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5th street arcades launches retail grant competition to attract next-gen urban retail
Call it a small business grant competition with a twist. The Downtown Cleveland Alliance 5th Street Arcades Retail Development Grant Competition will award $1,500 to $20,000 to startup businesses. Along with free and reduced rent for the first year, tenants will also have a chance to win matching funds and garner community support through online crowdfunding.

Downtown Cleveland Alliance and developer Dick Pace are hoping that the recently launched program, which is being funded by Charter One Growing Communities, will help kickstart new downtown retail and fill up long-vacant spaces in the 5th Street Arcades (formerly the Colonial Arcade).

"I already have people calling me," says Pace, who has added several new shops since taking over a master lease for the arcades, including Curious Cleaveland, Chocolate 76 and Different Things Gallery. "We need more than one single shop, but a group of retailers that feed off each other and create that synergy."

The crowdfunding campaigns, which will take place after winners are selected, will give retailers a chance to raise funds and generate buzz. "They get capital support from DCA, and support from crowdfunding. It's a pretty powerful combination."

Carrie Carpenter of Charter One Growing Communities says that providing gap funding to new urban retailers has been so successful that the program is being rolled out in other cities outside of Northeast Ohio. "When you look at it from a small business perspective, we have tons of entrepreneurs in Cleveland, tons of great ideas," she says. "The challenge is that they simply lack funding to make it happen. Growing Communities is about helping neighborhoods succeed."

The competition began Tuesday, January 29 and runs through Friday, March 1, 2013. Applications must be received by 5 p.m. on March 1 to be eligible. Finalists will be notified on or before March 20, 2013. Grant applications will be judged on their merits by a selection committee.

Finalists will run crowdfunding campaigns from March 25 to April 24. Winners and grant amounts are scheduled to be announced the week of April 29.


Source: Carrie Carpenter, Dick Pace
Writer: Lee Chilcote
whopperjaw jaws about lottery league
In a Lottery League of Their Own
 
In an awesome post on Whopperjaw, an online music and arts blog, writer Sam Fryberger interviews the founders -- Jae Kristoff, Michael Pultz and Ed Sotelo -- of the popular Lottery League event on the unexpected success of their wacky idea.
 
"Lottery League is a large-scale recurring experiment that brings together diverse Cleveland musicians and forces them to form new bands on the spot with people they definitely have never played with and may never have even met before. Each new group gets two months to come together, develop their band’s identity and, of course, practice for the Big Show on April 13 (which is free and open to the public)," Fryberger writes.
 
The numbers are staggering: nearly 200 participants in the event are randomly matched to create 42 brand new bands.

 “At the end of this you are booked for a gig. You aren’t getting paid, but you have a show and you are expected to perform,” the musicians are told.

Regarding the creation, Kristoff says: Ed Sotelo had posted a long rant on there about the lousy music he had seen the night before and about how he thought all city’s bands should break up and be part of sports-like draft. I was like, “Holy shit.” Then, Nate and I started talking about it. Eventually I ended up calling Ed and said, “Remember that thing you posted earlier? We can totally do that.”

Sotelo: I don’t remember, but I am pretty sure I said, “Whatever, dude.” But it was definitely a fun idea even then when he laid it out. Jae was assuring me, “It’s going to happen.”

Sotelo continues: Here’s a chance to completely take a risk and have fun. Some cats are really hungry for something like that. I can go play my own stuff for three hours or I can play someone else’s stuff for three hours. But you know what would be great? If I could just say “fuck it” and hang out with people I’ve never met for a while and do something completely different musically. I believe that every musician, regardless of genre, deep down inside would like to be challenged and wants to create.
 
Check out the rest here.
 
art daily talks up cma's tech-heavy gallery one
In an Art Daily article titled “Gallery One: A new, unique and interactive gallery opens at the Cleveland Museum of Art,” the journal highlights the level of technology and its role in art appreciation in the new exhibit.
 
