Download - Crain's Cleveland Business

Entire contents © 2013by Crain Communications Inc.

Vol. 34, No. 19

07447083781

719 SPECIAL SECTION

SMALL BUSINESSYoga, one of the nation’s fastest-growing enterprises, is heating up here. ■■ Pages 15-18PLUS: ADVISER ■■ DRIVER’S EDUCATION ■■ TAX TIPS ■■ & MORE

NEW

SPAP

ER

MCKINLEY WILEY

Bob Dyer, who had high-profile jobs with several builders, now runs his own real estate consultancy in Hudson.

REBUILDING FROMTHE GROUND UP

JANET CENTURY

Rob King, who previously operated Tyler FinishingCo., recently started R.B. King Properties Ltd.

Former homebuilderstake divergent paths after

recession exacts its toll

See REBUILDING 2

By STAN [email protected]

After a fire strikes or a tree falls on a North-east Ohio home covered by Liberty MutualInsurance Co., Daniel Brennan arrives to sizeup the claim for the insurer.

He estimates what it will take to repair thedamage, using skills he learned as a managerfor Kimball Hill Homes. In that job, he some-times managed subcontractors building asmany as 20 homes at a time for Kimball,which exited Northeast Ohio in 2006 and shutdown in 2008.

Mr. Brennan and others have stories offriends who went to Las Vegas, Florida andTexas to keep working after the homebuildingbusiness weakened here in 2005; most foundthey only delayed the inevitable. But Mr.Brennan, who grew up in Hudson and lives inAvon Lake, stayed here. He went through ajob selling windows and an effort to buildhomes on his own before going into the insur-ance business, which is more recession-proof.

20130513-NEWS--21-NAT-CCI-CL_-- 5/10/2013 2:08 PM Page 1

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$ ,


By CHUCK [email protected]

Before hopping onto a flightfrom Kansas City to Charlotte lastmonth, Sandi Guy conducted a sophisticated search on LinkedInin an effort to find a tax director forCBiz Inc.’s high net worth group.

She picked about 75 good can-didates and organized their pro-

files into a list format. She for-warded the list to a colleague inBoston and printed it out so shecould sift through it on the plane.

Once she landed, she and hercolleague picked the best ones.Then she sent them messages onLinkedIn.

That’s the power of LinkedInRecruiter.

“It is the best recruiting tool outthere,” said Ms. Guy, divisional director of human resources for thefinancial services division of CBiz,an accounting and business ser-vices firm based in Independence.

View photo galleries of Cedar Point’s new rollercoaster, and new headquarters for Goodyearand A. Schulman at www.CrainsCleveland.com.

$2.00/MAY 13 - 19, 2013

Entire contents © 2013by Crain Communications Inc.

Vol. 34, No. 19

07447083781

719 SPECIAL SECTION

SMALL BUSINESSYoga, one of the nation’s fastest-growing enterprises, is heating up here. ■■ Pages 15-18PLUS: ADVISER ■■ DRIVER’S EDUCATION ■■ TAX TIPS ■■ & MORE

NEW

SPAP

ER

Appearance matters, tooWhen you make chips and dip, does

it look like this? That’s Heidi Robb’sjob. The food stylist, writer and recipedeveloper from Moreland Hills isCrain’s latest subject in our Cream of the Crop series. PAGE 3

INSIDE

MCKINLEY WILEY

Bob Dyer, who had high-profile jobs with several builders, now runs his own real estate consultancy in Hudson.

REBUILDING FROMTHE GROUND UP

JANET CENTURY

Rob King, who previously operated Tyler FinishingCo., recently started R.B. King Properties Ltd.

Former homebuilderstake divergent paths after

recession exacts its toll

See REBUILDING Page 12

By STAN [email protected]

After a fire strikes or a tree falls on a North-east Ohio home covered by Liberty MutualInsurance Co., Daniel Brennan arrives to sizeup the claim for the insurer.

He estimates what it will take to repair thedamage, using skills he learned as a managerfor Kimball Hill Homes. In that job, he some-times managed subcontractors building asmany as 20 homes at a time for Kimball,which exited Northeast Ohio in 2006 and shutdown in 2008.

Mr. Brennan and others have stories offriends who went to Las Vegas, Florida andTexas to keep working after the homebuildingbusiness weakened here in 2005; most foundthey only delayed the inevitable. But Mr.Brennan, who grew up in Hudson and lives inAvon Lake, stayed here. He went through ajob selling windows and an effort to buildhomes on his own before going into the insur-ance business, which is more recession-proof.

By collecting,firm will addjobs to city

By JAY [email protected]

A Beachwood firm that is out-growing its roots in the collectionsbusiness is bringing 200 employees— and the promise of at least 100more — to the city of Cleveland.

The Revenue Group in July willcomplete a move into 50,000square feet in the former Charter

One Bank operationscenter onHinckley IndustrialParkway onthe city’s WestSide. Presidentand CEO TreySheehan saidhis firm has outgrown its currentspace. He said he was attracted bythe central location of the build-ing — it’s near the Jennings Free-way and Interstate 480 — and theopportunity to be a partner in thebuilding with developers StuartLichter and Chris Semarjian.

Revenue Group tobring 200 workersto Cleveland; planis to hire 100 more

See GROUP Page 14

Sheehan

ON THE WEB

STOP, CLICK

Employers find quick,easy link to candidatesLinkedIn Recruiteris accelerating jobsearches locally

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DENTAL IS ALL WE DO—AND WE DO IT BETTER!

22 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM MAY 13 - 19, 2013

REGULAR FEATURESClassified ....................20Editorial ......................10From the Publisher ......10Going Places ...............13Milestone ....................21Personal View..............10Reporters’ Notebook....21

COMING NEXT WEEK

Crain’s will highlight someof the top advocates,nurses,physicians, administrators andvolunteers in next week’sHealth Care Heroes section.Organizations recognized fortheir wellness initiatives willalso be included, and muchmore.

Heroicefforts

Audit Bureauof Circulation

Subscriptions: In Ohio: 1 year - $64, 2 year - $110.Outside Ohio: 1 year - $110, 2 year - $195. Single copy,$2.00. Allow 4 weeks for change of address. Forsubscription information and delivery concerns sendcorrespondence to Audience Development Department,Crain’s Cleveland Business, 1155 Gratiot Avenue,Detroit, Michigan, 48207-9911, or email to [email protected], or call 877-824-9373(in the U.S. and Canada) or (313) 446-0450 (all otherlocations), or fax 313-446-6777.Reprints: Call 1-800-290-5460 Ext. 125

Keith E. Crain: ChairmanRance Crain: PresidentMerrilee Crain: SecretaryMary Kay Crain: TreasurerWilliam A. Morrow: Executive vice president/operationsBrian D. Tucker: Vice presidentPaul Dalpiaz: Chief Information OfficerDave Kamis: Vice president/production & manufacturingMary Kramer: Group publisher

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CORRECTION■ An advertisement on page 12 of

the May 6 issue included inaccurateand incomplete information about theindividuals who will be recognized aspart of Crain’s Women of Note feature.Among the women who will be profiledare Jan Roller, partner at the Davis & Young law firm, and her twin sister,Joy Roller, president of GlobalCleveland.

IF YOU’RE THE RETIRING TYPE …

Ohio is one of the better states in which to retire, according to an analysis byBankrate.com. The website gathered state statistics on cost of living, crimerates, tax rates, access to medical care and average annual temperatures. Itthen ranked the states from best to worst, with the best being those stateswith a low cost of living, low crime rates, low tax rates, easy access to medicalcare and higher-than-average year-round temperatures. Here’s data on the topfive and Ohio, which was No. 15.

State Score Beds Docs Tax burden Temp. Cost of living1. Tennessee 71 3.3 263.55 7.7% 57.94 2 2. Louisiana 78 3.4 262.66 7.8% 66.74 183. S. Dakota 84 5.0 219.06 7.6% 45.55 254. Kentucky 86 3.3 232.35 9.4% 55.96 55. Mississippi 92 4.4 177.88 8.7% 63.59 1415. Ohio 120 3.0 266.74 9.7% 51.21 16

■ KEY: Beds — Hospital beds per 1,000 population ... Docs — Doctorsper 100,000 population ... Tax burden — State and local ... Temp —Average temperature from 1981 to 2010 ... Cost of living — Rank among the50 states.

■ SOURCE: Bankrate.com


By MICHELLE [email protected]

Many Northeast Ohio communi-cations firms have enjoyed double-digit revenue growth in early 2013and are hiring to keep up as they saycompanies emerge from hiberna-tion to do the marketing they’ve puton ice for years.

Revenues for Falls Communica-tions in Cleveland were up 33.5% inthe first quarter over the year-agoperiod, growth that president and

CEO Rob Fallsattributes toeconomic im-provement andthe close of thepresidentialelection. Thereare always com-panies that, in adownturn, cutmarketing to some degree, he said.

“Now they’re trying to play catch-up, to have a larger voice in themarketplace,” Mr. Falls said.

More than half of Falls’ 50 or soclients are boosting their marketingspend — many of them dramatical-ly — and new clientele are drivingthe increase, too, according to Mr.Falls. He said his firm’s revenuesalso grew more than 20% during allof 2012 from 2011.

By KATHY AMES [email protected]

Heidi Robb uses tweezers to relocate ablue tortilla chip just a few centime-ters away from its current locationwithin

the glass chip-and-dip bowl.Observers holdtheir breath untilshe painstakinglynestles the chipinto a new posi-tion that seemsto juxtapose per-fectly with redand yellow coun-terparts.

“This is likeplaying pickupsticks,” she says.

Cameras click.The image uploads to a nearby computerscreen, and a surrounding team of photogra-phers and graphic designers scrutinize the ex-hibit’s lighting, color and shape.

MAY 13 - 19, 2013 WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 3

INSIGHT

ANCHOR HOCKING

Tiered food platters such as this one are about “knowing how food behaves,” stylist Heidi Robb says.

KALMAN & PABST

Moreland Hills resident Heidi Robb works as afood stylist, writer and in recipe development.

A periodic series of profiles of behind-the-scenespeople who are key to thesuccess of food-related businesses in NortheastOhio.

By KEVIN [email protected]

The Cleveland Browns’ game-day home has a new, clunkier name— FirstEnergy Stadium, Home ofthe Cleveland Browns.

If team president Alec Scheiner iscorrect, the fans’ stadium experi-

ences will be different, and any-thing but clumsy, in 2013.

The Browns and Legends — aNew York sports and entertain-ment company that specializes inhospitality, ticket sales, marketingand merchandising services — arepartnering to revamp the fran-chise’s online and stadium team

shops.The move is

part of what Mr.Scheiner de-scribes as a “roll-out of improve-ments” toenhance thegame-day expe-rience.

Legends will run the Browns’ online team shop (shop.cleveland-browns.com) and revamp the fran-chise’s main stadium shop, as well

as the smaller retail locations foundthroughout the stadium.

“We didn’t think we were givingour fans enough selection, varietyand accessibility to our merchan-

dise,” said Mr. Scheiner, who washired Dec. 18. “We changed ven-dors, and our e-commerce, the on-line shop, plus our stadium teamshop will be very much improved.”

The result, according to DanSmith, president of Legends’ hospi-tality group, will be more fan-friendly customer experience.

“We want to have the feel of anupscale department store whenyou walk into the store,” Mr. Smithsaid.

SHE’S GOT THE LOOKFood stylist always bringssomething clever to table

See LOOK Page 8INSIDE: Even when she isn’t working, Heidi Robbis on the go. Page 8

➤➤➤➤ Watch a video interview with Heidi Robb at www.CrainsCleveland.com

THE WEEK IN QUOTES

“In our industry, itwas not the Great Recession. It was adepression. It was likethe 1930s. You saw anindustry get decimated, especiallythe local, entrepre-neurial homebuilder.A lot of them are notaround anymore.”— Jerry Fiume, a former homebuilder and now an account executive at NAI Cummins. Page One

“The market’s improved consider-ably and most of theplaces we have arefairly well leased. Theoutlook is fairly goodfor commercial realestate, but for us inparticular, with all

this debt, it’s still notso good.”— Randy Viviani, property manager, The Viviani FamilyLimited Partnership. Page 11

“Cleveland usuallytrails behind bigcities, but the yogabusiness is heatingup here.”— Suzanne Carle, Suite Spot, aconsulting firm in Chagrin Falls.Page 15

“This is one of thosemoments where theindustry will seewhat happens. … Idon’t think anyone inthe industry knowshow it will play out.It’s going to be agame changer.”— Ned Overbeke, Overbeke’sSchool of Driving, Beachwood.Page 15

Browns giving online, stadium shops a makeoverTeam hires Legends to make merchandisepurchases more customized, fan friendly

See BROWNS Page 20

Scheiner

MORE FOR YOUR MONEYAs of Friday, May 10, the Browns’

web store, shop.clevelandbrowns.com,already had a new look. There were 26accessories available for women, including hair clips, ponytail ribbons andtemporary nails.

In the marketfor some helpCompanies’ bottomlines are stronger,which gives boostto marketing firms

See MARKET Page 19

Falls


By TIMOTHY [email protected]

After nearly 25 years in business asan independent doc, Dr. RichardWeinberger still prefers remainingunattached to being part of a largerhealth system.

The primary care physician inBeachwood likes the personal atten-tion afforded to his patients by hissmall staff, and he also doesn’t quitesee how the consolidation of physi-cians in the marketplace calms thespiraling cost of health care or bol-sters the quality of the care provided.Still, with the challenges presentedby health care reform, Dr. Weinberg-er had to look elsewhere for assis-tance with running his practice.

