Successful companies innovate every day and create products and value for their customers. Efforts to build a robust workforce are no different. Here in Northeast Ohio, manufacturing leaders are innovating, testing, and scaling new ways to solve their talent needs. Through innovative workforce partnerships, changing policies, and adjusting conditions to be more inclusive, these companies are producing results. Currently, strategies are underway to remove barriers to employment, increase coaching, and provide necessary support for non-native English speakers, for example.\r\n\r\nAs onshoring heats up and manufacturers shift their supply chains closer to home, talent competition - and the need for innovation - will be stronger than ever. Is Northeast Ohio ready?\r\n\r\nPanelists\r\nPete Accorti\r\nPresident, Talan Products\r\n\r\nGeoff Lipnevicius\r\nSenior Manager, Workforce Development, The Lincoln Electric Company\r\n\r\nDalithia C. Smith, SPHR, SHRM-SCP\r\nSVP & Chief Human Resources Officer, Oatey Co\r\n\r\nStaci Wampler\r\nChief Business Solutions Officer, Towards Employment\r\n\r\nModerator\r\nGlenn Forbes\r\nHost/Producer, Ideastream Public Media

Three years after moving into the national spotlight as CEO of YWCA USA, Margaret Mitchell is undoubtedly still considered a local hero right here in Northeast Ohio. Recognized for her successful efforts to declare racism a public health crisis in Cleveland and Ohio, Margaret Mitchell\'s leadership has left an indelible mark on the fight to build a nation where all women and girls can thrive.\r\n\r\nToday, she leads the YWCA USA--a national organization with 194 local associations across the United States, including the YWCA of Greater Cleveland. It is one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the nation, serving over 1 million women, girls, and their families, and has been at the forefront of the most pressing social movements for over 160 years. The YWCA also has an international arm, World YWCA, a global movement working for women's empowerment, leadership, and rights in more than 120 countries.\r\n\r\nAs we move into MLK Day weekend and look to Inauguration Day, join us as Margaret Mitchell returns to Cleveland and the City Club stage to underline the progress made and work ahead to eliminate racism, empower women, and promote peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all.

After 15 years of leading Esperanza Inc. during its first 40 years of service, Victor Ruiz announced earlier this year he will be stepping down. Together with the board, he stated, \"Now is the time to introduce a fresh perspective and new ideas to lead the way toward Esperanza's next chapter.\" Located on Cleveland\'s West Side, Esperanza aims to improve the lives of Latino youth and their families through education. Northeast Ohio also has one of the fastest growing Hispanic and Latino populations, and with that, increased needs for services and opportunities.\r\n\r\nRuiz came to Cleveland 42 years ago from Puerto Rico, and during his tenure at Esperanza, he helped transform the lives of thousands of Northeast Ohio families. Ruiz is also a champion of Latino and Hispanic representation and held numerous leadership roles in the community. He served as chairman of the board of trustees for Cuyahoga Community College; sits on the editorial board of The Plain Dealer and Cleveland.com; and was a member of Cuyahoga County Executive-elect Chris Ronayne's transition team.

The future of our downtown lakefront has always been a topic of conversation. In fact, studies as early as 1903 hoped to find solutions that enhanced our north shore. Over the decades, connectivity, access, as well as the challenge of Burke Lakefront Airport all have remained top concerns. Now, the decision by Haslam Sports Group to move the Cleveland Browns to the western suburbs has raised questions about the move\'s impact on the City\'s much-anticipated Lakefront Master Plan, local businesses, tourism, and more. What opportunities have opened up, and what are the challenges that lie ahead as we envision a lakefront for all?

