Rotary Club of Cleveland Business Leadership Awards 2018

On May 17, 2018, the Rotary Club of Cleveland, the Sustainable Business Center and the Paul J. Everson Real Estate Center within the Monte Ahuja College of Business co-sponsored the Business Leadership Awards in conjunction with the Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network (MAGNET), the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) and the International Business Network (IBN).

During the meeting of the Rotary Club at Windows on the River, the following awards were presented:

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress was selected for the Urban Placemaking Leadership Award for its work toward achieving its mission of fostering inclusive communities of choice and opportunity throughout Cleveland. CNP's programming addresses the most critical issues confronting the entire community development system. Working in partnership with community development corporations, local foundations, business, and government, CNP has worked to create a strong and productive system that has visibly improved many neighborhoods. CNP's Placemaking team strives to get more Clevelanders living in vibrant, inclusive and climate-resilient neighborhoods through its planning, design, development, lending and marketing initiatives. As a result, CNP has enabled thousands of the city's residents to enjoy a better quality of life.

Randy's Pickles traces its history back to May 2012, when Founder and Chief Pickling Officer Andrew Rainey and his grandmother started searching for a way to make better pickles than those then available on grocery store shelves. After much experimentation, Andrew (whose nickname is Randy) felt he had developed a better pickle and set out to commercialize his idea. He used the Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen, a shared kitchen and food business incubator, for a few years to get started. Now, Randy's Pickles produces pickles in its own 1,000 square foot facility at 2203 Superior Avenue in Cleveland. Every jar of pickles is hand packed in small batches using fresh ingredients, which are sourced locally whenever possible. The company sells its products online through its website, and it also sells through several supermarket chains (including Acme Fresh Foods, Buehler's, Dave's, Giant Eagle Market District stores, Heinens, Kroger's, Mustard Seed Market and Target Stores) and a number of independent grocery stores in neighboring states.

Michael E. Stanek is a co-owner and chief financial officer of Hunt Imaging LLC, a manufacturer of electrostatic toners and developers for use in printers and copiers. Headquartered in Berea, Ohio, Hunt Imaging serves markets worldwide and produces toner for most of the major printer manufacturers. Along with his wife, Carol, Mr. Stanek is also the founder and co-owner of Cleveland Cycle Tours, an entertainment company that operates group party bikes in the Ohio City, Tremont and downtown neighborhoods of Cleveland. Mr. Stanek's passion for small business and advocacy shows through his involvement on numerous boards at the local, state and national levels. Locally, he is a member and immediate past chair of the board of directors of COSE, and he is also a member of the board of directors and the executive committee of the Greater Cleveland Partnership. Mr. Stanek is a Cleveland State University alumnus, having earned his Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a major in Accounting in 1982.

Automated Packaging Systems (APS) is a global leader and manufacturer of packaging systems and supplies. It was founded in 1962 in a garage in Queens, New York, by brothers Hershey and Bernie Lerner, who saw that polyethylene bags, a new product then, were difficult to open and load product into. They solved the problem by inventing a machine that perforated one side of the bag and left the other side open for loading and sealing. Needing capital to further develop their technology, the brothers teamed up with Herb Crowther and Ridley Watts of American Packaging in Hudson, Ohio. In the late 1960s, APS introduced the first fully automatic packaging machine. In 1984, APS entered into a joint venture with a UK company which gave the APS access to the international marketplace. Headquartered in Streetsboro, Ohio, APS is now a global packaging supplier, with sales, service and distribution offices located throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia and Australia.

Andrew Watterson has a passion for sustainability and has been actively involved with sustainable business, consulting and governmental organizations for more than 15 years. Andrew is Senior Vice President, Head of Sustainability, and Corporate Responsibility Officer for KeyBank, which he joined in 2014. In his current role, Andrew uses his sustainability and organizational change expertise to lead the bank in the development and execution of a sustainability strategy that positions the bank for growth. Prior to joining KeyBank, Andrew was senior consultant at BrownFlynn, a sustainability and corporate responsibility consulting firm located in Cleveland, Ohio.  Previous to that, Andrew served in the Office of Sustainability for the City of Cleveland and was the city's first Chief of Sustainability. Andrew led the coordination of the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 initiative, an action plan established by the city to create an economic engine to empower a "green city on a blue lake."