He teamed up with a growing in-surance product offered throughERC, a human resources organiza-tion based in Mayfield Village, thathe said not only helps his practice


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WHAT IGNITES YOU?E D U C AT I N G P H Y S I C I A N S , P H A R M A C I S T S

A N D H E A LT H C A R E R E S E A R C H E R S

Volume 34, Number 19 Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except for com-bined issues on the fourth week of December and fifth week of December at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230. Copyright © 2013 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paidat Cleveland, Ohio, and at additional mailing offices. Price per copy: $2.00. POSTMASTER: Send addresschanges to Crain’s Cleveland Business, Circulation Department, 1155 Gratiot Avenue, Detroit, Michigan48207-2912. 1-877-824-9373. REPRINT INFORMATION: 800-290-5460 Ext. 136

but also his patients. The product,ERC Health Select, is an option un-der ERC’s traditional health insur-ance offerings geared toward mid-market companies with more than50 employees

Through its Health Select prod-uct, ERC helps staff primary carephysician offices with nurses, alsodubbed “care guides,” in order tooffer concierge-like care for thosecovered under the group’s new insurance option.

ERC quietly launched the pro-gram in fall 2011 at six primary careoffices in Northeast Ohio. It has expanded the network since then to16 locations, with plans to extendthe program into Columbus andCincinnati later this year and earlynext.

“We want to find those areaswhere we have gaps, but also we’relooking for the quality, independentphysician who wants to deliver thattype of care to their patient butcouldn’t in the past,” said RobertKlonk, CEO of Cleveland-basedbenefits brokerage Oswald Cos.,which helped design the program.

“Most docs want to do that, butthey don’t have the resources ortime to do that,” Mr. Klonk said.

The idea is to transform a horde ofprivate physician offices into patient-centered medical homes —an emerging care model that en-courages physicians to manageclosely a patient’s health with thehelp of someone such as an ERC careguide in exchange for higher reim-bursements. The idea is rooted in thethought that a stronger front line inhealth care — through primary caredoctors — will keep people out of theemergency room, ultimately bring-ing down health care costs.

“We didn’t have the deep pocketsto do the heavy lifting to transformour offices into a patient-centeredmedical home,” Dr. Weinbergersaid. Through the program, docsalso receive some cash for cosmeticupgrades for their offices to makethem more welcoming for ERC

patients.

A health care QBThe catch for ERC Health Select’s

enrollees is that they must limitthemselves to one of the 16 primarycare locations participating in theprogram — hence the “select” tag.That way, they’ll establish a lastingrelationship with a primary care doc.

Patients also are required toschedule a wellness check within 90days of enrolling in the program. Inturn, enrollees’ co-pays for servicesand generic prescriptions are amere $5 apiece. In addition, thoseenrolling in Select receive a 10% reduction in their premiums.

The participating docs, mean-while, get new patients thanks tothe program as well as some addedmuscle in the office thanks to thecare guides, who are charged withkeeping tabs on enrollees to makesure they’re keeping their appoint-ments and taking their medications.ERC members also can keep intouch with their care guides byphone or email with any questions.

“It’s like a personal insider whocan get you scheduled,” said TracyStross, care coordination managerfor ERC Health Select. “It’s almostlike you have a friend, someonequarterbacking your care in thosewalls.”

About 5,000 member patients areenrolled in the program, whichequates to about 26% of those enrolled in ERC’s insurance offeringfor mid-market companies. ERCsaid it has seen significant decreas-es in medical and prescriptionclaims for those enrolled in the pro-gram, which is underwritten by Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

“We’re not surprised it’s working.I don’t say that in an arrogant fash-ion,” said ERC president Pat Perry.“We had a confidence in the modelbecause it works well for the patient. In the overall scheme ofthings, it lowers the cost for the employer and doctors are really enjoying it.” ■

ERC says program is healthyHR organizationteams primary caredocs with ‘guides,’and costs are down



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Hudson incubator could close without infusion of cashAs city reduces subsidy for TECHudson, new director looks for funding, free office space and college partner to stay afloatBy CHUCK [email protected]

A business incubator financed bythe city of Hudson could close downif its new leader can’t find a newsource of money for its operation.

The city cut TECHudson’s financingto just $50,000 for 2013, down from$200,000 last year. In 2014, the subsidywill drop to $25,000.

But if the 3-year-old incubator isto exist in 2014, it will need to raisemore money — and make a few otherbig changes, said George Buzzy, whobecame TECHudson’s part-time executive director after founder JimPhipps resigned in January.

“That’s not enough to keep thedoors open,” said Mr. Buzzy, whonoted that Hudson will contributeanother $25,000 this year and nextyear if the incubator can raisematching dollars.

If TECHudson is to become a sustainable incubator, it will need tofind space it can use for free, as someother area incubators do, Mr. Buzzysaid. Today, the companies in the incubator pay rent, an expense withwhich many startups struggle.

Mr. Buzzy also wants TECHudsonto form a partnership with a collegein the area, which would give the incubator access to interns, entre-preneurship programs and tech-nologies the school develops. In addition, the incubator eventuallywants to start a seed fund for youngtech companies.

At present, the incubator housesfour startups that employ a total of 28 people and works with a Lakewood startup called BoxCast.JumpStart Inc., a nonprofit thatworks with local startups, directedthe video broadcasting softwarecompany to Mr. Buzzy, who also isan entrepreneur-in-residence withJumpStart and spends half his time at the Youngstown Business Incubator.

Although TECHudson has workedto emulate the Youngstown BusinessIncubator’s focus on companies thatmake software for businesses, Mr.Buzzy said he’d also like TECHudsonto take after Lorain County Commu-nity College’s GLIDE incubator,which is housed on campus and has access to a seed fund run by thecollege’s foundation.

But first and foremost, TECHudsonneeds money, Mr. Buzzy said.

“If we don’t get more funding besides the $25,000, there’s no reasonto talk about space or anything else,”he said. “So we need to have a part-nership with organizations that aregoing to support us over the next fewyears.”

No Hudson in TECHudson?There’s a chance the quest for

money could take TECHudson toanother town: Mr. Buzzy, a Hudson

resident, doesn’t want thatto happen, but he notedthat, if moving the incubatoris the only way to securemoney for it, he’d do it.

The city of Hudsonwould be disappointed ifthat happened, said JodyRoberts, communicationsmanager for Hudson.

The city had planned to fund the incubator for only a few years,starting with $174,000 in 2011, Ms.Roberts said. The city wants to seethe incubator find other sources of money, she said, adding thatHudson’s city council “has always

thought that they were anexcellent organization.”

Mr. Buzzy maintains thatTECHudson is worth theinvestment. He highlightedthe incubator’s relation-ships with JumpStart andthe Youngtown BusinessIncubator. He also said hecan provide valuable assis-

tance to entrepreneurs.Mr. Buzzy has served as CEO of

both specialty chemical maker Novagard Solutions of Clevelandand the Great Lakes unit of ambu-lance service provider AmericanMedical Response. In between, he

spent three years as chief operatingofficer at retail software developerDatavantage Corp. of Solon. Today,he is a partner with two local invest-ment firms, AG Partners and BlueOlive Partners.

Mr. Buzzy, who runs TECHudson

with one other person, noted thatthe number of employees workingat startups in the incubator hasgrown by eight so far this year. Sixarrived in March, when construc-tion software company CutterCroixLLC moved from Bedford to Hudson,where one of the company’s princi-pals lives.

But Mr. Buzzy cautioned that itcan take a long time for startupswithin an incubator to createenough jobs and tax dollars to makethe effort to start an incubatorworthwhile.

“You’re not going to get a returnin five years,” he said. ■

Buzzy

“If we don’t get morefunding besides the$25,000, there’s no reason to talk aboutspace or anything else.” – George Buzzy, executive director, TECHudson

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Testing out more space

By RACHEL ABBEY [email protected]

Growth in industrial markets,more regulations and a shortage ofskilled metallurgists all mean thesame to NSL Analytical ServicesInc.: more business.

The independent commercialtesting company recently investedmore than $1.6 million to buy andrenovate a new metallurgical labo-ratory in Warrensville Heights, thusexpanding that component of itsbusiness. At 11,500 square feet, thenew building offers more than dou-ble the space of its old metallurgicallab, with more than $560,000 of thatinvestment going to new micro-scopes, testing machines and otherequipment.

“We were totally inefficient in theold facility,” president Larry Som-rack said. “Our customers were demanding more and more of us.”

NSL Analytical, made up of achemical testing lab and a metallur-gical lab, has embarked on an ag-gressive growth plan in recentyears, doubling its revenues andadding 17 employees since 2007,Mr. Somrack said. He declined toshare the company’s annual rev-enues, but cited the hiring increaseas a sign of success.

“You don’t hire people unlessyou have the sales to back that up,”he said.

NSL is setting itself up to doubleits revenue again during the nextthree years, and Mr. Somrack saidhe plans to hire another 19 employ-ees in the next three to five years.NSL currently has 66 employees.

Mr. Somrack thinks opportuni-ties exist to support that growth.

A rise in regulations in recentyears has led to a greater need foroutside testing. Also, chief metal-lurgist Kevin Holland said in anemail that he’s seen growth in theoil and gas industry and in manu-facturing since the end of the reces-sion.

Filling a talent gapBut it’s not just industry growth

that helps NSL Analytical. Mr. Som-rack thinks a lack of engineers, met-allurgists and chemists — the typeof skilled workers whose dwindlingnumbers manufacturers have beenlamenting for years — plays a bigrole in his company’s growth.

As more scientists and metallur-gists retire, companies have strug-gled to find qualified individuals tostaff their own labs, Mr. Somracksaid. Instead, those companies havestarted to turn to NSL to fill the gaps.

“We are able to support thegrowth of industry around thecountry,” Mr. Somrack said.

This shift in labor was predictedby the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis-tics as early as its 2000-2001 Occu-pational Outlook Handbook. Thebureau expected manufacturingfirm-based jobs for materials engi-neers, including metallurgists, todecline as overall manufacturingjobs declined. But the BLS antici-pated that manufacturers wouldbegin to contract that work out,leading to more service jobs, suchas at research and testing labs.

NSL Analytical’s two labs offer avariety of testing services, from fail-ure analysis to mechanical testing.At its new metallurgical lab, NSLruns experiments that test cus-tomers’ metals and metal productsto see how likely they are to fail overtime. The technicians heat up themetal, cool it down, stretch it, cut itand examine it under microscopes.

Mr. Somrack said the chemistryside of the company, also located inWarrensville Heights, makes up themajority of the business, but themetallurgy lab has been growing.

NSL Analytical has been in busi-ness since 1945, and Mr. Somrackjoined in 1993. He became presi-dent in 2000. In 2009, NSL acquiredCentral Testing Laboratories andrebranded it NSL Central Testing.After the lab moved from its rented,5,000-square-foot space in Garfield

Heights to the building it boughtand renovated in WarrensvilleHeights last winter, NSL rebrandedthe segment NSL Metallurgical.

Since the acquisition, NSL has increased the staff of the metallur-gical lab to 10 employees fromthree, Mr. Somrack said, and it islooking to hire more.

Bring on the farm equipmentNSL tests a variety of materials at

its metallurgical lab, from stainlesssteel to aluminum and titanium al-loys, Mr. Holland said. And the sizesvary greatly, too, from huge compo-nents for jet engines to delicateparts for medical devices.

The new equipment at the metal-lurgical lab will open new marketsfor NSL on both ends of the spec-trum. A new automated microhard-ness tester and a stereomicroscopewith imaging software will let NSLtest finer material than ever before,while a new mill, band saw andlathe will help NSL test much largersamples.

The latter capability will be espe-cially helpful in serving the growingagricultural market, which useslarge equipment, and the steel in-dustry, Mr. Somrack said. The labmust cut down large products andpieces of metal to usable sizes.

Mr. Somrack said the companysees itself as an extension of inter-nal labs, taking on overflow testsand serving as an independent test-ing facility, a requirement in someindustries.

Sending materials to an outsidelaboratory is less costly and moreeffective for companies that onlymust run tests a few times a year,said NSL project manager MelissaGorris. That’s because labs muststay up to date in terms of equip-ment, calibrating and checking ma-chines regularly, while also meetingvarious standards and certificationsin a variety of industries. Thosecosts can add up.

Growing customers sometimeseven reach out to NSL for help devel-oping products and processes, Ms.Gorris said. After a design is com-plete, NSL often is still involved, test-ing a product or process during development and making sure theclient is on the right track. ■

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

NSL Analytical recently moved its metallurgical laboratory into an 11,500-square-foot building in Warrensville Heights.

NSL Analytical spends $1.6 million to buyand renovate new laboratory, says it willhire 19 more workers in next few years


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Look: Robb has extensive TV experience “What do you think about the

curly one? How do you like it edgingup against the bowl?” she asks theteam.

The cameras will record about 50iterations of Ms. Robb’s chips andchili con queso before the ideal ver-sion is achieved and ready to dis-play on the packaging for the glassbowl, which is produced by Lan-caster-based Anchor Hocking.

Ms. Robb’s staging of the glass-ware photo session using herhomemade cuisine and faux ingre-dients is just a snapshot of her abil-ities as a sought-after stylist of allthings food.

The Moreland Hills residentbrings to the table a trifecta of tal-ent in writing, recipe developmentand food styling for a prominentclient list that includes food compa-nies, chefs and TV producers.

Like an artist applying paint tocanvas, she interprets and presentscuisine in a way that achieves clientgoals of appealing to consumerswhile representing her effervescentyet thoughtful personality.

“Being a food stylist meansknowing how food behaves,” the52-year-old Ms. Robb says. “Younot only have to have an inherenteye for composition, but know howfood appears through the camera.You have to understand prepara-tion of food using different (cook-ing) techniques, from raw ingredi-ents through prep to the finishedproduct.”

