Crain's Cleveland Business articles from April 2009

Crain's Cleveland Business archives from April 2009

Twent in their 20s; Louis Holmes.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Dan Shingler Louis Holmes 28 Company Development Analyst The Goodyear Tire & RUbber Co. Louis Holmes figured the NBA was a long shot, but an MBA was a sure thing. Mr. Holmes was a star basketball player at...

Twenty in their 20s; Amanda Grandel.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: John Booth Amanda Grandel 27 Art Director Marcus Thomas While Amanda Grandel was attending Kent State University, a creative director from Marcus Thomas came and spoke to one of her classes. The 27-year-old says...

Twenty in their 20s; Asmaae Benmerzouga.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Stan Bullard Asmaae Benmerzouga 25 Director of Corporate Research Colliers Ostendork-Morris Asmaae Benmerzouga is a veil-wearing pioneer. As director of corporate research at the Colliers Ostendorf-Morris...

Twenty in their 20s; Jeff Grabner.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Chuck Soder Jeff Grabner 26 Wind Product Manager Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. When Jeff G. Grabner was a kid, he used to rollerblade across the floors of Cardinal Fastener and Specialty Co. carrying a...

Twenty in their 20s; Kevin Malecek.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Joel Hammond Kevin Malecek 29 Director of Evening and Saturday MBA Program Case Western Reserve University Those believing in Kevin Malecek's bright future on the Northeast Ohio political scene can take heart: Mr....

Twenty in their 20s; Patrick Spear.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: John Booth Patrick Spear 29 Vice President Home Team Marketing Anyone can talk teamwork. Patrick Spear has lived it for a long time. The 29-year-old vice president and co-founder of high school sports...

Twenty in their 20s; Scott Weingold.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Joel Hammond Scott Weingold 29 Co-Founder, Principal Strategic College Funding Solutions With all due respect to the tax man, making heads or tails of Pell, FAFSA and FSEOG often can be as daunting as the W-2,...

Coming Next Week.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Help may be coming With the new administration's economic stimulus package in place, we take stock of what effect Northeast Ohio's small businesses are expecting to feel or are already feeling.

Correction.(NEWS)(Correction notice)
April 6, 2009... A March 30, Page One story about local foundations contained incorrect information. The Cleveland Foundation has built a rainy day fund totaling approximately $7 million. The foundation this year expects to provide about $86 million in grants,...

Choice Bits.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... At a theater near you,it's Fed vs. Scammers * The scenario is tailor-made for the movies: Wrenching emotions. Lives turned upside down. A villain sweeping across the nation. But it's not a Hollywood blockbuster. It's a 30-second ad...

Forget the slots at tracks and taverns.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Brian Tucker Once again, reading the daily newspaper becomes a haven for those of us yearning for a humorous respite from the drumbeat of tales of economic misery gripping our society. And it didn't matter that it wasn't found...

Data Center.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... EXPANSIONS Chad Allen Consulting LLC, a Medina technology consulting firm founded after the Sept. 11 attacks, has relocated to an expanded office space at 780 E. Smith Road from an office on Medina's Public Square. NEW SERVICES ...

A THINKING MAN'S GAME; As the Indians' home opener approaches, the club gets creative in luring fans to Progressive Field.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: JOEL HAMMOND The Cincinnati Reds are selling tickets for $5 apiece, the Toronto Blue Jays are offering a $95 season ticket in the upper deck of the Rogers Centre and the Florida Marlins are giving away tickets to unemployed fans....

Banks take extra steps to encourage employees; With ever-present market negativity, companies find value in offering pep talks, smaller perks.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS It isn't all large retention bonuses and trips to exotic locales. Sometimes, it's "job well done and breakfast that bank executives use to let workers know they're glad they're there. Banks may not be changing...

State lags on minority firm spending goals; Just 2.4% of agencies' expenditures are making their way to companies certified as disadvantaged.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: JAY MILLER Last June, Gov. Ted Strickland ordered state agencies to better track their efforts to help minority and other disadvantaged businesses win state contracts. The Department of Administrative Services did just that, and...

