Contact Jay Foran at jforan@teamneo.org
Show Transcript:
Lisa Ryan: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to this episode of the Manufacturers' Network Podcast. I'm excited to introduce you to our guest today. Jay Foran. Jay helps businesses discover exciting growth opportunities in the Northeast Ohio region, which is why I chose him because, of course, I'm from northeast Ohio. He works with corporate clients and site consultants to navigate the Regional Economic Development Framework, connecting them with state and local resources and emerging technologies.
Before joining Team NEO, Jay was vice president of business development for the Lake West Group, a management consulting firm. He also served in a variety of key leadership positions with Procter and Gamble. So Jay. First of all, welcome to the show. It's great to have you here.
Jay Foran: Thanks so much; I appreciate the invitation.
Lisa Ryan: Good. So, share with us a little bit about your journey and what ultimately led you to serve the people of northeast Ohio as well as you do.
Jay Foran: Sure. So, as you mentioned in my bio, I had spent a lot of time with Procter and Gamble, 25 years to be exact, and 20 of those years were on the west coast. But I am a native of Cleveland, Ohio area Northeast Ohio and my wife and I were in California for years. So then we started having children and decided we wanted to be closer to family. So we came back to the region.
In 2000, as you mentioned, I joined a consulting firm but upon re-entry into the region. I connected with two good high school friends and others in key leadership positions in the community. And through that those connections, I found myself getting involved in some of the school rehabilitation programs and the city of Lakewood. They were looking at their school buildings and how they could get those buildings in better shape. More conducive to education, etc., ultimately ended up leading the effort to convince the taxpayers that it's worthy of a $200 million investment. So that was a great experience.
Along the same timeline, I got involved again locally with the formation of a Community Development Corporation called Lakewood Alive. It's all about engaging citizens in the health and well-being and betterment of their local community. That organization is still thriving here 15 years later.
Well, I was consulting. I was traveling a lot. And basically, it came to a point where I said, "Wait a minute, I moved back to northeast Ohio to be involved." I find myself on an airplane, leaving the region, and I certainly enjoy what I call the Community and Economic Development aspects of the things I was doing on a volunteer basis.
So when the position of Team NEO came open in 2007, I thought it was a great match with my interest and how I wanted to create that Capstone situation for myself in the latter part of my career. And so that's how I found my way to Team NEO. I've been there since again 2007 - now beginning my 15th year.
Lisa Ryan: Wow. Tell us a little bit, for those people outside of our region who may not be familiar with Team Neo, your mission.
Jay Foran: Sure. Well, Team NEOs stands for Team Northeast Ohio, and we are a private nonprofit Regional Economic Development Organization serving the 18 counties of Northeast Ohio - basically going from the Pennsylvania border west to Cedar Point or Erie County and then south to Mansfield and Richland county and then back over to Pennsylvania. So this area makes up about 20 to 25% of the state's geography but about 35 to 40% of the state's economy. So Team Neo's been private and the nonprofit was stood up by the major Chambers of Commerce across the region. Back in the early 2000s, but in 2011 we became the network affiliate of Jobs...