“Throughout the space, original works of art and digital interactives engage visitors in new ways, putting curiosity, imagination and creativity at the heart of their museum experience. Innovative user-interface design and cutting-edge hardware developed exclusively for Gallery One break new ground in art museum interpretation, design and technology.”
 
It is certainly a break from the standard observation and appreciation of artistic pieces enjoyed in the traditional manner.
 
“It’s very important to us that visitors interact with real objects, rather than digital reproductions,” David Franklin is quoted in the piece. “We want visitors to look closely at original art works and to make personal connections to what they are seeing.”
 
Check out the full story here.
quick2launch creates pain-free presentations with a few mouse clicks
Phil Alexander and Mohit Ahluwalia realized something when they were earning their MBAs at CWRU: that people in all segments of businesses are charged with creating presentations at some point in their careers. However, not everyone has the talent -- or budget to hire an agency -- to create an eye-catching presentation.

“Thirty million PowerPoint presentations are made every day across America,” says Alexander.
 
So Alexander and Ahluwalia thought about starting a business that would help customers create their presentations.

“We wanted to do something with digital media,” recalls Alexander. “We were looking to figure out if we could automate the process and avoid paying the high rates of agencies.”
 
The two applied to LaunchHouse Accelerator last summer and developed Quick2Launch, a company that creates great visuals for any presentation. The company officially launched last week with its ConceptDrop technology.
 
With the company’s ConceptDrop, users login, upload their content outlines and fill out a creative brief questionnaire describing their presentation. They are then presented with a selection of pre-approved templates and themes, and Quick2Launch takes it from there and creates the visuals to go along with the content. The end result is a complete, professional presentation.
 
“We’re just trying to hold their hand throughout the creation of the presentation,” says Alexander. “We’ve tried to make it so it’s really simple.”
 
Quick2Launch partners with Reality Premedia Services, which provides access to 150 graphic designers. The company is about a month away from launching its business-to-business platform.
 
Alexander says they hope to hire a sales team and in-house designers soon. “The goal is to completely build our own entity,” he says. “We really want to be the all-in-one stop for presentations.”

 
Source: Phil Alexander
Writer: Karin Connelly
from hillbilly to highbrow, the cleveland flea aims to launch a new saturday tradition
The St. Clair Superior Development Corporation and artist-entrepreneur Stephanie Sheldon are hoping to start a new tradition in Cleveland come spring -- an urban flea market that celebrates Cleveland's maker community and helps locals turn trash into treasure.

The Cleveland Flea will take place on the second Saturday of the month at E. 64th and St. Clair Avenue beginning in April. It will feature a mix of artisans, food trucks, pop-up and bricks-and-mortar retail, and educational demonstrations.

"It will be a look at the maker community in Cleveland combined with traditional flea aspects," says Sheldon, the energetic driver behind the startup businesses Parfait, Indie Foundry and Kiss and Bite. "It will be a mix of a curated selection of Cleveland artisans and a treasure hunt. It won't be all hillbilly or all highbrow."

While the Flea itself will take place outdoors, it dovetails with St. Clair Superior's Retail Ready project, which has lured new businesses to the area by working with local landlords to offer cheap rent, buildout funding and marketing assistance.

Sheldon says the idea came in part from her realization that Cleveland's artisan community could use a home. "I hear rumblings from people who ask, 'How do people find me in the oversaturated Etsy market? It's become really ineffective."

In addition to makers and locals selling their stuff, ideas for the CLE Flea include a pop-up restaurant for food trucks, educational programs on bike repair and starting a business, and a partnership with the Cleveland Salon.

Sheldon hopes the idea will catch on and grow quickly. A soft launch will take place on Saturday, February 23rd at the first-ever Cleveland Kurentovanje, a traditional Slovenian rite of spring that is coming to the area.


Source: Stephanie Sheldon
Writer: Lee Chilcote
clinic's efforts to control type 2 diabetes with bariatric surgery touted
In a Richmond County Daily Journal piece titled “Bariatric surgery may help send Type 2 diabetes into remission,” Laura Edigton reports on the Cleveland Clinic’s efforts to control Type 2 diabetes and how Bariatric surgery might help.
 