FORTHERECORD.(BPI Energy Inc)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Shannon Mortland FEDS SLAP ORDERS AGAINST 2 BANKS * The Office of Thrift Supervision has ordered two local financial institutions to stop doing certain types of business. Century Bank in Parma has entered into a supervisory...

How's PNC doing? Depends upon whom you ask; Analysts see some rough patches ahead - due to the economy, not bank's National City purchase.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS Survey securities analysts who follow PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and more of them seem concerned about the impact of the lousy economy on the Pittsburgh-based banking giant than they are about its purchase late...

More private equity exits drive secondary market; Needing liquidity, sellers afforded easier cash access.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS The university endowment bought into a private equity fund years ago, when times were flush. But with the plummeting stock market and rising costs, the endowment really could use some of that cash. Unfortunately,...

Reporters Notebook.(NEWS)(Diary entry)
April 6, 2009... Welcome back, David and Davis * The names David Meeker and Davis Young are instantly recognizable among local public relations veterans and longtime media types. Now these two old hands of the art of communications are re-introducing...

More retailers seek rent relief; Landlords reluctantly acknowledge deals as recession pushes vacancy to record heights.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: STAN BULLARD Rick Rasgaitis in January moved his men's clothing store, R.R. Freestyle, from the Crocker Park mixed-use center to a storefront a mile away on Detroit Road in Westlake after failing to get a break on his rent. "I...

Twenty in their 20s; Shantiel Soeder.(Cuyahoga County Board of Elections)
April 6, 2009... Byline: Jay Miller Shantiel Soeder 27 Manager, Poll Worker Department Cuyahoga County Board of Elections Shantiel Soeder is trying to fill 10,000 job openings. Unfortunately, most of them are one-day jobs paying $172...

What's New.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... COMPANY: SuperTrapp Industries, Cleveland PRODUCT: True Duals for Harley-Davidson 2009 Baggers SuperTrapp, a maker of performance exhaust systems for motorcycles, ATVs and other vehicles, has expanded its exhaust product line with its...

NASA powers up plan to erect Sandusky wind farm; Center seeks to meet renewable energy guidelines.(NEWS)
April 6, 2009... Byline: CHUCK SODER The fact that there's no air in space isn't stopping NASA Glenn Research Center from pursuing wind power. NASA Glenn aims to partner with a private developer that would construct a wind farm on 2,000 acres on the...

SEALING THE DEAL; Contractors, agencies seek to capitalize on hefty federal cash infusion into state's home weatherization program.(Ohio's Home Weatherization Assistance Program )
April 6, 2009... Byline: CHUCK SODER Like the kid whose parents just installed that in-ground pool, the state of Ohio's Home Weatherization Assistance Program all of a sudden is really popular. With the federal government plowing $267 million of...

The Big Issue.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Have you considered a new career because of poor job prospects in your current field? BOB CALMER Medina (In advertising) This is all I know and this is all I do. So there really is no other direction for me to go. SAM...

COMING NEXT WEEK.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Finance: Retirement Baby boomers are waiting to retire, which impacts each generation of the work force.

Blue Heron looks to swing sale; Developer marketing Medina golf course, clubhouse separately.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: JAY MILLER Blue Heron Golf Club in Medina County is up for sale, but on its terms, according to its owner. Developer Hoffman Properties separately has put the public, 27-hole course, which opened in 2005, and its clubhouse and...

There still are benefits to being a CEO.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: Scott Suttell The recession is changing Americans' lives in profound ways, most of them not good, so maybe we should take comfort in a spring tradition that remains largely intact. Quick disclaimer: I'm not talking about...

Choice Bits.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Here's an industry that's in good health * Economic bad times are good for the vitamin business, thanks in part to customers such as Kerry Parnham of Cleveland. The New York Times reported that sales of vitamins and nutritional...

