Each year we like to gather an eclectic group of friends and business associates for a holiday lunch. This year, we met at Bo Loong at 40th and St. Clair. We like to include people from several of the projects that we are involved in:
- Computers Assisting People (CAP) Inc. which has refurbished and donated over 10,000 PCs to 350 schools and non-profits in Cleveland.
- Magnum Computers Inc. where we try and earn some $ so we can volunteer more for CAP. (grin)
- ClevelandSeniors.com for the 50 and over crowd and those who care for and about them.
- ClevelandWomen.Com for girls and women of all ages in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio
- ClevelandPeople.com where we will celebrate the 100+ ethnic groups in the area and make it a more attractive destination for immigrant talent. We believe that growth in Cleveland will not come from a mass shift of population from the suburbs to the city but from an influx of talented immigrants. Studies show that such immigrants are extremely likely to start businesses and hire people.
- And GreatLakesGeek.com - of course
Neil Zurcher and Brad Sussman
Look for updated versions of Neil Zurcher's Ohio Oddities and One Tank Trip books soon.You may know Brad Sussman as a TV weatherman but he is also the executive Director of the ALS Association Northern Ohio Chapter
Les Roberts and Commissioner Virgil Brown
Fans of the Milan Jacovich mystery series are thrilled that Les has a new addition to the series called King of the Holly Hop.Commissioner Virgil Brown quipped that if his ClevelandSeniors.com profile had been written 30 years ago, he might have become Mayor of Cleveland.
Margaret Wong and Darcy Downie
Margaret Wong is not only a highly successful immigration attorney but a visionary leader working to make Cleveland an immigrant-friendly city.Darcy Downie is Director of the NE Ohio Chapter of Prevent Blindness Ohio, Ohio's leading volunteer nonprofit public health organization dedicated to preventing blindness and preserving sight.
Kevin Latchford, Dan Hanson, Jim Cookinham,
Brad Nellis and John Hill
John Hill and Kevin Latchford of Aztek are settling in and enjoying their dramatic move from the suburbs to the Warehouse District. Take a virtual tour of their new digs.Jim Cookinham, founder of NEOSA, is consulting and playing with new gadget technology as always. Brad Nellis took over for Jim at NEOSA and despite the big footprints to fill, is doing a great job.
Cleveland Clinic Innovation's Executive Director Chris Coburn
with colleague Derek Young, Director of Innovation, Royal College of Surgeon's of Ireland from DublinChris Coburn just finished up another successful Cleveland Clinic Innovations Summit. Chris brought a colleague from Dublin,Ireland which added to the international flavor of the event.
George Brown and Steve Owendoff
George Brown is the Community Liaison for Senator George Voinovich and reflects Senator's Voinovich's and ClevelandPeople.com's desire to celebrate Cleveland's diverse heritages. Steve Owendoff is an attorney with Hahn Loeser, an early supporter of GreatLakesGeek.com. Steve is on numerous boards (CCWA, WRHS, etc.) but it's still in doubt whether he jinxes the Browns or just unlucky when he attends games.
Paul Sciria and Ralph TarsitanoPaul Sciria was the first TV Investigative reporter - before Carl Monday, Tom Meyer and the others. Ralph Tarsitano was a TV 8 photojournalist. Check out some of his pictures (Eisenhower,Bob Hope, Ghoulardi, Otto Grahm, Paul Brown, etc.) from back in the day.
Rita Singh and Fred Lisy
Rita Singh not only won an Athena Award but she brought the awards to her native India.Fred Lisy is Vice President of Orbital Research Inc. You might not know that Fred was involved in a refurbishing program similar to CAP and eventually merged it into CAP.
Gary Baney and Debbie HansonGary Baney is the founder and CEO of Boundless Flight. He's also taught at CWRU and was named one of the Top 100 CIO's in the US. Debbie Hanson is VP of Marketing for ClevelandWomen.Com (and the GreatLakesGeek's sister!)
John Russell and Bill Bradfield of PerceptIS
PerceptIS operates IP based call centers in Cleveland and Phoenix and currently supports over 1,200,000 end users with technical help desk services. Yes, that was Bradfield's new Jaguar in the parking lot.
Bill L'Esperance of MCPc, Dan Hanson and
Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready
Bill L’Esperance is Vice President of Business Development at MCPc, a nationally based computer technology reseller based out of Cleveland. MCPc is ranked 184 in VARBusiness 500 as One of the Industry's Largest Solution Providers It wouldn't be Wednesday morning without the CoolCleveland e-newsletter from Thomas Mulready. Thomas was also the founder of the Ingenuity Festival and his numerous CoolCleveland events are, well, cool.
Alex Desberg and Nikki Brown of Ohio.Net
Alex and Nikki are experts in VOIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol, a way to use your existing high-speed connection for phone service. If you're nice to them, they might give you one of the famous Ohio.net cows.
Steve Owendoff, John Lewis and John Ettorre
John Lewis stays busy as president of North Coast packaging but his volunteer work, including regular hours at a food kitchen, earned him the John Carroll University Alumni Medal last year.John Ettorre is moving his long-time writing practice to blogs and his massive Cleveland Rolodex to a database.
Darcy Downie and Bob Leon
Bob Leon runs CSR - Colortone Staging & Rentals - the country’s premier audio visual and staging company. Based in Cleveland they've worked the Olympics,events all over the US and internationally. Bob will not only be doing CES this January in Las Vegas but MacWorld in San Francisco.
Pat Hanson and Les RobertsPat Hanson is Project Manager for ClevelandSeniors.Com and ClevelandWomen.Com. She also writes the popular Chat with Pat columns and is one of CAP's most active volunteers - answering dozens of phone calls each day.
Robert Sigman and Grant Cleveland
You may recall the rise and fall and subsequent media attention of Grant Cleveland's Gooey Industries. Now Cleveland is running DuneCraft, a Newbury Township company that assembles and distributes themed terrariums.Robert Sigman is a financial consultant in Beachwood.
Sandy Lesko Mounts and Paul Sciria
Sandy Lesko Mounts has moved on from her TV News Anchor and Ohio Lottery Commission days and now runs Sandy Lesko Communications. While we brave Cleveland's weather, Sandy is off to a family reunion in Cancun.
Fred Griffith and Anita Kazarian
Fred Griffith has been a familiar and beloved face on out TV screens for over 50 years. Fred has done more live TV than anyone else in the world and fortunately we can still see him on Good Company on Channel 3 every day.Anita Kazarian runs Noah's Landing to support Armenian artisans and will be serving as an Armenian Ambassador for ClevelandPeople.com.
Bridget Ginley and Sharon Jesse
Bridget Ginley is a new addition to the Boundless Flight team.Sharon Jesse is an IT pro but she and her husband Ed also run Old World Meats in Euclid.
Danny Vegh and wife Kathy
You may know that Danny Vegh fled Hungary in 1956 and you surely know about his Danny Vegh stores. But did you know he was a table tennis champion and even played on the Tonight Show and Mike Douglas Show?
Gary Lombardo
Gary is a CPA and runs an office in the Tower East building. He is also a newlywed! Congratulations Gary.
Evel Barcus, Vi Spevak and Anita KazarianViolet Spevak writes for the Cleveland Jewish News and has the distinction of writing the longest running column, with the same author, in the entire country! She began writing "Cavalcade" on March 5, 1965!
Jim Evans and Heidi Hooper
Jim Evans is an officer of the Greater Cleveland PC Users Group and Heidi Hooper is the Engagement Executive at Boundless Flight.
See more pictures from the 2008 Holiday Gathering
Happy Holidays and have a Terrific 2009
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