founding member of the ‘Save Our Homes Task Force,’ ” a volunteer group of stakeholders whose objective is fostering awareness of the foreclosure crisis, he reports.

This year, the agency is preparing to host a regional planning and zon-ing conference, Miller adds, while continuing to help local communities develop long-range strategies for their comprehensive growth. Trumbull County Planning is also working with the sanitary engineer and the county engineer on various projects, updating subdivision regulations and looking to work with the public and private sec-tors to ensure a full census count.

Among the major projects the commission helped with in 2009 are a potential expansion of V&M Star, which entailed a cooperative effort between the cities of Youngstown and Girard and Mahoning and Trumbull counties. The steel company is con-sidering a $970 million expansion at its Youngstown site.

The planning commission was also instrumental in securing incentives for Reinforcement Systems LLC, War-ren, which broke ground in December. The company plans to open the $20 million factory this year, hire 65 work-ers and begin producing custom-en-gineered welded wire reinforcements that are used in concrete products.

The planning commission co-ordinates local, state, regional and federal programs for businesses and industries expanding or locating in Trumbull County. Last year, the com-mission secured nearly $5 million in new grants and today administers more than $11 million worth of these grants, Miller reports.

Trumbull Commission Aids Growth Strategies

If one word describes Lien Forward Ohio Regional Council of Governments’ success in 2009,

it’s “results,” reports the director of the agency, Debora Flora.

In its third full year of operation, Lien Forward Ohio doubled its work-load and saw a 472% increase in prop-erty acquisitions for clients compared to 2008, she reports.

“Lien Forward Ohio is already addressing challenges in 2010, Flora says. “With V&M Star as a financial partner, Lien Forward Ohio and its community foundation are working with 3rd Ward Councilman Jamael Tito Brown to accelerate demolition of blighted structures in Brier Hill.”

Lien Forward Ohio is a partnership between the city of Youngstown and the Mahoning County treasurer’s of-fice to return vacant, abandoned, tax-delinquent property to productive use. The program uses negotiated tax lien certificates on real estate as legal tools to seek transfer of forgotten, neglected parcels to residents, businesses, orga-

New Partnerships Drive Lien Forward in 2010

nizations and local governments.Lien Forward Ohio’s planning ca-

pabilities expanded in 2009 when it forged a partnership with V&M Star Steel to promote aesthetic improve-ments in the Brier Hill/U.S. Route 422 corridor of Youngstown, Flora says. The company is contemplating a $970 million expansion, possibly at its Youngstown site just off Route 422.

Thanks to legal policies and proce-dures in place, Lien Forward increased its work portfolio from 287 parcels in January 2009 to 553 parcels today. Equally important, the agency com-pleted 189 property transfers in 2009, compared with 40 in 2008.

Grant money from the Raymond John Wean Foundation enables the organization to offer workshops to anyone who is interested in acquiring property with tax liens, Flora says. At-tendance at one of the free workshops is required. Financial aid to defray legal expenses, based on income and household size, is available to quali-fied clients.

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As key projects move forward, the Columbiana County Port Authority, East Liverpool, has high hopes for 2010, says CEO Tracy Drake.

In September, the port authority received a $5.7 million federal grant to help fund construction of the overhead bridge crane and conveyor system at its Intermodal Park in Wellsville.

Higher steel prices halted the project last year, but with a $650,300 contract awarded to Hohl In-dustrial Construction Co. for the overhead crane, and a $398,242 contract to the Precision Steel Co. for the adjoining stationary barge, the system should be finished this summer, Drake says.

While Baard Energy continues to shore up its fi-nances for the nearly $6 billion proposed Ohio River Clean Fuels project in Wellsville, the Vancouver, Wash.-based company fronted $182,500 in fees so the port authority could extend the purchase options until June 30 on 13 of the 17 properties needed for the plant, Drake says. The port authority has options for the four other properties.

In November, the state agreed to extend through June the $4.5 million received through the Logistics and Distribution component of Gov. Ted Strickland’s plan to spend federal stimulus dollars. The monies were approved in the form of a forgivable loan, which will convert to a grant upon meeting certain criteria

Columbiana Port Authority Moves Projects ForwardConstruction on Wellsville crane and conveyor system resumes.

such as the hiring of 135 workers during construc-tion of the coal liquefaction plant, Drake says.

In April, the company reached a project labor agreement with building trades unions to build the plant. Some 4,000 workers will be needed for more than five years.

At the World Trade Park in Leetonia, the port au-thority brought in DRS LLC of Youngstown to man-age the 250-fiber optic network that runs through Columbiana and Mahoning counties. Drake hopes to

purchase the last mile of fiber optic cable to provide wireless broadband connection to all of Columbiana County. DRS also manages the 22,000-square-foot data center in the park.

At the start of last year, Astra Minerals moved into the former Barretts Minerals building in Wellsville. Other lease agreements in 2009 include those for Quality Liquid Feeds, Heritage-WTI Inc., Tee Party Inc. and DTC Marine Services Inc. The port author-ity’s property is at two-thirds capacity, Drake says.

Penn-Northwest Development Corp., Mercer, Pa., was involved in 15 projects last year, and con-tinues to work on some of them as its staff awaits decisions these companies make this year.

“Without a doubt, 2009 was a gut-wrenching year economically throughout Mercer County,” says its executive director, Larry Reichard.

Penn-Northwest provides marketing, coordi-nation and financial services to retain and expand existing businesses in Mercer County, Pa., and to attract new business to the region it serves.

“With the economy now showing some modest improvement and inquiries increasing,” Reichard says, “we look forward to project activity expand-ing and employee callbacks over the next six to nine months.”

Penn-Northwest Sees Modest ImprovementIn fiscal 2008 and ’09, the Business Retention

and Expansion Program team of chamber of commerce directors completed 263 calls, 34% of which resulted in the companies develop-ing specific action plans, Reichard says. Going forward, the calls will be carried out by Penn Northwest staff.

“This change is largely driven by a 52% cut in the Department of Community and Economic Development programs for the fiscal year,” he explains.

Still, there will be a minimum of 100 targeted calls this year on manufacturers with the call-ers focusing on identifying company needs and then providing value-added support services, Reichard says.

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By Ron ColeDirector of University Communications

Youngstown State University continued to grow and broaden its reach in 2009 and set the

stage for more of the same in the decade to come.

Enrollment increased by more than 7% last fall, bringing the total number of students on campus to 14,682. It’s the first time in 16 years that enroll-ment has exceeded the 14,000 mark.

Since 2000, the number of stu-dents has increased by 2,895, or nearly 25%. And the future looks bright as applications for fall 2010 are ahead of last fall’s level.

The diversity of the student popu-lation also continued to increase. Minority enrollment reached record levels last fall with nearly 2,900 mi-nority students enrolled. Since 2000, minority enrollment has more than doubled.

The university continued to reach out to extend educational opportuni-ties in the region. The YSU College in High School Program, for instance, expanded to Trumbull and Colum-biana counties, allowing more high school students to take classes for college credit.

YSU opened a new office of veter-ans affairs to help the growing number of returning military veterans make the transition to university life. As a result, G.I. Jobs magazine designated YSU as a “military-friendly” campus, and in the fall the university dedicated Armed Forces Boulevard on the west side of campus.

And, in an effort to attract more students from across the state line, the university unveiled the Western Pennsylvania Advantage, a program that drastically reduces tuition for students from counties in the western part of the Keystone State.

The success of YSU faculty and staff in receiving outside grants also reached record levels. The university received $11.7 million in grants in fiscal 2009, up nearly $5 million from

Youngstown State Grows With Enrollment Gains, Campus Development

the previous year. Since 2000, grant fundsing, much

of it for faculty research, has more than tripled. The university identified four centers of excellence: materi-als science and engineering, applied chemical biology, international busi-ness and the Rich Center of Excellence for the Study of Autism. And, the campus began planning for the tran-

sition to an urban research univer-sity, as designated by the Ohio Board of Regents.

Campus devel-opment plans also moved forward this past year, led by the start of construction on the new home for the Williamson College of Business Administration, a project that more closely connects YSU to downtown Youngstown.

The YSU Board of Trustees ap-proved issuing $24.5 million in bonds for phase two of the Centennial Campus Master Plan, including major renovations to Kilcawley Center and Wick Pollock Inn, construction of the new WATTS Center and planning for a new building for the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The university also took steps to make the campus safer, implementing the YSU Alert and mass notification systems aimed at improving commu-nications in the event of an emergency or crisis.

In the fall, YSU partnered with AT&T to flip the switch on the new, lighted “YSU” logo atop the 180-foot AT&T tower on campus, which now can be seen from all approaches to the city.

The campus welcomed new deans for the Bitonte College of Health and Human Services and the College of Fine and Performing Arts and a new chief of human resources. Eric Wol-ford was hired as the Penguins head football coach to help lead the pro-gram back to national prominence.

And, David C. Sweet announced that he would retire June 30, after 10 years as president of YSU.

YSU designates ‘Centers of Excellence,’ plans for transition to urban research university.

The success of YSU faculty and staff in receiving outside grants also reached record levels.

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Enrollment rises; more partnerships with businesses, nonprofits formed. By Betty Jo LicataDean, Williamson College of Business Administration

The future is bright for the Williamson College of Business Administration as we continue to increase our enrollments, expand our global

initiatives, strengthen our partnerships with the business and nonprofit communities and invest in our students, faculty and staff.

Our new $34 million building is scheduled for completion in July. Its site and design position us to serve as a valuable resource to the community through our programs, services and physical re-sources.

Our faculty and staff prepare students to be lead-ers in business, government, nonprofit organizations and society, through a teaching-learning model that emphasizes professional development, applied learn-ing and engagement.

Our faculty shares its research with practitioners and academics at national and international forums and publications. AACSB International – the As-sociation to Advance College Schools of Business, recognizes our commitment to quality with inter-national accreditation.

YSU’s Williamson College Builds PartnershipsAmong the highlights of 2009 at the Williamson

College:• Designation by the Youngstown State University

Board of Trustees as one of the university’s “Centers of Excellence.” The goals of our center of excellence in international business are advancing our work in teaching, scholarship and outreach services, and to increase our influence by integrating global busi-ness issues throughout our curriculum and into the business community.

• The Ohio Small Business Development Center here received several statewide awards including Top Performing Business Counselor, Advocacy Award and Outstanding Marketing Award.

• Our honor society, Beta Gamma Sigma, was named a premier chapter a fifth consecutive year.

• Those in our college honored as distinguished: Birsen Karpak, teaching; John Russo, university service; and Peter Woodlock, public service.

• An accounting major, Krista Simone, was the first student designated the Service Learning Citizen Scholar.

• Our Beta Alpha Psi team placed second in the Best Practices in Chapter Sustainability at the Midwest Regional Meeting of the national honorary society in Indianapolis.

• More than 130 students, or 35% of graduates,

completed an internship the past year. More than 40 completed internships with nonprofit organiza-tions.

• Our students participated in the American Marketing Association Collegiate Conference

in Orlando, Beta Alpha Psi/AAA meeting in New York City, Students in Free Enterprise Recycling Competition in Tucson, Ariz., IMA Student Con-

ference in Jacksonville, Fla., and the New York Advertising Conference in New York City.

• WCBA Alumni Awards were presented to John A. DePizzo Jr., ’71, Outstanding Business Alumnus; John Finizio Jr., ’85, Outstanding MBA Alumnus; Ted F. Uehlinger, ’99, Outstanding Recent Alumnus; and Richard J. Schiraldi, Outstanding Service Award.

Our faculty developed several new academic of-ferings to ensure our students are prepared when they begin their careers. Examples include certifi-cates in enterprise resource planning, entrepreneur-ship and nonprofit leadership.

New courses have been developed in entrepre-neurship, creation of new ventures, financing new ventures, global marketing communication, manag-ing in emerging economies, multinational enterprise strategies, international entrepreneurship, business valuation, preparing income taxes and business professionalism.

Our faculty shares its research with prac-titioners and academics at national and international forums and publications.


$75 million project spans 200,000 square feet.

C. Tucker Cope & Associates, a design/build general contractor based in Columbiana, says it felt the challenges of the economy’s

downturn like most everyone else. But a $75 million project under way in North

Jackson represents substantial growth during a pe-riod when most companies are downsizing, relates

Cope Builds Patriot Metals Plant in North Jacksonengineer Tucker Cope Jr. The Cope family business supplied and erected the entire Patriot Special Metals Inc. complex, which includes 200,000 square feet of metal buildings.

This Patriot construction project, one of the larg-est in the Mahoning Valley for many years, consists of several structures, each containing a step in the advanced manufacturing processes required for the new specialty steel manufacturing operation, Cope says.

These structures include eaves of up to 53 feet in height and crane systems that range in size from 10- to 50-metric tons and include a specialty rigid-mast 20-metric-ton stacker crane.

The manufacturing complex will produce spe-cialty steel-alloy forgings for a variety of industrial sectors including aerospace, oil and gas, defense and energy production, reports Robert Dimitrieff, Patriot’s assistant project manager.

“Key to the North Jackson facility is the first installed hydraulic radial-forging machine in the United Sates,” says Dimitrieff. “This technology represents a significant development in the forging industry in North America.”

Dimitrieff calls the new plant a “historic move” for the industry and company, and praises the work of C. Tucker Cope and the contractor’s reliability to see the project through.

“In more than 30 years as a metal-building con-tractor, Cope is honored to include this project on its resume of metal building projects, which range from large enclosed college recreation facilities to complete ethanol plants,” Cope says.

C. Tucker Cope supplies, erects and has the capability of taking the lead role as a design/build contractor of metal buildings. The company has an in-house engineering department complemented with a skilled work force, which enables the com-pany to perform most construction phases.

Keynote Media Group Opens Seattle Office

With the recent establishment of an office in Seattle, Wash., the president of the Keynote Media Group, Youngstown,

believes 2010 will be a year of significant growth for the company.

Robin Fairbanks, a Mahoning Valley native, will manage projects in that market, says Richard Hahn, Keynote’s president. The firm’s main office is down-town in the 20 Federal Place Building.

In 2009, Keynote saw a significant increase in special projects, with emphasis on Web site devel-opment, marketing videos and social media, Hahn says. New clients for the firm last year included Exal Corp., Help Hotline, National Fire Repair, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, Central Heating & Cooling, Eastern Ohio P-16 Partnership for Education, and Stonebridge Grille & Tavern. This past fall, Keynote also assumed weekly design and layout duties of Partners, a weekly newsletter published by Humility of Mary Health Partners.

“Trimming marketing costs was at the top of most clients’ wish lists in 2009,” Hahn observes, an ob-jective that had to be achieved without diminishing “their hard-earned brand equity.” Budgets originally allocated for traditional media were trimmed and redirected toward Web sites, social media and cre-ative public relations strategies. With the increase in design and Web work, Keynote added Jon Shearer of Masury as an associate graphic designer.

Looking at 2010 projects for the company, Hahn points to the development and implementation of marketing and sales strategies for a new product in the fashion/style industry called the Wrap-N-Fit.


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Reinvention and reinvigoration were the key words for The Cafaro Company in 2009.

It was a process that played out at a variety of the com-pany properties over the course of many months, then was capped off in the waning days of the year, with a dramatic change at the top.

On Dec. 31, Anthony Cafaro Sr. retired as president, formally handing the reins his sons, William A. Cafaro and Anthony Cafaro Jr. They now share the title of co-president.

In actuality, these third-generation company leaders have been guiding day-to-day operations for some time. Managing corporate growth in 2009 gave them a chance to demonstrate their skills in a challenging environ-ment.

Despite the anemic (some might say scary) condition of the retail real estate sector, Cafaro was able to push ahead with an agenda of capital in-vestment that created new excitement at shopping complexes in Virginia, Michigan and Washington.

Closer to home the emphasis was on maintaining a robust mix of mer-chants, restaurants and services at the Eastwood Mall Complex. This is no small task, considering the fact that the complex encompasses roughly three million square feet, making it the largest shopping complex in the United States.

Keep in mind, the nation’s recession forced many retailers into bankruptcy and caused others to scale back the size of their operations. Even relative-ly healthy companies were shelving their expansion plans. Nevertheless, Eastwood remained an attractive place at which to do business.

The real estate leasing staff at Ca-faro has been in the forefront of an industry trend to seek out nontradi-tional mall tenants. They found one in the unique concept of a sports in-structional school that quietly opened its doors in January.

Under the inflated dome that had been part of the Eastwood Expo Center, OTN Performance caters to baseball and softball players of all ages. Instructors use sophisticated technology to analyze and correct players’ hitting and pitching.

Inside the Eastwood Business Cen-ter, a publicly funded agency found a new home. The Area Agency on Aging 11 provides services to senior citizens in Ashtabula, Trumbull, Mahoning

and Columbiana c o u n t i e s . T h e agency moved from downtown Youngstown to its new offices inside

the mall in April, attracted by a central location, ample free parking, and rent that will save the agency $300,000 over the course of its lease.

The result of this “re-tenanting” effort at Eastwood was an occupancy rate well above the national norm. At three other Cafaro malls, it’s extensive renovation that’s stimulating growth.

Frenchtown Square Mall, near Monroe, Mich., was built in 1988, and was showing its age. Millions of dollars were invested in new skylights, ceiling treatments, flooring, entrance features, landscaping, soft-seating areas, exterior lighting and an all-new food court.

The transformation was so dra-matic that it warranted a new name for the property: The Mall of Monroe. One week after a the “Grand Reopen-ing” celebration in Michigan, Cafaro celebrated another in Washington state. South Hill Mall, in Puyallup (just south of Seattle), had been un-dergoing a similar renovation on an even grander scale.

Across the country, in Fredericks-burg, Va., an even more ambitious expansion was being completed at Spotsylvania Towne Centre. As part of a $100 million, multi-year project, The Village at Towne Centre was welcoming its first tenants. It is an outdoor shopping district adjacent to the enclosed mall, with the look and feel of a Colonial-era town. The Village has attracted the attention of a variety of high-end retailers.

Substantial financial investment in a down economy certainly comes with a good dose of risk, but it also holds the potential for tremendous rewards. It already appears to be creating new growth at a time when few would expect it.

Cafaro Company Seeks Nontraditional Tenants Third generation of company leaders named co-presidents.By Joe BellThe Cafaro CompanyDirector of Corporate Communications

Reinvention and reinvigoration were the key words for The Cafaro Company in 2009.


The Great Recession, aggravated by the near meltdown of the U.S. financial system, caused the Home Savings and Loan Co., a subsidiary

of United Community Financial Corp., to formulate and adhere to its strategy of retrenchment, which has been succeeded by a strategy for recovery.

During retrenchment, “We simplified our bal-ance sheet, reorganized our lending and credit administration functions and focused our resources on efficiency, risk management and capital ratio enhancement,” says Douglas M. McKay, chairman and CEO of UCFC. “We are entering our recovery phase, which we expect to be characterized by a slightly stronger economy, a flattening in the level of loan delinquencies, a more vibrant residential and commercial real estate market and a return to health and strength within the local economies in each of the markets we serve.”

In addition, McKay continues, Home Savings plans to increase its participation in small-business lending to help local businesses, which he describes as “the backbone of our communities.”

Despite a moribund housing market in 2009, Home Savings experienced its strongest year since 2006 in residential mortgage lending with a close to 40% increase in volume over 2008. As a result, 12 loan originators were inducted into Home Sav-ings’ Mortgage Elite Group, an honor recognizing them “for their exceptional level of mortgage loan production” within Home Savings’ market areas, McKay says.

For over 120 years, Home Savings has taken its role as a community bank very seriously, McKay emphasizes. “Through good times and bad, we have always remained dedicated to both giving back to and strengthening the communities we serve,” he says.

In light of an economy only now beginning to recover, Home Savings believed it more important than ever to maintain this commitment, McKay says, and “hold true to our mission of reinvesting in local neighborhoods by providing financial support from the Home Savings Charitable Foundation.”

While income from investments the foundation

held fell (from $1.23 million in 2007, $113,000 above the required minimum, to a required mini-mum of $756,000 in 2009), “it still made a difference in the lives of a great number of people,” the CEO of UCFC says.

Home Savings remains deeply involved in service organizations, charitable causes and public efforts. “Our employees are active members of many civic groups, economic development programs, educa-tional projects and urban revitalization efforts,” McKay says.

Home Savings is working to meet “the growing need for financial literacy programs, so [we have] committed resources to developing and implement-ing education programs for today’s youth and adult

Home Savings Begins Rebound from SetbacksPlans to increase its lending to local small businesses.

population,” he continues. Home Savings employ-ees volunteered their time at schools and throughout the community to present hands-on education pro-grams intended to raise both children’s and adults’ awareness about the responsible use of credit and the importance of saving money.

Home Savings was awarded the 2009 WWR Out-standing Community Partner Award, sponsored by Weltman, Weinberg & Reis Co. L.P.A., in partnership with the Community Bankers Association of Ohio for its efforts to improve financial literacy.

Home Savings, with assets of $2.6 billion at Dec. 31, operates 39 full-service banking offices and six loan production offices throughout Ohio and west-ern Pennsylvania. It has 600 employees.

The Butler Institute of American Art benefited from more than 200 acquisitions in 2009 – paint-ings, drawings, sculptures and photographs – but two stand out, says its executive director and curator, Lou Zona.

They are Jackson Pollock’s “Silver and Black,” painted in 1950 and today valued at $2 million, and the Butler’s recovery of the Pierre Soulages mural measuring 14 by 20 feet that adorned the One Oliver Place building in Pittsburgh.

The Pollock is a gift of William and Linda Roemer. William’s parents, James and Helen Roemer, paid $3,000 to acquire the art in 1958. “Silver and Black” is the first Pollock to grace the Butler and the second to be acquired by a museum in Ohio.

Pollock was known for his drip method of applying paint from a variety of tools to create an energetic pattern over the surface of a canvas, Zona notes. “Silver and Black” incorporates hi-eroglyphic-like characters, a structure based on the letters of the artist’s name.

Zona, a recognized authority on mid-20th cen-tury art, calls Pollock “a troubled genius whose magnificent art has engaged generations.”

Last July the Butler was called on to rescue and restore the mural the French painter Soulages creat-ed in 1968 when One Oliver Place was nearly com-

plete in downtown Pittsburgh. Architect William Lescaze commissioned the site-specific work.

The Oliver building was sold last spring and the new owners wanted it removed. Enter the Butler, which was informed it could have the mural consisting of 294 tiles for the expenses involved in restoring it. Other art museums in greater Pittsburgh had been invited to reclaim the mural but “none was willing to undertake the daunting task,” Zona says.

The reclaimed and restored Soulages is valued at $1.5 million.

“Pivotal to the effort of saving the life of the mural was Butler trustee Vincent Bacon, a retired Youngstown engineer, who organized the removal with assistance from Larry Mobley, a Michigan tile restoration expert,” Zona says.

The life mural will be installed in a glass-fronted room specifically built to house the mas-sive piece in the Trumbull branch of the Butler in Howland Township. Construction of the Soulages gallery is set to begin this spring and scheduled to open this summer.

Soulages expressed his delight over the Butler’s initiative when he learned of it, Zona says, and gratitude that his work was not destroyed. “The piece,” Soulages said, “is a significant part of my life’s work … very dear to me.”

Butler Acquires Pollock, Rescues Mural

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The focus at Huntington Bank in 2009 was lending to small businesses and philanthropy that improves the quality of life in the

communities the bank serves.Looking ahead, the president of the Mahoning

Valley Region, Frank Hierro, says, “The prospects for 2010 are much improved and all of us at Huntington look forward to a positive year.”

Expressing pride in the performance of the 600-plus Huntington Bankers who serve the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, Hierro says, “During unprec-edented economic challenges, our colleagues con-tinued to provide outstanding service and assisted customers in meeting their unique financial needs. Our bankers are prepared to be essential partners for our current and new customers.”

The Columbus-based Huntington Bank’s com-mitment to small business is reflected in it ending the federal fiscal year as the seventh-largest small-business lender in the country, as reported by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Hierro says. According to the SBA, Huntington made 992 loans that totaled $141 million for fiscal 2009. The U.S. fiscal year runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

Small businesses are the backbone of the econ-omy, Hierro says, noting they employ more than half of the U.S. work force and account for nearly 65% of all jobs created. By focusing on small busi-ness, Huntington understands its role in sustaining their communities, including those in the Valley, he says.

Huntington was the top SBA lender in four of the five states where it has a physical presence, Hierro points out. It was the No. 1 SBA7(a) lender in the number of SBA loans and dollar amount of such loans in Ohio and West Virginia. It was also the No. 1 lender as measured by the number of SBA7(a) loans in Indiana and Michigan.

To better understand the needs of small busi-nesses, Huntington surveyed small-business own-ers in the Mahoning Valley and throughout the five states it serves to find out how they are staying afloat during the recession and nascent recovery.

Respondents were divided on when they saw themselves rehiring.

While 24% said they would rehire in the second quarter of 2010, 22% said they would not hire until 2011. Another 16% said they would never again reach their previous levels.

Regarding how they have survived the downturn, 42% said they had enough cash to cover the decrease in revenues and 55% of business owners said their customers continue to do business with them. As for maintaining their levels of employment, 29% said they laid off staff, 34% said they froze salaries and 33% said they reduced staff hours, the survey found.

Huntington’s other major focus, giving back to its communities, saw it donate more than 1,100 back-packs containing school supplies to area agencies,

Huntington Bank Supports Business, Communitieswhich then provided them to needy families, Hierro says. Recipients in the Mahoning Valley were Fam-ily Service Agency’s Day Break, Beatitude House and Mahoning County Children Services. The bank also distributed the backpacks in Trumbull and Columbiana counties, and Lawrence, Mercer and Erie counties in Pennsylvania. The distribu-

Bank is seventh-largest small-business lender in the country as ranked by U.S. Small Business Administration.

tion of the backpacks is one aspect of Huntington’s annual Backpack Index, which tells consumers

how much more it cost to provide students with the supplies they need for school

Huntington developed 10 savings tips to help

families reduce their back-to-school shopping bills and teach children about managing money.

According to the SBA, Huntington made 992 loans that totaled $141 million for fiscal 2009.

F all 2009 enrollment at the Kent State University Trumbull Campus was up 27% over fall 2008, creating the highest enrollment the

Champion Township campus has ever experienced, reports Dean Wanda Thomas.

“While the recession is a factor in the enrollment increase, clearly the fact that students selected Kent State Trumbull over other local and regional options is no accident of the economy,” she emphasizes.

The dean says she expects that the spring 2010 semester will maintain the enrollment increase seen during the fall.

“As of the first week in January, spring semester enrollment was tracking at a 28% increase over the same time frame last year, Thomas says, adding that to date, 2,464 students have enrolled and more are expected.

“The carryover of such an increase is not typical, but certainly welcome,” she points out. “Generally,

for almost every university, the enrollment in a spring semester is slightly less than in the fall. You lose some students – for a variety of reasons – and you just don’t enroll a sufficient number of new students to overcome the deficit.”

Still, Thomas says, “Given the unique circum-stances our economy and job markets are facing, we’re seeing a number of people enroll who either are looking to complete a degree they had previously started at one point in time, or who are looking at a new career path that will provide them with a greater likelihood of employment in the near future. It’s a real mixture.”

Many classes are offered online, thus providing maximum flexibility for individuals from all walks of life whether they are new or returning students or active members of the work force, Thomas notes.

“Students no longer have to select between school or work,” she says, adding that the online environment is a big part of the campus’s future. “Being able to take classes on your own time al-lows people not to have to choose between school and work – they can have both employment and education.”

Adding to the Trumbull campus’ mixture of tra-ditional and nontraditional students are those who took part in the innovative “Fresh Start” initiative, which also contributed to Kent Trumbull’s recent enrollment increases.

The program began in the spring semester 2009 as a tuition assistance program for recently laid-off workers who had not attended college in the previ-ous three years. Using income generated from four gas wells on campus property, Kent Trumbull was able to provide tuition awards for 197 credit and noncredit new students.

Kent Trumbull Forecasts More Enrollment Gains “The mind naturally assumes that most laid-off

workers in an economic downturn are unskilled laborers, but that was not the case with our “Fresh Start” students,” Thomas says.

“We were seeing professionals – from fields like accounting – who had 20-some years in with an employer and now found themselves in a situation they never expected but knew the value of educa-tion and what returning to a university could do for their future.”

The program generated interest from news organizations across the country including The Wall Street Journal and Crain’s Business, Thomas notes.

As a result, colleges and universities from Ohio and beyond contacted the Trumbull campus for further information on the program including associated costs and the parameters used to help maximize the funds available so they could emulate the program, she says.

‘Fresh Start’ program for laid-off workers draws inquiries from schools across Ohio.

Fall 2009 enrollment at the Kent State Uni-versity Trumbull Campus was up 27% over fall 2008, creating the highest enrollment the campus has ever experienced.


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The global economic downturn hit Columbiana and Mahoning counties hard in January 2009. Unemployment rates soared, leaping to 12.8%

and 13.48%, respectively, from 8.9% and 8.4% in December 2008.

