The CYP Club is proud to present The Power Lunch with the Conway Center for Family Business, powered by Stolly Insurance Group on Friday, August 25, 2023 from 11:30am-1:30pm at Ohio Dominican University’s Alumni Hall!
The purpose of the event is to connect Columbus-area young professionals with some of the city’s most admired family business owners and entrepreneurs to exchange success stories, leadership tips, and career advice over a professionally focused, roundtable luncheon experience. Each executive is seated at a roundtable with a small group of emerging leaders! Lunch is catered by ODU and will be included.
For this event, our executives will represent leaders in family-owned and operated Columbus businesses and/or small to medium enterprises from the Conway Center, including:
• Brent Kenreich, CEO at Cloud Cover LLC
• Chris Knoppe, Partner and Co-Founder of New City Homes and Cbus OZ Funds
• Chris McGovern, CEO/President of Environmental Remediation Contractor
• Darla King, Owner & CEO at King Business Interiors
• Jeffrey Price, Owner of PLAN Logistics Solutions
• John Martin, President at Martin Painting & Coating Co.
• Kent Johnson, CEO at Highlights for Children, Inc.
• Kevin Oakes, CEO of Citicom
• Matina Zenios, President at Artina Promotional Products
• Sharon DeLay, Owner and President at GoHR
Our agenda is as follows:
• 11:30-11:50am: Check-in. Social networking. Grab lunch.
• 11:50am-12pm: Welcome & Table Introductions.
• 12-1pm: One-hour of facilitated small group conversations over lunch with your table's executive.
• 1-1:30pm: Final leadership thoughts & 30 minutes of open forum questions with all executives.
Ticket cost: The early-bird price is $20 per person (or $15 for Premium members) through August 18, 2023. On August 19, the price will increase to $30 per person. Catered lunch is included with three signature sandwich boxed lunches to choose from (incl. Ham and Gruyere on Sourdough, Roast Beef and Watercress Sandwich, or Mediterranean/Eggplant Baguette). Boxed lunches include an apple, chips, cookie, soda, and water.
Venue and parking: Our event will be hosted at Ohio Dominican’s Alumni Hall (view the campus map). **You’ll also need to print out and display this parking pass to park for free.
This event will sell out, so don’t wait until the last minute to register! Attendance for this event will be capped at 100 to allow for maximum interaction between our attendees and executives. Attire is business or business casual.
Bios for our Executives & Table Facilitators
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Cloud Cover LLC was founded by Brent Kenreich, who has more than 25 years of experience in IT, finance and consulting. He holds premier certifications from Microsoft, VMware, and Cisco, CompTIA and Banyan. His first MCSE was for Windows NT in 1997. He has a B.S. in computer science as well as a graduate degree in finance from The Ohio State University. He recently added published author to his credentials with the release of an exam guide covering Microsoft’s Windows 2012 Operating system. Brent has installed phone systems, planned and supervised the migration of entire data centers, upgraded switch fabrics and moved entire networks to the “cloud”. He also provided automation support for a deployment of 14,000 workstations and 800 servers on a multi-year project. Under Cloud Cover, Brent has implemented and directed IT processes for companies that produce over 200 million in revenue, annually.
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Chris Knoppe is a Partner and co-founder at New City Homes and Cbus OZ Funds with his two brothers Brian and Sean. After spending two years as a corporate consultant, Chris worked in a family-owned real estate business alongside his brothers which led to the three of them co-founding New City Homes in 2015 to specialize in building and renovating properties throughout the urban neighborhoods of Columbus. They operate New City with a long-term focus on improving communities by providing desirable and attainable housing solutions for rent and for sale.
After the federal Opportunity Zone investment incentives were rolled out in 2018, Chris and his brothers launched CBUS OZ FUNDS, a Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund that exclusively invests in real estate projects throughout the lower-income neighborhoods of Central Ohio.
Since first investing in real estate in 2005, Chris has been a principal in over 1,000 real estate transactions and has navigated market cycles while executing successful investment strategies across many segments of the real estate industry including distressed property acquisition & repositioning, private lending, home building, and fund management. Chris often speaks at industry conferences and investor associations and has been featured in publications such as THINK Realty, Opportunity Zone Magazine, The Columbus Dispatch, and Columbus Business First.