Bright Spots.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Bright Spots is a periodic feature in Crain's, highlighting positive business developments from across Northeast Ohio. To submit information, e-mail managing editor Scott Suttell at ssuttell@ crain.com. * THE AKRON AREA YMCA is helping to...

WATCHING THECLOCK; With clients in search of more predictable costs, companies using billable hour entertain alternatives.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS With shrinking budgets and more demands on their dollars, clients of professional service organizations increasingly are looking for ways to make their costs for accountants, lawyers, public relations work and the like...

GM must quicken dealer reduction; Automaker to rely heavily on Cadillac, Chevy.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: DAVE GUILFORD General Motors will lean much harder on its strongest brands Cadillac and Chevrolet as it accelerates the reduction of its dealerships. New CEO Fritz Henderson says the federal Auto Task Force's rejection of...

Crunch time.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... The following editorial first appeared in Automotive News, a sister publication of Crain's Cleveland Business: General Motors and Chrysler LLC invited federal oversight when they went to Washington looking for a bailout. But it was...

Corrections.(NEWS)(Correction notice)
April 13, 2009... * A Twenty in their 20s profile contained inaccurate information. Christine Rich started Young Professionalz, a group dedicated to promoting the fight against Alzheimer's disease, when she was development director at the Alzheimer's...

For the record.(NEWS)(Correction notice)
April 13, 2009... INTUIT CUTS 40 JOBS FROM BEACHWOOD UNIT * Financial software developer Intuit Inc. has cut about 40 people from its Beachwood-based Intuit Real Estate Solutions unit, which last year received state financial incentives on the condition that...

MMPI, county agreement has plenty of outs; Conditions abound that could derail deal for convention center/Med Mart complex.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: JAY MILLER A done deal? Not hardly. There are a lot of outs in the agreement reached between Cuyahoga County and developer Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. of Chicago to move ahead with planning for a new convention center and...

Going Places.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... JOB CHANGES CONSTRUCTION SHOOK CONSTRUCTION: Nick Kantorous to project engineer; David Sedensky to project superintendent. EDUCATION CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: Robert McCullough to director of undergraduate admission....

Green construction weathering economy; Builders, though not immune from recession, cite benefits of incorporating approach.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: CHUCK SODER Despite all his huffin' and puffin', the big, bad recessionary wolf hasn't been able to blow down the building made using green construction techniques, even if it isn't holding up as well as the third little piggy's...

GO BIG.(NEWS)(Brief article)
April 13, 2009... Large-scale layoffs are becoming far more common as the economy weakens, according to new data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The department reports there were 189 "mass layoff events those of 50 people or more in the...

Milestone.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... COMPANY: Joseph Scafidi Inc., Cleveland THE OCCASION: Its 25th anniversary Downtown Cleveland has been a good fit for custom tailor and shirt maker Joseph Scafidi Inc. The company, established in January 1984, makes both men's and...

Banks, credit unions hop on short-term train; Customers, in departing from payday lenders, find options at more traditional institutions.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS Banks and credit unions increasingly are encroaching on the turf of payday lenders, which are still active in Ohio despite legislative efforts to curb their issuance of costly, short-term loans. Ohio credit unions...

LNB enjoins dissatisfied shareholder from trying to access board seat; Rick Osborne upset with top brass; bank's lawsuit stops proxy tug-of-war.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS With all the talk of green and gold in LNB Bancorp's preliminary proxy and a competing one sent to shareholders, you could be forgiven for thinking there might be an early scouting report on the Green Bay Packers...

India's market potential impetus for M&A firm's overseas foray; Polymer Transaction Advisors eyes future plastics industry growth.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: DAN SHINGLER The U.S. plastics industry is looking toward India for some future growth, and Polymer Transaction Advisors of Newbury has taken the tiger by the tail in opening a Mumbai office to capitalize on the trend. The...

