2017 Smart Business Growth Awards

UNIQUELY AKRON/CANTON:
TRACING THE HISTORY OF
THE GLAMORGAN CASTLE
— PAGE 12
ALSO INSIDE:
KIKO CO. WORKS TO
CHALLENGE CONSUMERS’
PERCEPTIONS — PAGE 14
415 Group
AtNetPlus Inc.
Barrington Carpet & Flooring Design
Catastrophe Management Solutions Inc.
Cohen & Co.
Community Hospice
Concept Services
Corporate Technologies Group Inc.
Danbury Senior Living
Daniel’s Amish Collection
Etactics Inc.
Fire-Dex LLC
Flohr Machine Co.
Focal Point Social Media Marketing
Great Lakes Fasteners
Group Management Services
Industrial Tube and Steel Corp.
Innovation Foods
J. Rayl Transport Inc.
Jarrett Logistics Systems
Katar Holding Inc.
KHM Travel Group
Laudan Properties
Lead to Conversion LLC
LeafFilter North Inc.
Leppo Group Inc.
Main Street Gourmet LLC
Metisentry
Mielke Holdings LLC
National Interstate Insurance
Open Practice Solutions LTD
Outtech Inc.
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
Patriot Software Co.
Peoples Services Inc.
Prime Woodcraft Inc.
QualCare LLC,
dba Home Instead Senior Care
Razorleaf Corp.
SecureData 365
Sequoia Financial Group
Shoemaker Rigging & Transport
The Village Network
V3 Transportation LLC
WhiteSpace Creative
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AKRON/CANTON
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Advice.
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OCTOBER 2017 | WWW.SBNONLINE.COM | @Smart_Business
2017BUSINESSGROWTHAWARDS

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October 2017 | Smart Business Akron/Canton 3
AKRON/CANTON
FEATURES
12 UNIQUELYAKRON/CANTON
Tracing the historyof the Glamorgan Castle
14 KIKO CO.
As KIKO Co.continues to diversify,
its marketing challenges consumers’perceptions
COVER
16 CASCADE CAPITAL CORPORATION
2017 BUSINESS GROWTH AWARDS
Recognizing 44 outstanding companies that fortify
the strength of our regional economy
INSIGHTS
48 INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
What to dowhen a competitor’s patented product
threatensyour sales
50 ACCOUNTING
WhyEBITDAmatters in M&A
52 BANKING & FINANCE
Stronger relationships are often the pathway
to better customer service
DEPARTMENTS
4 EDITOR’S NOTE: ADAM BURROUGHS
Sustaining success is as important as maintaining it
5 FROM THE CEO: FRED KOURY
Lookfor newways to broadenyour thinking
— and increaseyour chances of success
6 LEADERSHIP PROCUREMENT:
DAMON HACKER
Building a solid cybersecurityenvironment
7 TOOLBOX FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH:
LUIS M. PROENZA
Your business success is central
to national economic competitiveness
8 CARE AND FEEDING: DANIEL FLOWERS
CEOs’vacation anxietycan set an unhealthyexample
9 INNOVATION INSIGHT: DR.ALBERT GREEN
Money:The compensation fallacy
10 FRAME OF REFERENCE: SAM FALLETTA
Superhero strategic planning:When to be Bruce Banner
andwhen to be the Hulk
54 TIPS FROM THE TOP: MICHAEL FEUER
The ofice is on ire!
1412
OCTOBER 2017 | VOL. 27, NO. 5
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16

4 Smart Business Akron/Canton | October 2017
ADAM BURROUGHSEDITOR’S NOTE
Avoid bad growth
Sustaining success is as
important as maintaining it
the waistline) and realize the latter —
companies in Summit, Medina, Portage,
Wayne, Stark, Holmes and Ashland
counties that overcame business and
market challenges to increase sales and
headcounts, providing a boost to their
communities’ economies.
Community growth stemming from
the success of companies planted within
its borders is a big deal. Businesses can
become landmarks in their hometowns,
their names intertwined. These
companies create opportunities and can
be anchors that cities and towns can build
around, further developing the physical
and economic landscape.
That level of consistent growth is
challenging. It means adding staff to
accommodate the added business,
training and managing them to continue
to provide the service that got the
business to where it is. It means more
clients, more products or services to
provide. It means a larger organization
that needs to operate with the same level
of service and quality as it had when it
was a smaller company.
Business leaders often talk about how
companies need to prepare for growth.
Handling its stages requires tact and
planning, otherwise the growth can
outpace the company’s ability to manage
it. The company starts to underperform.
Clients are lost and growth is stunted,
business declines and progress is reversed.
The companies featured in these pages
have maintained growth over a ﬁve-year
period — some greater than others, and
some for longer than others, but all are
on an upward trajectory. They’ve added
jobs and contributed to the economy,
which strengthens communities. That’s
something to celebrate. ●
N
ot all growth is good. Growth
of my midsection, for example,
is bad. Growing disengagement
within a company’s culture is bad, and
could be counterproductive to the type of
growth most companies seek: growth in
the bottom line.
This month Smart Business celebrates
companies that managed to avoid the
former (counterproductive growth, not
ADAM BURROUGHS
Associate Editor
Smart Business Akron/Canton
Adam is interested in the people and
businesses making a difference in
Akron/Canton.
(440) 250-7062
aburroughs@sbnonline.com
www.sbnonline.com
Smart Business Akron/Canton
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SMART
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FRED KOURY FROM THE CEO
FRED KOURY
President and CEO
Smart Business Network Inc. is the
publisher of Smart Business magazine
and operates Convero, a customer and
employee engagement irm.
Fred is committed to focusing on
relationships, not transactions, in
everything he does.
(800) 988-4726
fkoury@sbnonline.com
www.sbnonline.com
www.converoinc.com
Breaking out of the box
Look for new ways to broaden your thinking
— and increase your chances of success
T
he brothers agreed, and now the
brothers, Maurice and Richard
McDonald, and the milkshake-
machine salesman, Ray Kroc, have
permanent places in U.S. history.
The lesson? Sometimes all it takes is
a simple idea to make the difference
between minor and historic success.
I recognize that thinking outside of
our walls can be difﬁcult. In today’s
fast-paced environment, the one thing
that most people lack is time. We’re
always rushed to make decisions, and
the urgency of accomplishing the
immediate naturally rises to the top of
our priority list.
What we don’t realize is that this
mentality encourages us to act like
gerbils on a wheel, spinning in circles
but not really going anywhere.
Therefore, it is important to be able
to take ourselves outside of the picture
at times to look at things objectively.
When we train ourselves to be more
open-minded, we open doors to Kroc’s
level of success.
I’ve found from experience that
continuous learning helps maintain
an open mindset. We need to remind
ourselves to invest time in learning, no
matter our age. For example, history
has a marvelous habit of repeating
itself. By reading about history, we gain
various perspectives on how people
respond to certain situations, and we
can learn from their successes and
mistakes.
One of the benefits of technology is
that it provides access to a number of
sites that offer valuable perspective on
how to manage the daily challenges
of life and work. Farnam Street
(www.farnamstreetblog.com) is a blog
published out of Ottawa, Canada, that
offers thought-provoking life lessons
to millions of subscribers around the
world. The content is based on simple
concepts and sometimes, that’s all you
need to make a sense of whatever it is
that is holding you back.
“In a world full of noise, Farnam Street
is a place where you can step back and
think about time-tested ideas while
asking yourself questions that lead to
meaningful understanding,” reads the
blog’s home page.
There are other resources that can
aid us in tearing down our walls and
moving forward. For example, vendors
are dealing with other businesses like
yours on a daily basis, and those vendors
represent a great resource. They see and
hear all of the latest innovations taking
place in our industries, so take the time to
talk to them about these things.
When you take the time to listen,
others will teach you things and expose
you to new perspectives.
And it’s an easy way to start climbing
out of our box. ●
In 1954, as a 52-year-old milkshake-machine vendor was visiting one of his
restaurant customers in San Bernardino, California, he witnessed a unique
food assembly line system that two brothers had developed. Immediately
recognizing the potential of their idea, he offered to pay them a percentage
of their gross receipts.
facebook.com/SmartBusiness | http://on.fb.me/1RseSyO @FredKourylinkedin.com/in/fredkoury

DAMON HACKERLEADERSHIP PROCUREMENT
DAMON HACKER
President and CEO
Vestige Digital Investigations
Vestige is a leading digital forensic
company and IT security irm, engaged
in helping organizations prevent and
respond to cybersecurity issues.
(330) 721-1205
dhacker@vestigeltd.com
www.vestigeltd.com
Defense in depth
Building a solid
cybersecurity environment
I
t should come as no surprise to learn that,
like most things, a strong foundation is
timeless. It’s true that today there is a
much broader awareness of cybersecurity
issues, but does that mean that we’re
doing a better job securing our systems?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that way. In
fact, even with as much awareness as there
is, there’s still a signiﬁcant gap between
organizations’ preparation and their
ability to respond appropriately.
A sound foundation
Building a solid foundation is about
establishing a control environment that
both prevents incidents and allows you
to detect them when they happen. It’s
about adding layers of controls in the
right places and not relying upon one
or two “super” controls that you falsely
believe will protect the organization. Too
many organizations put in the latest and
greatest “solution” only to learn that the
latest security incident they experienced
completely bypassed that solution. Left
to wonder where to go from there, they
set out looking for the next “holy grail.”
Unfortunately, there’s no shortage of
companies offering the penultimate
solution that the organization will need.
Timeless recommendations
Rather than wasting resources on the
latest and greatest technology, focus your
efforts on designing an environment full
of controls at all different levels within
the environment. You may be surprised
to learn that many of the best controls are
very cost-effective, requiring little more
than know-how and some conﬁguration
changes.
To get started, you need an inventory of
the assets and an understanding of what
needs protected — is it the data itself, is
it to prevent the use of the asset by an
unauthorized individual, etc. Each asset
needs to be evaluated to determine how
sensitive it is and how much effort should
be spent to secure it.
Once those decisions are made, it is best
to establish controls as close to that asset
as you can. In this way, if a control higher
up in the environment fails, you still have
some protection around this asset.
I like to think of it as a lattice of
controls throughout the organization,
with each control offering a new and
challenging obstacle that prevents or at
least slows down an attacker from moving
up, down and across the organization’s
environment. It’s this defense-in-depth
approach that offers the most effective
protection.
Organizations such as the Information
Systems Audit and Control Association
and the Center for Internet Security
offer best practice guides that assist
organizations in developing effective
control environments. Look to these
timeless recommendations and skip the
latest fads designed to move product. ●
During a recent conversation, a potential client was lamenting about
how much technology has changed, making cybersecurity a challenge.
While I understood her vantage point, I assured her that the sound
recommendations we (and others in our industry) make today are eerily
similar to the recommendations we were making for the past 15 years.
linkedin.com/company/16228564 | linkedin.com/in/damon-hacker-14a3a52

