Smart Business Magazine, June 2016

June 2016 Smart Business Akron Canton 31 Bob Rowland PRESIDENT Evergreen Industrial Batteries www evergreenindustrialbatteries com In a little more than five years Evergreen Industrial Batteries grew from two people working at home to a company of 19 people in a 28000 square foot building with revenue in the millions of dollars Led by Bob Rowland president Evergreen has become one of Americas leading suppliers of reconditioned forklift batteries With more than 35 years of experience in the leasing industry Rowland brings depth a network of contacts and a vision to Evergreen to serve the material handling industry in unprecedented ways He accomplishes this through a three point strategy First the company reconditions forklift batteries to provide 80 percent of their original capacity at 50 percent of the original cost Secondly Evergreen distributes a portion of the gains back to the suppliers paying as much as three times more than the next bidder Lastly because of Evergreens ability to recondition the batteries it creates an inventory and leases the batteries to end users Jonathon Sawyer CHEF AND OWNER Trentina Noodlecat The Greenhouse Tavern www jonathonsawyer com Chef Jonathon Sawyer and his wife Amelia opened The Greenhouse Tavern in 2009 when Cleveland was in the midst of the recession The Sawyers made it their mission to help revitalize Clevelands economy and create a restaurant scene rivaling any city In 2010 Sawyer was honored as a recipient of Food Wines Best New Chef award In 2015 he was named James Beard Awards Best Chef Great Lakes He has become a national celebrity making national television appearances on Iron Chef America Dinner Impossible Unique Eats and Best Thing I Ever Ate Today the proud Clevelander has helped put Cleveland on the national foodie map and opened additional restaurants expanding his growing food empire Northern Italian restaurant Trentina ramen mash up Noodlecat Tavern Vinegar Co and stadium spots Sawyers Street Frites Sausage Peppers and SeeSaw Pretzel Shoppe Reginald Shiverick PRESIDENT Dakota Software www dakotasoft com Reginald Shiverick has had a long standing interest in environmental issues Under his vision and 25 year leadership as president Dakota Software has become an industry leader for environmental management software This passion is what drives Shiverick to work closely with the development department on any new technology concepts that may arise He is the co inventor and patent holder of parametric filtering a technology that uses interactive dashboard reports to offer users on the fly analysis of data points while providing unique insights and performance comparisons Dakota Software has seen steady revenue growth since its founding in 1988 with impressive patterns since 2010 The company experienced 15 percent revenue growth in 2012 18 percent in 2013 and 26 percent in 2014 In 2014 global shifts to mobile devices prompted the company to launch more robust mobile offerings which allow users to interact with information through a mobile optimized portal Kevin R Weidinger PRESIDENT AND CEO Laudan Properties LLC www laudanproperties com A case of finding a need and filling it led to the formation of Laudan Properties LLC Kevin R Weidinger president and CEO had just returned from helping his half brothers business which repaired bank owned foreclosed properties in Detroit Weidinger realized that the banks were struggling to find honest reliable and timely contractors to perform work on residential homes they now owned Under the previous system a bank would have to locate a contractor that could do the work and obtain proof that the work was done correctly so the home could proceed through the foreclosure cycle Laudan Properties recruits trains and inspires professional contractors that can specifically perform high quality inspection and home preservation services in a short time frame Banks servicers and investors are enthusiastic about Laudans services including the ability to scale into geographies where they had specific needs Keeven White PRESIDENT AND CEO WhiteSpace Creative www whitespace creative com Under President and CEO Keeven White WhiteSpace Creative has built a flexible consistently growing company that is responsive to the unique creative requirements of each client The firm operates under a team structure rather than relying on individual departments As a result Whites staff is grouped into client centric teams that perform like mini agencies Each team consists of a unique blend of strategists designers programmers and writers that concentrate on a defined client group The structure greatly benefits the WhiteSpace client base because clients consistently work directly with a dedicated yet agile team that has intimate knowledge of each clients business Whites creative internal structure has allowed the firm to better serve as a creative partner to a variety of clients in diverse industries including the Akron Childrens Hospital Akron Marathon Race Series Kent State Athletics Hartville Pet Insurance Group and Sequoia Wellness Kimberly Wilson PRESIDENT AND CEO Slate Rock Safety LLC www SlateRockSafety com Under the leadership of President and CEO Kimberly Wilson Slate Rock Safety LLC has evolved from its founding in 2007 as a small distributor that relied on manufacturers to drop ship products to a solutions based distributor driven by innovative technology Today Slate Rock Safety is comprised of five distinct business units and is considered a competitive force in the flame resistant apparel industry Wilsons abilities to develop strong relationships with her team customers and manufacturers have resulted in double digit percentage annual sales growth for eight straight years accompanied by triple digit growth in net revenue in both 2013 and 2014 and double digit growth in net revenue in 2015 Slate Rock Safety has been recognized by Inc as one of Americas Fastest Growing Companies for four consecutive years has been a Weatherhead 100 company for three consecutive years and was a regional finalist for the EY Entrepreneur of The Year 2015 Awards