Sure, her food surgery kit helpsonce she’s crafted a dish. An assort-ment of utensils, baby wipes, clean-ers, museum wax, fishing line andacrylic ice cubes helps finesse foodand beverages.

But Ms. Robb manipulates spar-ingly, preferring to let her handsand gravity accentuate wholesome,beautiful ingredients.

Even though Ms. Robb prefers toprepare and style natural foods, sheadapts to her client’s needs, whichmeans some projects are cosmeti-cally appealing yet inedible.

“There are instances where Ihave to look at the food as not foodbut an artistic interpretation withfake, processed food that I can’teat,” she says. “It’s a Robin Hoodway of living. I take what I earn,then spend it at local farmers’ mar-kets and producers.”

Learning and earning A passion for food and a back-

ground in catering and restaurantsshaped Ms. Robb’s career.

As a child, she absorbed hergrandmother’s Eastern Europeanbaking techniques and her moth-er’s approach to cooking with fresh,whole foods.

“I’d pull up a stool at the stoveand read Gourmet magazine whilewatching my mom cook,” Ms. Robbsays. “We’d read about Greekrecipes and cook them. I did a lot ofarmchair traveling.”

When she was old enough towork, she sold chili dogs at GeaugaLake, toiled in the prep kitchen atRed Lobster and managed a Beach-wood Place café.

At age 24, Ms. Robb spent oneyear in Cannes, France, a satellitefor traveling, cooking and eating.

Ms. Robb then returned toNortheast Ohio, where she workedin catering, then as Beachwood-based Moxie’s opening pastry chef.

Her four-ingredient baked hotchocolate still is on the menu after

15 years, and garnered praise lastyear in The Wall Street Journal.

She cultivated a relationship withLiz and Michael Symon, whosewedding reception was held atMoxie and for whom she presenteda simple, French-inspired weddingcake of chocolate genoise flavoredwith coffee, caramel and banana,gilded coffee espresso beans andcopper ribbon.

Her career progressed to high-end, small party catering eventswith business partner Karen Pelyh-es Gorman; during this time shecollaborated with Mr. Symon onthe super chef’s first cookbook,“Live to Cook.”

“It was taking a lot of large-scalerestaurant recipes and reducingthem to home-scale recipes,” shesays. “That’s an art in and of itself.”

Then came the opportunity toopen a restaurant.

“Karen and I were tired of theschlepping and burned out oncatering. We came close to signingon the dotted line, but I just could-n’t,” she says. “The following day, Ibooked a trip to Southeast Asia. Myhead exploded with the food inThailand and Malaysia.

“Karen and I shared some tears,but she understood,” says Ms.Robb, who remains close friendswith the local catering and restau-rant consultant.

As seen on TV Ms. Robb’s career after her three-

week Asian jaunt gained steam. Shetested more than 200 recipes forStephen Raichlen’s barbecue cook-books and similarly contributed toWashington Post food editor JoeYonan’s first cookbook, “ServeYourself: Nightly Adventures inCooking for One.”

She served as assistant food styl-ist on “Dear Food Network” and asa member of the culinary stylingteam on Martha Stewart Living’s“Mad Hungry.”

“I ended up being the shopperfor food on that show, and it waslike going on a treasure hunt whileplaying beat the clock,” she says.“Sometimes I’d be at 13 markets inone day. I knew New York, but notall the transportation systems,lines, boroughs and ’hoods.”

Ms. Robb embraced the erraticnature of TV filming, recalling fondlysituations of chasing specific ingre-dients all over the Big Apple orchecking out of Whole Foods with afull cart of carefully selected items,and receiving calls that shootingschedules had changed.

“Then I’d need to go get basil inthe left quadrant of Union SquareMarket. That’d be the day Obamawas in town,” she says. “But every-one worked hard, and they werelovely. I was so proud to be a part ofthat show.”

Her most recent television creditfrom 2010 to 2011 involved two sea-sons of TLC’s “Kitchen Boss” aschief recipe tester and developer.

“I had to eat so much sturdy Ital-ian food that I’d need to go on acleanse afterward,” Ms. Robb says.

Colleague Greg Lofts, with whomshe collaborated on all three TVshows, said Ms. Robb understandshow to style in a way that preservesa dish’s integrity.

“Her food is honest and real,which is especially important in TVand editorial,” because audiencemembers want to replicate the dishat home, said Mr. Lofts, a food edi-tor at Martha Stewart’s Living mag-azine. “She understands the impor-tance of space. Her food is alwaysthoughtfully done and beautiful.”

Ms. Robb currently is a food styl-ist freelancer with Cleveland-basedcommercial photography groupKalman & Pabst.

Additional recent clients includePonderosa Steakhouses, Church’sChicken and Fannie May chocolates.

“I love ensemble work. You’reworking for the greater good,” Ms.Robb says. “It consumes me in thebest possible way.” ■

continued from PAGE 3

When Ms. Robb is not on theclock, she may be found fulfillingher daughter Sasha’s bucket listof homemade specialties beforeshe goes off to college or explor-ing Cleveland’s AsiaTown with herson, Julian.

Her job pulls her in different di-rections, so she’s also likely to betraveling, and shares her culinaryjourneys through social mediaand on her personal website.

Ms. Robb says she is perpetu-ally hungry to explore food andculture.

“I would love to go back toSpain, India, visit interior Mexico,go back to Italy, Thailand … Iwant to go everywhere,” shesays. — Kathy Ames Carr

Busy mom likesto be on move

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It arrived in the mail, just like all theones in the past. Plain, white enve-lope with an addressbanged out on the same

old manual typewriter. As always, no return address, so asto keep the cowardly senderanonymous.

This is the old-school equiva-lent of web-bashing via fakeemail addresses. Sometimes inthe past, the wacky, hatefulbrochures were actually printedby the John Birch Society, theultra-right wing bunch of xenophobes.This one probably came from them aswell, or some similar group.

These envelopes usually arrive in ouroffice after one of my columns hasstirred this reader the wrong way. Thistime, it was my suggestion that our law-makers should put aside their awful, ide-ology-fueled bickering and reform ourimmigration laws in some way thatmakes sense, both for the undocument-ed aliens here now, and those immi-grants who would follow them.

Well ...

That didn’t set well with my anony-mous reader, who mailed a brochure

about how “colored” peoplewere going to take away all thework, drain our country of itsprecious resources, blah, blah,blah.

These envelopes clearly aresent by an older reader; I mean,how many people still use amanual typewriter? And they’vebeen coming for some yearsnow, when my opinion stirs thisperson to react. I could state the

obvious, that perhaps he and others likehim might be part of an age cohort thatwon’t be around much longer.

The problem is, they are being replaced by a younger, equally over-wrought bunch of right-wing extremists.How else can you explain TimothyMcVeigh?

At least my anonymous critic limits hisactions to these mostly innocuous mail-ings. At least, I hope that’s all he’s doing.

* * * * *The prolonged strike in the heretofore

well-regarded Strongsville school district

underscores the fundamental problemswith secondary education in Ohio andAmerica.

First, the fact that teachers were everpaid in such a fashion as to leave themopen to unionization in the first place isawful, because labor unions have noplace in that setting. Blow the thing up.Pay them more and make the schooldays longer and the summer breaksmuch shorter. Hold teachers and admin-istrators to standards and get rid oftenure protection for underperformers.

Eradicate the senseless funding for-mula that holds schools captive to prop-erty taxpayers. Too long have our law-makers in Columbus ignored rulings bythe state Supreme Court that declaredour funding mechanisms unconstitu-tional. Gov. Kasich has made an attemptthat seems stalled.

Most everyone agrees that educationis the key to the future of our state andcountry. But few want to make the sacri-fices and craft the systemic changes nec-essary to ensure that future. Until we do,the slide to mediocrity will continue unabated. ■


Make it work

Gov. John Kasich is promoting a great ideafor improving Ohio’s workers’ compensa-tion system, but it has nothing to do withhis proposed $1 billion rebate of payments

that employers have made into the big insurancefund.

Instead, it has everything to do with when employers pay the premiums for their workers’compensation coverage.

For reasons we’ve never understood, the 210,000private and public employers that insure them-selves against their employers’ workplace injuriesthrough the state pay for their coverage in arrears.That is, they make their premium payments aftertheir six-month coverage period has passed.

At the behest of the board and staff of the OhioBureau of Workers’ Compensation, the governorhas put forth a sensible proposal to bill employersbefore the coverage period begins.

In seeking the Legislature’s approval for thechange, Gov. Kasich only is asking lawmakers to putin place a billing method that every insurance com-pany in America already uses. So that the transitionto advance payments wouldn’t burden employers,the bureau would request that its board authorize acredit for all employers that would be equal to thefull amount of an employer’s previous six-monthpremium.

Robert Smith, president and CEO of Spero-SmithInvestment Advisers in Beachwood and a formermember of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensationboard, is extremely enthusiastic about the pay-in-advance proposal.

“During my time on the board we often expressedconcern about providing coverage six months be-fore invoicing, unlike any insurance company,” Mr.Smith wrote in an e-mail.

Adopting the upfront method of payment wouldprotect the interests of the vast majority of employ-ers that pay into the insurance fund by increasingthe ability of the workers’ comp bureau to detectemployer noncompliance and fraud. The changealso would save money by reducing the bureau’scollections efforts as well as those of the AttorneyGeneral’s office should employers refuse to paytheir obligations.

A potential added benefit to employers dangledby the governor’s office is the possibility that the bu-reau could offer discounts to those employers thatpay their premiums well in advance.

The Legislature should act on this proposal thisyear. The workers’ comp insurance fund is in astrong financial position and easily can handle thepremium revenue lost during the changeover to anadvance payment system. It is an opportunity thatshouldn’t be missed.

One other workers’ comp thought: The bureaushould drop its appeal of a March 20 ruling byCuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge RichardMcMonagle, who found that a group of 270,000Ohio employers in a class-action lawsuit is entitledto $859 million in excessive premium paymentsthey made to the bureau. In the spirit of businessfriendliness that the governor always talks up, it’stime to move on.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

PERSONAL VIEW

BRIANTUCKER

Hate mail of the old-school variety

Corporate wellness has its sick aspectsBy MICHAEL KIRSCH, M.D.

I’m a physician and I’m against well-ness.

Let me explain.Wellness is the new health mantra that

has much more to do with marketingthan with evidence-based medicine.Wellness institutions and practitionersare omnipresent, promising benefitsthat are often untested or rejected scien-tifically. Hospitals that years ago wouldhave shunned New Age healing arts, nowoffer yoga, meditation, Reiki and mas-sotherapy. Do they do so because theyhave had a Damascus Road experienceand now believe that these techniquesare effective? Guess again.

Wellness is no longer restricted tomedical campuses, costly weekend

retreats for emotional and physicalcatharses and ubiquitous yoga store-fronts. Wellness is now championed bycorporate America.

Business leaders argue that keepingemployees well is not only a demonstra-tion of good corporate citizenship, butalso is also good business. Healthy employees, they claim, will reducehealth care costs.

I agree, but not for the reasons they offer.

Their premise that wellness programparticipants will use fewer medical resources sounds rational, but it may notbe true, despite claims from human resource professionals who want to jus-

tify these programs. Here’s the argument: “If we lower

employees’ blood pressure, bring theirweight down and control their diabetesbetter, then these folks will avoid heartattacks, strokes and surgeries, which willsave megabucks and improve productiv-ity.”

Sure it sounds right, but is it reallytrue? Shouldn’t corporations that knowthe cost of every widget be able to provethat this strategy is sound?

Just earlier this year, a major study onobesity published in the prestigiousJournal of the American Medical Associ-ation concluded that overweight individ-uals live longer. My point? Just becausesomething sounds like it should be true,doesn’t make it so.

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

EDITOR:Mark Dodosh ([email protected])

MANAGING EDITOR:Scott Suttell ([email protected])

OPINION

Michael Kirsch, M.D., is a practicing gastroenterologist.

See VIEW Page 11


By MICHELLE [email protected]

A Willoughby-based real estateholding company has filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection,revealing that it owes creditorsmore than $13.9 million.

In its April 30 filing, The VivianiFamily Limited Partnership esti-mates it owes money to 50 to 99creditors and has assets totaling$9.6 million — primarily its real es-tate, which includes six propertiesin Mentor, three in Painesville, twoin Eastlake and one in Concord.

Four of Viviani’s properties are inforeclosure, and two other foreclo-sures have resulted in judgments infavor of the lenders, according tothe filing and county records.

Viviani’s property manager

Randy Viviani, who owns 19% ofthe partnership, said bankruptcywas the partnership’s only optionother than allowing all its propertyto be foreclosed. Rent payments,Mr. Viviani said, weren’t coveringthe partnership’s debt obligations,and “we tried for years to work outthings with the bank and theyweren’t workable.”

The largest of the company’sdebts are first mortgages, including$1.87 million owed to FirstMeritBank in Akron and $4.7 millionowed to Navy Portfolio LLC of Cal-ifornia, which bought assets in-cluding Viviani’s loans last Septem-ber from Youngstown-based HomeSavings and Loan Co.

There’s a host of unsecured cred-itors, too, many of whom have leaseswith the company and gave it secu-rity deposits.

Incorporated in 1996, the part-nership holds commercial, ware-house, retail and office space. At itspeak, it owned probably 20 proper-ties, Mr. Viviani said.

“We would like to pay back to thecreditors as much as we can,” Mr.Viviani said. “We’re going to at-tempt to reorganize, but there’s noguarantee that that’s going to hap-pen. Economic times and real es-tate got really tough, and we gotzero cooperation from our banks.

“The market’s improved consid-erably and most of the places wehave are fairly well leased,” he con-tinued. “The outlook is fairly good

for commercial real estate, but forus in particular, with all this debt,it’s still not so good.”

