Author: signetmaster

As a founder and high-ranking executive at both Signet Enterprises and the Brennan, Manna & Diamond, Anthony Manna knows that business travel is all part of the job. But he probably didn’t expect how a recent flight would impact him and shape the course of how his companies would mark their anniversaries.

In October 2014, Manna and Signet CEO Kenneth Krismanth were traveling from Cleveland to the East Coast and had taken their seats on the plane when a group of veterans with the nonprofit organization Honor Flight Cleveland boarded. One of the organizers asked that folks in the front make way for the former military members, who were on their way to Washington, D.C., to tour the World War II and Korean War memorials. When two men at the front of the plane didn’t budge, an Honor Flight organizer, who also is an ex-Marine, bellowed an order for them to get “their butts out of those front seats for ‘his’ veterans,” Manna said in an email.

“It was priceless,” he said.

That experience – and watching the vets being applauded as they walked through the airport — moved Manna and his colleagues so deeply that they wanted to help the organization.

“Seeing people, both old and young applaud these men like they were rock stars (and they’re better than rock stars!) was truly emotional,” Manna said.

Traveling at their own expense, Manna, Krismanth, Signet president and chief operating officer Mark Corr and Signet Equity Partners president Erik Matuszak served as chaperones to veterans on a June Honor Flight trip to Washington.

“It was one of the incredible experiences of my life,” Manna said in a statement. “What a privilege to be in the company of these men.”

And Manna decided to turn Signet’s and BMD’s anniversary celebrations into a way to help Honor Flight. Among the management, employees and guests at the companies’ June 11th joint anniversary party in downtown Akron, more than $20,000 was donated to Honor Flight Cleveland, which offers a safe and free trip that allows veterans, many who are in their 80s and 90s, to visit memorials honoring their service.

Several veterans and Honor Flight organizers attended the celebration event, where Honor Flight Cleveland president Joe Benedict talked about the companies’ involvement.

“It’s unusual for a company whose partners were told to get out of their seats that it ended up like this,” he said.

And four more employees of Signet are signed up as chaperones on a September Honor flight.

The investment and development firm is headquartered in Akron, where it employs 22 people. The company also has offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Shanghai, China, and has a total of about 500 employees working out of all other offices under Signet’s umbrella, according to the firm.

BMD, a pro-business law firm, employs 40 attorneys and 40 staff members at its Akron office. The firm also has offices in Jacksonville and Bonita Springs, Fla., and Columbus.

Signet has seen recent success from its wellness arm, Integrated Wellness Partners, which has wellness center projects that have more than $145 million in total investments.

Read the original article here.

CINCINNATI – Mixing goose feathers with water creates an awful stink.

Mixing goose feathers with recycled water creates value.

That’s the big idea behind a new business partnership between Downlite International Inc. and Artesian Capital Partners.

ACP is investing more than $1 million in a new treatment facility at Downlite’s feather-washing plant in Blue Ash after the Mason-based maker of down-filled bedding products signed a 12-year contract to use the plant as its primary water source. By filling its king-sized laundry machines with up to 40 million gallons of recycled water, Downlite expects to save more than $1 million in the next 10 years in reduced water and sewer bills.

“It reduces our pull on the water system and allows us to be as self-sustaining as possible,” said Downlite Chief Financial Officer Josh Werthaiser. “We’re trying to be more environmentally friendly.”

The 350-employee company sells directly to consumers and serves as a wholesaler for manufacturers like Patagonia. It also makes private-label products for Eddie Bauer, Sealy and Trump Home Furnishings.

Pipes and pumps have already been installed at the Palace Drive plant where Downlite uses up to 120,000 gallons per day to wash and rinse feathers, which are loaded into laundry machines 220 pounds at a time.

The feathers arrive already sterilized and packed into huge bags, shipped from China and Europe. Downlite converts them to hypoallergenic stuffing for pillows, comforters, mattresses and coats.

