It can be said that not only did Buck Harris live and work in Cleveland's Detroit Shoreway neighborhood before it was cool, he also had a hand in making the community cool in the first place.

Harris, a Lakewood native, has lived in the near west side neighborhood for 35 years, opening in 2002 a yoga studio called There’s No Place Like Om. Running a business at that time was a risk, but it wasn't the first Harris has taken when it comes to his beloved community. In 1992, he founded Bridge Brigade, "a guerilla-type community action group" created to push back against the crime that was inundating Bridge Avenue between W. 45th and W. 58th streets.

In those days, street corners were manned by gangs, drug dealers and prostitutes, while the surrounding neighborhood was blighted with dilapidated homes. Bridge Brigade members would patrol the streets in specially marked cars, using a CB radio to inform police of blatant criminal activity. Members also put up signs throughout the neighborhood to let drug dealers know they were being watched.

"We got chased a couple times," says Harris. "Things could get pretty hairy."

This year marked two milestones for Harris and his Bridge Brigade. The block group celebrated its 20th anniversary last summer with a street festival. In early November, the group's founder received an award for his good work from the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization.

Harris, who shared the community service award with life partner and fellow Bridge Brigade member Michael O'Connor, is proud to be one of Detroit Shoreway's "urban pioneers," he says. Along with the yoga studio, Harris also owned a restaurant in the neighborhood, and he's been thrilled to have been at ground zero for such area revitalization efforts as the Gordon Square Arts District.

Bridge Avenue, in particular, has seen an upswing with new townhouse projects and more. "I never would have believed the street would look like what it does today," says Harris. "There are people out jogging and walking. There was a time when people were afraid to walk around."

Ironically, the community's renewal is doing well to make Bridge Brigade nearly obsolete. "Attendance has definitely dropped," Harris says. "There's no longer a threat to fight."

That is not a bad problem to have, notes the block group founder. "I love the diversity here, and the proximity to West Side Market," says Harris. "Helping to create a neighborhood is a nice feather in my cap."

 
SOURCE: Buck Harris
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Daniel Cuffaro has been working in design for 20 years. He knows how an inspiring, eclectic workspace can act as fuel for creative minds, promoting interaction among those who essentially use their imagination for a living.

Such was the idea behind Cuffaro's founding of Abeo Design, a Lakewood-based company that builds aesthetically distinctive office/studio workstations with a sustainable bent. Unlike your typical office furniture, the spindly "Hive" workstations are designed with both functionality and adaptability in mind, Cuffaro says.

Each station is comprised of a work surface and storage shelf embedded with LED lighting. The entire unit is on wheels, making a studio or office easy to reconfigure as projects or teams change, notes Cuffaro. This is not something you could readily do with a set of hard-to-move cubicles.

"Our product is a dynamic and customizable alternative,” he says.

The workstations also fulfill a practical need. They are made of wood and other building materials reclaimed from abandoned Cleveland houses deconstructed during the foreclosure crisis. Cuffaro, head of the industrial design program at The Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA), first got the idea for Abeo in 2009 when he was developing the layout for the school's design studio. At the time, there was a growing market for raw materials harvested from foreclosed homes, so why not build CIA's studio furniture with those resources?

"I had a desire to turn a bad situation into something salvageable," Cuffaro says.

His first customer also happens to be his current employer. CIA recently purchased a handful of the $6,000-and-up workstations from Abeo, which works with Northeast Ohio companies A Piece of Cleveland and Benchmark Craftsmen to make the product a reality.

A portion of Abeo's profits will support CIA programs. Meanwhile, Cuffaro will continue to live by the company's name. In Latin, Abeo ( pronounced "a-bay-o") means "change" or "transformation." Turning trash into something of value is good for both the company and a sustainable Cleveland, he says.

 
SOURCE: Daniel Cuffaro
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Patrick Ciamacco loves the theater scene in Cleveland. However, he sometime finds himself visiting a venue only once a season, as programming tends to run with similar themes to the point where if Ciamacco has seen one show, he's seen them all.

There's nothing inherently wrong with that approach, but the Brunswick native wanted something more out of the stage experience. Thus, the creation of Blank Canvas Theatre, a so-called "Theatre for the People," which is wrapping up its inaugural season on Cleveland's West Side.