Navy Portfolio says the group ofbuildings that secure its multimil-lion-dollar claims have been man-aged and operated by a state courtreceiver for 15 months precedingthe bankruptcy filing.

In an objection it filed, arguingthat the receiver be allowed to con-tinue to maintain the buildings andcollect the rents, Navy Portfolio al-leged that Viviani engaged in “du-bious business practices that nega-tively affected the properties, rentsand income from the properties,and creditors.”

Among the alleged dubious prac-tices were permitting tenants torender services to the debtor in lieuof paying rent, permitting one ofViviani’s affiliates to occupy spaceat one of the properties rent-free,and failing to pay real estate taxeson all properties, Navy Portfolio’sfiling states.

In a separate filing, FirstMeritsaid the Viviani partnership has notmade payments on its loan formore than eight months and has al-lowed more than $120,000 in realestate taxes to accrue on an East-lake property.

A meeting of the creditors isscheduled for June 6. ■

Many companies are now coerc-ing employees with financial re-wards and penalties dependingupon their success and enthusiasmin participating in company well-ness programs. If you don’t maketheir health grade, then the em-ployee will lose serious cash, whichmay be far in excess of actual med-ical costs incurred. In other words,an unstated motivating factor heremay be simply to get employees topay more of their health care costs.

Indeed, two studies publishedearlier this year in Health Affairs, apeer-reviewed journal, stronglysuggested that corporate wellnessprograms save companies moneysimply by shifting costs to employ-ees. Is this what is meant by corpo-rate “wellness”?

The Plain Dealer reported on April20 that CVS Caremark was requiringemployees to participate in its well-ness program by May 1 or theywould have to fork over $600 morefor health care next year. Do we real-ly know that non-participants woulddrain the company’s coffers?

Realize that many employeeschange jobs every few years, andthat adverse health effects of beingobese or having elevated bloodpressure may take decades to de-velop. A CVS worker with a pair oflove handles or modest hyperten-sion isn’t likely to consume moremedical resources in the shortterm. Yet, he would be docked onDay One next year. Does this policypass the fair and reasonable test?

The PD article quoted CVS asclaiming that its policy is “the mosteffective way to encourage our col-leagues to take control of their ownhealth…” This statement breaks theneedle on the hypocrisy meter. It’sgalling that CVS wants to serve as ahealth guardian, or should I sayhealth police, while it sells ciga-rettes, alcohol, junk food and thesugary beverages that New YorkCity Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasoutlawed for health reasons. This ischutzpah of the first order.

If CVS wants to adopt a sincerehealth mission, then let it get rid ofits Camels, Marlboros and LuckyStrikes. Otherwise, its flimsy argu-

ment goes right up in smoke. If a company truly believes that

wellness is right for workers andbusiness, then create a corporateculture that encourages this andprovide leadership. If it’s really asgood an idea as they say, then folksover time will be persuaded to joinin. Leave the financial rewards andpenalties off the field.

I’m not a wellness antagonist. Isupport any activity that is safe andmakes people feel better. But makingfolks pay-to-play in the wellness gamedoesn’t make me feel good. Perhaps Ineed to meditate more on this. ■


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Willoughby real estate company files for bankruptcyViviani Family Limited Partnership saysit owes more than $13.9M to its creditors

“Economic times andreal estate got reallytough, and we got zerocooperation from ourbanks.” – Randy Viviani, property manager, Viviani Family LimitedPartnership


As homebuilding starts to rampback up after the long downturn,some former builders are “startingto leak back into the business,” asone observer put it, while others areplying a variety of other pursuits toearn a living.

Jerry Fiume, who formerlybought land and won governmentOKs to put houses on it as a partnerin Medina-based builder Pride One,now is an account executive at theNAI Cummins commercial real es-tate brokerage in Akron. He said thepublic does not appreciate the ex-tent to which the recession deci-mated the homebuilding industry.

“In our industry, it was not theGreat Recession. It was a depres-sion,” Mr. Fiume said. “It was likethe 1930s. You saw an industry getdecimated, especially the local, en-trepreneurial homebuilder. A lot ofthem are not around anymore.”

Mr. Fiume feels as though he madea soft landing at NAI Cummins be-cause he also did commercial devel-opment at Pride One, and his experi-

ence as an a real estate owner andland developer today pays dividends.

Not all are so fortunate, given thedegree of pain since 2004, the lastyear home starts rose in the regionuntil 2010. The market only now isat a level that builders feel the re-covery is for real.

A deep diveThe damage to the homebuilding

business has been tremendous. Con-sider the number of members thatnow belong to HBA Greater Cleve-land, the local homebuilders associ-ation — 300, which is up 85 from twoyears ago, but down by more thanhalf from 695 members in 2004, ac-cording to Brenda Callaghan, thetrade group’s executive director.

Ken Simonson, chief economistfor the Associated General Contrac-tors trade group in Washington,D.C., said construction employmentis the best indicator of the humanpain that rippled through the home-building industry, from the hammerswingers and wiring slingers to mar-keters, managers and owners.

The best indicator of the humanimpact of homebuilding’s decline isfound in construction statistics.About half the country’s construc-tion jobs were in residential build-ing when construction employ-ment peaked at 7.7 million in 2006,then fell 30% to 5.4 million jobs byJanuary 2011. While the industryhas added back 15% of the lost jobsto reach 5.8 million, Mr. Simonsonestimates just 30% of the smallerconstruction employment pool is inresidential building today.

“Fortunately, I think a number ofworkers have gotten jobs in other in-dustries that compete with buildingfor labor, such as truck driving, man-ufacturing, and, more recently, the oiland gas industry,” Mr. Simonson said.

Still, a lot of builders that oncewere, are no more — a phenomenonthat also destroyed subcontractors.Mr. Simonson estimates one in sixconstruction firms closed from March30, 2007, to the same date in 2012.

“People have focused on what hashappened to the homeowners whohave lost their homes,” Mr. Simon-son said. “It has taken away from thesympathy for those who lost (con-struction and associated) jobs. Thishas been the steepest and longestdownturn as far back as the datagoes.” And that’s far back, to 1939.

More than a bumpy rideRob King, who previously operat-

ed Tyler Finishing Co., a drywall in-staller in Perry Township, saw first-hand what happened to constructionworkers in homebuilding.

“I’m heartbroken for a lot of them,”Mr. King said, and he’s glad somefound work on the new Global Centerfor Health Innovation and ClevelandConvention Center in downtownCleveland. He had 150 people work-ing for him from 2003 to 2005, mainlyputting in drywall for big-name andsmall-time homebuilders regionallyas well as some commercial work.

Now Mr. King has a staff of four inhis new venture, R.B. King PropertiesLtd., which serves as a constructionproject manager and property man-ager. The third-generation contractorfeels lucky to be in business.

“We thought things were going toget a little challenging,” Mr. King saidof the residential construction slide.“We thought we’d have to tighten ourbelt for a bumpy ride. This hasknocked the shocks out of the car.”

Mr. King said there are thou-sands like him who have been fight-ing for their economic lives the lastfew years, and with less govern-ment aid than the auto industry en-joyed. However, he now is upbeatabout starting to land commercial

projects with his current focus.

Off the sidelinesOther former builders have

moved into other ventures they hadas sidelines.

Kevin Young, owner of Century21 Premiere Properties, a residen-tial brokerage in Pepper Pike, saidhis full-time focus shifted to the realestate firm in 2009. Before then, amanager ran the brokerage for him.

Mr. Young said he has done someremodeling and commercial work,but he has not built a home in fouryears. Mr. Young and his son, Seth,previously spent most of their timebuilding homes as MorningstarHomes from the same office. At itspeak, Morningstar built about 10houses yearly.

“At least six of those houses wereon (speculation),” Mr. Young re-called. “We were selling them bythe time we got to drywall.” Nowbank financing for such projects isabsent. Mr. Young doubts the re-gion’s homebuilding pace ever willrecover to that of the early 2000s.

Drawing on new energySeveral former homebuilders de-

clined to discuss their businessestoday, as they still are negotiatingdistressed loans.

As for former staffers for builders,many now work in banking, in localgovernment, for nonprofit neighbor-hood development groups and in thelow-income housing business.

Bob Dyer, whose résumé shineswith high-profile jobs with ForestCity Enterprises Inc., Pulte Homesand Ryan Homes, now runs his ownreal estate consultancy, Asset Ad-vantage LLC in Hudson. He findshimself in both the energy business— he has found sites for windmillsand solar farms — and the rekin-dling homebuilding business.

“At Ryan, I thought it was a shortdownturn,” Mr. Dyer said. “Our staffand production kept dropping anddropping until I was let go in 2009.”

Mr. Dyer said his earnings are“nowhere near” what he was mak-ing in corporate life, and consultingis “a roller coaster ride.” However,he said he enjoys it, from businessdevelopment to travel and variety.

Will he ever go back to the home-building business?

“Forever is a long time,” Mr. Dyersaid. “The good thing is that you arestarting to see people get jobs asbuilders staff up again.”

Moving onHowever, Mr. Simonson of the

Associated General Contractors es-timates it may be seven years be-fore the homebuilding industry re-covers some level of normalcy —meaning many workers may stay inthe pursuits they’ve undertaken tosurvive the drought.

Mr. Fiume, the NAI Cummins ac-count exec, is reluctant to considerthe idea. He said the years of strug-gling to wind down the homebuild-ing business at Pride One wore himdown. He prefers to pursue com-mercial brokerage.

Mr. Brennan, the Liberty Mutualinsurance adjuster, feels glad forbuilders who survived and col-leagues who are making it back intothe business. Although he keepstabs on the homebuilding business,he is in no hurry to return to it.

He viewed his move to insuranceas a necessary step because he’s afamily man with four children. Theformer English major even hasearned an MBA from Baldwin Wal-lace University to boost his post-building business career. His rea-soning is simple.

“They can’t take education awayfrom you,” Mr. Brennan noted. ■


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Rebuilding: Others have switched careers continued from PAGE 1


JOB CHANGES

ARCHITECTUREBOSTWICK DESIGN PARTNERSHIP: Damian A. Henrito senior associate; Matthew D.Bode to director of health care planning; David J. Hogue to associate; Peggy Lipscomb to registered architect. DS ARCHITECTS: Bridget Tiptonto interior designer and architecturaldrafter; Jennifer Roebuck to interior designer.

CONSTRUCTIONRUHLIN CO.: Ryan Krebsbach andLes Weaver to project engineers;Harry Page to site safety manager;Steve Roush to site safety specialist.

EDUCATIONKENT STATE UNIVERSITY: KarenMacDonald to business librarian andKenneth Burhanna to assistantdean for engagement and outreach,University Libraries.UNIVERSITY OF AKRON: DeniseTesta to director, Medina County University Center. URSULINE: Carolyn Noll Sorg todirector of undergraduate admission.

ENGINEERINGMS CONSULTANTS INC.: ReneeWhittenberger to bridge engineer.

FINANCEOHIO COMMERCE BANK: Keith N.Cropper to assistant vice presidentand commercial lender.

FINANCIAL SERVICE212 CAPITAL GROUP: KevenFrench to financial adviser. CAPITAL PLANNERS: MatthewSlain to field representative. CEDAR BROOK FINANCIAL PARTNERS LLC: Jackie Wylen toadministrative assistant. RIVERSIDE CO.: Joe Lee and JackNestor to partners.

HEALTH CAREUNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NEUROLOGICAL INSTITUTE: Benjamin Walter, M.D., to director,Movement Disorders Center.

INSURANCEOSWALD COS.: Vanetee Bayne toclient service administrator; LaurenHopkins and Laura Predmesky toclient managers; Medhat Kaldas tosenior benefits analyst; KathyLavelle to senior client manager;Margaret McConell to administrative coordinator; KellyMiller to receptionist; Chris Murrayto analyst; Kimberley Sason to administrative assistant; Joseph LaGuardia to senior consultant;Gregory Lopez to business development team; Christina Ca-padona-Schmitz to marketing communications and media manager;Neil Quinn to vice president and director, Innovation and StrategicRisk Management.PINKNEY-PERRY INSURANCEAGENCY: Qyana Kendricks to producer and account manager.

LEGALJACKSON LEWIS LLP: Avery M.Chenin to of counsel. ROETZEL: John J. Rutter to partner. WICKENS, HERZER, PANZA,COOK & BATISTA: Brian W.

Bonham to associate. ZASHIN & RICH CO. LPA: HelenaOroz and Jonathan Decker to associates.

MANUFACTURINGFIDANZA PERFORMANCE: FredAnyzeski to key account sales team. NORDSON CORP.: Gina Beredo todeputy general counsel and assistantsecretary.

MARKETINGHOME TEAM MARKETING: SarahCorr to associate account supervisor and Kirby Becker to account executive.

NONPROFITCLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY:Rod Houpe to chief technology officer. CUYAHOGA VALLEY SCENICRAILROAD: Terri L. Manns to chiefdevelopment officer. HELP FOUNDATION: Dan Rice topresident and CEO; Tami Honkalato vice president, operations.

REAL ESTATERUSSELL REAL ESTATE SERVICES: Hanford Dixon, MarcyWeissman, LaTonya Jackson andRussell Miller to sales associates. TRANSACTION REALTY: VickyWhitmore to sales associate.

RETAILSTERLING JEWELERS INC.:Kimberly Kanary to vice president,public relations and social media.

STAFFINGACCURATE STAFFING: JustinCoulter to regional sales manager;Candice Calise to customer servicemanager; Nicole Vanone to recruiting coordinator. TORCH GROUP: Jeff Resnick tobusiness services director.

TECHNOLOGYBLUEBRIDGE NETWORKS: NicolePonstingle to client services director; Brad Farnsworth to account executive.

