About:

Team NEO advances Northeast Ohio’s economy by attracting businesses worldwide to the 16-county Cleveland Plus region. The organization is a joint venture of the region's largest metro chambers of commerce.

Fund Support:

$9.8 million

Performance:

Northeast Ohio is recognized by national site selectors as an attractive destination for growing companies. Since 2007, Team NEO has helped attract 47 companies with more than $151 million in payroll and more than 3,800 jobs.

2011 Update:

  • Team NEO’s Q3 2011 Quarterly Economic Review shows the region is making steady progress toward recovery.
  • Invited key economic development organizations to propose collaborative initiatives to create more jobs, increase capital investment and increase the region’s competitive strengths as part of the JobsOhio Network.
  • Steve Fritsch and Walt Good joined the staff of the JobsOhio Regional Office as business development directors.
  • Partnered with Cleveland Orchestra to NEO to European companies at a performance in Cologne Germany.
  • Team NEO staffing changes include: Camille Billups to director, business attraction, minority owned business specialist and Rick Seifritz to director, research, and Mary Cierebeij as manager, business attraction.
  • Christine Nelson was named as the head of Regional JobsOhio Office.
  • Canton's VXI Global Solutions call center is the company's new regional headquarters. An additional 160 jobs are expexted to be added soon. Currently, 300 positions have been filled at the new location.
  • Team NEO received $4.1 million in state funding to support is new repsonsibilities as the JobsOhio Network Regional Partner for Northeast Ohio. The grant is part of $14.8 million awarded to six regional partners to foster job creation and economic development in the state. Team NEO will assist companies and communities seeking state support for growth and creation.
  • Team NEO's Q2 2011 Quarterly Economic Review sees signs of growth in regional economy. Download the full  report: www.clevelandplusbusiness.com/Data-Library.aspx
  • VXI Global Solutions will open a call center in downtown Canton -- adding nearly 1,000 jobs and $21.8 million in payroll to the region.
  • JobsOhio designated Team NEO as the lead “franchisee” to develop a regional economic development strategy. Team NEO, other Fund grantees, the Fund and the region’s largest chambers have begun to explore a framework that would be responsible for developing and coordinating Northeast Ohio’s state-mandated economic development strategy.
  • An $800,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation will support Team NEO's work to attract domestic and foreign companies to the region.
  • Team NEO is working to make Northeast Ohio the command center for a project involving biomedical research on the International Space Station. If the region "wins," a 10-year deal will be awarded to non-profit SLA (Space Laboratories Associates) which will manage the research and education portfolio for the International Space Station, as well as research conducted on the space station by other federal agencies
  • Team Northeast Ohio will honor former U.S. Sen. George Voinovich with the annual H. Peter Burg Regional Vision Award, which is Team NEO's highest honor and commemorates the late chairman and chief executive officer of FirstEnergy Corp., who was founding chairman of Team NEO.
  • Northeast Ohio is seeing continued employment increases and a surge of development activity.Evidence of the region's recovery from the recession is shown in the year-over-year decline in unemployment. Overall, unemployment dropped two percentage points since Q1 2010. This decline is faster than the U.S., which dropped less than one percentage point for some time frame. Read more about the region's recovery in Team NEO's Quarterly Economic Review.  
  • Team NEO is part of a regional team proposing Northeast Ohio as headquarters for NASA to manage experiments for the international space station. If selected, the region could receive up to $15 million a year from NASA and employ 20 people.
  • Team NEO is working with the Stark Development Board and the Canton Regional Chamber and others to attract a call center to Canton. The Chinese company is considering opening a global call center in the city and will hire as many as 500 people. Read more in the Canton Repository. 
  • Irish medical device design company Creganna-Tactx Medical has opened an office in the Cleveland Clinic's Global Cardio Innovation Center. The company commercializes innovative medical device technology and provides product development support to early stage companies.
  • Team NEO's quarterly Cleveland Plus Economic Review reports Northeast Ohio's economy continues to show signs of improvement and follow the national economy. For the third consecutive quarter since the recession began, the region has posted year-over-year employment gains. Other highlights from the report include: year-over-year employment improvements in the manufacturing and services sectors; and declines in unemployment claims and the overall unemployment rate. 
  • Jenny W. Febbo has been named vice president of marketing and communications. She joins Team NEO with more than 30 years of experience in directing marketing, advertising, public relations, analyst relations, research and corporate communications initiatives.
  • Twelve new companies were  attracted to the region by Team NEO in 2010. The new companies represent 672 new jobs and nearly $40 million in new direct annual payroll. Read the Team NEO press release to learn more about the companies and what this milestone means for the region.  
  • Team NEO Senior Vice President Jay Foran comments on Ohio’s new tax structure in the Akron Beacon Journal. He believes it has made the difference in some companies deciding to locate in Ohio. Read more.
  • Regional arts institutions can be powerful economic engines. Team NEO traveled with the Cleveland Orchestra to Switzerland last summer and was introduced to several European businesses. Read more in the Plain Dealer.