Keeping upwith market transformation
Your business success is central
to national economic competitiveness
H
er powerful message serves to
remind us that the climate for
business is ever-changing and that
if we fail to keep abreast of emerging
is not yet widely recognized, already is
nearing $1 trillion in economic activity
through products ranging from coatings
to self-healing materials to nanoscale
machines.
In biotechnology, the new tools for
gene mapping and gene editing are
enabling advances in personalized
medicine and giving disease-preventing
capabilities never before thought
possible. And think of the companies that
now offer you the ability to know your
genetic makeup and lineage for less than
$100.
Region in transition
Now, it just so happens that Ms. Wince-
Smith is originally from Akron, so
her message, and her knowledge of
our regional economy, should not be
lost to us. We know we are a region in
transition, with many bright spots, but
also some legacy industries and practices
that cry out for transformation. Our
successes are being celebrated in books
and other publications, yet we have not
fully participated in the key technologies
that are driving economic growth
elsewhere.
In case you missed it, you can access
her talk through her profile on the Akron
Roundtable website.
And, if you want to learn more about
economic competitiveness and what our
communities and nation can do, then
go to the website for the Council on
Competitiveness. Apply what you learn
there in your companies or business. And,
equally as important, share all that you
learn with community leaders and our
state and congressional representatives. ●
In a July 20 Akron Roundtable talk entitled “The Global Competitiveness
Imperative in an Age of Turbulence, Transition and Transformation,” the
president and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness, Deborah Wince-
Smith, masterfully reminded us of the disruptive technological forces now
shaping the next generation of business success here and abroad.
LUIS M. PROENZA
President Emeritus
The University of Akron
Luis serves as a Distinguished Fellow at
the U.S. Council on Competitiveness and
co-chairs the Innovation Policy Forum
as a member of the Science,Technology
and Economic Policy Board (STEP) of
the National Academies of Science,
Engineering and Medicine.
www.uakron.edu
http://bit.ly/2n7lBrs | linkedin.com/company/the-university-of-akron facebook.com/UniversityofAkron @uakron
LUIS M. PROENZA TOOLBOX FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH
pinterest.com/uakron youtube.com/uakron
economic drivers, we are sure to lose
business competitiveness and even to
be put out of business. Think Kodak,
a company that invented the digital
camera, but could not imagine that digital
image capture could ever replace film.
Think Xerox, failing to capitalize on key
innovations that Steve Jobs incorporated
into the first Mac. Think what 3-D
printing is now doing to traditional
manufacturing.
Ongoing transformation
Indeed, as Ms. Wince-Smith told the
audience, the emerging convergence
between sensors, networks and data
analytics is affecting every conceivable
industry in unexpected and uncertain
ways. And the speed and degree by which
this is happening is astounding. Just think
of how the iPhone has transformed much
of what we do around the world.
And there is more on the horizon:
New discoveries and applications in
biotechnology, nanotechnology and
autonomous systems are giving us
unprecedented capabilities that may be
even more disruptive from a business/
economic perspective. The enthusiasm
we see today about self-driving vehicles is
already spilling over into other industries
as advances in artificial intelligence and
machine learning make their way into
other products and services.
The nanotechnology industry, one that

Areyou afraid ofvacation?
CEOs’vacation anxiety
can set an unhealthy example
T
his trend has a host of adverse
consequences for our physical
and mental health, our family
relationships and the companies where
we work. Still, so many of us refuse to
do the one thing we need the most …
take a vacation!
Who’s going to carry the load?
As leaders, we need to own the fact that
our attitudes about time off spread to
the people around us. And that is a
fearful thing, right? If we start taking
two-week vacations, everyone around
us will start doing the same thing.
Then what? Who’s going to carry the
load? Those emails are going to keep
coming. I’ll get so far behind! What if
a donor or board member can’t reach
us for something important? What if
they lose confidence in me or think my
commitment is fading?
There is no limit of things to fear
when disconnecting from the office is
concerned. The fact is this is a small,
unhealthy view of ourselves and the
world we’re trying to create.
Face your fear
If you are a leader in your company,
I want to challenge you to take two
consecutive weeks of vacation at least
once a year. It won’t be easy, and that’s
precisely why you should. One week
off is good for you, but you won’t have
to really confront your fear of being
gone until week two. That is the magic
week, the week where the lost you, the
you aside from work, begins to emerge.
We forget who we are when we’re
not busy all the time. We define our
identities by our work. And we need to
be reminded that there is life outside
of that. Simply put, we need to learn to
let go.
As the years of my life have
progressed, as I watched my kids
grow older, as the cumulative stress of
increased expectations led to more and
more anxiety, I came to see my attitude
about time off for what it is: unhealthy,
unsustainable and entirely based on
fear. Those of you who can relate
to that, take it from me, you don’t
have to live that way. And the people
around you don’t want to either. Be a
voice for health and happiness in your
workplace. Don’t give in to fear. Use
your time off.
I’d love to hear about your
experiences trying to unplug from
work. If you need support or help
devising strategies to confront this
issue in your life or company, please
feel free to contact me. ●
Much has been written about the state of vacation time usage in America these
days. According to Project: Time Off, American workers are taking a week
less vacation time now than they were between 1978-2000 … an average of
16.5 days. Additionally, we’re constantly connected to the office via devices
of all kinds, so we’re getting less down time than we’ve had in generations.
DANIEL FLOWERS
President and CEO
Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank
Dan is a member and former vice-
chairman of Feeding America’s National
Afiliate Council and is currently
chairman of the Ohio Association of
Foodbank’s board of directors.
Under his leadership, the Akron-Canton
Regional Foodbank received Feeding
America’s 2012 Food Bank of the
Year award, the highest recognition
achievable by food banks.
(330) 535-6900
www.akroncantonfoodbank.org
linkedin.com/in/danlowers @daniel_lowers | @ACRFoodbank
DANIEL FLOWERSCARE AND FEEDING
facebook.com/akroncantonfoodbank

Money
The compensation fallacy
A
nd that should make sense
because, after all, happiness has
been around long before Bentleys
and yachts. But it seems as though
CEOs must be forgetting that fact
because so many of them turn to money
as the primary motivating tool for their
teams.
Money can divide. It can isolate leaders
from their teams and it can isolate
teams from each other. There’s a reason
compensation is every organization’s
most closely held secret. It’s because
salaries aren’t always fair — and if
revealed, could trigger the ugliest
qualities in human nature to kick in
within teams.
I can tell you right now that if you’ve
got teams showing up to work each day
for the money alone, you’ve got big
problems. That’s because research shows
that although money may motivate in
the short term, it does little to inspire.
It’s a delta. If a million bucks motivates
you today, it’ll take $1.1 million
tomorrow. That delta can only go so
far before it no longer motivates. It’s
an unsustainable setup for failure in the
long-term.
It’s positive life experiences that truly
make us happy and it’s the employees
who look toward what’s next in
life, rather than the next payout, who
almost always do better work.
Of course, money affords many of
the positive life experiences I’m talking
about, like the opportunity to get an
education, start a family, travel and try
new things. And yes, that’s part of what
money compensation is there to provide.
But there’s one life experience that’s
directly within control of the CEO
and it just so happens to be the life
experience that occupies a significant
chunk of our waking hours. That life
experience is work itself.
Research shows that there are four
primary motivators that help shape a
fulfilled life for the individual while also
inspiring better performance for the
organization as a whole:
■ Sense of Fairness. Knowing that
you’re being paid a reasonable amount
for your work so that money no
longer becomes an issue.
■ Sense of Autonomy. Controlling
events in your work life by choosing
what you want to do and when you
want to do it.
■ Sense of Mastery. Excelling at a craft
that you enjoy and being recognized
as a master by peers that you respect.
■ Sense of Purpose. Feeling that your
work is helping other people and
benefitting the world in a positive way.
Great companies can only sustain
greatness if their people are motivated
and inspired by their work and fulfilled
by their work life as part of a greater life
experience. It ain’t just the money. ●
Happiness is a relative scale. The poor workingman scrubbing floors could
very well lead a happier and more fulfilled life than the richest woman on
Wall Street. That’s not debate. It’s well-researched fact.
DR. ALBERT GREEN INNOVATION INSIGHT
DR. ALBERT GREEN
CEO
Kent Displays, Inc. | Makers of Boogie
Board
Dr. Green is a corporate thought leader
who demonstrates an incredible tenacity
to transform companies, industries and
communities as a whole.
(330) 673-8784
agreen@kentdisplays.com
www.kentdisplays.com
www.myboogieboard.com
linkedin.com/company/kent-displays @kentdisplays | @boogieboard

