13 Regional Projects Win Top Honors at Team NEO Economic Development Plus Awards
6/28/2012
For additional information, contact:
Jenny Febbo
216.363.5426 (o)
440.258.8805 (c)
jfebbo@teamneo.org
THIRTEEN REGIONAL PROJECTS WIN TOP HONORS
AT TEAM NORTHEAST OHIO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLUS AWARDS
Economic development organization recognizes outstanding contributions to region’s economy
CLEVELAND, Ohio, June 28, 2012 — Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO) honored communities and organizations for 2011 economic development initiatives that created or retained jobs, attracted investments and developed opportunities for Northeast Ohio at the organization’s sixth annual Economic Development Plus Awards ceremony, presented last night by PNC. Winners in 12 categories were announced. The event, held at LaCentre Conference and Banquet Facility in Westlake, Ohio, drew a crowd of nearly 500 business and community leaders, economic developers, politicians and chamber of commerce representatives from the 18 counties of Northeast Ohio.
“These are the people, organizations and communities who are re-energizing Northeast Ohio by supporting business and economic growth in very tangible, proactive ways,” said Tom Waltermire, CEO, Team NEO. “We recognized 42 organizations for executing projects that represent almost 8,000 new jobs, 2,200 retained jobs and $1.6 billion in capital investment.”
A panel of judges selected 24 finalists, from which the following winners were chosen:
Asset Creation
+ City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Department of Development, Northcoast Brownfield Coalition, Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority and Great Lakes Towing Company for Great Lakes Towing Company’s Shipyard Expansion Project
Business Attraction (fewer than 100 employees)
+ Team Lorain County, Lorain County Growth Partnership, Lorain County Board of Commissioners, Workforce Institute of Lorain County, Lorain County Joint Vocational School and Lorain County Community College for the attraction of Rural King
Business Attraction (more than 300 employees)
+ Canton Community Improvement Corporation, City of Canton, The Employment Source, Canton Regional Chamber and Stark Development Board for the attraction of VXI Global Solutions
Business Expansion/Retention (fewer than 100 employees)
+ City of Cleveland, Greater Cleveland Partnership and Downtown Cleveland Alliance for the retention of Cleveland Research Company
Business Expansion (more than 300 employees)
+ City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Department of Development for the AmTrust Financial project
Business Retention (more than 300 employees)
+ Greater Cleveland Partnership for its retention of the American Greetings headquarters
Foreign Investment
+ City of Akron, Summit County, Springfield Township, NEOTEC, FirstEnergy and Greater Akron Chamber for the attraction of Röchling Automotive
Fostering Entrepreneurship
+ Ohio City Inc. for the redevelopment of Ohio City’s Market District
Minority Business Development
+ Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber for the successful consolidation of Anderson-DuBose
Public-Private Partnership
+ MidTown Cleveland Inc., BioEnterprise, Hemingway Development, City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County Department of Development for the creation of the MidTown Tech Park
Regionalism & Cross-Border Collaboration
+ University of Akron, Lorain County Community College and Stark State College for the creation of the Innovation Alliance
Workforce Development (tie)
+ Ohio Regional Information Technology Engagement Board, for transforming IT Workforce Development Systems
+ Lorain County Growth Partnership for the training and retention of Republic Steel’s workforce
For more information about each of the winning projects, download our 2012 Plus Award Recipient fact sheet.
In addition, Dr. Jeanette Grasselli Brown and Dr. Glenn R. Brown were presented with the H. Peter Burg Regional Vision Award. Team NEO’s highest honor, this annual award commemorates the late chairman and CEO of FirstEnergy Corporation, a regional leader who was the founding chairman of Team NEO. Jenny and Glenn Brown were recognized individually and jointly for their extraordinary history of efforts leading to job creation, business attraction, the growth of science education and the advancement of new technologies in Northeast Ohio.
The 2012 Economic Development Plus Awards were presented by PNC. Sponsors also included the following: Humana, FirstMerit, Timken, FirstEnergy, Huntington National Bank, Lorain County Community College, Roetzel & Andress, Sherwin-Williams and Squire Sanders (US) LLP.
About Team NEO
Team NEO advances Northeast Ohio’s economy by serving as the 18-county region’s private-sector economic development hub. It builds collaboration among the region’s economic development organizations, attracts new businesses from around the world and connects the region to the state’s JobsOhio program. Since 2007, the organization has attracted 56 new company operations, almost 5,400 new jobs and more than $192 million in annual payroll to Northeast Ohio, leading to a total annual regional payroll benefit of $333+ million.
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