The Cleveland Clinic said that diabetes experts now believe that bariatric surgery “should be offered much earlier as a reasonable treatment option for patients with poorly controlled diabetes -- and not as a last resort.”

The Cleveland Clinic discovered the correlation and released it in their Top 10 Medical Innovations for 2013 list.
 
“Bariatric surgery can have a profound effect on diabetes, and many published studies have looked at the effect,” bariatric surgeon Raymond Washington is quoted. “Surgery can account for almost an 80 percent remission of diabetes. Oftentimes, patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes will leave the hospital off of their oral medications after only a few days.”
 
Read more about this exciting discovery here.
nonprofit enrichment program open doors academy expands into new offices
Open Doors Academy, which started in 2002 as an after-school program for at-risk youth at St. Paul's Church in Cleveland Heights, now works with over 330 adolescents at eight school sites each year. Nearly 100 percent of Open Doors' participants attend college or a post-secondary program.

To accommodate its growth, Open Doors recently moved into a newly renovated, 5,700-square-foot office at 3311 Perkins Avenue. Executive Director Annemarie Grassi says that the organization has come out of the closet -- quite literally.

"We started in a space in the Heights Medical Building in Cleveland Heights that was maybe 400 square feet, and that was a huge upgrade from our office before, which was located in a St. Pauls Church closet," says Grassi. "Then we moved to 1,800 square feet, but everytime you turned around there was more growth."

The new office, which was completely raw before the landlord built it out, features open space with pods for various work teams and hoteling spaces for field workers who only come into the office occasionally. The project was paid for by a grant from the Ames Foundation and a donation from a generous individual.

Grassi says that Open Doors is effective because it offers a comprehensive support program for at-risk youth, involving families, teachers and school support staff in efforts to bolster student achievement and leadership. Unique features include required service work as close as Cleveland and as far away as Honduras.

"We combine high-quality programming with strong outcomes," says Grassi. "When a kid sees that their parent is invested in the program, then they're more likely to be invested, too. We focus on creating the whole child."

Grassi says that Open Doors, whose hallmark is engaging youth every school day from 6th-12th grade, is replicable. "We want to be in every high school in Cleveland and the inner ring suburbs 20 years from now," she says.


Source: Annemarie Grassi
Writer: Lee Chilcote
chef doug katz doubles down on lee road's luckless diners
When it opens this spring, The Katz Club Diner will become the sixth enterprise to hazard a bet on the twin diner cars on Lee Road in Cleveland Heights. But this time around -- thanks to the skill and experience of chef-owner Doug Katz -- the odds are not stacked against its success.
five student teams heading to columbus to compete in clean energy challenge
Five student entrepreneurial teams will compete in the semifinals at the Ohio Clean Energy Challenge in Columbus on January 29, presenting their business plans and technologies to a panel of judges for the chance to win $10,000 and an opportunity to go on to the Midwest regional competition in Chicago.

The event is hosted by the University Clean Energy Alliance of Ohio (UCEAO) and NorTech as part of the Department of Energy’s National Clean Energy Business Plan Competition. This is the second year the competition has been held in Ohio.
 
“We’ve expanded quite a bit this year,” explains Ashley Sparks, senior project coordinator at NorTech. “Each team was paired up with an industry mentor who could really help the teams build on their ideas and get feedback.”
 
The businesses represent various ideas in clean energy solutions. “It’s paramount for this region to have students really interested in commercialization,” says Byron Clayton, NorTech vice president. “These are students who are involved in bringing jobs here and it addresses the brain drain issue in that these businesses they create keep them here.”
 
The top team in the Ohio competition will go on to compete for $100,000 in Chicago at the Midwest regional competition. In addition to the five Cleveland teams, there are seven other teams from around the state.
 
“This challenge helps raise awareness of these startup companies in the state and the region,” says Clayton. “This challenge brings new innovations to the area, provides funding, creates mentoring opportunities and access to venture capital.”