Ciamacco, Blank Canvas' founder and artistic director, says that 2012 has been a fun if stressful year. The theater opened in January with The Texas Chainsaw Musical, and is closing the year with Debbie Does Dallas: The Musical.  In between all the blood-letting and singing were three additional shows, including the John Steinbeck classic, Of Mice and Men.

A wide range of shows available at affordable prices has attracted a young, diverse crowd to the new venue, says Ciamacco. "It takes years to build an audience, but with the quality of work we're doing, there's a kind of, 'If you build it, they will come' feeling," he says.

Ciamacco founded Blank Canvas partly as a performance space for The Laughter League, his Cleveland-based sketch-comedy group. The 78th Street Studios, an arts complex bustling with 40 galleries and studios, seemed like a great place to plant a new artistic foothold within the city.

The space is intimate, with no seat more than 15 feet from the stage. Starting off, Ciamacco received support from Cleveland's theater community in the form of tools, lighting and emotional support. The coming year will be spent improving the venue's infrastructure and bringing in a variety of new shows. There already are plans to bring back fan favorite Texas Chainsaw Musical next Halloween for a revival.

Eclectic programming will always be Blank Canvas Theatre's calling card, maintains Ciamacco. "We're going to have something to attract the atypical theater-goer, while trying to get the normal theater fan to go outside the box," he says.
 

SOURCE: Patrick Ciamacco
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Skull-faced children and adults danced through the streets of the Gordon Square Arts District last Saturday afternoon, followed by tall, cadaverous puppets and altars overflowing with flowers and other remembrances of those who have passed on to the next realm.

There was nothing to be afraid of, however; the macabre and colorful carrying-on was in celebration of the Day of the Dead, a Latin-American holiday that pays joyful homage to lost relatives. El Día de los Muertos is meant to be more reflective than sad or scary, says Hector Castellanos, the event's coordinator and artistic director.  

This year's Cleveland-centric Day of the Dead festival drew a large crowd to the arts district on a chilly fall afternoon. Attendees enjoyed a parade, music, folk art and food truck fare. Castellanos doesn't have attendance figures yet, but the event has drawn between 1,200 and 1,400 people each of the last two years.

"People came from all over the region,"  he says. "There was a lot of energy and passion."

Gordon Square has hosted the Day of the Dead celebration for five years, with the festival marching through Cleveland's East Side the three years before that. While Cleveland's Latino population was well represented last weekend, many non-Latinos came for the festivities as well. There were many hands involved in building floats and making puppets. Area businesses got in on the fun, too, decorating storefronts with skulls and other symbols of the ancient holiday.

"The whole neighborhood got involved," says Castellanos, a native of Guatemala. "It's a powerful event."

Cleveland artist Bruce Buchanan built an altar representing the surrounding West Side neighborhood and the people who once lived there. The shrine is decorated with rows of colorful houses fronted by abstract skeletons, while tiny flags scrawled with the names of deceased former residents are placed on the alter along with offerings of food, flowers and candles.

"We're helping to build the neighborhood now, but these people built the neighborhood in the first place," says Buchanan. "That's something we should respect."

Meanwhile, Castellanos already is planning to make next year's  celebration bigger and better. "It's spiritual and educational, with so much history behind it," he says. "It also brings the community together, and that's one of the most important aspects for me."

 
SOURCES: Hector Castellanos, Bruce Buchanan
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Local firms like TWIST Creative, Go Media and Studio Graphique are just a few of the design-minded companies that are fueling Cleveland's creative renaissance. With the region's future success dependent on the procurement of young talent, the design community's exciting body of work is earning the city regional and national buzz.

That's no crass come-on, but rather an effort to advocate for a Cleveland-based bike-sharing network that has become popular in a number of U.S. cities. For a small fee, bike sharing allows patrons to rent a bike at self-service sites scattered about a city, then return the bike to another site.
 
Cleveland's Office of Sustainability recently issued a request to conduct a feasibility and implementation study on the service. Minneapolis, Chicago and Chattanooga, Tenn., are among the cities that have recently launched a bike-sharing network.
 
The local push is being fronted by Bike Cleveland, a group that advocates for the rights of the local cycling community. Earlier this year, the organization teamed with University Circle Inc. and other groups to form a Bike Share Task Force.
 