Superhero strategic planning
When to be Bruce Banner
and when to be the Hulk
H
ow can you adjust? Here are three
possible ways to modify your
strategic planning process to make
it more durable in these changing times.
1. Shorten the time span between
planning cycles
We’ve all worked on annual plans and
created elaborate goals and targets just
to watch those plans become irrelevant
the first time a major change occurs.
Instead of setting your plan each year,
try adjusting it each quarter. Review the
original plan and ask two questions:
■ What do we know now that we
didn’t know when we set the plan
originally?
■ How does that information change
how we would like to proceed?
Many times, your adjustments will
not be a complete reversal of previous
decisions, but significant enough that it
gets you much further ahead than you
would have been if you had waited until
the end of the year to course correct.
2. Think of your staff as superheroes
One of the greatest challenges we’ve
seen companies face when implementing
a strategic plan is how to focus on large
strategic projects when most people in
the company are already doing more
than a full-time job in their core role?
Our answer was to use the analogy of
superheroes.
Most of the time, our VPs of
operations are like Bruce Banner. He
has a well-defined role, executes it
well and creates very little commotion.
Other times, the business needs him
to summon the Hulk and become
disruptive and loud, focused on short-
term execution on strategic projects that
would otherwise never be attempted.
Sometimes there’s a little mess in his
wake, but he makes progress.
Shortly after, he reverts back to Bruce
Banner and all is calm again. It is in his
superhero persona that we know we
can always create some time to make
progress on specific strategic objectives.
3. Stop ideas that aren’t working
Everyone hates when a strategic project
falls short, yet we all see that occur more
often than we’d like. If you’re only
planning once a year, the temptation
to hang onto a project long after it
was clear it was unsuccessful is high.
Encourage your team to shut down
projects when you know they are not
successful.
Great strategic planning is hard.
Successful strategic execution is even
harder. Be quick, find your superheroes
and stop what isn’t working. It might
just take a little pressure out of one of
the toughest aspects of running your
business. ●
It seems like the rate of change in business today is often making your
strategic plan outdated by the time your team returns from the annual
three-day retreat where you set it.
SAM FALLETTA
CEO
Incept Corp.
Sam has developed successful customer
acquisition and retention strategies for
some of the largest brands in the world,
including Microsoft, Ford, Honda and the
American Red Cross.
(330) 994-1322
sam.falletta@inceptresults.com
www.inceptresults.com
linkedin.com/in/samfalletta
SAM FALLETTAFRAME OF REFERENCE

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The 2017 Medical Mutual Pillar Award for Community Service,
hosted by Smart Business, honors businesses of all types and
sizes that make outstanding contributions to their community.
Its purpose is to encourage a charitable environment, recognize
creative efforts that make a difference and demonstrate the ties
between the for-proﬁt and nonproﬁt worlds.
The Medical Mutual
Pill r
Awardfor
Community Service
PRESENTED BY: HOSTED BY: SPONSORED BY:
www.regonline.com/2017neopillarawards
For more information, contact Meredith Rankin at 440.250.7023 or mrankin@sbnonline.com.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2017
HONORARY CHAIRS
Rick Chiricosta
Medical Mutual of Ohio
Umberto P. Fedeli
The Fedeli Group
Fred Koury
Smart Business
Network Inc.
Alex Johnson, Ph.D.
Cuyahoga
Community College
Yolanda Armstrong
Big Brothers Big Sisters
of Greater Cleveland
Julie Brandle
Metis Construction Services
Mike Crislip
Herschman Architects
Terry Davis
Our Lady of the Wayside
JB Dunn
J3 Clothing Co.
Matthew Figgie
Figgie Capital/Clark-Reliance
Debra Green
Andrea Hogben
Adam Moon
BMW of Westlake
Beth Palamara
Blue Technologies
Mike Parks
American Red Cross
Sean Richardson
Huntington
Greg Skoda
Skoda Minotti
2017 HOST COMMITTEE
LaCentre Conference & Banquet Facility

FEATURE UNIQUELY AKRON/CANTON
T
he Glamorgan Castle is Alliance’s most iconic and widely
recognized landmark.
It was commissioned by Col. William Henry Morgan, the
president and principal owner of the Morgan Engineering Co.,
Alliance’s biggest employer around the turn of the 20th century.
The company found its success when it developed overhead
traveling cranes, which Morgan later electriied, that were used
to move large loads and sold all over the world.
Construction on the castle began in 1904 and was completed
in 1909 at a total cost was $400,000 — about $10 million in
2017 dollars.
According to Maryjo Hepler, who sits on the board of trustees
for Castle Crusaders, a group dedicated to promoting the
Glamorgan Castle, not only did Morgan want something to
showcase for his friends and business associates, he also
wanted a home.
“They didn’t call it a castle,” she says. “They just called it the
house. It wasn’t really called a castle until the Elks took it over.
And it might have even been later that it started to be called a
castle”
Morgan, his wife Annette Sharer and their 18-month-old son,
moved into Glamorgan in 1905. In 1939, 11 years after Morgan’s
death, Annette was struggling to sell the costly property and
let it go for $25,000 to the Elks. The Elks sold it to the Alliance
Machine Co., which later sold it to the Alliance City Schools,
the owner still today. Along the way, it would withstand a ire,
become the center of a national olive poisoning story and
survive at least two threats to be destroyed. ●
G L A M O R G A N C A S T L E
A CASTLE
IN ALLIANCE
http://bit.ly/Glamorgan-Castle-Crusaderswww.alliancecityschools.org/glamorgan-castle-history
Tracing the history of the Glamorgan Castle
The name of the castle is derived from the
birthplace of Morgan’s father,Thomas Rees
Morgan, who was born in 1832 in Glamorgan,
Wales. He founded The Morgan Engineering Co.,
which Morgan took over after his father’s death.
Morgan never
served in the
military. Ohio Gov.
George Nash gave
him the title of
colonel. Morgan, at
one point, served
on the governor’s
staff.
Col.William Henry Morgan

October 2017 | Smart Business Akron/Canton 13Photos courtesy of Rodman Public Library, AllianceMemory.org
The castle comprises 100 tons of
structural steel and 96 train-car loads of
Vermont marble. It was built on a 50-acre
plot and measured 185 feet across the
front and 115 feet on the side.
The castle was home to a huge electric pipe
organ. Its 1,184 speaking pipes and reeds
stretched up four loors and it was itted with
a player attachment in which rolls could be
played. However, nothing remains of the organ
after it was destroyed in a 1944 lash ire,
supposedly caused by defective wiring.
To govern the 10 full-time staffers, a
17-page booklet titled,“General Rules
Governing All Employees at Glamorgan,”
was created and maintained by Annette.
It contained 124 rules that outlined the
speciic duties of each employee, from
cook to maid and otherwise.There was
a list of what cleaning products should
be used to clean which materials (wood,
loors, silverware, etc.), and a curfew for
the four staff who lived in the building.
The Morgan’s are famously connected to an olive poisoning
that killed seven people during a dinner at the castle to
celebrate the return of Col. Charles C. Weybrecht from World
War I.Among the victims was the night’s guest of honor,
Weybrecht, who had survived two wars but was done in by an
olive at the party celebrating his safe return.
The property would change hands again 25 years after the Elks
bought it.The Alliance Machine Co. purchased and restored it,
turning it into the company’s international headquarters.
Glamorgan featured
many modern
comforts, including
bowling alleys, a
billiard room and a
large swimming pool
in the basement.
Around 1973,Alliance Machine faced the same problem Annette had —
it wanted to sell but no one wanted to buy the castle.There was an offer
to buy the property and tear it down for a mall and restaurant complex.
That’s when some prominent community members decided the
landmark couldn’t be lost.They arranged for a Department of Housing
and Urban Development grant and gifted the property to the Alliance
City Schools, which used a $774,350 preservation grant to renovate the
castle to house the school district’s central administrative ofices.
The Castle Crusaders maintain the historical integrity of the castle. School tax
money is not used for restoration, so the group is working to raise $1.5 million
in ive years to update HVAC systems and make other improvements.
Annette is described as having been a private person who was never fond
of living in such a large home. In 1939, she sold Glamorgan castle to the
Elks Lodge for $25,000, then moved to an apartment in Shaker Heights.
According to Hepler, no one was interested in buying the castle. She
couldn’t get the two carloads of coal she needed to heat the house
because of World War II rationing and was living in just two rooms. She
was ready to tear the place down when the Elks made an offer.
UNIQUELY AKRON/CANTON

I
n 1945, KIKO Co. started in a barn on
the farm of Dick Kiko Jr.’s grandfather.
Every Friday night, people would bring
their personal property there to sell.
In the 72 years since, the KIKO family
of brands has grown to include KIKO
Real Estate Auctions, Premier Auctions,
Classic Car Auctions and Commercial
Online Auctions.
“From a marketing standpoint, being
lumped all under one brand didn’t really
expose all of our services,” says Dick
Kiko, the company’s CEO, broker and
auctioneer. “People didn’t know we listed
real estate for sale, people didn’t know
we sell firearms, people don’t know that
we do commercial real estate, because
all they saw was the auction logo. So
we added the other brands to create
awareness of all of our services.
“We’ve always offered auctions, but
people only called us for auctions. Now
they call us for options.”
Reaching inluencers
KIKO works to find the balance between
keeping its history in the minds of
As KIKO Co. continues
to diversify, its
marketing challenges
consumers’perceptions
The‘options’
company
consumers, while appealing to those who
may dismiss it because they think it’s just
an auction company.
“We’re marketing ourselves as KIKO
Company, not KIKO Auctioneers, not
KIKO Realtor, but KIKO Company,
because we do both,” Dick Kiko says.
“We do auctions and we’re real estate
agents — we’re realtors.”
The biggest part of KIKO’s business
is the auction side, accounting for 65
percent of total business, split equally
between residential, commercial
and agriculture real estate. For-sale,
non-auction listings is the other side,
representing 35 percent of total business,
of which some 80 percent is residential
agriculture and 20 percent is commercial.
The company also deals in personal
property, which is typically equipment,
firearms, general household, gold coins,
antiques and collectibles.
To help consumers understand the
different services KIKO offers, Dick Kiko
says the company
talks to influencers
— accountants,
lawyers, bankers,
community and
government
leaders,
organizations and
business people —
who often are asked advice about how to
convert assets into cash.
KIKO holds “lunch and learns” and
takes on speaking engagements with
rotaries, chambers, associations and
at conferences, especially those that
deal with workouts, turnarounds and
bankruptcies — anything that puts
them in a face-to-face networking
environment.
Explaining to the market that KIKO
is more than an auction company is
important, he says, largely because
there’s the sense that auctions are
misunderstood.
“We’ve always offered auctions, but people
only called us for auctions. Now they call us
for options.”
—DICK KIKO JR., CEO, BROKER AND AUCTIONEER, KIKO CO.
FEATURE KIKO CO.
BY ADAM BURROUGHS | ABURROUGHS@SBNONLINE.COM
SOCIAL MEDIA: To ind out more about
KIKO Co., like its Facebook page
www.facebook.com/KIKOCompanyOH
and follow on Twitter @KIKOCompany.