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Environmental Remediation Contractor is an environmental contractor created to serve the environmental and civil contracting industry centered around soil and water quality. With a stellar team boasting decades of experience, they offer the very best in project estimating, field execution, and project management to allow for on time, and on budget, safe results. www.ercontractor.com
Chris McGovern has been an entrepreneur since starting his first business at 19. He has made many mistakes and learned from them to continue to get a better process and more success with the next opportunity. Chris has been the founder of a:
• Poultry Processing Company (lost it in 1982)
• Button Manufacturing Company (taken over from VC 1984)
• Fulfillment Company (sold 1993)
• Direct Mail Company (rolled into Ad Agency 1994)
• 3 Restaurants (Lost)
• Advertising Agency (1994 – 2016), 22.5 years creating business to business marketing for clients with complex products and services. We didn’t market sweaters. (sold in 2016).
• Contracting Company (2011 – Current), Started this while running my ad agency. I had a team of people running it without me. Started working here full time in 2017 after my ad agency sale. Have tripled staff and revenue since then.
In his own words:
“Environmental Remediation Contractor is the best thing I’ve ever worked on. The people are amazing. We create clean earth projects like removing contaminated soils to creating wetlands. For the last 10 years we’ve followed the Entrepreneurs Operating System from the Book ‘Traction’ by Gino Wickman.”
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With over 37 years of experience in the commercial office furniture industry, Darla started her family-owned company 25 years ago in 1998 with her husband Dave King. As President, she provides the strategic direction for the company, along with networking through community involvement and the Connecting the Dots program that supports local non-profits in our area. Her passion is giving back to the community and passing that along to her children who work in the family business, Christopher, age 40 in a VP Sales Manager position and Chelsea, age 33 is the VP of Design and Marketing. Prior to starting King Business Interiors, she worked at the local commercial furniture dealership for 10 years until they made a change to no longer have a furniture division.
Darla has served on many local boards throughout the years, the first being the Worthington Chamber of Commerce and completed as chair, the New Direction Career Center board and completed as board chair, Recreation Unlimited board for two terms, The Haugland Learning Center board for children with Autism, City Year Columbus board and was awarded the Red Jacket Award for 2012, NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) Columbus Chapter board and completed as board president 2016. Also received the NAWBO Visionary Award in 2013, served on the Columbus Chamber of Commerce Small Business Council completing as chair and joined Columbus Chamber Board. She has just completed her term on the COSI Community Board and the COSI Board of Trustees here in Columbus. In addition, she is just completing her second term on the YWCA Columbus Board of Trustees. The most recent board commitment is with The Furniture Bank of Columbus.
Darla met her husband, Dave, at the Ohio State University and started their careers in sales in two different industries. Now, King Business Interiors, Inc. is a WBENC -Nationally Certified Woman-Owned Business, FBE Female Business Enterprise for the City of Columbus and we proudly support our Veterans thru an IDIQ for the VA Hospitals for the USA. Darla’s is an “Air Force brat” and her father is Retired United States Air Force officer.
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Jeffrey Price is a passionate businessman, logistician, coach, and consultant who equips leaders to be catalysts for transformation in the marketplace. Known as the “Chief Encouragement Officer”, he founded Kingdom Coaching Services. Kingdom Coaching Services is a global coaching/consulting firm that inspires, teaches, mentors, motivates, and advises executives, entrepreneurs, and leaders on how to unleash the lion within and how they can empower other leaders within their sphere of influence.
Jeffrey is a charismatic speaker and leader who focuses on positivity in organizational
leadership and change. His speaking style is felt by audiences with a majestic tone and a BURNING DESIRE for positive ideology. Jeffrey’s words and presence have been known to inspire a room. He possesses a unique combination of pleasantry in his personality, and calmness in his demeanor!
Furthermore, he is also the owner of PLAN Logistics Solutions and is known as a visionary leader who has a proven track record of success. He graduated from the United States Army School of Transportation as a Distinguished Graduate scoring an unheard-of 100 PERCENT on every test. During his tenure in the United States Army Reserves as a Transportation Management Coordinator, he was deployed to Afghanistan, and received numerous Army Achievement Medals for his hard work, courage, leadership, discipline, drive, and character.
He lives in Columbus, Ohio with his beautiful wife Alexandra, three children Jaidyn, Julianna, Jeffrey, and their loyal dog, Bella. His hobbies include: reading, charity work, fitness, and attending his local church.
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Kent S. Johnson is Chief Executive Officer of Highlights for Children, Inc. and a member of the corporation's board of directors. Johnson is also the great-grandson of the company’s founders, Garry and Caroline Myers, who began Highlights in 1946.
Highlights for Children creates content and experiences that engage, delight and foster joyful learning in children, all in service of creating a kinder, more empathetic and more optimistic world. Operating a family of brands including Highlights, Zaner-Bloser, and Stenhouse Publishers, Highlights for Children reaches millions of children, families and educators in over 50 countries, in dozens of languages and across content platforms and formats.