By providing greater access to bikes, bike-share programs can help increase the number of people biking, decrease the amount of pollutants in the air and improve community health, says Jacob VanSickle, executive director of Bike Cleveland.

"The city has stepped up," he says of the effort. "We have to determine the model that would work in Cleveland."
 
VanSickle would like to see bike-sharing docks placed at locations with high-density populations and job rates, including rapid stations, Public Square, college campuses and the Cleveland Clinic. The bikes would typically be used for short trips -- an office worker taking a bus to Public Square, for example, could use the automated bike station instead of taking another bus to his ultimate destination.
 
Trips of less than 30 minutes would be free of charge. Those using the service more frequently could pay $50 to $70 become annually. They would be charged a fee for treks longer than a half hour.
 
Promoting bike sharing is part of creating a culture that makes a city more attractive, says VanSickle. Along with the bike-sharing program, Bike Cleveland has been advocating for bike lanes and other cycling-friendly amenities. The group plans to keep the wheels turning until more progress is made.
 
"Cities with the bike-sharing program are seen as more livable and friendly," says VanSickle. "That's something we can gain from in Cleveland."

 
SOURCE: Jacob VanSickle
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

A school garden is a real, living world, a type of lab that offers teachers a way to embed creativity, collaboration and love for nature into their curriculum, believes Carlton Jackson, a farmer, self-described "food evangelist" and proprietor of Tunnel Vision Hoops, a provider of hoop houses that allow for year-round food production.
 
The Cleveland-based company is offering Cuyahoga County public school students grades K-8 a chance to win a hoop house for their school. The Gardens that Teach contest, which runs through February, asks students a series of questions about the preparation, construction and maintenance of a theoretical school garden. Answers will be reviewed by a panel of experts from the realms of food policy, botany and community gardening.
 
The winning school will receive the greenhouse-like hoop house, while the other participants will learn about the benefits of plants, year-round gardening and healthy eating, says Jackson. "We wanted kids to use their math skills," he adds. For example, "how many pounds of tomatoes can they get? What will the do with the food once it's grown?"
 
Hoop houses provide a high-temperature environment that protects crops from strong winds, cold and frost, allowing fruits and vegetables to grow during gardening's so-called "off-season," Jackson says.
 
The concept also is in line with the city's Sustainable Cleveland 2019 project, a movement that in part aims to increase the percentage of locally produced food. Mayor Frank Jackson also proclaimed October 24 to be Food Day, a national venture with the overriding objective of "eating real" and promoting healthy diets among the population.
 
The Gardens That Teach contest is certainly a nourishing exercise for Northeast Ohio's young students, says Jackson.
 
"There's a wonderment in watching something grow," he says. "If we can kids back to that, it would be a beautiful thing."
 

SOURCE: Carlton Jackson
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

At most full-time jobs, one is going to be spending eight hours a day sharing the same bit of carpet with a group of people who are tantamount to strangers. With luck, those strangers will become like a second family, one willing to lend a hand when times are tough.
 
Cleveland Clinic affiliate Fairview Hospital has taken that notion to the next level with the Employee Care Fund, a staff-funded repository of donations established to help hospital workers going through financial hardships. The fund was founded in 2005 at Fairview, and is now active throughout the Cleveland Clinic system, says Fairview president Jan Murphy.
 
On October 24, Fairview raised almost $1,500 toward the fund during a cupcake bakeoff. The figure was matched by the facility's corporate sponsors to bring the total to $3,000. The funds will be used to assist Cleveland Clinic employees enduring all matter of money problems, be it facing eviction or needing help to pay for such basic items as food and clothing.
 
 "We had one employee whose home burned down," says Murphy. "We are one big family and want to take care of each other." 
 
Fairview's Employee Care Fund raised $25,500 in 2011. Since its inception, the fund has garnered over $220,000 for 342 hospital employees, Murphy reports.
 
Donations are given to the Community West Foundation. The Cleveland-based grantmaking organization is then charged with disbursing the funds. Employees in need must fill out an application to qualify. Those who are ineligible or who have dipped into the fund multiple times may receive financial planning assistance from the Clinic's human resources department.
 
"We just want to get our people help," Murphy says. "We're not looking to make them feel bad or guilty."
 
