A Letter from the Publisher
By Eric Harmon, Publisher, Ohio Business Magazine
When drafting the Constitution, Ben Franklin was once quoted as saying, “For when you assemble a number of men to have the advantage of their joint wisdom, you inevitably assemble with those men, all their prejudices, their passions, their errors of opinion, their local interests, and their selfish views.”
Lucky for us, our forefathers would put all those issues aside to form our nation.
A mentor of mine used to frequently ask whether a topic I was heated to discuss was either a passion or my business. Being in journalism, we are supposed to be free as possible from bias. (Please hold the snickering to a minimum.)
Being relatively young, I was still figuring these things out. The lesson was obviously to “know the difference between the two,” with the added thought of how business can and should reduce the barriers of interaction for the betterment of all involved.
Today, business has my greatest confidence to move the country and Ohio forward beyond the variance of opinions, the policies of governing and the many issues that could divide us.
This is why we are so excited to bring you the first ever Ohio 500 list. This is a list of those who are the movers and shakers, the powerful, the effective, and those making an outsized impact within their organizations and for their communities regardless of industry, government or political affiliation, or charity.
We sent out the word, asking for nominations from our readers and welcomed many that nominated themselves and others. The list of people was moderated and chosen solely by our editors. Selection had much to do with the standard measures of success, although serving on boards or volunteering for things in communities proved insightful. We had a heck of time getting follow up information from the many, but it was well worth it.
Congratulations to Terry Troy, editor; Corinne Minard, managing editor; and Katelynn Webb, our office manager, for the heavy lifting required to make this happen. No doubt we missed many deserving people and possibly made some mistakes. If so, I would encourage you to email those to me at [email protected]. We would welcome your insight to make this something we can build on for years to come.