Reporters Notebook.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Not your usual Q-and-A with Third Federal's chief * When he was growing up, Third Federal Savings and Loan CEO Marc Stefanski was told to go ahead and buy whatever he wanted as long as he could afford it. "I didn't buy very much, he...

Roundtable offers remedies for health care ills; Business leaders tackle ways to stem rising costs.(NEWS)(Discussion)
April 13, 2009... Byline: SHANNON MORTLAND If the leaders of Ohio's largest businesses were going to stem the rising cost of health care, they had to find the answers to two questions: What is causing health care costs to continue to increase, and how can...

Grand Openings.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... COMPLETE CONCEPTS 6900 Granger Road Independence 44131 www.clevelandscompleteconcepts.com Jim Wallack, a former Army Ranger and a certified personal trainer, is the founder of Complete Concepts. The facility offers mixed...

Short Takes.(Chad Allan Consulting)(The Five Star Dive Bar & Grill)(Cleveland Canine magazine)
April 13, 2009... * WORLDLY PRESENCE: The city of Mentor has welcomed a number of new businesses representing a range of nationalities over the past several months. India Pantry and Takeout Kitchen, Fontina's Imported Foods and Fuji Japan Steakhouse (inside...

Some companies find no-grow approach best; Customers concerned only with quality, not size.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: JENNIFER KEIRN Rebecca Morgan has made her living for nearly 20 years consulting with manufacturing companies to help them improve their operations and grow their businesses. But it wasn't long ago that Ms. Morgan was...

FEELING THE FLOW; Government aims to nourish small business by promoting access to credit.
April 13, 2009... Byline: DAN SHINGLER Give small business some credit. That's not just the rallying cry of chambers of commerce across the country; it's also the government's strategy for helping small business. The logic behind federal stimulus...

Zolio offers professional presence; Portfolio-sharing site's founders seek to build a revenue stream, appeal to job seekers, employers.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: AMY ANN STOESSEL When Julie Fink was applying to art schools as a student at Ohio University, she knew there had to be a better way than the typical portfolio and resume to stand out among her peers. So instead of going to art...

The Week; April 6-12.(Cleveland Play House is in talks with PlayhouseSquare and Cleveland State University to move its operations )
April 13, 2009... The big story: After more than a year of negotiations, a draft agreement was reached to build a new trade show complex in downtown Cleveland. It lays out the plans for Cuyahoga County and Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. of Chicago to build and...

A DIFFICULT POSITION; Despite wealth of job talent, temporary staffing firms find diminished demand for services as fewer companies are hiring.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Byline: JOHN BOOTH Elite Personnel Agency administrator and senior recruiter Christine Watson pulls no punches in assessing the current jobs climate, and offers a blunt correction to anyone who figures that with so many people looking for...

Pessimism plagues Ohio businesses.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... Ohio businesses are more pessimistic than the rest of the country about the prospects for their own companies in the next six months, according to a new survey by PNC Financial Services Group. Just 12% of Ohio business owners are optimistic...

American Greetings unveils Osteen line.(NEWS)
April 13, 2009... American Greetings Corp. has introduced a new line of cards from Joel Osteen, whose Lakewood Church is Houston is home to one of the world's largest television ministries. American Greetings said the cards "feature the powerful words and...

Local steel mill's wait likely long; ArcelorMittal's Cleveland plant reopening depends on counterparts' revival, auto industry recovery.(NEWS)(Industry overview)
April 13, 2009... Byline: DAN SHINGLER It could be quite some time before Cleveland's ArcelorMittal steel mill is back on line and at least a portion of its 1,400 workers are called back to work after the plant closes in May. Experts who follow the...

The Big Issue.(NEWS)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... Do you think the Cavs will win the NBA championship this year? SAIRA RAHMAN Cleveland Everyone in my office is a huge Cavs fan. Yeah they're gong to go all the way. I think LeBron is the key reason and hopefully he doesn't leave....