Money is just one option for struggling Fairview families. The hospital also runs "Mom's Cellar," a constantly replenished storehouse of diapers, baby formula, food and supplies that employees can access.
 
Ultimately, both the care fund and Mom's Cellar run on the generosity of the Cleveland Clinic "family," says Murphy.
 
"We plan to keep it going," says the hospital president. "There's always going to be a need."


SOURCE: Jan Murphy
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Euclid Square Mall is hardly abandoned or dead, you just need to take a closer look to witness signs of life, maintains Cleveland artist Jef Scharf. Walk into the mall on a Sunday morning, in fact, and you may hear songs of worship reverberating through its halls.
 
The former large-scale retail center now has nearly 30 churches renting space for services, Bible studies and choir practice. Scharf, an artist-in-residence at SPACES Gallery, spent a year interviewing church-goers and congregational leaders for his documentary, simply titled "Euclid Square Mall Project." 

The film was officially screened at SPACES on October 11, but is available in the gallery's video viewing room until the middle of November.
 
First-time documentarian Scharf is a designer, screen printer, installation artist and musician. His 30-minute movie is a fairly typical talking heads-style venture that concentrates on the people running the congregations rather than the worship services themselves. How the vacant retail space shifted its function from retail to a faith-based community is a subject of fascination for the artist.
 
"There are so many stories to tell," notes Scharf. "You'd walk into this public space and the sounds of singing would bleed into each other. It filled the mall with incredible warmth."
 
The project's genesis was borne from simple curiosity. On a Sunday afternoon in fall 2010, Scharf was shopping at a nearby retail outlet when he stepped into the mall. He was impressed enough by the space's renewed energy to film some of the activity going on that day on his cell phone.
 
"It just stuck with me," says Scharf. "I realized I wanted to explore [the mall] further in that format."
 
It's strange to walk into a retail complex scrubbed clean of bright signage and other signposts that exemplify the typical American mall, Scharf says. Today, the signboard that once carried familiar names like Gap and Banana Republic now are stamped with names of congregations.
 
The film project, in its way, is a story of survival, believes Scharf. "These are people keeping their dreams alive by preserving the vibrancy of a space," he says. The movie "is a documentation of transformation." 

 
Source: Jef Scharf
Writer: Douglas J. Guth
 

Let's imagine that the Northeast Ohio healthcare innovation community is a football team. That would make business recruiter BioEnterprise the quarterback, "handing off" startup companies to Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, with an aim of scoring funding and resources a company needs to succeed. 
 
Strained metaphors aside, BioEnterprise and Austen are two local groups working as a team to push a regional economic transition from staid manufacturing to the more vibrant realm of healthcare and innovation technology. What exactly do these groups do and how do they do it? How do they work together to achieve their goals? Key members from each organization share their connected strategies.
 
Providing a guiding hand
 
BioEnterprise is a Cleveland nonprofit tasked with growing healthcare companies and commercializing bioscience technologies. The early-stage firms BioEnterprise assists are seeking to produce medical devices and biotechnology, or developing drugs for commercial use.
 
The economic development group was founded in 2002 by the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University as a way to harness area strengths in medical devices and healthcare technology. The nonprofit's foray into a potentially lucrative "innovation economy" is built by guiding new companies, not funding them, says interim president Aram Nerpouni.
 
Read the rest here...

Saint Luke's Foundation's stated mission is to move the needle in the area of healthcare, effectively impacting the root causes of what the organization deems as inequities in the quality of care received across all economic and social sectors.
 
The foundation has a long way to go to achieve its goals, but at least it knows it has a champion in former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, who spoke to foundation trustees and staff at The Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland on October 4.
 
Eliminating care disparities in regards to health insurance, for example, would cut down African-American mortality rates in diabetes, heart disease and HIV/AIDS, Satcher said during his visit, part of the St. Luke's refined grantmaking philosophy that ties funding directly to three main priorities- health, community and family.
 
The talk "was a great opportunity for learning," says foundation president and CEO Denise San Antonio Zeman. "Dr. Satcher is putting these notions into the national limelight and giving them stature."
 
Satcher, who served as surgeon general from 1998 to 2001, is a graduate of Case Western Reserve University.  During his tenure, he wrote "Healthy People 2010," a document written with two goals; to increase the quality of life for all Americans and reduce the inequities keeping all U.S. citizens from getting proper care.
 
