Northern Kentucky Buzz

NKU Launches Economic Analysis Tool

By Newsroom

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June 24, 2011

As part of its regional stewardship mission, The Center for Economic Analysis and Development (CEAD) housed in the Haile|US Bank College of Business at Northern Kentucky University recently launched the Kentucky Regional Economic Analysis Project (KY-REAP). This free tool draws from a national network of economic data that CEAD has broken down for each county in Kentucky as well as the Ohio and Indiana counties comprising the Cincinnati MSA.CEAD envisions this tool being used by city and county officials, as well as community organizations around the region, to prepare grants and to analyze their communities and position their regions for greater economic development.Read the full story here.

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Informatics? Digitorium? Welcome to NKU

By Newsroom

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General

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June 24, 2011

Faculty began moving their things to Griffin Hall -- the new home of the College of Informatics -- early this month, and classes will begin there in August. The $53 million building will house hard-to-find programs in high-growth information industries, including Health Informatics, Library Informatics and a Center for Applied Informatics. Informatics - basically creating and manipulating information - is a trendy word among colleges, even if very few people know what it means. NKU hopes to add up to 700 new students to the existing 1,400 in the next several years."When this building opens up and students see what's going on here, they'll say, 'You mean informatics is writing? It's filmmaking and editing? You mean it has to do with business and with health care?' said Dean Doug Perry, who has resigned as dean and plans to leave NKU later this summer. "The real return is what this will do for putting not only the College of Informatics on the map, but the entire university."Read the whole story here.

How three cities are solving big problems

By Newsroom

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General

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June 24, 2011

Leaders in Cincinnati and two neighboring cities in Kentucky are working together on a comprehensive approach, "cradle to career," on education. What began as scattershot approaches turned into a highly coordinated approach to the full education continuum. Read the full story here.

Thomas More College Surpasses $1.5 Million Goal For Environmental Science Programs

By Newsroom

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General

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June 24, 2011

Thomas More College announced this month that it has raised more than $1.6 million for its environmental sciences program, surpassing the $1.5 million goal originally set two years ago. In 2009, the College received a 2-1 challenge grant from the James Graham Brown Foundation, which offered a $500,000 incentive for raising $1 million by May 31, 2011.Efforts to raise the money have been steady, with a recent surge in giving in the last two weeks, with donations from Citi, Bank of Kentucky, Fifth Third Foundation and the R.C. Durr Foundation that put the College $129,990 over the goal. Other major contributors to the campaign include Duke Energy Foundation, Toyota USA Foundation, The P&G Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr.,/U.S. Bank Foundation, and the George A. Renaker (M.D.) Charitable Foundation.Thomas More College President Sister Margaret Stallmeyer commented on the achievement and the generosity of donors: "The College is thrilled and honored to receive so much support and participation by our community partners. The success of surpassing this goal is a testament to the significance of the goals of this project and a recognition by the corporate community of the necessity for a well-prepared STEM workforce in Greater Cincinnati."Dr. Chris Lorentz, biology professor and director of Thomas More College's Biology Field Station (located along the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky), explained the importance of raising these funds. "With the money raised through this effort, Thomas More College has the ability to not only improve and expand facilities and research capabilities for our students, but we will be able to provide the community with a variety of science outreach programs including field trips, seminars, camps and workshops. A particular focus will be on improving STEM education throughout the region," he explained.According to Lorentz, the money raised from the efforts will help the College build a new LEED-certified education conference center and residential facility at the Biology Field Station located on the Ohio River, renovate the environmental/evolutionary laboratory and genetics/microbiology laboratory for teaching and research projects at the main campus, expand STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) programs for K-12 students and more. The total raised for this project to date is $1,629,990. The College will continue to raise funds for two additional laboratory renovations on the main campus. For more information about the environmental science program at Thomas More College, visit thomasmore.edu.

Two Medical IT Firms Establish Their U.S. Headquarters in Newport, Kentucky

By Newsroom

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June 24, 2011

Governor Steve Beshear announced this month that Meaningful Use Technologies LLC, and Korean-based Arcron Systems Inc. are establishing their U.S. headquarters in a 5,000-sq. ft. facility in Newport, KY, to better serve customers in North American markets. Together, the medical information technology firms will create 20 jobs and invest over $1 million in Northern Kentucky. Newport hugs the Ohio River and is situated just south of its much-larger sister river city, Cincinnati, OH. This Blue Grass State location will be the first U.S. office for both companies.Read the full story here.