“Smells like wet dog,” Werthaiser joked of the laundry process that produces a monthly water and sewer tab of about $30,000.

Read the original article here.

BLOOMINGTON — A comprehensive approach to health and wellness is starting under 106,000 square feet on Bloomington’s east side.

The Center for Integrated Wellness will integrate a medically based fitness center, sports performance institute, orthopedic center, imaging center, community education area and physician offices under one roof. The $35 million facility is opening at 1111 Trinity Lane, north of Central Illinois Regional Airport and south of McGraw Park.

“At Advocate, we continue to be very focused on keeping the population healthy…and on individuals living with chronic disease,” Colleen Kannaday, president of Advocate BroMenn Medical Center, said during a tour of the center on Wednesday.

“This center will be an important step for those patients,” Kannaday said.

Partners in the project are Advocate BroMenn, McLean County Orthopedics (MCO), Method Sports Performance and Signet Enterprises.

Construction is complete and nearly all equipment is in place, said Jim Ellis, executive vice president of Integrated Wellness Partners, a Signet Enterprises company.

The center will have a soft opening on Monday for anyone who already is a member, said center Executive Director Catherine Porter. Fees vary depending on the type of membership, she said.

The center will open officially on Sept. 6. Hours will be 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, Porter said.

Two hundred people will work in the center, she said.

“This is more than a fitness center,” Ellis said. “This is a comprehensive approach to health and well-being. Now comes the really exciting part — when we can help people to change their lives.”
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“Most disease and disability is caused by lifestyle,” Ellis said. “We will take a whole-person approach. It’s only when you address the whole person that you can move the needle on your health and eventually the health of the whole community.”

The center includes Advocate BroMenn Health & Fitness Center, which is 40 pieces of cardiovascular equipment, weight machines, free weights and multi-muscle cable machines, said fitness and wellness manager Molly Smeltzer. Adjoining the exercise center are a lap pool, hot tub and hydrotherapy pool for water therapy, and rooms for community education, cooking demonstrations and health screenings.
“Each member will begin with a comprehensive health assessment and we’ll prescribe an exercise routine,” Smeltzer said.

Method Sports Performance will be a science-based sports performance institute with physician oversight for athletes from age 7 through adulthood, said Dr. Joe Norris, an orthopedic surgeon and Method co-founder. The institute includes a track, cardio and weight training equipment.

“Everything has a purpose,” focusing on strengthening the athlete for performance and decreasing injury risk, said Method Director Chad Coy.

The MCO side will include physician offices, a therapy gym, exam rooms and an open MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) machine, said MCO CEO Don Stumpp.

MCO will move operations from 2502 E. Empire St. and 2810 E. Empire St., both Bloomington, and from 2005 Jacobssen Drive, Normal, on Aug. 18 and 19 and will open at Center for Integrated Wellness on Aug. 22, Stumpp said.

“The benefit to people will be keeping them active so they can enjoy life,” said Dr. Jerry Oakey, MCO vice president and hand surgeon.

The center has been developed by Akron, Ohio,-based Signet. “No Advocate dollars went into the development of the center,” Kannaday said.

Read the original article here.

Read the original article on Innovation In Textiles.

Downlite, a leading down and feather processor, has unveiled its new wastewater recovery system that allows Downlite to recycle and reuse up to 99% of the water used to clean and sanitise its down and feather fills – saving up to 40 million gallons of water annually.

Downlite partnered with Ohio-based water-treatment specialist Artesian Capital Partners (ACP), who designed and constructed the system, and now operates it off-site.

“Water is the new oil,” said Josh Werthaiser, Downlite CFO. “With growing concerns over water scarcity and increasingly stringent municipal water-treatment requirements, we took on this significant and complex initiative, which took over a year, in our endeavour to become a greener company.”

Down processing facility

Downlite’s down processing facility based just outside of Cincinnati, has the capacity to supply more than 100,000 lbs. of clean and ready down fill material per week, which requires a large quantity of water to ensure the raw materials have been sufficiently cleaned and sterilised, the manufacturer reports.