Some progress in that department has been made in the years since Satcher stepped down, says Zeman. Still, as highlighted by the recent presidential and vice presidential debates, health care is still top mind for many Americans.
 
"There is more work that needs to be done," she says.  

 
Source: Denise San Antonio Zeman
Writer: Douglas Guth

Steadfast. Tenacious and uncompromising. Someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of the issues at hand.

Those are just a few of the plaudits Earth Day Coalition (EDC) executive director Scott Sanders has for his retiring compatriot, EDC co-executive director Chris Trepal, who will be honored on Friday, Nov. 9 during the organization's Instrumental Evening for the Earth.

Trepal co-founded the nonprofit environmental education/advocacy group with Sanders in 1990. As a devoted environmental advocate, she has played an integral role in the community projects EDC is best known for, Sanders says.
Among Trepal's career highlights:

* Helped establish the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve opened to the public in February 2012. The former Dike 14 has 80-plus acres of "wild" activity, including 300 species of birds that live and migrate on site.

* Spearheaded EDC's NatureHood project, which has restored native plants to 32,500 square feet of neighborhood-maintained vacant land. An additional 16,500 square feet of empty lot on the West Side has been converted into a plant nursery.

* Worked on such clean air issues as Diesel Hot Spots, idle reduction, mercury-fish consumption and Cleveland's proposed waste-to-energy project.

Trepal has a drawer full of awards recognizing her accomplishments, including the Greater Cleveland Woman of Achievement Award from the YWCA of Cleveland. These honors are well-deserved, says Sanders.

"Chris is masterful in terms of her knowledge and approach," says the EDC director. "She's one of the hardest working people I've ever known."

Trepal's executive director position retires with her. Earlier this year, EDC named Elaine Barnes as its development and program director. The organization will also be hiring additional advocacy staff to make up for the experience lost with Trepal's leave-taking.

"Our vision has crystallized in the last year," says Sanders. "We want to strengthen our neighborhood focus as well as continue collaborations with groups like the Metroparks."

Regardless, Trepal's leadership will be missed, notes Sanders. "I learned a lot from her over the years," he says.


Source: Scott Sanders
Writer Douglas Guth

The Cleveland Foodbank has a message for Cuyahoga County children as they head into another school year: "You will never go hungry."

The nonprofit food distributor is fulfilling this promise through its annual "Backpack for Kids" program. Throughout the academic year, the Foodbank will partner with 30 schools and afterschool programs to provide children with nutritious meals, says Karen Pozna, the organization's director of communications.

"There are too many kids in Cleveland who don't know where their next meal is coming from," says Pozna.

The program works like this: At the end of each week, backpacks filled with healthy food are discreetly handed out to school children to take home over the weekend. The packages are made up of a variety of items -- cereal, tuna, peanut butter, beef stew, canned vegetables and fruit, soup, pasta, and a kid-friendly treat like peanut butter crackers or yogurt snacks. Each child receives enough food for six full meals.

Food banks across the U.S. are involved with the initiative, notes Pozna. On average, the Cleveland chapter's Backpack for Kids program provides about 3,000 backpacks each week.

Good eating habits are a critical facet of academic success, Pozna says. The backpack program began after teachers noticed their students were coming into school on Mondays feeling sick from lack of proper meals over the weekend.

Statistics further reflect the need for the program, says the Foodbank spokesperson. About 28 percent of Cuyahoga County children under the age of 18 lived in poverty last year, says Pozna. In addition, one third of recipients at local hunger centers are children.

Back-to-school season can be a particularly difficult time for low income families trying to put three square meals on the table each day. "Kids are getting lunch and breakfast at school, but they don't always get proper nutrition at home," Pozna says.


Source: Karen Pozna
Writer: Douglas Guth

If children and the arts are two of a community's most precious commodities, then the Cleveland Foundation has got Northeast Ohio covered.

As part of an overall grantmaking surge totaling $21.6 million in grants to local nonprofit organizations, the foundation has authorized monies to separate programs focusing on youth development and arts and culture.

Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland received $250,000 to expand its reach, says foundation executive vice president Bob Eckardt. The grant will support after-school and summer activities at various club locations. It will also fund a development campaign seeking to raise money for general programming.