Rem-Brands chemical technology is a family affair

By Feoshia Henderson

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Business + Innovation

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June 24, 2011

Entrepreneurship and invention is a family affair for the Schneider family. Father Dr. Charles Schneider and son Dr. David Schneider have a combined 75 years of experience in specialty chemicals, and hold nearly 40 patents between them in chemical technologies. Both have extensive corporate and entrepreneurial experience, and in 2005 they founded a company that put those skills to use, so far with great success.Rem-Brands, with its tagline "Bonding Science with Business," is a Northern Kentucky-based chemical company that specializes in technologies related to odor and stain removal and disinfection applications.David and his father started the company while he was president and CEO of Iofina, a London Stock Exchange Company, which he helped take public before leaving to focus on Rem-Brands. Their technologies are used in household, commercial, industrial and agricultural applications. Among them are products that have been sold at Bed, Bath & Beyond, PetSmart and home shopping channel QVC. In the agricultural field, among their products is one that is sprayed on cows to keep germs from contaminating the milk before the milking process. Creating these types of technologies has long been a passion for both father and son, David said."This is something we've both done our whole lives, with protect (our technologies) with patents or keep trade secrets and take them and see where it can be used," he said.The company is based in Florence; the company has manufacturing, lab and office space. Most of the technological work is done by David or Charles. David's brother Michael Schneider is company EVP and COO, and also has an extensive chemical background."We design all of our own equipment and our own processes," David said. "Most of the work can be overseen by one or two people."Research and development is conducted in Florence, along with some product manufacturing. Larger manufacturing orders and packaging are outsourced to other companies, David said.The company has recently hired a sales and marketing director, financial advisor and business advisor. Rem-Brands is growing, and within the next year plans to expand into a larger facility. The company plans to stay local, but if growth demands it, could open a facility on the West Coast for logistical reasons sometime in the future, David said."I think this is a great location. Traditionally Cincinnati was one of the major areas for the chemical industry in the U.S. It's to a lesser extent now, but it's still a hub of chemical manufacturing, formulating and distribution. There are a lot of good minds still around," he said. Writer: Feoshia HendersonSource: Dr. David Schneider, co-founder Rem-BrandsYou can follow Feoshia on Twitter @feoshiawrites

Northern Kentucky Catalytic Development Fund key to urban growth

By Newsroom

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Community Development

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May 26, 2011

The shaky national economy has made it tougher to raise capital for the Northern Kentucky Catalytic Development Fund, but Executive Director Jeanne Schroer said that may have been a blessing in disguise. The fund, which has a $10-million kickoff goal, will offer gap funding for residential, small retail and multi-use projects in the urban centers of Northern Kentucky. Launched in September 2008, it's just over halfway to meeting that number, with $6.5 million. But with the economy showing signs of strengthening, Schroer believes it will reach $10 million by year's end, with better planning and processes in place than if they money had been raised sooner. "If we had raised the money earlier, it wouldn't have been a great time to begin new projects. This (lag) has given us the time we need as an organization to put our structures in place to do a good job identifying projects and defining lending criteria. In retrospect it has been a good thing," Schroer said. The fund will primarily go toward residential projects, but will also consider mixed-used and neighborhood retail, Schroer said. "We'll also look at something like converting a historic structure into an office building." Schroer said she's "fairly confident" in reaching the $10 million goal by the end of the year. If so, project financing will begin in early 2012. The fund got it latest and largest single contribution with a recent $2 million commitment from PNC Bank. Previous commitments came from Corporex ($1 million), Bank of Kentucky ($1 million), Duke Energy ($1 million), Central Bank ($1 million) and the Haile/US Bank Foundation ($500K). Those large commitments show that the corporate community believes in the strengthening the region's urban core including Covington, Newport, Dayton and Bellevue, Schroer said. "They are making the commitment to the fund for a number of different reasons. All of them recognize our region needs a vibrant core to be economically competitive. I also believe they have a lot of faith in Northern Kentucky's potential to be a big part of the urban renaissance of our downtowns," she said. The fund was an initiative of the Urban Renaissance Action Team of the Northern Kentucky's Vision 2015 regional planning effort. Plans are to leverage those dollars to raise more than $100 million for development. Writer: Feoshia Henderson for Soapbox

