JobsOhio Office of Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO) Enhances Capability
1/17/2012
Jenny Febbo
216.363.5426 (o)
440.258.8805 (c)
jfebbo@teamneo.org
JOBSOHIO OFFICE OF TEAM NORTHEAST OHIO (TEAM NEO) ENHANCES CAPABILITY
Stephanie Mercado brings legal and financial perspective
to business growth and job-creation efforts
CLEVELAND, Ohio, January 17, 2012 – As the regional partner for JobsOhio, the state’s job creation and economic development agency, Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO) announced today that Stephanie Mercado, Esq., former executive director of the Northeast Ohio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, has joined its JobsOhio Regional Office as a business development director.
Team NEO is one of six JobsOhio Network Regional Partners across the state. The regional office assists companies and communities in 18 counties of Northeast Ohio that are seeking support from JobsOhio for growth and job creation.
Mercado, a corporate attorney versed in tax planning, entity formation and capital structuring and financing, brings another dimension of expertise to the JobsOhio team, offering businesses and Team NEO’s economic development partners access to new knowledge and resources. Additionally, Mercado’s work with the Hispanic Chamber and as a governor-appointed commissioner with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission has helped her build a network of support within Northeast Ohio’s minority communities.
“The regional perspective and experience that Stephanie brings to JobsOhio is invaluable to our efforts,” says Christine Nelson, vice president, regional business development for the Northeast Ohio JobsOhio office. “As executive director of the Hispanic Chamber and the Hispanic Center for Economic Development, she opened the Latino Small Business Development Center – the second in the state – and obtained more than $25 million in procurement opportunities and small business loans for its members and clients. She will be a great resource for companies that want grow in Northeast Ohio.”
Mercado has deep roots in Northeast Ohio, having earned her juris doctorate from Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and her BA in political science from John Carroll University. She held positions with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland before joining law firm Fauver, Keyse-Walker & Donovan in Elyria and then establishing her own law practice in Cleveland.
In her new role, Mercado reports to Nelson and will work with Team NEO’s regional partners and business leaders throughout the 18-county region that spans from Sandusky and Mansfield in the west to Youngstown, Ashtabula and East Liverpool in the east, and from Cleveland to Dover and New Philadelphia, north to south.
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 48 new company operations, 4,800 new jobs and almost $173 million in annual payroll to Northeast Ohio, leading to a total annual regional payroll benefit of $281 million. Team NEO meets monthly with economic development organizations from each of the 18 counties in the region to share best practices and discuss new initiatives.
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