competing against online bidders in real
time. He sold five tractors from a seller in
Cambridge, Ohio, to a buyer in Australia.
“That internet buyer never would’ve
known we existed, let alone participated
in the auction and bought tractors and
competed with live people bidding on
site,” he says. “That’s fascinating stuff.”
The 72-year-old company continues to
find ways to differentiate its services and
stay relevant in the market. However,
Dick Kiko stays wary of success.
“No matter what business you’re in,
success will drive complacency,” he says.
“We’ve been very successful and been
blessed for three generations. It is hard
to change something that’s working well,
and we have a lot of good discussions
about being a leader in the industry.
It’s a hard place for any company to be,
regardless if you’re related or not.
“The pace of change is rapid, and it’s
a struggle for every company. They’d
be lying if they told you it wasn’t. But
we try to stay on top of it,” Dick Kiko
says. “Our core values as a company —
collaboration, integrity and caring — are
the guardrails of how we do this. Those
are what our customers want, and we
continue to give them that and continue
to innovate underneath that culture to
give them the services that they need.” ●
How to reach: KIKO Co., (330) 453-9187
or www.kikocompany.com
The hang-up is the perception that
auctions are for the debt investors and
that the property could be sold well
under the value the seller wanted. Dick
Kiko counters that auctions create
competition and give the seller the ability
to set the terms. The company hopes
its educational marketing campaign will
encourage consumers to explore their
options.
“We really don’t have any bias to what
option you pick; we’re here to help you
achieve your goal. If you’re going to sell
something, we can probably find the best
way to get it done within our
portfolio of services, or steer
you to someone else who can
help you,” he says.
Avoiding the complacency of
success
KIKO, as of 2016, had seen
sales growth of 67 percent
over the previous five years,
moved into a new headquarters
in Canton and expanded its
geographic footprint.
The company has been helped by the
internet. As the web continues to mature,
many businesses have popped up that
connect assets to buyers — eBay, for
instance. This might be disruptive for
some, but not for KIKO.
“Actually, the internet has helped my
business because now I can reach more
interested buyers and invite them to the
auction,” Dick Kiko says.
The company hired staff to create
websites to help facilitate sales and
marketing. He says a typical auction
could have as many as 10,000 page views
in a matter of two weeks.
One of the company’s first simulcast
auctions combined on-site bidders
“No matter what business you’re in, success will
drive complacency.”
—DICK KIKO JR., CEO, BROKER AND AUCTIONEER, KIKO CO.

C A S C A D E C A P I T A L C O R P O R A T I O N
2017BUSINESSG

C
ongratulations to the 44
Cascade Capital Corporation
Business Growth Awards
winners for 2017. These companies
are located within Summit, Medina,
Portage, Stark, Wayne, Holmes and
Ashland counties in Northeastern
Ohio.
A company can earn a Business
Growth Award by either increasing
its sales level by 100 percent or
$5 million, or by increasing its
employee base by 50 percent or
25 people over the past five years.
These impressive growth standards
also result in significant economic
benefits for the local and regional
economies.
Growing companies’ sales of their
goods and services to other parts of
the state, across the nation and even
internationally, enrich our local and
regional economies. Receipts and
profits generated by these companies
are positively manifested when these
companies purchase local goods and
services, invest in new operating
facilities and equipment, and hire
new employees. These wealth-
creating mechanisms directly lead to
the economic vitality of our local and
regional economies.
Cascade Capital Corp.’s primary
operating objectives are to provide
attractive financing options to small
and midsize companies investing in
new operating facilities, equipment
and human resources, and to
invest, on a long-term basis, in the
Northeastern Ohio communities that
it services.
Cascade Capital provides below-
market, long-term fixed interest rate
financing options through its SBA
504 loan program. In combination
with traditional bank financing, a
small to midsize business receives
90 percent financing for its new
building or equipment purchase as
follows: Bank Financing – 50 percent;
Cascade Capital SBA 504 – 40
percent; Business Down Payment –
10 percent. Twenty-year fixed interest
rates are currently available at just
over 4.3 percent.
Cascade Capital’s SBA 504 refinance
program provides companies with the
option to refinance long-term debt
for a building or equipment purchase
made at least two years ago.
Cascade Capital’s venerable
Ohio 166 loan program also offers
extremely competitive fixed interest
rates for non-retail companies
investing in equipment or real estate
— as low as 3 percent for 10 years and
3.5 percent for 20 years.
A number of 2017 Business Growth
Award winners have received funding
from Cascade Capital through its SBA
504 and Ohio 166 loan programs.
Cascade Capital is very proud
to have invested its own financial
resources throughout Summit,
Medina, Portage and Wayne counties
for several years. To date, Cascade
Capital has invested nearly $1 million
to support the key job creation
objectives of our local and regional
economic development partners.
Congratulations to all of Cascade
Capital Corporation’s 2017 Business
Growth Award winners on a job well
done and thank you, too, for your
continuing role in supporting and
revitalizing our local and regional
economies through your impressive
growth! ●
Robert Filipiak is president of Cascade Capital
Corp., an economic development inance
company that has provided dependable
inancing options to growing small- to
medium-sized companies in Greater Akron
and Northeastern Ohio since 1983.
Reach him at (330) 379-3160 or
rilipiak@cascadecapital.org.
ROWTHAWARDS
44 OUTSTANDING COMPANIES THAT FORTIFY
THE STRENGTH OF OUR REGIONAL ECONOMY

CASCADE CAPITAL CORPORATION
K
evin R. Weidinger leads two
companies as president: Great
Lakes Fasteners and Laudan
Properties, both of which have achieved
success during the past five years —
attributed in no small part to their
personnel practices.
Wholesale fastener distributor Great
Lakes Fasteners has held steadfast,
supporting its diverse customer base
even during the volatile economic
conditions over the past five years,
and it has paid tremendous dividends.
Through an aggressive acquisition
strategy, investing in salespeople and
marketing tools, the company’s sales
have risen consistently. Sales revenue
for the company has increased nearly
30 percent in the past five years. During
that same period, it has more than
doubled its employee count.
While historically focused on
production fasteners, Great Lakes
Fasteners entered the maintenance and
repair segment three years ago and has
steadily added new clients with that
service offering. Today, the company
supplies fastener and services through
production to plant maintenance.
The company’s success, both current
and future, resides in its ability to
attract and retain talented associates.
Great Lakes Fasteners recruits people
who have a positive attitude, strong
work ethic and a hunger to be the best
in all they do. The company inspires
its associates by providing challenging
projects, job rotation, profit-sharing
bonus and by promoting from within.
Similarly, Laudan Properties’
competitive advantage is its network of
licensed contractors. Its performance-
based culture is a differentiator. Laudan
hires for attitude and trains for skill,
favoring hungry, optimistic candidates
over those with industry experience.
Its business development department
is staffed with motivated leaders willing
to go above and beyond expectations to
meet client demands. The department
helped reshape the company’s growth
by focusing on new market segments.
For example, investors and fix/flip/rent
opportunities have proven to be an area
of significant growth.
In building its talent network, Laudan
utilizes a talent acquisition department
that recruits contractors who go through
a training unit where they are briefed
on all the latest client-building best
practices and expectations. Laudan’s
learning management system, Yardstick,
is designed to transfer knowledge among
associates and contractors to ensure all
team members are trained to perform to
client expectations.
At Laudan, the organizational chart
is upside down with those closest to its
customers at the top. Its culture is strong
enough that its associates hold each
other accountable to hit the standard of
performance.
These efforts have manifested in
hockey-stick revenue and profit growth
trends coupled with steady job creation.
The company’s sales revenue increased
250 percent in the past five years while it
has added 13 employees during the same
period.
Weidinger says to lead and inspire
an organization is equal parts art and
science. It requires capturing the hearts
and minds of team members through a
supportive culture driven by a common
mission. ●
How to reach: Great Lakes Fasteners (330) 425-
4488 or www.glfus.com | Laudan Properties
(234) 212-3225 or www.laudanproperties.com
HUNTINGTON LEGACY AWARD
The art of growth
Optimism, hunger are characteristics of the
motivated teams Kevin Weidinger leads
Great Lakes Fasteners | Laudan Properties ◆ Kevin R. Weidinger ◆ President

Member FDIC. ¥®
and Huntington®
are federally registered service marks of Huntington Bancshares
Incorporated. Huntington®
Welcome.TM
is a service mark of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. © 2017
Huntington Bancshares Incorporated.
Does your bank look at your company like just another number? At Huntington, our
Relationship Managers offer the type of powerful insights, industry experience and
strategic business solutions that can only come from someone who takes the time to
get to know your business. Because at Huntington we’re big enough to meet your needs,
but small enough that every customer matters.
Some banks just see the deal.
At Huntington, we see the people behind it.

