7/26/2012 - West Side Leader
     

ACF celebrates records, appoints new leaders to board

FAIRLAWN — Akron Community Foundation (ACF) officials recently announced two record-setting milestones, including $10.1 million in gifts and 40 new charitable funds established during the fiscal year that ended March 31.

Board Chairman and Brouse McDowell Partner Michael Sweeney announced the news to more than 200 community leaders and supporters at the ACF’s recent 57th annual meeting at the Hilton Akron/Fairlawn.

Contributing to the success was a record-breaking gift of $5 million from Medical Mutual of Ohio, which established the community foundation’s 400th fund, the Medical Mutual Community Investment Fund, on Feb. 24, according to ACF officials.

Sweeney reported grants and distributions of more than $6.3 million for the year, which brought the ACF’s 57-year distribution total to $97 million.

“All of this was accomplished with an expense ratio that is one of the lowest in the country for community foundations of our size,” said Treasurer Dale Koblenzer, first vice president at Merrill Lynch in Akron.

Koblenzer said total assets had grown to more than $140 million, rivaling the ACF’s prerecession assets of 2008.

Prior to the meeting, the following officers were appointed: Sweeney, of Fairlawn, chair; Koblenzer, of West Akron, treasurer; Bath resident and MSA Associates CEO Mark Allio, vice chair; Steve Strayer, Bath resident and senior vice president at PNC Institutional Investments, secretary and community relations chair; Ninth District Court of Appeals Judge Carla Moore, also of Bath, member at large; Hudson resident and Roth Bros. President Paul Belair, member at large; and West Akron resident Steve Cox, partner at Roetzel & Andress, distribution chair.

Cox, also a member of the Nominating Committee, announced incoming board members Samuel DeShazior, Rick Fedorovich, Sarah Friebert and Rob Malone, who each accepted three-year appointments. They will replace Dr. Lois Nora, who served for three years, and Timothy Fitzwater, Steve Marks and Pat Pacenta, who are retiring from the board after nine years of service. DeShazior, of Akron, is the deputy planning director for the Akron Department of Planning and Urban Development; Fedorovich, of Richfield, is the CEO and managing partner of Bober Markey Fedorovich; Friebert, of Cleveland, is the director of pediatric palliative care at Akron Children’s Hospital; and Malone, of West Akron, is a partner at Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs.

Akron Marathon founder Marks, who established an ACF fund last year to permanently support the marathon’s mission of health, fitness and economic development, also spoke at the event. The Akron Marathon Sustainability Fund has received more than $400,000 in gifts and pledges in anticipation of the race’s 10th anniversary, according to ACF officials.

For more information, call Dr. Suzanne Allen or Laura Fink at 330-376-8522.

Conference to focus on shale industry supply chain

SOUTH AKRON — The supply chain serving Ohio’s booming Utica shale industry will be the focus of the 15th annual Northeast Ohio Logistics Conference and Golf Open Aug. 13 at Firestone Country Club.

The event, hosted by the Northeast Ohio Trade and Economic Consortium (NEOTEC) and the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority, will include logistics experts who will discuss how the various modes of transportation serve the Utica shale industry and how the shale boom impacts the region. The morning conference will be followed by an afternoon golf scramble on Firestone’s north course and an evening dinner and awards program.

The agenda will include: Chip Collier and Rich Plewacki, partners with the transportation law division of Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP in Columbus and Cleveland; Steve Franckhauser, director of HbK Energy in Boardman; Ken Prendergast, executive director of All Aboard Ohio-RESTORE in Cleveland; and Joe Leto, president of Energy Analysts International Inc. in Denver, Colo.

A special panel format with questions and answers will follow the morning presentations.

“Northeast Ohio sits at the epicenter of the energy transformation,” said Franckhauser. “That is our opportunity and our challenge. The opportunities for businesses and individuals in Northeast Ohio are limited only by their abilities to network and learn from others in this field. The Utica Shale Supply Chain conference provides an excellent platform to do just that.”

The morning conference program will begin at 7:45 a.m. with a continental breakfast and conclude with a buffet lunch from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The afternoon golf session, a four-person scramble format on Firestone’s north course, will begin at 1 p.m., and will be followed by an evening buffet dinner, refreshments, prizes and golf awards presentation at 6 p.m.

Registration is $275 per person for the entire day or $125 per person for the breakfast, conference and lunch only. For members of the Northeast Ohio Logistics Network, the cost is $250 and $95, respectively.

The deadline to register is Aug. 8. To register, visit www.neotec.org or call 800-793-0912.

NEOTEC, based in Kent on the Kent State University Campus, is a multi-county economic development partnership that works as a regional force to attract capital investments, create jobs and enhance economic opportunities throughout Northeast Ohio. It has a partnership agreement with the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority to promote international trade through the administration of Foreign-Trade Zones 40 and 181 in Northeast Ohio. For more information, visit www.neotec.org.

Bond rating improves for Development Finance Authority

DOWNTOWN AKRON — The Development Finance Authority (DFA) of Summit County announced July 23 that Standard & Poor’s has upgraded the long-term rating of the DFA’s Jobs & Investment Fund (Bond Fund) to BBB+ with a stable outlook. It had previously been rated BBB, DFA officials said.

The DFA’s Bond Fund, in existence since 2004, has originated $55 million in bonds to finance 17 projects in six Northeast Ohio counties, according to DFA officials. The fund has financed manufacturing and distribution facilities, private non-profit, corporate, government and tax-increment-financing (TIF) projects.

“We’re pleased to have the BBB+ rating,” said DFA Board Chair Patricia McKay. “We believe it reflects the diversity of our bond pool and recognizes the prudent management policies and practices we have adopted.”

DFA President Chris Burnham added the fund is currently able to help finance projects in the $1 million to $5 million range.

For more information on the DFA and the Jobs & Investment Fund, go to www.developmentfinanceauthority.org.

— Kathleen Folkerth and Maria Lindsay contributed to these reports.

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