In addition, many of those still employed suffered a reduction in pay or hours or both. Some companies shut down permanently. The area was plunged into the throes of the toughest economic climate since the steel mill closings of the 1970s.

The One-Stop Workforce System of Columbiana and Mahoning Counties met the challenge of job seekers flooding into its facilities. The number of visits of individuals seeking services rose more than 50% over the number of visits recorded two years earlier.

With the help of American Recovery and Rein-vestment Act (federal stimulus) funds, the One-Stop system expanded services, office hours and staff to assist job seekers whose visits to the One-Stops exceeded 40,500 in 2009. The Mahoning County One-Stop expanded into an adjacent space to create a new business services area.

Stimulus funding that came to Mahoning & Co-

MCTA Sees Demand Double for Agency’s Services

By Gloria MathewsMCTA Communications Assistant

lumbiana Training Association (MCTA), operator of the One-Stop system, also doubled the amount of training that could be funded for dislocated work-ers and allowed for the expansion of the processing system to access those funds so that individuals could obtain training quickly. Approximately 600 individuals received tuition funding in 2009.

MCTA received a total of $3.5 million in federal stimulus funds of which $1.5 million funded the Summer Youth Work Ex-perience Program that put to work more than 500 Mahoning and Columbiana County youth ages 16 through 24.

While responding to the challenges of high un-employment, the One-Stop system never lost sight of the need for services by employers. The Business Resource Network, a business retention and expan-sion program, completed its first year of operation. During 2009, the Business Resource Network inter-viewed 39 companies and presented 20 proposals. A customer satisfaction survey found companies were satisfied and pleased with the network’s services and 87% planned to implement proposals offered by the Business Resource Network.

In Columbiana County, all public libraries were brought on board as One-Stop Express Sites and several libraries in adjacent counties were added to the One-Stop network. As One-Stop Express Sites,

the staffs of the libraries have been trained to help customers use the OneStopOhio.org Web site.

During the year, the Oh-Penn Interstate Region, encompassing Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties in Ohio and Lawrence and Mercer coun-ties in Pennsylvania, held a summit to establish its strategic plan. More than 150 stakeholders attended

the summit. The competi-tiveness council that sets direction for the inter-state region, has begun work on implementing the plan.

The first Oh-Penn Interstate Region Job Expo was held Sept. 9 at the Covelli Centre in Youngstown. Nearly 5,000 job seekers participated along with 65 employers and 29 training providers. The event was hosted by the Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana One-Stops with PA CareerLink of Lawrence and Mercer counties. Once again, the host organizations partnered with The Business Journal for a Job Expo Extra that contained helpful tips for job seekers and the event’s program. It was distributed to all Job Expo participants as well as to The Business Journal subscribers.

The year was capped with the Area 17 Workforce Investment Board, which governs the Mahoning and Columbiana County One-Stop System, being named the Outstanding Workforce Investment Board in Ohio for the third consecutive year.

The number of visits of individuals seeking services rose more than 50% over the num-ber of visits recorded two years earlier.

Stimulus funds expand training, job-placement programs.


With Slow Housing Market, Remodeling Up at Duncan’s POLAND -- The soft housing market has meant significant growth over the past year for Duncan’s Bath & Kitchen Center in its core business of home remodeling, reports owner Tom Duncan.

In addition to bath and kitchen work, Duncan says homeowners were upgrad-ing their homes with basement and family room projects as well as room additions. The 53-year-old company also saw increased interest in an eco-friendly approach to remodeling projects, he says. Special emphasis was placed on indoor air quality, energy conservation, resource conservation, reduced mate-rial waste, and the use of products that are better for the environment.

For 2010, Duncan says he sees significant growth potential in the company‘s “Barrier Free” home-remod-eling division. A certified aging-in-place specialist, Duncan’s modifies homes to meet the special needs of seniors, veter-ans and individuals with disabilities.

Marsh & Co. Puts Emphasis On Records ManagementHUBBARD -- Effective management of cash flow, inventory and costs are cru-cial to surviving and prospering in any economic environment, and J.P. Marsh & Co., CPAs and Business Consultants, provides clients with the tools to track and control these areas of concern, says founder Jim Marsh.

For the construction industry, the firm stresses the need for comprehensive job-costing records and works with con-tractors to establish methods to track expenses so they can obtain required bonding and needed financing. Marsh & Co. provides detailed analysis of over-head burdens, enabling the contractor to prepare competitive, profitable bids.

Consulting and tax ser vices for the manufacturing industry is another specialty.

For all businesses, Marsh & Co. emphasizes the necessity of maintain-ing current, accurate accounting and payroll records.

“Up-to-date financial information al-lows management to make decisions that will be most beneficial to the long-term health of their business and to make informed tax decisions,” says Marsh, whose firm has been in business for more than 30 years.

Belleria Boardman Expands BOARDMAN – The expansion of the Bel-leria Pizza and Italian Restaurant, 8485 Market St., four years ago turned out to be a smart move for owner James DeVic-chio and his wife, Sandra. The additional space allows the DeVicchios to serve 40 more customers who want to dine in a room with a Tuscan style theme.

Their biggest challenge “in these tough economic times is [continuing] serving generous portions at affordable prices,” James DeVicchio says. Still, “business continues to grow.”

It’s helped by the DeVicchios adding to the entrees the Belleria chain offers. They introduce new menu items as spe-cials. Those that prove popular are kept; those that don’t are dropped.

Best Year at Price Heating GIRARD – While 2009 was a tough year for many businesses, Wm. Price Heating & Cooling enjoyed one of its best years ever, reports Chris McKernan, gaining market share. He attributes that to an aggressive advertising campaign begun in early 2008 as the effects of the reces-sion were beginning to be felt.

Price Heating supplies heating and cooling equipment and ser vices to homeowners and small businesses throughout the Mahoning Valley.

Founded in 1937 by William Price and E.J. “Jim” McKernan, it remains a family-owned enterprise with third-generation McKernans serving the grandchildren of its first customers.

The McKernans – Bill, Linda and their son, Chris – attribute the success of the company in part to offering quality service and products at a fair price.

Price Heating employs 13.

America’s Insurance Agency Reports Business Up 15%BOARDMAN – 2009 was a record year for America’s Insurance Agency, reports Ron Nanosky, principal/owner of the company, which will celebrate 10 years in business in February.

Overall, business grew more than 15% last year, and the staff doubled to six from three.

A marketing consultant was hired to oversee client relations and growth, and the company’s Web site was upgraded. In addition, a newsletter was launched and all training and operations manu-als were updated. Two outside sales producers also joined the agency.


Despite the challenges associated with the recession, Innis Maggiore was able to hold its own as marketing activities paid off with the

unusually high number of requests for proposals, reports Dick Maggiore, CEO of the Canton-based advertising and public relations agency.

“While many are overwhelmed by the chal-

Innis Maggiore Strengthens Focus on Positioning Economic climate is opportunity to attack competitors’ weaknesses.

lenges of the current economic climate, it’s actually a good time to be in business,” he says. “Times like these are opportunities for companies to reposition themselves, to make changes, to attack competitors’ inherent weaknesses, and to promote their position while their competitors are quiet.”

Last year, Innis Maggiore hosted a regional busi-ness marketing event, launched an e-newsletter that has thousands of subscribers, and responded to a record number of requests for proposals,

Maggiore notes. He credits the agency’s 2009 ac-complishments, which include expanding and refining services to gaining new clients, to its focus on positioning.

The year’s highlights included the well-attended “Breakfast With Jack Trout” in Akron, launching the monthly “PositionistView” collection of essays about marketing and positioning, and a fourth quarter that featured more inquiries than any previous three-month period in the agency’s 35-year history.

“The Jack Trout event was an informational and networking service to the business community in northeast Ohio and ultimately served as a spring-board for our own 2009 marketing efforts,” Maggiore explains. ‘PositionistView’ was conceived as a way to share knowledge with marketing decision-makers, and our subscription list has grown since Day One. The payoff is that even Google has rewarded us with top-ranking for those who search for a ‘positioning agency.’ ”

Innis Maggiore had 2009 capitalized billings of more than $21 million, he notes.

Key clients include Alside, Aultman Health Foundation, Bank of America, Gerber’s Poultry Inc., Goodyear, GuideStone Financial Resources, Neoucom Technologies, RTI International Metals, Republic Engineered Products, and Shearer’s Foods Inc. Innis Maggiore is a member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the National Investor Relations Institute and the Public Relations Society of America.

Gordon Bros. Water Celebrates 65 Years

Gordon Bros. Water, Salem, is slated to celebrate 65 years in business this year.

“Gordon Bros. continues to be a family-owned business and is now being operated by the third generation of the Gordon family,” says its president, Ned Jones.

Lloyd M. Gordon established the company in 1945 to help consumers in the region address con-cerns over their water quality. Today, the company provides water purification and treatment products to consumers throughout 10 counties in Ohio, northern West Virginia and western Pennsylvania, Jones says.

“Many businesses faced challenges in 2009 due to uncertain economic conditions,” he relates. “Water was among them.”

The company responded to these challenges with value-added services, technologically advanced products and new, affordable programs, he says.

Still, Jones says even in the most difficult eco-nomic times, customers want water that’s free of additives and chemicals. “We saw improvements to the company’s bottom line during the third and fourth quarters,” he says.

The company is a distributor of Kinetico water filtration systems and retained its position as a Top 10 Kinetico dealer in 2009, Jones reports.

These systems, Jones says, “lower home energy costs, cut cleaning costs and are better for the envi-ronment than bottled water.”

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NeilKennedy:Layout 1 12/4/09 9:38 AM Page 1The Business Journal MidJANUARY 2010 41

Moving 1.5 million books and items into Ohio State University’s Thompson Memorial Library last year proved to be one of the biggest projects in the 100-plus-year history of Carney-McNicholas Inc.

The Austintown company, founded in 1906 by J.V. McNicholas, has adapted and weathered the eco-nomic storms of the last century from the Great Depression of the 1930s through the Great Recession of the past two years, says T.J. Carney, owner and president. Starting out hauling personal belongings on horse-drawn carriages and then steel on trucks, Carney-McNicholas today specializes in high-valued electronic and medical equipment transfer, art handling and conveyance, and high-volume library moves.

Recognizing future economic chal-lenges within the trucking industry,

Moving ExperiencesFor Carney-McNicholas Company grows with new specialities.

Carney-McNicholas secured the Ohio State project against stiff out-of-state competition. The company’s commit-ment to establishing new business lines, while maintaining its core, paid dividends in 2009, as the Ohio State Library relocation project and other ancillary business units offset “near-cataclysmic financial conditions that left many competitors bankrupt and shuttered,” Carney says.

Completed in 2½ months, the com-plex project included the relocation of one of the country’s largest on-display library collections that features books, journals, archives, and audio-visual materials.

This project, along with a five-phase book transfer for the University of Wyoming and other projects, has supplemented Carney-McNicholas’ burgeoning fine-art handling and transportation business. The develop-ment of its new subsidiary. MidWest Fine Art Service Transportation LLC will be a central focus in 2010 and beyond, Carney says.

Window World, Boardman, expe-rienced steady growth last year and the owners expect even stronger sales this year.

Fred Moran and his son, Patrick, who own five Window World loca-tions in three states, project sales this year will be up 10% companywide. “We are looking at the new year with great optimism, yet realism,” Fred Moran says.

The Morans opened a new Window World showroom in Steubenville ear-lier this month. They will open a sixth location in Findlay in March.

“With so many others selling win-dows out of the back of a truck, people appreciate knowing they have a place to go for service and product issues,” Fred Moran says.

The owners of Window World say

Window World to Open Showroom in Findlay

they are especially energized by the addition of Pat’s son, Patrick, to the family business.

Patrick is the third generation to join Window World, his father ob-serves. “Patrick brings young blood and fresh ideas, which are sure to help our growth,” he says. “He got his feet wet as an installer and has since moved into sales.”

This year also promises to be a year of giving back, with the Window World Cares campaign, Fred Moran notes.

Window World Cares is a national fund-raising initiative that benefits St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

“We include St. Jude’s into our presentation and will match any dona-tion made up to $150,” he explains. The goal is to raise $1.4 million na-tionwide.

The Morans’ Window World em-ploys 76 workers and operates li-censed showrooms in Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Steubenville and Detroit.

‘We are looking at the new year with great optimism, yet realism.’

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Kravitz Delicatessen Begins Its 71st Year

As Kavitiz Delicatessen begins its 71st year, its owner, Solomon J. “Jack” Kravitz, is working with the Rust Belt Brewing Co. to make the deli part of a “bar crawl” through downtown Youngstown and having the deli’s signature corned beef a feature of the crawl at the B&O Station.

Sales at the delicatessen grew by 30% dur-ing the year, Kravitz reports, adding that sales have grown 300% since he took over the family business in 2006.

Since both the deli and the new Wal-Mart that opened in Aug. 19 are located on state Route 193 in Liberty Township – the deli first opened in 1939 – Kravitz initiated a special promotion that day, offering the corned beef sandwiches for $1.93 each. “More than 2,000 sandwiches were sold that day,” he says. “We had to close at 3 p.m. because we ran out of corned beef.”

Other successful promotions during the year included naming sandwiches “after people and places that make the Valley great,” Kravitz notes. Namesake sandwiches included judges Economus and Belinki, Phil Kidd, National College and the Cafaro Co. On St. Patrick’s Day, the deli expanded its offerings to include beer and entertainment in an outdoor tent.

The sale of the former Carter Lumber on Route 224 was among last year’s highlights for Kutlick Realty LLC, Boardman, one of 10 commercial

real estate sales the company completed in 2009.The purchaser of the 32,800-square-foot build-

ing will occupy all but 6,000 square feet, with the remainder to be leased, reports Bill Kutlick, owner of the real estate company. In addition, Kutlick Realty sold a 10,000-square-foot office building on California Avenue to a local business that decided to own rather than continue to lease space.

Other sales during 2009 included a 10,000-square-foot office building across from the Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley Campus, two former restaurants, one on Stadium Drive in Boardman and one in Coitsville, a 9,600-square-foot industrial building in Austintown, a grocery store in Struthers, and a motel/storage investment property in Alliance.

On the leasing side, Kutlick Realty was involved in 30 deals, leasing 172,000 square feet of office, retail and industrial space in Columbiana, Mahon-ing and Trumbull counties, Kutlick says. Transac-tions during 2009 included leasing the former DIY building in Warren, more than 79,000 square feet of space to Kraftmaid for an outlet store. Just north of Kraftmaid on Elm Road, McDonald’s opened a new restaurant in front of the Wal-Mart Supercenter in Cortland in the Shops at Millennium

In Mahoning County, Kutlick brought Moors & Cabot and Ship On Site to Shops at Southwestern, and Beach Club Tanning and Little Caesar’s to a

Kutlick Realty Closes 10 Sales, 30 Leasing Dealscenter across from the Southern Park Mall. The company also leased the former Pizza Hut on Route 224 at West Boulevard to Gia’s Pizzeria.

YDEK, a computer company, opened at Parkside Plaza in Boardman, and Guardian Home Health Care opened on Manor Drive in Canfield, where in December Kutlick leased an 18,000-square-foot warehouse. Maxim Healthcare Services also signed a lease for 4,935 square feet in the Woodmar Square Office Park on Western Reserve Road.

Outside of the area, Kutlick found a new location for Saga Japanese Steakhouse at the Great Lakes Mall in Mentor

Kutlick says he is optimistic that growth will con-tinue in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana coun-ties because of the extremely attractive sale prices and lease rates. Several projects are in the works for the year, he reports, including the expansion of Applewood Commons, which houses Bed Bath and Beyond, Shoe Carnival and Pier One Imports.

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McDonald Steel Takes Steps to Weather RecessionBy Timothy EgnotMcDonald Steel President and CEO

By mid-2008, the management of McDonald Steel, recognized that national and global economies were crashing and so we shifted

our focus to reducing costs, decreasing capacities and strengthening our balance sheet.

These tactics resulted in the company maintain-ing profitability and generating a positive cash flow, keeping us in good stead with lenders and suppliers. Measured by percentages, McDonald Steel fared much better than many larger steel companies rela-tive to net sales, net income and price per ton. Key to that success was holding a strong pricing discipline: We kept prices nearly unchanged across the board and our directors declared a cash dividend of 35 cents per share to shareholders of record July 1.

When sales declined 16% and operations slowed to half capacity, the company applied stringent controls: reining in receivables, effecting aggressive energy conservation measures, reducing inventories, ramping-up product development, and maintaining day-to-day market diversification.

The lifeblood of the company – new section de-velopment – was fully sustained. (McDonald Steel is a global leader in producing engineered hot-rolled steel shapes.) During the year, a record nine new sections (or “shapes”) were designed, rolled and shipped to the automotive, railroad and construc-tion industries. Among these developments are door

hinges for Volkswagen. The premier sections are pro-totypes for the midsize VW sedan to be introduced in 2011 and assembled in the latest VW plant under construction near Chattanooga, Tenn. McDonald Steel also will supply hinge shapes to VW’s Mexican plant and its operations in Germany.

With two of our markets – truck rims and auto hinges – severely depressed, others held up very well. For example, our railroad market outper-formed 2008 by 25% as we recaptured business lost to China.

Energy conservation played a big role in surviv-ing the recession. In January, electricity rate stabili-zation ended in Ohio. In anticipation, management effected an aggressive program that drove down electric power consumption 29%.

We also invested substantially in plant and equipment. Repairs and improvements were made to roofs, cranes, motor generators, pump-house pumps, hot beds and the water tower.

The financial conditions in all of our markets and our customers’ ability pay their bills were closely monitored. Outstanding receivables, which we began to rein in during 2008, showed significant reduction in our exposure by 2009.

A major saving grace is our work force. We commend these loyal men and women for their perseverance and productivity.

Looking ahead, we are feeling our way when it comes to increased orders and when recovery takes a better hold. Lead times are shorter: customers

maintain low inventory levels and delay placing orders until the last possible minute.

The fog is thickest in automotive (hinges and wheel rims). The truck rim and off-road rim markets were down a combined 33% in 2009. Our over-road rim tonnage consists mainly of exports to Colombia and Mexico. The global economic slide had a serious impact on those customers. Off-road rims depend primarily on construction, mining and agriculture. Manufacturing of heavy wheeled equipment serving those economic sectors came nearly to a halt.

There is no indication of an uptick soon in either the over- or off-road rim business. Truck and auto door hinges should show a modest rebound.

The bridge and reinforced concrete pipe spigot markets held up well with bridge sales down 6% from the year before and spigot sales up slightly. These markets were not sustained by new govern-ment stimulus money, but were the result of projects funded before passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act last February. We anticipate some business improvement this year in these markets as an outcome of that act, but based on discussions with our customers, the $154 billion allocated to infrastructure rehabilitation is woefully inadequate to address these aging systems – and the release of stimulus funds is not occurring quickly enough.

Bottom line for 2010: visibility poor. Long pull: our markets will rebound, albeit slowly.

McDonald Steel Corp., founded in 1980, is lo-cally owned. We employ some 100 people.

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Aebischer’s Jewelry Updates Marketing Plan, Web SitePOLAND – Aebischer’s Jewelry will focus on its marketing strategy this year by up-dating its “Aebischer’s Absolutely” cam-paign, report Doug and Karen Aebischer, owners. Also planned is an upgraded Web site to meet changing customer shopping patterns.

Despite challenging conditions in the retail jewelry industry last year, Aebisch-er’s added two positions last year. Adam Aebischer, the couple’s son, became the fourth generation to enter the business and sales representative Wendy Kitchen joined the firm in the fall.

In addition to a consistent bridal busi-ness, remounting, jewelry repair – even replacing watch batteries – were key to keeping the company on solid footing, Doug Aebischer says. Customer service, he notes, remains the primary focus. “This is what got the company through a Depression and numerous economic downturns over the years.”

Best Western ‘Best of Best’HUBBARD -- The Best Western Penn-Ohio Inn & Suites has been named Best of the Best in Customer Care, one of 106 of Best Western’s 2,400 properties to receive the designation, says Brenda Stefanski, sales director. The award was presented at Best Western Internation-al’s annual convention in Phoenix.

The award is given to member proper-ties that best exemplify exceptional lev-els of service and care, Stefanski notes. The hotels also must meet design stan-dards and other requirements.

The hotel, on Commerce Drive, offers 63 rooms, two meeting rooms and a complimentary breakfast.

Resume Work Up at JaneCoWEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. -- JaneCo’s Sen-sible Solutions experienced another year of growth in 2009, reports owner Jane Roqueplot. The company, which opened in 1995, offers business seminars, ca-reer coaching and related services.

The number of job-seekers interested in finding the “best job” significantly dropped last year, with most now looking simply for “a job,” Roqueplot says. “Our resume development service has been the main focus for job seekers, with an increased demand for customized cover letters,” she notes.

A newer service that grew steadily last year is job-searching through on-line social networking and personal branding. The firm posts each client’s resume to 20 online job boards that are searched most frequently by employers. The firm also participates in a network of 25,000 recruiters, headhunters, venture capitalists and high-growth companies for purposes of Internet job searching, Roqueplot says.

Chappell’s Earns AwardsSALEM – Chappell’s House of Pictures & Frames received a first-place and popu-lar-choice at the regional Professional Picture Framers Association contest, reports Donna Chappell, owner.

The company is celebrating 48 years in business.

“We have added new materials for framing, including anti-reflective muse-um glass and print-on-demand artwork,” Chappell notes.

The company features collectible art by American artists in limited-edition prints, originals and posters and installs art in homes and offices.

Westminster Most Affordable NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – Westminster College again has been named one of the most affordable liberal ar ts col-leges in Pennsylvania, reports Mark Meighen, senior director, marketing & communication services. Westminster also is ranked one of “The Best 371 Colleges” and “Best in the Northeast” by The Princeton Review.

The college, which has 1,600 under-graduate and graduate students, is a top-tier liberal arts college and national leader in graduation rate performance, according to U.S. News Guide to Ameri-ca’s Best Colleges, Meighen says.

Business Barks at Come Stay and Play Pet ResortCANFIELD -- Braced for a rough year in 2009, the owner of Come Stay and Play Pet Resort instead reports that overall sales are up from the year before.

Bill Lowery, who owns the business with his wife, Darlene, says sales for the first 11 months of 2009 were up 29.1% over 2008. Dog boardings rose and grooming on average was booked out a week to 10 days, he says.

Opening in November 2007, the busi-ness has 50 dog runs, 10 “cat condos,” a “doggy day care” room with an outdoor play area, a certified dog trainer who of-fers individual and group classes, and self-serve pet washes.


Fallsway Equipment Co. closed the first decade of the 21st century celebrating its 50th anniversary. Founded in 1959, the Akron-based business, which operates a branch in Youngstown, specializes in the sales and service of forklifts and truck equipment.

“We’re very fortunate to have such a loyal cus-tomer base built up over our half-century of service to the northeast Ohio area to carry us through a dif-ficult 2009,” observes Greg Fairhurst, president.

Early in 2009, Mitsubishi Caterpillar America honored Fallsway Equipment with dealer-of-the-year awards for both Caterpillar and Mitsubishi fork-lift brands. The top 15% of dealers in North America receive recognition based on customer service and satisfaction, strength of the dealer and market performance. Fallsway Equipment is consistently among the top dealers in the nation for Caterpillar Forklift dealer performance, Fairhurst notes.

Facing many of the same challenges in 2009 as other businesses in the Mahoning Valley, Falls-way Equipment’s sales were off. Many of Fallsway Equipment’s manufacturing customers downsized or idled their forklift fleets, Fairhurst explains.

Customers who continued to use Fallsway’s products in volumes similar to pre-2008 levels were

Fallsway Equipment Celebrates 50th Anniversaryprimarily in the food and pharmaceutical distribu-tion businesses, reports Don Fisher, branch manager for Fallsway’s Youngstown location.

Fallsway Equipment is a distributor for Crown Equipment Corp., an Ohio manufacturer of electric forklift equipment, Fisher says. “While the number of lift trucks sold in our area decreased by close to 60% in 2009 versus 2008, our market share has al-most doubled,” he points out. “We owe a good deal of this success to our Crown forklift line.”

Fallsway’s truck equip-ment division installs medium and large truck chassis with bodies and accessories for almost any application. Product lines include Reading work truck bodies, Meyer’s snowplows, Fassi & Cormach knuckle cranes and Jerr-Dan wreckers/rollbacks for automobile recovery. The truck equipment division also outfits police and other emergency response vehicles with emergency light packages, radios and gun racks.

A new business line introduced this year, reports Doug Carson, vice president of marketing and sales, is mobile radio repair and programming. “We found we were already doing the installation of radio equipment in emergency vehicles,” Carson says. “We have many 50-plus forklift fleet customers that have a radio on every forklift in addition to personal handset units,” Carson continues. “We’re already

working on their forklifts and now it’s a natural for us to provide service to their radios as well.”

Another area Fallsway is targeting for growth this year is its dock equipment business, Carson says. This product line focuses on installing and servicing equipment connected to customers’ shipping/receiv-ing docks, such as dock levelers, vehicle restraints and dock seals.

Focusing on custom-ers’ needs is Fallsway’s primary facus for 2010, adds Jeff Zimmer, vice president and general manager. Fleet Manage-

ment, a process to measure and manage a customer’s forklift fleet, is the company’s vehicle for reducing customers’ operating costs and maximizing their fleets’ use, he elaborates. “Every one of our cus-tomers is intensely focused on reducing expenses. Through our fleet management process we can read-ily identify tremendous cost savings through reduced maintenance expenditures and better deployment of fleet assets.”

“Fallsway Equipment Co. is well-positioned for its next 50 years,” states CEO Harry Fairhurst. “We feel good about our company’s prospects coming out of this unprecedented downturn. We have an extremely diversified product portfolio with a strong customer base and clear prospects targeted for growth.”

The company employs 120.

Food, pharmaceutical distributors maintained volumes despite downturn.

Fallsway Equipment is consistently among the top dealers in the nation for Caterpillar Forklift dealer performance.

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WSI of Canfield ranked among the top 1% of WSI franchisees worldwide in

2009, having made the company’s top 25 list for revenue attainment for 12 months running.

Overall, the company reports its revenues increased 30% last year.

Owner and operator Gene Bonan-no, a certified digital marketing consultant, attributes WSI’s success this past year to a number of factors, being in the right place at the right time chief among them.

“The monumental shift from tra-ditional media to digital marketing has put us in a great position and the economic downturn has only fueled the movement,” Bonanno explains.

“Companies are looking to do more with less, and shifting their media budgets from traditional mediums such as TV, radio and direct mail to digital mediums including e-mail, social media and search engines,” he says.

Early last year, WSI focused on vertical markets that would be least impacted by the economic recession, choosing two core areas – sports and health care – Bonanno says.

As a result, WSI’s portfolio has ex-panded to include sites such as Buck-nuts.com, SpartanTailgate.com, Nit-tanyNetwork.com, InsideTheGrove.com, PennCare.net and OhioPremier-Health.com. The company’s own Web site is at www.WSIDM.com.

Digital Trend Boosts WSI

Packer Thomas was named one of the Best Employers in Ohio last year and in 2008, and this

year, the hope is to repeat the honor for the third time by continuing to enhance benefits and work/life policies, says Greg Gett, president of the public accounting firm.

Packer Thomas, established in 1923, has more than 50 employees in offices in Youngstown and New Castle, Pa.

“Best Employers in Ohio is a cel-ebration of the state’s elite employers who have proven that they know what it takes to create an environment where people love to come to work,” Gett notes.

In 2009, growth was experienced in the New Castle, Pa., office largely through the efforts of John Cournan, Nick Paolini and Joe Gabriel, Gett says.

In addition to the traditional serv-ice areas of tax, accounting, personal financial planning and internal audit, the firm anticipates further growth in information technology and forensic consulting areas.

For instance, Jeff Sheets works with clients on IT systems controls and security as well as data center security. He also consults on accounting soft-ware selection and installation.

Packer Thomas Seeks Best Employer ‘3-peat’

Brian Commons, who received his certified fraud examiner designation in 2008, works with attorneys in sup-port of their forensic accounting and consulting needs.

As a result, Packer Thomas achieved growth in the firm’s IT support and forensic accounting and consulting niches in 2009.

Nicole Ferraro and Cindy Wollet recently accepted the role of Account-ing and Auditing Practice leaders, Gett says. Their responsibilities include assuring that the firm is up-to-date pertaining to recent accounting and auditing requirements and to ensure that Packer Thomas produces a quality product that complies with applicable accounting and auditing standards.

The firm’s success, Gett says, comes in no small part because of the com-mitment to the community. Packer Thomas supports numerous organiza-tions including the American Cancer Society, the American Red Cross, Children’s Rehabilitation Center, Youngstown/Warren Regional Cham-ber, United Way and Youngstown State University.

“Clients and potential clients can experience firsthand the dedication of Packer Thomas’ people as they work to improve the communities sur-rounding our Youngstown and New Castle offices,” Gett emphasizes. “We are building lasting relationships.”