“We use up to 120,000 gallons of water per day when our three giant washers are in use to ensure high-quality cleaning,” said Kevin Borgquist, Downlite Director of Processing/Sourcing. “Since the system was installed in October, we’ve saved about eight million gallons of water.”

Wastewater recovery system

Waste water from the down processing machines travels through Downlite’s 65,000 square foot plant to the treatment system and into an aerobic basin to remove organic waste. The water then moves to membrane filtration to remove any remaining waste.

The clean water is stored and sent through ozone disinfection before it goes back to the plant for reuse. The sludge recovered from filtration is gathered and composted.

According to the Downlite, its wastewater recovery system is the latest in a series of ongoing environmental and sustainability initiatives, which include installing LED lighting in its plants and office buildings, adherence to bluesign certification and down traceability, and the development of TDS and RDS down standards. “We are always looking at how we can minimize environmental impact, and what Downlite can do about it,” said Werthaiser.

Learn more about Downlite here.

Signet LLC is adding to its stable of publishing-industry companies with the acquisition of BindTech Inc., a private trade bindery and book manufacturer in Nashville, Tenn.

The Akron-based private investment firm announced the move in a March 6 news release. BindTech joins Signet’s 2015 acquisitions of Riverside Group, a book binder in Rochester, N.Y., and Publishers Storage and Shipping Corp., a Massachusetts book storage and order fulfillment center with additional sites in Michigan. In addition, Signet has owned Cleveland-based Finish Line Binderies for more than a decade.

Terms of the BindTech deal were not disclosed.

BindTech’s leadership, including president Dale Nichols, will stay in place as will the company’s 100 employees at its 90,000-square-foot plant.

“Signet’s philosophy is to buy, hold and add value to companies through close collaboration with company operatives,” Signet chairman Anthony Manna said in a statement. “BindTech was a family-owned, service-first company that expanded to 100 employees in 30 years of successful growth. They have an impeccable name in this industry and it was important to them, and us, that they remain as BindTech. We look forward to providing them with additional resources and stability to continue that growth.”

The purchase allows Signet to add a broad client list in an industry that is shrinking through attrition and consolidation, the company said. It also lets Signet reinvest capital in facilities, equipment and employees.

“BindTech’s capabilities and capacity will open up new doors for the entire Signet print services group of companies,” said John Helline, CEO of Signet’s group of print-related companies, in a statement. “With facilities in Cleveland, Ypsilanti MI (near Ann Arbor), Rochester NY, Fitchburg MA (just outside of Boston), and now Nashville, our diversification, fulfillment and distribution reach is much larger.”

BindTech’s capabilities include hardcover binding, smyth sewing, wire spiral binding, plastic spiral binding, high-speed perfect binding, embossing and die cutting, among others. Products include coffee table books, Bibles and classic titles.

In January, Signet unveiled a new website and dropped Enterprises from its name. Both moves were part of a broader rebranding campaign to better define the company’s three main platform capabilities: operational portfolio company investment, where it manages acquisitions and venture investments; real estate; and capital finance.

Read the original article on Crain’s Cleveland Business here.

BLOOMINGTON — Forty-one McLean County residents with developmental disabilities have an opportunity to improve their health because of an innovative partnership of the McLean County Health Department, Advocate BroMenn Health and Fitness Center and Marcfirst.

The one-year pilot program covers the cost of health assessments, customized training plans and guidance for 41 Marcfirst clients with disabilities at Advocate BroMenn Health and Fitness Center in the Center for Integrated Wellness, 1111 Trinity Lane, Bloomington.

Since the program opened April 1 with individual health assessments, 40 of 41 adults eligible to participate in the pilot have enrolled.

“This is an amazing opportunity for people with disabilities to take ownership of their well-being,” said Laura Furlong, CEO of Marcfirst, which has programs for people with disabilities.

