Smart Business Magazine, June 2017

June 2017 Smart Business Akron Canton 31 Jerry Kelsheimer REGION CHAIRMAN Fifth Third Bank Northeastern Ohio www 53 com Jerry Kelsheimer regional chairman of Fifth Third Bank Northeastern Ohio focuses on building a culture that centers on employee engagement and a supportive team effort to achieve results His involvement has significantly improved internal employee engagement scores which has led to several top workplace awards including The Plain Dealer Top Workplace in 2011 and 2013 2016 and being named to the NorthCoast 99 list from 2014 2016 To help serve business owners who are going through a sale or ownership transition Kelsheimer strengthened the internal team of experts who consult support and solve issues that arise for clients during such transitions His attention to customer focus has led to third party gathered Customer Experience Scores that for Kelsheimers region are the best in the company as of December 2016 His effective leadership has led to increased business results including a 160 percent increase in business unit earnings contribution in the past five years Vincent LoSchiavo OWNER Antonios Pizza LoSchiavo Restaurant Group www antoniospizza net Antonios Pizza and LoSchiavo Restaurant Group Owner Vincent LoSchiavo is all about building a team of outstanding people who want to do better and be better That type of culture leads to a team that will provide a great product and service and build a reputation in the community for excellence Everyone has to buy in for this type of culture to work at every level of the organization LoSchiavos culture is one of hard work with high standards Mixing productivity with accountability creates an environment for success When competition grows the company sticks to its values and follow its methodical approach to business which has enabled the company to remain a leader in the market with store sales three times higher than the industry average LoSchiavo is always searching for new ways to encourage people to better their lives The team is the future of the business and the company invests in their well being and their future Mike Maczuzak CEO AND FOUNDER SmartShape Design www smartshape design As SmartShape Designs reputation for innovative design has grown over the years so has its breadth and scope of expertise through work for startups to Fortune 100 internationals all under the leadership support and vision of CEO and Founder Mike Maczuzak The firm now boasts complete end to end expertise able to deliver market ready hard good soft good and digital design solutions including complex HIPAA compliant software development and assisting clients with manufacturing across any market or industry The companys core differentiation is in its end to end service offerings from concept to market ready solution particularly in its manufacturing and tooling expertise SmartShapes approach to product design is above all else collaborative The team collaborates with client partners to innovate working together to identify the best solutions to top industry problems Internally the teams engineers and designs keep in constant contact from idea to market ready solution to ensure that the end product is fully functional and produced cost effectively Stephen McHale CEO Explorys IBM Watson Health www ibm com watson health Stephen McHale is CEO of Explorys a company formed in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic that addresses the national imperative to leverage electronic health records for the improvement of medicine The companys network accelerates discovery of critical correlations trends and outcomes across millions of patients clinical records and diverse topologies providing unique insight to enable providers and life sciences organizations to deliver safer more efficient and more effective health care Since its inception the Explorys platform has been adopted by 19 major integrated health care systems 310 hospitals and 220000 providers that collectively deliver billions of dollars in care annually McHales career has involved founding investing in and building technology companies He is recognized for his focus in data mining and business intelligence related ventures McHale believes that Cleveland can play a central role in this evolution of health care given the regions large hospital systems and research institutions Tony Mercurio PRESIDENT AND CEO National Interstate Insurance www natl com President and CEO Tony Mercurio has helped National Interstate Insurance set itself apart from competitors by building an insurance experience around its customers powered by a talented and engaged workforce The foundation of the companys growth and success is a strong desire to provide world class customer service which requires a sustained effort from every employee to return phone calls promptly have the tools and training needed to do the job efficiently and properly be empowered to make decisions and make them quickly and to provide real expertise for its valued customers Employees are encouraged to generate and submit new product and service offerings Those ideas are passed to committees that investigate market opportunity and revenue potential If approved the product group moves efficiently through implementation and product launch The company offers on and off site training courses a tuition reimbursement program and a Leadership Academy for managers to promote professional development and accelerate employee progression Karen Mitzo Hilderbrand CEO Twin Sisters Digital Media www twinsistersip com Karen Mitzo Hilderbrand CEO of Twin Sisters Digital Media has led the company through 30 years of dynamic changes in the music and publishing industries The record label dedicated to teaching children through music faced significant challenges as the age of digital music took hold As many major record labels went out of business or consolidated Twin Sisters shifted becoming a more rounded educational products company servicing the retail segment When the company faced similar challenges to its publishing business as childrens media went digital Hilderbrand shut down the publishing company and focused solely on building a sustainable recurring revenue stream through intellectual property licensing of content The company invested in a central database for all of its content called Pub Hub to distribute content to hundreds of partners Twin Sisters Digital Media was then rebranded and thousands of innovative products were added to the line over the next several years Smart50NEO