 
Source: Ashley Sparks, Byron Clayton
Writer: Karin Connelly
soul food dynasty warms downtown bellies with stonetown southern bistro
Downtown has lacked a soul food restaurant for years. That's changed now that Soul Republic, the successful restauranteurs behind Angie's Soul Cafe, Jezebel's Bayou and Zanzibar, have opened Stonetown Southern Bistro at 627 Prospect Avenue.

The casual venue, whose menu features "soul food with a twist" and is similar to Zanzibar at Shaker Square, aims to fill a gap in the marketplace. "This is one of those everyday locations, as opposed to a place you'd go as a treat on date night," says Adrian Lindsay, Stonetown's general manager. "That niche has been missing down here. It's something overdue for this area."

Lunch entree prices are in the $6 to $9 range, while dinner menu items are priced from $10 to $14. Stonetown is located in the former Nexus Coffeehouse space on the ground floor of the 668 Euclid Avenue apartment building (Prospect Ave. side).

Soul Republic has reconfigured the space so that it features a lounge and bar with hightop tables and a dining room. A homemade wine cabinet separates the two.

The menu is a "soul fusion" concept similar to Zanzibar, says Akin Alafin, general manager of Soul Republic, but it  includes many new items as well. These include buttermilk fried yardbird with red velvet waffle, lobster shrimp and grits, fried crawfish, lobster quesadilla with arugula sauce, and the Stone Rolls.

Stonetown has been getting a great reception so far, says Lindsay. The key to success for the company, which employs eight family members and has become something of a soul food dynasty, has been consistency, the incorporation of fresh ingredients from local farmers and the West Side Market, and not taking shortcuts. "They want soul food; it's gotta be cooked for the soul."

The restaurant, while still in the soft-open phase, does feature the full menu, says Alafin. Weekend brunch will start on Saturday, January 26th and run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. So far, Soul Republic has invested more than $200,00 into the space and has hired 11 people.

Stonetown Southern Bistro is Soul Republic's fifth restaurant in the Cleveland area.


Sources: Adrian Lindsay, Akin Alafin
Writer: Lee Chilcote
heights library to convert old ymca gym into knowledge and innovation center
The Cleveland Heights-University Heights Library is transforming a 4,000-square-foot former YMCA gym connected to its Lee Road branch into a high-tech community classroom and home for the Cuyahoga County Small Business Development Center.

The renovation, which broke ground in December and will be completed in June, is aimed at better serving the community while also supporting small business entrepreneurship in the Heights communities.

The new Heights Knowledge and Innovation Center (HKIC) will be free and open to the public. The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) will be operated by the Monte Ahuja College of Business at Cleveland State University.

"There are a number of things about this project that are very innovative, and one of them is that an SBDC has never been in a library," says Library Director Nancy Levin. "We want to publish our results and try to make it an example for others."

Libraries have been evolving for some time into hubs for small business, and many now offer meeting rooms and workrooms. The project fulfills a vision identified in 2006 during community meetings, Levin says. The six workrooms currently available at the main library are nearly always completely full, she adds.

Other features of the project include a new computer lab with 26 work stations, expanded wireless access in the HKIC lounge area, additional study rooms, iPad rental, a production work area with office supplies, and a digital multimedia lab.

The $485,000 project is being paid for by the Heights Libraries Building and Repair Fund. It was designed by studioTECHNE and the contractor is Sterling Professional Group.


Source: Nancy Levin
Writer: Lee Chilcote
huffpo features successful cleveland women helping one another
In a Huffington Post story titled “How Women Entrepreneurs Succeed in the Midwest,” Lynn-Ann Gries chronicles the emergence of high-profile startups and companies founded by women in the Midwest, especially Cleveland. 
 
Gries’ piece details everything from networking opportunities to female-focused financial support and resources to the availability of role models to encourage further growth and development.
 
In the Cleveland area, Laura Bennett, CEO and Founder of Embrace Pet Insurance, formed a mentoring community for female entrepreneurs leading high-growth-potential companies, called the Burning River Coffee Community. "I feel there is a place for a community to mentor women to build our numbers," Bennett says. "Women are no less driven, focused and capable of running high growth companies than men; there just aren't many examples to look to. The BRCC is another way to encourage and support women in building these companies."
 