Packer Thomas is a past recipient of the Better Business Bureau’s Na-tional Torch Award for Marketplace Ethics.

Company sees growth in IT support andforensic accounting.

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Sh a ro n R e g i o n a l H e a l t h System’s Cancer Care Center in Hermitage, Pa., experienced

signifi cant volume increases in fi scal year 2009.

This resulted in the approval of a $4.7 million, two-phase expansion program that in-cludes a new $2.2 million linear ac-celerator for radiation therapy along with additional building expansion for support services.

The Heart and Vascular Institute welcomed four new cardiologists: J. Ronald Mikolich (a cardiac CT/MRI specialist), Nicola Nicoloff, Michael Burley and Brandon Mikolich.

A $376,000 upgrade was added to the MRI unit at the Diagnostic and Im-aging Center in Hermitage to provide advanced cardiac MRI studies.

Sharon Regional announced plans for the new Hubbard Diagnostic and Specialty Center, a $1.7 million satellite medical center that will oc-cupy 11,500 square feet in the former Nemenz/IGA food store at 880 West Liberty St. Longtime Hubbard family practice physician Howard G. Slemons also joined Sharon Regional’s staff during the year.

Sharon Regional experienced a 10% increase in outpatient revenues, a 1% increase in routine admissions, and a 12.4% growth in net patient revenue.

The growth in net patient revenue was the third-largest percentage growth of any acute-care hospital in western Pennsylvania, according to a survey published by the Pittsburgh Business Times. The revenue growth moved Sharon Regional to the eighth position of the 25 Largest Pittsburgh-Area Hospital Organizations and fi fth among all hospitals based on fi scal 2009 net income.

Sharon Regional was one of only 93 hospitals nationwide in 2009 to

By Ed NewmeyerSharon Regional Health System Marketing & Community Relations

Sharon Regional Health Expands Cancer Center, Plans Hubbard Satellite

receive the American College of Car-diology Foundation’s Silver Achieve-ment Award (in conjunction with the American Heart Association) in recognition of efforts to implement a higher standard of care for patients suffering heart attacks.

The Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons

awarded Sharon Regional’s Can-cer Care Center a three-year ap-proval with com-mendation.

Unison Health Plan presented Sharon Regional with two quality awards in recognition of its low hospital-acquired infec-tion rates and the performance of its Level II nursery. Sharon Regional also earned an award for eliminating symptomatic catheter-associated uri-nary tract infections and made a major improvement in scores that measure inpatient satisfaction.

To advance the clinical capabili-ties of its Advanced Wound Recovery Center, the health system installed the fi rst hyperbaric oxygen chamber in Mercer and Lawrence counties and, based on use, then installed a second unit at the center.

To accommodate a new cancer genetics program and other physi-cian specialists, 2,000 square feet of additional space was completed at the diagnostic and imaging center.The expansion comprised fi ve patient exam rooms, two physician offi ces, a breast nurse offi ce, and an additional patient waiting room.

The school of nursing enhanced its technology through a new simula-tion laboratory along with a learning center for online learning.

Sharon Regional also developed a new sports injury clinic in Hermitage with Keith Lustig, orthopedic sur-geon/sports medicine specialist, and welcomed back orthopedic surgeon Brian Shannon following the comple-tion of a spine surgery fellowship at Harvard Medical Center, and received full accreditation for its breast care center.

Growth in net patient revenue ranked third-largest among acute care hospitals in western Pa.

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As part of its strategy for growth this year, IDMI.Net plans to expand its custom Web site application offerings and e-commerce

platform, says Holly Fritz, sales manager. The Poland company is planning a move to a

new location in the village that will accommodate growth and combine facilities with “sister” company Pharmacy Data Management of Boardman.

Last year brought a steady increase in business, primarily as a result of new product offerings, Fritz says. “We saw a significant increase in the demand for customized Web applications,” she notes. “Appli-cations we developed included online employment, training, appointment and donation modules,” plus sales team, student grade and physician portals.

Social media and interactive elements were a major focus for Web site development last year. Additions of blogs, forums, photo galleries, audio and video, and links to social media pages continue to be significant, Fritz points out. So, too, is search engine optimization.

IDMI.net also began offering content-managed Web site systems last year, allowing customers to update and maintain their own sites without adding IT staff or buying software. “Many organizations need to do more with less and this option allows them to maintain their site in-house with existing staff,” Fritz notes.

In addition to adding design, programming and sales staff, 2009 brought a collaboration with Prodigal Media, also of Poland, through which a team from the two companies developed complete Web-based products and services that incorporate both marketing and technology, Fritz says.

IDMI Plans to Relocate, Customize New Products

First Motor Trend ‘Certified Advantage Dealer’ in Ohio.

During a year in which the domestic auto industry experienced serious challenges and setbacks, Bob & Chuck Eddy Chrysler Dodge

Jeep, Austintown, expanded its operations.The dealership at 4850 Mahoning Ave. boosted

inventory by 100% in 2009, reports Paul Shuger, sales and leasing consultant. “Through the end of

In Tough Year, Eddy’s Chrysler Dealership GrowsNovember, we were the third-largest volume dealer in the tri-county area,” he notes.

The closing of nearly 800 Chrysler dealerships across the country and two in the Mahoning Valley enabled the Eddy showroom to purchase more in-ventory, hire seven service employees, and add three sales representatives from closed dealerships.

To accommodate its expanded service depart-ment, the dealership purchased a building next to its Mahoning Avenue showroom.

Last year, Chrysler announced it would terminate 789 dealer franchises in the United States as a result of its government-backed bankruptcy. During the course of the year, dealership owner Chuck Eddy shuttled between Detroit and Washington, D.C., as a regional representative of the National Automobile Dealers Association, or NADA.

While in Washington, Eddy met with members of the Auto Task Force in an effort to convince them that closing dealers would in the long run be detri-mental to the industry, communities and Chrysler. Eddy continues to sit on NADA’s board and is also on the Chrysler Dealer Council Board.

Dealers across the country were helped by the federal government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program, and the Eddy showroom was no exception, Shuger says. The program awarded consumers vouchers of up to $4,500 to turn in their older models for new, more fuel-efficient vehicles. “We had tremendous success during the Cash for Clunkers,” he says.

In November, the dealership became the first Mo-tor Trend Certified Advantage Dealer in Ohio. “Less than 7% of all the auto dealers in the nation will have the opportunity to obtain this,” Shuger says.

Four sales executives – Shuger, Rita Fercana, Mickey Katchmer and Travis Dale – all sold more than 100 vehicles in 2009, which qualifies them as Chrysler Sales Master Certified professionals.


New equipment and programs at the Precision Manufacturing Institute Shenango Valley,

Sharon Pa., bode well for growth at the training center in 2010, says its director. “We look to 2010 with the planned expansion of industry-driven programs and the potential expansion of our training facility and classrooms,” says John Holliday.

PMI Shenango opened in May 2008 to offer skilled training in support of the region’s industrial base. In 2009, PMI added programs to train workers in tooling and as machine technicians, CNC machine programmers and CNC technicians. Training in accelerated CNC machining and electromechani-cal technology also was added.

“We installed several new pieces of CNC equipment in 2009 and look to add two new CNC machines, a program logic control, and pneumatic

Precision Manufacturing Institute Adds ProgramsWorkers learn skills to support area industry.

and hydraulic trainers this year,” Hol-liday reports.

PMI’s mission is to help make lo-cal industry more competitive and potential employees more qualified in what has become a global market. “Machine manufacturers can’t haul huge milling machines and lathes around to demonstrate them. But they can place them at PMI where potential customers can see them in operation, Holliday says.

PMI’s flexible programs accommo-date full-time students and workers employed full-time who have limited hours to devote to training.

Financial aid is available through PA CareerLink, Ohio One-Stop and other local agencies. “More than 40% of participants training in our facility in 2009 were residents of adjacent Ohio counties,” Holliday notes.

PMI-Shenango Valley works closely with area colleges and universities, he adds, which allows students to earn credits that can be applied toward a college degree.

Valley Office Solutions Inc., Boardman, is expecting 2010 to “be equally as good or even

better” than last year – a year that witnessed its share of challenges but ultimately one in which the business met or exceeded its goals.

Key to growth this year is a stable credit and financing environment for Valley Office’s customers, says the president of the company, Steve Blakeman. “Although financing op-tions are improving, the market is very difficult right now for clients that have less-than-stellar credit,” he says. “We could have added another 15% to our sales volume last year with the deals we could not get financing for.”

Valley Office supplies tech-based solutions for companies looking to improve their efficiencies in print-ing, copying, data storage and data management.

Blakeman says the weakened economy convinced many of the company’s customers to streamline

Good ’09 at Valley OfficeHelps clients use technology to stream-line their operations.

their operations through more tech-nology-based applications. “It actually became less challenging to convince businesses to take a serious look at their IT and copy/print processes to see where they might be bleeding and not realize it.”

Among the milestones the com-pany hit in 2009 was the launch in September of the second version of its FileMax ScanWare product during a national convention in Washington. The software, released nationally, al-lows clients to use a familiar and user-friendly interface to scan, store, file and e-mail documents directly from the office copier. “Out of 120 vendors, the FileMax application was named best of show,” Blakeman reports.

Another highlight was the com-pany receiving an award from Sharp Electronics that is exclusive to the top-performing dealers in the country, Blakeman says.

“It’s quite an honor to be recog-nized with this award,” he says. “To be in an area that is perceived to be economically depressed and find out that your performance is on par or exceeds dealers in much larger cities is a real blessing.”


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Yurchyk & Davis ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About 2010CANFIELD – Steady growth in 2009 bodes well for 2010 at Yurchyk & Davis CPA’s Inc. “We are cautiously optimis-tic in terms of economic growth as we assist our clients in navigating through difficult times,” says Dave Eyster, CPA. Over the past year, he notes, the firm added one professional staff member, bringing the work force to 17.

“Our clients, like most organiza-tions, continue to face challenges in all aspects of their businesses. They are relying on us now more than ever,” says Bill Yurchyk, CPA.

In conjunction with its Quickbooks consulting practice, the firm has regis-tered Quickbooks Pro Advisors on staff and held six Quickbooks training classes last year for clients and others.

The firm has a strong history of staff retention, which Yurchyk attributes to a relaxed work atmosphere coupled with various events such as an annual staff retreat to Las Vegas, a Relay for Life team and subsidized health-care memberships.

90 Years at Salem VNASALEM – This year marks the Salem Area Visiting Nurse Association’s 90th anniversary of providing home health services to Salem and the surrounding communities. “During 2010, we plan to grow by expanding the Salem Area Adult Day Care program and our telehealth monitor program,” says Susan K. Yoder, executive director.

The telemedicine program was imple-mented last January. “This program allows us to remotely monitor a client’s heart rate, blood pressure, weight, and pulse oximetry readings,” Yoder says. “It enables clinicians to detect the onset of changes in a patient’s condition sooner, and hopefully prevent unnecessar y rehospitalizations and other negative outcomes.”

Patient volumes remained stable during 2009, and growth continues in demand for therapy and the medical nutrition program, she notes.

JFS Wealth Advisors Opens Office in PittsburghHERMITAGE, Pa. -- A difficult 2009 pro-vided an opportunity for JFS Wealth Advi-sors to evaluate processes, resources and efficiencies, says Robert Jazwinski, president.

A new office was opened in Pitts-burgh, and is headed by managing principal Ron Wyatt.

Wyatt joined JFS in September, mov-ing his practice from Wells Fargo Advi-sors. Debra Malvin, who has 27 years of experience in the financial industry, joined Wyatt at the Pittsburgh office.

Fastsigns Puts Marketing Emphasis on Social MediaBOARDMAN -- In 2009, Jay Summer, owner of Fastsigns, began marketing via social media networking platforms such as Facebook. This year, his company plans to continue those efforts as a way to open new lines of communication with customers, he says.

2009 marked 10 years since the company’s opening as a sign and graphics center. Over the year, the company posted growth of 28.8% over 2008.

A portion of this growth came from the acquisition of A & B Sign Pro Inc., a sign company also in Boardman, last January. To ensure a seamless transi-tion for customers, former A & B employ-ee Mike Thomas joined the Boardman Fastsigns team to assist with database and graphic file consolidation.

As a result of rapid growth and to better accommodate customers, the company relocated in August to a larger, 3,600-square-foot building on Southern Boulevard that tripled the size of its previous operation. “The new location features a larger showroom, customer service and production area and an indoor vehicle bay for vehicle graphic projects,” Summer reports.

Mayflower Wollam Insurance Opens Office in Newton FallsCORTLAND – Following a successful 2009, Mayflower Wollam Insurance Group is expecting a strong 2010, says Nancy K. Hart, operations coordinator.

Last year, the company increased marketing efforts through billboards, mall intercepts, community events and radio ads with beneficial results, she adds.

Phone traffic also increased as a result of people “tightening their belts” and looking for ways to save money on insurance, Hart says, which brought the agency more business.

Also last year, the firm opened an office in Newton Falls, joining existing offices here and in North Jackson.

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Saying 2009 was a challenging year for businesses and consumers is an understatement. This was especially true for the banking industry.

Hardly a day went by that we did not hear sto-ries about the struggles of our industry. Whether it was banks receiving Troubled Asset Relief Program money, or regulators closing more than 140 banks across the country that failed, our industry came under intense scrutiny.

The Middlefield Banking Co. was not one of those problem banks. Quite the contrary, we enjoyed a successful year relative to many other banks. Al-though we were never involved in activities that caused the larger banks problems, we had our share of challenges.

Most resulted from the worst recession since World War II and its impact on businesses and consumers. One of our first areas of concern was the increased level of loan delinquency that resulted from customers losing their jobs or having their hours cut back.

We took steps to get in touch with these custom-ers to ascertain what we could do to help.

Amid Challenges, Banner Year at Middlefield Bank

By Thomas G. CaldwellMiddlefield Bank CEO

In some cases a simple restructuring – lower monthly payments over a longer term – resolved the problem. In others, it required extending the term of the loan or interest-only payments for a period.

Although we couldn’t always come up with a solution, we completed 2009 both pleased and satis-fied that we foreclosed on only one mortgage.

Regulators closing banks put pressure on the Federal Deposit Insur-ance Corp. to both raise premiums and impose a special assessment last year. The industry bore the cost of these failed banks, not the taxpayer. The special assessment and increased premiums were an added expense that reduced our net income. Understanding that it was our responsi-bility to support our industry, we chose not to charge our customers a special fee to offset this unexpected expense. Rather, we worked to improve our margins and our staff worked diligently to identify areas of cost savings through expense reductions.

It was inevitable that the actions of some within the industry led to calls for tighter regulation. Although we were never part of the problem, you can be assured we will be dealing with the new regulations that Congress is weighing as it works to prevent a recurrence of the housing bubble and how consumers use their credit cards. This will no doubt add additional costs to our operating expenses, and

in some cases, change how we offer some products and services.

Despite the challenges we dealt with, 2009 was a record year for The Middlefield Banking Co. in terms of growth. We reached new, all-time highs in assets, deposits and loans. Because of this growth we in-

creased our staff by nine. All eight of our banking offices saw good growth but we were especially pleased with the growth experienced by our two

newest offices, Newbury in Geauga County and Cortland in Trumbull County. Both offices continue to surpass our expectations.

As I look back on 2009, I know why we were suc-cessful. We are a true community bank with a dedi-cated and professional staff committed to the values of the bank, a commitment that extends well into the communities we serve. We are actively involved within these communities through participation in service clubs, service to schools, churches and com-munity organizations. Our employees are involved because they live and work in the community and understand the value of a successful community.

Being a community bank allows us the flexibility and agility to react to the economy and address our customers’ needs. As long as we continue to focus on our commitment to our core values, we should con-tinue to grow profitably as we have for 109 years.

‘We reached new all-time highs in assets, deposits and loans.’

We completed 2009 both pleased and satisfied that we foreclosed on only one mortgage.


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Farris Marketing used the challenging economic conditions of 2009 to help several businesses and nonprofit organizations get back to basics and begin growing again.

“We actually served more clients in 2009 than we have in many years,” says George Farris, CEO. “The budgets were smaller in many cases, but in many cases not much budget was needed.”

What was needed were improvement in two areas, he explains. The first was getting back to basics, “the blocking and tackling of marketing,” he says. That meant “going back to current customers, regular planning sessions, focused messages – things that many firms overlooked when times were good.”

The second area was employing new media tactics along with the traditional. Farris helped dozens of local and regional organizations determine how to use social media and Web innovations in 2009. “New media formats are very cost-effective, flexible and perhaps most importantly, where consumers are located,” says Ed Farris, vice president and chief financial officer at Farris Marketing.

Social media is one of the areas in which Far-ris Marketing saw the most growth last year. The firm built social networks for clients using the 350 million-member Facebook, the video site YouTube, the messaging site Twitter, and, depending on the program and client, other sites like Flickr. These not only put clients in front of the right target market, but also expand the footprint of the client’s Web site for search engines.

Farris also built dozens of new Web sites and revamped many older ones to accept new technol-ogy that is more interactive, with enhanced video content and password-protected sections in high demand, George Farris says. An in-house production unit was also developed to write, shoot, edit and create low-cost but high-quality videos for client Web sites and YouTube.

“The demand for 3-D animated mini-movies went through the roof this year,” adds John Farris, vice president and creative director. 3-D animations were used by all types of organizations, including Baird Brothers Sawmill (to demonstrate how a door is made), Rescue Mission TV commercials and even scoreboard animations for Dunkin’ Donuts.

Farris Marketing began serving the growing renewable energy market in 2009, a phenomenon that “will make the dot-com explosion seem like a blip on the financial radar screen in comparison,” George Farris predicts.

The agency began extensive development of Web sites, materials and marketing for clients in this mar-ket in 2009, and that is expected to grow more in 2010. “I have to say I am cautiously more optimistic about this year than last,” Farris says.

In addition to its Boardman office, Farris Market-ing also has offices in Tampa and Cleveland.

Farris Grows New Markets, New MediaTakes clients back to ‘blocking and tackling’ of marketing.

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117557.DirectDepBJ.AD.1.10 1/19/10 4:02 PM Page 1The Business Journal MidJANUARY 2010 55

In a time when small-business owners have been resentful, and the government critical, of banks

for not extending commercial loans, 1st National Community Bank is an exception, says Stephen R. Sant, president and CEO of the bank.

“We grew our business loan bal-ances by 17% for the year,” Sant re-ports. “Our lending staff worked very hard with the business community to meet their credit needs.”

Moreover, 1st National Community is one of the few community banks in Ohio to offer full trust services to its customers. With more customers tak-ing advantage of its trust products, 1st National’s trust department increased its assets to $46 million, a 400% in-crease over 2008, Sant says.

2009 was a year of significant progress, he reports, but also one fraught with challenges for his bank. It showed “a very respectable profi t of

1st National Bank Makes Loans to Small BusinessEast Liverpool bank posts welcome sign.

$349,177 for the year,” he says. 1st Bank undertook “a major initia-

tive to strengthen the balance sheet and capital positions,” Sant says.

By year-end, 1st Bank’s Tier 1 leverage ratio had improved to 9.11%, well above the 5% regulators consider “well-capitalized.”

Helping to improve the ratio was the $3 million preferred stock the parent of the bank, Tri State 1st Banc, issued the Treasury Department in the fi rst quarter. The $3 million allowed the bank to increase its allowance for possible loan losses to 1.36% of total loans.

2009 was also a year when 1st Bank completely upgraded its information technology systems, Sant notes.

The recession placed stress on the bank’s loan portfolio as evidenced by increased costs of collecting debt and greater losses. Moreover FDIC insur-ance premiums and special assess-ments resulted in 1st Bank paying the FDIC $308,645 in premiums last year, a 431% increase over 2008.

PRM, a third-party administrator based in Youngstown, rose above dif-fi cult conditions in 2009, retaining clients and controlling the rising costs for health-care coverage.

Meritain Health, Buffalo, N.Y., the nation’s largest independent health benefi ts administrator, acquired PRM in 2008, bringing both hope and uncertainty to PRM employees and clients, says Ron Blasko, PRM vice president.

Despite the uncertainty, Blasko says PRM sustained employee satisfaction and experienced both growth and a high client retention rate throughout the transition.

After the acquisition, PRM gained access to insurance management pro-grams and worksite screenings to help employers lower health-care costs, reduce abenteeism, impove employee health and increase productivity.

PRM Expands Services As Meritain Affi liate

At the same time, PRM continued to offer consumer-directed health plans, which include fl exible spending accounts, health savings accounts and health reimbursement arrangements, as well as worker compensation pro-grams. These allow for the fl exible plan design and control PRM clients had come to expect, Blasko says.

Clients welcomed the expanded program offerings, he says, especially the wellness and disease management programs. “In fact, one PRM client, Farmer’s National Bank, was honored with an award for its corporate well-ness program,” Blasko notes.

This year, two major hurdles PRM faces are the implications of national health-care reform and a still uncer-tain economy.

The outcome of the ongoing de-bate and its affect on the insurance industry, and how employers respond to economic conditions mandate that PRM continue to educate its clients about how to adjust their plans to best manage costs, Blasko says.

Awaits outcome of health insurance reform.

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A year that saw the addition of new treatments, procedures and technology at Jameson Health Sys-tem, New Castle, Pa., kicked off with the installation of new leadership.

Douglas Danko, who has been with Jameson since 1975, became president and CEO of the health system Jan. 1, 2009.

With 1,400 employees, Jameson is Lawrence County’s largest employer and operates two hospital campuses, a rehabilitation facility, a nursing home, a personal-care facility, community health centers, and the UPMC/Jameson Cancer Center.

In February, Danko reports, the health system opened the Jameson Hospital Center for Wound Healing at the South campus, one of a few hospi-tals in Pennsylvania that offers this noninvasive treatment that enhances the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

In addition, Jameson installed a new digital mam-mography system that could help shorten exams for women and provide physicians with vital diagnostic information, he says.

The Mammomat Novation captures breast images with a special X-ray detector that converts

New CEO Launched 2009 for Jameson HealthWound Healing Center opens, new technique used to remove gall bladders.

images into a digital image that can be displayed immediately on the system’s computer monitor.

Last year Jameson also accomplished its first surgery using the next generation SILS procedure. The cholecystectomy, or gallbladder removal, was the first of its kind to be to be completed at Jameson Hospital.

One of the chief advantages of the procedure, says William N. Gilleland, M.D., is that it uses only one access point, through the patient’s umbilicus,

or belly button, ultimately resulting in the poten-tial for no visible scar. The procedure also lets the surgeon make a single 20-mm incision, minimizing the pain that may be associated with additional sites of entry.

The health system also received recognition from various outside entities last year for transitioning to electronic medical records, various quality improve-ments, patient care excellence and risk management best practices.

Cailor Fleming Sees 10% Growth in 2010

New insurance products in an expanded market is expected to power Cailor Fleming Insur-ance, Boardman, to a 10% increase in business volume this year, the company reports.

Key to this growth is Cailor Fleming’s ex-panded coverage in the orthotic and prosthetic market, reports Don Foley, principal and manager of the firm’s orthotic and prosthetic program. “Growth will be the direct result of reaching new clients in new markets with these new products,” he says.

The American Orthotic & Prosthetic Associa-tion entered into a partnership with Cailor Flem-ing effective Jan. 1 to serve the field with a range of custom-designed insurance products.

Cailor Fleming began providing insurance coverage for local individuals and companies in 1917. The company opted to expand coverage in 1992 to neighboring states and eventually nationwide, which led the company to venture into the growing business segment of orthotic and prosthetics.

“For Cailor Fleming to remain strong in the local market, we must continue to serve our core clients while we develop new applications of insurance coverage,” says Jeff Michalenok, company president. “The opportunity to serve a national market and retain a Youngstown base ensures that Cailor Fleming will remain here as a local company well into the future.”

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Park Vista experienced a successful 2009 with positive operating results and census remaining steady at 95%, reports Brian

Kolenich, executive director. With a 9.7% increase in staffing over the previous

year, Park Vista employed 269 residents from the Mahoning Valley area, he notes.

New this year will be a 1,400-square-foot warm-water aquatic therapy pool, for which ground was broken last October. Murphy Construction is expected to begin the project in early March, and completion is anticipated in 150 days.

The Youngstown-based Park Vista, founded in 1947, provides independent-living, assisted-living, memory care, skilled-nursing and rehabilitation services to some 300 residents and is a member of Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services.

The Rehab Center at Park Vista experienced an 8% increase in clients in 2009, and a quarterly survey of residents found that 100% would recommend the Park Vista program to their friends, Kolenich says.

This year, the speech department will implement a new therapy technique for those with Alzheimer’s and other dementia. The technique is called Spaced Retrieval; it is a method of transferring short-term memory into long-term memory, Kolenich says.

The therapy department continued use of the lat-

Park Vista Adds ‘Spaced Retrieval’ Speech Therapy Senior living center breaks ground for warm-water pool.

est therapies such as Vital-Stim and Kineseo taping. And, Park Vista provided training to 78 students in the skills and information needed to become state tested nursing assistants.

During fiscal 2009, Park Vista provided $170,690 in charitable care through its Life Care Commitment program, made possible through the Ohio Presbyte-rian Retirement Services Foundation. Park Vista also provided charitable programs and services valued at

$54,573 that benefited the greater community.Last February, Park Vista began offering a Low

Vision Support group. Park Vista housing manager Denise Creator, who initiated the support group, was the first winner of the Helen Stambaugh Innovators Award, established to recognize employees who create programs or services that improve residents’ experiences and produce cost savings or generate new revenue.

HD Davis Associates, Liberty, began 2009 by merging with J. Newman Levy CPA’s.

“We installed a new computer system, phone system with new office furnishings,” says Harold Davis, certified public accountant and president. “The staff, which now totals eight, has adjusted well as we have become a cohesive team ready for the 2010 tax season.”

This year, Davis says, should be one of major growth for most of the firm’s clients.

“I’ve been meeting with several area banks re-cently,” he reports. “They seem to be opening up for new commercial loans, which are going to be at record low interest rates for now. The recession has created a lot of opportunities for businesses that keep their eyes open and balance sheets clean.”

Merger Highlights 2009 at HD Davis AssociatesThe Davis firm’s plan going forward is to of-

fer small business consulting, accounting and tax services.

“We are emphasizing QuickBooks accounting systems, which is now 87% of the accounting software market, but will continue to service Peachtree clients,” notes Donna Mark, the firm’s QuickBooks Pro adviser.

“QuickBooks’ newest feature, ‘Accountant’s Copy,’ is changing the entire client-accountant relationship. This new feature allows us to fix our client’s QuickBooks data while the client continues to work on his or her live data. It eliminates sending in backups or laboring with journal entries and saves a load of time and ag-gravation.”



Quest for beauty drives revenue increases despite downturn.

In some parts of the country, revenues in the cosmetic surgery industry have shrunk by as much as 40% since the onset of “the current

economic meltdown,” says Richard D. Gentile, a board certified facial plastic surgeon with offices in Boardman, Fairlawn and Cleveland. At his offices, however, business is on an upswing.

The Facial Plastic & Aesthetic Laser Center expe-rienced a 10% increase in revenue in 2008, Gentile reports, followed by 3% growth last year.

Some of that growth can be attributed to the opening of Gentile’s third office last March. The of-fice, known as the Aesthetic Technology Institute, serves the Cleveland area and specializes in mini-mally invasive procedures such as dermal fillers and laser treatments for skin disorders. It also provides consultations and pre- and post-operative care for

Business Up at Facial Plastic & Aesthetic Laser Centerpatients from across Ohio who travel to Gentile’s primary office in Youngstown for facial surgery.

The Youngstown office, Gentile explains, “is unique in northeastern Ohio as it is a fully integrated aesthetic practice with its own state-of-the art state- licensed and nationally accredited surgical center.”

Gentile, a past officer of the American Academy of Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, founded his practice 22 years ago and is recognized internation-ally for his contributions in minimally invasive and laser-assisted facial cosmetic procedures and laser-assisted lipolysis. In recent years, he reports, half of his patients have come from outside Ohio – from 13 other states and three foreign countries.

He introduced skin rejuvenation techniques to the area in 1994. Some of those early lasers, he notes, had harsh side effects that rendered them relatively unpopular within five years. A modification of that laser technology, however, resulted in the introduc-tion of fractional laser therapy in 2006.

Initial fractionated lasers required patients to receive more than one treatment to achieve mild results, Gentile recalls. Introduction of more power-ful ablative fractionated lasers, he says, allows for significant improvements in sun-damaged, wrinkled or acne-scarred skin after just one treatment.

The popularity of and patient satisfaction with these treatments is high, and Gentile says he has performed hundreds of these procedures since he began offering them. His patients, he notes, have experienced minimal adverse side effects.

