PAUL BISHOP
CHAIRMAN & CEO H-P PRODUCTS INC.
[PB] You have to be willing to change, in life and in business.
[PB] My father started this company by producing gas conversion burners for old coal furnaces. Then he started doing some metalworking when, one day, out of the blue, a man came into the office and asked if he knew how to bend metal tubing. Dad didn't know how, but he learned.
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[PB] The most formative event in my life happened when I was 10 years old.
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[PB] We were visiting friends of my father when someone walked up to us and said our plant burned down. We piled into the car and drove to the site. A reporter from the Canton Repository walked up to my father, flipped open his notebook and said, 'I suppose this is the end.' My father looked around, staring at the wreckage, and told the reporter, 'We'll ship in 10 days.' And we did.
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[PB] My father, to this day, is my hero.
[PB] His intellect, his entrepreneurial spirit, his ability to work with people and his technical knowledge just made for an unbelievable combination. And that was all packaged in an irreverent, irascible devil. He was just crazy.
[PB] My mother has always been a staunch ally, a stickler for detail, a punctual wizard. If Dad was always late, Mom was always on time. If Dad was the messy entrepreneur, Mom knew how to put a ribbon on it and make it look good.
[PB] In the military, it didn't matter who you were, what your net worth was or what your family circumstances were. Once you were brought into a military unit, you needed to collectively devote your efforts to the cause you were involved in.
[PB] I've taken this same philosophy into my business life. People who don't pull their weight are a drag on the mission of the whole organization. Not only do they not accomplish what they are asked to do, but they are a detriment to what the entire organization is trying to do.
[PB] The only employer I've ever had, other than H-P Products, is the military. That is very meaningful to me.
[PB] Life can change in an instant. In April 1976, I was driving with my mother to our advertising agency in Marion. We were talking about Watergate, and I thought she started yawning. She was having a stroke and never saw the office again. I was 33, and I've been in the front office ever since.
[PB] Family is more important than any business I could ever run. I married my college sweetheart, and we've been together for 42 years. We have two daughters, and they are the lights of my life.
[PB] I love to cook.
[PB] I started when I was 10, though not by choice. It was just after the fire, and Mom started working for Dad seven days a week. I basically became an employee of my parents, taking care of my brothers, cooking meals and cleaning the house. I never got to go out for sports, and I resented that a bit, but doing that work instilled a great work ethic in me.
[PB] I keep a red rubber nose in my pocket, most often during business meetings where I've been asked to speak. If somebody spends too much time introducing me, talking about all the great things I've done, I'll walk up to the lectern and begin my speech wearing my red rubber nose. I like to take a little of the hot air out of the room.
[PB] People want to believe in something. They want to work toward something. They want to take risks if they know there is a safety net of some type.
[PB] Pushing people out of their comfort zones is important to me. After all, a rubber band is useless if it's just lying on a table. The only way it has any value is if there is tension. As leaders, we have to create the right amount of tension to advance the cause.
[PB] I watch and think about all the professionals I have worked with over the years. I learn from everyone.
[PB] People do things for their own reasons, not yours. That is not, in itself, good or bad. It's just human nature.
[PB] Leadership has two main elements, and both have to exist or there is no leadership at all. First, there needs to be a vision, a direction, a goal. Secondly, a leader has to be able to communicate that vision or direction to others, and what you expect them to do to help you get there.
[PB] I'm a serious amateur photographer. Being a good photographer is a lot like being a good leader. You have to be able to deal with people. You have to communicate to them what they need to do to give you just the right look.
[PB] I didn't know how generous my father was until his funeral. He never sought recognition. He just made things happen. He taught me you have to persevere, to be decisive, to be a man of your word and to have integrity. And you need to have a hell of a good time while doing it.
BISHOP
1943
Paul Bishop is born in Elyria to Harold P. and Mabel Bishop, owners of a small office repair and equipment business.
1945
Harold Bishop and his brother-in-law, Paul Schumacher, form a partnership to manufacture gas conversion burners for residential coal furnaces.
1953
A fire destroys H-P Products' Broad Street plant. The company rebuilds.
