Guiding Management Teams Through Periods of Innovation and Disruption

Overview

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Speakers

Mike Merriman Chairman Resilience Capital Partners

Mike joined Resilience in 2008. He currently serves as Chairman of Resilience’s portfolio company, CR Brands. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Lamson & Sessions Corporation, a $560 million manufacturer of plastic pipe, fittings, and switch and outlet boxes for the home and commercial construction industries, until its successful sale to Thomas & Betts in November 2007.

From September 2005 to November 2006, Mike was the CFO of American Greetings Corporation, a $1.7 billion company, where he led the M&A activities and facilitated the refinancing and repurchasing of a third of the company’s outstanding shares. From 1995 to 2004, he was CEO of Royal Appliance Mfg. Co., the manufacturer of Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners with $428 million in sales. Mike led the company until its sale to its largest supplier in 2003.

Mike currently serves on the boards of three public companies: Nordson Corporation, OMNOVA Solutions, Inc., and Regis Corporation.

John Nottingham CEO Nottingham Spirk

John Nottingham is Co-CEO of Nottingham Spirk, a world-class product innovation firm with an unrivaled record of developing and commercializing disruptive consumer products, medical devices, digital IoT enabled products and connected industrial products. NS collaborates with Fortune 1000 companies, middle market companies and funded venture firms to discover, design and execute product innovation programs and strategic business platforms that wow customers, grow markets, and generate new revenue streams. NS has co-created over 1,400 patents, of which 95% have been commercialized. The Nottingham Spirk “Vertical Innovation Process” has helped client / partner companies earn over $50 billion in combined sales.

John and the NS innovation team have co-created such award-winning consumer and medical innovations as SpinBrush, the largest selling powered toothbrush line; Swiffer Sweep+Vac; Club Car Tempo Walk, world’s first autonomous golf caddie; and Medtronic CardioInsight EC Vue, the first non-invasive electrocardiographic mapping system. 

John is the co-founder of several venture companies based on successful technology transfers from universities, including TecTraum, the first concussion therapy system, which has achieved FDA Breakthrough Technology status; Sterifre, FDA and EPA approved disinfection technology and XaTek, blood coagulation monitor, also an FDA Breakthrough Technology.

John Nottingham serves on the Cleveland Clinic Board of Trustees, Ohio Aerospace Institute Board, Case Western Reserve University Technology Commercialization Board, and Great Lakes Biomimicry Board as well as several private equity company boards of directors.

John is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. As the lead patent holder on hundreds of US and international patents, he is in the top tier of individual inventors in the US. John is an inductee of the Inside Business Hall of Fame, Dealmaker Hall of Fame, and a Winner of the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award. 

John has presented numerous times on the subject of breakthrough innovation, and he has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, NBC Nightly News, CNBC, SiriusXM, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes, Japan Forbes, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, New York Times, Wired and Fast Company.

Moderator

Bill Koehler CEO Team NEO

As Chief Executive Officer of Team NEO, Bill Koehler is focused on seeing the Northeast Ohio Region grow and thrive. He’s a collaborative economic development advocate and business leader working to create economic vibrancy in Northeast Ohio by advancing understanding of the talent gap, enhancing site preparedness, building supply chain resilience, accelerating the impact of innovation, and promoting the region as a business destination.
Leveraging more than 25 years’ experience in corporate financial services, for-profit board and private company investor roles, and education-focused not-for-profit boards and committees, Bill engages the economic development network to create coordinated, regional business development strategies to attract new business and help current Northeast Ohio companies grow.
Under Bill’s leadership, Team NEO has a track record of exceeding performance metrics for completed business investment projects in the Northeast Ohio Region. Team NEO has worked on 627 projects that will generate more than 46,000 new jobs, $2.4B in annual payroll and $11.6B in capital investments, related to JobsOhio’s financial incentive programs, since 2015.
Prior to joining Team NEO, Bill served as President of Key Community Bank, where he led 9,000 employees across 14 states. During his banking career, Bill worked with private and public middle market companies. He earned a Master of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from Columbia University’s Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University.

Bill serves on a number of education-related, non-profit boards and committees including Col¬lege Now of Greater Cleveland, Friends of Breakthrough Charter Schools, Urban Community School, and is the former Board Chair of St. Ignatius High School. His accolades include the Northeast Ohio Smart Business Smart 50 Awards and Crain’s Power 150, recognizing the most influential leaders positioned to move the Northeast Ohio Region forward

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