When thinking of entrepreneurs who serve as community champions, Connie Hill-Johnson and Kevin Johnson take this role to another level. Their life-long investments in economic development, volunteer efforts, and philanthropic contributions have left an indelible mark on Northeast Ohio. What can we learn from two of Cleveland\'s biggest champions on the progress made and work yet to be done--particularly concerning BIPOC entrepreneurship and leadership?\r\n\r\nConnie Hill-Johnson has been the Owner and Managing Director of Visiting Angels Senior Home Care for more than 20 years; and since 2022, Connie has served as the Chair of the Board of The Cleveland Foundation--the first Black woman elected to the position. She also served as co-chair of the successful city-wide Cleveland Reads campaign with the Cleveland Public Library.\r\n\r\nKevin Johnson is Managing Partner at NexGen Interactive, LLC, a technology consultancy. He has held countless roles over the years in areas of engineering, IT, and management here in Northeast Ohio and across the globe.\r\n\r\nTogether, Connie and Kevin were instrumental in producing The Soul of Philanthropy Cleveland (TSOPCLE) in 2019 and also launched the Cleveland Black Equity and Humanity Fund.

Trauma surgeon and professor Dr. Brian H. Williams has seen it all: gunshot wounds, stabbings, and traumatic brain injuries. Dr. Williams is also an Air Force Academy graduate, a Harvard-trained physician, a former congressional health policy advisor, and a nationally recognized leader at the intersection of public policy and structural racism, gun violence, and health equity. He has treated gun violence victims for more than two decades.\r\n\r\nIn his new book The Bodies Keep Coming, Williams ushers us into the trauma bay, where the wounds of a national emergency amass. He draws a through line between white supremacy, gun violence, and the bodies he tries to revive, and he trains his surgeon\'s gaze on the structural ills that manifest themselves in the bodies of his patients.\r\n\r\nWilliams has also served as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Medicine and as a professor of trauma and acute care surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine. Williams and his work have been featured in outlets like the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, CNN, and Newsweek.

According to the Ohio Department of Health, the infant mortality rate not only serves as a key indicator of maternal and infant health but is also an important measure of the health status of a whole community.\r\n\r\nAnd this year at the Cleveland International Film Festival, a documentary film showcasing nurses\' heroic efforts to support mothers and babies won the coveted audience choice award. American Delivery certainly hit home. The City of Cleveland has one of the worst maternal and infant mortality rates in the developed world, especially among women and infants of color. Yet, to support women and babies, we must go beyond healthcare delivery. Public-private coalitions like First Year Cleveland are rising to the challenge, building a community movement that identifies causes and develops sustainable, system-driven solutions.\r\n\r\nJoin the City Club as we hear from First Year Cleveland\'s Angela Newman-White and American Delivery film director Carolyn Jones on the maternal and infant vitality movement, and how we can ensure all mothers and babies are guaranteed healthy beginnings.

It has been roughly 40 years since the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our country, and thanks to extraordinary advances in antiretroviral therapy and support services, survivors are now living long, healthy lives. For this reason, more than half of people diagnosed with HIV in the United States are aged 50 and older. Now, researchers, doctors, and patients are once again facing questions with uncertain answers on what to expect from HIV/AIDS in aging bodies.

When Secretary Pete Buttigieg first joined us at the City Club in 2019, he was \"Mayor Pete\" of South Bend, Indiana, and already emerged as one of the nation\'s most visionary politicians. In 2021, he was sworn in as the nation\'s 19th Secretary of Transportation and is the first openly gay person confirmed to serve in a president\'s Cabinet. During his tenure as Secretary, he has worked to achieve organizational excellence in the department's operations, and his focus as Secretary has been to deliver the world's leading transportation system for the American people and economy.\r\n\r\nIn his first year at the Department, he prioritized supporting the development and passage of President Biden's signature Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Since the law's passage, Secretary Buttigieg and his team have focused on effectively delivering the investments provided by this legislation, enabling the most significant improvements in U.S. transportation infrastructure in over half a century.\r\n\r\nSecretary Buttigieg served for seven years as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, taking a leave of absence from the mayor's office for a deployment to Afghanistan in 2014. He lives in Traverse City, MI with his husband Chasten, their two children, Gus and Penelope, and their dog.

Beth M. Hammack is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, one of 12 regional Reserve Banks in the Federal Reserve System. She began her term on August 21, 2024. In this capacity, she participates in the formulation of US monetary policy and oversees 1,100 employees in the Bank's Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh offices who conduct economic research, supervise banking institutions, and provide payment services to commercial banks and the US government. Prior to her appointment as Cleveland Fed president, she was cohead of the global financing group at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and a member of the management committee.