1955
H-P Products shows the first home-based central vacuum system at the National Home Show in Chicago.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
1965
Harold Bishop dies after a series of heart attacks at the age of 51. Mabel Bishop becomes president of H-P Products. Paul Bishop graduates from The Ohio State University with a degree in marketing, enters the Army as a second lieutenant and is ultimately stationed in Youngstown.
1967
Paul Bishop is discharged from the Army and joins H-P Products full time.
1973
Paul Bishop graduates from the University of Akron's night law school and passes the bar.
1976
Mabel Bishop suffers a series of strokes and is forced to leave the company. Paul Bishop becomes president at age 33.
1981
H-P completes construction of a second manufacturing facility on Main Street in Louisville. David Bishop assumes the vice presidency of H-P
1985
H-P begins mass production of automotive parts.
1997
H-P partners with U.S. Coupling to provide METFLO compression couplings. H-P completes a 60,000-square-foot addition to the Main Street plant.
1999
H-P produces its 5 millionth stabilizer bar for the automotive industry. H-P is first in the central vacuum industry to offer consumer online ordering, at vacuflo.com.
2005
VACUFLO, the first central vacuum system for homes, turns 50.
Interview by Matt Tullis
Photography by Eric Mull
WILLIAM CONSIDINE
PRESIDENT & CEO AKRON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL
[WC] Children's Hospital started as a two-room day nursery where families working in the downtown factories could bring their children instead of taking them to work with them.
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[WC] When they were organizing, they came up with three promises: Treat every child as if that child is our own. Treat everybody the way you want to be treated. Never turn a child away for any reason.
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[WC] Back in 1889, the big reason was racial. Today, the big reason is finances. The doors are always open.
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[WC] A 13-year-old girl named Angie had a battle with cancer and died in the mid-'90s. She used our therapy program and gave out hundreds of sun catchers. Her mother, Joyce, came to me and said Children's is a great place, but you could be better. From that, we formed a parent advisory committee and a parent mentor program.
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[WC] Joyce presented to me one of Angie's sun catchers. There were two sun catchers she hadn't finished. The little corners of the glass weren't painted in. Joyce keeps one at home to remind her that her work as Angie's mom will never be finished.
[WC] Our work will never be done. Her spirit is still alive within this organization.
[WC] I was 32 when I was hired. Children's has been around for 121 years. The past 65 years there have been two CEOs of this organization. That's unheard of in this business of health care.
[WC] We see nearly 600,000 children a year through all our programs. There's a story with every one. They're enriching. Every one. Some of them are horrific in nature because of the way a child's been exploited, not nurtured, not cared for. But there's a lesson there. You can't close yourself off from that.
[WC] We see not only the exuberance of miracles that occur here, but we also then see the sad side of our society.
[WC] You open your heart. You can gain strength from all these situations.
[WC] I have three children. Being a parent puts a different perspective on what we do.
[WC] I do employee orientation every two weeks in person.
[WC] There's no time for a bad hair day. If you couldn't find a parking spot when you came to work, if the IT system's not working--those are real issues, but we can never make those issues the problem of the family and the patient we're caring for.
[WC] It's not a job, it's a privilege. If it's a job, you're probably not going to be very happy in the service business.
[WC] My parents always provided a home that had love in it. They always believed in reaching out and being involved with church and neighbors. They tried continually to get us as kids to get outside our comfort zone.
[WC] Mrs. Buntz was my kindergarten teacher at Lincoln Elementary School. She created a welcoming learning environment the first day I walked into that kindergarten classroom. How many kids do we hear about getting turned off of education early on?
[WC] I had a speech teacher in my sophomore year of high school. I was involved in basketball, track. He said, 'You should be in a school play.' I was in an all-boys school. Why am I going to do something like that? He challenged me, and what a great experience.
[WC] Our Town. Teahouse of the August Moon. A series of school musicals we did with the Elms and St. Mary's.
[WC] We have some wonderful heritages and traditions that are very strong and that we need to celebrate in bad times. That can give you the energy to do some creative things going forward.
[WC] If your glass is always half empty, you predestine outcomes of things you get involved in. As a region, we've got to continue to work on getting that negativity out of here. Be proud of who we are.
