Business briefs
EXPANDED TEACHER DISCOUNT AT MEIJER: Meijer has added office furniture and kids’ apparel to the more than 1,500 items on its annual 15 percent off discount for teachers.
Offered to teachers through its 257 stores in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Kentucky, including the new store in Boardman, the discount provides savings on classroom essentials like paper, pencils, folders and notebooks while addressing the issue of teachers spending their own money on supplies throughout the year to restock classrooms.
New items in the discount include desks, bookshelves, frames, lamps and kids’ clothing
Teachers can get the discount — in the form of a paper coupon — by presenting a current school ID at their local Meijer customer service desk. They are also able to take advantage of the coupon repeatedly by obtaining a new one any time they return to Meijer throughout the back-to-school shopping season.
FARMERS BRINGING NEW ITM TO BOARDMAN: Canfield-based Farmers National Bank is opening a new Interactive Teller Machine (ITM) at 7334 Market Street, near the intersection of Boardman Canfield Road and Market Street.
The new ITM / ATM features the ability to talk with a specialized video teller in Niles in real time to do banking transactions or use the machine as a typical ATM. Video tellers can assist customers with deposits, withdrawals, transfers and payments.
The video tellers follow bank operating hours 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday to Friday and 8 a.m. to noon Saturday.
BERKSHIRE ACQUIRES FIRM: Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Stouffer Realty Services has acquired Birch Realty, founded in 1999 by Janet Birch in East Liverpool.
Birch has served as the president of the Beaver Creek Area Realtors Association numerous times. In addition, she won the Realtor of the Year Award in 2002 and an award for most homes sold in 2004. Birch serves on the Economic Development Committee for the Wellsville Chamber of Commerce and on the Save Our Homes Task Force.
She is joined by Susan Mowery, who has been with Birch Realty since 2011 but has more than 30 years of experience in the real estate industry.
The union adds to the brokerage superpower of more than 1,800 agents and 54 offices serving 22 counties in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Stouffer Realty and The Preferred Realty family of companies is the No. 1 independent franchise in the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network and the No. 22 company across the entire industry for sales units based on REALTrends data.
AUSTINTOWN GRAD DEVELOPS MAKEUP MIRROR: Ilios Lighting founder Kelly Mondora, a 20-year veteran of the film and photography lighting industry and 1993 graduate of Austintown Fitch High School, has partnered with celebrity makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic to introduce a new makeup mirror and light combination that mimics true daylight.
The ring has five levels of brightness, including three color modes ranging from sunlight to candlelight, and it rates as the highest Color Rendering Index (CRI) available on the market. It also has a built-in metal smartphone holder revealed when the reversible mirror is detached and a mobile device charging unit with a built-in USB-A charging port.
OHIO LAUNCHES BUSINESS SURVEY: The state has launched the In-Demand Jobs Survey for Ohio businesses to provide feedback on the state’s In-Demand Jobs List.
The survey, managed in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, the InnovateOhio Platform and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, creates a simple user experience and allows businesses to offer input on Ohio’s current and future in-demand jobs in just minutes.
Ohio is required to maintain an up-to-date In-Demand Jobs List that directs the spending of 85 percent of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act training funds. Although not required, Ohio previously has chosen to survey employers to ensure that state programs meet business needs.
The current survey is open to all registered Ohio businesses, giving small and large businesses alike the opportunity to have a voice in how Ohio prepares people for the current workforce.
Businesses can fill out the In-Demand Jobs Survey at topjobs.ohio.gov/survey. Ohio’s updated In-Demand Jobs List will be published at the end of 2021.
SHEELY’S DONATES: Sheely’s Furniture and Appliance in North Lima raised and donated $11,035 to the Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities and the Leonard Kirtz Playground Project.
The fundraising event took place at Sheely’s stores in North Lima and Aurora by encouraging customers to participate by offering $100 off $1,000 purchases when a donation was made. Sheely’s matched funds for every dollar raised.
New Businesses
DOLLAR STORE OPENS: Family Dollar has announced plans for a grand opening in Youngstown at 2224 Market St.
The new store will include $1 Dollar Tree merchandise, additional freezers and coolers and an expanded selection of food, beauty and essentials, household products, and seasonal items.
A grand opening was held earlier this month.
People on the Move
REGIONAL CHAMBER ADDS STAFFER: Samantha Ensminger recently joined the Youngstown Warren Regional Chamber as events coordinator. She will assist the Events and Marketing divisions with logistics and reservations for the organization’s nearly 100 events, as well as the coordination and promotion of chamber members’ ribbon cutting celebrations.
Ensminger worked most recently as a copywriter for Advantage Video Production & Marketing, writing scripts, web content and social media copy. She had similar responsibilities as a copywriter at J. Saul Campbell & Co., where she also organized and oversaw events for clients.
The Girard resident earned her bachelor’s degree in English, with a double minor in professional and technical writing and Italian, at Youngstown State University.