The Facial Plastic & Aesthetic Laser Center serves as an international training center for advanced laser lipolysis techniques. Gentile, who is included in the Consumer’s Research Council of America’s Guide to America’s Top Plastic Surgeons for the third year in a row, has trained nearly 50 surgeons in lipolysis techniques. Some of the surgeons, he notes, have come from as far as Korea and France.

Bury Financial Group Grows in Tough Year

Growth and new opportunities are expected this year at Bury Financial Group, Poland, as the economic difficulties of last year allowed the firm to strengthen relationships with exist-ing clients and create new ones, says Todd M. Bury, president and owner.

“We feel it’s even more important for us to be there for our clients in volatile years,” he observes. “Being proactive versus reactive has reaped rewards.”

Last year the firm again topped the list of all advisers in Ohio with its broker/dealer, SagePoint Financial, says Brian M. Laraway, vice president and financial adviser.

The firm also employs two administrative staff members, and a major focus is on educa-tion. In August, the firm held an “Economic Summit” at the Holiday Inn Boardman for cli-ents and guests during which economist Fritz Meyer, a frequent guest on major TV networks, provided an economic update.

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Surgery Center at Beeghly Park Draws More PatientsBOARDMAN – The Orthopaedic Surgery Center at Beeghly Park continues to draw new patients, control costs and maintain high standards of service.

Since it opened in 2003, the physi-cian-owned Surgery Center has per-formed 56,000 procedures in outpatient or thopedics and pain management, reports Marie Morell, administrator.

“The center has evolved from a joint venture to a completely physician owned and operated ambulatory surgery cen-ter,” she notes.

Dr. James Boniface has served as CEO and par t owner of the surgery center since the project was in its developmental stages. His brothers, Drs. Raymond and Thomas Boniface, are also co-owners as are Drs. Michael Engle, Thomas Joseph, James Jameson, James Kerrigan, James Solmen, Leslie Schwendeman and Joseph Stefko.

The center’s physicians hold spe-cialties in sports medicine, hand and upper extremity, foot and ankle, physi-cal medicine and rehabilitation/pain management. The associate staff has expanded to include additional general or thopedists, a pediatric or thopedic specialist, additional pain management specialists and podiatric surgeons.

Premier HR’s Marcucci Named One of Pa.’s Best WEST MIDDLESEX, Pa. – Lisa Marcucci, founder and president of Premier HR, last year was selected one of Pennsylva-nia’s Best 50 Women in Business.

The 14th annual awards program honors women who share a commitment to business growth, professional excel-lence and to their communities.

Premier HR employs six.Marcucci founded Premier HR in

2005 to serve smaller companies that need guidance in human resources but could not afford a full-time HR profes-sional on their staffs.

In the past two years, she says, her firm has helped place more than 100 people in new jobs, and helped laid-off employees with outplacement counsel-ing services.

She is the leader of the nationally affiliated Divorce Care support group. As such, she counsels women who are seeking to re-enter the work force in their job searches and skills assessments.

Belleria Hubbard MovesHUBBARD -- The owners of the Belleria Pizza & Italian Restaurant here experi-enced growing pains in 2009 and moved their pizzeria from its original address on Main Street to 882 W. Liberty St., across from Hubbard High School.

Owners Michael and Jim Frasco are grandsons of Lena Bell, who founded Belleria in 1953. They tout their grand-mother’s specialties, along with some of their own. “Here you will find authentic Italian cuisine and a warm and casual atmosphere,” Michael Frasco says.

The new site offers a larger dining room, more items on the menu and a sports bar with several large flat-screen televisions, Frasco says.

Sharon Nursing School Taking ApplicationsSHARON, Pa. -- The Sharon Regional Health System’s School of Nursing is accepting applications for classes that will start in August.

The school recently added a new Sim-ulation Laboratory, reports spokesman Dick Davis, and a computer learning center for online educational opportuni-ties. Students gain experience at acute and long-term clinical locations within the Sharon Regional system as well as at Trumbull Memorial Hospital in War-ren, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland, The Rich Center for Autism at Youngstown State University and Akron Children’s Hospital in Boardman.

New Flights at Akron-CantonGREEN TOWNSHIP -- Work is continuing on an extension of the Akron-Canton Airport’s main runway that will provide important safety enhancements and al-low airlines to fly nonstop to anywhere in the country, says Ryan Hollingsworth, communications coordinator. The $60 million runway project will be complete in November.

More nonstop flights were added last year when SkyWest Airlines, in partner-ship with AirTran Airways, kicked off nonstop service to Milwaukee. The new flights connect into AirTran’s growing hub at the Milwaukee airport, allowing for connections to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Denver and Las Vegas. “Also, AirTran brought back its seasonal nonstop ser-vice to Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and US Airways kicked off flights to Washington via Reagan National Air-port,” Hollingsworth reports.

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The recession hit construction companies hard, but McCarthy Sys-tems Co., Poland, turned the down-time into a green opportunity that could pave the way to future growth and prosperity.

Terry McCarthy, owner and presi-dent of the general contracting com-pany, which serves the wireless tele-communications industry, used the downtime to ex-plore green energy initiatives, install-ing one of the area’s first solar panel arrays at the company’s new office and warehouse at 121 E. Calla Road.

The 10.75 kW solar system will provide 60% of the building’s energy needs and gives McCarthy Systems Co. an opportunity “to lead by ex-ample,” the company president says.

Phase II of the green energy project, slated for next year, will provide for the remainder of McCarthy Sytems’ energy needs, resulting in a net-zero utility bill, McCarthy reports.

By taking advantage of federal and state grants and other energy incen-tives, McCarthy says he expects this investment in green energy to pay for itself within four years. It may also prompt the company to expand.

There are many opportunities for growth in green energy, McCarthy says, and this year his company will begin offering “sun studies” to cus-tomers to determine if they could benefit from solar energy systems.

“What people don’t realize is our

McCarthy Systems Seizes ‘Green’ Opportunity

region has as much harvestable sun-light as Germany – the world leader in using this technology,” he explains.

In addition to installing the solar arrays and corresponding electrical components, McCarthy says he plans to take advantage of grants available

to help businesses seeking to enter the green energy field so that his company can also manufacture the solar panels.

“There’s nothing more gratifying to a business owner than when one small idea, such as going green, turns into an opportunity to keep people employed and possibly hire on new staff,” McCarthy says. “Keeping people working has always been one of my top priorities.”

McCarthy plans to host a grand opening and open house this spring to show area residents and business owners the solar array in operation. “Unlike most people in northeast Ohio this winter, we will be soaking up the sun,” he chuckles.

McCarthy Systems was founded in 1972 with a handful of employees who specialized in construction mainte-nance and renovations. It began serv-ing as general contractor for wireless telecommunications projects in the mid-1990s. The company continues to provide construction and telecom-munications services in Ohio and neighboring states for companies such as AT&T, Verizon, General Electric and Giant Eagle.

McCarthy says he plans to take advantage of grants available to help businesses seeking to enter the green energy field.

Reminger Law Adds Attorney, Renews LeaseThe Youngstown office of Rem-

inger Co. LPA enjoyed an especially good year in 2009.

Reminger Co. renewed its lease at Federal Plaza, reports Thomas Prislipsky, an attorney and partner at the firm. “We wanted to be part of the continued revitalization,” he says.

In addition, the firm hired Dave Krueger, bringing the number of at-torneys to five, up from two when the office opened in 2004.

“To add a lawyer in this type of economy is unique,” Prislipsky observes. “It is a testament to the growth of our firm as a whole.”

Prislipsky is the co-chairman of the firm’s long-term and extended care defense unit and devotes a sig-

nificant portion of his practice to the defense of nursing homes, extended-care facilities and physicians.

Other attorneys at the Youngstown office are Kenneth P. Abbarno, who handles civil defense litigation; Kelly Johns, who focuses on professional negligence of physicians, hospitals and attorneys as well as general liability claims, Workers’ Compen-sation and criminal matters; and Robert S. Yallech, who specializes in product liability and commercial litigation. Yallech also represents professionals in high-exposure mal-practice actions.

The Youngstown office is one of 10 Reminger offices throughout Ohio and Kentucky.

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By Don KacmarExecutive Director, Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Retirement Services

The economic challenges that face our industry – disappearing retirement plans, employee

prospect out-migration, capital availability – were evident throughout the year. While one would not think the lackluster housing market would be a cause of concern, it affected many prospective residents, hindering their ability to sell their homes and move into our communities.

We looked inward, taking advan-tage of efficiencies where possible and looking for opportunities. Creative planning enabled us to develop a new facility-to-home rehabilitation program, Almost Home, in our Po-land independent community. Almost Home supports people in need of short-term respite and rehabilitation

Shepherd of the Valley Introduces New Services

before returning to their homes.Our Boardman nursing/rehab cen-

ter opened a remodeled rehab wing with private suites and doubled the existing therapy space.

At Howland, we rethought how our independent homes could be used in this challenging real estate market and Neighborhood Services was born. Focusing on those who wanted as-sistance but were not ready to move, the program allows them to receive various levels of help in the privacy of our two-bedroom homes.

Finally, partnering with two other Lutheran Agencies, we opened The Manor at Howland Glen, a 49-unit in-come-assisted senior apartment build-ing on North River Road adjacent to Shepherd of the Valley – Howland.

Other highlights included sponsor-ing the Fifth Annual Valley Legacy Awards, which recognized outstand-ing seniors and senior advocates, and presenting The Lutheran Women’s League with the second Helen Stam-baugh Award for its extraordinary support of Shepherd of the Valley.

Sluggish housing market creates opportunity. Throughout 2010, WYSU 88.5

FM, the public radio service of Youngstown State University,

will celebrate 40 years of broadcasting to the region, says Melinda Bowen-Houck, development officer.

WYSU hosted NPR reporter Don Gonyea last month as part of the anniversary festivities; previously, long-time station contributors Charles Darling, Martin Berger and Rick Popo-vich were honored.

“Upcoming planned activities in-clude a commentary contest, which will give listeners a chance to have their say,” Bowen-Houck says.

WYSU has made substantial strides in audience service, enhanc-ing programs and member benefits, and has experienced audience growth as a result.

“Keeping pace with technological advancements, maintaining steady support and improving and expanding services as needed will continue to be challenges for the station in 2010,”

WYSU Celebrates 40 YearsBowen-Houck says.

WYSU offers two high-definition channels. The station’s HD1 carries the same programming as 88.5 FM while HD2 broadcasts classical mu-sic 24 hours a day, including some programs that are not heard on the “main” station.

Community outreach and part-nerships remain a focus, such as the collaborative effort between Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley, the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley and WYSU through which more than $36,000 worth of food was distributed to those in need.

“Throughout WYSU’s fall pledge drive, every pledge made to WYSU resulted in the food bank distributing $30 worth of food, thanks to a grant from the Community Foundation,” Bowen-Houck notes.

WYSU’s successful “tree planting premium” partnership with Mill Creek MetroParks allowed WYSU members to choose having a tree planted in the MetroParks as their “thank you” gift for a pledge of $120 or more, and the hope is to expand this partnership this year, she says.

Public radio station enhances programs, member benefits.


Capital improvements, youth prevention programs on the agenda for 2010.

The Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic, Youngstown, has provided addiction treatment to more than 60,000 people since opening in 1946

– a milestone reached in 2009.In 2010, the clinic plans to make capital improve-

ments to its main campus here, enhance treatment services to transitional age patients involved with Mahoning County’s drug court, and will expand prevention services for elementary school children, says its executive director, Jerry Carter.

With the help of the Trumbull County Family Court and the Trumbull County Children Services Board, last year the clinic formed the Trumbull County Family Dependency Treatment Court to as-sist families in finding permanent placement while providing substance abuse treatment, he says.

For the past 10 years, Neil Kennedy has been af-filiated with the Pittsburgh-based Gateway Rehabili-tation Center system, which helped the organization add clinics in Austintown, Howland and Dublin, while more than doubling its operating budget, Carter notes.

As a member of the Coalition to Amend Ohio’s Social Host law, Neil Kennedy lobbied last year in support of amendments to statewide social host

Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic Reaches Milestonelegislation, which would hold adults accountable in underage drinking cases, Carter says.

2009 marked the 20th year of the clinic’s Dick Riley Fellowship Hall, which provides a meeting place for those recovering from addiction. Some 24 meetings are held weekly at the hall, including Alco-holics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, Nicotine Anonymous and the Ebony Lifeline Support Group, Carter says.

To help raise awareness of addiction, Neil Ken-nedy held events and educational training sessions, including a brunch for those in recovery, volunteer-driven spaghetti and fish fry dinners, and its annual golf outing to benefit the Riley Fellowship Hall. The outing featured keynote speaker William Cope Moyers, executive director of the Minnesota-based Hazelden Foundation’s Center for Public Advocacy and son of journalist Bill Moyers.

Heading into the new decade, the goal at Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic LLC, Canfield, is to “continue our focus on the education and development of our team members so that we can proactively look at the opportunities available for our clients to increase their efficien-cies and profits,” says Gregory C. Bestic, certi-fied public accountant and managing principal of the firm.

“We look forward to the anticipated growth SSB will experience in return,” he adds.

As a result of the economic downturn, SSB is seeing growth in the areas of business valuations and litigation support, he reports.

“Growth in our business valuation services is directly related to the accomplished reputation

Team Focus at Schroedel, Scullin & Besticour team has earned with area law firms,” Bestic points out.

“Similarly, the litigation support team has es-tablished a good reputation with law enforcement agencies, and these agencies called on SSB to as-sist on additional fraud cases during 2009.”

Among the services SSB assisted clients with in last year’s uncertain economic climate were reassessing break-even points and helping clients review budgets and long-term plans, evaluating various expenditures and improving accounts receivable collections to address cash-flow needs, Bestic says. The firm works as a key member of clients’ advisory teams, which typically includes bankers, attorneys, insurance agents and bro-kers.

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Salem Community Hospital better prepared itself to meet the health care needs of the

community in 2009 by providing quality surgical care, state-of-the-art diagnostics, advanced technology and compassionate care to its patients.

C o m p l e t i o n of The Surgery Center at Salem Community Hos-pital last summer provides residents wi th access to quality surgical services. Renovating existing hospital space and building an addition on the east end of the hospital created the 19,000-square-foot unit.

The Surgery Center offers out-patient and complex procedures in general surgery, gynecology, gastro-enterology, laparoscopy, orthopedics, ophthalmology, urology and vascular procedures.

Seven suites, with the latest in-novations and safety features, are housed on the first level of the surgery addition. One suite was designed for orthopedic procedures, another for urological work. Additional features include a 10-bed post-anesthesia care unit and a 16-bed outpatient post-op-erative and recovery area. A carefully designed central supply room on the lower level ensures the sterility of

Salem Hospital Finishes Surgery Center Project

surgical equipment and supplies.The pathology laboratory, near

the operating suites, allows hospital pathologists to quickly examine speci-mens taken during surgery.

Salem Community Hospital in-troduced digital mammography last year and remains one of only a few hospitals or surgery centers in the

area to offer this advanced service. Digital mammog-raphy enhances image quality, re-duces exposure to radiation and

improves cancer detection. To accommodate patients weighing

as much as 550 pounds and allow pa-tients who suffer from claustrophobia or anxiety to undergo MRI screenings, a mobile open-bore MRI unit is avail-able at the main campus.

Technological improvements in the emergency department moved the hospital one step closer to a system of totally electronic medical records. The Horizon Emergency Care Sys-tem allows caregivers to document each patient’s visit to the department through the use of mobile comput-ers and a secure, electronic tracking board. The system improves safety and accuracy by allowing viewing in real time and updating of each patient’s progress, diagnosis, treatment and physicians’ orders.

By Michele HoffmeisterDirector of Public Relations

Carefully designed central sup-ply room on the lower level ensures the sterility of surgical equipment and supplies.

In the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, the Youngstown chapter of Score, the Service Corps of Retired

Executives, provided services to 1,355 clients, a 12% increase from 2008, reports Robert McClain, chapter chairman.

“Our assigned territory is Trum-bull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties in Ohio, and Mercer County in Pennsylvania,” he continues. “We currently have 36 active counselors who were successful business owners, executives and educators. Their com-bined expertise represents roughly 1,600 years of business experience.”

In August, Score, which has 370 chapters, announced a new business plan intended to transform the nation-wide organization, McClain notes.

The goal is to create one million successful small businesses in the next five years, one business at a time.

Score Expands OutreachSmall businesses average 2.3 employ-ees, so achievement of this goal would create 2.3 million new jobs.

“In Youngstown, we offer face-to-face counseling five days a week at our offices in the Williamson School of Business Administration at Youngstown State University,” McClain says. “We also conduct workshops in collaboration with lo-cal libraries. We are partners with most of the nonprofit and government economic development organizations in the Mahoning Valley.”

Score has some 10,500 volunteers nationwide and is a resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Admin-istration.

Last year, Score volunteers donated 1.3 million hours to helping entrepre-neurs succeed. Every year, Score offers nearly 7,000 local business training workshops.

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Hill, Barth & King LLC celebrated its 60th anniversary last year, growing from a two-partner offi ce in downtown Youngstown in

1949 to a public accounting fi rm with 11 offi ces in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

Today, with 280 certifi ed public accountants and support staff, HBK is ranked by Accounting Today as the 68th largest fi rm in the United States. Last year saw the fi rm continue to grow with the acquisition of two small fi rms in Florida.

In the Mahoning Valley, the HBK offi ce in Board-man, which also serves as its headquarters, has led the fi rm in revenue growth the last three years, says HBK spokeswoman Amanda Fire. The building also houses several departments including quality control, tax, report, information technology, human resources and marketing.

In the Boardman offi ce, Craig Steinhoff was ad-mitted last year as a principal in the quality control department, Frank Balog Jr. joined as a supervisor and Bill Baxter was hired to add depth to the IT department.

The Youngstown offi ce grew last year when the health-care business solutions department relocated from Boardman and hired Laurie Garman. The department supplies health-care providers with “a vast amount of specialized services from revenue cycle review to accounts receivable aging analysis in addition to core accounting and tax services,” Fire says.

HBK was named as one of the Top Employers in Ohio by The Ohio Society for Human Resource Management State Council and Inside Public Ac-counting recognized the fi rm as an IPA All-Star Firm. “These recognitions were achieved because of our

Hill, Barth & King Marks 60 Years with Growthcontinued focus on our people and training,” Fire says. “We offer extensive training to all employees from interns to principals.”

An affi liate, HBK Sorce Financial LLC also was recognized for its accomplishments. For the third consecutive year, CPA Wealth Provider Magazine recognized HBK Sorce, along with HBK, as one of the nation’s top CPA fi nancial planning fi rms.

CPA Wealth Provider also saluted HBK Sorce by including it in the magazine’s sixth annual fi nancial

planning awards. In 2009, HBK introduced a new service, “Business

Advisory Services.” John Lombardi, a principal in the Erie offi ce, developed it to help clients better run their businesses in a challenging economy.

HBK has replaced most of its paper newsletters and other communications with electronic news-letters. These publications reach their intended recipients quicker and are less destructive of the environment, Fire notes.

Trade journal ranks accounting fi rm as 68th largest in U.S.

New Life for MetroPlex The new owners of the MetroPlex in Liberty

Township say 2010 will be a banner year for the hotel as it secures a new franchise and embarks on millions of dollars in renovations.

AGHA LLC purchased the MetroPlex Hotel and Conference Center in November, inheriting an operation with just 10% occupancy.

“We’ve signed a contract with Clarion brand franchise to be a Clarion hotel and conference center, and we expect to increase our hotel oc-cupancy to 30% to 40% by the end of 2010,” says Indira Sammy, a principal in the new owner-ship group.

The MetroPlex’s banquet hall, one of the largest in the area, is undergoing extensive reno-vations and there are plans for a grand reopening in spring. The newly renovated hall is expected to boost banquet sales by 50%.

The hotel is negotiating with tour groups from Canada, Europe and Asia to include a stop on their way back from Detroit to New York.

“Our goal is to increase international tourist business to 50% of our total business,” Sammy says.

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Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley completed its first year at its Beeghly

Campus in Boardman by exceeding its inpatient expectations and increasing staff to meet demand.

The pediatric hospital served nearly 20,000 inpatients in 2009, more than the 15,000 that administra-tors estimated, says its CEO, William Considine.The emergency department averaged about 60 visits a day, he adds, augmenting the strong demand that enabled the hospital to increase staff.

“Expectations for our first year have been surpassed both from the perspective of the community as well as from the standpoint of patient volume,” Considine says. “When we opened the Beeghly Campus in 2008, we had just over 300 employees in the Valley. We now have 420 employees at our five locations in the Valley, includ-ing 377 at the Beeghly Campus.”

The hospital added Air Bear service last year, its dedicated pediatric medi-

cal helicopter, which serves hospitals around Ohio that need emergency transport of a child to the hospital’s main campus in Akron, Considine says. Other services added to the Beeghly Campus include preventive cardiology and endocrinology.

Akron Children’s opened the Mc-Family Respite Center in March, with the help of Ronald McDonald Chari-ties. In December, the hospital opened a special care nursery to handle over-flow of less critical newborns.

The hospital’s development depart-ment launched Kids Crew, a commit-tee of community volunteers, says its director of development, JoAnn Stock. The department also held its first Miracles and Promises radiothon.

“The radiothon event was a won-derful success and raised over $90,000 to benefit needy children, specifically in our Mahoning Valley service area,” Stock says. “We greatly appreciate the support of Clear Channel for this heartwarming weekend event.”

Company operates IT ‘factory’ in Liverpool

Growth plans at NewBold Technologies, East Liverpool, include an expansion of

marketing and outreach efforts on regional and national levels, reports Craig Newbold, founder.

“The goal is to educate U.S. compa-nies who are considering outsourcing information technology services to countries like India or China that we can do a better job, at competitive prices, right here in the heart of the Rust Belt,” Newbold says.

The company has served the IT needs of organizations of all sizes since 2004. Still, Newbold says, its mission is not well known, hence the greater emphasis on marketing. By using an IT “factory” in a rural community with a low cost of doing business, the savings is passed along to customers, he explains.

Akron Children’s Beats First-Year Expectations

NewBold Technologies Seeks Greater Awareness

“In the near future, we’ll be able to replicate our ‘rural sourcing’ model in other economically disadvantaged communities,” Newbold says. “Our region is a perfect fit for rural sourcing because many of our small towns are located within a 50- to 100-mile ra-dius of major metropolitan areas, thus providing the best of both worlds.”

Communities such as East Liv-erpool have infrastructure that sup-ported populations of up to 30,000 but have fallen to less than 10,000 today, Newbold notes. “This surplus capacity enables an IT factory of sev-eral hundred people to exist in remod-eled buildings costing much less than in metropolitan areas.”

Other benefits of rural sourcing include costs comparable with off-shore vendors, simplifying project management and communication, reducing overhead and travel ex-penses and helping to revitalize local communities.


By Bob ShroderChief Executive Officer, Humility of Mary Health Partners

Fro m Wa s h i n g t o n t o t h e Mahoning Valley, how health care is delivered and paid for is

changing and Humility of Mary Health Partners is at the forefront in providing the care our community needs. Guided by the mission of caring set forth by the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, HMHP continues to grow in strength and service.

In 2009, the in-creased demand for services at St. Elizabeth Boardman prompted the addition of 20 beds at our hospital in Boardman.

In addition, the demand for emer-gency care prompted the expansion of both the Boardman campus emergen-cy department and the St. Elizabeth Emergency and Diagnostic Center in Austintown.

In Trumbull County, St. Joseph Health Center opened a new long-term acute-care hospital on its main campus in partnership with Select Medical. The new Select Specialty hos-pital, on the fifth floor of St. Joseph, offers another level of service to pa-tients and physicians. St. Joseph also expanded operations with the opening of new office space for physicians and an expanded urgent care center with digital imaging in Howland.

Last year ground was broken in Austintown for Partners for Urology Health – a joint venture by HMHP, NEO Urology Associates and Ad-vanced Urology. When it opens later this year, this center will provide urol-ogy services previously unavailable in our area.

St. Elizabeth Boardman was the first hospital in the Mahoning Valley to of-fer custom fit total knee replacement and St. Elizabeth’s Robotic Surgery Center, the area’s only robotic surgery center, continued to expand.

The Mahoning Valley knows HMHP as a member of a “Top-10 Health System” in the country and

HMHP Navigates Seas That Disabled Other Health-Care Systems Adds services in Warren, Boardman and Austintown

as the “Consumer’s Choice” in health care for five years running. From acute care to outpatient, emergency and diagnostic services, and from skilled nursing to home health, residential and assisted living care, our HMHP associates live our values every day as they heal, help and care for each pa-tient and resident we serve. This spirit has pushed HMHP to the forefront and the hard work of our physicians, staff and employees has earned the system numerous notable awards:

• The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services named HMHP the 2009 Outstanding Employer of the

Year.• The Premier

Healthcare Alli-ance recognized St. Elizabeth as a winner of the Premier Award for

Quality, one of just 23 in the nation so recognized.

• Thomson Reuters recognized St. Elizabeth as one of the Top 100 hospitals in the country for cardio-vascular care.

• St. Elizabeth and St. Elizabeth Boardman were among 28 hospitals nationwide to receive the Midas Plati-num Quality Award for excellence in clinical health care.

• HM Home Health Services, winner of the HomeCare Elite award, was once again identified as one of the Top 500 home care agencies in the nation.

The awards our hospitals, clinics and services garner are testament to the exceptional health care.

As we look to the future, HMHP will continue to focus our energies on delivering today’s state-of-the-art health care and building the future of health care for the Mahoning Valley. We are strong financially, thanks to the leadership of our board, our manage-ment team, our staff and donors.

Our success will continue to be grounded in the quest for excellence and our ability to navigate through the challenges that have crippled other providers of health care.

With the guidance of our local board of directors, we will continue to make the best decisions for HMHP and for the nine-county market we serve, decisions that will enable us to fulfill our mission as we have the last 99 years.

We are strong financially, thanks to the leadership of our board, our management team, our staff and donors.

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By Phil CannattiStambaugh Auditorium Exec. Director

Both financially and artistically, The Stambaugh Auditorium enjoyed a great 2009.

A grant of $925,000 from the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission al-lowed us to add 210 spaces to a new parking lot, make repairs to our cop-per roof and gutters, add to our $1.3 million Skinner Organ restoration project and initiate a state-of-the-art rigging system to the main stage.

This year we are increasing our relationship with Senior Employment, which allows us to add part-time workers.

Artistically, the Stambaugh family – Monday Musical Club, Opera West-ern Reserve, the Stambaugh Youth Concert Band, the Stambaugh Chorus and Ballet Western Reserve – added to our performance mix.

Stambaugh Auditorium remains busy throughout the year as the host of dance competitions, wedding ceremonies and receptions, religious services, birthday parties and balls

Stambaugh Auditorium Applauds ‘Great’ 2009

and other private affairs. We plan on advertising more heavily this year to make residents of the Mahoning and Shenango valleys more aware of our venue for such events.

It is also the site of the Good-will Industries auction, Sundays at Stambaugh, Theaterworks school performances, concerts offered by Youngstown State University’s Dana School of Music Concert Band as well as the YSU band. The U.S. Army Field Band & Chorus Concert was at Stam-baugh last year. And the fraternity and sorority system at YSU continues to hold its Greek Sing competition here each spring.

Still to come this year are per-formances by the Stambaugh Youth Concert Band and Theatre Freedom Train school.

Dr. Jane Goodall, internationally known anthropologist, will deliver this year’s YSU Skeggs Lecture in April and the university’s Dana School will perform Orff’s “Carmina Burana.”

May will prove a busy month as the auditorium is the site of many high school proms.

New signs along Interstate 680 and the Madison Avenue Expressway direct visitors to the auditorium.

State grant helps fund capital improvements.

2010 brings the completion of the surgical services revitalization proj-ect that began three years ago at the UPMC Horizon’s campus in Green-ville, Pa., says Don Owrey, president.

The $6 million undertaking has brought the latest advancements in operating room technology, and recruitment of nine surgeons with new surgical specialties ranging from minimally invasive general surgery to breast, bariatric, orthopedic, thoracic and vascular surgery.

The final phase of the project, a patient holding area, is scheduled to be completed in the next few weeks.

In the midst of the department’s transformation, surgical cases at UPMC Horizon rose by 17% during the last fiscal year, Owrey says.

The revitalization project began in phases in May 2007, allowing the de-partment to remain open without in-terruption. In November of that year,

the hospital unveiled two new surgery suites to accommodate advanced lapa-roscopic surgery techniques.

“We have been able to do cases at UPMC Horizon that we had been doing at tertiary care hospitals in Pittsburgh because UPMC Horizon’s equipment and facilities are of com-parable quality,” notes Lance Weaver, a general surgeon with Northern Area Surgical Associates-UPMC.

The next major phase of the proj-ect was completed in July when the new ambulatory services department opened. The new post-anesthesia care unit – nearly twice the size of the previous recovery area – opened in November.

The revitalization project also included new ambulatory services family, staff and physician lounges as well as improvements to the center for wound-treatment, registration areas and a blood bank.