[WC] You're asking a guy who never thinks in those kinds of terms. When you start thinking in terms of mistakes, you develop this emotion called fear. Fear is a paralyzing kind of thing.
[WC] You've got the wrong people in the locker room? Get them out of the locker room. It polarizes.
[WC] If your team feels respected, if they feel empowered, if they're being recognized, they build pride in what they do. If you empower your folks and they really can embrace their work, they identify with it.
[WC] If you can get your people engaged, they can make the wrong choice and make it work. But if you don't have your people engaged and they're not working together, they can pick the right decision and it doesn't have a chance.
[WC] I try to start with the good in everybody.
[WC] I have learned to have a pretty good sensitivity for my audience and not worry about what I'm saying but what they're hearing. When you're working with people, that becomes very, very important.
CONSIDINE
1947
William Considine is born on July 7.
1969
He earns a bachelor's of arts degree from the University of Akron.
1971
He earns a master's degree in hospital and health services administration from The Ohio State University.
1972
Considine marries Rebecca on Oct. 14.
1979
He becomes Akron Children's CEO. Akron Children's new medical/surgical intensive care unit opens.
1981
The inpatient pediatric psychiatry unit and the division of adolescent medicine open.
1984
Akron's Ronald McDonald House opens.
1986
Akron Children's adds child advocacy to its mission, redefining nationally the role of children's hospitals in public policy debates. Considine is awarded the University of Akron's Alumni Honor.
1987
He is elected chairman of the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions.
1990
He Spearheads Akron Children's Hospitals Centennial renovation, a 250,000-square-foot addition.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
1994
Considine initiates Akron Children's Parent Advisory Council. He forms Akron Children's Hospital Physician Associates, a network of 15 primary care physician offices throughout Northeast Ohio.
2001
The Heart Center at Akron Children's Hospital is established. Bowery Professional Building, later renamed Considine Professional Building, opens.
2008
Akron Children's opens a pediatric hospital in Boardman. Akron Children's Air Bear, Ohio's only dedicated pediatric transport helicopter, takes its first flight.
2009
Akron Children's opens a new Ear, Nose & Throat Center, a Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery Center and a pediatric ER in Montrose.
Interview by Chuck Bowen
Photography by Eric Mull
BILL CONWAY
CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD FAIRMOUNT MINERALS
[BC] Mining sand really is a very simple business. But I've spent my life making it complicated.
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[BC] I come from a pretty large family. There were 13 of us, and I was in the middle. During World War II, my oldest brother was killed in a training accident--he was a pilot. The four other boys went off to the service, and I ended up being the oldest at home.
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[BC] My dad was working very, very hard at that time. He had taken over as president of Fisher Foods. My mother had children to take care of and a lot of worries. So she relied on me to be her backup.
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[BC] I had both the experience of being in the middle but also having to take responsibility. That was instrumental in my development.
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[BC] My dad, who did not go beyond the eighth grade, still had a great commitment to education. We actually moved from the West Side to Shaker Heights to be near University School. My education was my inheritance.
[BC] I was an industrial engineering major at Yale. I intended to be a chemical engineer, but laboratory conflicted with football. Football won out.
[BC] Cleveland has been, over the years, a strong Yale town.
[BC] Moving up to the mine in northern Minnesota and taking my bride up there a year later to be on our own, to establish a relationship between ourselves and to establish relationships in the organization was a challenge and an opportunity. We thrived on it--it was an adventure.
[BC] Learning to work with the Serbian immigrants who worked in the mines--who sent home a bottle of wine to my wife when she became pregnant--shows the warmth of human beings, whatever their status in life.
[BC] When we moved to Sydney, people assumed that because we were American and would be there for four years, well, we'd move to where the other Americans were. We said, 'No. We're not going to do that.' We bought a house. We wanted to be a part of the Australian community.
[BC] The Australians are fabulous people--they're very welcoming.
[BC] In my experience, corporate development is a short-term job. You're either unsuccessful, or you're successful and there's no further need for you.
[BC] Big corporate structures can be kind of stifling.