Check out the complete informative and inspiring story here.
art journal highlights cma's 2012 accomplishments
In an Art Daily piece titled “Cleveland Museum of Art celebrates significant accomplishments from 2012,” the online arts newspaper highlights the remarkable year the museum experienced. From an increase in attendance to the opening of a dining facility featuring cuisine from a prominent local chef to educational programs, it was an exciting year.
 
"The Cleveland Museum of Art announced today that 423,640 visitors came to the museum in 2012. This attendance statistic represents a 38% increase year-over-year and brings the museum’s annual attendance in-line with pre-renovation figures, the first time such an accomplishment has occurred since 2005. Attendance drivers included the blockbuster special exhibition, Rembrandt in America, as well as the highly anticipated openings of the stunning Ames Family Atrium, dining facilities featuring cuisine by Chef Douglas Katz, the museum store and new galleries showcasing the Late Medieval, Renaissance and Islamic collections."
 
“As the museum approaches the final stages of our transformational renovation project and looks towards its centennial in 2016, we do so with a new vision for the future, led by director David Franklin,” Steven Kestner, chairman of the Board of Trustees, is quoted in the piece. “We are very pleased with the progress made by David and his team thus far and look forward to celebrating even more accomplishments in 2013.”
 
In the big business that is fine art, the CMA was also thankful to members and donors who make it possible to bring such experiences, exhibitions, films, and other special programs throughout the year. 
 
Read the full piece here.
draft mag drinks to cleveland beer bars
Once again, Draft Magazine has included multiple Cleveland watering holes in its annual round-up of America’s 100 Best Beer Bars: 2013.

"As craft beer has exploded, so has the number of incredible places that serve it. This list celebrates those special haunts with less than three locations and one passionate focus: beer. There might be darts and a jukebox or candlelight and a turntable; there might be five beers or 500. But in every spot on our list, you’ll find an excellent brew in your glass and people -- staff, owners, barflies -- who care about that as much as you do."
 
Among the list is:

Buckeye Beer Engine

"Grab a seat at the horseshoe bar, order up a cask-conditioned pint from local brewery Indigo Imp, and marvel at the inventive displays of beer paraphernalia -- like the beer-bottle light fixtures illuminating this upbeat watering hole."

La Cave du Vin

"A flicker of candle flame and the glow from the bottle coolers is all the light you have to go by in this subterranean beer mecca, which means the handful of taps, discerning bottle selection and vintage list under lock and key are best enjoyed on a date -- leave your beer notebook at home."
 
Bier Markt

"Rich, dark wood tones and soft lighting set the mood for this swanky, Belgian-enriched bar, while bottles of 3 Fonteinen Oud Gueze circa 2009 and plates of pickled pork shoulder help make this joint one of the classiest beer spots in Cleveland to bring a date."

Drink up all the good news here.
new organization aims to leverage area's expertise in water technology
The health of Lake Erie has come a long way in the past 40 years, and it is now considered by many to be a case study of a recovering ecosystem. Yet not very many people know that, in part as a result of cleaning up our water pollution as well as our close proximity to a Great Lake, Northeast Ohio companies have developed rich expertise in water technology.

To leverage this cluster, influence policy, and conduct research and education, a group of organizations have launched The Alliance for our Water Future, a new nonprofit organization that seeks to spur innovative solutions to freshwater issues locally and globally.

"Silicon Valley is an example of what one industry cluster can do for a region," says Byron Clayton, Vice President at NorTech. "Companies all worked together in that region to leverage their strengths. In Northeast Ohio, we have a great legacy in cleaning up industrial waste water. We identified areas where we have the best chance of competing, and that's been the focus of our water technology cluster."

The areas that NorTech identified are automation and controls (identifying the best, most efficient way to control water), absorbents (extracting contaminants from water) and corrosion resistance (preventing water systems from corroding).