UPMC Horizon Finishes Revitalization Project

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Economic recovery in the second half of 2009, a high number of referrals and vastly expanding work with professional athletes resulted in a 39% increase in assets under management at Alcyon Wealth Partners, Austintown, according to co-owners and founders Marc Presley and Don Sherwood.

“Through professional football, Alcyon now has 11 NFL-related clients,” Sherwood reports. “We also have several clients within Major League Baseball, which is a welcome and challenging addition within the client base of Alcyon Wealth Partners.”

Alcyon Wealth Partners is an independently owned investment advisory firm affiliated with Raymond James Financial Services.

When the most difficult investment environ-ment in nearly 80 years took hold in September 2008, “Alcyon took a very hands-on approach” to make sure it remained in constant contact with its clients, Presley says. Remaining in constant contact with clients routinely required the partners to put in 12-hour workdays, he says, and as a result, adviser-client relationships grew stronger, leading to more referrals from existing clients.

Another source of growth, Presley says, was working with business owners to assist with manag-ing personal assets or company sponsored 401(k) plans. “This area will continue to be a large focus

Pro Athletes Score with Alcyon Wealth Partnersthroughout 2010,” he says.

Future hiring will include a team member to ex-pand the firm’s 401(k) business, Sherwood adds, as well as an insurance specialist. Alcyon will also focus on working with high-net-worth households and business owners to ensure they receive a high level of service for their financial and insurance needs.

Brandon Polish, a licensed investment representa-

Investment firm increases assets under management.

tive, plays an integral role in coordinating all admin-istrative functions, Sherwood notes, and handles all client needs when he and Presley, both of whom are licensed in 19 states, are out of town.

Following the strength of the stock market the last three quarters of 2009, Sherwood and Presley say they are “cautiously optimistic” about continued market strength this year.

A quarter century and 30,000 customers later, Great Garage Doors, Youngstown, employs 15 and has a fleet of seven trucks. It is not unusual for the company to receive 500 sales or service-related phone calls each month, say the founders and owners, Sam and Sandy Ciminero.

Great Garage Doors sells electric door openers and is a factory-direct distributor for Haas garage doors, selling to residential and commercial cus-tomers. “A major part of our business is garage- door repairs, says Sam Ciminero.

When they opened Great Garage Doors in 1984, the couple started with little more than ambition and experience. “We started pretty much from scratch,” Sam Ciminero recalls. “We had just one truck.”

The company has worked to build a reputation of fast, same-day service. Great Garage Doors does this by keeping a sizeable inventory of doors,

operators, springs and other parts in its 11,000- square-foot warehouse on Andrews Avenue.

“We never have qualms about inventory because it’s like money in the bank. People want everything quickly. Our inventory is a big help for us,” Ciminero observes.

Great Garage has one of the largest inventories between Pittsburgh and Cleveland. “You lose the edge if you make customers wait two or three days,” he says.

“Of course, you can have the best garage doors in the world, but if you don’t have good installers, the door is worthless. We have been blessed with an excellent staff and very little turnover.”

And the Cimineros pride themselves on fol-lowing up with their customers. “Being in busi-ness is a two-way street,” Ciminero observes. “We try to treat people right; we try to keep everybody smiling.”

Repairs, Big Inventory Boost Great Garage Door


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Sparkling Year at KomaraCANFIELD – Komara Jewelers started 2009 by opening a second store at 5200 E. Market St. in Howland, thereby adding four employees and increasing its staff to 20, says Colleen Conroy, marketing director.

Sales also increased 95% over 2008, led by Komara’s Pandora jewelry line, along with a 22% increase in bridal sales, 15% increase in custom work and a 30% increase in jewelry and watch repairs, Conroy says.

Komara also enjoyed a 5% increase in sales of the Hearts on Fire jewelry line, of which it is the exclusive retailer in the tri-county area, Conroy says.

Record high gold prices resulted in an increase in the purchase of estate jewelry, gold, platinum and silver, she adds.

Sales Up at Infi nity Design WARREN -- Infi nity Design Advertising LLC, which will celebrate its fi fth anniver-sary this year, saw its revenues increase 25% in 2009, reports Lena Willoughby, owner and president.

“By all accounts, 25% growth is amazing, especially in an economy such as this,” she says.

Infi nity employs four in addition to Willoughby. The fi rm engages in printing, graphic design, Web site design, vinyl graphics and screen-printing.

Infi nity Design has joined Business Networking International’s BIZ Society, a community of online and social network-ing opportunities.

CANFIELD – Sam Pitzulo Homes found 2009 “a very challenging year,” and with demand to build new houses feeble, he stepped up his efforts in home remod-eling and saw “business substantially increase,” Sam Pitzulo Jr. reports.

People’s wariness about borrowing to build new houses – or their inability to secure mortgages – remains unchanged from last year, the homebuilder says. A tight mor tgage market only now beginning to loosen, compounded by “appraisers underappraising property,” and the availability of distressed prop-erties, confronts his business and that of all homebuilders across the United States, he says.

“Since we added commercial work to our por tfolio,” adds Pitzulo, vice president of the company, “we were able to maintain our business over the last couple of years, even in the midst of the current economic downturn.”

Pitzulo takes pride in receiving both the 2009 Home Builder and Home Remodeler of the year awards from the Home Builders Association, and the Red Cross Hero of the Mahoning Valley award for his role in building a new home for Joe Kaluza, who was left severely handicapped after he was shot during a robbery.

Remodeling Projects Keep Business Steady at Pitzulo

I-Conn Video Opens Offi ceMOUNT VERNON, Ohio -- I-Conn Video Productions expanded from its home here and opened an offi ce in Champion Township.

Corporate video, commercials and documentaries make up the bulk of I-Conn’s work. While some customers had to cancel projects because of the recession, I-Conn weathered the storm with documentary projects funded by grants as well as projects for out-of-state production companies, says its presi-dent and co-owner, Nancy Lorey.

Such companies prefer to use I-Conn’s team rather than pay for their own crew to travel to Ohio, including a Boston-based producer that tapes doc-tors in Ohio and West Virginia explaining medications for patients, Lorey says.

The company’s commercials and documentaries have earned national Telly Awards, she notes.

In 2010, I-Conn looks to expand its presence in the Mahoning Valley and hopes to add employees, Lorey says.

BOARDMAN – American Business Center Inc., Boardman, plans to hire more em-ployees and expand its service territory and business in 2010, says the owner of the company, Robert Wagner.

“We are now an authorized Canon dealer for the Akron/Canton territory, which opens up a whole new market for us in 2010,” Wagner says.

The addition of the Canon brand will allow American Business Center to hire new employees across the board to sup-port this expansion, he says.

“We’ll be hiring in all fi elds, including information technology, service, sales and offi ce staff,” Wagner says.

The new line of color products from Canon offers a wide range of functional-ity with competitive pricing.

American Business CenterExpands Its Territory

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By Steven R. LewisFirst Place Chief Executive Officer

Despite the toll the recession took, First Place Bank accomplished many of its strategic goals

and laid the groundwork of an even stronger and more responsive organization.

In early 2009, First Place was chosen to take part in the U.S. Department o f Treasury Capital Purchase Program for healthy institu-tions. First Place met Treasury’s strict standards for participation; since receiving the $73 million in funds, the bank has been investing in the communities it serves to help strengthen local economies.

Along with the confidence placed in the company by the Capital Pur-chase Program, the Office of Thrift Supervision deemed First Place Bank “well-capitalized,” underscoring its strength and stability.

A significant strength at First Place has been mortgage lending. Because the mortgage industry has been one of the hardest hit by the economic downturn, we’re especially proud of the mortgage group for setting record volumes in 2009. Their performance continues to place First Place Bank as the No. 1 lender in many of the markets we serve.

The bank was among those chosen to pilot Fannie Mae’s HomePath pro-gram. HomePath was designed to help buyers purchase foreclosed homes Fannie Mae owns, helping to stabilize neighborhoods.

Similar to HomePath is Buyers First, the program First Place Bank introduced in 2009 to reduce our own inventory of foreclosed properties. Buyers First provides a discount on current interest rates; eligible proper-ties are listed at FirstPlaceBank.com.

To help local builders who found themselves with a higher inventory of unsold spec or model homes, the bank created Builders First, a program that offers discounted loan rates and closing costs on participating builders’ unsold homes. The program benefits both sellers and buyers: builders can gain an edge in the market and sell their homes more quickly; buyers can

get a home with the latest features and amenities at a fixed, affordable rate.

Another effort intended to help buyers is Community First, a loan pro-gram for homebuyers who might also need additional funds to improve the properties they are purchasing. First Place has designated $10 million for targeted low- and moderate-income

neighborhoods in Trumbull, Ma-honing, Portage, Cuyahoga, Lo-rain, Delaware and Franklin Counties in Ohio; and Gen-

esee, Oakland, Macomb and Wayne Counties in Michigan. The program offers a reduced 30-year fixed loan rate as well as discounted closing costs. In addition, the program offers ad-ditional funding to be used for home improvements.

Other efforts to bolster the econ-omy of the markets we serve makes greater use of Small Business Admin-istration guarantees. To help small businesses escape from the doldrums, the SBA raised the percentage of lent funds it guarantees.

In the Mahoning Valley, First Place Bank has taken several steps to ensure that local businesses benefit. First, the bank dedicated $10 million to help lo-cal qualified small businesses through the SBA Recovery Act. The funds are intended to help established small businesses maintain their solid perfor-mances and increase their capital so that they can take advantage of expan-sion opportunities and other items on their long-term business plans.

As a community bank, our mission is to bring national initiatives to the local level, where they can make a direct impact on our local economy.

First Place supports the other industries and institutions that have formed the bedrock of local econo-mies. To demonstrate its support of the automotive industry, we an-nounced the Race to First Place Bank sweepstakes promotion, the prize be-ing a brand-new Chevy Cruze.

In these tough times, we wanted to do something special to show our sup-port to our local communities. We ap-preciate how crucial the auto industry, and we’re proud that the Cruze will be built here in northeast Ohio.

First Place Bank Offers Programs to Stimulate Economic Growth

Our mission is to bring national initiatives to the local level, where they can make a direct impact on our local economy.

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By Frank DixonPartner, Cohen & Co.

The worst recession since World War II caused Cohen & Co., a public accounting firm based

in Cleveland with a Youngstown office, to focus on improving internal procedures and efficiencies and thereby help its clients achieve their financial goals in a challenging market.

As a result, Cohen & Co. has enhanced several of its services and is working with its clients to take ad-vantage of opportunities opening up as the economy enters recovery.

Our firm’s turnaround management services provide analysis for clients in moments of crisis and identify the feasible options and expertise to work toward a solution. With the challenges that resulted from the recession, the Turnaround Management Group has had exponential growth.

The deleterious effects of the recession caused a big increase in organizational fraud. In response, Cohen zeroes in on fraud awareness

Recession Gives Cohen Growth Opportunities

in communications to its clients. Cohen’s tax group helped to re-

lieve some of the pressure our clients were under from local governments strapped for revenues because of lower tax collections. Many states are aggressively collecting taxes from companies based in Ohio that have a physical presence or operations else-where. We worked with clients to help them understand where nexus exists and make more informed decisions on where to file and take advantage of amnesty programs if offered.

Our clients showed greater interest in doing business abroad and export-ing overseas. Our International Tax Group worked with clients engaged in exporting, or considering exporting, to establish domestic international sales corporations to help them export products made here.

Such planning provides a federal income tax incentive to those en-gaged in exporting. The benefits vary but those with at least $1 million in exports should benefit.

Cerni Motor Sa l e s Inc . , Austintown, expects i ts truck leasing and rental

business to increase this year as new products introduced by the dealers’ International brand address federal regulations effective Jan. 1.

“Renting and leasing provide vi-able solutions for business owners concerned with capital expenditures,” says Charlie Cerni, sales manager.

Moreover, new commerical trucks introduced by International come equipped with features that comply with new federal regulations and re-duce operating costs for owners.

The International ProStar, for ex-ample, has made great strides in fuel economy, durability, uptime, service-ability, comfort and handling, Cerni says. “International designed the Pro-Star to be the most aerodynamic Class 8 truck on the road today, resulting in an average 6% better fuel efficiency than its closest competitor,” he says.

Federal emission standards for die-sel-powered commercial trucks have

Cerni Motors Anticipates More Leasing of Trucks

also changed in 2010. As such, In-ternational recently introduced more advanced engine and vehicle systems, featuring exhaust gas recirculation, or EGR, technology, which leaves the burden of compliance with the truck manufacturer, not the customer.

Another product intended to re-duce costs for operators is a bunk heater from Webasto that provides im-mediate heat to the vehicle’s interior and burns as little as one gallon of fuel per 20 hours, Cerni says. The system ensures a quiet operation with the en-gine in the off position and complies with anti-idling laws .

“We ship these units to customers all over the country throughout the year,” Cerni says.

Cerni Motor Sales Inc., in its 50th year of business was founded in 1961 by two brothers, John and Charlie Cerni. A second generation of the Cerni family, led by company President John P. Cerni II, now op-erates the company. The dealership employs 75.

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A new strategic plan developed last year will guide the Warren-Trumbull County Public

Library through 2012; it is intended to focus on developing ways to make the library system more accessible and inviting to users.

2009 presented signifi cant chal-lenges, namely cuts in state funding to libraries across Ohio, says James Wilkins, library director. The latest state budget slashed library funding by 11% for 2010-2011 on top of previous reductions, he notes.

Wilkins says he expects library rev-enue to decrease by $1.2 million from what it received in 2008-2009.

The cutbacks have led to the main library reducing its service hours from 61 hours a week to 52 hours, and the fi ve branch libraries from 60.5 hours a week to 40 hours a week.

As a result, staffi ng was cut 17% during the year, Wilkins says.

Ninety-five employees work at the Warren-Trumbull County library system.

Library use continues to increase, he says. Last year, use of the library increased 3% to more than 650,000, driven by the library’s free services. Circulation was up 5%, while use of computers rose 14%. All of the system’s libraries have wireless con-nections to accommodate personal computers as well as computers avail-able for public use.

Customers now have the option of asking librarians questions via an instant messaging feature through the library’s Web site, wtclp.org. Also, access to several new on-line informa-tion sources has been added to the library Web site.

Warren-Trumbull Public Library Serves More with Fewer Dollars

InfoCision Management Corp., Akron, is projecting double-digit growth this year following sales of

$173 million in 2009. The company, founded in 1982,

provides customer care services, commercial sales and marketing for companies that range from Fortune 100 fi rms to smaller businesses. In-foCision also provides inbound and outbound marketing for nonprofi t, religious and political organizations.

InfoCision maintains a work force of more than 1,200 people in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys, its largest concentration of employees, reports Steve Brubaker, senior vice president. The company has a work force of more than 4,000 employees, and operates 30 call centers at 12 locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

The bulk of those employees – 75% – work in Ohio, including employees in its 11 call centers in Austintown, Boardman and New Castle, Pa. De-spite the industry trend to locate call centers offshore, all of InfoCision’s call centers are and will always be in the United States, Brubaker says.

Last year, InfoCision purchased three on-demand, variable-data digi-tal printers, allowing the company to

InfoCision Calls Valley Vital to Its Success

expand its fulfi llment and direct-mail service offerings and increase hiring, he reports. In addition, the new print-ers will let InfoCision expand to new markets by increasing its ability to “touch” consumers or donors on more than one level. The fi rm continues to invest in the technology to help clients conduct one-to-one market-ing campaigns including personalized URLs, Web-based chat and mobile text messaging, he adds.

Amenities that InfoCision offers its employees to help maintain a stable work force include flexible sched-ules, health benefi ts, on-site fi tness and wellness clinics and subsidized child care.

In 2009, the company opened a second InfoKids early learning center in Akron, offering on-site child care for employees, and it plans to open an InfoKids center at each of its locations, including the three Youngstown area sites, Brubaker says.

InfoCision received accredita-tion last year through the American Teleservices Association Self Regula-tory Organization for excellence in regulatory compliance, Brubaker says. The company also received an award based on the rigorous International Customer Service Standard, which provides a comprehensive framework to assist organizations in delivering consistently high levels of service, he says.

Maintains work force of 1,200 in region.

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By Michael PaterchakSenior Vice President, Stifel, Nicholaus & Co.

Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Inc., based in St. Louis, Mo., began its rapid expansion in the Mahoning Valley with the acquisition of Butler, Wick & Co. Inc. Dec. 31, 2008, raising its employees in the Mahoning Valley to 36 from five and branch offices to six from one.

On March 10, Butler Wick employees and clients converted to Stifel Nicolaus systems.

Joining the established Stifel Nicolaus office in Boardman were seventeen Butler Wick offices throughout Ohio, western Pennsylvania and western New York. Five of those offices are within 20 miles of Youngstown.

In October, Stifel Nicolaus completed the ac-quisition of 56 branch offices from UBS Financial Services Inc., with four in Ohio and one in the Mahoning Valley.

In November, we consolidated the offices in Boardman and moved our administrative offices from downtown Youngstown to Canfield.

Stifel Nicolaus ended the year with 47 financial advisers in the Mahoning Valley and six branch of-fices: 8286 South Ave., Boardman; two in Canfield, one the former Butler Wick office at 3685 Stutz Drive, the other the former UBS office at 6575 Se-

Year of Growth, Expansion for Stifel Nicolaus Year begins with addition of 17 former Butler Wick offices.

ville Drive; 100 S. Broadway in Salem; in Howland at 1695 Niles-Cortland Road NE; and in Sharon at 1 E. State St.

Stifel Nicolaus serves more than 23,000 accounts

with more than $2.3 billion of client assets. Stifel Nicolaus has 26 offices in Ohio, more than

any other state in the country.

The Mahoning Chapter of the American Red Cross this year is celebrating 100 years of service to the the Mahoning Valley, reports W. Russell Preston, executive director of the Boardman-based organization.

“Because over 90% of the staff are volunteers, the Mahoning Chapter is able to use over 80 cents of every donated dollar we receive to help families here in the Valley,” he says. The chapter relies solely on local donations; the Red Cross receives no support from any government agency – local, state or federal, he emphasizes.

Events such as the “Heroes of the Mahoning Valley,” the “Red and White Ball” and the “Pas-sion for Red” all help to raise funds that make it possible for the local chapter to provide services when disaster strikes. This year, Preston says the Mahoning Chapter will host a number of other fund-raisers as well.

Since being chartered in 1910, the chapter has trained and certified an average of 5,000 people

100 Years of Service for Mahoning Red Crosseach year in first aid and CPR, and more than 1,000 each year in water safety. “Hundreds of others are trained each year as babysitters and in a number of other important health and safety programs,” Preston notes.

The Mahoning Chapter, Preston points out, is driven by its more than 200 Red Cross volun-teers who handle hundreds of emergency calls each year, respond to military family emergen-cies and teach or provide other services such as blood-pressure screenings and first-aid stations at the Canfield Fair and elsewhere throughout the Valley.

In addition, families of military personnel know that in times of crisis, the Red Cross will be their connection to loved ones who may be deployed, whether overseas or in other parts of the United States. And, victims of local disasters such as house or apartment fires and tornadoes are supported by the Red Cross while they try to recover from losses, Preston says.


POPS

MASTERWORKS

YOUNGSTOWN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRARandall Craig Fleischer, conductor

DRA MATIC AND EXCITINGFrom Russia with Love

Mussorgsky Night on Bald Mountain Stravinsky Firebird Suite (1919) Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2, C minor

February 6, 2010 • 8 PMEdward W. Powers Auditorium

Concert underwritten in part by bhsm architects, inc.Valentina Lisitsa,

pianist

Symphonic ValentineMusic to touch the heart strings.

From Gershwin’s Embraceable You to the Sinatra Songbook,

Phantom of the Opera’s Think of Me and cinema favorites

My Heart Will Go On and Lara’s Theme from Dr. Zhivago.

February 13, 2010 • 8 PM Edward W. Powers Auditorium

Ann Runolfsson, star of

Phantom of the Opera

Cool jazz sound with the

Joe Augustine Trio

CALL FOR TICKETS:330-744-0264Online at youngstownsymphony.com

Concert underwritten in part by Stifel Nicolaus and Youngstown Thermal


SenSource, a technology company based in Youngstown, exceeded its sales goals in 2009, leading to

a 20% increase in staffing and a more extensive line of products.

The company specializes in equip-ment that counts the number of people visiting stores, gaming and entertainment centers, libraries, mu-seums, schools, hospitals and clinics, the number of vehicles entering or passing a designated area, and envi-ronmental and industrial sensors.

Serving such a wide range of indus-tries provides SenSource with a cush-ion that shields it from fluctuations in the economy, observes Lauren Gallo, director of marketing and sales. Some sectors, such as retail, which may suffer greatly during a recession, may also stand to benefit the most from the services SenSource provides.

“SenSource products offer tech-nology that helps [these companies]

SenSource Forecasts 30% Growth in Sales

make the types of decisions needed in a downturn,” Gallow explains. “Providing companies with real facts on traffic to their stores allows them to evaluate which properties are most valuable.”

Among the new clients SenSource acquired last year are The Ohio State University, Louisiana State University, Gander Mountain, Disney, Vitamin World, Deb Shops, Advance Auto Parts, Sportsman’s Warehouse and the Greater Cleveland Rapid Transit Authority. SenSource also continues to expand its portfolio of international clients, Gallo reports, with sensors operating in more than 40 countries.

As a result, 2009 sales topped $3.1 million, a 25% increase over 2008. A product-support specialist and a mar-keting coordinator were also hired, Gallo reports.

This year, sales are expected to grow 30% as new clients are added and existing clients expand their use of SenSource products, she says. She also expects at least two more employees to be hired.

Record-breaking attendance at several shows and cost-cutting measures last year contributed

to the Covelli Centre achieving its first operational profit in its four-year history, JAC Management Group LLC reports.

The Struthers company, which with SMG of Philadelphia operates the city-owned arena, began 2009 looking for a naming rights partner and a hockey team. General Motors chose not to renew its naming rights agreement and the SteelHounds hockey team, the arena’s anchor tenant since its open-ing, had dissolved.

By midyear, two local business operators stepped in to fill both roles. Covelli Enterprises in Warren signed a three-year commitment to serve as the naming rights sponsor, and Bruce Zoldan, owner of BJ Alan Co., brought

Covelli Centre Turns Corner on Performance

Company counts on its counting machines.

his new Youngstown Phantoms, a United States Hockey League team, to the Covelli Centre.

To ensure financial stability, JAC Management undertook several cost-cutting measures, including energy conservation and employee furloughs during the off-season, says Bridget Wolsonovich, director of marketing.

The Covelli Centre had a dozen sold-out events among the 100 sched-uled last year, she notes. Those events included record-setting attendance for the Harlem Globetrotters and the championship bout between Kelly Pavlik and challenger Marco Rubio before a crowd of 7,000.

One casualty of the year was the Mahoning Valley Thunder, the AF2 arena football team that ceased opera-tions after three seasons.

The arena has retained many of its sponsors and added new ones, Wol-sonovich says. These include Dental Express, Apostolakis Auto Group, Ak-ron Children’s Hospital, Holiday Inn-Boardman and Naffah Hospitality.

Popular shows, cost-cutting measures mean more dollars.

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Seven Seventeen Credit Union grew in 2009 by adding new products, enhancing others and improving the channels of delivery for all its

products and services, says CEO Gary Soukenik.Preliminary year-end accounting shows that as-

sets grew nearly 6% to more than $766 million. Net worth, a key measure of capital and strength, stood at 9.64%, well above the 7% deemed “adequately capitalized” under federal law. Deposits grew by nearly $30 million, Soukenik says.

Seven Seventeen added 28 business partners to the more than 900 companies and organizations af-filiated with the financial institution, he adds.

Affiliation entails companies offering their em-ployees the benefits of membership in Seven Seven-teen, such as direct access to the credit union in their workplaces and complimentary lunch-and-learn programs. These special services were enhanced last year and reintroduced as the CU@Work program.

New members continued joining the financial cooperative through community group charters that allow anyone who resides, works or worships in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Portage and central Stark counties to belong. More than 6,000 new members opened accounts last year with Seven Seventeen, Soukenik says

Among the product enhancements was the debit-card rewards program where members earn points on transactions when they sign a receipt rather than entering a personal identification number.

Transactions authorized by the member’s sig-nature can be redeemed for merchandise or travel rewards, Soukenik says. With the new program, Seven Seventeen allows members to combine their Visa credit- and debit-card points, thus reaching reward thresholds faster.

Another aspect of how services were enhanced is online delivery. Several Seven Seventeen accounts can be opened and funded online – members need not visit an office.

“When it comes to transacting business with Seven Seventeen, there is relatively little that mem-bers can’t do from the convenience and comfort of their homes,” Soukenik says. “Members can log onto their home computers day or night and open deposit accounts, apply for loans, pay bills, transfer funds, access electronic account statements, receive account alerts and more.”

As 2009 drew to a close, Seven Seventeen installed the first of four new automated teller machines with advanced deposit technology, called “Smart Deposit,” that makes depositing funds faster and easier. The member inserts checks and cash directly into the ATM, eliminating the need for deposit slips and envelopes. Verification of deposits is provided on-screen. On the transaction receipt is the image of each check deposited and a breakdown of num-ber and total of each denomination of currency deposited.

The first ATM with Smart Deposit is near the in-tersection of Central Parkway and Youngstown Road in Warren. The other three will soon be available

Seven Seventeen Credit Union Enhances Products at drive-up ATMs behind The Hot Dog Shoppe in Warren, on Robbins Avenue in Niles and on Belmont Avenue in Liberty.

Also last year, Seven Seventeen introduced com-prehensive identity theft protection and restoration services at no cost for members who have its Gen-Gold checking account. The program helps members monitor and secure their personal information and recover their losses should fraud occur.

With so many still hurting from the recession, the

credit union provided special programs to help its members, where possible, with loan modifications and debt consolidation and refinancing.

In addition, members were offered Seven Seven-teen’s Balance Financial Fitness program that pro-vides free access to professional financial counselors who advise on establishing a budget, developing a debt management plan – even working with credi-tors on the members’ behalf should the need arise, Soukenik says.

Assets grow nearly 6% to more than $766 million; deposits up by $30 million.

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New products and partnerships with would-be entrepreneurs tops the agenda at Empyra, a

software development company based in downtown Youngstown.

“Empyra has an aggressive road-map for the next two years to launch multiple new Web businesses based on a pay-to-use model,” says Vinpin Gupta, president and CEO.

Empyra launched a new business in November called AdmitInsights.com to deliver low-cost, immediate advice to high school students and their parents about college admissions. Using proprietary profile assessment algorithms, the Web site combines the databases of 11,000 colleges.

The company is known for its soft-ware-as-a-service platform for local government and nonprofit agencies, Gupta says. “This approach allows organizations to use technology-en-abled business functions by paying a monthly fee with no additional investment in information technology infrastructure,” he explains.

Empyra expanded its “OneFlow” platform last year to support every aspect of a Web-based business, in-cluding content and communication

Empyra Plans to Launch New Online Platforms

management, tracking cases, e-com-merce, social networking and cus-tomer management, Gupta notes.

And the company launched a practice to build new Web-based businesses using its “OneFlow” plat-form by joining local entrepreneurs as managing partners to help them launch their ideas with no upfront costs.

At the end of 2009, Empyra hired a new chief technology officer and doubled the staff by adding a sales manager, customer delivery managers, analysts and engineers. In November, Empyra moved into a larger office space in 20 Federal Plaza to accom-modate its growing team.

In addition, Empyra has expanded its core business of providing workforce development products and services by reaching out to agencies in other states. The company has provided its OneFlow solution to the One-Stop agencies in Trumbull, Ma-honing and Columbiana counties for many years, Gupta says. Last year the Area 17 Workforce Investment Board of Mahoning and Columbiana County won a “best in state” award for the third consecutive year.

Expanding into Ashtabula County with a transitional housing program that will initially serve 10 homeless women and their children is among the goals Beatitude House plans to achieve this year.

Beatitude House, sponsored by the Ursuline Sisters, serves disad-vantaged women and children in Mahoning and Trumbull counties by providing housing, educational opportunities and support services to foster healthy familes and help them break the cycle of poverty.

The organization is currently seeking funds to transform an old school building in Ashtabula County into 10 apartments, reports Sister Patricia McNicholas, execu-tive director.

This follows an expansion in Warren last year that increased the number of apartments to 13 from seven and added a classroom, a children’s playroom and offices for the case manager, counselor and child advocate.

Beatitude House also intro-

Beatitude House Targets Ashtabuladuced Beatitude House Green Clean in 2009, an environmentally friendly cooperative cleaning ser-vice that provides employment and vocational training for clients interested in becoming business owners. Startup funds for the so-cial entrepreneurship project were provided by the Wean Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.

To date, the Green Clean co-op has 12 employees who will eventu-ally become owners of the business and share in its profits. The co-op, which provides standardized cleaning services to residential and business customers, uses only environmentally friendly cleaning products and practices.