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A partnership led by the two developers, and including RevenueGroup principals, bought the build-ing last December for $2.3 millionfrom Charter One. The bank hadbought the building for $6 millionin 1996 from LDI Corp.

“A lot of growth is coming; wesigned a number of new (client)contracts,” Mr. Sheehan told aCleveland City Council committeelast Tuesday, May 7. “This gives usa lot of room to grow.”

The council committee approved a $202,500 Citywide Busi-ness Grant that is expected to beapproved by the full council. Thegrant will assist the company in thetransition.

Cleveland economic develop-ment director Tracey Nichols saidthe business and its 200 employeesinitially will generate about$140,000 a year in new payroll taxes.

Mr. Sheehan anticipates addingto that payroll.

“What’s happened is as (theeconomy) has gotten better and,maybe not as much on the collec-tion side but the call center side ofthe business, our scope has expanded outside the city of Cleve-land,” Mr. Sheehan told Crain’s

after the council meeting. “We’rebringing some jobs that might havegone offshore previous back to theUnited States.”

The company’s primary businessis accounts receivables for hospi-tals, utilities and financial servicesfirm, though Mr. Sheehan said col-lections for hospitals are the focusof the business. He said because ofthe changes he believes hospitalswill be facing as the Patient Protec-tion and Affordable Care Act is implemented, he expects to add atleast 100 more employees by theend of 2014.

“We anticipate that we’ll have acouple hundred more people,” Mr.Sheehan said. “That’s why we’veleased 50,000 square feet; we’re in20,000 now.”

Founded by three Sheehanbrothers, the Revenue Group has

been in Beachwood for nine years,but now the business has outgrownits space in the former BrulantBuilding at 3700 Park East Drive.Brothers Trey and Michael see acentral location as expanding thetalent pool available to the rapidlygrowing business and a more satis-fying location for the Bratenahl na-tives and St. Ignatius High Schoolgraduates.

The art of ‘financial triage’Vice president Michael Sheehan

said the company has at least 64hospital clients, though the num-ber is closer to 80 if hospitals ineach health care chain are countedseparately.

“We’re not typical bill collec-tors,” Trey Sheehan said. “First ofall, (people struggling with hospitalbills) are ongoing customers of ourclients; they’re never going to bedenied service. And they are futurecustomers of our clients and theyhave to be treated with respect.”

Hospital collections spawnedone of Revenue Group’s three sub-sidiaries, Hospital Referral Services.It helps hospitals and their unin-sured clients navigate the world ofMedicaid, Social Security and other assistance programs — whatTrey Sheehan called “financial

triage.” Another subsidiary, Sales Loft,

operates a call center for both col-lections and customer serviceclients, often on an overflow basis,and the third, SafeGuard Back-ground Screening, offers clientbusinesses employment screening,background checks and drug test-ing services.

Michael Sheehan told the CityCouncil committee that the com-pany recently has taken over thecall center operations of one client,Washington Gas Light Co. in theDistrict of Columbia.

“We will actually take over theirflow” of calls, he said. “We handleevery portion of their accounts receivable and customer service.”

Trey Sheehan said he believesthe coming changes in health carepayment under the Patient Protec-tion and Affordable Care Act willprovide another stimulus for thebusiness. For example, the act re-quires nonprofit hospitals, whichpredominate in Northeast Ohio, tomake efforts to determine whethera patient is eligible for financial assistance before beginning collec-tion efforts.

“Hospitals are going to need usas they enter what will be unchar-tered territory,” he told City Council.

Revenue Group was founded in1994 in the downtown Cleveland’sHanna Building in 250 square feetby Trey and Michael Sheehan andtheir brother Jeremy — “our com-puter guru,” Michael Sheehan said— who worked their way throughcollege at a family-owned collec-tions agency.

“When we started, at the end ofthe day we were hanging out thewindow to get fresh air,” MichaelSheehan said. ■


Group: Partnership purchases former Charter One buildingcontinued from PAGE 1

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$6999

Funeral-planningwebsite is backedby JumpStart

A Cleveland startup that hascreated a website designed tohelp people plan funerals has re-ceived a $250,000 investmentfrom JumpStart Inc. of Cleveland.

The startup, eFuneral, will usethe money to increase sales, mar-keting and web development ef-forts, according to an announce-ment from JumpStart, whichassists and invests in technologycompanies in Northeast Ohio.

The company’s website is de-signed to help people pick a fu-neral home, giving them a wayto see how much differenthomes charge for various ser-vices. It also connects visitorswith pre-screened vendors thatprovide estate planning, funeralfinancing, burial and other end-of-life services.

Founded by Mike Elsito andBryan Chaikin in 2011, eFunerallaunched its website a fewmonths after graduating from 10-xelerator, a boot camp-style busi-ness accelerator in Columbus.

The company raised about$100,000 from the InnovationFund at Lorain County Communi-ty College in September 2012,as well as additional financingfrom individuals.

JumpStart, the InnovationFund and the 10-xelerator allhave received money from theOhio Third Frontier, an economicdevelopment program designedto boost the state’s economythrough investments in technolo-gy companies and projects.

— Chuck Soder

ON THE WEB Story from www.crainscleveland.com

“A lot of growth is coming; we signed anumber of new (client)contracts. This gives us a lot of room to grow.” – Trey Sheehan, president and CEO, Revenue Group, to a Cleveland City Council committee


By ANNE [email protected]

For a discipline with Eastern roots, theyoga world looks a lot like the Wild Westthese days. Yoga studios, apparel com-panies and schools are popping up

across the country, including in Northeast Ohio.The yoga industry is a $6 billion business

and one of the 10 fastest-growing industries,according to IBISWorld Industry, a market research firm in Santa Monica, Calif. Interest inyoga has soared over the past two decades, dri-ven by fitness trends and a rising interest in al-

ternative health practices in the United States. “Cleveland usually trails behind big cities,

but the yoga business is heating up here,”says Suzanne Carle, of Suite Spot, a consult-ing firm, in Chagrin Falls.

The yoga industry is unregulated, so it’sdifficult to determine the exact number ofstudios in the Cleveland area. But with thepopularity of yoga and the influx of newteachers graduating from yoga teacher train-ings, yoga classes and studios are becomingas ubiquitous and as common as the localStarbucks in town.

SMALL BUSINESSI N S I D E

MAY 13 - 19, 2013 CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS 15

17 TAX TIPS: INTERNET SALESMIGHT SOON BEMORE COMPLEX.

Driver’sed facesmove tothe WebOhio reviews onlinecurriculum option,opening market toout-of-state entitiesBy SHARON [email protected]

The cars are easily spotted: ateenage driver behind thewheel, an adult seated in thefront passenger side. And,

most importantly, an auxiliary brakereadily accessible to the passenger.

Clearly, the cars belong to thesmall fleets of area driver trainingschools. The student is typically aminor com-pleting thebehind-the-wheel drivingrequirementwhile thepassenger isa school instructor, at times doubling as theschool’s owner.

With warm weather begins thebusy season as students completeboth the state-mandated 24 hoursof in-classroom instruction andeight hours of behind-the-wheeltraining for those younger than 18.

And while the basic componentsof a driver’s education businesshave remained more or less thesame over the years, the state’srules governing the businesses areabout to be changed.

The mid-biennium review signedlast June by Gov. John Kasich con-tained language regarding onlinecurriculum options for the in-classcomponent of driver’s educationfor students younger than age 18.

In Ohio, 294 licensed drivingschool enterprises are operating at436 locations, said Kristen Castle, apublic information officer with theOhio Department of Public Safety.

But, with the new rules, out-of-state online enterprises will be ableto operate in Ohio, offering for thefirst time, online curriculum driver’seducation products that will fulfillthe 24-hour in-class instruction requirement. Existing Ohio driver’seducation training enterprises, already approved as brick-and-mor-tar enterprises, also can seek approval as online enterprises.

What has not changed is theeight-hour behind-the-wheel requirement: Students must com-plete that requirement with anOhio-based enterprise.

See DRIVER’S Page 18

INSIDE: A look athow three owners ofdriver’s educationschools in NortheastOhio have built theirbusinesses. Page 18

YOGA’S REACHIS EXTENDING

See YOGA Page 16

MARC GOLUB

Owner Tami Schneider is expanding her popular Cleveland Yoga business. She opened a secondlocation last week in the Uptown neighborhood in University Circle.

Discipline is one of the nation’s fastest-growing industries


ARTSEGALLERY1500 S. Green RoadCleveland 44121www.ArtsEGallery.comHinda Abramoff — who also worksas a staff anesthe-siologist for theCleveland Clinic— and her sister,Joyce Currier,have created Art-sEGallery.com, aone-stop e-galleryfor buying andselling original fineart. Dr. Abramoff,a resident of Shaker Heights and anoil painter, said in a news releasethat her new venture is the result ofher passion for art and her desire toshare this passion with others. Thesite hosts a variety of local, nationaland international artists, with worksin multiple mediums, and it includesthe resale and commission of artwork. Featured art mediums include painting, drawing, sculpting,photograph, mixed media, ceramics,glass and functional art. Ms. Currier,Dr. Abramoff’s sister lives in theRiverdale neighborhood of the Bronx

in New York City, where she workswith children who are blind or visuallyimpaired. She uses various forms ofart and design to help these childrenlearn and develop the skills neededto live [email protected]

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6785 Wallings Road Suite 3DNorth Royalton 44133www.knwm-llc.com

Kure Net Worth Management is an independent and fee-only financial advisory practice in North Royalton. It is owned by Anthony Kure, who is listed with the state of Ohio as a registered investment adviser andwho passed the certified financialplanner exam last March. His practice does not sell products, suchas insurance or mutual funds, and hedoes not take custody of funds. Hesimply gives individuals financial advice about investing, taxes, insurance and retirement; additionally, Mr. Kure does not takereferral fees and is only paid directlyby clients.

Phone 440-877-9990Fax [email protected]

GLOBAL TECHNICAL RECRUITERS3104 Milan Road (U.S. Route 250)Sandusky 44870www.gtrjobs.comGlobal Technical Recruiters hasopened in Sandusky its sixth office,its third new location within the pastyear. Founded in 2002, Global Technical Recruiters provides staffingservices for general, hourly andskilled hiring needs, including tempo-rary, contract and permanent posi-tions. The company also has officesin Cleveland, Elyria, Mayfield Heights,Cuyahoga Falls and Mentor.419-504-1747

To submit information about a newbusiness, opened within the past sixmonths, send the following infor-mation for publication to Crain’sCleveland Business sections editorAmy Ann Stoessel at [email protected]: business name; ad-dress; city and ZIP; website address;brief description of the business;business phone number; business

While some owners open a stu-dio as a small side business — oras a way to give back to the com-munity, not necessarily with profitin mind — others have tapped intoa lucrative market in the Clevelandarea.

Cleveland Yoga in Beachwood isleading the way, expanding itspopular hot yoga business with asecond location. (Hot yoga studiosturn up the heat in the room toabout 85 to 101 degrees, often attracting students interested in avigorous, athletic style of yoga,compared to other less strenuous,physically therapeutic styles.)

Cleveland Yoga’s new spaceholds up to 100 students per class,and it opened last week in the Uptown neighborhood in Univer-sity Circle.

“In the last five years, we wentfrom 3,000 students monthly to8,000 students monthly,” saysTami Schneider, Cleveland Yogaowner. “We’ve been looking for asecond location for the last threeor four years. Uptown becameavailable. We’re excited to bringyoga to the city.”

Studios can be independentlyowned, or run as a franchise, suchas Bikram Yoga Cleveland in Shaker Heights, or have an affilia-tion with an established, “star”yoga teacher.

Cleveland Yoga, for example, isin partnership (not a franchise)with Baron Baptiste, a rock star inthe yoga community. Affiliatedstudios agree to promote Baptisteprograms.

Makes you say ‘Om’Most area studios (or national

studios, for that matter) can’tmatch Cleveland Yoga’s breathtak-ing numbers, but the potential toprofit from yoga is making business types sit up straight.

Established yoga studios chargea range of fees for classes: about$15 for a drop-in, or about $125 formonthly, unlimited classes. Owners charge $2,000 to $3,500 for

yoga teacher trainings. Someteacher-owners also hit the road,teaching workshops or hosting retreats on the international yogacircuit.

Along with typical small businesscosts — such as leasing and utilities— yoga studios pay relatively highsalaries to their yoga teachers, whoare highly trained. Teacher hourlyrates can vary from averages of $25to $200, depending on the teacher’sand studio’s popularity.

The average profit for studioowners is about 3% to 15%, afterpaying themselves for classes theyteach, (not including owner-taughtworkshops and teacher training),says Debbie Williamson, founder ofthe Yoga Life Coach & Yoga BodyBootcamp certification programs,owner of Midwest Power Yoga anda co-founder of Live Love Teach, ayoga teacher training program.

“To allow owners to live, thebulk of the owner’s income ismade from specialty workshopsand teacher trainings that theyteach in studio and on the road,”said Ms. Williamson, who is basedin Wisconsin.

The fallout from the recessionhelped spur the boom in new yogastudios, according to Ms. Carle.Between layoffs, dismal hiringprospects and a high rate of dysfunction in workplaces, morepeople are looking to work forthemselves, she says.

“Yoga studios are low risk (busi-nesses),” Ms. Carle says. “Thebaby boomers and the rest of theworld want to stay active.”

The medical community is help-ing the growth of yoga by provingits health benefits.

“Science has shown how stresscontributes to many of our chronic diseases, and because ofthat science we are seeingyoga/relaxation/meditation beingoffered in medical settings,” saysJudi Bar, yoga therapist and yogaprogram manager of the ClevelandClinic. The Clinic says it is the firsthospital system to hire a full-timeyoga program manager for its

patients and staff.“As students see how great they

feel in mind and body, they arelooking to help other people to feelthat way. More students are study-ing to become instructors andopening studios,” Ms. Bar explains.