NorTech's role is to identify, organize and accelerate clusters. The Alliance will help promote this success story and spur cross-sector collaboration. By working together, the groups involved in the Alliance hope to make a global impact.

"This is about the economic future of our region," says Fran DiDonato, Program Manager of the Alliance. "If we can show that we had success with cleaning water, then that gives us credibility when we export our solutions to other places."

Two Northeast Ohio companies, MAR Systems and ABSMaterials, were recently selected by the Artemis Project as 2012 Top 50 Water Companies. Rockwell Automation is also considered a major player in the water technology field.

The founding members of the Alliance are NorTech, Case Western Reserve University, Port of Cleveland, Cleveland Metroparks, Cleveland State University, Hiram College, Great Lakes Science Center, Kent State University, MAR Systems and Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.


Source: Byron Clayton, Fran DiDonato
Writer: Lee Chilcote
clinic ceo cosgrove shares transparency lessons with forbes
In a feature titled "Five Lessons in Transparency from Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove," Forbes magazine discusses the Clinic's unique approach to medical transparency.

"Cleveland Clinic is the health care industry trailblazer when it comes to publishing its clinical outcomes. As discussed in this earlier story (“How To Report Quality To The Public”), the Ohio hospital system annually publishes Outcomes Books that detail the clinical performance of each of its departments."

Writer David Whelan spoke to CEO -- and "unofficial transparency officer" -- Delos “Toby” Cosgrove, who personally developed the Outcomes Book concept in the first place.

"Almost thirty years ago when he became chair of heart surgery -- and 20 years before he ascended to his current role -- he started measuring and sharing surgical outcomes as a way to hold staff accountable."

The feature goes on to share five lessons from Dr. Cosgrove on how to run a hospital in an increasingly transparent world of health care.

Read the rest here.
long-in-the-works toast wine bar set to finally open in gordon square
Small plates. Classic cocktails. A wine list curated by a well-traveled owner with a zest for local food. Shared tables made from old flour bins and lots of cozy nooks for hanging out with friends or snuggling up to a date. A menu filled with items like gnudi and braised lamb.

These are just a few of the wonderful things Fresh Water uncovered during a recent tour of Toast Wine Bar, which is set to open next month in the Gordon Square Arts District after six long years of planning.

Local resident and attorney Jillian Davis first purchased the building in 2006, with plans to open a place where she could share her love of great wine and locavore cuisine with others. The building, which had been vacant for years, is a former bakery and residence that came with cool window seats and built-in cabinets.

Then came a nasty spat with the church next door, which first opposed her liquor license but later came around. After her plans were approved a year ago, Davis started construction with the aid of contractor and furniture designer John Arthur. Toast is now drywalled out and Davis says that she plans to open in February. We know: We'll believe it when we see it. But trust us, folks, it's pretty darn close.

"The space was filled with stuff we could reuse; everything is just kind of getting recycled, which is cool," says Davis, pointing out the empty spot where the bar, which is being built from old doors and will have a zinc top, will be installed.

Davis is very excited about her cocktail list, boasting such colorful names as Vieux Carre, Widow's Kiss, Hanky Panky and Sir Alex. "I'm really into the cocktail renaissance," she says. "If you come here, you'll be able to have liquor, but only what I want you to have." Yes ma'am. And at 13 bucks a pop, we bet they'll be good and strong, too.

The opening of Toast is expected to create eight new full-time jobs in the city of Cleveland. Davis wouldn't disclose her total investment amount, simply saying that she's "doing it on the cheap" with some help from the City of Cleveland's Neighborhood Retail Assistance Program, a commercial bank loan and equity.

Davis, who has traveled the world drinking and eating, is excited about the launch. "When I'm not at work, I read about food and wine, cook and eat. It's my passion."


Source: Jillian Davis
Writer: Lee Chilcote
revolutionary bike pedal improves efficiency while reducing fatigue
About 15 years ago Nick Stevovich was experiencing the familiar burn in his legs from bike racing. He thought to himself, there has to be a better way to pedal a bicycle.

“I thought how do I overcome leg fatigue and still get the same performance,” he says. “About the same time I was rollerblading.” With that the idea for Motion Resolution was born.