[BC] Have you dealt much with Texans? I've got a lot of good friends in Texas. But my experience with Texans at Diamond Shamrock was, 'I'm the boss. I'll tell you what I want you to do'--I'd say probably more of a rigid approach. Not what I prefer, which is more of a give-and-take.
[BC] I have a very messy desk.
[BC] Chuck Emrick at Calfee Halter & Griswold was my mentor, counselor, whatever. He was a real rainmaker at that firm for many, many years.
[BC] We started seriously looking in 1977 at a number of companies for me to buy.
[BC] Some were funny, and some were tragic. One company we looked at used a pneumatic conveying system--you know, like the tube in your bank. Only this one they used to throw dead chickens from one end of the factory to the other. We didn't look too hard at that.
[BC] In dealing with a strong-willed entrepreneur, one of the most difficult things is to get them to the point where they really will say, 'OK, I'll sell.' It's much more difficult than putting a son or daughter up for adoption. I mean, it's their life.
[BC] I can't claim to have established a life plan of any kind.
[BC] I don't know what retirement means. It hasn't made any difference in my life--well, I don't show up until about 10 o'clock in the morning.
[BC] I Started out with a philosophy that I got from my father: Be a giver, not a taker.
[BC] The biggest mistake I've ever made is staying too long with people who, for one reason or another, needed to move on--management, people who really didn't fit the organization.
[BC] We are an extractive industry. That's a dirty word in a lot of places. That's why we're so committed to sustainable development as a way of life. We have to leave what we've done better than how we found it.
[BC] The land is to he respected. You've got a responsibility to it and all the resources that you deal with--human as well as physical and financial.
[BC] I love walking through the gardens at the Cleveland Botanical Garden--I think they're absolutely beautiful. But I'm not a horticulturalist. Nor do I have a green thumb.
CONWAY
1949
Bill Conway graduates from Yale University and trades in Ivy League life for that of a trainee/engineer's helper at a Hibbing, Minn., iron-ore mine operated by Pickands Mather & Co.
1954
Conway returns to Cleveland as a sales manager and works his way up to vice president of sales.
1962
Conway is appointed president of Pickands Mather International, a subsidiary of Pickands Mather & Co.
1964
He moves to Sydney, Australia, to manage development of a Tasmanian iron-ore mine, a joint venture of Pickands Mather, the Japanese steel industry and outside investors.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
1969
Conway returns to Cleveland as executive vice president of Pickands Mather & Co.
1971
He is named executive vice president of administration for Diamond Shamrock Corp., which had acquired Pickands Mather & Co.
1974
Conway is hired as group vice president of capital goods by Midland Ross Corp.
1977
He leaves Midland Ross Corp. to search for a company of his own to acquire.
1978
With a group of local investors, Conway buys Chardon's Best Sand.
1984
He digs in deeper and joins forces with Chuck Fowler, president of sand operations at Martin Marietta Corp., and his management team to purchase Wedron Silica in Wedron, Ill
1986
Best Sand and Wedron Silica merge to form Fairmount Minerals.
1991
Fairmount acquires Technisand and Santrol, along with their sand-coating technologies, from British Industrial Sand.
1996
He sells 50 percent of Fairmount Minerals to Kirtland Capital Partners.
2004
Conway buys back Kirtland Capital Partners' stake in Fairmount Minerals.
2007-2008
Fairmount expands with three new mining operations and three new coating operations, primarily to serve the oil-and-gas market.
Interview by Lynne Thompson
Photography by Eric Mull
MICHAEL SIEGAL
CHAIRMAN & CEO OLYMPIC STEEL
[MS] I started literally right out of college. My mother liked my resume, so my father hired me.
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[MS] I came into a business where there were a number of family members. If the phone rang, you picked up the phone; you did whatever was necessary.
[MS] I learned to keep my mouth shut and wait my turn.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
[MS] At a particular point, there's a transition: Doing what's right for the family may or may not take precedent over doing what is right for the business. The business issues were paramount to the family rather than the other way around.
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[MS] If the company doesn't grow on a fundamental basis, then the company stagnates.
[MS] Without the growth, you're going to lose your best people. They want more money, and without growth there is no money, and you've basically trained your best people for other companies. It's hard to make more if you're staying the same.