Standing outTo differentiate themselves

from their competitors, some stu-dios are targeting certain demo-graphics, such as baby boomers,or fusing yoga with other activities,such as weight-lifting, running orpaddle boarding.

Yoga Lounge, a studio in Hud-son, recently added the latest fit-ness craze, Barre, a pricey ballet-based workout, to its classschedule.

“My original intention was, if Ican get Barre clients in, thenmaybe they will wonder what yogais all about… and try yoga, aswell,” says Amy Cook, YogaLounge owner.

How studios will compete andwhether the yoga industry will sus-tain its momentum is anyone’sguess. Right now, the statisticsseem to be in favor of growth.

In the next four years, yoga industry revenue is projected torise at an average annual rate of4.8% to $8.6 billion, according toIBISWorld Industry. Improvingeconomic conditions will result ingreater per capita disposable in-come growth, aiding demand forlucrative private instruction classes.

Despite the spectacular successstories of some yoga studios, mak-ing big bucks teaching yoga orrunning a studio is not the norm.

“Studios that need to earn pri-marily might not stay open,” saysMargot Milcetich, a yoga veteranwho teaches at Kent Yoga and di-rects teacher trainings throughBrahmrishi Yoga in Kent.

“Yoga is about healthy commu-nity and growing together. Oftenpaying expenses — and not earn-ing a living off the teaching — isthe way it goes,” she says. ■


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Yoga: Some teachers earn big money continued from PAGE 15

GRANDOPENINGS

Abramoff


Years after Internet saleshave become a viable,mainstream method forcompanies of all types and

sizes to sell their goods, it appearstax law is finally catching up withhow to tax those transactions.

The Marketplace Fairness Actwould give states the authority torequire any business that generatesmore than $1 million in revenueannually to collect and remit salestax on all sales, even Internet sales.

State governments would be required to provide retailers withfree software that would embedinto their websites to do the nec-essary calculations.

The bill will apply to any busi-ness that sells its products througha website, a phone call, a catalogorder, or any other method.

The seller would be obligated to collect and remit tax based on cus-tomer’s location, regardless ofwhether the seller has a physicalpresence in the customer’s jurisdic-tion.

The bill passed last week in the

Senate; it now goes to the Houseof Representatives, where it is ex-pected to face strong opposition.

Supporters say companies thatsell primarily over the Internet havelong enjoyed an advantage overbrick-and-mortar sellers, escapingthe requirement to collect and re-mit sales tax where they don’t havea physical presence in a state.

Opponents, however, say thebill effectively increases taxes.

The new measure is expected toproduce some $24 billion in new taxrevenue to state and local govern-ments throughout the United States.

Internet sales have been a thorn

in tax authorities’ sides for years asstate governments have wrestledwith how to get their fair share of taxon transactions in cyberspace.

States are permitted to collecttax on transactions based on thephysical presence of the compa-nies that sell their goods and ser-vices. That means companies col-lect and remit taxes based onwhere they have sales offices orwarehouses, or even where theysend salespeople into the field.

That approach made perfectsense when a business in Cleve-land did business primarily inCleveland and surrounding com-munities, perhaps branching outover time to establish satellite offices or distribution facilities innearby states. It was relativelystraightforward to determine inwhat state or community a givensale occurred and to collect andremit tax accordingly.

Over time, however, as the busi-ness world has become far moreborderless, it’s become increas-ingly complex for the business

community and tax authorities toagree on “nexus,” or where a givenbusiness has a physical presence,and therefore should collect andremit sales and use taxes.

The Internet era has establishedquite clearly that a retailer neednot have any meaningful physicalpresence outside of perhaps asmall home office to become asubstantial retail force.

That has left brick-and-mortar retailers crying foul. It’s easy for aconsumer to shop the wares of a lo-cal retailer, who is paying a leaseand utilities, plus collecting and re-mitting sales tax, then make thepurchase with an online retailerwho has no physical presence in theconsumer’s community and noobligation to collect and remit tax.

In truth, consumers always havebeen required to calculate and re-mit their own sales and use taxwhen it is not collected by the sell-er. Yet less than 1% of all taxpayersactually do so. Few are aware theyare even required to do so.

Tax authorities make no real

attempt to enforce it because itwould be an exercise in futility. Itwould require a massive audit andenforcement effort on millions ofindividual taxpayers to produceonly small amounts in tax revenue.

The more efficient route is topursue the tax through the retail-ers who perform the transactions,which is what the MarketplaceFairness Act aims to achieve.

For small business owners whodo business either online or overthe Internet, the Marketplace Fair-ness Act represents a movementfor all retailers to collect and remittax under the same tax rules.

Any business owner who doesmore than $1 million in onlinesales would need to explore howto integrate state-provided soft-ware into their systems to preparefor this new tax requirement. ■

Peter A. DeMarco is vice presidentand director of tax services for the re-gional accounting and business con-sulting firm of Meaden & Moore,headquartered in Cleveland.

The compliance deadlinefor the new HIPAA (HealthInsurance Portability andAccountability Act) rules

— Sept. 23 — is less than fivemonths away.

The Office of Civil Rights, the federal agency tasked with safe-guarding health information, hassignificantly increased its HIPAA enforcement efforts over the pastthree years.

Multimillion-dollar civil mone-tary penalties, onerous consentdecree obligations, random Officeof Civil Rights audits and the empowerment of state attorneysgeneral all show just how seriousthings are about to get.

Covered entities, which includehealth care providers and employ-ee health plans, should be activelyreviewing and updating theirHIPAA compliance plans and theirbusiness associate agreements toensure timely compliance.

Business associates, entities thatprovide services for or on behalf ofhealth care providers and employ-ee health plans — and their down-stream vendors and subcontractors— must do the same.

This is a new requirement formany businesses, which now haveHIPAA compliance obligations.HIPAA’s expansion to includedownstream subcontractors may bean unknown regulatory disaster formany who are completely unawareof their newfound obligations tosafeguard health information priva-cy. And, they are at considerable fi-nancial risk if they don’t.

Downstream vendors could in-clude document services vendors,cloud providers, court reporters,document shredding companiesand software consultants.

So, what must be done?All covered entities and business

associates must carefully analyzethe manner in which they create, receive, transmit and maintain protected health information, aswell as how they use and disclose it.

Then, these same entities mustperform a risk analysis to assess thepotential risks and vulnerabilities ofelectronic protected health informa-tion. This requirement is the basisfor implementing safeguards andpolicies that comply with HIPAA.

Following the risk assessment,each entity should review, updateand implement meaningful HIPAApolicies and procedures, includingpolicies regarding mobile devices,bring-your-own-device issues, so-cial media and telecommuting.

In addition to policy updates,covered entities must update theirvarious HIPAA forms, includingtheir Notice of Privacy Practicesand HIPAA-compliant releases tocomply with the changes imple-mented in the new rule.

Next, each entity must regularlytrain employees to comply withHIPAA policies and procedures. En-tities should continually look at on-going HIPAA training opportunities.

Entities should seek to establisha culture of compliance in theirworkplaces, not just enact policiesand procedures that will morethan likely just sit on a shelf.Training must be coupled withconsistent employee discipline toaddress HIPAA policy violations.

As far as preventing a breach ofunsecured protected health infor-mation, encryption is the first lineof defense.

Covered entities must purchase

encryption tools and train em-ployees to easily encrypt protectedhealth information that is elec-tronically stored or transmitted onlaptops, thumb drives, smartphones and other mobile devicesas well as protected health infor-mation that is stored in the cloudor with other third-party vendors.Employees should be disciplinedfor any failures to do so.

In addition to a breach preven-tion plan, entities should develop abreach response plan to ensure auniform and effective response toany data incident. That plan shouldinclude the involvement of the pri-vacy officer, information technologydepartment, risk, management, le-gal and communications.

In the event of an incident in-volving the unauthorized accessor disclosure of protected healthinformation, entities must investi-gate methodically (using a foren-sic consultant, if necessary), cor-rect the issue quickly, documentevery step of the investigation andcritically analyze and documentwhether the incident constituted abreach as defined by HIPAA.

It’s important to note that thefinal rule broadened the HIPAAbreach standard. Now, any unau-thorized acquisition, access, useor disclosure of unsecured pro-tected health information is pre-sumed to be a breach, unless theentity demonstrates a low proba-bility that the protected health in-formation has been compromised.

If the data incident does consti-tute a HIPAA breach, entities alsomust meet all breach notificationobligations in a timely manner. De-pending upon the size of the

breach, notice must be sent to theindividual, the Department ofHealth and Human Services and lo-cal media outlets, when applicable.

All business associate agree-ments need to be updated to com-ply with the final rule. When updat-ing these agreements, coveredentities should be sure that the dataincident reporting provision frombusiness associate to covered entityis broad and that all breach notifi-cation obligations (such as notice,monitoring, and indemnification)are clearly defined.

Covered entities and business

associates should consider purchas-ing cyberinsurance and includesimilar insurance requirements inbusiness associate agreements.

With the deadline looming andthe stakes as high as they are,HIPAA compliance must be a highpriority for covered entities andtheir business associates. And time,unfortunately, is running short. ■

Stephanie Angeloni is an associate inthe Vorys Akron office practicing inhealth care compliance. Lisa PierceReisz is a partner in the Columbusoffice practicing health care IT law.


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“This is one of those momentswhere the industry will see whathappens,” said Ned Overbeke ofOverbeke’s School of Driving ofBeachwood. “I don’t think anyonein the industry knows how it willplay out. It’s going to be a gamechanger.”

Wait and seeOhio is the 16th state to offer

online curriculum among the 23states that mandate driver’s edu-cation for those 18 and youngerseeking driver’s licenses, accordingto a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration survey.

The move toward online educa-tion began with out-of-state ven-dor discussions with the state; thevendors wanted to enter as enter-prises offering online education,said Carol Ellensohn, chief policyadviser with the Ohio Office ofCriminal Justice Services, a divi-sion of the Ohio Department ofPublic Safety.

“It’s a pretty drastic change,probably the most drastic changewe’ve had in driver training inyears, maybe ever,” said SharonFife, past president of the DrivingSchool Association of the Americas.The U.S.-based association has amembership of roughly 300 drivingschool owners in the United States,Canada and other countries.

Mrs. Fife also is the owner of D &D Driving School of Kettering, afamily business founded by her father in 1952.

Understanding the nature ofthese changes will have to wait asguidelines are in review and devel-opment.

The Ohio Department of PublicSafety placed the online drivingrules on a to-be-refiled status withthe Joint Committee on AgencyRule Review (JCARR), said the Ohio

Department of Public Safety’s Ms.Castle.

When the online rules are refiled,in the near future, a public hearingperiod will follow. The earliest therules can be effective is 76 days after JCARR, Ms. Ellensohn said.

Online or hands-on?Whether the online businesses are

operational this year depends on theprospective schools and if they pro-vide the Ohio Department of PublicSafety with required information forlicensing, Ms. Ellensohn said.

“It’s a touchy subject for drivingschools,” said Judy Garinger ofUniversal Driver’s Training CenterTeen Driving School of CuyahogaFalls. “Unless you’re strong andhave that ability to move on withtechnology, you’re going to fail.”

Mrs. Garinger will offer an online option. Mr. Overbeke saidhe has not decided because theguidelines have not been finalized.

While Fran and Ray Gruber Jr.,owners of North Coast DrivingSchool of Geneva, will continue tooffer in-class driver’s education,they are not planning to offer anonline product.

Parents who want a hands-onapproach will seek their compa-ny’s classroom-based services, Mr.Gruber said.

“I believe driver’s educationshould not be online,” Mrs. Grubersaid. “You’ve got to look at thechild. You have to see what theyneed. With online education,you’re not looking at the child.” ■


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Anumber of owners of driver’s educationschools in Northeast Ohiohave come to their

current positions by buildingupon other experiences — with alittle bit of learning on the job.

— Sharon Schnall

Once a teacher, always a teacher

Ned Overbeke, owner of Over-beke’s School of Driving of Beach-wood, serves 1,000 students ayear; 40% of the business’s activityoccurs in June, July and August,Mr. Overbeke said. Total cost forthe teen driving course is $370with classroom instruction offeredat two locations in Beachwoodand Cleveland Heights.

The students often arrive for in-class instruction after a full dayof academics and extracurricularslasting until early evening. Thetrick, he said, is to “keep them ver-tical … to keep kids focused for almost three hours after that daythat they’ve put in, that’s a chal-lenge for any teacher.”

Mr. Overbeke’s past profession-al history helps. He was a middleschool and high school teacher inthe Beachwood City Schools from1969 to 1997. Using $10,000 inpersonal funds, Mr. Overbeke

started his business in 1993,roughly five years before he retired. Today, the business boastsfive cars, and three full-time andfour part-time employees.

“Being a teacher, it’s an advan-tage,” he said. “I can take a blockof material and break down whatthe kids need to know.”

Making connectionsJudy Garinger was an Ohio state

driver’s license examiner for about18 years. In 2009, Mrs. Garingerretired months before she and herhusband Rick Garinger foundedthe Universal Driver’s TrainingCenter Teen Driving School of

Cuyahoga Falls. Mr. Garinger is aCuyahoga Falls police officer.

The business is headquarteredin the same building where Mrs.Garinger once worked as an exam-iner, and it serves about 60 stu-dents per month, she said. Thestudents, who are charged $380for the combined in-class and be-hind-the-wheel instructions, areprimarily teens and represent 80%of the clientele; the remaining 20%are adults, including foreign-bornstudents, she said.