L
eppo Group Inc. has had to adjust
to growth. Its success in the
past five years has come with a
challenging transition away from family
management. However, the company
hasn’t strayed from its values, among
which include giving back.
Its growth has required adjustments.
For instance, not many years ago the
owners determined all of the company’s
strategies and plans for executing them.
Today, the company has a leadership
team of three family members and
four non-family members that sets
the strategic direction. Its 10-member
business operations team of non-family
members lead the teams that implement
the strategies and run the stores.
Family still sets the strategy, but most
of the day-to-day operations are run by
non-family members. William “Glenn”
Leppo, CEO of Leppo, says he trusts
his co-workers to get the job done in
accordance with the company’s values,
and he’s made it a point to celebrate
their achievements. Following the
success it had in 2016, the company paid
quarterly and annual bonuses to every
full-time co-worker. Whenever a rental
or total revenue record is set, the owners
cook for each of the stores to express
their thanks to those who get the job
done.
The company’s co-workers also trust
Glenn to live up to the company’s values.
Among its values is the drive to give
back. It has two particular causes that
it supports: autism and breast cancer.
Leppo gives as much as $4,000 annually
to charities that work in these areas and
it does so in a unique way.
The company has two 80-foot boom
lifts designed to create awareness, and
generate donations, for the causes
it supports. One is painted yellow
and features colorful puzzle-piece
designs along with the words “Autism
Awareness.” The special lift helps raise
autism awareness and 10 percent of the
revenue earned from the boom is donated
each year to a local autism charity.
Another special boom lift is painted
pink for breast cancer awareness. Like
the other lift, this machine helps raise
awareness and donations, with the
company pledging 10 percent of the
revenue earned from this boom to a local
breast cancer charity.
The company is striving toward
sustainability, which it defines as the
continued prosperity of Leppo beyond
the working lives of all current co-
workers. To achieve sustainability, the
company focuses on efficiency, financial
performance, people development,
stability for its staff, growth and smooth
transitions.
Growth, however, is a major component
of the company’s strategic planning as
it connects several other components.
Leppo’s growth over the past five years
includes the addition of a Northeast Ohio
location, 34 additional staff and increased
sales revenue by 55 percent. Leppo is
now the 79th largest equipment rental
company in the country. ●
How to reach: Leppo Group Inc.: (330) 633-3999
or www.leppos.com.
AKRON COMMUNITY FOUNDATION PHILANTHROPY IN BUSINESS AWARD
Changingwith growth
Leppo Group makes tough adjustments
to sustain its success
Leppo Group Inc. ◆ William “Glenn” Leppo ◆ CEO

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Call us at 330-376-8522

T
he late Jeremy Rayl, former CEO
of J. Rayl Transport Inc., who
passed away suddenly at the age of
39, is described by his long-time friend
and COO Ryan Richards as one of the
most generous and big-hearted people
he’s ever met.
Fiscally savvy and aggressive in the
way he approached both business and
life, Jeremy’s personality is woven into
the fabric of the company, its people
philosophy and its approach to the
market. He was a risk taker who hated
losing and was competitive in everything
from sports to business, but was mindful
of taking care of the people around him.
“He definitely did not accept finishing
second,” Richards says.
But Jeremy’s aspirations at one point
were focused on a career outside of
the family business and on something
other than transportation. Jeremy went
to college with the idea of becoming
a stockbroker. He studied finance and
worked at a bank immediately after
college.
Not long into his career, his father,
Tim, asked for his help with the family
business. True to his character, Jeremy
went to work on the company finances.
“He needed to step in and help his
family. That’s most important to him
— helping people he loved,” Richards
says.
Through his involvement with the
company, Jeremy saw its potential in
an industry he considered filled with
opportunity for improvement. He grew
within the company and eventually took
the lead when his father stepped down
some eight years ago. Soon after, he
began to make changes that would lead
to consistent 18 percent growth for the
company year-over-year.
Making his mark
One of Jeremy’s earliest changes was
upgrading the management team. He
convinced Ryan to leave his job at a large
corporation to join J. Rayl, and together
they assembled the new management
team.
ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT AWARD
RememberingJeremyRayl
The late CEO of J. Rayl Transport leaves a
lasting mark on the family business
J. Rayl Transport Inc. ◆ Jeremy Rayl

“Jeremy was smart enough to know what
he didn’t know,” Richards says, which was
the guiding factor in how he assembled
that team that’s still together today.
Jeremy, a planner, created a strategy
that would guide the company through
2020 that included goals and milestones
and indicators of when to take the next
steps.
One of the innovations Jeremy
implemented was in compressed natural
gas fueling. The company built a CNG
fueling station on Arlington Road near
its headquarters and he assembled the
largest for-hire compressed natural gas
fleet of trucks in the country. The move
transitioned a portion of the fleet — 134
trucks total — to alternative fuels that
unhitched the company to at-times
volatile diesel prices while eliminating the
discharge of millions of pounds of carbon
emissions.
Ryan says that reducing the company’s
impact on the environment was the
leading factor in the move.
“From an environmental standpoint, we
wanted to make a difference,” Richards
says, noting that the trucks have zero
carbon impact on the environment.
“Plus, it would protect us should diesel
prices really go up.”
From a business standpoint, he
says the CNG trucks do offer a point
of differentiation that may help the
company attract business or position it to
take advantage of government incentives
for companies that reduce their carbon
footprint.
Jeremy also helped diversify the
business, establishing multiple modes of
services that meant the company could
offer the best fit to its customers and not
try to shoehorn them into a less-than-
ideal fit.
A lasting legacy
Outside of the nitty-gritty of business
development, Jeremy was considered
to have an honest and genuine focus on
employees and customers.
“It sounds easy, but at the same time
transportation is a commodity business.
You can get it from multiple sources.
When things are busy customers can
tell if you care about their business or
not. He made sure we never took our
customers or employees for granted,”
Richards says. “That’s easy to do when
we were one-fourth the size, but as we’ve
gotten bigger, he made sure that didn’t
get lost in the shuffle.”
Jeremy always took the time to listen
to employees’ perspectives and didn’t
mind explaining why a decision was
made. He asked for input from his team
and the people on the front lines. He
interacted with customers and drivers to
create a family feel, finding ways to help
employees strike a work/life balance even
as the company outgrew the intimacy of a
small family company.
Today, the company operates four fully
staffed offices and seven other locations
in four states. It employs more than 400
people and has a fleet of 350 trucks.
“He was a visionary,” Richards says.
“He was always thinking 12, 24, 36,
48 months out, always looking for new
opportunities. We’ll try to keep that
spirit with us — always look forward not
back — and make sure the culture his
father started and he continued in terms
of really valuing our employees and our
customers and holding on to the essence
of the family business … stay with us.” ●
How to reach: J. Rayl Transport Inc.:
(330) 784-1134 or www.jrayl.com

MANUFACTURING | GREATEST EMPLOYEE GROWTH
P. Graham Dunn Inc. ◆ www.pgrahamdunn.com
P
. Graham Dunn Inc. has been on a
growth trajectory during the past decade,
unrivaled by any other in its history. In
the past five years, the company’s employee
count increased from 135 in 2012 to 237 this
past year.
Much of the growth can be attributed to the
company’s expansion outside of the Christian
gift channel and into the general market where
it found a spot on the shelves of mass-market
retailers. This has led to a significant increase
in brand recognition and in some cases topping
category charts in the gift segment.
Rapid sales and significant employee
growth squeezed the physical space of the gift
manufacturer. From 2007 to 2015, the company
was able to handle manufacturing operations
in its 100,000-square-foot building in Dalton.
By 2015, severely in need of more space, the
company acquired the 62,000-square-foot
building directly next door, taking the total
manufacturing footprint to 160,000 square
feet. But by the time the tenant left the newly
purchased facility, the company already needed
more space to support growth. So, it connected
the two buildings, creating one, 280,000 square-
foot facility.
P. Graham Dunn, led by President Joe
Knutson, today can be found in thousands
of stores throughout the U.S., Canada and
Australia, counting among its accounts some of
the most recognizable names in retail. In the
past five years, the company also has seen its
sales revenue grow 128 percent. ●
Spreading itswings
Joe Knutson helps P. Graham Dunn expand into new channels
F
ounded in 2000, Razorleaf is thinking
about its future. The company is
translating its recent success in new
business areas into organizational investments.
Led by President Eric Doubell, the company’s
headcount increased from 24 to 39 in the past
five years, while it enjoyed an 80 percent sales
revenue increase during the same period.
The company has tapped into significant
opportunities in the government sector after
landing a contract as the lead system integrator
for deploying a product lifecycle management,
or PLM, solution to the U.S. Navy. In less
than a year, Razorleaf delivered a turnkey PLM
environment, managed the program team,
trained the Navy resources and documented the
complete solution.
To build on its recent successes, the company
has grown its marketing and sales talent on its
management team. Its consultant headcount
has more than doubled as it works to support
increases in aerospace and government
contracts.
Its hands-on experience working side by side
with the Navy created other opportunities to
help with more digital transformation projects.
Through deep understanding of how to apply
technology, coupled with an understanding
of how to discern business workflows in an
organization, Razorleaf helps its customers
with product development and engineering
breakthroughs in performance, productivity and
cost savings.
The company also launched a spinoff business,
Razorleaf Government Solutions, which is
focused on fulfilling government contracts. ●
Opening doors
Government contracts present Razorleaf with new opportunities
TECHNOLOGY | GREATEST EMPLOYEE GROWTH
Razorleaf Corp. ◆ www.razorleaf.com