[MS] You shouldn't grow beyond your capacity to repay your obligations. A lot of companies are learning today that growth for growth's sake is not enough. You grow with leverage, but you grow appropriately so that when the downturns come, you're not necessarily ruining the business.
[MS] What you learn from growth is that it's necessary, and it's got to be affordable.
[MS] Steel? It sinks in water, and it rusts.
[MS] Steel is a recyclable product. In a world going green, it's terrific.
[MS] There is a perpetual need for steel, but it is a very competitive market all the time, no matter what. It takes very committed individuals to do well in this industry, to do well in the long term over a career. We were prepared for the collapse of the markets in 2009 due to our experiences in 2001-2002.
[MS] Essentially, steel consumption has not grown in the United States in my career. I had to do something better for my customers than whoever was their current supplier. And nobody's happy when you're moving into their sandbox.
[MS] There has to be something that Olympic Steel delivered that people wanted.
[MS] To have just stayed rooted in the Cleveland market would have been destructive. You have to grow beyond the expectations. If I look back to 1975, all of my top customers are no longer in this area. If I were just rooted in Cleveland, clearly I would be in trouble. But nobody promotes your success other than yourself.
[MS] We have heavy investment here. We still have a market that we serve here. It's still a very affordable place to live. From a certain quality of lifestyle, Cleveland is a terrific place to raise a family. I like being here; believe me. It is my home. I'm very comfortable, and I think the quality of the services you get in Cleveland are world-class. It's just nobody knows it.
[MS] You can't play every position on the ball field.
[MS] My job is to create strategy and give people the tools to succeed. There's no big secret in hiring really good, smart people around you and letting them be successful.
[MS] You can worry about all aspects of the business; you just can't do them all.
[MS] I'm not a typical CEO.
[MS] Your prism is completely different than the prism of the person looking at you. To some degree, it gives you a great sense of humility. You can respectfully disagree, and quite often I do. But, in that regard, you have to be able to listen to someone else's opinion without making them feel invisible.
[MS] People will stay with you as long as they trust you. And you can't earn trust by demanding it. You have to earn it. People will work exceedingly well if they trust you.
[MS] We do not prepare young men to go beyond anything other than college. We're asking 18-year-old boys to either go into the military or go to college, and not everybody is college-bound. They should come out of high school as welders and pipefitters. They should come out with something that can earn them an income without saying you have to further your education. It's terrible that we're not preparing less-than-A students for something other than troublemaking.
[MS] At 31,I knew I lot. At 57,I know a lot less. And I mean that sincerely. I have some experience and some knowledge, but I certainly don't have all the answers.
SIEGAL
1952
Michael Siegal is born in Cleveland to Sol and Molly Siegal.
1954
Michael Siegal's father and his uncles, Morris Siegal and Sam Siegel, establish Olympic Steel. As a 'tremendously undercapitalized' company, Siegal says, Olympic specialized in 'survival' during its early years of distributing steel.
1974
Michael Siegal graduates from Miami University with a degree in education. Shortly afterward, Siegal says, 'My father threatened and convinced me to come to work right away.'
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
1984
During a transition of ownership and management from the family's first generation to the second, Michael Siegal becomes Olympic's president.
1986
Olympic begins a series of acquisitions and expansions that will last for more than 20 years and expand the company's products and locations.
1994
Siegal becomes CEO as Olympic goes public on NASDAQ under the symbol ZEUS.
1997
Metal Center News names Siegal its service center executive of the year.
2004
Olympic Steel turns 50.
2009
Olympic completes expansion of its facilities in Chambersburg, Pa., and Winder, Ga. Olympic now has 1,000 employees at 16 locations throughout the eastern half of the United States.
Interview by Erica Jacobson
Photography by Eric Mull
JOHN PATRICK 'PACKY' HYLAND SR.
1942-2009
CO-FOUNDER HYLAND SOFTWARE
Packy Hyland Sr. was a salesman at heart, promoting Hyland Software from a group of five techies in an office to the 1,000-employee, $150 million software powerhouse it is today.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
His son A J., Hyland Software's CEO and one of Packy's three sons, noticed it in the company's early days.
