Northeast Ohio ranks fourth in corporate headquarters

Amid the depressing news of layoffs and company shutdowns, comes this surprising bit of uplift -- our region is a stalwart when it comes to the number of corporate headquarters. Team NEO, the region's business-attraction group, reports today that the 16-county region is fourth among the nation's largest metropolitan areas in its share of people working at business headquarters. In 2006, 41,000 people worked at corporate and division headquarters from Youngstown to Lorain, including 18,500 in Cuyahoga County, data showed. As a percent of the total work force, headquarters employment in Northeast Ohio ranked higher than Boston, Chicago and Atlanta, Team NEO's research showed. BY THE NUMBERS Northeast Ohio has lots of corporate headquarters. Here's the Top 10. 1. St. Louis 2. New York 3. San Francisco 4. Northeast Ohio 5. Detroit 6. Boston 7. Philadelphia 8. Chicago 9. Atlanta 10. Seattle Northeast Ohio has 22 headquarters that are from Fortune 1000 companies. Here is the list: Goodyear Tire & Rubber Progressive Eaton FirstEnergy Parker Hannifin Sherwin-Williams KeyCorp Timken Aleris International Lubrizol Nacco Industries RPM International Diebold PolyOne Ferro Medical Mutual of Ohio Cleveland-Cliffs Lincoln Electric Holdings American Greetings Applied Ind. Technologies Jo Ann Stores Schulman (A.) SOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Economy.com "People who are managing business is a particular strength here," says Tom Waltermire, Team NEO's chief executive. The numbers are no surprise to Ned Hill, the interim dean of Cleveland State University's urban affairs college. Hill, an influential economist, has been telling people for years that the density of business headquarters here is an economic driver. From 2000 to 2006, an industrial sector formally known as "management of companies and enterprises" saw a 5.7 percent annual growth in jobs, according to Hill's research. That sector's gross domestic output totaled $4.4 billion across 16 counties in 2006, research showed. Hill knows the numbers don't seem right. For years, the region has been rocked by the departure of landmark headquarters, from the likes of British Petroleum in 1998 to National City Bank last month. The bank is now subordinate to PNC Bank headquarters in Pittsburgh. But the loss of corporate titans obscures the fact that headquarters large and small are plentiful here, Hill said. Team NEO's research showed 541 headquarters in 2006, employing an average 70-plus people per site. "We tend to measure ourselves on the big icons that aren't here," Waltermire said. "You need to consider all the others that are just below the radar screen." The region has 22 Fortune 1000 companies headquartered here, TeamNEO noted. And the number of chief executives, accountants and general managers in the region is well above the national average, another indicator of headquarters activity, Team NEO reported. The large number of headquarters results from the region's historic strength and diversity in manufacturing, Hill said. A number of the headquarters are privately owned, small- to mid-sized companies whose operations have gone national or global, Hill said. Others were acquired by larger companies and became branch headquarters, he said. Headquarters remain here, or are attracted to Northeast Ohio, for a number of reasons, including our heartland location and affordable cost of living compared to the East and West coasts, officials said. Too, the region is rich in businesses that support corporate headquarters, including banks, law firms and accounting firms. Team NEO brandishes the bounty of headquarters when it sells the region to business prospects like GCA Services Group, Inc. and its chief executive Robert Norton. Norton and his board decided 1½ years ago to move the company headquarters from suburban Philadelphia to downtown Cleveland. GCA is a large, facilities-maintenance company, employing 30,000 people who clean schools and companies in 38 states. Sales last year approached $500 million, said Norton. GCA liked Ohio as the "center of the country" and saw prospects in a state where it had few accounts, Norton said. The company is saving hundreds of thousands of dollars on its lease in the US Bank Centre on Euclid Avenue, compared to the Philadelphia site, Norton said. GCA employs about 40 in its headquarters. The buzz-cut, Harley Davidson-loving Norton had inside knowledge before he came. The headquarters is a few blocks west of Cleveland State University, where Norton graduated in 1973. He grew up in Stow. "My heart is here," said Norton. "It's been good for us so far."