Founded by Sister Margaret Scheetz, Beatitude House opened in Youngstown in 1991 and served four families. Last year, through its education, vocational training and housing programs, Beatitude House served 512 disadvantaged women and children.

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EQUAL HOUSINGOPPORTUNITY

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On the heels of a profitable 2009, Valley Electrical Consolidated Inc., Girard, is expected to add even more business – and

employees – this year, executives say.Valley Electrical diversified its services last year, a

move the company believes is essential to compete at the highest level in the electrical-solutions industry, says Chris Jaskiewicz, senior vice president.

This not only resulted in the company securing more than 450 projects nationwide, but also allowed for a “remarkable 20% growth in employees,” he reports.

Among the new ventures established in 2009 were the company’s Green Energy Solutions – a division devoted to environmentally conscious construction and rehabilitation projects – a new business devel-opment and marketing division, a 3-D model draft-ing program, and a new sister company to handle general maintenance for local companies. That unit plans to expand this year with the acquisition of another company, Jaskiewicz reports.

The company purchased $250,000 in utility equipment in 2009 for its utility, power and light di-vision, while a Trimble unit was acquired to advance efforts in building information modeling, he says.

“We have an employee-based philosophy: faith, family, then business,” Jaskiewicz, says.

An employee-of-the-month program started by Jaskiewicz two years ago has been a huge success among the team at Valley Electric. Employees help offer assistance to fellow team members and the “camaraderie has led to strong interoffice relation-ships that grow every day,” he continues.

Valley Electric also holds “Lunch and Learns” each month, where employees spend their lunch breaks listening to nationally recognized speakers, says Rex Ferry, company president. Last year, Ted Garrison delivered a presentation based on the book The Toyota Way, which members of Valley Electrical’s book club read and used to improve efficiencies and to embrace “lean” concepts.

The book club team selects a book designed to enrich the employee growth and that could be ap-plied to Valley Electric’s strategic planning process. “This type of educational reinforcement encourages

Diversification Sparks Business at Valley Electrical Girard company adds green energy, maintenance units.

innovation and develops imaginative thinking,” Ferry adds.

“Our company’s success is accomplished through strong leadership, with a vision and passion to be the best in our industry and always remembering to focus on our employee’s well-being versus the bottom line,” he says.

One example Ferry cites is the project engineer-ing support team, which was the brainchild of the company’s internal project managers, he says. This idea turned into a strategic approach to organize a

support team for each new project, whose charge is to lower installation costs for customers.

Valley Electric also stays involved in the needs of the community, Ferry says.

The Valley Ladies Round Table, a group formed by women affiliated with the company, oversees and organizes the company’s contributions to nonprofit work and other causes. The company has made Cor-porate Chaplains of America available as a personal service for employees, with a visit twice a week from CCA chaplin Jeff Seger.

Thiel College, Greenville, Pa., launched several new programs and initiatives in 2009 under the leadership of its new president, Dr. Troy

VanAken, who assumed his position in July.The most notable additions under VanAken are

The Thiel Commitment, five varsity sports – women and men’s tennis, women and men’s lacrosse, and men’s volleyball – a marching band, a youth ministry major and a shooting club, reports Joyce DeFran-cesco Carr, director of public relations.

The Thiel Commitment, VanAken’s first priority, is aimed at showcasing the advantages of a Thiel education before, during and after a student’s un-dergraduate experience, Carr explains. The initiative includes a ninth-semester tuition waiver for qualified students who want to take advantage of extra op-portunities such as studying abroad or participating in internships, expanded career services, and a 60% tuition discount for graduates seeking new skills.

The Thiel Commitment also includes a co-cur-ricular transcript and an e-Portfolio system that allows students to demonstrate to potential employ-ers and graduate schools what they’ve learned and accomplished. “The Thiel Commitment embodies an aspect of Theil that so many of our alumni already know – that Thiel is for life,” VanAken says.

Thiel’s five new varsity sports will compete at the NCAA Division III level and bring the Tomcats’ total number of athletics teams to 24. In addition

to the new athletics offerings, Carr says the college also plans to add an additional full-time football coach this year as well as a seasonal air-supported athletics building that will cover the playing surface at Alumni Stadium during the winter months. This will greatly increase space available to varsity and intramural sports teams and athletics classes.

The marching band takes the field for the first time this fall and there are plans to establish pep or concert bands, Carr says. “This program will provide an opportunity for high school musicians to continue performing as they move into their college years.”

The youth ministry major combines study in the-ology, the Bible, ministry theory and social science with supervised field and mentoring experiences to prepare students for work as youth and family ministers in Christian congregations and camps.

The Thiel shooting club, Carr continues, is a team-oriented sport that will provide instruction in safe use, management and maintenance of firearms as well as competition opportunities. Shooting gal-leries will be provided through an agreement with a local shooting club.

“This is such an exciting time to be at Thiel College,” VanAken says. “The enhancement and expansion of our athletics and educational programs will position Thiel to attract engaged students and scholar athletes. This is just the start of many innova-tive programs that will benefit our students.”

Thiel has an enrollment of 1,000 and offers more than 60 academic majors and areas of study. The next campus preview day for prospective students is March 13.

Thiel Adds Sports, Marching BandCollege’s new president launches ‘The Thiel Commitment.’

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By Greg BuddGeneral Manager, Tri-County Tower Service Inc.

Tri-County Tower Service Inc., North Jackson, has always prided itself on is adaptability and 2009 was no different.

Our company provides a variety of solutions to the communications industry, from maintenance to turnkey tower construction. We entered the cellular and paging industry early in its evolution and last year we again adjusted our business model to keep up with the region’s ever-fluctuating market. We created a new division, TCT Renewable Energy, a state-eligible installer of wind turbines for residen-tial, commercial, industrial and institutional use.

Tri-County installed its first turbine in 2003 but never pursued renewable energy as a full-time business model. At that time, we brought on Scot Loveland as division manager and allowed him to develop the brand as the market dictated.

One of the first things Loveland implemented was the expansion of our community involvement. Such involvement included sponsorship of Youngstown’s Grey to Green Festival, consulting with zoning com-missions on wind turbine regulations, and delivering renewable energy presentations to local schools.

The highlight of our new division’s year was the

Tri-County Tower Creates Green Energy DivisionNew entity installs wind turbines at Western Reserve High School.

installation of three wind turbines at Western Re-serve High School in Berlin Center and the ensuing dedication ceremony where Gov. Ted Strickland presented the keynote address. This year, we are going to expand our renewable energy offerings to give our customers more green options.

Last year also saw changes in the way our orga-nization marketed its services. We overhauled our Web site, created a new site for TCT Renewable Energy, produced multimedia portfolios of our projects, participated in blogs and trade shows and even made use of Twitter.

In the past, we worked in 13 states and two foreign countries, but our activities last year were much more focused on Ohio. While this narrowed our market, it also enabled us to limit overhead. It seems a bit ironic that even as the national media reports how economically depressed our area is, it is this region that allowed us to maintain stability.

Last year we hired 14 new employees and we ex-pect to hire more this year. We expanded our service to the state of Ohio’s emergency communications network in 2009 and hope to extend that same level of service and commitment to other states.

Meridian Services Inc. last year expanded its WorkLife division to begin offering corporate wellness services as a complement to its occu-pational health and drug testing services. “This division will be further expanded in 2010 with the relocation to new facilities and the addition of staff,” reports CEO Larry Moliterno.

This year, Meridian plans to purchase a larger facility for the Northeast Ohio Regional Center for Adolescent Treatment, which provides residential treatment for up to 24 young men.

Revenue grew to 2009 to $7.02 million, an increase of 20.8% over 2008, Moliterno says. In addition, 20 jobs were added, bringing total employment to 158. “Overall, there was a 30%

increase in clients served,” he notes, with 3,711 people receiving services through Meridian’s treatment and recovery programs.

Significant physical improvements were made last year to three of the 11 facilities Meridian operates. The organization spent more than $100,000 providing upgrades to the Ron Mar-ian facility on Chalmers Avenue, The Donofrio Women’s Center on Ridge Avenue and the cor-porate offices on Meridian Road in Youngstown. Other 2009 highlights include the fifth annual Valley Impact Awards in October, attended by 200 people, and the addition of the “Our Valley Cooks Food Expo” event, Moliterno says, which 1,500 people attended in March.

Meridian Services to Add Programs, Relocate


The development of new products while launching innovative methods to improve building sustainability helped engineer Berner International Corp.’s growth last year.

Berner International, based in New Castle, Pa., manufactures air curtains and energy recovery systems, says the company’s Leah Kordecki. Berner, she relates, is poised to capture new business opportunities in 2010 as the “green revolution” takes hold in the United States.

“Berner hit the ground running in February last year with a new product released at the National Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers Show in Orlando,” Kordecki says.

There, the company launched its new air curtain – the first of its kind engineered specifically for drive-thru windows at quick-serve restaurants. This unit uses controlled streams of air that keeps car fumes, cold air and flying insects out of the workspace

New Products Engineer More Revenue at Berner

while allowing employees to attend to drive-through customers.

Berner’s energy-recovery equip-ment incorporates passive energy wheel technology to increase the amount of fresh air ventilated while minimizing energy consumption and reducing cooling and heating loads.The company employs 61.

Berner, founded in 1956, is em-bracing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED. In March, development manager Mi-randa Berner earned LEED accredi-tation from the U.S. Green Building Council. “This credential signifies an advanced, in-depth knowledge of green building practices,” Kordecki says. The company’s commitment to green building led to the creation of a “green team” at Berner, Kordecki reports. One major task the team has taken on is to achieve LEED certifica-tion for the company’s 60,000-square-foot plant.

With new ownership late in 2009, Gorant Candies became Gorant Chocolatier LLC. But while the name has been altered, the way Gorant’s makes its 400 varieties of candies remains unchanged since Charles and Sam Gorant founded the business in 1949.

The new owners – Marty Seidler, Joe Mil ler and John Cayten – say they are commit-ted to building on the tradition of the Gorant brothers. Their “secret chocolate recipes will remain unchanged and complimented with several new chocolate products this year,” promises operations direc-tor Jack Peluse.

Behind the 2,300-square-foot store at 8301 Market St. in Boardman is a 55,000-square-foot chocolate factory where more than 40 full-time employ-ees make the various confections.

Besides its own chocolates, Gorant makes private-label chocolates based on other company’s recipes. Gorant Chocolatier offers products to whole-salers, as corporate gifts and as part of fund-raising efforts.

In addition to its Market Street

New Ownership, Same Chocolates at Gorant’s

store, Gorant’s sells its candies at three shops still owned by the Gorant brothers’ nephews and through the Internet.

Included in the new owners’ plans for growth are reviving the Yum Yum Tree label, they say, and expanding the number of stores throughout North America where Gorant’s is sold.

Gorant’s is one of the few choco-late factories today where automation has not replaced the homemade

product, Peluse notes. The employ-ees still make candy by hand everyday. They still blend melted chocolate with nuts, fruits, pretzels and other ingre-dients in large copper kettles before the cooling mixtures are poured onto tables where the candy is then cut by hand.

“When you make candy by hand,” Peluse says, “you will see any imper-fections and ensure the quality of the chocolates before they are finished and shipped to our customers.”

The chocolates in Gorant candies are purchased from cocoa refiners who acquire the majority of their cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast of Africa.

Included in the new owners’ plans for growth are reviving the Yum Yum Tree label.

Established 1937

330-545-3722Priceheating.comLicense #33376


After three expansions over the past dozen years, Flex-Strut Inc., Howland, is prepared to grow again in 2010, reports its president, Dale Gebhardt.

“Our facility is 70,000 square-feet,” and the company has another 30,000-square-foot expansion on the drawing board, he says.

The proposed expansion should be completed by the end of this year, Gebhardt notes, taking the Com-monwealth Avenue plant to 100,000 square feet.

The company manufactures a com-plete line of continuous-slot metal framing, referred to in the industry as Strut. The product consists of nu-merous roll-formed channels – akin to an industrial Erector Set – with adjustable nut-and-bolt connections that can be made with numerous parts and fittings. It is sold through elec-trical, mechanical and refrigeration wholesalers and is used for lighting, conduit and piping supports.

Flex-Strut is a master-stocking distributor for Hydra-Zorb cushion clamps, which are used to support copper tubing in refrigeration instal-lations. The company also distributes the FlexAngle product, a slotted-angle framing system manufactured locally by Hynes Industries.

Besides the commodity side of the business, Flex-Strut provides numer-ous engineered applications for the product. Some of these include special fabrications for original equipment

manufacturers, or OEMs, heavy duty concrete embeds for curtain wall retention in high-rise construction, and fabricated components for the laboratory furniture industry.

“This diversification has enabled us to maintain a high volume of business, even during unfavorable economic times,” Gebhardt says.

The company started in a 12,000-square-foot building in the industrial section of Howland and today boasts annual revenues of $15 million and employs 60.

Flex Strut was formed after the Power Strut division of Van Huffel Tube Corp. was sold and moved to Chicago in 1985, Gebhardt says. “In the aftermath of that sale, a group of Power Strut employees refused to al-low another manufacturing entity dis-appear from the Valley,” he relates.

Today, Flex-Strut has surpassed what Power Strut accomplished in the mid-1980s, Gebhardt says.

“First, we were able to keep to-gether a group of key Power Strut employees who were the nucleus from which we built the company,” he recalls. When another Strut company, Michigan Hanger, left the area, Flex Strut was able to attract additional key production and customer service employees.

“The bulk of our work force came to us with experience gained from companies that have downsized, closed or left the area,” Gebhardt says. “Their loss has been our gain.”

Flex-Strut Prepares Its Fourth Plant Expansion

Polish Youngstown, created in 2008 to inspire, promote and educate the Mahoning Valley on all things Polish, is reaching out to form cooperative events with other groups, says Aun-drea Cika Heschmeyer, chairwoman.

The group’s formation, she says, was inspired by response to the folk dancers’ fund-raising celebration, a group of five individuals who got together in an attempt to revive what was once a vital part of the Mahoning Valley culture. “We felt like the Pol-ish community had lost its center,” Heschmeyer says. “What we were bet-ting on is that it hadn’t lost its heart.”

This year, the group is adding a pre-Lenten trip to Hamtramck, Mich., for the paczki celebration and a summer trip to Poland, she says.

The common bond for the group is keeping the spirit of their heritage

Polish Youngstown Revives Culturealive and educating younger genera-tions about why they, too, should be excited about it.

The group’s first effort was initiat-ing the monthly Polish Happy Hour. At each event, the host bar features specials of a different Polish beer and vodka. Heschmeyer says hospitality includes authentic foods and desserts, as well as Polish culturally themed games and information.

In honor of Ostatki, a Polish car-nival celebration, the group took its efforts to a bigger scale. A semi-formal event was held in February at the Youngstown Club and ended with the traditional paczki doughnut parade, during which the guy or gal who broke with tradition and found the hidden coin in a donut was crowned “royalty” and received a one-year membership to The Youngstown Club.

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With new products and improvements on its menu of services, Boardman-based Cboss Inc. expanded its local and national

presence in 2009.Tens of new customers launched Web sites based

on the company’s ArchITech Content Management System, which allows customers to build and main-tain an online presence by managing documents, providing online event registration and payments. Such customers include Mill Creek Metroparks, the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments and Mahoning County.

Cboss also renewed its Level I Service Provider certification for the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), the industry standard for credit card data security. With its flagship Cen-tral Payment Portal, Cboss tapped into the national health care market, says its director of business development, Aaron Lego.

The Web-based, PCI-compliant online payment solution lets a customer accept all forms of pay-ment, and provides reporting features that help to manage and shorten the revenue cycle. Cboss will continue to reach out to health-care organizations in the Mahoning Valley with this and other online services, Lego says.

“We’re excited to work with local health care

CBoss Enters New Markets, Forms Partnershipsproviders to help them capture revenue more quickly and improve operational efficiencies,” Lego says.

Along with the federal stimulus dollars invested in the conversion to electronic health records by 2014, the Cboss CPP attracted the New Mexico-based Gila Regional Medical Center, which selected Cboss for its own online payment needs.

Cboss also forged a partnership with Nashville-based LetterLogic, which offers CPP to its customers.

The woman-owned business provides outsourced billing services to companies with high-volume billing.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles last spring awarded Cboss a multi-year contract to develop and host the “next genera-tion” solution for Ohio’s online vehicle registration and renewal system, Oplates. Cboss won the first Oplates contract in 2000.

products and services it offers its members. Among them: access to their accounts through automated teller machines, debit cards, Visa credit cards, individual retirement accounts, mortgages and home equity loans, and online banking, which includes the ability to pay bills online.

Additional benefits include tickets for Regal and Tinseltown theaters and to amusement parks at a discount, and free notary service.

The Ohio Edison Penn Power Credit Union, founded in 1940, added Penn Power employees in 1978. With new community charter laws that allowed broader membership, anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Trumbull, Mahoning or Columbiana counties may join the credit union.

Wins contract to develop, host ‘next generation’ of Oplates.

Ohio Edison Penn Power Credit Union merged last year with the Warren Niles Republic Employ-ees Federal Credit Union, taking the combined entity’s membership to 8,000 and its assets to more than $43 million.

Another major change was the retirement of Barbara DeLauter, who managed the Youngstown-based credit union more than 40 years. DeLauter saw the credit union grow organically and through mergers from the late 1960s when the Ohio Edi-son Credit Union had assets of $800,000.

Succeeding her as CEO is David Beckhorn, CEO of three other credit unions during his 20 years in management.

Despite the recession, the Ohio Edison Penn Power Credit Union has remained financially sound, a spokesman says, pointing to the many

Ohio Edison Credit Union Reports Asset Growth


fleet was flat compared to that of 2008, he reports. Last year, Aim also moved its Allentown, Pa.,

branch to a larger location. And, the transportation company relocated its Aurora, Ill., hub, split the Elmhurst, Ill., branch into two separate operations, and started new operations in South Holland, Ill.

Aim invested in technology last year, evidenced by improvements to the company’s Web site at AimNtls.com, Fleming says. Customers now have the ability to see complete details of all vehicle re-

Aim NationaLease ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ for 2010Aim NationaLease, a full-service transportation

company based in Girard, experienced a 2009 marked by challenges and opportunity.

And, company executives say they’re “cautiously optimistic” about 2010.

“Aim is well-positioned to take advantage of an improving economy and remain a significant fixture in the Youngstown and national marketplaces for many years,” says its president, Tom Fleming.

Aim NationaLease and Aim Dedicated Logistics have nearly 6,000 vehicles in 80 operations and employ nearly 800 people.

This year, new regulations enacted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency related to clean diesel engines stand to add $9,000 to the price of Class 8 tractors, dampening lease opportunities for new trucks, Fleming notes. Yet, this should also drive more business to the company’s rental division and boost the value of used tractors and trucks.

During 2009, Fleming says the company saw business decline during the first quarter, and then stabilize during the second “at a level significantly below the prior year.” Freight activity, rental business and used-truck values all declined, while new truck purchases and leases were also at record lows.

Fleming credits employees and a diverse custom-er base as major factors in managing the downturn. Despite a slow start, Aim’s sales team was able to lease nearly 1,000 new and used vehicles in 2009.

However, because of customer downsizing and vehicle repossessions, the total Aim NationaLease

pairs including real-time “road rescue” data should their vehicle break down while on the road.

Aim Dedicated Logistics customers’ vehicles are routed electronically and then are tracked via real time GPA technology, Fleming says. This type of technology, combined with multiple redundancies – including real time temperature monitoring – is what Aim used in one of its dedicated operations that transported the majority of the H1N1 flu vac-cine this fall and winter.

With nursing homes becoming more of a des-tination for short-term rehabilitation, Windsor House Inc., Girard, is working to meet demand, says its director of marketing, Dan Rowland.

Windsor House established short-term therapy units in many of its 11 nursing homes, includ-ing its newest one, Masternick Memorial in Springfield Township. The new nursing home, named in honor of Windsor House founder John Masternick, opened in September and features 75 skilled-nursing beds, a secured Alzheimer’s unit and assisted-living apartments. The rooms are large and include phone, private showers and self-contained heating and air conditioning.

Other nursing homes with short-term rehabili-tation include Omni Manor Health Care Center

Windsor House Meets Demand for Rehabin Mahoning County, and Windsor House at Champion and the O’Brien Memorial Health Care Center in Trumbull County, Rowland says.

Windsor House also launched its home health care agency, Home Health by Windsor, which is accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care Inc. The agency’s staff focuses on the specific needs of each patient and, in most cases, patients will see the same therapists at home as they did in the nursing home, Rowland says.

An expansion project at Liberty Arms Assisted Living in Trumbull County will add 13 apart-ments, bringing the total to 54. To accommodate the new residents, the dining and activity rooms have been enlarged, Rowland says. An open house will be held in March.

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CANFIELD -- The public accounting firm of Augenstein, Gabriele & Mapes CPAs LLC originated in 1987 when one of the principals, Donald J. Augenstein, started his own practice.

More recently, Augenstein took on the accounting practices of Lori A. Ga-briele and Peter Mapes to form Augen-stein, Gabriele & Mapes with offices at 3870 Starr Centre Drive.

The three certified public accoun-tants offer tax planning, tax preparation, financial statements preparation and business consulting.

The new firm serves individuals and businesses in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.

Three CPAs Establish Augenstein, Gabriele & Mapes

NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Cure-All Profes-sionals Inc. increased revenues and net income in 2009, and the company, which specializes in fire and water damage, looks to repeat that growth in 2010, says Paul Finney, general manager.

One of company’s accomplishments last year, he reports, was the comple-tion of a new shop and additional office space, he says. The expansion allows the company to segment the work as-sociated with cleaning and restoring salvageable contents.

The new shop also provides the op-portunity to organize the storage and maintenance of the many commercial dehumidifiers, axial fans, air scrubbers, board-up materials and tools required to serve customers.

The company maintains certifications in fire, water and mold restoration serv-ices from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, and its employees attend certification classes annually.

The company was incorporated in 1999 by Dave Finney, who learned the industry while employed with a national franchise. Before that, he started Ceil-ing Pro, which offered cleaning and restoration of acoustic and vinyl-clad tile along with recoat services for acoustic ceilings resistant to cleaning. Cure-All continues to offer these services.

Paul Finney joined the business in 2004 after graduating from Ohio Uni-versity with a degree in business com-munications. Maintaining certifications in fire, water, odor, mold and applied microbial, he runs the business.

Cure-All Professionals Looks to Repeat Growth

Drywall Barn RelocatesYOUNGSTOWN – The Drywall Barn took steps last year to prepare for a success-ful 2010, says Mark Markota, president and owner.

In addition to seeking new business and better positioning the company in relation to its competitors, those steps included purchasing two additional boom trucks for the company’s fleet as well as other equipment at advanta-geous market prices.

The company also moved to a new building on Meridian Road and made substantial renovations. The new loca-tion is close to major highways and will give the company a huge distribution advantage, Markota notes.

Jolley Joins with Kennametal SHARON, Pa. -- A new partnership brings stronger global presence and a few more employees to Jolley Industrial Supply.

Jolley became a distributor in April for Kennametal Inc. of Latrobe, Pa., says Jolley’s owner and founder, Richard Jol-ley. Kennametal, a dealer of tooling and metalworking products, brought Jolley on to distribute its product in western Pennsylvania and parts of West Virginia, he says.

In addition to its corporate head-quarters in Latrobe, Kennametal has offices in Switzerland and Singapore. It distributes worldwide. This partnership allowed Jolley to hire four workers and gain new customers.

Jolley employs 40 at its Sharon and Franklin, Pa., sites. “We’re looking to add clientele through Kennametal,” Jol-ley says, “and more employees.”

In 2009, the company developed cost-saving ideas for its own operations and continues to develop ways to pass on savings to its customers, he says.

Method 8 Plans Web DesignYOUNGSTOWN – Method 8 is looking to rebound this year after a challenging 2009, says Brian K. West, president. The company, a provider of online busi-ness advertising and marketing, plans to introduce a new Web design aimed at the arts while promoting businesses. West says he plans to release a new book this year as well.

Also, West plans to bring his sisters, Alicia and Shanise, on board to use their business experience to help provide better service.

Contributing to the Valley’s economy for over 50 years.

712 Trumbull Avenue, Girard, Ohio www.altronicinc.com

Our employees—more than 100 of your friends and neighbors—have made Altronic a world leader in the design and production of ignition systems, instrumentation, controls, and fuel delivery systems for natural gas-fueled engines. Employing cutting-edge electronic circuit board assembly technology, Altronic manufactures and distributes more than 50 different products from our 72,000 sq. ft. Girard headquarters.

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By Patricia BrozikPresident, Community Foundation

The Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley was awarded the prestigious National

Standards Seal last year by the Council on Foundations, a national professional association based in Washington, D.C., for meeting the highest standards of quality and accountability.

The foundation, which celebrated its eighth anniversary in October, serves Mahoning and Trumbull coun-ties; it is the first in our area to be awarded the seal.

The foundation continues to re-spond to the ever-changing needs of our nonprofit agencies and com-munities. In 2009, the foundation launched an initiative designed to provide nonprofits with valuable resources beyond providing grants. This initiative, Agency Partners Col-laboration, is composed of nearly 35 organizations committed to building networks across the nonprofit com-munity including outreach to profes-sional advisers who work in the field of philanthropy.

Among the first steps are targeting

the training in, and implementation of, awareness-raising tactics with the goal of expanding charitable giving across the Mahoning Valley.

The foundation continues to de-velop other market-specific strategies to increase the growth of philanthropy. The Young Philanthropist Fund, an initiative to introduce young adults to charitable giving and involvement, grew 10% over 2008, with distribu-tions remaining consistent.

The number of funds under the aegis of the Community Foundation has risen to nearly 70, up from 56 the previous year. The number of grant-ees has also risen, reaching nearly 250 charities served.

The grant-making activities of the foundation reach across a spectrum of services for the community. As measured in the numbers of dol-lars, 19% of the grants made during the year were in the sector of public and society benefit, the largest single category.

Responding to the recession, the foundation became more strategically focused on ways of strengthening com-munities in the areas of employment, economic development, housing, education and health care. The foun-dation continues to enjoy increasing community support as more residents make their charitable contributions directly to the foundation or to one of its component funds.

Community Foundation’s Focus Is Human NeedsAgency Partners Collaboration joins nearly 35 nonprofits.

Demand Up at Briarfield CentersWith a 15% increase in business

spurring demand for more services, Briarfield Health Care Centers, Austintown, met those needs with a new rehabilitation gym at its Briarfield Manor.

The Austintown nursing home completed construction of the 3,200-square-foot gym to help pa-tients gain as much independence as possible before returning home, says Ed Reese, president of EDM Management, which operates the Briarfield centers. Briarfield Manor also added 18 beds, increasing ca-pacity to 116, he notes.

To serve men and women with dementia, Briarfield at the Ridge in Mineral Ridge opened a secure unit that features large semi-private rooms, a private dining room, sit-ting room and outdoor garden. The staff uses Montessori-based learning

tasks with the focus on the special needs of dementia patients.

Reese credits his company’s success to its customer-centered focus. With 685 licensed nursing and assisted-living beds and 650 employees in Mahoning, Trum-bull and Columbiana counties, “continuous attention to quality improvement are the best tools to remaining competitive in any economy,” he says.

“Long-term care companies have been hit with reductions in revenue while at the same time facing higher costs for everything needed to provide services,” Reese says. “We have been proactive in working with vendors to remain fiscally strong so that we can continue to deliver the same high quality care and services that our customers have come to expect.”


Collaboration is essential as the Mahoning County Mental Health Board balances decreased

funding against increased needs.The board sustained a $3.1 million

funding cut for fiscal 2010, leading to reductions in mental health services at a time when job losses, foreclosures and mounting bills contributed to a spike in the number of those seeking assistance, reports Toni M. Notaro, administrative director. Still, the board supported more than 200,000 hours of mental health services through the agencies and programs it funds, providing help to more than 13,000 individuals during fiscal 2009.

To address greater demand for services, the mental health system en-gaged in ways to maximize resources through collaboration, Notaro says. One example includes partnering with mental health boards in Trumbull and Columbiana counties to train sports

Mental Health Board Copes with Cutbacks

coaches in an effort to raise awareness of the potential for suicide among teenagers. Help Hotline Crisis Center organized the event, which was at-tended by more than 110 coaches.

Youngstown State University also collaborated with the board to pro-vide a training program for faculty and staff developed in response to the Virginia Tech tragedy. More than 250 Youngstown State University employees were trained to recognize individuals who may be struggling with a mental health issue and how to seek treatment. Employees were also educated on university protocols should an emergency occur.

The need for collaboration will increase this year for the board and its agencies, which it refers to as the Net-work of Care. Those agencies include Burdman Group, Catholic Charities Regional Agency, D&E Counsel-ing Center, Family Service Agency, Help Hotline Crisis Center, Meridian Services, Community Support Net-work, Turning Point Counseling Services and NAMI Mahoning Valley.