The duo was attending a trade show to exhibit Hyland's OnBase software. Their booth had two sides, each outfitted with a computer for demonstration.
A J. was 23 years old, fresh out of undergrad at Georgetown University. 'My side was always empty, and he would have five or 10 people crowded around him,' A.J. says. 'He was surrounded with people, and I was talking to the janitor. I was like, 'You want to ship a little excess over here?''
Packy's fearlessly outgoing demeanor drew crowds whether they were employees, investors or customers, A.J. says. And he pushed Hyland to sell to larger clients, sometimes before anyone else at the company saw that potential, remembers Bill Priemer, Hyland's executive vice president and chief operating officer.
In the early years, when the company's only clients were small community banks, Packy was setting up sales calls at places such as KeyCorp. 'Packy was reaching for the stars,' Priemer recalls.
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It paid off when Hyland Software landed an account with Sherwin-Williams, the company's first big sale. 'He said we could offer a good service to Sherwin-Williams,' Priemer says. 'And he ended up being right even though it was a huge installation. That was one of the deals when we realized we can absolutely be selling to that type of customer. Packy wasn't afraid.'
Packy Hyland Jr., who co-founded Hyland Software in 1991 with the sales help of his father, finds it amusing that people picture his father as the 'gray hair' of the operation.
'He was definitely more of a rebel than I was, particularly before we made money,' Packy Jr. says. 'But he was also an amazing salesperson. Whatever you thought of him after you met him was whatever he wanted you to think. If you were a banker, you thought he was conservative. If you were a kid, you thought he was a rock star. That's precisely what made him such a great entrepreneur.'
His persistence and eternal optimism got Hyland through some tough times in the early days of the business. The company didn't turn a profit until 1999, and investors were hard to come by. When venture capital and private equity firms turned away the Hyland men, Packy went to friends and family to raise initial capital.
Although he was unsure at times where payroll was going to come from, Packy, president of the Westlake company from 1991 to 1997, stayed positive and kept the employees feeling the same way.
In those days, and even after his retirement, Packy knew the names of all the employees, who their parents were and where they went to school, Priemer says.
Friends remember him as the life of the party--outgoing, friendly and always ready with a funny story. He was the kind of man who forged strong relationships with people and kept them for a lifetime.
'His understanding of people really served him well because he knew what made them tick and what motivated them,' Priemer says. 'He used it to successfully build relationships with clients and to make people work for him effectively.'
Packy was a hard-working salesman for almost his entire life. Before Hyland Software, he worked in a variety of positions selling products as diverse as personal computers and paper in Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas and Italy.
'We always joked that he was the white-collar migrant worker,' A.J. says.
But no matter how far he traveled, Packy was committed to being involved with his family. His strongest relationships were with his wife and five children.
'He was intensely supportive of his family,' A.J. says. 'If we had something we wanted to do, he would stand behind it. I always really appreciated it.'
A.J. remembers countless occasions when his dad would drive for hours after a sales meeting to attend one of his basketball games before turning around to drive back the next morning.
Priemer, who lived next door to the Hylands, remembers one evening when Packy came home with four Big Wheels for the six boys in the two families.
From Big Wheels to something much bigger, Packy left his day job to help Packy Jr.--a high school dropout with big dreams of starting a successful company--raise money for a software program he was developing.
'He honestly believed he was offering the investment opportunity of a lifetime,' Priemer says, 'it was like, five guys in a garage developing software, but he honestly believed it.'
As the company grew, the family remained close-knit; nearly all of Packy's children have been employed there at one time or another, including Chris, the company CFO.
In 1999, Packy left Hyland Software to pursue other endeavors. He helped raise capital for Packy Jr.'s second business endeavor, Workflow, a technology and software company catering to the medical industry.
In 2007, he helped his son-in-law DeWayne Ashcraft found another Westlake-based software company called OneLink. But his support for small businesses didn't end with his family.
He had a soft spot for entrepreneurs trying to start a business and devoted much of his time to supporting their ventures.
