Cheryl Koopman was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio and moved to Cincinnati in 1989 where she earned her Bachelors Degree from the University of Cincinnati and her Masters Degree from the University of Phoenix. She began her career with Richards Industries in 1997 as an HR Assistant, and worked her way up to her current position as Vice President of Human Resources. Cheryl is active in the community as a member of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council and co-founder of the Hyde Park Blast. She continually looks for that perfect balance between working hard and playing hard, and recently completed her first Ironman.
Post 3 - Times of Change
Posted By: Cheryl Koopman, 3/21/2008
We're in a tough spot at Richards Industries at times - a manufacturing company that is placed right in the heart of one of the nicest residential neighborhoods in Cincinnati. We've strived over the years to be the best neighbor we can be to both the surrounding businesses and residents. It's part of our culture - one of giving back and supporting the community. We have to stay up to speed with the proposed changes to the neighborhood and how they might affect our business.
It's always been important to us to hire people who we feel will fit in with the family here. One of the last questions we ask before we hire someone is "would I take this person home with me for dinner with my family?" If the answer isn't yes, we have some additional interviewing we need to do. The point is that we are a family based company in the heart of a residential community... and we're a manufacturer.
And according to the news, the papers, etc., the competition in manufacturing and in the business world in general is fierce... and probably only getting more and more competitive. Today we face more competition than ever before; opportunities don't last as long as they used to; We have to be able to make changes quickly if we want to truly make change a competitive advantage and succeed versus our competition.
Over the last several years I've seen a lot of proposed change and a lot of opposition to change in Hyde Park and in Cincinnati. For the most part, I've witnessed more people being scared of or opposed to change than I have seen people who accept it. I see or hear about the struggles in many companies who are going through tough times when the economy shifts. But not at Richards Industries. Even in tough times, we've taken care of our employees. In fact, there's never been a layoff in Richards Industries' history. We attribute this to both the broad customer base as well as careful workforce management. We're conservative in terms of the workforce and our approach has paid off.
One of the more valuable lessons I've learned over the years, basically growing up at Richards Industries, is to embrace change. We've done a lot of things over the last few years to continue changing and growing with or ahead of the industry.
The universal truth is that things change and the pace of change is accelerating every day! For us at Richards Industries, it means that we need to embrace change and master adapting to it. Because we're a small company, instead of fearing change, we have the opportunity to take advantage of it and use it as a competitive advantage. Change is a part of our daily lives.
The reality is that no company can master change just because the management team tells employees to do so. We have to all be on that bus together... The accelerating pace of change is an opportunity for us to put our competition on stand-by. They'll have to react to what we're doing...trying to keep up with us.
We have a number of choices do nothing and fail, do enough to survive or be a leader and make Change a true and sustainable competitive advantage. The biggest risk we take is in doing nothing. We have to perpetually adjust, refine, innovate, adapt, and learn.
I'd love to see all of us adopt that "for now" attitude when it comes to our lives, our communities, our businesses. Information or "the way things are" doesn't have to be that way for long periods of time. The goal should be to move as fast as we can - as long as we continue to chase perfections, we'll achieve excellence along the way. Learn to accept that while whatever it is may be great today...it's inevitable that it will change...and that's a good thing. And when you go up against those who are anti-change, encourage them to become part of the solutions instead of just complainers.
Away we go...
Post 1 Giving A Little More Than We Take
Posted By: Cheryl Koopman, 3/18/2008
I've gone back and forth about whether to actually give in and call Cincinnati my home. I came here when I was 17, and just sort of got "stuck." Now that the rest of my family (and I mean my biological as well as my chosen families) is here, I have resolved myself to sticking around for awhile...at least until my niece grows up.
I started working at Richards Industries almost 12 years ago, and one of my "job duties" was to handle community relations or community affairs. This wasn't something I was used to nor was it something I really wanted to do. At the time I guess I had a very selfish attitude about the community. But over the next year or so, my attitude changed.
As things changed slowly, from me being forced to me actually wanting to do some community service, my attitude changed as well. The more involved I became in Hyde Park, the more I wanted to do. Yes, there were those days when my employer wanted us to sign up for some Clean Up America day or something when I would've much rather have been under the covers on a Saturday morning. But, getting out there and getting my hands dirty really changed the way I saw the community.
I've been reading the posts by other people on Soapbox, and we've all heard the opinions of everyone around us about the kind of city we live in. I have to say that I agree with Eric Avner's second blog entry that Cincinnati isn't done yet. We have a long way to go and a lot of growing and repairing of things that have gone wrong over the years. We do have the chance to make Cincinnati really stand out and be the type of city people want to move in to.
Over the years I've seen a lot of selfish people come and go, through my part of town, Hyde Park, and through Cincinnati in general. I see people use Cincinnati as a type of stepping stone onward and upward to whatever goals their trying to achieve somewhere else in the long run. I see people take and use all they can while they're here, but I don't see enough giving back.
In order for Cincinnati to continue to grow and thrive the way it has so far and beyond that they way it potentially can, we need a community of givers, not takers. I have been working over the last 10 year to associate myself with people who are proud of their city and their community and who want to put as much effort in to the maintenance of the community as they do in their work and family lives. I encourage all of you to really take a look at what you get from living in Cincinnati, and then take a look at what Cincinnati actually gets from having you live here. If there isn't some kind of balance there, there should be!
Post 2 - The Blast Is Started
Posted By: Cheryl Koopman, 3/18/2008
So, wanting to give back to Cincinnati more than what I was already doing with my addition to Rumpke and pollution, I decided to "get involved." After working with the Hyde Park Neighborhood Council for several years on the Ault Park July 4th events, a good friend of mine, Chad Sims, asked me why we never had a run in conjunction with the fireworks.
Good idea...and less than 90 days later, the Hyde Park Blast was born.
In our 7th year now, we're looking at numbers in the 2,000-3,000 ball park for the run/walk, and upwards of 6,000 people for the annual block party.
When we originally established the Blast, our goal was to create an event for the community...one that allowed all levels of athlete and couch potato to participate, including dogs, kids, etc. We wanted to showcase Hyde Park and bring people to the square that may not have normally come there. In addition, we wanted to make sure that the event did something additional to give back - so we chose our favorite charities and decided all the money would return to them. We both had some cancer issues in our families, so the Leukemia Society and the Wellness Community were our top choices.
Over the years, the Blast has evolved some, bringing on more elite runners, adding a block party, and doing some other new things. But through the years, the Blast has remained focused on the community and on the charity partners. We've tried to open up volunteer opportunities to those who want to get more involved. And our latest partnership with
Give Back Cincinnati solidifies our commitment to the Cincinnati community in general. Our hope is that as the years pass and the event grows, it will offer a forum for volunteerism in general, for young, old, etc. We want to be involved with the schools as they teach our kids how important it is to continue to give back to the community. We want to stay involved with the people who have built Hyde Park (and Cincinnati) in to what it is today...by continuing tradition where we can. We want to engage the community new to our area, stimulating new ideas and changes that will make it an even better place!
We're proud to be able to bring an event to Hyde Park that will help us showcase what a great place Cincinnati is to live, work and play.