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YBI ANNOUNCES NEW MBAC TEAM: The Youngstown Business Incubator recently announced a new Minority Business Assistance Center (MBAC) team, a group focused on providing support to the region's minority businesses through one-on-one counseling, coursework and group acceleration programs.

Newly appointed team members are:

• Tanisha Wheeler, who serves as a part-time business counselor and also as the director for Women in Entrepreneurship and Youth Entrepreneurship;

• Vern Richberg, former MBAC director, to the role of director of supply chain diversity for which he will support MBAC through the development of programs and resources that support the diversification of the region's supply chain and specific initiatives that align with the mission of the organization;

• David Hood as the program's new administrative assistant.

NEW CLIENT AT CASSIDY: Canfield-based Cassidy Advertising & Consulting, LLC has added EMSCO, an Inductotherm Group member, as their newest client.

The Inductotherm Group consists of 40 full-service thermal processing companies that provide local manufacturing, engineering, services and support to industries across the globe.

EMSCO provides 24 / 7 services, repairs, and rebuilds for induction melting furnaces.

REALTY FIRM RECOGNIZES EMPLOYEES: More Options Realty, at its holiday party Dec. 4 at Squaw Creek Country Club, recognized Ryan Hallapy as volume leader for 2021 with $7.86 million; Steve DeMaiolo, second; and Sally Demidovich, third.

Hallapy was No. 1 with transactions, 77; DeMaiolo, second; and Gia Neapolitan, third.

The highest average sale price was led by Jim Sarvas, Pennsylvania agent, with an average sale price of $315,000. Demidovich was second and Giuseppe Musumeci was third.

MERIDIAN ACCREDITED: Meridian HealthCare has earned The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval for its behavioral health care and human services programs, along with both of their opiate treatment program (OTP), located in Warren and Youngstown.

Meridian received the accreditations by demonstrating continuous compliance with its performance standards. The Gold Seal is a symbol of quality that reflects a health care organization's commitment to providing safe and quality patient care.

Meridian underwent an unannounced onsite review for its behavioral health and human services programs on June 16-18 and both of its OTP sites on June 21-22 and June 23-24.

During the visit, a team of reviewers evaluated compliance with all of Meridian's program standards spanning several areas including care, treatment and services, emergency management, environment of care, infection prevention and control, information management, leadership, life safety, medication management, and rights and responsibilities of the individual.

People on the move

VALLEY NATIVE RETIRES: Youngstown native Pete Sniderman, chief operating officer of Litton Entertainment, a unit of Hearst Media Production Group that produces and distributes programming across several platforms, has retired from the company.

Sniderman has overseen Litton's expansion since 1995 through leadership of several divisions, including corporate and advertising sales partnerships, international sales, programming acquisitions, network partnerships, Litton's news division and Litton News Source.

With 32 series and hundreds of hours of Emmy Award-winning programming annually on leading broadcast station groups including the ABC stations, and networks including CBS, NBC, Telemundo and The CW, Litton Entertainment is among the leading content providers.

AUDIT MANAGER JOINS 717: Nicole Whitsel recently joined 717 Credit Union as internal audit manager.

Whitsel, who has more than 13 years of risk management experience and holds a MBA in accounting, will oversee the financial institution's internal auditing department.

Auditing is the management function which independently examines and evaluates the adequacy and effectiveness of operational and accounting controls within the credit union.

Business News

Business briefs

LOCAL STUDENTS NAMED BUSINESS COLLEGE FELLOWS: Three people from Poland are among five business students at the Williamson College of Business Administration at Youngstown State University who are serving as John D. Beeghly Fellows for the 2021 fall semester.

They are Michael Puhalla, a senior international business major with a focus in management and leadership; Lindsay Roberts, a senior marketing management major with a minor in management; and Niki Spencer, a senior business administration major with a minor in entrepreneurship.

The Beeghly Fellowship Program provides students with a paid fellowship working with the Ohio Small Business Development Center and Export Assistance Network at YSU. Students work on a variety of projects, including financial analysis and sales forecasting, preparation of financial statements, market research and strategy development, export readiness studies and assistance and government contracting.

YBI'S WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAM ON FAST TRACK TO SUCCESS: In November, the Youngstown Business Incubator held the 2021 WE Grow Pitch Competition through the Women in Entrepreneurship (WE) program. WE Grow gives women four weeks of marketing strategy and tools to grow their existing businesses.

The women pitched their existing businesses to a panel of judges for a chance to win an investment in their company.

The winner was Lisa Resnick with Dandelion Inc. The other participants were Ashlyn Baker, Signatures by Symone; Sheri Bodo & Glenniece Bodo, The Back Rack; Tei'Asha Simms, My Melanin Speaks; Marquala Thomas, Betty'z Simply Clean; and Mara Cunningham, Yo Crash.

WE Grow is phase three of the WE Program, a four-week program that meets weekly for two hours. WE Grow is for women who have been in business for at least two years and who need help taking their business to the next level.

AHA RECOGNIZES YSU: Youngstown State University is being recognized for its commitment to employee health and well-being by the American Heart Association through its 2021 Workplace Health Achievement Index.

YSU was recognized in the Workplace Health Achievement Index with a silver status.

The index is a free web-based scorecard that looks at organizational best practices and aggregates employee health data to evaluate the overall quality and comprehensiveness of workplace health programs. More than 450 organizations completed the index assessment this year, which evaluated the time period of July 2020 to June 2021.

Of the organizations that completed the assessment, nearly all earned gold (43 percent), silver (31 percent) or bronze (19 percent) status.

The association created the index in 2016 with its CEO Roundtable, a leadership collaborative of more than 45 members from some of America's largest companies, to apply evidence-based approaches to support employee health.

People on the move

VALLEY PARTNERS ADDS BUSINESS COACH: Valley Economic Development Partners, Liberty, has brought on Cassie Wyatt to the newly created role of business coach, in which she will devote her time to providing guidance to small businesses.

She also will provide counseling to clients that are looking to start a business in the Mahoning Valley by

Wyatt will graduate in December from Youngstown State University earning a bachelor's degree in general studies with a concentration in business and communication.

She previously worked in banking as a branch manager with TCF / Huntington Bank.

BANK HIRES MANAGER: Youngstown-based Premier Bank recently made Melissa Thake branch manager of the Columbiana office.

Thake, who has six years of experience in retail banking, most recently served as branch manager for a national bank headquartered in Columbus, where she was recognized as a Customer Service Champion award winner in 2019 and 2020.

FIRM ADDS AGENTS: More Options Realty has added David McIntyre, Mark Douglass and Trent Clay, who will work in the Mahoning Valley, and Cheyenne Duffey, who will be working in the Akron / Canton market.