The health department and the McLean County Board for Care and Treatment of Persons with a Developmental Disability (377 Board) have been exploring wellness opportunities for people with developmental disabilities because research shows they are three times more likely to have heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer than people without disabilities, said Laura Beavers, health department behavioral health division manager.

In addition, people with a developmental disability die, on average, 25 years earlier than people without disabilities, Beavers said.
Many Marcfirst clients don’t have money to afford fitness center membership, Furlong said. So they need health assessments before they get their exercise prescriptions, training on equipment use and ongoing coaching, she said.

The health department decided to pilot a program with Marcfirst clients and approached Advocate BroMenn Health and Fitness Center, which develops individualized, medically monitored fitness programs. Advocate BroMenn agreed, health assessments and fitness plans have been completed for 40 individuals and some have begun their workouts, Beavers and Furlong said.

Marcfirst staff, for now, are accompanying individuals to their workouts.

There is no charge to the individuals. For the first year, the 377 board is spending $40,339 from a tax levy designed for individuals with disabilities, Beavers said. In addition, Advocate BroMenn Health and Fitness Center and Advocate Charitable Foundation “designed a program for us at an affordable cost,” Beavers said.

“We are so fortunate to have been selected to be a partner and provide services to Marcfirst residents,” said Center for Integrated Wellness Executive Director Catherine Porter. “This opportunity allows us to provide services that will truly affect the health and wellness of a special group of individuals in our community.”

Read original article on Pantagraph here.

Read the original article in Albuquerque Journal here.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The sights and sounds of hammers, cranes and construction crews are about to give way to the hustle and bustle of students, entrepreneurs, and technology professionals at the long-anticipated Innovate ABQ research and development hub in Downtown Albuquerque.

The University of New Mexico’s new Lobo Rainforest building has entered the final stretch of construction on the northeast corner of the seven-acre site at Broadway and Central, said Lisa Kuuttila, UNM’s chief economic development officer and head of the Science and Technology Corp., UNM’s tech-transfer office. A grand opening is planned for Aug. 26.

The six-story, 160,000-square-foot facility will become home to 300-plus students working with businesspeople, scientists and professionals from the state’s research universities and labs to build startups and take new technologies to market. It represents the heart and soul of Innovate ABQ, and the joint efforts of UNM, the city, the county and private developers to build an Innovation Corridor that cuts through the city’s inner core.

“It’s the first new, concrete construction we have that embodies the full spirit of Innovate ABQ,” Kuuttila said. “It will be the nucleus of our Innovation Corridor.”

All the structural and foundational work and the framing and drywall are done, said Jeff Harper, project superintendent for Jaynes Corp., the general contractor.

“The electrical, plumbing and gas utilities are all in,” Harper said. “We’re just getting everything finalized and double-checking it all before flipping the switch to turn it on.”

UNM will start moving tenants in by early August, beginning with STC staff and the resident and community-planning coordinators who will work with the students who occupy the building’s five upper floors, said UNM Director of Real Estate Tom Neal.

“We’ll move those folks in during the first week of August, followed by students in the Aug. 10-15 timeline,” Neal said. “We’re delivering everything on time and on budget for Aug. 15.”

Construction on the $35 million building began last July, managed by Signet Development of Ohio, New Mexico’s Goodman Realty Group and Dekker/Perich/Sabatini. Those partners paid for the building, which UNM will lease for 30 years before taking over ownership.

UNM is responsible for renting, maintaining and operating the student housing, as well as the classrooms, offices and professional facilities.

The first floor, which includes about 30,000 square feet, is almost completely booked with committed tenants, with the exception of one 2,200-square-foot space. It’s designed for maximum interaction among tenants to facilitate sharing of ideas and collaboration on projects, providing constant opportunities for hoped-for “collisions” among people that often lead to innovation. The building’s name is intended to reflect that concept – a human innovation ecosystem that, like a rainforest, allows creativity, business acumen, scientific discovery, investment capital and more to propagate and nurture budding ideas into sustainable enterprises.