Stevovich is developing an improved bike pedal that uses some of the concepts of rollerblading. “It changes the stroke cycle, has greater efficiencies and uses different muscles for greater speed,” he says. “It distributes the work of your legs a little more evenly, and the pedals stride in and out in a skating motion.”
 
Stevovich plans to market the pedal to tri-athletes and racing cyclists. “The pedals fit on any bike -- if you saw them you probably couldn’t tell the difference,” he says. “I’m hoping it changes the way people look at bike pedals.”
 
Working out of the Incubator at MAGNET, Stevovich recently received $25,000 from the Lorain County Community College Foundation Innovation Fund. He plans to use the money to develop additional prototypes and show proof of concept.
 
For now, Stevovich’s wife is working on marketing and a Kent State graduate student is writing her thesis on the bike pedal concept. He plans to show his product at a bike show in Las Vegas in September, and hopes to bring the pedals to market by 2014.

 
Source: Nick Stevovich
Writer: Karin Connelly
point-man approach to info tech serves booming lazorpoint well
When Dave Lazor founded Lazorpoint nearly 16 years ago, he had a vision of building a full-service IT firm that would allow clients to focus on what they do best and not worry about whether their information services capabilities were the right match.

“We think, build and run informational systems that instill confidence,” explains Lazor. “Entrepreneurs or mid-market CEOs are focused on running their businesses and servicing their customers. They know they need information services, but they don’t know anything about it. They need a point man.”
 
And a point man is exactly what Lazorpoint provides. Each client is assigned a point man, who makes sure every need is met. “They have a vision: the point man can provide the leadership,” says Lazor. “When there are problems, or opportunities, we provide the leadership to make things happen.”
 
Lazor makes sure all of his 22 employees are dedicated to their clients’ needs. “The people we hire are very passionate about serving our clients,” he says. “We are relentless in whatever mission we’re on. We go beyond just the technology. We look at the people process.”
 
An example of the point man philosophy at work is demonstrated in an instance where a client had a warehouse fire.

“The client called his point man at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night and asked if we could help,” recalls Lazor. “At 8 a.m. Sunday we were on site. They were back in business Monday morning, with emails getting through. No one knew they had this problem.”
 
The point man approach has proved successful for Lazorpoint. The company has been named to the Weatherhead 100 as one of the fastest growing companies in Northeast Ohio eight times. Lazorpoint hired two additional people last year, and recently brought in a co-op student for a second year. The company currently has one open position, plans on hiring two interns this summer and creating another full-time position later this year.
 
Source: Dave Lazor
Writer: Karin Connelly
museum of natural history officially kicks off campaign for ambitious expansion
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) has launched an ambitious $125 million campaign to renovate and expand its campus in University Circle. Dr. Evalyn Gates, the particle physicist who has led the museum since 2010, wants the new structure to become a hands-on learning lab for green building, science education and environmental stewardship.

"Our role is to give kids a taste of real science with real scientists in a hands-on, minds-on kind of way," says Gates. "We can do things in a museum that can't be done in every classroom. Natural history is about our understanding of the world around us. We can help people better understand our place in the natural world."

CMNH will demolish a portion of its older, 1950s-style building and renovate the rest of it. The museum also will add two light-filled wings, a glassy lobby, and 300-space parking garage. The re-do will bring activity that now takes place in the bowels of the building -- such as paleontology work -- into a more publicly accessible space where people can more easily see it. CMNH has long sought to expand, but its plans were put on hold when the recession hit a few years ago.

Gates believes that the philanthropic appetite exists to fund CMNH's expansion and it can be completed within the next several years. CMNH has already begun to reinvent itself since she assumed the role of director. One example is the SmartHome, Gates says, which was a draw because it was hands-on.

As examples of science education, Gates cited programs like the junior med camp and vet camp, school field trips to the planetarium and a partnership with the Cleveland schools that allows every second grader to visit CMNH for free.


Source: Evalyn Gates
Writer: Lee Chilcote