"We recognize that Cleveland's youth need more than just schools," says Eckardt. "There's a need for high-quality out-of-school programming."

On the cultural side of the slate, Cleveland Foundation continued its support of two capital campaigns in the arts - Gordon Square Arts District and the Power of Three: Allen Theatre Project. Each program was granted $250,000, bringing the foundation’s support for both campaigns to the $1 million level.

The Gordon Square district on Cleveland's West Side acts as an economic catalyst for the surrounding community, says Eckardt. The foundation's funding will solely be used for renovation of the Cleveland Public Theatre.

The Power of Three: The Allen Theatre Project, meanwhile, is a partnership among Cleveland State University, PlayhouseSquare and Cleveland Play House to build Allen Theatre into a multivenue performing arts and education complex.

Supporting the two arts programs was an easy call for the foundation. "Arts and culture is one of our strengths," Eckardt says, pointing to the thriving arts' enclaves in University Circle, downtown Cleveland and elsewhere. "It's part of our brand as a community and plays into or economic development strategy as a region."

 
SOURCE: Bob Eckardt
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

It might seem obvious, but making a movie costs lots of money. Grips, props, camera, lighting equipment and special effects all add up. For a small film, just ensuring that the entire crew's gas money is covered can make up a large chunk of the budget. Applying to film festivals so people actually see your movie is yet another expense.

Cleveland Heights filmmaker Tiffany Laufer knows the cost well, and she's looking to get a crowdfunding boost to help her latest project make it to the big screen. Honor Society is a short film about the societal pressures teenagers face and how the friendships they form are often the glue that keeps them together. Laufer already has filmed a trailer starring the two local high school-aged actresses who will appear in the production.

For funding, she is using Kapipal, an international fundraising platform. Laufer's goal is to raise $4,500 by October 16. As of this writing, she has raised nearly $400 for a "nuts and bolts" budget that will top out at about $8,500.

"[Crowdfunding] is a new endeavor for me and I'm excited to try this approach," says Laufer.

The process is as daunting as it is exciting, the filmmaker adds. Laufer has been pushing the project via Facebook, Twitter, her personal website, and the movie's online fundraising home. Laufer plans on submitting Honor Society to more than 30 film festivals. Her previous film, The Acorn Penny, screened at over 16 festivals across the country. 

Even a dollar would offer something in terms of psychological support, Laufer maintains. "You have to hustle and take nothing personally," she says of the crowdfunding experiment. "It's been an interesting learning experience."
Honor Society is getting made whether or not Laufer reaches her fundraising target. She credits her high school friends for getting her through some stormy formative years that included her parents' divorce.
 
Today's teenagers face a society that requires them to be practically perfect, an expectation that's both unrealistic and unfair, she says. Through crowdfunding, Laufer hopes to tell their story.
 
"We need to be there for our teenagers on all levels," she says. "I've come so far [in the filmmaking process] I have to continue."
 

SOURCE: Tiffany Laufer
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Mobile workforce management software company TOA Technologies has spent most of its existence dealing with the "nuts and bolts of American industry," says Jeff Wartgow, vice president of channels and alliances. It's the company's tech, for example, that ensures the cable technician is getting a proper signal so he can complete his work.
 
Thanks to its recent partnership with Racktime Sales & Marketing Services, a Netherlands-headquartered field marketing services provider, TOA now gets a taste of the "sexy" side of the tech industry, Wartgow says. Racktime will be using TOA's  new ETAworkforce and ETAdirect Professional software to optimize its mobile business operations, which include cool stuff like DVD displays and Playstation demo booths.

"Racktime is a fun, young company," says Wartgow. "It's great to see that side of the culture coming into the market."
"Field marketing" represents the distribution or sampling of promotions in the public space. TOA software will assist Racktime in automating assignments, optimizing schedules and providing its customers with real-time visibility and collaboration capabilities.

Field marketing "is a completely new frontier for us," Wartgow says. "We had to find a progressive prospect like Racktime willing to take a risk on us."

Creating a product far afield from its core is exciting, says the TOA vice president. "Our mission is to keep expanding and taking on these challenges," adds Wartgow. "It's energizing to [work in] this part of the market."
 

SOURCE: Jeff Wartgow
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth