Business briefs
ENCINO ENERGY, VENDORS DONATE: Encino Energy and its vendors made major donations stemming from the company’s Vendor Charity Classic.
This year’s gathering was expanded into a two-day event consisting of a clay shoot, golf outing and welcome reception. With 33 sponsors, Encino and its vendors raised $80,000, which was split evenly between four charitable causes. Among them were the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition, which provides a network for Mahoning Valley manufacturers to identify common needs and problem-solve with their partners, and share ideas and resources to develop a skilled workforce. The new partnership formed between Encino and MVMC is driven by a need to meet the demand of a skilled workforce within the oil and natural gas industry.
Other groups given money were Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, a regional community foundation serving Appalachian Ohio’s 32 counties that creates opportunities for the people and communities of Appalachian Ohio by inspiring and supporting philanthropy; and the Brightside Project, an organization that works to positively impact the children of Columbiana County and surrounding communities who are battling hunger, poverty, drug abuse, neglect and other emotional and mental health issues.
MERCY HEALTH HOSPITALS AMONG BEST: Mercy Health’s St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital have been named by U.S. News & World Report to its 2023-24 Best Hospitals list.
St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital earned a high-performing rating for common adult procedures and conditions in three categories: congestive heart failure, heart attack and stroke. St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital earned high performing ratings in two categories — congestive heart failure and kidney failure.
The ratings recognize care that was significantly better than the national average, as measured by factors such as patient outcomes.
U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 hospitals across 15 specialties and 21 procedures and conditions, with only 12 percent of evaluated hospitals earning a Best Hospitals ranking. Hospitals awarded a “Best” designation excelled at factors such as clinical outcomes, level of nursing care and patient experience.
WRTA LAUNCHES APP: A new app from the Western Reserve Transit Authority allows users of the agency’s late-night service to register for and schedule the service, which is available from 9:15 p.m. to midnight Monday through Friday.
Late night is a shared-ride scheduled service that goes curb-to-curb. The service will pick up riders and drop them off at any address or location within Mahoning County’s fixed-route service area.
The app, WRTA On Demand, can be downloaded from the Apple Store or Google Play Store.
LOCAL LAWYERS RECOGNIZED: Three attorneys in the Youngstown office of Brouse McDowell, an Akron-based law firm, have been recognized in the 30th edition of The Best Lawyers in America.
One other, meanwhile, was recognized in the 4th edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.
In the local office, Timothy Reardon, Jay Skolnick and Michael Gallo were recognized by The Best Lawyers in America 2024, while Brian Coulter was recognized on the “Ones to Watch” list.
Reardon was recognized for bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights / insolvency and reorganization law; Skolnick, for corporate law; and Gallo, for bankruptcy and creditor debtor rights / insolvency and reorganization law as well as litigation – bankruptcy.
Coulter was recognized for commercial litigation.
The Best Lawyers in America highlights the top 5 percent of private practicing attorneys in the U.S.
COMPANY ADDS CAPABILITY: STG Communication Services has added directional boring to the company’s list of services, giving the telecommunications contractor the ability to place critical infrastructure underground.
Directional boring in telecommunications presents many advantages. In severe weather, lines placed underground mean better connectivity, ensuring that people will be able to call for help and receive critical information in an emergency.
The method is commonly used when crossing waterways, roads and environmentally sensitive areas.
STG Communication Services is a full-service logistics and equipment installer for the telecommunications industry.
People on the move
PROMOTION AT iSYNERGY: Canfield-based digital marketing agency iSynergy has promoted Lauren Moliterno to vice president of content. In the role, Moliterno will oversee the team’s content creation, such as blogs, social media, email marketing and inbound strategies.
Most recently, Moliterno served as a copywriter, joining iSynergy in 2021. The Boardman native graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in English with a creative writing specialization.
After graduation, Moliterno worked for three years at TTM Technologies in North Jackson as training and communications coordinator, managing the training requirements of 200 employees.
BROKERAGE ADDS REALTOR: Coldwell Banker EvenBay Real Estate has brought on Jenna VanDevender, Realtor, to the real estate firm.
VanDevender, a graduate of Howland High School, received her Ohio Real Estate License in 2023. In addition to real estate, she holds a position as a certified occupational therapy assistant, servicing students with disabilities at local schools.
She will serve Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties, and surrounding areas.
DR. JOINS AKRON CHILDREN’S: Dr. Sarah Miller has joined Akron Children’s Pediatrics’ Portage location, 2497 state Route 59, Ravenna.
The practice provides pediatric primary care for babies, children and teens.
Miller earned her medical degree from Drexel University School of Medicine in Philadelphia and completed her pediatric residency at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.
NEW AGENT AT BURGAN: Burgan Real Estate has announced Gannon Hulea as the firm’s newest agent.
Hulea has previous sales experience as well as a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Youngstown State University.
REALTOR JOINS MAYO: Mayo Realtors recently hired Youngstown native Bailey Reardon to the team.
NEW PROGRAM DIRECTOR AT YBI: Megan Payich has been named director of the Youth Entrepreneurship program within the Youngstown Business Incubator.
Payich, who began at YBI in 2021 as development and marketing coordinator, over time has assumed a lead role in planning and executing all fundraising events, including the annual Shark Tank fundraising event.
She led YBI’s “Youth Xperience” initiative to introduce cutting-edge virtual reality technology to more than 500 young individuals in the Mahoning Valley.
Beyond YBI, she has dedicated her summers to inspiring young people through various summer camps, including YMCA summer camp, YWCA Girls in STEAM camp and Oh WOW! Summer STEAM camp.
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Business briefs
ATTORNEY GRADUATES FROM LEADERSHIP PROGRAM: Attorney ShaRay Lewis was among 27 Ohio attorneys to graduate from the Ohio State Bar Association’s 2023 Leadership Academy.
The academy is designed to prepare lawyers for effective leadership in the association, the legal profession and their communities. The program takes place over a five-month period in six sessions, during which participants interact with a diverse group of seasoned attorneys and other professionals, learning about topics such as civility, ethics and professionalism.
Lewis is an Ohio assistant public defender and the president and founder of Building Minority Leadership Inc., an organization that aims to address a wide range of challenges affecting minority populations by incorporating education, mentorship and leadership to reduce risk factors that lead to crime and recidivism.
She works in the public defenders’ Trumbull County office.
BEAUTY IN BOARDMAN: St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital has secured the No. 6 spot in Soliant’s Top 20 Most Beautiful Hospitals contest. The annual contest aims to recognize hospitals across the country for their facility design, aesthetics, comforting staff and patient experience by asking the public to nominate and vote on the facilities where they have had great experiences.
Mercy Health-St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital opened its doors in 2007 and underwent a major expansion in 2012, adding a 165,000-square-foot, seven-story inpatient bed tower.
Other updates and expansions include relocating labor and delivery to Boardman in 2014; opening medical oncology and infusion services in a medical office building in 2021; expanding the physician network by adding three residency programs to campus, including emergency medicine, family medicine and otolaryngology; and starting a robotics program for general and gynecological surgical procedures in 2017. Also, a specialized robot for total hip and total knee replacements was added in 2018.
More than 506,195 votes were cast for 50 nominated hospitals.
YNDC RECEIVES DOMINION DONATION: Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation is among 11 nonprofits in Ohio that shared $110,000 from the Dominion Energy Charitable Foundation.
The grants focus on social and economic revitalization efforts, including the arts, health and human services, and youth empowerment programs
The $10,000 grant for YNDC was for its work transforming a vacant, fire-damaged commercial plaza into a facility that houses three minority-owned businesses and five neighborhood-service programs.
PHYSICIANS OBTAIN LICENSES: Chiropractic physicians Michael J. Cafaro and Jeremy Dotson at Meridian HealthCare recently earned their acupuncture licenses.
Acupuncture is performed by inserting thin, sterilized needles into specific points in the body to alleviate pain, tension and more. It balances energy flow, or chi, throughout the body.
With these services in place, patients managing pain and other ailments, as well as those in Meridian’s addiction and recovery program, have a supplemental, holistic treatment option to ease their symptoms.
Cafaro has been a chiropractic doctor for 19 years, while Dotson has been practicing for seven years.
KENT STATE WORKS FOR WOMEN: Kent State University has been named one of the Best Employers for Women in a nationwide ranking by Forbes and marketing research firm Statista. This year is the sixth in a row the university has made the list.
Among the 400 companies and organizations recognized on thr list, KSU is No. 183 in the country. Among colleges and universities, KSU is No. 34. Only 35 institutions of higher education are recognized.
KSU employs about 3,400 women, making up 58 percent of the university’s workforce.
The evaluation was based on four criteria: direct recommendations – work topics in general; direct recommendations – topics relevant for women in particular; indirect recommendations; and diversity among top executives / board.
MORE THAN $5M EARNED BY FIRM: Youngstown-based KO Consulting has secured $5.6 million for its clients, which range from schools to cities to nonprofit organizations, for the first half of the year.
KO Consulting has clients in four states, with most being located in northeast Ohio. The role of the firm is to consult business owners, nonprofits and government entities with economic development tools and strategies that will make project planning and development successful.
EXECUTIVE EARNS CREDENTIAL: Amy Stockton, administrator at Windsor Home Health in Girard, has earned the designation of a certified executive for home care and hospice through a course offered by the Ohio Health Care Association.
She has passed the National Association of Long Term Care Administrator Boards Home and Community-Based Services Examination to earn the designation. Stockton is one of 86 Ohio executives with the national certification.
The certification program is designed to elevate the skills and professionalism of executives in home care, hospice and community-based services in Ohio by combining national competency standards with Ohio’s most comprehensive state-specific training. The course is a combination of interactive classroom training, guided self-study and hands-on clinical learning.
GOLF CLASSIC RAISES FUNDS: On Aug. 7, area golfers and local businesses raised more than $45,000 for Junior Achievement of Eastern Ohio during the third annual Swing Fore JA Golf Classic at The Lake Club of Ohio.
The outing is Junior Achievement’s most prestigious fundraising event of the year, allowing JA to provide more than 13,000 K-12 students with free financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship programs.
Junior Achievement also announced a portion of the proceeds from the event would be donated to the ongoing Michael J. Alexander Memorial Scholarship Fund to benefit a local high school junior or senior entering the 2023-24 school year.
Alexander was a former Junior Achievement board member and avid supporter of financial literacy education in the Mahoning Valley. JA offered students the opportunity to win the $1,000 scholarship by submitting a 150-word essay on the subject “What Does Financial Literacy Mean To Me?” Michael Daley, a junior from Poland High School, was selected as this year’s recipient.
People on the move
STEWARD WELCOMES SURGEON: Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Steward Medical Group have added Dr. Ali Kimyaghalam to Steward Heart & Vascular, Trumbull, at the Medical Professional Building, 1353 E. Market St., Suite 301, Warren.
Kimyaghalam is a vascular surgery expert with training in advanced minimally invasive techniques to treat aortic and carotid disease. He has clinical interest is in advanced carotid stenting, treatment of peripheral artery disease, endovascular repair of complex aortic aneurysms, endoleak management, aortic dissection management, surgical management of deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, varicose veins and management of hemodialysis access.
NEW ADDITION AT PECCHIA: Pecchia Communications in Canfield has hired Rebecca Bayley of Boardman, as a consultant. She will lead the firm’s work with a wide range of Mahoning Valley clients.
Bayley has worked in marketing, public relations and development since the early 2000s. Her experience includes client-side work with Meridian HealthCare and Cardinal Mooney High School, and freelance communications engagements with companies in New York and Florida. Prior to moving back to the Valley, Bayley worked with the Archdiocese of New York’s Department of Education to develop the national standard for private school admissions protocol.
iSYNERGY ADDS STAFF: iSynergy, the Canfield-based digital marketing agency, has announced Couri Johnson has joined the team as a copywriter.
For a decade prior to joining iSynergy, Johnson taught English language arts in Youngstown, Japan and Louisiana. She has master’s degree and a doctorate in creative writing.
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Business briefs
WINNER AVIATION CERTIFIED: Winner Aviation at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport has become certified as a Most Loved Workplace backed by the research and analysis of Best Practice Institute. The validation provides the most comprehensive look at workplace sentiment for organizations today.
Most Loved Workplaces certify companies where employees are the happiest and most satisfied at work. Winner Aviation became certified based on its scores on the Love of Workplace Index, which surveyed employees on various elements around employee satisfaction and sentiment including the level of respect, collaboration, support and sense of belonging they feel inside the company.
OFFICERS ELECTED: Members of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 74 in Warren have elected Greg Fridley president of the union, which represents about 175 Warren city employees.
Other officers elected in June were Patrick Larson, vice president; Charles Anderson, chief steward; Megan Stanislaw, secretary; and Chase Welch, treasurer.
Executive committee board members are Vince Cavilier, Todd Currie, Eric Davis, Dion Johnson, Matt Maher and Steve Namola.
FIRM’S NEW WEBSITE: Boak & Sons has launched a new website at boakandsons.com. The exterior contractor worked with TBG Digital Marketing of Canfield to redesign the site. The goal was to offer customers an easier way to research their commercial and residential roofing, insulation, gutter, siding and sheet metal needs, and connect the company for new projects or emergency service and repairs.
Throughout the redesign, the companies conducted exercises to outline target markets, detail customer personas and buyers’ journeys, highlight important keywords and identify unique ways to meet expectations online.
In addition, they placed a heavy focus on optimization for Google local search. The result was a more streamlined design and several new features, such as the Service Dispatch request which allows customers to request a roof repair online.
HOSPITAL RECOGNIZED FOR CARE: Mercy Health-St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital has received three American Heart Association “Get With The Guidelines” achievement awards for commitment to following up-to-date, research-based guidelines for the treatment of heart disease and stroke.
The program puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest evidence- and research-based guidelines.
The awards were Get With The Guidelines — Stroke GOLD PLUS; Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite; and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Elite.
COMPANIES NAMED AMONG BEST: Poland-based Pharmacy Data Management Inc. and Internet Data Management Inc. have been named top employers in Ohio for the third consecutive year.
The sister companies were named to the annual list of the Best Employers in Ohio. Conducted by Best Companies Group in partnership with Crain’s Cleveland Business and Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland, the program identifies and honors those organizations that most benefit the state’s economy, workforce and businesses. Selections are based on employee surveys evaluating workplace policies, practices and systems.
PDMI was ranked No. 24 in the small / medium category. Sixty companies made this year’s list.
CARE PARTNERSHIP FORMED: Meridian HealthCare and AmeriHealth Caritas Ohio have teamed up to provide chronic pain management solutions to Medicaid enrollees in the Mahoning Valley.
The pilot program, which will begin this summer at Meridian’s Youngstown and Warren sites, will focus on behavioral health and medication-free treatment for chronic, noncancer pain in primary care settings for AmeriHealth Caritas Ohio members 18 and older.
AmeriHealth initially will identify patients for the program. Individuals who have been diagnosed with any of the following may be eligible: back pain, neck and shoulder pain, radiculopathy, fibromyalgia, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, myalgia / myositis, joint pain, arthritis, sciatic nerve pain or arthralgia.
The program will be offered in pain self-management education and acceptance and commitment therapy formats. Both are available virtually and in-person.
DOMINION PUTS ON CLASS: Teachers from McKinley High School in Niles and Canfield High School in Canfield were among several who participated in a program to teach students and their families how to conserve energy and save money.
The e3 Smart Program is through a partnership between Dominion Energy Ohio and Ohio Energy Project, an educational nonprofit, to deliver a science-based educational program promoting energy conservation and efficiency literacy.
The program provides the curriculum to help educators teach students about the fundamentals of energy, why it’s important to conserve it and how to become more energy efficient. Teachers took part in hands-on lab experiences and interactive activities they can use in their classrooms and were given energy efficiency materials for their students.
People on the move
CREDIT UNION ANNOUNCES STAFF MOVES: 717 Credit Union recently announced the promotions of several employees. They are:
• Kait Hertzer, who has been with the credit union for six years, has been named manager of its branch in downtown Warren. In her new position, she will oversee member service, while maintaining daily operations of the branch.
• Laura Hall, with 717 for five years, has been named video services department manager. In the position, Hall will direct the daily operations of the video services department and video service representatives.
• Amy Suslovic has been named retail development manager. In her new position, she will be responsible for ensuring the streamlined operation of the member experience outreach department. She has worked for 717 for 10 years.
•Sara Joseph has been promoted to assistant manager of the Larchmont Avenue branch. Joseph, with 717 for four years, will assist the branch manager in overseeing member service and maintaining daily operations of the branch.
The credit union also recently hired Jeffrey Grdic as a mortgage loan consultant. Grdic will be responsible for working with home buyers in Portage County to find mortgage solutions that fit their individual needs.
BURY ADDITION: Bury Financial Group has brought on Sarah E. Bury as paraplanner.
Bury of Poland, who received a bachelor’s degree in June from The Ohio State University in business administration, recently passed her Securities Industry Essentials exam and is studying for her Series 7.
Bury Financial Group in Boardman provides financial services, from investment to education funding to retirement planning.
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