Poor economy means more people need help. MultiMedia Farms, Canfield, is

responding to the challenges of 2009 with calculated risk-

taking and reinvesting in resources that include technology, staff and office space for this year, reports Clare Neff, president and co-owner.

“Innovation in video production and sales of the new LED displays are key to our future profitability,” she says.

Among the local projects is docu-mentation of the 70-day building of a home for the Kaluza family. The project included coordinating a per-sonal tribute from Kenny Rogers and production of a thank-you video for the more than 400 volunteers. “This project was a wonderful commentary on our Valley’s resilience and ability to move forward,” Neff observes.

Other projects were sales videos for Baird Brothers Hardwood Floors Co., a golf marketing video for Save the Mo-ment and national TV holiday spots for The Cafaro Co., she reports.

Last November, Neff ’s husband and company co-owner, Bruce Neff,

introduced the next generation of mobile LED displays, with a larger, lighter screen that provides a 16:9 HD format. The unit, called the B15, was first deployed at the University of Michigan, then traveled to South-eastern Conference football games, to Florida for the Lighting Design Inter-national annual trade show and then to the Walt Disney Sports Complex. At the trade show, MultiMedia Farms took orders for four units, he says.

The company expects sales and rentals of the units to bring substantial growth, Neff says.

MultiMedia Farms also is partner-ing with the Canfield-based Trailex to manufacture and market the LED displays. With the migration toward the 16:9 HD formatting, which better fits newer televisions, computers and plasma displays, gained sales momen-tum last year.

Last October, MultiMedia Farms was awarded the Canfield Business Price Award from the Canfield Area Council of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.

Investments Paying Off For MultiMedia Farms

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Phantoms hockey team takes to the ice at Covelli Centre.

Unlike the vast majority of retailers in 2009, The B.J. Alan Co. and its Phantom Fireworks retail stores registered a record volume of

sales, Bruce J. Zoldan, president and CEO reports.He credits that performance to Phantom “fine-

tuning its advertising and marketing program, modifying its bonus merchandise program and con-tinuing to bring in the latest, most colorful, and best performing consumer fireworks on the market.”

Phantom opened four showrooms for the 2009 season in Castleton, Ind., near Indianapolis; Shrews-bury and Upland, Pa.; and Caledonia, Wis., just outside of Racine. In addition, Phantom replaced old locations with new showrooms in Fort Myers, Fla., and Canton. These six joined 49 other showrooms in 13 states plus Puerto Rico.

Phantom’s chain-store division increased its market share, Zoldan continues. Among the new accounts added are Pitusa and SuperMax, both Puerto Rican grocery chains, Redners Convenience Stores, Country Fair, Ralph’s Supermarkets, 7-Eleven convenience stores, and Buckton Grocery Stores. In addition to the major outlets such as Kmart, the increasing customer base for Phantom’s chain-store division demonstrates how deeply Phantom has managed to entrench itself in this segment of the marketplace.

Alan L. Zoldan, executive vice president of B.J. Alan, was re-elected president of the board of the American Fireworks Standards Laboratory, the or-ganization that tests the fireworks products at the factory level in China before they are shipped to the United States. In addition, William A. Weimer, vice president and general counsel, was elected president of the board of the American Pyrotechnics Associa-tion, the industry’s top trade association.

Phantom’s offices in China – in Liuyang City, Hunan Province, and in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province – were busy in 2009 as they responded to changes in the shipping industry and worked with Chinese factories to ensure quality control.

At a time when many businesses find themselves unable to obtain bank financing, the company added three banks to its re-formed bank group: F.N.B. Capi-tal Corp., First Niagara and Tri-State Bank. These banks join PNC, Fifth Third and First Place to make up Phantom’s bank group.

Where the recession forced most retailers to put expansion plans on hold or curtail their operations, Phantom Fireworks continues on its path of opening three to five new showrooms each year and expand-ing its sales to chain stores.

The Youngstown Phantoms, the hockey divi-sion of B.J. Alan, last year signed an exclusive five-year hockey lease with the Covelli Centre downtown. Initial fan reaction to the Phantoms players “has been very strong,” says Alex Zoldan. Bob Mainhardt continues as head coach, Curtis Carr as assistant coach, in Alex Zoldan’s first year as president of the hockey club.

The Phantoms racked up an impressive record during the first half of its expansion year in the U.S. Hockey League, Alex Zoldan says with pride. “The talent of the Phantoms has reached a level that pro-

vides for some outstanding hockey,” he adds.The advertising for the team talks about “the road

to the [National Hockey League] going through Youngstown,” Zoldan notes. With Youngstown only one of 14 cities in this country to host the most elite of the U.S.A. hockey programs for young men, the U.S. Hockey League is the only venue other than a collegiate Division 1 program where the NHL can see the potential of aspiring players.

Sales Boom at B.J. Alan Co.’s Phantom FireworksThe history of the players going from the U.S.

Hockey League to the NHL is full of examples of players retaining their loyalties to the cities that gave them their start and fostered their talents, he says.

The benefit of having a U.S. Hockey League fran-chise in Youngstown is not only immediate – quality hockey to watch and enjoy – but a long-term as-sociation with those players from Youngstown who move up in the hockey world, Zoldan says.

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By Michael J. KurishPresident and CEO, Associated School Employees Credit Union

2009 was one of the most success-ful years in the history of Associated School Employees Credit Union, Aus-tintown.

We began the year by celebrat-ing our 50th anniversary. By April, ASECU was into merger discussions with the Cavalier Federal Credit Union that has offices in Lordstown and Newton Falls. Following the merger creating a financial institution with $90 million in assets, Cavalier’s employees stayed on and its two of-fices stayed open.

Then, on Aug. 1, ASECU consoli-dated with Greater Warren Commu-nity Federal of Warren. This merger brought three more offices to our credit union and added 30 employees to serve our membership of 21,000 who live in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties.

Associated School Credit Union Grows through Mergers

The three new branches are on Ma-honing Avenue in Champion, Wood-land Street in Warren and Mahoning Avenue in Jackson Township.

With this growth came the op-portunity to offer new products and services including money market savings accounts, youth share certifi-cates, extended-term mortgages and business accounts.

Our goal in 2010 is to offer a pa-perless online-only checking account that offers members the benefit of the immediacy of the Internet, including electronic statements, ATM access, online banking and bill payment.

In 2009, ASECU employees do-nated more than $4,500 from our dress-down fund to various charities. We also offer an annual scholarship to area high school seniors and support area school activities including band, sports and the arts.

Founded in 1959, ASECU today has 57 employees and 13 volunteers who serve on our board of directors.

When a visitor to the Poland offices of Prodigal arrived wear ing a button that

stated, “I Refuse to Participate in the Recession,” Jeff Hedrich laughed.

“Then I realized the reality behind the words was crucial if Prodigal, and our clients were to successfully navigate the economic times,” says Prodigal’s founder and president.

“Clients who focus on strategic marketing planning and believe they can find opportunities in every econ-omy generally maintain or advance their brand and business position.”

The marketing agency, founded in 1994, provides branding, interactive and marketing communications serv-ices to a diverse roster of consumer and business-to-business companies.

Prodigal and many of its clients performed well in 2009, holding or increasing market share over faltering competitors. “The discipline of brand positioning helped our clients develop marketing blueprints that factored in economic conditions without resort-ing to panic and unproductive short-term strategies,” says Will Perez, vice president of account services.

For example, Prodigal clients as diverse as a community bank and a

Prodigal Places Focus On Strategic Planning

large manufacturing company did well in 2009 despite upheavals in their market segments. The firm helped Farmers National Bank with public relations services related to the acquisition of the former Butler Wick Trust Co., now Farmers Trust Co., and developed a branded Web site for Si-mon Roofing, which saw sales growth in a challenging facilities management environment.

Forum Health, a client that de-clared bankruptcy in 2009, “ben-efited significantly from holding to a strategic marketing plan that assisted in maintaining and growing crucial patient admission levels,” says Joe Foos, account executive. Health-care marketing has emerged as a core com-petency for Prodigal, he adds.

Former newscaster Vince Bevacqua joined the firm as vice president of public and media relations and now heads a team of PR professionals. More growth came in the realm of digital and interactive media with Prodigal’s digital initiatives headed by Stephanie Ciardi.

The hiring of Kelly Lipka as chief financial officer also offered clients deeper insight into the financial impli-cations of their marketing initiatives.

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For 122 years, Farmers National Bank has been a safe place for people to save their money, a source of home mortgages and business

loans, an integral part of the Mahoning Valley with its 16 banking offices in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties. Last year it became something more, a bank with $1 billion in assets.

Reaching this milestone is all the more impressive, says its president and CEO, Frank Paden, in light of the challenges facing the financial industry.

“I’m proud of this milestone,” Paden says, “but I’m even more proud of the reason behind it. Farm-ers is a billion-dollar bank because of the value our community places on our personal service and its trust in our stability.”

Farmers’ emphasized its financial soundness through a successful advertising campaign that fo-cused on Farmers National Bank as a “rock solid” financial institution.

During 2009, Farmers expanded its wealth man-agement division by acquiring the former Butler Wick Trust Co., since renamed Farmers Trust Co.

“The addition of Farmers Trust Co. has been an excellent strategic move for us,” says Farmers’ chief operating officer, John Gulas. “The trust company

Growth at Farmers Makes It a $1 Billion Bankgives us another means to serve our customers’ financial needs. It complements all of our other services in retail banking, commercial banking, investments and insurance. The trust company makes Farmers a truly comprehensive financial institution.”

With a larger size and new service lines come the challenge of managing information in ways that allow for speed and accuracy while still protecting the customers’ privacy.

Farmers stepped into modern, digital banking with its recent conversion to a core data processing

system. With the latest technology in place, Farmers

operates more efficiently while simultaneously giv-ing its customers real-time access to their financial information, Gulas says.

“With a year highlighted by improvements, acquisitions and expansion, Farmers National Bank will continue to focus on the growth of its customer base,” he continues. The company has a strong foundation to build on and its branding efforts will continue to emphasize its “rock solid” reputation.

Farmers Trust Co. closed out 2009 with record numbers.

At year-end, it had experienced growth in as-sets under management of a record $827 million, an achievement the company’s president and CEO, James H. Sisek, credits to his professional and highly skilled staff.

Farmers Trust, the only locally owned and op-erated trust company in the Valley, places a strong emphasis on the quality of service and relation-ships with its clients, according to Sisek.

“Trust, investment and estate planning is highly personal and needs to be delivered at the local level – strong investment performance and

personal service is key,” Sisek says. “The trust company is built on relationships and superior performance.”

To that professional staff, Farmers Trust hired an additional four employees last year bringing its staff to 31. Its growth last year led to the company occupying all of the eighth floor of City Centre One in downtown Youngstown.

The trust company sustained its strong com-mitment to charitable foundations in the Valley, Sisek says.

During 2009, Framers Trust distributed more than $5 million to local charitable organizations from the accounts it manages.

Farmers Trust Co. Manages $827M in Assets

Expands wealth management division with the acquisition of Butler Wick Trust Co.

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While 2009 was slightly stronger economically than 2008, the outlook within Ohio and the nation remains flat across many

markets, says Thomas Mosure, president of MS Consultants Inc., Youngstown. Still, he reports, “Despite the struggles of many firms in the design and construction industries, our company held its own in our primary markets.”

MS Consultants, founded in 1963, is a multi- discipline engineering, architecture and planning firm with offices in six states. The firm offers services in the transportation, commercial, environmental, education, architecture and construction markets.

Among the local economic development projects in which MS is involved is redeveloping the Brier Hill Industrial Park to allow the potential $970 million expansion of V&M Star Steel.

Youngstown secured funding through the Ameri-can Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to de-velop an industrial park on what are parking areas, materials storage yards, active railroads and former railroad yards, vacant deposits of slag and other in-dustrial fill and an active slag mining operation.

With the help of MS, the city has developed a preliminary site plan for some 170 acres to serve as an industrial park and intermodal rail transporta-tion center. Redevelopment for use as an industrial

MS Consultants Engineers Redevelopment Projectspark will require substantial improvements to site infrastructure and access from adjacent transporta-tion facilities.

Railroad tracks and roadways must be built so employees and suppliers of materials can reach their destinations. This encompasses construction of three new roads from U.S. Route 422; a new 9,700-foot road from Division Street along the southern boundary; on-site roads to each proposed parcel; an on-site truck staging area; and the grade separation of the Norfolk South-ern main line at the east end of the site.

The project will also improve connections with existing rail corridors and upgrade railyards by add-ing a track to provide access to Norfolk Southern, CSXT, and Ohio Central System rail lines. A new 7,800-foot storage track spur will be added along the southern perimeter as well as a new marshaling yard northeast of the site to compensate for loss of track space with the relocation of the site entrance. Existing tracks serving Liberty Metals to the west, Trinity Industries, and V&M Star will be realigned; on-site tracks and railyards will be reconfigured to reduce the number of tracks crossed by the three vehicle grade crossings from U.S. 422.

At Youngstown State University, MS was awarded final design services and construction administra-tion for a new indoor sports practice center that will

Infrastructure projects pave way for industrial expansion.

expand the training facilities for its sports teams. Construction is projected to begin early this year and be complete in August.

Student housing is also being expanded. The Flats at Wick is a privately developed, 216-unit, 450-bed complex adjacent to the campus and its

dormitories on the north-ern perimeter.

Elsewhere in north-eastern Ohio, the Ohio Department of Transpor-tation chose the design-build team of MS and

Marucci & Gaffney Excavating Co. to provide design and construction services for completion of the state Route 11 highway improvement project.

“The project involves milling and resurfacing approximately five miles of four-lane state Route 11, including the state routes 11 and 82 interchange ramps, and the reconstruction of eight bridges in Liberty and Vienna townships,” says David Mosure, MS vice president of construction.

MS is also doing work on the city of Struthers’ wastewater treatment plant. Struthers received a $3.8 million grant from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency as part of the “Green Projects” stimulus program. The grant funds an effort to use methane gas produced as a byproduct of the primary digester to produce the electricity needed to operate the plant. The system is projected to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in future utility costs.

Among the local economic development proj-ects is redeveloping the Brier Hill Industrial Park to allow the potential $970 million expansion of V&M Star Steel.

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Phoenix Rises from DolanSHARON, Pa. – Effective Jan. 1, the Dolan Group LLC, founded 12 years ago, became Phoenix CPAs & Consul-tants LLC. The name has changed, says principal Nicholas J. Pici, but the staff of 15, including four certified public ac-countants, remains intact.

The firm chose the name “Phoenix” after the bird of myth that, every 500 years, builds a funeral pyre, sets itself on fire and is reborn, emerging from the ashes younger and stronger. “We believe we are just at the beginning of a great many years to come,” Pici says.

The firm has developed “a strong and seasoned staff of professionals who have embraced our commitment for excellence and professionalism,” Pici says, including principal Sarah R. Baker, also a certified fraud examiner.

The accounting practice serves its clients only from 68 Buhl Blvd., here; it no longer has an office in Boardman.

YOUNGSTOWN – CommonCents Energy LLC, a provider of natural gas, estab-lished more than 100 new commercial accounts last year, reports C. Joseph Marino, managing partner. The company was able to purchase natural gas from its suppliers at a savings of approximately 40% compared with 2008, he says.

CommonCents examines the rates and terms of suppliers and recommends to customers those that meet criteria for price, terms and service, says managing partner E. Gregory Tierno. The suppli-ers offer both fixed- and variable-rate plans, with rates for the latter changing as often as every month, depending on the market. “The objective is to level the playing field between customer and supplier,” Tierno says.

CommonCents Energy Adds Commercial Accounts

HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Wallace and Pancher Inc. recently opened an office in Canons-burg, Pa., the third for the engineering, environmental and construction firm, reports Brian Pancher, who started the company with Daniel Wallace in 2001.

Notable in 2009 was earning service contracts to monitor the condition and flow of hundreds of miles of streams that course above long-wall underground mining operations, Pancher says.

“Our mission is to bridge the gap between engineering and ecology,” he explains. “We want to help developers and stakeholders create projects that result in the least amount of impact to the environment while achieving their goals.”

Since 2001, WPI has grown from two employees to more than 60 in 2009 – 30 of whom were hired since last January, Pancher reports.

Wallace and Pancher Opens Office in Canonsburg, Pa.

Enrollment Up at NewLifeEAST LIVERPOOL -- NewLife Technical Institute increased enrollment in 2009 by over 500%, which NewLife’s develop-ment manager, Steve Ullom, attributes to the slow economy and more job seekers.

NewLife’s “fast-track, career-focused programs” can be completed in 12 months or less, he notes. In addition to advanced software development and computer-support technician courses, NewLife has begun offering a medical transcription program.

‘BCF’ at Phoenix Systems BOARDMAN – This year Phoenix Sys-tems Group will continue to market its primary offerings under the brand name “BCF Commerce, which stands for “Be Certain First,” says Jeff White, presi-dent. The company, which specializes in software for merchants, expects to increase its BCF Commerce Net store base by implementing five to 10 new e-commerce systems this year.

PSG also plans to implement up to 12 installations of its most recent product, adds Bill Heaven, vice presi-dent of operations. “Implementation of this product at the initial customer site is nearing completion,” he says. The as-yet-unnamed product is designed to assist merchants, faced with increasing security mandates, protect customer credit card data.

Installations of the company’s BCF Commerce Gift Card Engine, a special-ized application for storing and manag-ing gift cards, doubled last year, and additional installations are expected this year, Heaven says.

“Our BCF Commerce products will bring a new level of real-time integration between these systems that will create a nearly seamless experience for the customers, for product marketing, and for customer service and fulfillment,” he explains. “Our typical customer is a small, entrepreneurial company that tends to do things differently, which is what makes them successful.”

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As with all banks affected by the near meltdown of the U.S. financial system, First

National Bank of Pennsylvania, based in Hermitage,Pa., entered 2009 with a strong focus on credit quality, core earnings and strengthening its capital position, says its manager of corporate communications, Barbara Swartz.

The bank, with assets exceeding $8 billion, also continued its role as a civic leader in the communities it serves throughout Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio, she says.

In 2009, First National Bank rec-ognized that many manufacturers and cyclical businesses found it tough to borrow. To help them meet their needs and satisfy the bank’s credit standards, the bank launched its new asset-based lending group. “We are committed to being a leader in business banking and assisting companies move through the economic cycle,” states Vincent J. Delie Jr., president.

First National Bank’s introduction of services such as First Desktop Banker helped its business custom-ers be more efficient, he continues. First National was the first bank in

the fourth district of the Federal Re-serve System, which includes western Pennsylvania and all of Ohio, to offer the product. First Desktop is a secure, remote-capture check-deposit product that allows business customers to deposit checks electronically in their offices, Delie says.

First National Bank operates 11 of-fices in Mahoning, Trumbull, Geauga and Lake counties and more than 220 branch offices throughout Penn-sylvania. Delie thinks the strength of the bank he leads, combined with its financial performance in 2009, posi-tions First National to capitalize on the opportunities arising from the recovering economy.

First National Bank, the largest subsidiary of F.N.B. Corp., and its af-filiates will work together to provide “Total Money Management solutions for consumers and businesses alike,” he says. The Total Money Manage-ment approach enlists the expertise of the staff in all F.N.B. subsidiaries. Through them, F.N.B. offers retail, merchant and commercial banking trust, wealth management, leasing and insurance services.

First National Bank AddsAsset-Based LendingTo Its Loan Portfolio

The newly established Eastern Gateway Community College, launched last fall, enrolled nearly 2,100 students during its first semester.

Authorized by the Ohio Gen-eral Assembly in July, the former Jefferson Community College in Steubenville expanded its sphere of influence to serve Columbiana Mahoning and Trumbull counties as well, reports Ann Koon, director of public information.

In addition to the Jefferson County campus, the school began by offering courses at four area career and technical centers, and at the Valley Center at Forum Health Northside Medical Center in Youngstown. The several sites allows students to take classes in their own communities and help keep costs down.

Local career centers offering courses are Choffin Career and Technical Center, Columbiana

Eastern Gateway College OpensCounty Career and Technical Cen-ter, Mahoning County Career and Technical Center, and Trumbull Career and Technical Center. Stu-dents also have the option of tak-ing college classes via the Internet and can interact with one another through video conferencing.

Career options for students include positions in areas such as information technology, welding, entrepreneurship, nursing and wind turbine technology.

General education courses at the college will transfer to four-year colleges and universities throughout the state, so students can satisfy the requirements of the first two years of a baccalaureate at a somewhat lower cost.

In addition to partnerships with other community colleges and area universities, Eastern Gateway is sharing teaching and learning resources with Youngstown State University.

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The Youngstown Foundation and its partners see opportunities in the challenges that confront them. And the recession presented

the foundation with an abundance of challenges.In 2009, donors gave more than $4 million to the

Youngstown Foundation, which in turn awarded more than $3.3 million in grants, reports its execu-tive director, Jan Strasfeld. Contributions to the sup-port fund of the foundation, which provides donors the opportunity to recommend additional funding from the Youngstown Foundation to more than 70 approved local chari-ties, were $875,132. That’s a 14% increase over 2008, Strasfeld notes.

2009 had the highest number of individual donors in the foundation’s 92-year history – 1,145, which refl ects a record increase of 47% from 2008, she adds. “With national research suggesting that charitable giving will have dropped 13% in 2009, the generosity and compassion within our local community to ensure the quality of life for its citizens is overwhelming and humbling,” Strasfeld states.

Within the Youngstown Foundation are more

than 40 funds, many of them established through gifts and estate bequests. Last year, the Youngstown Foundation received one of its largest bequests ever, $4 million from the Michael Kusalaba Fund.

“This remarkable gift refl ects Michael’s lifelong volunteer involvement and passion for Youngstown’s community development and improvement,” Stras-feld says. “The Youngstown Foundation is honored to be entrusted with this generous bequest.”

Last year, local nonprofi t organizations were awarded more than 170 grants that ranged from $1,000 to $300,000; all were earmarked to allevi-ate the broad range of needs within the sectors of social services, community development, health, the environment, education, arts and culture.

Based on the founda-tion’s spending and in-vestment policies, Stras-feld anticipates last year’s level of distributions will be maintained in 2010.

In response to the in-creased demands that suddenly spiked because of the recession, The Youngstown Foundation established a Crisis Assistance Program in 2009, she reports. Grants of up to $5,000 were awarded within 48 hours to nonprofi t organizations that faced emer-gencies – emergencies defi ned as an interruption of essential, direct services to their clients.

In addition, the foundation works directly with executives and boards of nonprofi t agencies to es-

Youngstown Foundation Gains Individual DonorsDonors gave more than $4 million in 2009; $3.3 million in grants awarded.

tablish program priorities and identify opportunities for collaboration. “We have been impressed by the commitment and perseverance of local nonprofi t organizations as they address the increased needs of their clients,” Strasfeld remarks.

As a community foundation, The Youngstown Foundation embraces its responsibility as a leader in identifying social needs and issues, convening stakeholders and coordinating resources to make lives better, she says. One example Strasfeld cites: the Hines Memorial Fund allowed the foundation to conduct a comprehensive survey of parents and caregivers throughout Mahoning County to identify their needs and priorities in serving children with diagnosed disabilities.

Lark Dickstein, foundation program coordinator who directed the initiative, says the survey results created a working agenda this year for the Hine Fund that includes funding the development of a central information/referral source. The source maintains accurate, up-to-date contact information on systems and services and provides personal contact, includ-ing rollover coverage during nonworking hours.

The Youngstown Foundation, the nation’s fourth-oldest community foundation and ranked among the top eight in Ohio, had $ 74.7 million in assets at Dec. 31. Since its establishment, more than $80 million has been given back to the community.

Those wishing to learn more about grant request guidelines will fi nd them posted at Youngstown-Foundation.org.

In response to the increased demands that suddenly spiked because of the recession, The Youngstown Foundation established a Crisis Assistance Program in 2009.


Mahoning and Trumbull counties sharing in the $100 million in stimulus funds slated for Ohio to prepare workers for green

energy jobs will also help Mahoning Valley Electrical Contractors’ efforts in this regard, says executive director Tom Travers.

The trade association, a coalition of electrical contractors based throughout northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania and affiliated with the Mahoning Valley chapter of the National Electrical

Mahoning Valley Electrical Contractors Go GreenContractors Association (NECA), recently dedicated itself to becoming even more proficient in handling green energy installation, service and maintenance projects, Travers reports.

Members of the association’s work force of electri-cal journeymen and apprentices train at the Electri-cal Trades Institute of Northeast Ohio in Champion, where alternative energy training is part of the ap-prenticeship curriculum. Journeymen electricians with years of experience are also being retrained in

these new techniques. Among the courses offered are wind and solar power installations, and energy efficiency processes, such as energy audits, specialty lighting and building automation.

The Electrical Trades Institute installed 36 new solar panels and a wind turbine and tower 40 feet tall at a site in Champion. The panels generate more than 6 kilowatts of power while the single turbine produces almost two.

With these new “energy-efficiency and renew-able-energy industries” instructional tools, Travers says, nearly 40 apprentices and journeymen who work for Mahoning Valley contractors were educated through the green energy program.

Electrical contractors, with their goal of increas-ing energy efficiency and reliability through green technology, are working on numerous projects.

University Electric of Youngstown completed the installation of three 15-kilowatt wind turbines at Western Reserve High School in Berlin Center, the first wind turbine project for a school district in Ohio. The firm also is installing two standby power generators that convert methane gas at the Struthers wastewater treatment plant, Travers says.

Geller Electric Inc. of Canfield is working on the new Williamson College building at Youngstown State University, which is certified through the rat-ing system developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council. Geller is fitting the building with the automated Simply5 Lighting System, which controls lights throughout the building based on room occupancy and sunlight measures.

Joe Dickey Electric of North Lima recently con-verted entrance signage at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown from T-12 Fluorescent to LED, and Dickey is upgrading the exterior lighting to the more energy-efficient Pulse Start Metal Halide.

Projections for 2010 at Canfield Computers LLC show an expected 20% increase in revenues and a 200% growth in contracted managed services, re-ports George McDonnell, president.

The company last year posted a 14% increase in revenue and a 100%-plus growth in contracted man-aged services. As a result, the staff was doubled.

McDonnell started the company four years ago after discovering a need to service the IT needs of small- to medium-size companies in the Youngstown area. Canfield Computers delivers services through a flat-rate service plan that’s based on each client’s needs and is designed to reduce client costs, increase profits and mitigate business risks.

“This cost has proven to be far less than what a company typically would pay yearly for outsourced IT services or the overhead costs it takes to employ staff to deal with IT issues,” McDonnell says.

Among the many services offered are 24/7 net-work monitoring/management, daily health checks, virus detection, elimination and protection, off-site data backup and disaster recovery, remote restora-tion of lost-corrupt files within minutes, one-hour recovery time after a server failure or crash and 24-hour recovery time if a server is destroyed.

Canfield Computers Eyes 20% Jump in Revenues


DRS LLC, Youngstown, sets high standards for itself.

While the odds were stacked against many businesses achieving their goals last year, the technology company bucked the trend and not only met, but exceeded, its objectives, says its president, Mike Meloy.

“We’re a perfect example of a com-pany that has managed to outperform even its own expectations in 2009,” says Meloy.

The company ended the year by surpassing the $10 million mark in revenue, more than half of which is because of its Managed Service Provid-er Programs division, he reports. The data center and cloud computing ser-vices also recorded an overall increase of 45% from the previous year.

“We’ve seen tremendous growth and interest in the service-related sec-

tor of our business.” Meloy says. “We saw the benefits and opportunities available in this untapped market and focused on strategically developing our offerings to our clients.”

Last year the company built an ad-ditional 60 miles of fiber throughout northeast Ohio, bringing its route management to over 400 miles, Meloy says. DRS also signed a contract with the Columbiana County Port Author-ity that gave the company exclusive user rights to the Access fiber optic network that runs through Mahoning and Columbiana counties.

The contract also included DRS managing a 22,000-square-foot tech-nology complex in Leetonia. The Lee-tonia Technology Complex is located along the Access fiber-optic network, and will allow DRS to supply its clients with less costly and faster broadband Internet access, Meloy says.

PALO Creative, DRS’ marketing and public relations division, became the first tenant in the complex. The two companies merged in February 2009.

Revenues Top $10M In 2009 at DRS LLCCompany now manages Leetonia Tech Complex. As the health care industry

changes, so has the focus at Woodlands LLC to more 30-

day short-term care services, says the Austintown company’s chief financial officer, Frank Antalocy.

“The market’s really changed,” Antalocy says. “Long-term care used to be all it was, but not anymore. We’ve really pushed our short-term rehabilitation.”

Short-term rehabilitation makes up about 40% of the business at Wood-lands’ 160-bed AustinWoods Nursing Center, which is up from 10% when it first opened 10 years ago, Antalocy says.

About half of the business at the HamptonWoods Nursing Center in Poland is also short-term rehabilia-tion, and its 70 skilled-nursing beds have been at 100% capacity since the nursing home opened in 2006, he says.