Often, he would seed entrepreneurs very early in the process, says Mark Brandt, the former head of Say Yes to Cleveland, a local nonprofit business-support group. Packy was on the organization's board. 'I would say, 'You really want to back that guy?'' Brandt says. 'But he was looking at personality. He wanted to see the drive and enthusiasm people had for their ideas.'
A number of years ago, Brandt and Packy took 36 Cleveland entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley to propose business ideas to technology professionals and investors. The idea was to engage people from Ohio who had left the state to work.
Packy spoke at a networking event at Stanford.
'I just remember he stood up there on that rainy Friday morning with a huge smile on his face and told the story of Hyland Software,' Brandt says. 'He said, 'No one gave us a chance in the beginning being from Cleveland, Ohio. But a few years later we had the largest booth at a San Francisco trade show, and we are the fastest-growing company in the sector.''
After a weekend of seeing the city, visiting Pixar studios, attending an Oakland A's-Cleveland Indians game and touring wineries, Packy chose to invest in a handful of the seven Cleveland startups represented at the event. Most of the companies on that outing are still in business today, contributing to Cleveland's economy, Brandt says.
'Packy worked really hard to reach his level of success, and he worked really hard to give it away,' he says. Brandt recalls when Packy opened his calendar and said, 'Look what you've done to me.' He showed Brandt a calendar filled with meetings 'all for the good of the world,' he recalls. 'He had points in his life when he didn't have 2 cents to rub together, and when he did, he was 100 percent committed to sharing what he achieved right up until the last few months of his life.'
He had some successes in his various careers before Hyland, but he had a lot of challenges and failures, Priemer says. 'He said that if you are prepared and never give up, you will succeed eventually.'
It's something he passed on to the employees at Hyland Software, Priemer says. 'We absolutely believe that we will succeed and reach our goals.'
A.J. agrees: 'My dad was irrepressible.'
By Sarah Filus
PAST HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
1996
Jess Bell,
Bonne Bell Inc.
Jim Biggar,
Glencairn Development Corp.
E. Mandel de Windt,
Eaton Corp.
Alva T. Bonda,
Cleveland Indians, Apcoa,
Cleveland School Board
Howard Metzenbaum,
Sun Newspapers, Apcoa, U.S.
Senate, Ohio General Assembly
John G. (Jack) Breen,
The Sherwin-Williams Co.
Henry F. Eaton,
Dix & Eaton
Richard E. and David H.
Jacobs,
Jacobs Properties Inc., Richard E.
Jacobs Group, Cleveland Indians
Peter Lewis,
Progressive Corp.
Milton Maltz,
Malrite Communications
CHARTER MEMBERS
Samuel Andrews
Newton D. Baker
Louis D. Beaumont
Hector Boiardi
Alva Bradley
Charles F. Brush
Lorenzo Carter
Leonard Case Sr.
Henry Chisholm
Moses Cleaveland
Jacob D. Cox Sr.
Frederick C. Crawford
Nathanial Doan
Cyrus S. Eaton
Joseph O. Eaton Jr.
Alwin C. Ernst
Thomas L. Fawick
Henry M. Flager
Claud H. Foster
Tom M. Girdler
Frederick H. Goff
Caesar A. Grasselli
Anton Grdina
George Gund II
Samuel H. and Salmon P. Halle
Truman P. Handy
Marcus A. Hanna
William A. Harshaw
Liberty E. Holden
Allen C. Holmes
George M. Humphrey
William S. Jack
Tom L Johnson
Alfred Kelley
Kelvin Smith
John and James Lincoln
Elmer Lindseth
Mark McCormack,
International Management Group
Jack C., Joseph C. and Morton L. Mandel,
Premier Industrial Corp.
A. Malachi Mixon III,
Invacare Corp.
Richard W. Pogue,
Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue
Larry Robinson,
J.B. Robinson Jewelers
Herbert Strawbridge,
The Higbee Co., Flats
Development
Norman Wain,
WIXY 1260
Edward B. Brandon,
National City Bank
Samuel H. Miller,
Forest City Enterprises
Irving I. Stone,
American Greetings Corp.
Adele and William Malley,
Malley's Chocolates
Samuel Mather
William G. Mather
Garrett Morgan
George Myers
Charles A. Otis Jr.
