Business

Item Description

(Thomas Waltermire is donating 2 hours meeting to the winning bidder.)

Thomas A. Waltermire is Chief Executive Officer of Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO), the regional private-sector-led economic development organization.  Team NEO's mission is to market Northeast Ohio's many assets as a location for business investment and to work with individual companies on their investment/expansion programs.  Team NEO is a joint venture of the chambers of commerce of the major cities of the region, including Cleveland, Akron, Canton and Youngstown.

Before joining Team NEO, Mr. Waltermire was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of  PolyOne Corporation headquartered near Cleveland, Ohio.  PolyOne was formed when The Geon Company acquired M.A. Hanna Corporation in September, 2000.  Waltermire led PolyOne from its formation until October 2005.

Waltermire joined The BFGoodrich Company in 1974 as a financial analyst, after receiving a bachelor's degree in biological sciences, summa cum laude, from The Ohio State University and a master of business administration degree with distinction from Harvard University.  He held positions as assistant treasurer for corporate finance and assistant controller for planning and analysis. 

In 1980 Waltermire joined the BFGoodrich Chemical Group and was named director of raw material and equipment purchasing.  He later served as vice president of commercial services with responsibility for finance/control, purchasing, transportation, information systems and marketing services.  He served as president of the Elastomers and Latex Division, one of BFG's specialty chemical businesses, from 1985 to 1989.

In 1989 he returned to the BFGoodrich corporate headquarters, representing the company on Wall Street as vice president of investor relations and assistant to BFGoodrich chairman and CEO John Ong, until BFG spun off its Geon Vinyl division in an initial public offering in 1993.

Tom led The Geon Company's initial public offering in March 1993, serving as senior vice president and treasurer.  Later that year he was named chief financial officer with additional responsibilities for human resources, information technology and corporate communications. Waltermire became chief operating officer of Geon in May, 1997, as part of a planned management succession.  He then led Geon through a strategic transformation, the first step of which was to create North America's largest vinyl plastic resin producer by joint venturing Geon's large-scale plastic resin production and upstream raw material operations with those of Occidental Chemical.  Geon also began a series of acquisitions in downstream, value-added plastics compounding.  In May, 1999 Waltermire was named Geon's Chairman and CEO.

Geon acquired MA Hanna Corporation in 2000 as part of its transformation strategy, adding capabilities in additional polymer technologies and a global business base.  PolyOne was created to be the first truly global business in the polymer services industry with sales of $3 billion and manufacturing operations in over 20 countries.  Waltermire led the integration of the 35 acquisitions made by Geon and Hanna prior to the merger. Waltermire resigned from PolyOne in October, 2005, a record earnings year for the company.

Tom serves as Senior Advisor to the plastics and chemicals practice of investment banking firm, Brown Gibbons, Lang & Company.  He is a member of the Board of Directors of Asurint, Inc, and also serves as a member of the Advisory Boards of Early Stage Capital Partners and Delta Plant Technologies.  He was a member of the Nucor Steel Corporation board of directors from 2003 to 2005.

Tom's leadership in serving the community is evidenced by his wide range of involvement:

• Founder and Chair of the Ohio Polymer Strategy Council, polymer industry advocacy organization
• Former Board and Executive Committee member of JumpStart, Inc., entrepreneur investor/accelerator
• Former Board and Executive Committee member of The Ohio Business Roundtable and the Greater Cleveland Partnership
• Former Chair of NorTech, the NE Ohio Regional Technology Consortium
• Member of the Governor's Third Frontier Advisory Board, for three terms, appointed by both Governors Taft and Strickland.
• Board member and former chair of Business Volunteers Unlimited
• Board member Musical Arts Association (The Cleveland Orchestra), the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and IdeaStream.
• Board member Ohio Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy
• Former board chair of world-wide Alumni Association of The Ohio State University

He and his wife Shirley have three grown children and one grandchild and live in Green, Ohio, near Akron.

Item Special Note

(Thomas Waltermire is donating 2 hours meeting to the winning bidder.)

The executives will meet with the winning bidders at a time convenient to both parties, on or before December 1, 2009, except in the case of some celebrities which may carry over to the first quarter of 2010.

Once the winning bid has been validated and collected, CAAO will request the winning bidder's bio/resume and reason for wanting to meet the executive and communicate that information to the executive. CAAO will also pass on the necessary contact information for the winning bidder to make their appointment.

If the winning bidder cancels or wishes to change the date/time of the meeting once it has been scheduled, the winning bidder will be responsible for contacting the executive to communicate any changes.

The winning bidder is responsible for all travel expenses to attend this meeting.

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