Customers along for a vacation ride.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... Byline: Brian Tucker So there we were, the family and I, in our usual spring vacation location enjoying the combined allure of warmth, sunshine, golf, shopping and theme parks. If it's near Easter, the Tucker clan is usually to be found in...

Choice Bits.
April 20, 2009... Shop "til you drop, at Walgreens and CVS * It seems like Northeast Ohio has a drug store on every corner, and it turns out we like it that way. The Nielsen Co., in a report that looks at how Americans spend their money in retail...

Corrections.(NEWS)(Correction notice)
April 20, 2009... An April 13, Page 3 brief on the Ohio College of Podiatric Medicine contained inaccurate information about the size of a new lecture hall. The hall has 150 seats.

Construction bidding reform progresses; State panel's ideas for updating contracting rules for public projects could save millions.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... Byline: JAY MILLER Proposed changes in the way public entities in Ohio bid their construction contracts could lead to hundreds of millions of dollars in savings annually on public building projects. Recommendations for reforming the...

Medical mart developer's opt-out right may be costly; County avoids overrun burden, but faces pricey prep work bill if deal dies.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... Byline: JAY MILLER The Cuyahoga County commissioners appear to have achieved their goal of shielding the county from cost overruns that may result from construction of a new convention center and medical merchandise mart in downtown...

Who knew?(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... We're thinking about joining the staff of telephone fortunetellers at the Psychic Friends Network. Not even two months have gone by since our last editorial on casino gambling and, just as we predicted, the competing interests that would like...

FOR THE RECORD.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... FED REPORT OFFERS GLIMMERS OF HOPE * The most recent edition of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland's contribution to the Fed's Beige Book is a little less black than previous reports. In the six-week rundown of the nation's...

Going Places.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... JOB CHANGES DISTRIBUTION M.F. CACHAT CO.: Alison M. Azar to vice president, sales; Michael C. Barnes to central region sales manager; Jeremy A. Hackett to technical sales representative, central region. FINANCE FEDERAL...

Cuyahoga bolsters loan fund stimulus; County, Magnet investment extends borrowing options.
April 20, 2009... Byline: DAN SHINGLER It's not just Washington, D.C., that hopes to spur the economy by putting money directly into businesses Cuyahoga County is doing it, too. The county is channeling more money into a loan fund, administered by the...

Mid-market attorneys see influx of big-city work; Regional firms benefit as companies shift away from Wall Street prices.
April 20, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS Everyone loves New York and New York's lawyers, who command top-dollar fees for their work. But in the recession, New York is getting a little less love. So are Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. And...

Reporter's Notebook.(NEWS)(Diary entry)
April 20, 2009... Lawmakers refuse to take leave of paid medical leave * Here's a message to all those Ohio employers who thought they escaped the paid sick leave issue last year. Guess again. Federal lawmakers have introduced three new bills that, in...

CHANGING FACE of the WORKPLACE; Baby boomers' decisions to stave off retirement impact each generation differently.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS akass@crain.com When she took her job as the human resources administrator at Steere Enterprises Inc. in Tallmadge, Kim Donato stepped into shoes someone else at the company had filled for 40 years. "I wasn't going...

The Interview; Robert Smith, President and CEO, Spero-Smith Investment Advisers Inc.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... Byline: JAY MILLER Robert Smith, president and CEO of Spero-Smith Investment Advisers Inc., may have a hand in managing more money than anyone else in Northeast Ohio. In addition to the more than $350 million he and his staff of 15...

The Week; April 13-19.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... The big story: Cuyahoga County commissioners unanimously approved an agreement with developer Merchandise Mart Properties Inc. of Chicago to build a convention center and medical merchandise mart in downtown Cleveland. However, the much-awaited...

401(k) plans may evolve into a new retirement product; Investment could contain more financial security.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS Ignore, for a moment, the fact that your 401(k) has been headed lower for longer than you probably care to remember. Consider this, instead: Across the country, corporations are cutting their 401(k) matches or...