Johnson also serves on the board of directors of Schurz Communications, Inc., The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and Momentum Excellence. He is also a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).
Johnson received his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College and his Doctorate in Physics from Harvard University. Prior to joining Highlights, he served in various roles in research and development, manufacturing and operations in the biotech industry. Johnson lives in Bexley, Ohio with his wife and two sons.
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Kevin Oakes is the CEO of Citicom, an award-winning digital print company based in Columbus, Ohio.
Since acquiring the company in 2012, Kevin, along with his brother Michael, have grown Citicom’s revenue by over 1000%, and increased number of employees from 10 to 55.
Along the way, they have also started a Commercial Signage division, focusing on interior corporate office spaces and retail graphics, and have recently started a new kitting and fulfillment business under the same Citicom umbrella.
Kevin is a philosophical leader responsible for the vision, strategy, and growth of the corporation. He believes that through automation, innovative technology, and treating both their customers and employees with kindness and grace, Citicom will continue to build on previous successes and achieve its future goals.
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What did you want to be when you grew up? Matina’s first dream was to be an astronaut, shortly after she wanted to be a pilot, and by the time she was in high school she wanted to be a teacher. Three years into pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Child Development at OSU, and working part-time in the family business, Matina found herself in love with her family business. She wanted to be a permanent part of this fun and creative industry called “promotional products”. Matina is part of the second-generation ownership of the company and takes great pride in carrying on her dad’s legacy. While pursuing her MBA at Franklin University Matina and her boyfriend at the time, Zenios, started a residential home building company and got married shortly after. Their home building company, 3 Pillar Homes is thriving in Central Ohio, and Matina couldn’t be any more proud. Matina and Zenios have two wild and crazy boys that never fail to keep her on her toes. As in true Greek tradition, Matina’s boys are named after their grandfathers, Michael and Christos, and she definitely enjoys being part of her big fat Greek family.
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Sharon DeLay, MBA, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, CPCC, HR consultant, business owner, national HR speaker, and trainer, is the owner and President of GO-HR, an HR consultancy working almost exclusively with small and micro businesses across five areas: HR strategy and compliance, recruiting and on-boarding, training and development, non-traditional benefits and consulting, and career and corporate outplacement. The company also provides HR project work for larger companies, with their biggest client being a $1B oil and transportation company with 1,500 employees. GO-HR has clients throughout the U.S.
Sharon holds an MBA, as well as undergraduate degrees in HR, Education, and Communication. She maintains Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and SHRM-SCP professional HR certifications, and Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC) and Certified Professional Résumé Writer (CPRW) certifications. She is also a certified EEO investigator. She honed her professional career in the direct sales, higher education, and communication industries before creating her business that focuses exclusively on small businesses. Sharon is an Everything DiSC Certified Trainer, and an Authorized Partner for Everything DiSC®, and PXT Select.
Currently, Sharon is the Treasurer on the board of HRACO, Central Ohio’s HR trade membership organization and is a board and committee member of the Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce. She received the 2021 Business Person of the Year award from the Westerville Chamber. She trains new attorneys about HR through the Columbus Bar Association, and HR professionals working toward their professional certification as a SHRM certification instructor. She facilitates the HR Roundtable for the Conway Center for Family Businesses, highlighting HR-related issues important to family-owned businesses. In 2023, Sharon was recognized by Columbus Business First as an HR Impact awardee. In 2022, she received Business Person of the Year from the Westerville Chamber of Commerce. She received the Lifetime Achievement award for Excellence in HR by “Columbus CEO” in 2019 and GO-HR was also recognized as a Best in Business in 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. She finished a four-year term on the board of Camp Wyandot in 2021, a two-year term as the VP of Communications for the NAWBO Columbus board in April 2017. She received the NAWBO Columbus 2015 Women’s Business Champion and the 2019 WSBA Emerging Leader awards. She was on the Board of the Women’s Small Business Accelerator from 2012 to 2016, managed the In-transition Committee for HRACO (2014-2016), and is a member of SHRM and HRCI. She served as a mentor for SEA Change, working with a local startup social enterprise business, and was a mentor for 4 years for YEA Columbus and is currently a mentor through the Conway Center for Family Businesses. In addition to being quoted and noted in Fast Company, Huffington Post, Monster.com, Recruiter.com, The New York Times, Workspan, The Ladders, and Mashable (among others), she is also the author of the award-winning E-Cruiting, and Career Boot Camp, a self-contained full career transition program.
She lives in Columbus, OH with her husband Kevin, and their 3 dogs.
You’re invited to learn more at www.go-hr.biz