SERVICE ◆ EMERGING | GREATEST EMPLOYEE GROWTH
V3 Transportation LLC ◆ www.v3transportation.com
V
3 Transportation LLC, led by President
John Sliter, is operating in the fast lane.
The company specializes in time-critical
transportation.
The company’s initial operational, customer
service and administrative staff of two has
increased to 45. It now supports a fleet of
175 trucks operated by 185 owner-operated
expedited drivers.
V3 Transportation’s success is attracting
attention in the industry, appearing in
numerous trade magazines. Parallel to the
success of the company comes the success of its
drivers, with one recently named Expediter of
the Year during Expedite Expo 2017.
V3 Transportation quickly outgrew its first
office space of 3,500 square feet in Brunswick.
In 2016, it purchased and renovated 16,000
square feet of office/shop space in Seville.
The new facility was built with the drivers in
mind to attract and retain owner-operators and
support the company’s growth plan over the
next several years.
In addition, the company has experienced
steady organic revenue growth year over year,
increasing its sales revenue by more than 400
percent since its founding in 2012. Working
in an industry heavily reliant on hauling for
automobile manufacturers, the company
diversified the markets it serves, growing to
include chemical and hazardous material, print,
commercial and industrial manufacturing and
third-party logistics.
A passion for business together with
relationships built among management,
operational support staff and drivers is expected
to create a foundation for the company’s
continued success. ●
Fit for growth
V3 Transportation expands into a new headquarters designed around drivers
N
ational Interstate Insurance has battled
through a less-than-ideal insurance
market to find success.
The specialty property and casualty company
has grown in the past five years. It now employs
719 people, an increase of 175 since 2012. Led
by President and CEO Anthony Mercurio,
the company has made improvements to the
employee benefits package over the past five
years.
It has added paid time off days and a work
from home pilot program, expanded flex-time,
offered on-site health and biometrics screenings
and on-campus fitness classes, and created a
department-chaired wellness committee. It has
also emphasized career growth and financial
wellness, helping employees through seminars
and financial consultations.
Its internal growth is made possible by its
success in the market. The company has
experienced 27 percent growth in revenue since
2012. Its alternative risk transfer portfolio of
products has grown by nearly 31 percent in that
same period. It now accounts for 56 percent of
the company’s revenue.
The company continues to transform a variety
of niches in the transportation insurance market
with the business segment that lead to customer
loyalty rates exceeding 97 percent annually.
Last year, National Interstate began a
third building, which it considers to be its
centerpiece, to its Richfield campus. The
expanded campus facilities will include nearly
300,000 square feet of office space with the
capacity to ultimately hold approximately 1,000
employees. ●
Employees beneit
National Interstate Insurance’s success has translated into perks for employees
SERVICE ◆ ESTABLISHED | GREATEST EMPLOYEE GROWTH
National Interstate Insurance ◆ www.natl.com

Congratulations
2017 Honorees
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If you could name one thing that drives your organization’s success,
what would it be? Chances are, it’s your employees.

MANUFACTURING | HIGHEST SALES GROWTH
Fire-Dex LLC ◆ www.firedex.com
F
ire-Dex LLC, a manufacturer of personal
protective equipment for firefighters and
first responders, has been a model for
healthy and steady business expansion from its
founding in 1983. The company has pursued
growth through strategic acquisitions and new
product development.
Since its Medina headquarters opened in
1997, the company has added capabilities and
expanded.
In 2007, the company received accreditation
for its technology lab, allowing it to test its own
equipment. It introduced a new generation of
turnouts the year after, with a model designed
around improving mobility. Fire-Dex entered
the footwear market in 2010 when it launched
its first structural firefighting boot.
The company also improved its online
customer interface, launching Geartracker
to help organizations comply with National
Fire Protection Association guidelines, and
FireWriter2, which enables the building of
custom turnout gear.
In addition, Fire-Dex pursued growth through
acquisitions. In 2008, Fire-Dex acquired
Chieftain, and then acquired TECGEN PPE in
2015, two equipment manufacturers that helped
expand the Fire-Dex family of brands.
Headed by CEO Bill Burke, the company
has experienced sales revenue growth of 40
percent in the past five years, while adding
17 employees during that same period. The
company plans to double the size of its Medina
manufacturing facility this year, an expansion
expected to open many doors for continued
success and growth in the years to come. ●
Moving ahead
Fire-Dex continues to build through acquisitions, new products
M
ichael Campanelli, executive vice
president of SecureData 365, oversees
the purpose-built data centers that are
located in Canton and Cleveland. He’s also
witnessed the sales growth at the company,
which increased 120 percent between 2012 and
2017. During that same period its employee
count went from 14 to 21.
Beyond its own staff, the company sees
another way in which it contributes to the
local economy: as a job multiplier. More than
4,000 IT technicians came to work at either
its Canton or Cleveland data centers last year,
making the presence of these data centers an
economic driver for these professionals and
companies in the area.
Additionally, the data center in Cleveland
has attracted the interest of several businesses
that previously moved their IT infrastructure,
and the jobs that went with them, out of state.
These companies are now bringing their IT
equipment back to the area along with high-
paying jobs in a growing and in-demand field.
SecureData 365 data center is creating
opportunities that previously didn’t exist in
the city. This is a big reason the Cleveland
Technology Center received tax incentives that
include no sales tax on equipment purchased in
Cleveland. The state has agreed that any new
customer’s IT equipment placed in the center in
the next 15 years will be eligible for exemption
from the state’s 8 percent sales tax. ●
Welcome back
SecureData 365 sees itself as a job multiplier
TECHNOLOGY | HIGHEST SALES GROWTH
SecureData 365 ◆ www.securedata365.com

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CONGRATULATIONS
TO ALL THE 2017 CASCADE CAPITAL
BUSINESS GROWTH AWARDS HONOREES

SERVICE ◆ EMERGING | HIGHEST SALES GROWTH
Barrington Carpet & Flooring Design ◆ www.barringtonflooring.com
B
arrington Carpet & Flooring Design
was founded in 1998 to provide all the
flooring for a large scattered-site builder
in Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. All of its
revenue was derived from builder and retail
flooring sales and installations.
From 2007 through the rest of the decade,
the country experienced the biggest new
home construction slowdown it had ever
seen. Barrington’s builder-based business was
hit especially hard, losing several of its key
homebuilders to this nationwide crisis. That’s
when Barrington decided to diversify.
The company formed a property management
and commercial flooring division, two
categories of business that would spearhead
its growth. Today, the property management
division accounts for more than 20 percent of
Barrington’s sales, and the commercial business,
which now represents 18 percent of its overall
business, is considered its biggest opportunity
for future growth.
Diversification has been the key to
Barrington’s success and is the primary driving
force behind its double-digit, year-over-year,
top-line revenue growth since 2009. Under
President Craig Phillips, the company’s sales
revenue has increased 106 percent since 2012,
while Barrington has grown its employee count
from 10 to 21. The increased commercial and
property management business in the Cleveland
area led the company to open a small office with
a warehouse in Valley View.
Barrington serves Ohio, Western
Pennsylvania, Eastern Indiana, Southern
Michigan and West Virginia. ●
Newlines of business
Diversiication leads to growth after crisis at Barrington Carpet & Flooring Design
P
eoples Services Inc., led by President
and CEO Douglas J. Sibila, has grown in
recent years, in part by securing a slew
of acquisitions. In 2013, it acquired Central
Warehouse Operations with locations in
Vandalia, Ohio, and Saginaw and Midland,
Michigan, expanding its reach to a sixth state.
The additional 650,000 square feet increased
its capacity to over 5 million square feet of
warehousing across 20 facilities.
In 2015, it acquired the assets of Style Crest
Logistics, with over 1 million square feet of
storage space in the Fremont, Ohio, area. Its
seven locations enhanced Peoples Services’
regional footprint in the Midwest. It is expected
to help improve its service levels to many
customers and opens new areas in food-grade
storage, an industry projected for future
growth.
In 2016, Peoples Services upgraded its tolling
operations in Parkersburg, West Virginia, to
include two additional packaging lines. It added
an additional mill and upgraded the packaging
equipment for improved production on the
lines and increased capacity to customers. The
company also installed a back-up generator
to support operations in the event of a power
outage. With these new tolling updates and
equipment, Peoples Services anticipates a
capacity increase of 50 percent.
In the past five years, the company, which
celebrated 100 years in business in 2014, has
experienced a sales revenue increase of 53
percent and added 120 employees. ●
Acquiring growth
Peoples Services celebrates sales success as it expands its reach
SERVICE ◆ ESTABLISHED | HIGHEST SALES GROWTH
Peoples Services Inc. ◆ www.peoplesservices.com

CEO of LeafFilter™ North, LLC | Honoree for The Cascade Capital Business Growth Awards
C
www.LeafFilter.com
ongratulations to Matt Kaulig & LeafFilter™
for being a part of The 2017 Cascade
Capital Business Growth Awards.
This truly is a testament to your hard work and
determination that has helped this company
grow from a small start up to one of the top home
improvement companies in North America.
Congratulations Matt Kaulig