Urban Partnership creates business improvement district in Covington

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May 26, 2011

Covington gets a Business Improvement District (BID) thanks to a collaborative private/public partnership that includes the city of Covington, philanthropic foundations, and the Urban Partnership of Covington. The District is bordered by Martin Luther King Drive (12th Street) and the Ohio River and the Licking River and Interstate 75. The Urban Partnership plans to raise money over the next year to provide free clean and safe services for the community. These services include power washing sidewalks, removing graffiti, picking up litter, and eventually providing additional services such as marketing/communications and stakeholder services. "We really think that cleaning up the urban core and residential units will spur investment and business to Covington," said Pat Frew, the Executive Director of Urban Partnership of Covington. "A priority for us is to increase middle income market rate housing because we have very high income and also very low income housing in the area. If you bring a new business to the community, you must have middle income range housing in order for the business to sustain growth, and that's where we're really lacking."Covington decided it was time to revamp the city area after seeing success in neighboring cities like Cincinnati and Louisville. Both Downtown Cincinnati Inc. and the Louisville Downtown Management District have proven successful by luring residents, shoppers, and diners back downtown - both cities have been helpful and supportive by sharing information with Covington.Paul Sartori, Partner with Legacy Financial Advisors and Steve Brunson, Vice President/Director of Business Development for Republic Bank have both agreed to co-chair the Urban Partnership of Covington in order to raise $600,000 within the next two years."We have a lot of challenges to face," Frew explained. "It's like when you need to go on a diet, you didn't get fat over night. The city took years of neglect to get in its current condition. It's not going to be reversed overnight and we're going to have to all pull together to make this work. That's why partnership is important because we are looking for ways we can work together to make it a better place to live."The Urban Partnership also received a $10,000 gift from Duke Energy to assist in funding operations for the recently launched Business Improvement District. Frew explained that they have already raised over $100,000 in funds from various corporations and local contributors and have already gained tremendous support from Mayor Denny Bowman, Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati, the Catalytic Development Funding Corporation of NKy, and Alex Blust, General Manager of Holiday Inn Riverfront. Writer: Lisa Ensminger for Soapbox

Casey Barach takes GCVA Presidency

By Newsroom

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May 26, 2011

Casey Barach, vice president of entrepreneurship for the Northern Kentucky Tri-County Economic Development Corp., has been appointed president of the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association.Barach will fill a one-year term that runs from May 2011-May 2012. He follows Mark Richey, partner with Draper Triangle Ventures.Barach serves Tri-ED as director of the NKY Angel Investor Network and NKY Growth Fund I and director of the ezone incubator as well as a Tri-ED vice president. His role centers around providing capital and services to early-stage, high-growth-potential companies in Northern Kentucky. He has advised more than 200 companies, and the ezone's commercialization efforts have drawn more than $115 million in investments and grants to Northern Kentucky-based firms, which have created more than 1,200 jobs.Barach earned a law degree from the University of Cincinnati; a master's of business administration from the University of Dayton; and a bachelor of science from The Ohio State University.The president of the Greater Cincinnati Venture Association serves as chairman of its board; leads monthly meetings for the group; helps find quality speakers on the subjects of entrepreneurship, venture capital investing, and technology; and building membership.The Greater Cincinnati Venture Association is an organization devoted to building a culture of entrepreneurship in the region.The GCVA's mission is to provide resources, community and education to entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky. The GCVA accomplishes this mission by hosting events that bring together investors, service providers and entrepreneurs. www.newgcva.com

NKY artists perform at Renfro Valley

By Newsroom

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May 26, 2011

Renfro Valley, located right off I-75 at exit 62, has become a favorite "one-tank" weekend get-away for many Northern Kentucky vacationers and has provided a stage for Northern Kentucky for over 72 years.As "Kentucky's Country Music Capital," Renfro Valley showcases country and bluegrass music that originated in the foothills of Kentucky. With live show performances by local, world-class entertainers Wednesday through Sunday, headliner concerts every weekend, festivals, RV park, shopping village, Historic Lodge Restaurant, Bittersweet Cabins, and the Kentucky Country Music Hall of Fame next door, Renfro Valley is sure to give you an experience you will never forget! Check out upcoming events in Renfro Valley here.