Award Honors Shatten’s Role In Cleveland’s Economic Revitalization

JumpStart’s founding CEO Ray Leach was honored with the 2016 Richard A. Shatten Leadership Award at the Sept. 7 annual meeting of the Greater Cleveland Partnership (GCP). Ohio Governor John Kasich served as the meeting’s keynote speaker, praising Cleveland’s comeback and remarking on the way perceptions of the city—and Ohio as a whole—are changing all across the U.S.

According to the GCP, Leach received the award for his role in helping JumpStart and Cleveland gain “a national best-in-class reputation for its innovative economic development models and its ability to leverage its experience and expertise across the U.S.”

“I am honored to receive this award,” said Leach. “For the last thirteen years I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside our many partners in Northeast Ohio and I’m so proud of the progress we have made together. It’s been an exciting journey and because of the support from organizations including the Greater Cleveland Partnership and many others, we are now beginning to see the transformative results of a more vibrant entrepreneurial economy.”

The Richard A. Shatten Leadership Award is named for the celebrated scholar and economic development advocate who led Cleveland Tomorrow, a private civic organization made up of CEOs of the largest companies in the Cleveland-area, which was created in 1981 to improve the long-term economic health of Cleveland. Shatten led the organization for more than a decade before transitioning into a successful career as an accomplished educator and research mentor at the Case Western Reserve University. He died due to complications from brain cancer in 2002, at the age of 46.

“It’s humbling to receive an award named after such an important and inspiring civic leader,” said Leach. “Not only was Richard Shatten a brilliant man—he also had a fundamental understanding of the critical role entrepreneurship and collaboration could play in our economic recovery. Richard is often cited as one of the key minds that helped Cleveland recover from financial default in 1978 and he helped lay much of the foundation for organizations like JumpStart and the public, private and philanthropic partnerships focused on economic development in Northeast Ohio we see today.”

For more information about the GCP’s 2016 annual meeting, click here.

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JUMPSTART INC. unlocks the full potential of diverse and ambitious entrepreneurs to economically transform entire communities. For more information, follow @JumpStartInc on Twitter.

THE GREATER CLEVELAND PARTNERSHIP mobilizes private-sector leadership, expertise and resources to create attractive business conditions that create jobs, grow investment and improve the economic prosperity of the region. For more information, visit www.gcpartnership.com.