COSE sets priorities for 2001
The Council of Smaller Enterprises is getting its priorities straight for this year’s legislative action agenda. Among the notables, COSE plans to support the following:
- Efforts to lead to a more efficient market-driven health care delivery system.
- Common-sense workers’ compensation rates and reserve levels in line with private insurer requirements at the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
- Enactment of a Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act.
- An urban revitalization policy focused on land assembly and brownfield redevelopment, tax policy for investment, housing and transportation.
- Business-led involvement in high-tech legislative proposals.
- Elimination of the Ohio Estate Tax.
Finding good homes for orphans
The economy may be slowing, but business at McDonald Investments is booming. Mark Phillipel, managing director and manager of the investment firm’s mergers and acquisitions practice, says a new segment of the market — orphan firms — has been extremely active over the past few years.
An orphan is a public company whose size and stock trading volume aren’t high enough to warrant a strong stock price or for the company to remain independent. What many at McDonald have found is that those companies are actively pursuing merger or acquisition partners to strengthen their financial solvency. SBN Magazine plans a closer look at orphans later this year. Stay tuned.
VCs congregate
Innovest 2001, a statewide venture capital conference, is set for May 10 and 11 at The Westin Hotel in Cincinnati. For more information, call (216) 229-9445, ext. 171, or visit www.innovest.org. SBN Magazine is a sponsor of this event.
PR growth
In a year in which public relations firms helped get their clients exposure and assisted in record revenue-generating periods, many PR firms benefited as well. Gross revenue for The Goldstein Group rose 80 percent during 2000 to $2.4 million; net revenue grew 72 percent. Employment doubled during the year to satisfy increased demand from new clients and expanded project assignments from existing ones. As a result, owner Joel Goldstein says he’s outgrown his new location and is on the prowl for even larger digs. But, he says, it’s a great problem to have.
Don’t burn any bridges
Workers who find the grass isn’t greener with a new employer may be able to bargain for their old jobs back, suggests a recent survey. More than 90 percent of executives polled said they would gladly roll out the welcome mat for a valued former employee who left in good standing.
The survey, developed by Robert Half International Inc., was conducted by an independent research firm and includes responses from 150 executives with the nation’s 1,000 largest companies.
“By rehiring staff members who left in good terms, businesses fill critical openings and regain key talent,” says Max Messmer, chairman and CEO of Robert Half International.
Penton hires tech officer
Penton Media has appointed R. Thomas Jensen as its chief technology officer. Jensen, 42, joins Penton from Honeywell Corp., where he was vice president and chief information officer of the transportation and power systems division. He was responsible for developing and implementing the global IT strategy for three Honeywell IT organizations, as well as the worldwide technical infrastructure for the division.
At Penton, Jensen’s responsibilities will include implementing technology-based strategies that enhance and support product and revenue creation.
Medical Mutual grants $85,504
Medical Mutual Charitable Foundation has awarded three grants, totaling $85,504, to aid Cleveland area youth organizations. The money will be divided among the Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland, the Teen Health Center of Lakewood Hospital and the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeast Ohio.
The grant to the Free Medical Clinic will expand operations of its Teen Clinic. Lakewood Hospital’s Teen Center will use its grant to develop and implement an education series for middle school girls that focuses on confidence-building and self-esteem issues. The grant to the Epilepsy Foundation will fund a young adult epilepsy education and support program that targets 16- to 24-year-olds, as well as their peers, teachers and family members.
Taft touts Athersys
Gov. Bob Taft has earmarked more than $86 million in this year’s state budget to develop high-tech and biotech companies like Cleveland-based Athersys and recruit new firms to Ohio.
“Athersys is a prime example of the kind of success high-tech firms can achieve by building their businesses in Ohio,” Taft said. “Ohio has an ambitious technology agenda aimed at creating and attracting the high-tech companies and high-paying jobs of the future.”
Taft targeted $34 million in this year’s budget for science and technology programs and $40 million for recruiting research teams in biotechnology, nanotechnology and information technology, and created a biomedical facilities fund, which will provide $12 million for biomedical research facilities.
IP hot industry
Half of all attorneys in a national survey believe that intellectual property will be the hottest practice area in law over the next 10 years. This field received more than three times the response of the second choice, corporate transaction law.
The survey was developed by The Affiliates, a leading staffing service specializing in the legal profession, which polled 200 attorneys among the nation’s 1,200 largest law firms.
“Factors such as the rapid growth of new technologies, ongoing evolution of the Internet and an expanding biomedical field ensure that intellectual property issues will rank as top priorities for attorneys this decade,” says Kathleen Call, executive director of The Affiliates.