Mrs. Garinger said she hires re-tired police officers and schoolbus drivers to provide the behind-the-wheel instruction utilizing thecompany’s six cars. For her part,she teaches 90% of the in-classsessions, which are held at five locations in Portage and Summitcounties.

“You’ve got to have a certainperson. You’ve got to be patientwith these kids. You’ve got to connect with them,” said Mrs.Garinger, who is mother and step-mother to 10 children, ages 3 to 23.

The Garingers used $90,000 ofretirement savings to establish thebusiness and purchase vehicles.Today, the business has four full-time and 12 part-time employees.

A business grownFran Gruber and her husband

and business partner Ray GruberJr. purchased North Coast DrivingSchool of Geneva in 2003.

They purchased the then 15-year-old business for $80,000by refinancing a bank loan andhaving a land contract, Mr. Grubersaid. They paid off the business infive years — meeting a personalgoal — and grew the business toits current configuration of onefull-time and 10 part-time employees and nine cars. Studentspay $300 for the basic package of24 hours in-class and eight hoursof behind-the-wheel instruction.

“Anyone who deals with the vol-ume of kids, parents and schedul-ing, is a business person,” said RayGruber Jr. of Fran Gruber — not tomention serving 780 students annually across eight classroomlocations in Ashtabula, Geaugaand Lake counties.

Mrs. Gruber previously workedpart-time 15 years as an instructorfor their company’s foundingowner; additionally, she worked10 years as a K-12 bus driver forthe Geneva Area City Schools dis-trict. Mr. Gruber is a staff repre-sentative for the United Steel-workers. They also own Gruber’sVineyards, a 24-acre, third-gener-ation family vineyard in Harpers-field Township. ■

WHO’S BEHIND THE WHEEL:

Driver’s: Some schoolsprefer hands-on method continued from PAGE 15

SHARON SCHNALL

Ned Overbeke, who owns a driving school in Beachwood, says 40% of his business’s activity occurs in June, July and August. The teen driving course costs$370.

“It’s a touchy subject fordriving schools.”

– Judy Garingerowner, Universal Driver’s Training

Center Teen Driving School, on offering an online curriculum


Falls employed 48 as of June2012, up 41% from 34 in June 2011,according to Crain’s Book of Lists,and Mr. Falls expects to grow to 60employees by year-end.

Akhia Public Relations & Market-ing Communications in Hudsonalso is hiring. It stands at 56 peopletoday, up from 45 in June 2012, andit’s hiring social media experts, account managers and writers whocan help Akhia meet the demandfor content marketing, said presi-dent Jan Gusich.

“Their (companies’) sales are finally recovering,” she said. “Com-panies are starting to invest againin their marketing programs. It’snot a secret that the last coupleyears have been tough, and thingswere starting to get better, butcompanies were still being careful.I think the floodgate’s beenopened.”

Akhia’s first-quarter revenueswere up 16% from the like period in2012, mostly because of higherspending by existing customers,and its sales for 2012 were doublethose in 2011, according to Ms. Gusich.

Alongside content marketing,digital is Akhia’s “other area ofgreat growth,” she said.

The same is true for Roop & Co.,a Cleveland communications firmthat this year posted the best firstquarter in its 17-year history, saidJim Roop, president. The eight-per-son firm, with gross income up 20%over the year-ago period, is in theprocess of building more than 10websites for clients, plus “the socialmedia thing has exploded,” Mr.Roop said.

Crisis communications firmHennes Paynter Communications,too, has done three times as manymedia training sessions and crisiscommunications plans over thelast 12 months than it did in each ofthe previous few years, said BruceHennes, managing partner.

Content is kingWhile more companies want

marketing, they don’t want to hireinternally to get it done, accordingto what Jeff Staats is hearing.

“There’s a demand from compa-nies for agency help,” said Mr.

Staats, president of the Clevelandchapter of the American MarketingAssociation, which has about 235members.

Chas Withers, president andchief operating officer at Dix &Eaton in Cleveland, said his firm isexperiencing a “very crisp” uptickin business early this year. Heagreed that clients “want insightand knowledge, but they don’twant to hire for it.”

“I see a far greater reticenceabout adding back headcount thanI’ve seen in some time,” Mr. With-ers said.

While experts in the field say theclients that are spending more onmarketing run the gamut, somesectors seem to be back in force.

Business-to-business companies— particularly professional serviceproviders and old-line manufactur-ing and industrial companies — areclamoring to make themselvesheard via social media and contentmarketing, as are home and build-ing products companies, given thehousing market’s improvement, insiders say.

“B2B is catching up really quickly,”Mr. Withers said. “I think compa-nies are realizing they would behighly conspicuous by their absence.”

Marketing firms’ growing rev-enues also reflect clients’ desire tooverhaul or refresh their websites,particularly with content, and to increase their exposure in the mo-bile phone marketplace, many said.

“This area of the business (con-tent marketing) is exploding,”Akhia’s Ms. Gusich said. “Peopleare realizing they have to have con-tent. You can’t just have a staticwebsite. Search engines are smarttoday. They’re looking for genuine,authentic, technical types of con-tent that will be valued.”

Quick results soughtAlthough it has had a working re-

lationship with Viva La Brand for

three years, Solon’s CardPak Inc.nearly has doubled its spendingwith the Beachwood marketingfirm, largely to give a call-to-actionfeel to its website, which relaunched last November, saidSeth Duckworth, vice president ofsales and marketing of the maker ofpaperboard packaging. Since therevamp, the company’s number ofonline leads is up fivefold, he esti-mated.

Mr. Duckworth isn’t surprised tohear that demand for marketing isup among manufacturers. Compe-tition in the sector is high, andmanufacturing firms, especiallythose that have cut back, don’t tendto have in-house marketing exper-tise, he said.

Overall, Viva La Brand’s revenuesto date are up 25% over last year,and the firm is turning down work,said president Laura Sheridan.

“Companies are hungry for mar-keting programs that measurably

increase revenue,” she wrote in anemail.

Jonathan Ebenstein also sees akeener scrutiny of results.

“What we’re seeing now as com-panies are coming out of hiberna-tion is they’re still a little skittish onwhere they want to spend theirmarketing dollars,” said Mr. Eben-stein, managing director of SkodaMinotti Strategic Marketing inMayfield Village.

The group, which does market-ing for the Skoda Minotti account-ing firm and other providers of pro-fessional services, started to see itspipeline grow meaningfully in themiddle of 2012, according to Mr.Ebenstein, who said clients wantinitiatives that produce quick re-sults, such as customer acquisition.

“They’re not spending the waythey did before” the downturn, hesaid. “It’s got to be trackable.”

Back on the offensiveThe increased marketing spend-

ing will continue, local executivesanticipate. New technologies ne-cessitate upgrades, Mr. Ebensteinsaid, and so many companies havedone so little investing for a longtime.

“They need to stay competitive,

and business owners are realizingthat,” he said.

Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a pri-vate investment firm that targetscompanies in the education, infor-mation, communications and busi-ness services sectors in NorthAmerica and Europe, echoes theiroptimism.

In its 2012-2016 forecast, the firmprojected the communications in-dustry will grow at a 5.2% com-pound annual rate to $1.46 trillionby 2016 — almost two times thegrowth rate during the past fiveyears.

And a recent Nielsen study hasfound 63% of brand advertisers ex-pect more money to be spent onbrand marketing in 2013, much ofit toward social media and mobileadvertising.

All of it spells a stronger economy,Mr. Withers said.

“The first thing to go when theeconomy turns down often times ismarketing budgets,” he said. “Thefact that companies are very aggressively looking at new pro-grams, saying (they) need to diver-sify how we’re picking up new cus-tomers, all of those are signs thatcompanies are playing offense instead of defense.” ■


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Market: Business-to-business companies ‘catching up’ quicklycontinued from PAGE 3 “It’s not a secret that the last couple years have been

tough, and things were starting to get better, but companies were still being careful. I think the floodgate’s been opened.” – Jan Gusich, president, Akhia Public Relations & Marketing Communications



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“We want to make sure that thefirst minute as a fan, you have a feel-ing that this is a welcoming placeand merchandise is readily avail-able,” he continued.

Mr. Smith said the ClevelandBrowns Team Shop, along with theother stadium retail locations, willundergo a large-scale renovation.He said the front counters at thesmaller shops, of which there areabout 12, will be removed to giveeach spot more of a “walk-in” feel.

“There might be a location or twowhere it’s not feasible,” Mr. Smithsaid. “The stadium was built withnice retail spaces, but it was reallynever fully utilized. We want to bringin more women’s fashion lines. Wehave found with other MLB (MajorLeague Baseball) and NFL accounts,most of the purchases are made bywomen. If we cater to them andmake it more friendly, we’re likely tosee an increase in spending.”

Changing timesPrior to joining the Browns, Mr.

Scheiner spent eight years with theDallas Cowboys, the last five as se-nior vice president and generalcounsel. He played an integral role inthe planning of the Cowboys’ state-of-the-art stadium, which opened in2009, and serves on the board of di-rectors of Legends Hospitality.

In his new job, he noticed a needfor better customization of theteam’s merchandise.

“Every one of these (improve-ments) will boil down to fan experi-ence,” Mr. Scheiner said. “It soundslike a cliché, but it’s true. We wantsomeone who wants to buy a neatshirt for their 4-year-old to be ableto do that.”

Mr. Smith said the amount ofteam items available online will in-crease significantly. They will betrendy, too, which is crucial.

“That is the key in retail — stayingcurrent,” Mr. Smith said. “We thinkthe e-retailing component gives usthat ability. We also want to reach

out to fans who are no longer livingin the marketplace.”

Mr. Smith said it will take time forthe online store to be up to Legends’standards. Once it is, there will bean expansion of the women’s linesand customized products such en-graved footballs, luggage, tote bagsand other accessories.

Can you hear me now?Legends’ website lists 14 NFL

teams as clients, but Mr. Smith saidthe Browns and Cowboys are theonly NFL franchises that hired thecompany to run the retail operations.Other teams rely on Legends for salesand marketing, including the sellingof suites and personal seat licenses.

Legends works with NFL-licensedapparel companies such as Nike,New Era and Majestic to customizemerchandise. Mr. Scheiner saidLegends makes sure “on the backend they are contracted with thebest e-commerce providers.”

Mr. Scheiner said another game-day improvement the fans have beenclamoring for (aside from the resultson the field) is cell phone service, willbe ready for the coming season.

The Browns will have “enhanced”cell service in 2013, but Mr. Scheinerwouldn’t say when the team wouldprovide free Wi-Fi service, which is asticking point for many NFL teamsbecause of the large cost and com-plexities involved in wiring a hugeoutdoor stadium.

“If you have enhanced servicethrough the major carriers, with theimproved cellular (service at the sta-dium), you will be able to access Wi-Fi” on a smart phone, Mr. Scheinersaid. “We want fans to be able tohave the best experience, whetherthat’s Wi-Fi or enhanced data.” ■

Browns: Cell service willbe ‘enhanced’ at stadiumcontinued from PAGE 3

Link: Use of product is up 72% worldwide LinkedIn’s most expensive prod-

uct quickly is becoming popularamong human resources teams inNortheast Ohio and beyond.

Ms. Guy and other local recruiters say it’s had a big impacton the way they hire people.

Although other, less-expensiveLinkedIn accounts remove some ofthe barriers between recruiters andthe 200 million people who use thebusiness-focused social networkingsite, a LinkedIn Recruiter accountknocks down almost all of them.

Human resources teams willing toshell out $8,160 a year for the RecruiterCorporate version of the product —the rate goes up as they add users —can send messages to anyone on thenetworking site and can see far moreprofiles than most LinkedIn users. Forindividuals, there’s a $4,800 versioncalled Recruiter Small Business thatdoes most of the same things.

By contrast, people with freeLinkedIn accounts can contact onlythose people who have agreed toconnect with them on the site, andthey can see someone’s profile onlyif one of their connections knowsthat person.

The Recruiter tool also lets human resources teams share infor-mation and keep tabs on messagesflowing between recruiters and can-didates. Those features have been aboon to CBiz, which paid for sevenpeople to use LinkedIn Recruiter after recruiting Ms. Guy a year ago.

“It is amazing how it lets youmanage candidates,” she said.

It’s all the rageSherwin-Williams Co. has been

taking advantage of LinkedIn Re-cruiter’s sophisticated search capa-bilities, which allow users to filterpeople by name, title, employer,years of experience and other criteria.

The Cleveland-based paint makeris using Recruiter to find informationtechnology employees who work foranother company that is laying peo-ple off. Sherwin-Williams sent mes-sages to some of those IT employeeson the morning of May 2. It didn’ttake them long to respond, said SygiBerman, senior human capital

acquisition specialist for the IT groupat Sherwin-Williams.

“We’ve already gotten five responses this afternoon,” she saidlater that day.

The IT department signed up forone LinkedIn Recruiter user account,or “seat,” a few months ago. It’s theonly Sherwin-Williams departmentusing the tool today, but that mightchange, said Mike Conway, directorof corporate communications.

“Other HR teams across the com-pany are looking at it right now,” hesaid.

So are teams at other companies.Worldwide, 18,138 organizations

use LinkedIn Recruiter today, up72% from 10,531 during the firstquarter of 2012, according to JoeRoualdes, senior manager of corpo-rate communications for theMountain View, Calif.-based com-pany. Some customers pay for justone seat, while others have thou-sands, Mr. Roualdes said. It’s usedby 88 of the companies listed in theFortune 100, he added.

The product also can provide valueto smaller companies that need tohire a lot of people, such as TOA Tech-nologies in Beachwood. The providerof mobile work force managementsoftware employs 453 people world-wide, up from 220 in February 2011.