MANUFACTURING | BEST OVERALL SUCCESS STORY
LeafFilter North Inc. ◆ www.leaffilter.com
O
ver the past 12 years, LeafFilter North
Inc. has experienced exceptional growth
in both sales and employment. President
and CEO Matt Kaulig started his home
improvement business from his home office
as the only employee. Now headquartered
in Hudson, the company’s success has spread
throughout North America.
In the past five years alone, LeafFilter’s
sales revenue has increased by more than 233
percent. Its successes have contributed to
tremendous job growth across the continent.
LeafFilter more than doubled its headcount
from 2015 to 2016, bringing its total employees
in North America to 1,277 people, a huge
increase from the seven it employed in 2007.
Kaulig has created a strong, engaged
employee base. He offers employees
opportunities for growth, competitive
compensation packages, 401(k) retirement plans
and fully paid health care coverage. He’s also
providing employees with the tools, time and
training to help them find success in their role.
Kaulig has reinvested in the company, remodeling
LeafFilter’s corporate headquarters into a state-
of-the-art space that bolsters its corporate culture,
and ignites drive, creativity and collaboration.
Along the road to success, LeafFilter has been
the recipient of many awards. The company
was recognized as the third-largest remodeler
by Remodeling magazine and the ninth-largest
home improvement company by Qualified
Remodeler magazine.
Currently, LeafFilter handles all
manufacturing, sales, installation and
distribution rights of LeafFilter Gutter
Protection. The product is completely made in
America. ●
From one to 1,000
Matt Kaulig grows LeafFilter from a single ofice to a national company
M
ichael J. Kappel set the foundation for
Patriot Software Co. in 1986 in the
basement of a factory in Canton. Those
rough early years offered him a firsthand look at
the difficulties new businesses face, and planted
the seed for a way to help them. Thirty years
later, the company he built serves thousands of
small business customers across the U.S.
The Patriot Software family of companies
includes two business segments: the recruiting
segment and the small business segment.
Patriot’s recruiting segment consists of Top
Echelon Network LLC, an online recruitment
network, and Top Echelon Contracting LLC,
a recruiter’s back office solution. Its small
business segment is driven by Patriot Software,
a cloud-based software solution for time and
attendance, payroll and accounting.
Kappel, Patriot Software’s president and
CEO, has grown the company significantly
since its days in the factory basement.
Patriot Software Co. has seen an increase
in its headcount from 67 employees in 2012
to 125 in 2016. During that same period it
has realized a 24 percent increase in sales
revenue.
Patriot Software is experiencing
extraordinary growth. Its compound annual
growth rate the past two years is 197 percent,
which the company attributes to innovation,
continuous improvement and ease-of-use.
Its collaborative environment empowers
employees to add to the efficiency of the
company’s products and services, which has
helped Patriot become a standout in the
payroll and accounting industry. ●
First-hand experience
Being a small business helps Patriot Software understand other small businesses
TECHNOLOGY | BEST OVERALL SUCCESS STORY
Patriot Software Co. ◆ www.patriotsoftware.com

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800-638-3232
thevillagenetwork.org
Congratulations to the 2017 honorees of the
Cascade Capital Business Growth Awards!

SERVICE ◆ EMERGING | BEST OVERALL SUCCESS STORY
Lead to Conversion LLC ◆ www.leadtoconversion.com
L
ead to Conversion LLC is a digital
marketing agency based in Northeast
Ohio that has a client list that includes
businesses across the U.S.
Founded in 2006, the company, led by
CEO Sean Bolton, has seen its sales revenue
grow 275 percent in the past five years, while
increasing its employee count from two to 13 in
the same timespan.
As growth continues, the company is focused
on offering employees unique benefits. Lead
to Conversion has a work-from-home option,
giving employees the flexibility to work off-
site four days each week. All employees are
provided with the opportunity to grow beyond
their current role, and the company practices
cross-training for its multiple service lines to
help employees be more well-rounded. Lead
to Conversion offers a monthly and quarterly
bonus program that it considers to be very
competitive within the industry.
Its internal training may also be a factor in the
company’s effectiveness. Lead to Conversion
is creating customized online marketing
strategies. It has redesigned and redeveloped
dozens of sites, all of which have seen an
immediate increase in organic search rankings,
targeted traffic and conversions, a track record
it has maintained for four years running.
Additionally, the company’s clients have seen
website traffic increases that range from 15
percent growth to more than 1,000 percent
growth based on Lead to Conversion’s custom
marketing strategies. ●
Growth all around
Lead to Conversion realizes growth while helping clients do the same
M
ielke Holdings LLC has been focused
on growth for the past five years. By
further developing its services while
seeking geographic expansions, the company
has more than doubled its sales revenue and
grown its employee count from 101 to 165.
More importantly, these moves have created the
blueprint for how it will grow and expand into the
future.
Attracting, training and retaining a highly skilled
workforce has been critical to Mielke’s growth. In
2013, the company introduced the new position
of director of Workforce Development, which
focuses solely on recruiting, career planning,
education and skills development. This adds to
Mielke’s existing accredited trade apprenticeship
programs and other new programs meant to
improve its employee acquisition, development
and retention efforts, while providing a leadership
pipeline to support the company’s expansion into
new territories and new business units.
As business units were formed or acquired,
the company implemented a new organizational
structure. It divided into six separate corporate
entities working under the parent holding
company.
The updated business structure created
ownership opportunities for key employee
managers within the different business units,
which has allowed individual executives to share
in the business success from their divisions while
remaining tied to the overall success of the
entire team. The strategy is expected to facilitate
multiple succession options for the key employees
at Mielke and the ownership team headed by
CEO David Mielke. ●
Divide and conquer
Mielke Holdings’ strategic growth plan creates opportunities at all levels
SERVICE ◆ ESTABLISHED | BEST OVERALL SUCCESS STORY
Mielke Holdings LLC ◆ www.mwmielke.com

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800.662.9567
www.industrialtube.com
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Proud 2017 Cascade Capital Corporation Business Growth Awards Honoree
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MANUFACTURING
Daniel’s Amish Collection
Christopher J. Karman
In the past five years, sales at Daniel’s
Amish Collection have grown by leaps
and bounds. That growth has required it
to operate two factories. The company
also purchased a 25-acre plot that will
be the site of its new headquarters and a
factory to handle anticipated future growth.
Daniel’s Amish manufactures its products
locally and buys 75 percent of its supplies
locally, which it says creates another two
to three jobs in other local businesses to
meet the increased demand.
Fire-Dex LLC
Bill Burke
Since its move to Medina 20 years ago,
Fire-Dex LLC has continued to realize
healthy and steady business expansion.
In 2008, Fire-Dex acquired Chieftain, a
leading fire gear company. Recognizing the
health benefits of wearing lighter-weight
gear when structural turnouts aren’t
necessary, Fire-Dex acquired TECGEN
PPE in September 2015 as the latest
addition to the Fire-Dex family of brands.
Fire-Dex continues to pursue growth as it
develops innovative head-to-toe personal
protective equipment for firefighters and
first responders.
Flohr Machine Co.
Gerard Flohr
In the past five years, Flohr Machine Co.
has upgraded eight machines from 1980s
technology to today’s best. The company
has expanded and remodeled its facility
for better lighting, product flow and
safety. Flohr Machine also expanded its
capabilities and its customer base in the
past two years, and has patent-pending
products for the fluid pump industry.
The company is currently collaborating
on new designs for the tire industry and
redesigning frac blocks for the oil and gas
industry.
Industrial Tube and Steel Corp.
Richard Siess
Over the past decade, Industrial Tube
and Steel Corp. has demonstrated
tremendous growth. The company has
invested in equipment, adding new cutting
and machining capabilities as well as IT
upgrades, and built new Ohio facilities
in Kent and West Chester, and added a
location in Nashville. Industrial Tube and
Steel has increased its total number of
pounds shipped by 41 percent, which has
helped grow its revenue over the past
several years.
LeafFilter North Inc.
Matt Kaulig
LeafFilter North Inc. scaled from a
home office in 2005 to a top U.S. home
improvement company. In the past
five years, the company experienced
tremendous growth, increasing its sales
revenue by more than 233 percent.
Headquartered in Hudson, the number of
positions at LeafFilter has doubled from
2015 to 2016. The company now employs
1,277 individuals throughout the U.S. and
Canada who are offered opportunities for
growth and competitive compensation
packages.
Main Street Gourmet LLC
Steve Marks and Harvey Nelson
In the early 2000s, Main Street Gourmet
LLC re-invented itself, establishing
a Custom Baked Goods division that
produced exclusive bakery products for its
customers. The move helped Main Street
win the business of many premier food
and restaurant operators, which spurred
company growth. In the past five years, its
employee growth has neared 40 percent
while sales growth jumped to nearly 55
percent. The Custom Baked Goods Division
now represents more than 80 percent of
Main Street’s sales.
P. Graham Dunn Inc.
Joe Knutson
Since 2012, P. Graham Dunn Inc. has
experienced more change and growth than
at any other stretch of time in the past
40 years, in part because of its expansion
outside the Christian gift channel into the
general market, along with mass accounts.
The company has seen a tremendous
increase in its customer accounts and its
sales growth has more than doubled. P.
Graham Dunn also added just over 100
employees during the same stretch.
Prime Woodcraft Inc.
Ansir Junaid
Prime Woodcraft Inc., a group of
companies involved in a range of
enterprises, grew out of a garage and
into a multimillion-dollar business with a
customer list that now includes some of
the largest corporations in the U.S. In 2015,
PWC moved its headquarters to Brunswick,
which created approximately 100 new jobs.
The group has announced plans to open
new facilities in the state over the next
three years, creating an estimated 200
jobs.
TECHNOLOGY
AtNetPlus Inc.
Jay Mellon and Jim Laber
Over the past five years, IT support firm
AtNetPlus Inc.’s employee numbers
and revenue have increased to match
its expanded offerings and its additional
19 office and workspaces. Third party
customer surveys that compare AtNetPlus
to other companies within the industry
in the areas of initial response time,
timeliness of resolution, satisfaction with
the resolution, support representatives’
ability, professionalism, and overall service
continue to trend up and stay ahead of the
industry average.
Corporate Technologies Group Inc.
Jeff Sumner and Brett Harney
Corporate Technologies Group Inc., a cloud
technology sales, implementation and
service company, has seen steady sales
growth in the past five years. The firm
began with the idea that customer service
HONOR ROLL: MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY SERVICE
Companies listed by industry in alphabetical order.

