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The Institute for Organization Management, a professional development program operated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, has appointed Jodie A. Perry, president of the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce, to chair its Midwest Board of Regents.Perry will help implement the policies created by the Institute’s National Board of Trustees.“A strong Board of Regents is […]

Last October in this section, Jodie Perry of the Richland Area Chamber of Commerce pointed out the impact of small businesses on our economy — accounting for 54 percent of all sales, 55 percent of all jobs, and 66 percent of new jobs.Many of these businesses are well-established and sometimes multi-generational, but a significant number […]

The Richland County Foundation Board of Trustees approved $438,330 in grants to area non-profit agencies during its December meeting.Projects that received grants from unrestricted community funds and other funds impacting area residents include:• Braintree Business and Development Center received a 10 percent local matching grant to expand its ability to work with minority, women and […]

Four technology startups are using a combined $200,000 to get innovative new products closer to commercialization. The companies won between $25,000 and $100,000 from the Northeast Ohio pre-seed fund and will use the money to make prototypes, test the technologies, and hire employees.The founders and their teams came to Lorain County Community College last week […]

Startup businesses all have one thing in common — they need someone to believe in them.One Poland resident has received more than a million dollars in investments for his tech company. Here’s how he got started.“We thought there was a problem and we didn’t come to the market selling a solution looking for a problem,” […]

The City of Mansfield was the nation's No. 5 city in job losses over the last year, according to a website citing figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For October, the number of jobs declined from 50,576 the previous year to 49,399, a 2.33 percent loss.Most cities showed an increased number of jobs over […]

MANSFIELD - Mark Hess — who as a teen turned a fascination for machinery into a roadside business, working with his grandfather to make and sell two-wheeled carts off Ohio 39 — fell in love with the machine trades.This fall, he moved his 16-year-old company, Hess Industries Lt., out of space rented from Braintree, to […]

The CEO of VentureOhio spreads the word about companies worth investing in across Ohio.She’s slight in stature, but “diminutive” is not a term anyone applies to Falon Donohue after experiencing the energy she brings to her role as CEO of VentureOhio. Dynamo is more like it.VentureOhio is a statewide catalyst to magnify efforts of community-based […]

MANSFIELD - Dan DeVille, area manager for FirstEnergy — who became a heavy hitter on Mansfield area community boards during his seven years in that job — will leave for a new job in Cleveland with the utility he works for around the end of the year.DeVille has been named director of external affairs for […]

A Lorain County Community College-led partnership has received a nearly $500,000 grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration's i6 Challenge.The initiative, which is called the Northeast Ohio Regional Acceleration in Digital Innovation, or NEO ReADI, will "support innovation and commercialization of key technologies anchored in the region," according to a news release from the college.Lorain […]