In February, the company will open Woodlands Assisted Living at Hamp-ton Woods, which will offer residents

Woodlands Puts Focus On Short-Term Rehab

independent living and residential care, Antalocy says.

Construction of the 52-unit com-plex began in November 2008 and cost about $6.7 million to build, he says. The company is looking to hire up to 40 employees to staff Hampton Woods.

The residential units connect to the nursing center and are designed simi-lar to New Orleans’ French Quarter exteriors, with vibrant colors and an upbeat theme with dining, retail and service areas, says Woodlands founder and CEO, Kathy Prasad.

Support services, including laundry and beauty salons, are also included, Prasad continues, but continuing to provide such services will be difficult with cuts to Medicare reimburse-ments.

“Our challenge is to continue offer-ing top-level services and try to keep it as affordable as we can,” Prasad says. “It’s extremely challenging to provide the same level of care without these Medicare reimbursements.”


Last year, Matthew Good, registered licensed dietitian at The FitNesst in Boardman, expanded the club’s weight-loss program. This year, he

will add classes including “Nutrition in the Cancer Community” and “Meet the Dietitian,” says Mary DeMaiolo, founder and CEO.

The FitNesst opened last year as a “concierge” health club offering cardio, free-weight and exercise equipment, a juice bar, locker rooms and a floating floor exercise class studio, DeMaiolo reports.

She started the FitNesst Institute in 2006 in an office-style setting with a focus on developing personalized eating and exercise plans and a small area where staff could demonstrate exercise pro-grams that clients could do in their own homes or studios.

The many clients who expressed a desire to con-tinue workouts at The FitNesst prompted DeMaiolo to open a club, and that became a reality last year with the opening on Southern Boulevard in Board-man near Southwoods Surgery Center. The focus is on teaching clients practical skills related to food and nutrition, exercise and activity, stress reduction, balance and motivation, and support for long-term success.

The health club features equipment not found in most local gyms, DeMaiolo says, such as Expresso

The FitNesst Adds Community Outreach ClassesGrows from an office setting to ‘concierge’ health club.

Bokes, Cybex Arc Trainers and the NuStep Recum-bent Cross Trailer that is featured on the TV show “Biggest Loser.” Lana Jo Eddy-Campfield, who holds a master’s degree in exercise physiology joined The FitNesst to oversee exercise testing and personal training regimes for clients. Last year the FitNesst exercise studio also added a personalized six-week

class series for groups of five or more.Meantime, DeMaiolo introduced “FitNesstEggs,”

22-calorie dark-chocolate “eggs” she created by working with a local candy manufacturer.

The 72% cacao product is sold at The FitNesst and The Cleveland Clinic’s Wellness Store, DeMaiolo says.

Modern Office Products, Boardman, expanded its market footprint last year with the purchase of another office products company in the Cleveland market, reports its marketing and sales manager, Katie McElroy.

Modern Office bought Lake Office Suppliers, now called Lake Office Products, to help expand its delivery area, McElroy says.

In addition to the serving more customers in a wider area, the company can better serve Youngstown-based customers that have Cleve-land branches, she says.

“It’s a goal of ours to service all of northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania,” McElroy says. “It’s just part of our plan to expand.”

Modern Office Products also expanded within its building on South Avenue here by opening a used furniture store there and purchasing a quick-print company.

Modern Office Products Expands FootprintAdding in-house printing services will be an-

other benefit to the customer, because “it helps our customers who don’t have to shop around,” McElroy says.

The furniture showroom is doing well for the company, “especially in a down economy, because people are looking to save where they can,” McElroy says.

The company is planning to hold its first Eco-Expo open house in April, which will feature local furniture manufacturers displaying their “green” office products, she says.

Despite a decrease in sales, Modern Office Products maintained its no layoff policy and kept all of its employees, McElroy says. Further, the company didn’t have to reduce work hours.

At the same time, the company’s international office products buying group continued to grow despite the economy, she says.

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TDDS Adds Health TrainingMINERAL RIDGE – Growing demand for qualified workers in the health-care industry is bringing lots of growth to the new TDDS School of Allied Health.

“The Sunday classifieds are littered with ads from nursing homes, home health-care providers and hospitals looking for cer tified caregivers for their residents and patients,” says Christine Rathburn, director of the new school.

Rathburn helped establish a training program to certify students as state-tested nurse aides, or STNAs. She and her husband, Rick Rathburn Jr., who owns and operates TDDS Technical Institute in Lake Milton, say the new program is a successful addition to the curriculum.

The first courses started April 13. TDDS School of Allied Health has thus far graduated 137 men.

The program boasts a graduation rate of 100% with first-time state exam pass rates of nearly 90%, the Rathburns say.

YOUNGSTOWN -- In just a few months of operation, Focal Point Coaching LLC is off and running with nearly double the number of clients it expected.

In business since November, Focal Point has nine clients, which is better than the five clients its managing part-ner, Michael Creatore, expected to have in the company’s first year, he says. With 15 years experience as a financial plan-ner and economics analyst, Creatore is sharing his knowledge in sales, market-ing and business management with busi-ness owners that wouldn’t normally have access to the latest ideas, he says.

In 2010, he anticipates his customer base to increase to 30 clients and plans to hire more staff to accommodate the increase, he says.

Focal Point Starts Up Ahead of Expectations

BC3 Expanding CampusBUTLER, Pa. – Butler County Community College this year will surpass a total of 4,400 students at two campuses in Butler County as well as campuses in Mercer and Lawrence counties, accord-ing to spokeswoman Susan Changon.

On the horizon is the expansion of BC3@LindenPointe, on Route 18 in Hermitage, Pa. The BC3 Education Foun-dation acquired an 8,000-square-foot building last December and an 11,100- square-foot-expansion is planned, Chan-gnon says. Renovations are under way. New construction begins in April, and the facility will open next January.

Enrollment is expected to grow from 300 to 500 students once the expan-sion is complete, Changnon notes.

WARREN – Micro Doctor Inc. is offering a new program – Hardware as a Service – that provides hardware such as serv-ers, workstations and firewalls for a flat rate monthly fee.

“It is not a lease and there is no inter-est paid,” says Mark Richmond, owner and Microsoft-certified small-business specialist.

Last year, the company entered a new market by becoming certified as an Allworx VOIP phone system dealer. With several successful installations, Micro Doctor is poised to make VOIP another successful segment of the company’s offerings, Richmond says.

Faced with a difficult economy, the company looked for ways to cut costs, such as converting phone lines from a local telephone provider to VOIP phones, saving more than $400 each month. “We also increased efficiency by utiliz-ing new technology to do much more remote-control work to solve informa-tion-technology problems without rolling a truck,” Richmond notes.

As a result, Richmond says Micro Doctor, which opened in 1989, posted such a good second half that 2008 sales were exceeded by 2.6% enabling the company to add to the service team.

Micro Doctor Launches Flat-Fee Hardware Program

Montessori Marks 33 Years YOUNGSTOWN – The Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley is “getting calls from families planning to relocate from larger metropolitan areas,” says Amy-Anne Kibler, executive director.

“We’ve also seen an uptick in ap-plications from local parents of 2- to 4-year-old children,” she adds, “which suggests research on brain develop-ment is making an impact.”

Scientists determined that the most critical period for learning is early child-hood, she says. They found that learn-ing through use of concrete materials, such as those designed for Montessori schools, to understand abstract con-cepts significantly improves academic abilities.

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BUSINESS JOURNAL

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1/8TH PAGE AD



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Do your customers use the Web? Because if they do, then they’re using social media.

Every time one of your customers does a search and finds your Yelp listing – that’s social media.

When they use Twitter or Facebook to pass on information or simply chat with friends and family – that’s social media.

When they open up Flickr to scout out possible wedding or hiking locations – that’s social media.

When they turn to LinkedIn Answers or Busi-ness Answers to seek help on a problem – that’s social media.

And if your customers are using these sources, then you need to be aware of that. Truthfully, it’s becoming harder to say that your customers aren’t on social media because social media is, quite simply, everywhere. Its integration has become so seamless that sometimes customers don’t even realize they’re on it. But they are. And you have to account for that in your marketing efforts.

The excuse that “our customers aren’t there” isn’t viable anymore.

Don’t Have Time for Social Media?Nearly 30% of people responding to a recent

survey said the reason they’re not participating in social media is because they don’t have the time or staff to do it properly.

Here’s the thing: When you break it down, so-cial media is really nothing more than exemplary customer service.

It’s about answering questions, making things right and going out of your way in all the little areas. Sure, the tools are different and there’s an investment in time you must make to learn them, but once you do have them – there really isn’t an increased time investment.

In fact, you may find you’re making up time by answering questions via a quick tweet rather than a 10-minute phone call.

Social media can actually make customer service a lot more manageable by automating it to some degree with such things as social media tools and quick buzz stations.

If you’ve been holding back on marketing through social media because you’re worried that your customers aren’t there, they are. And if it’s a resource issue, then combat the overload by learning how to make social media useful.


BuildingBetterBusinessMake Good Use of Social MediaSmall businesses are behind the times in recognizing value of an Internet presence.

Social media really is about creating good con-sumer experiences with your product. And as a rockin’ small-business owner, you’ve been doing that better than anyone for years. The only differ-ence is that now there’s a tool to help you connect on a much larger scale.

Small businesses are notoriously behind the times in recognizing the value and importance of an Internet presence.

If you fall into this category, make developing

By Lisa Barone

and/or improving your Internet presence and activity your No. 1 resolution for 2010.

If you don’t, your bottom line during 2010 cer-tainly will suffer.

Lisa Barone, the author of this article, is the co-founder of Outspoken Media Inc., an Internet marketing company based in Spring Hill, Fla., that specializes in managing the online reputation of its clients, social media services and other Internet services.

Af t e r M i c h a e l D o u g l a s h a d appeared in five

blockbuster films, his father, the actor Kirk Douglas, sent him a note.

The note read, “Mi-chael, I’m more proud of how you handle suc-cess than I am of your success.”

His son has trea-sured both that note and its author’s wisdom throughout his long and successful career.

This story got me thinking about my recent article about the A+ to F grades that we give busi-nesses based on our BBB Principles for Trust. That article has led to so many phone calls here at the office. These grades show how a business reacts to success.

With all the recent news coverage, interviews and blogs about our current or “wanna be” elected officials, I started wondering why some organization doesn’t develop well-defined crite-ria for elected officials and other public ser-vants so that votes could more easily decide where to put those X’s on their ballots.

Let’s look at the BBB Standards and see if they might be tweaked to evaluate someone running for public office.

Start With TrustDid the officeholder (or office-seeker) establish

and maintain a positive track record in his or her personal and public life? Does he or she maintain a reputation for contributing both time and money to local worthy causes? Is his or her private life unblemished by actions considered unacceptable by society?

By Pat RoseBBB President

BBB Standards and Politics Advertise Honestly

Evaluate campaign promises. Compare promises to actual achievements. Ask yourself if a candidate has ever used dirty tactics against another candi-date.

Tell the TruthDoes a candidate’s speeches and press releases

contain substance or nonsense that makes the electors feel good? During face-to-face debate or conversations, can he or she look you in the eye? Is his word his promise? Do her actions match up to her promises?

Be Transparent and Honor PromisesA candidate or elected official should clearly

identify the nature and names of all contributors. Private business partnerships that could be a conflict of interest also should be identified. Appointed board

positions at companies, nonprofit organizations or others must be made public. He or she should

abide by and honor all written and verbal promises.

Be ResponsiveDoes the officeholder address constituents’

requests promptly, respectfully and reason-ably?

Embody IntegrityHe or she should approach all dealings

and commitments with integrity. Evaluate a public official’s decisions by asking this question: “Are all his decisions being made based on what is best for his constituents or what is best for him and his friends, other politicians, his party or without thoughtful consideration at all?”

I hope this article will stimulate you to evaluate not only businesses against the BBB’s set of standards but also the people we vote for to represent us every day on issues of great importance to us, our com-munities and our nation.

Palo Creative, Leetonia, has ex-perienced steady growth in the ad-vertising industry for the past five years and 2009 was no exception, reports its president and founder, Rob Palowitz.

2009 was a strong year for Palo’s marketing and interactive depart-ments, he says. These divisions developed campaigns that focused on incorporating new media with complex programming projects. Both the interactive and marketing/media departments delivered double-digit growth during the worst economy the agency has ever experienced.

The company invested a substan-tial amount of time developing new technological elements to incorporate into their marketing strategies, says Nick Miller, interactive director.

“We’ve been moving toward devel-

Palo Creative Sees Gains In Interactive Division

oping Web apps and interfaces that specifically address our clients’ wants and needs,” he says. “Our focus is developing mobile apps, integrating streaming video into client’s Web sites, designing interactive applications, and working with middleware applications to make multiple, complex, back-end systems converge into one simplified user interface.”

Palo Creative’s merger with long-time client DRS LLC in April im-proved its ability to integrate high-end technology into its services, Palowitz notes. “It gives the agency access to multiple back-end programmers, and boosted our focus on new technolo-gies into high gear,” he says.

The company has landed new busi-ness from a diverse range of clients including Parker Hannifin, Palowitz says.

By Julie CernicaBroker and Auctioneer,Basinger Auction Service

To increase the scope of our market and generate the greatest proceeds for our clients, we at

American Real Estate Specialists and Basinger Auction Service, North Lima, have added new forms of marketing in our listings for real estate, personal property and business liquidations.

For our real estate company, Amer-ican Real Estate Specialists, we added a Web site that allows online bidding. On that site, ARESInternetAuctions.com, is all the information a potential buyer would need to be apprised of the property up for bid. Also there is a packet of information he can download and take to his lender for pre-approval, and the site provides the ability to bid on a property from the comfort of one’s home or office.

With 75% to 80% of buyers start-ing their home search online, we felt this was the next step in marketing real estate for auction. While some auctioneers who sold real estate last year averaged 69.8% of the list price,

American Real Estate Specialists aver-aged 92.78%.

With 25 years of experience, and whether we take a traditional real estate listing or use the auction to market a property, we know our mar-ket, know our target buyers and set the price right to begin with.

For our auction company, Bas-inger Auction Service, our business increased 68% last year from 2008. We’ve also added online-only auc-tions to not only broaden the base of potential buyers, but to maximize proceeds so the seller profits for those needing to quickly liquidate their assets, www.BasingerAssetBridge.com is sent as e-mail blasts to buy-ers worldwide who have an interest in specific types of goods, whether it be restaurant equipment, boutiques, weight training equipment, con-struction equipment, medical offices, construction companies or auctions for local townships, this outlet allows buyers nationwide to buy items that pique their interest.

This new Web site is a bridge that allows the quick and orderly transfer of assets between the sellers and all of the target buyers. Basinger Auction Service conducts auctions to settle estates, re-solve divorce settlements, help people relocating, accommodate business liquidations and benefit charities.

New Forms of Marketing For Basinger AuctionReal estate company, auction service both experience growth.

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8570 FOXWOOD COURT • PO BOX 5159 • YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO www.boardmanprint ing.com

INVITATIONSBUSINESS CARDSBROCHURESPROMOTIONAL ITEMSGRAPHIC DESIGN330-965-2380



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RealEstateMarket Compiled byMark Heschmeyer

Trumbull County’s Largest Transactions

Slane Co. in Columbus, Ohio, sold a portfolio of 10 single-tenant retail properties to Empire Holding LP, a Brooklyn, N.Y., investment firm managed by Dovie Sperlin. The portfolio includes four properties in the Youngstown/Warren area. The total sales price for the portfolio was not available; however, the four area properties sold for a combined $2.96 million. The original asking price for all 10 properties was $11.4 million. The portfolio had a combined 90,174 rentable square feet and included three Rite Aid stores, two CVS stores, two Dollar Generals and one Family Dollar and two miscellaneous tenants.

The four area properties sold are:• A 10,363-square-foot Rite Aid store at 540 E. Midlothian Blvd. in

Youngstown, which sold for $1,363,070 ($131.53 per square foot).• An 8,178-square-foot Dollar General store at 501 Churchill Road in

Girard, which sold for $653,138 ($79.87 per square foot).

• The 8,178-square-foot Warren West Community Health Center, 712 S. Tod Ave., Warren, which sold for $511,151 ($62.50 per square foot).

• An 8,178-square-foot Family Dollar store at 2708 Glenwood Ave. in Youngstown, which sold for $437,288 ($53.47 per square foot).

The other properties in the portfolio are in Columbus (two), Canton, South Point and West Milton, and in Harrisburg, Pa.

In acquiring the properties, the buyer assumed a 10-year fixed-rate loan carrying a 7.08% interest rate. Morgan Stanley was the original lender and then rolled the loan up in a commercial mortgage-backed security. The loan matures in 2014. The ending loan balance is scheduled to be $8.85 million; monthly principal and interest payments total $64,294.Simon Jonna, senior associate director of the National Retail Group of Marcus & Millichap in Southfield, Mich., was the listing agent.

Featured Property

Address Buyer Sale Amount Seller Sale Date

3708 International Blvd., Vienna Pillar Partners One LLC $1,365,000 Trumbull Investments Inc. 11/13/2009

1620 Motor Inn Drive, Girard Aswin Ganapathy Hospitality Associates $900,000 HI Youngstown LLC 11/9/2009

1451 Buena Vista, Warren LB Steel Acquisitions V LLC $900,000 Concord Steel Inc. 12/23/2009

501 Churchill Road, Girard 513 Girard OH LLC $653,138 Slane Commercial 40-3 Ltd. 11/25/2009

712 S. Tod Ave., Warren 712 Warren OH LLC $511,151 Slane Commercial 40-7 Ltd. 11/23/2009

6100 state Route 45, Lordstown Your Mortgage Centre LLC $350,000 Byrne Management Inc. 12/1/2009

8091 Raglan Ext. Katsaros Land Co. Ltd. $275,000 George & Angel Ploumbis 11/30/2009

This drugstore at 540 E. Midlothian Blvd. in Youngstown sold for $1,363,070. This discount store at 2708 Glenwood Ave. in Youngstown sold for $437,288.



CONSUMERS NATIONAL BANK – SalemUp to 60 Mos. 5.75 - 16.50 Rate varies based on applicant’s credit rating

CORTLAND BANKS – CortlandUp to 60 Mos. 6.75Up to 72 Mos. 6.75

E.S.B. BANK – Ellwood CityUp to 60 Mos. 7.40Up to 72 Mos. 8.40

FARMERS NATIONAL BANK – CanfieldUp to 60 Mos. 6.40Up to 72 Mos. 6.94Rate varies based on applicant’s credit rating

FIRST MERIT BANK – New CastleUp to 48 Mos. 5.50-12.50

10% Down

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF PA. – HermitageUp to 60 Mos. 7.85Up to 66 Mos. 7.85

1ST NATIONAL COMMUNITY – East LiverpoolUp to 60 Mos. 6.00 - 11.75

Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of The Business Journal compilations. The rates are subject to change without notice. All rate information should be confirmed with the individual financial institution before entering into transactions. © 2010 Youngstown Publishing Co.

FIRST PLACE BANK – BoardmanUp to 60 Mos. 8.00

10% Down

HOME SAVINGS – YoungstownUp to 60 Mos. 7.74Up to 66 Mos. 8.24

10% Down

HUNTINGTON BANK – YoungstownUp to 60 Mos. 5.99

KEYBANK – YoungstownUp to 66 Mos. 6.69

Down: Varies

PNC BANK – SharonUp to 66 Mos. 7.24

PNC BANK – YoungstownUp to 66 Mos. 7.00 - 13.00Rate varies based on applicant’s credit rating

US BANK (formerly Firstar Bank) – BoardmanUp to 48 Mos. 4.75

Auto Loan RatesJanuary 22,2010

Lyle Printing and Publishing Co. Inc., Salem, begins its 120th year in business with new products that allow faster delivery and better

quality, says Scot Darling.Darling is publisher of Farm and Dairy, the largest

publication under the Lyle banner.Lyle offers services from sheet-fed printing to

Web printing – the printing of newspapers and tabloids for customers. During 2009, Lyle upgraded hardware and software to improve productivity and quality. Specifically, it acquired a new color scan-ner/image press, which enables the company to offer lower prices for color printing and better quality with a faster turnaround time.

With the advent of its new computer-to-plate technology, Lyle is completely digital, Darling says, which allows crisper and cleaner print quality.

The printing company also serves its custom-ers with direct mailing. Lyle’s software, updated bimonthly, sorts mailing lists so they qualify for the best postal rates.

Farm and Dairy is a weekly agricultural publica-tion in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia and has a readership of 30,000, Darling says. “It is the lead-ing resource of regional auctions, having advertised nearly 7,000 auctions last year,” he adds.

The newspaper’s writers have received numerous journalism awards and national trade associations have recognized the publication.

Lyle Digital Services, the newest addition to the company, was launched in 2007; it redesigns Web sites or builds new ones from the ground up. The

Lyle Printing Offers New Servicescompany also offers hosting services.

“Our goal is to grow audience in both our print and online products, which will enhance the value, quality and quantity of the information we distrib-ute,” says Darling, the third generation of his family to run Lyle.

Youngstown Ortho Recruits SurgeonsBOARDMAN – Youngstown Orthopaedic Associates will recruit more sub-specialty orthopedic surgeons to the Mahoning Valley in 2010, says Jim DeCenso, administrator. Last year, in response to local needs, the practice completed the transition into the practice of its ninth orthopedic surgeon, David Weimer.

Weimer joins surgeons Jim Jamison, David Musser and Paul Pagano at the practice’s newest office at the corner of Tippecanoe Road and U.S. Route 224. The new location, chosen for its proximity to the existing office across the street, was completely remodeled last year and opened to serve patients in October.

Last year, the practice acquired the latest MRI unit, housed at the new office, and X-ray services also were expanded to serve patients at both offices. “2010 will see additional capabilities in the specialty imaging departments that will allow YOA to accommodate pa-tients who now must travel out of town for diagnostic services,” DeCenso says.

Also in 2009, YOA began the process of converting to a totally electronic medical records system. The prac-tice also increased staffing of certified occupational therapists, expanded physical therapy services and hired certified athletic trainers.

Coming inFebruary

SpecialDouble Issue��

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Mortgage RatesTYPE FEESRATE, 2-Wk TrendTERMFINANCIAL INSTITUTION

Arrows tell whether rates rose or fell since last issue. Dashes indicate “unchanged.”

AMERISTATE BANCORP INC. FHA/VA 3.5% Down 30 Yr. 5.00 — 0+costsBoardman Fixed 3% Down 30 Yr. 5.00 0+costs

CHARTER ONE BANK Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.50 0+costs Boardman Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.125 0+costs

CONSUMERS NATIONAL BANK Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.50 0+costsSalem Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.125 0+costs

CORTLAND BANKS Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.375 0+costsCortland Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.125 0+costs

DOLLAR BANK MORTGAGE CENTER ARM 5% Down 5 Yr. 4.00 0+costsCleveland Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 4.94 0+costs

E.S.B. BANK Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.50 0+costsEllwood City, Pa. Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.25 0+costs

FARMERS NATIONAL BANK Fixed 20% Down 15 Yr. 4.75 — 0+costs Canfield Fixed 20% Down 20 Yr. 5.125 — 0+costs

FIRST MERIT BANK Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.50 0+costsNew Castle/Boardman Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.125 0+costs

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF PA Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.375 0+costsYoungstown, Ohio Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.125 0+costs

January 22,2010

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Mortgage Rates1ST NATIONAL COMMUNITY FHA 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.25 — 0+costsEast Liverpool Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.50 — 0+costs FIRST PLACE BANK Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.375 0+costsBoardman Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.00 0+costs

FLAGSTAR BANK Fixed 0% Down 15 Yr. 4.75 — 0+costsBeechwood Fixed 0% Down 30 Yr. 5.00 0+costs

HOME FEDERAL Fixed 20% Down 15 Yr. 5.50 — 0+costsNiles

HOME SAVINGS Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.50 0+costs Youngstown Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 4.99 0+costs

HOWARD HANNA FINANCIAL Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.375 0+costs Pittsburgh Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.00 0+costs

HUNTINGTON BANK Fixed 3% Down 15 Yr. 4.375 0+costsYoungstown Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.00 0+costs

KEYBANK Fixed 20% Down 15 Yr. 4.50 0+costsYoungstown Fixed 20% Down 30 Yr. 5.00 0+costs

PNC BANK FHA 3% Down 30 Yr. 5.00 1+costsYoungstown Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.125 0+costs

WELLS FARGO HOME MORTGAGE FHA 3% Down 30 Yr. 5.25 0+costsBoardman (Formerly Norwest Mortgage) Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.125 0+costs

US BANK Fixed 5% Down 15 Yr. 4.75 — 0+costsBoardman (Formerly Firstar Bank) Fixed 5% Down 30 Yr. 5.45 1+costs

TYPE FEESRATE, 2-Wk TrendTERMFINANCIAL INSTITUTION

January 22,2010

© 2010 Youngstown Publishing Co. All rights reserved. *Private Mortgage Insurance because less than 20% down.

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YOUNGSTOWN – Although the recession caused orders for tooling and machined parts to drop significantly in the first quar ter of last year, Kiraly Tool and Die Inc. saw “spikes” in the second and third quarters, says Steve Kiraly, president. “The fourth quarter was sur-prisingly busy, and we worked overtime hours the rest of the year.”

One benefit of the recession, he says, is that the cost of new CNC ma-chines came down. “In the fourth quar-ter, we purchased a CNC vertical mill, office computers, upgraded CAD design software and hired a machinist.”

The company completed its 10th year of business in 2009 with sales of $1,005,000, down 7% from 2008 sales but still the second-best sales year for the company, Kiraly says.

100 Years at Paisley House YOUNGSTOWN – Paisley House, a non-profit, private-pay assisted-living home for the elderly in Youngstown, celebrated its centennial anniversary in 2009.

The home’s capacity is just 21 resi-dents. The monthly fee is $1,550 per resident. “Because of grants and private donations, our endowment fund enables us to subsidize the monthly expenses of our home,” says Ruthie Loar, president of the board.

New furniture was added last year and exterior improvements were made. Plans this year include renovating the nurses’ station.

Second-Best Sales Year At Kiraly Tool and Die

HOWLAND -- W3 Wealth Management, formerly Dumas and Moyer, thrived in 2009 as it saw growth in assets under management, says Ted Dumas, a certi-fied financial planner.

This growth, he says, resulted in investment values increasing along with the demand for professional advice driven by market volatility.

W3’s Warren/Howland office was Dumas and Moyer until 2008. Principals there are Dumas, Andrew Moyer, Shelby Morgan and Frank Bevilacqua. Moyer and Bevilacqua are also CFPs, the later a certified public accountant.

W3 drew the attention of Goldline Research, which named it one of the leading wealth management firms in the Midwest. Goldline noted W3’s team approach in working with clients, which involves more than one adviser in those relationships to gain a broader under-standing of clients’ goals.

Besides its office in Howland, W3 has another in Fairlawn, a suburb of Akron.

W3 Wealth Management Earns Goldline Honor

‘Friends’ Promote Sharon SHARON, Pa. -- The next generation of the “Four Friends” who established the tourism industry in Mercer County is “paying tribute to Sharon’s founding fathers of tourism, who have inspired us,” reflects Laura Ackley, general man-ager of the Buhl Mansion and director of marketing for Tara -- A Country Inn.

Those “founding fathers” were Pete Daffin of Daffin Candy, Harry Jubelirer of Reyers Shoes, Gary “Moe” Meszaros and George “Jig” Warren of Quaker Steak and Lube, and Jim Winner, owner of the Winner as well as the Buhl Mansion and Tara. In the mid-1980s they formed a cooperative marketing group known as the “Four Friends” to jointly promote their attractions and the area.

Representing the new partners are Buhl’s Ackley, Diane Daffin and Con-nie Leon for Daffin’s, Bob Mentrek for Quaker Steak and Lube, Mark and Steve Jubelirer for Reyers, and Peggy Emmett for The Winner.

According to VisitMercerCountyPA’s executive director, Peggy Mazyck, tour-ism now generates more than $274 million dollars for Mercer County’s economy. A combination of print and online advertising with matching funds from VisitMercerCountyPA promotes the Web site, SharonPA.com.

PITTSBURGH – The majority of flights to and from Pittsburgh International Airport are priced below the national average, fares having fallen 24% since 2001, and the airport complex continues to draw more jobs and commerce, says Glenn Mahone, chairman of the Allegheny County Airport Authority.

“The airport’s role as an economic generator is to provide high quality, com-petitive air service in and out of south-western Pennsylvania and to develop key properties to attract new industry and jobs,” says Mahone. “Through our focus on creating shovel-ready land, the airport corridor has flourished.

Much new construction is under way, he reports, crediting a regional effort to provide sites ready for development.

Pittsburgh Airport Offers Low-Cost Flights, Sites

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THE BUSINESS JOURNALP.O. BOX 714YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO 44501

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

PRESORTED STANDARDU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDYOUNGSTOWN, OH

PERMIT NO. 69

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Documents

The Business Journal Growth Report