3250 Interstate Drive | Richfield, Ohio 44286 | 800-929-1500 | www.natl.com
Thanks to Everyone at National Interstate for Building
a Better Insurance Experience!
PROUD to Be a 6-Time
Consecutive Cascade Capital
Business Growth Honoree!
Accounting,Tax & Advisory | Audit & Attest*
Dave Giannetti | 330.668.6500 | dgiannetti@cbiz.com
www.cbiz.com | www.mhmcpa.com
© Copyright 2017. CBIZ, Inc. NYSE Listed: CBZ. All rights reserved.
*MHM (Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C.) is an independent CPA irm that provides audit, review and attest
services and works closely with CBIZ, a business consulting, tax and inancial services provider. CBIZ and
MHM are members of Kreston International Limited a global network of independent accounting irms.
CBIZ and MHM Congratulate
Industrial Tube and
Steel Corporation
on Being Selected as a
2017 Cascade Capital Corporation
Business Growth Award Honoree.

would set it apart from the competition,
and this has been proven through the
tremendous growth of the business.
Corporate Technologies’ leadership has
helped develop a culture of doing the right
thing for its clients, day in and day out.
Etactics Inc.
Michael Teutsch
Etactics Inc., which delivers time-sensitive
documents, processed more than 37 million
client transactions this past year. As it adds
clients, the company continues to develop
new products and services while looking
at ways to outsource services outside of
its core competency through new partner
relationships with other businesses. Etactics
is investing significantly to prepare for its
next stage of growth and expects to add to its
full-time staff during the next 12 months.
Metisentry
Marling Engle
Metisentry has been empowering
businesses to create efficiency through
technology and achieve success for a
decade. It’s also been a driver within the
local economy. In 2016, the company
continued its trend of increasing its
income year-over-year. Simultaneously, its
employment experienced steady growth,
increasing another 30 percent in 2016. This
year, Metisentry has tracked up over 100
percent in both categories and is looking
forward to continuing its contribution to
Akron’s economy.
Open Practice Solutions LTD
Michael Teutsch
In the past six years, Open Practice
Solutions LTD, a developer of web-
based medical billing applications, has
accomplished much. The company has
grown its presence from three states to
40. It now serves 4,800 providers and more
than 6,000 users. During this period, the
company also has seen its revenue increase
dramatically while increasing its staff from a
single developer to 19 employees, with even
more hires expected in the coming year.
Patriot Software Co.
Michael J. Kappel
Patriot Software Co. has grown
significantly in the past five years. The
Patriot Software LLC division has seen
a compound annual growth rate of 197
percent just in the most recent two-year
span. This growth is largely attributed
to the success of Patriot’s cloud-
based accounting, payroll and time and
attendance software products. Patriot’s
employee count nearly doubled since 2012.
The company’s collaborative environment
has enabled Patriot to stand out in the
payroll and accounting industry.
Razorleaf Corp.
Eric Doubell
Razorleaf Corp. has been on a strong
growth curve for the past three years
and has made investments to support
this growth long term. The company has
added both marketing and sales talent on
its management team to drive business
growth across all sectors. It launched
Razorleaf Government Solutions, a spinoff
that focuses on the support and fulfillment
of government contracts, and more than
doubled its consultant headcount to support
an increase in contracts in aerospace and
government organizations.
SecureData 365
Michael Campanelli
More than 4,000 IT technicians conducted
business at either SecureData 365’s
Canton or Cleveland data center last
year, which helped the company realize a
consistent uptick in sales. The Cleveland
data center has attracted the interest of
several businesses that previously moved
their IT infrastructure, and the jobs that
went with it, out of state. The availability
of SecureData 365 is a factor in these
companies bringing their IT equipment
home along with good jobs.
SERVICE
415 Group
Frank Monaco
415 Group has realized consistent 10 percent
growth for the past decade, and in 2016
reported growth of almost 25 percent from
the prior year. The CPA firm’s IT consulting
division has been growing along with its
QuickBooks consulting division, which the
firm says is now among the largest installers
and developers of QuickBooks in Ohio. 415
has moved in to and renovated a new space
in Canton, which was done to accommodate
the firm’s anticipated growth.
Barrington Carpet & Flooring Design
Craig Phillips
During the past decade, Barrington Carpet
& Flooring Design has retooled its approach
to the market after losing several key
homebuilders during the housing crisis. It
expanded from builder and retail flooring
sales and installations and started a
property management and a commercial
flooring division, two categories of business
that would spearhead its growth. Its revenue
has grown significantly and the company
added a small office and warehouse in
Valley View to accommodate the growth.
Catastrophe Management
Solutions Inc.
Curtis F. Pilot
Catastrophe Management Solutions Inc.,
an insurance call center support service for
major catastrophes, has trained over 2,800
temporary and full-time employees in the
past five years. Recently, it has developed
more traditional call center services. Over the
past five years, CMS has provided temporary
work for over 1,700 employees to this
end. The company’s expanded call center
services have led to increases in full-time
employees and it continues to chase growth.
Cohen & Co.
J. Michael Kolk
With eight offices in five states, including
recent additions in Detroit and Pittsburgh,
Cohen & Co. accounting and consulting
firm finds collaboration, camaraderie
and communication key to sustaining
engagement as it continues to grow. The

9/17
westield-bank.com • 800.368.8930
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2017 Honorees of the Cascade Capital Corporation Business Growth Awards
Congratulations. Outstanding
growth deserves recognition.
Your achievements are a win
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BUSINESS GROWTH
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firm hosts several events designed to keep
employees engaged, such as its firm-wide
Olympic-style event in which employees
compete in athletic and intellectual
challenges. Cohen & Co.’s recent survey
initiative is meant to take the pulse of
the organization and get feedback for
continuous improvement.
Community Hospice
Norm Mast
Community Hospice has had significant
growth over the past five years. Last
year, Community Hospice joined with
Health Services of Coshocton to combine
resources, assuring continued access to
hospice services in Coshocton County.
That same year, grant funding enabled
Community Hospice to open its first
Learning Lab in its Stark County office
to provide training for clinical staff.
Additionally, the nonprofit’s nine fundraising
events and proceeds from five community
benefits brought in contributions totaling
over $2.5 million.
Concept Services
Daniel Harsh
Concept Services has experienced 137
percent employee growth since 2013,
averaging over 30 percent growth per
year over the past three years. This
has resulted in job creation throughout
Medina and Summit counties via the local
businesses and contractors that have
partnered with the company. In the second
quarter of 2016, Concept Services finalized
construction of its third campus, which is
equipped with a dedicated training center
for employee training, external customer
sales skills training and Salesforce.com
customer relationship management
advancement sessions.
Danbury Senior Living
William Lemmon and Brian Spring
The first Danbury Senior Living facility
was built in North Canton in 1997.
During the past five years, the brand
has grown from 191 residential units
to 1,156. Once its properties under
construction are completed, the Danbury
portfolio will have 1,654 units across 16
facilities. Simultaneously, company-wide
employment has increased from 100
employees in 2011 to over 900 this year.
Danbury expects it could reach 1,500
employees by the end of 2018 as it grows
and opens new facilities.
Focal Point Social Media Marketing
Shon Christy
Focal Point Social Media Marketing has,
since its inception, followed a trajectory of
growth in both sales and staff. By utilizing
social media, today’s most embraced
communication medium, Focal Point is
helping impact organizations’ growth. The
firm is also helping to advance charitable
causes. Focal Point regularly donates
a portion of its revenues to the Up Side
of Downs, a Northeast Ohio nonprofit
advocating for individuals with Down
syndrome.
Great Lakes Fasteners
Kevin R. Weidinger
Great Lakes Fasteners entered the
maintenance and repair segment three
years ago and has steadily added new
clients in that service offering. Today, GLF
supplies fasteners and services through
production to plant maintenance. The
company’s packaging division is creating
opportunity with its original equipment
manufacturer customers. GLF sources the
fasteners, packages them, places a custom
label on the kit and then ships the finished
good directly to the original equipment
manufacturers. The division has created
several new jobs since 2010.
Group Management Services
Mike Kahoe
Group Management Services, a
professional employer organization
that manages HR functions for small
businesses, has seen its sales climb
rapidly in recent years after a period of
steady growth. Its success has led it to
outgrow its current 15,000-square-foot
headquarters, requiring a move to a 47,000
square-foot facility next year, though the
company will remain in Richfield. The new
facility should better accommodate its
growing staff, which has increased from 67
to 180 in the past five years.
Innovation Foods
Thomas Lane
Innovation Foods has grown from producing
50 meals a day to over 4,000 meals per
day for charter schools, summer meal
programs, mobile meals, PASSPORT
programs and senior centers. In the past
five years, the company’s full-time staff
has more than doubled as it has realized
significant sales revenue growth. It’s
also expanding its geographic footprint,
growing to provide services in six counties.
Innovation Foods is focused on creating new
products and ideas as it looks to impact
more Northeast Ohio citizens.
J. Rayl Transport Inc.
Tim Rayl
J. Rayl Transport Inc., a transportation
and logistics company, has enjoyed steady
growth in the past five years in both sales
and headcount. Headquartered in Akron,
the company has four fully staffed offices
and seven other locations in four states.
The company is working to reduce its
carbon footprint and reduce fuel costs
by transitioning 134 of its 350 trucks
to compressed natural gas, and built a
CNG fueling station in Akron. Of J. Rayl
Transport’s more than 400 associates, at
least 250 operate out of Northeast Ohio.
Jarrett Logistics Systems
W. Michael Jarrett
Jarrett Logistics Systems has grown at an
average of 10 percent over the past 10 years.
The company implemented a full-time HR
department, which has improved hiring
and grown the employee count, requiring
additional office space. The company added
a 10,000 square-foot JLS routing center
and a 105,000-square foot warehouse. It
has invested in its analytics platform and its
transportation management system, added a
transactional sector, and now has a presence
in Los Angeles and Indianapolis.
Katar Holding Inc.
Kenneth J. Brown
Since Katar Holding Inc.’s first Buffalo Wild
Wings franchise opened in 1995 in Ashland,
the franchise count has grown to seven and
their presence has expanded to include
Richland, Stark, Wayne, Lake and Lorain
counties. As the number of franchises
increased, so has Katar’s employee count.
The company currently has more than 800
employees working throughout Northeast
Ohio. Katar expects to continue its growth
through investment, reinvestment and
relocation throughout the region.

growth is never
by mere
chance;
it is the result of forces
working together.
- James Cash Penney

2017 Smart Business Growth Awards

2017 Smart Business Growth Awards

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