PR FIRM HIRES FORMER JOURNALIST: The Houck Agency in Youngstown, a public relations and marketing firm, recently brought on Ashley Fox, a former reporter with The Vindicator, as content specialist.
Fox’s role will include copywriting, media relations and client service.
Prior to reporting locally, Fox wrote for newspapers in Medina and Polson, Mont., the latter of which she also oversaw social media and assisted with copy editing. She also has marketing and management experience.
Fox graduated from Chaney High School and obtained her bachelor’s degree in 2009 in telecommunications with a minor in journalism from Youngstown State University.
BISSELL JOINS PECCHIA COMMUNICATIONS: Pecchia Communications has brought on former television news reporter and anchor Brittany Bissell as project director.
She will serve clients across a wide range of public relations and marketing activities.
Bissell most recently was public relations and marketing coordinator at the Trumbull County Educational Service Center in Niles. There, she led digital, video and print projects for school superintendents and their teams for the past two years.
Before that, she worked for about four years in local television as a news and sports reporter and anchor.
EMPLOYEE MOVES REALTOR: TG Real Estate in Columbiana has hired Carol Sole as a real estate agent and broker, Jordan Luna as customer service representative and Laura Phillips as administrative assistant.
Sole has more than 20 years of experience in the industry; Luna has five years in customer service and Phillips in her role will support the team.
Business briefs
PDMI RECOGNIZED: Pharmacy Data Management, Inc. (PDMI) in Poland and its sister company, IDMI, have been named winners of Crain Business Insider Magazine’s Best Employers in Ohio award.
This is the first time PDMI was nominated. It ranked No. 19 in the Small Employer category.
The annual Best Employers in Ohio list was created by Best Companies Group in partnership with Crain’s Cleveland Business and Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland. Selections are based on employee surveys evaluating workplace policies, practices, philosophies and systems.
AKRON CHILDREN’S NAMED TOP EMPLOYER: Akron Children’s Hospital has earned recognition as a Top Workplace by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the seventh year in a row.
The honor is based on employee feedback through a survey administered by Energage, LLC, a provider of technology-based employee engagement tools. The anonymous survey measures several aspects of workplace culture.
Akron Children’s was one of 247 companies and organizations participating in this year’s survey. Companies with the highest overall average scores in comparison to like-sized companies in their region qualify as Top Workplaces.
Sixty-six percent of the 3,499 employees who received the survey completed the questionnaire this spring. Employees gave the hospital high marks in several areas, most notably: values, open-mindedness and concerns.
GROUP TO MEET: The Western Reserve Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management will meet 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 13 at the Holiday Inn Boardman.
Attorney John Gerak of Ogletree Deakins will present on return to work and lifting certain COVID-19 restrictions. The session will discuss what laws apply, masks and social distancing, workplace accommodations, policies and remote work.
RSVP to jenna.kifer@cadencecare.org by July 12.
SHEELY’S PARTNERS WITH PENGUINS: The NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins has named Sheely’s Furniture the team’s new official furniture and mattress supplier.
Sheely’s Furniture, locally owned and operated for more than 70 years, has two locations: an 80,000-square-foot showroom in North Lima and a 65,000-square-foot showroom in Aurora.
People on the move
HOWMET NAMES EXEC.: Pittsburgh-based Howmet Aerospace, which has a plant in Weathersfield, has named Lola Lin executive vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
She will join the Howmet executive leadership team and lead the company’s global legal and ethics and compliance functions.
Lin most recently served as senior vice president and general counsel of Airgas, Inc., a leading U.S. supplier of industrial gases, safety products and process chemicals. There she was responsible for corporate governance, compliance matters, strategic transactions, crisis management, regulatory matters and litigation resolution.
AGENTS JOIN WEICHERT TEAM: Weichert affiliated offices in the Youngstown area recently have added the following individuals to their team: Melissa Haire, Robert Houston and Robert Greenaway at Weichert, Realtors-Welcome Agency, 5778 Youngstown Poland Road.
JFS WELCOMES STAFF: Lynne Azar has joined Jewish Family Services as senior outreach coordinator, and Laura Haas has joined as a new full-time counselor.
Azar will work with older adults, 60 and above, in the community as well as offer presentations and programs at the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown. She holds a master’s degree in gerontology from Youngstown State University.
Haas has experience working with all ages for individual and family mental health counseling. She uses a variety of techniques including cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, motivational interviewing and person-centered therapy, solution focus brief. She will be soon trained and certified in eye movement desensitization and reprocessing. She received a master of social work degree from Youngstown State University.
RESNICK NAMED MANAGING BROKER: Burgan Friedkin Commercial Group, Youngstown, has named Lisa Resnick managing broker.
The position was created after the group saw substantial growth in just over a year since its founding. Resnick will oversee a team of five agents helping businesses find a location in the Mahoning Valley.
In addition to her work with Burgan Friedkin, Resnick previously was a residential agent with Burgan Real Estate, where she was the recipient of the President’s Club Award in 2019 from the Youngstown Columbiana Association of Realtors.
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