TOA finds nearly 40% of its em-ployees through LinkedIn, saidMichael McDonnell, vice presidentof global talent acquisition at thecompany. That figure was muchlower before TOA started usingLinkedIn Recruiter in early 2012,Mr. McDonnell said.

The ability to see so many pro-files and send messages to anyonehas made it easier for TOA to findgood candidates, even when hiringfor an office overseas.

“Our access to candidates aroundthe world is magnified by — I can’teven tell you. It’s difficult to mea-sure,” Mr. McDonnell said. Five TOAemployees use LinkedIn Recruiter,which also allows the company topost up to 21 job openings on the site.

Paying for the privilegeThe product is particularly useful

for finding candidates who aren’t

looking for a job — a challenge HeidiHoyt knows well. Ms. Hoyt not only ismanaging director of the profession-al staffing group at Skoda Minotti inMayfield Village, but she also helpsthe accounting and business servicesfirm recruit its own employees.

Hiring accountants can be tough:They’re in demand, so they rarelyneed to visit online job boards or postrésumés online. But with LinkedInRecruiter, she can find them anyway.

“This really allows us to have anunlimited pool of talent to makeconnections with,” Ms. Hoyt said.

Granted, not everyone is onLinkedIn, and some users don’t putall their résumé information ontheir profiles, said Ms. Hoyt, theonly person who uses Recruiter atSkoda Minotti, which is thinkingabout buying more seats.

Because of the product’s limita-tions, Skoda Minotti and othercompanies Crain’s contacted stilluse other software tools to helpthem organize the hiring process.

Plus, Recruiter is expensive com-pared to other premium LinkedInaccounts. For instance, Chris Nashis thinking about signing up, butthe managing partner at recruitingfirm Rogers Group Inc. of Middle-burg Heights already gets a lot ofmileage out of his LinkedIn TalentFinder account, which does someof the same things.

For example, Talent Finder userscan look up information on anyonewithin three degrees of separationand can send 25 messages to peo-ple outside their network eachmonth. By contrast, Recruiter userscan look up anyone and send mes-sages to 50 people per month.

A single Talent Finder accountcosts $960 a year. That’s 80% lessthan the $4,800 annual bill for a Recruiter Small Business account.

Eleven of Mr. Nash’s colleaguesjoined him in using Talent Finderabout a year ago. The productplayed a big role in helping the firmgrow sales by 35% over the pastyear, said Mr. Nash, who also is vicepresident of sales and marketing forthe Rogers Group.

“At least half of my candidates …come from LinkedIn,” he said. ■

continued from PAGE 1

“The stadium was builtwith nice retail spaces,but it was really neverfully utilized.” – Dan Smith, president, Legends’hospitality group


A bill custom-made to put a dent in customs evasion■ Local manufacturers — especially thosewith strong competition from overseas —might take note of a bill introduced lastmonth in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In part, the Enforcing Orders and Reduc-ing Customs Evasion Act outlines a proce-dure for investigating customs evasions casesand asks the government to make sure theDepartment of Commerce has the resourcesand personnel it needs to better enforcetrade case decisions.

The bill has bipartisan support in Ohio,counting Democratic Reps. Tim Ryan andMarcy Kaptur and Republican Reps.Michael Turner and Steve Stivers among itsco-sponsors. A more involved bill includingsimilar provisions, but fewer co-sponsors,was introduced in the Senate this spring.

If passed, proponents say the House billcould lead to the collection of more customsduties. Tim Selhorst, president and CEO ofAmerican Wire Spring Corp. in BedfordHeights, is one supporter who said he thinkscollecting those duties would help the gov-ernment fill its budget holes.

The valve and spring wire maker is part ofthe Coalition to Enforce Antidumping andCountervailing Duty Orders, a group ofbusinesses ranging from makers of steel tohoney that has been working to get this issue in front of Congress. It’s expensive tofile trade cases, Mr. Selhorst said, and if for-eign companies find a way around a tariff,U.S. companies don’t even see monetarybenefits after winning a case.

The issue is no small matter, said AmyDeArmond, a government policy and legalaffairs specialist with Missouri-based inner-

springs manufacturer Leggett & Platt Inc.,another coalition member.

“For the companies that have gottenthese orders, it’s vital for their business,” shesaid. — Rachel Abbey McCafferty

NEOMED unveils a whale of a mascot■ Northeast Ohio Medical University mightnot have any sports teams, but that didn’tstop the medical school in Rootstown fromnaming a mascot.

Last week, the university unveiled “Nate,”the Walking Whale, as its newest ambas-sador. The Walking Whale, better known asAmbulocetus natans, is an early cetaceanthat could walk as well as swim. A NEOMEDscientist, Dr. Hans Thewissen, discoveredthe whale’s remains in 1993 in Pakistan.

Nate is estimated to be at least 48 millionyears old. He’s a Pisces. He weighs a fewtons, but is on a diet (or so the universitysays). His favorite foods are extinct animalsof prey and krill.

University officials said Nate will makeregular appearances on campus. He willhelp roll out the university’s 40th anniversary

celebration and participate in the unveilingof several campus expansion projects.

The university community consideredmore than 100 ideas for its mascot. BesidesNate, the other finalist was the RisingPhoenix. — Timothy Magaw

Sharks don’t take Mr. LeMieux’s bait■ Aaron LeMieux had his 20 minutes of tele-vision fame last month, but it didn’t pay off— at least not immediately — for TremontElectric LLC. Mr. LeMieux, president of theCleveland-based company, appeared April26 on the ABC television show “Shark Tank.”It’s a show where entrepreneurs pitch theirbusinesses to five potential investors — thesharks — and hope one of them bites.

Tremont Electric’s product is a smallblack tube that uses kinetic energy from aperson’s body motion to generate power forsmall electrical devices. Unfortunately forMr. LeMieux, none bit that night on his askfor a $2 million investment in exchange fora 22% equity interest in the company.

The sharks liked Mr. LeMieux and histechnology They even could envision howthe technology could be scaled up into a sig-nificant energy supplier. Shark Lori Grenier,a serial retail products entrepreneur, calledMr. LeMieux “brilliant.”

But none thought the investment madesense fors them. The terms Mr. LeMieux offered, each said in his or her own way,wouldn’t provide the kind of return theywould expect from a risky investment.

But all may not be lost. The potential ex-ists for someone watching the show to takean interest in the company as an investor.

“I hope you find a way to make this dreamcome true,” Ms. Grenier said. — Jay Miller

MILESTONE

COMPANY: Third Federal, ClevelandOCCASION: Its 75th anniversary

Third Federal Savings & Loan kicked off asummer of celebrations for customers andemployees at all 47 of its branches in Ohioand Florida to commemorate three-quartersof a century in business.

The festivities began last Tuesday, May 7,with cake and special events at Third Feder-al’s main office, 7007 Broadway Ave. Aschedule of branch events can be found atwww.ThirdFederal.com/75.

Third Federal was started by Ben andGerome Stefanski, who applied for the bank’scharter on their honeymoon in 1938. It’s nowled by their son, chairman and CEO Marc A.Stefanski, who grew the company from a $2billion local S&L in 1987 to an $11 billion regional thrift with branch offices in Ohio andFlorida and mortgage lending in 14 states.

Third Federal offered a few tidbits for itsanniversary:

■ Ben and Gerome Stefanski were entrustedwith the $50,000 in startup money for ThirdFederal from the primarily Polish and Czechneighborhood of Slavic Village.

■ Third Federal was named to Fortunemagazine’s 100 Best Companies list in eachof the four years it entered (2001-2004). After 2004, Fortune changed its parametersto only include those companies with 1,000or more employees.

■ More than 20% of Third Federal employ-ees have been with the company 20 or moreyears.

REPORTERS’ NOTEBOOKBEHIND THE NEWS WITH CRAIN’S WRITERS

THEINSIDER

THEWEEK MAY 6 – 12

The big story: Big changes could be comingto Canton-based Timken Co., where sharehold-ers voted in support of the proposal to spin offthe company’s steel business from its bearingsbusiness. The shareholder proposal is nonbind-ing. Ward J. “Tim” Timken Jr., chairman of theboard, said the company will “carefully evalu-ate” the shareholders’ input and announce thecompany’s next steps within 45 days. Two share-holders — asset management firm RelationalInvestors LLC and the California State Teach-ers’ Retirement System — drove the proposal tosplit the two parts of the company, arguing thatit would increase value for shareholders.

They got their man: The MetroHealth Sys-tem’s second go-around at finding a new bossended as the health system introduced Dr.Akram Boutros, founder and president of a NewYork-based health care consulting firm, as itsnext president and CEO. Dr. Boutros, who startshis new job June 1, brings more than 20 years ofhealth care leadership experience to Metro-Health. Prior to leading BusinessFirst Health-care Solutions, Dr. Boutros, an internist, servedas executive vice president and chief administra-tive officer for St. Francis Hospital – The HeartCenter in Roslyn, N.Y. He also served as execu-tive vice president, chief medical officer andchief operating officer at South Nassau Hospitalin Oceanside, N.Y.

Committed to Akron: Goodyear Tire & Rub-ber Co. unveiled its new global headquartersduring a ceremony in Akron. The building rep-resents the tiremaker’s ongoing commitment toinnovation and to Akron and Northeast Ohio,said Goodyear chairman and CEO Richard J.Kramer. The new building is about 639,000square feet, and is on a campus that measures1.5 million square feet. Goodyear is leasing thebuilding, which cost about $160 million to build.

End of hostilities: The proxy contest be-tween Ferro Corp. and a group of dissidentshareholders is over, with the parties agreeing todrop their swords in a battle over board seats atthe maker of specialty chemicals. The two sidesalso agreed to form a board committee to evalu-ate what Ferro called “strategies to enhanceshareholder value.” Ferro and the dissidents,FrontFour Capital Group and Quinpario Part-ners, agreed that two members of the Front-Four-Quinpario group, Jeffry N. Quinn andDavid A. Lorber, will stand for election as Ferronominees to the board of directors at Ferro’s an-nual meeting this week.

Keeping fans happy: Cedar Point unveiledGateKeeper — the anchor of $30 million in totalinvestments at the Sandusky amusement parkfor 2013 — to members of the media and rollercoaster clubs from around the country. The parkofficially opened on Saturday, May 11.

New digs: A. Schulman Inc. showed of its newcorporate and U.S. headquarters in Fairlawn.The building, at 34,000 square feet, was designedto separate the U.S. and corporate staffs, tolessen distractions for the corporate staff and toconsolidate the U.S. employees in one location.There are about 100 U.S. employees at the newheadquarters and 40 on the corporate side. Thecompany employs about 3,300 people total.

Southern exposure: Jones Day opened itsfirst Florida office, in Miami, in what the Cleve-land law firm says is a reflection of its “continuingcommitment to the rapidly growing Latin Amer-ica market.” The Miami office is the second newoffice this year for the firm, its 16th total in theUnited States and its 40th in the world. The Miamioffice will focus on capital markets, mergers andacquisitions, project finance, restructuring andlending in Latin America, among other areas.


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

Driven to prove a point■ OverDrive Inc. in Garfield Heights in on amission to catalog the impact library e-booklending has on book sales.

Library Journal reported that OverDrive,a digital media company, has contacted35,000 librarians worldwide “and invitedthem to opt in to a program that will runfrom May 15 through June 1 and allow allparticipating libraries to feature simultane-ously on their OverDrive home page, at nocost, a single title from Sourcebooks,” apublishing company. The book is “FourCorners of the Sky,” by Michael Malone.

The trade publication said that duringthe 18-day program, data associated withthe title will be closely tracked. Source-books, which has worldwide rights to thebook, “will chronicle the impact on salesnot only for this particular title but also theeffect on the other seven books that Malonehas published with Sourcebooks.”

In addition, OverDrive “ will track howmany patrons sampled the book, how manychecked it out, how many pages were read,and will invite patrons to follow Malone onFacebook and Twitter in order to see howthe pilot impacts the author’s social mediapresence,” according to the story.

OverDrive and Sourcebooks will presentearly results at BookExpo America, whichruns May 30-June 1 in New York City.

All’s fair with these fares■ If you find yourself in need of a taxi inCleveland, you’ll get a pretty good dealcompared with other big U.S. cities.

USA Today asked TaxiFareFinder.com tocalculated estimated one-mile, five-mileand 10-mile fares in the 60 largest U.S. met-ropolitan areas.

In Cleveland, the average 10-mile fare is$27.37, which ranks 44th out of the 60 cities.Fares here are slightly lower than Columbus($27.98) and Cincinnati ($27.55).

The coun-try’s cheapestaverage 10-mile fareis in Detroit,at $19.97.Pittsburgh, at$22.42, is another peercity wherefares arequite a bit lower than Cleveland. Fares arehighest in Honolulu — a 10-mile trip therewill set you back $41.61 — followed by SanJose and San Francisco.

A hub of digital ingenuity■ There’s all sorts of innovation taking placeat the Cleveland Clinic, and it isn’t just onthe medical side of the operation.

Forbes.com ran a video interview withPaul Matsen, chief marketing officer at theClinic for the last seven years.

The website says Mr. Matsen, formerCMO for Delta Air Lines, has helped estab-lish the Clinic “as one of the most recogniz-able health care brands in the world.”

He has done so, according to Forbes.com,with “a deft mix of digital, social and tradi-tional media with a heavy dose of contentmarketing at the core.” For instance, theClinic has enlisted full-time physicians towrite original content posted daily on itsHealth Hub.

Mr. Matsen said one of his main goals isto raise brand awareness among those whodon’t even need its services yet, but maysomeday. Essentially, he says, he wants to“get consumers to find out who we are andthen in the future for them to consider us asone of their first choices.”

Third Federal CEO Marc A. Stefanski

Northeast Ohio Medical University’s mascot isNate, the Walking Whale.


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