Canada: The tech belt? Dude, we need this Google engineer, who's in a pickle thanks to visa problems.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... A graduate of Western Reserve Academy in Hudson is the focal point of a New York Times story about the clash between technology companies' recruiting needs and the country's "byzantine and restrictive visa and immigration rules. The...

Scams heighten need to protect investments.(NEWS)
April 20, 2009... Byline: KATHY AMES CARR It's a mix of inexperience and greed that leads to investment fraud, as was recently the case with Bernie Madoff, and at a more local level, Frank Gruttadauria. These brokers bilked their investor clients for...

TURNING ON TO TWITTER; Companies large and small use social media site to build brands, expand industry presence and foster relationshipsanyfirm @CrainsCleve Ditto here. But more importantly ... barbecue, honey mustard or ranch sauce for my wingz?
April 20, 2009... Byline: KATHY AMES CARR and CHUCK SODER about one hour ago from web anotherfirm @CrainsCleve Our company got on not too long ago. Great way to listen, interact, market about two hours ago from web Hey, is anyone out there...

SIZE? NO MATTER; As major deals, leases grow harder to close, brokers optimistic that little transactions can add up.(Goodman Real Estate Group )
April 20, 2009... Byline: STAN BULLARD Bobby Benjamin, an associate broker at Goodman Real Estate Group in Lyndhurst, talks excitedly about his most recent assignment even though it happens to be one of the smallest of his career. Mr. Benjamin is...

What's New.(Sparton Medical Systems Inc)(Brief article)
April 20, 2009... COMPANY: Sparton Medical Systems Inc., Strongsville PRODUCT: The CellSearch System Sparton Medical's technology, which is used to measure circulating tumor cells, recently was ranked as the top medical innovation for 2009 at the...

FOR THE RECORD.(A)
April 27, 2009... FED COMMITS TO KEY, OTHER BIG BANKS Cleveland-based KeyCorp, and other large banks including Pittsburgh's PNC Financial Services Group and Ciincinnati's Fifth Third Bancorp, should remain intact. That's what the Federal Reserve indicated...

Unease after tax season leads accounting firms to scale back staffing plans.(A)
April 27, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS It's said the only certain things in life are death and taxes. This winter, accountants likely breathed a collective sigh of relief because of the latter. But now that the snow has melted and the April 15 tax...

Banks note rising interest in 401(k) rollovers; Customers looking for more conservative investment options.(A)
April 27, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS With more people losing their jobs and others tired of seeing their retirement portfolios battered by the stock market, banks doing business here are advertising their interest in helping people roll over their 401(k)...

Roundup of our quirky state of politics.(Viewpoint essay)
April 27, 2009... Byline: Brian Tucker It seems that every day, I find things interesting, irritating and sometimes just plain perplexing in our "Morning Roundup, a 9 a.m. e-mail that collects business-related stories from newspapers across Ohio (sign up at...

Diebold emphasizes service unit amid growth; ATM leasing, security, management gain traction.(A)
April 27, 2009... Byline: CHUCK SODER It was a good sign for Diebold Inc. when Keith Lewis realized he couldn't limit conversations with potential customers of the company's Integrated Services unit to a mere 15 minutes. Although the recession in recent...

Hold it.(A)
April 27, 2009... The new convention center and medical merchandise mart complex planned for downtown Cleveland is taking on the qualities of the flesh-eating plant in "Little Shop of Horrors. Not satisfied with gobbling up hundreds of millions of dollars in...

CORRECTION.(A)(Correction notice)
April 27, 2009... An April 20, Page 11 story contained an inaccurate figure for Spero-Smith Investment Advisers Inc.'s assets under management. As of March 31, the Beachwood firm managed more than $265 million for high-net-worth clients.

Small banks draw small firms; Businesses motivated to move primarily due to institutions' ability to forge close customer ties.(A)
April 27, 2009... Byline: ARIELLE KASS David Uram started negotiations to renew his line of credit at National City Bank last June, six months before its November expiration. But November came and went without a renewal. So did December, January and...