Arthur S. Parker
Lionel A. Pile
Leonard and Max Ratner
Henry C., Charles L. and Nathan
G. Richman
J. French Robinson
John D. Rockefeller
Maurice Saltzman
Jacob Sapirstein
Henry A Sherwin
Bernie Shulman
Harry C. Smith
Kent H. and Vincent K. Smith
Andrew Squire
Amasa Stone
Vernon B. Stouffer
Ambrose Swasey
Orris P. and Mantis J. Van
Sweringen
G.J. 'Jack' Tankersley
Frank E. Taplin
Sophie S. Taylor
William O. Taylor
Charles E. Thompson
Jeptha H. Wade
Worcester R. Warner
Samuel T. Wellman
Lillian M. and Clara E. Westropp
J. Walter Wills Sr.
Alexander Winton
Rollin H. White
Thomas H. White
George Worthington
1997
Robert W. Gillespie,
KeyCorp
Patrick F. McCartan,
Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue
Albert Ratner,
Forest City Enterprises
CHARTER MEMBERS
Samuel Austin
Joseph M. Bruening
H. Stuart Harrison
1998
Richard T. Baker,
Ernst & Young LLP
Joseph T. Gorman,
TRW Inc.
David H. Hoag,
LTV Corp.
Martin D. 'Skip' Walker,
M.A. Hanna Co.
CHARTER MEMBERS
C. Bert McDonald
Ruth Ratner Miller
1999
David A. Daberko,
National City Corp.
Ralph E. Schey,
Scott Fetzer Co.
Thomas C. Sullivan,
RPM Inc.
CHARTER MEMBERS
James C. Davis
John W. 'Jack' Reavis
2000
Wayne Embry,
Team Division of the Cavs/Gund
Arena Co.
Howard Flood,
FirstMerit Corp.
Stan Gault,
Rubbermaid Inc. and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
William Patient,
The Geon Co.
John Payiavlas,
AVI Foodsystems Inc.
Farah M. Walters,
University Hospitals of Cleveland and University Hospitals Health System
CHARTER MEMBERS
Leon A. Beeghly
Edward D. DeBartolo
Harvey Firestone
William Henry 'Boss' Hoover
Richard Tullis
2001
Alex Macheskee,
The Plain Dealer
Eric T. Nord,
Nordson Corp.
John D. Ong,
The BFGoodrich Co.
W.R. 'Tim' Timken,
The Timken Co.
CHARTER MEMBERS
John Davey
Fred Lennon
Raymond John Wean
2002
Dr. Floyd Loop,
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation
Robert Madison,
Robert P. Madison International Inc.
Robert Mahoney,
Diebold Inc.
Henry L. Meyer III,
KeyCorp.
CHARTER MEMBER
David Tod
2003
Monte Ahuja,
Transtar Industries Inc.
David Brennan,
White Hat Management LLC
Clarence Smith,
Diamond Steel Construction
POSTHUMOUS
Al Lerner
2004
Alexander 'Sandy' Cutler,
Eaton Corp.
Patrick S. Parker,
Parker Hannifin Corp.
Joseph Schwebel,
Schwebel Baking Co.
Richard and Tim Smucker,
The J.M. Smucker Co.
POSTHUMOUS
H. Peter Burg
2005
Sam Covelli,
Covelli Enterprises
Gordon Gund,
Gund Investment Corp.
Yank Heisler,
KeyBank
POSTHUMOUS
Bart Wolstein
2006
Anthony Alexander,
FirstEnergy Corp.
Warren Anderson,
Anderson-DuBose Co.
Dr. Delos 'Toby' Cosgrove,
Cleveland Clinic
2007
Kent Clapp,
Medical Mutual of Ohio
Chris Conner,
The Sherwin-Williams Co.
Ed Crawford,
Park-Ohio Holdings
Brian Hall,
Industrial Inventory Solutions
2008
Robert Keegan,
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.
Bob Shearer,
Shearer's Foods Inc.
Scott Wolstein,
Developers Diversified Realty Corp.
Thomas F. Zenfy III,
University Hospitals