“It’s a unique design to create lots of collaboration and collision,” Neal said.

On the ground floor will be UNM Innovation Academy classrooms, conference rooms and co-working spaces, plus a 2,000-square-foot cafe, a branch of Nusenda Credit Union electronically connected to live tellers, and lounge areas.

The main entrance and reception area for the building is on the north side, where people will enter directly into the center of the facility. That’s the interactive heart of the rainforest, with huge open meeting areas, conference rooms, and a high-tech “visualization” room equipped for video conferencing.

The northwest corner will house STC staff and student interns. Student startups and businesses marketing UNM technologies will be housed in offices next to STC on the southwest side. And just south of that, the Air Force Research Laboratory will occupy a 1,700-square-foot space.

The entire ground floor is surrounded by windows, and numerous doors open onto a south-side courtyard for people to gather. There is also an outside deck on the second floor of the building.

“The courtyard is designed for public functions, with a lot of outdoor meeting space,” Kuuttila said. “We want to get students interacting with businesspeople and technology transfer professionals with lots of events.”

That includes opening up STC-related forums for more direct community involvement, starting with the monthly Venture Cafe, where students and faculty meet with STC staff and entrepreneurs to discuss new technologies and business ideas. That will become a weekly event with community participation encouraged.

Across from the south-side courtyard is the old First Baptist Church building, a 71,000-square-foot facility that Innovate ABQ plans to remodel into a home for new startups, entrepreneurial programs and meeting spaces. West of the courtyard sits the old Noon Day Ministries building, which Central New Mexico Community College is now remodeling into a high-tech makerspace.

The Rainforest building’s five upper floors of student apartments, however, provide the critical linchpin for students to live, work and play at Innovative ABQ.

“The co-location of our students with all the other folks on site is what excites everybody,” said Innovation Academy Director Rob DelCampo. “It’s a totally new venue for students to live and work in a dedicated space to innovate, invent, and create.”

The new Lobo Rainforest building, located in Downtown Albuquerque, is now home to UNM students as well as multiple innovative groups hoping to influence students, the community and other businesses by networking and creating opportunity throughout the city.

“The University has been involved in a project called Innovate ABQ for the last four and a half years,” said Lisa Kuuttila, CEO and Chief Economic Development Officer at STC UNM. “The vision for the site as a whole, was to develop this live, work, play environment to stimulate creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation.”

Albuquerque did not previously have an innovation district, Kuuttila said, which is why the concept to build a corridor between the University and downtown was created.

The groups that now make up the first floor of Lobo Rainforest are STC UNM, the University’s Innovation Academy, the Air Force Research Lab and Nusenda Credit Union, she said.

STC UNM includes the Cecchi Venture Lab, “which helps get new startup companies off the ground,” Kuuttila said. “There will be five companies in that group: the ElectroSeq, EquiSeq, Enthentica, BioSafe and Yedoma Consultants.”

“The ground floor is designed to be flexible, so there can be movement and have new companies come in and out, especially with the Cecchi Venture Lab,” said Jason Perry, President of Signet Real Estate. “The lab will be starting new companies and having them move in and out of the building all the time.”

The Air Force Research Laboratory is also moving into the new building, said Matthew Fetrow, Tech Engagement Lead for the Air Force Research Laboratory.

“We do quite a bit of research with the University, particularly the school of engineering,” Fetrow said. “We would be thrilled to talk about our research and how to found our research at the University while we’re down there.”

The AFRL is currently located on Kirtland Air Force Base, but Fetrow said they realized the lab needs to be more accessible to the public, which is what made them jump at the chance to be involved in the Lobo Rainforest project.

“We’re deliberately looking to work with the University more and more, both on research, but also on tech transfer,” he said.“From our perspective, the tenants that are going to be down there, are just the type of people we want to be learning from and involved with. We’re excited.”

When deciding who the first floor tenants of Lobo Rainforest would be, the development team, Signet Development, approached a lot of different groups in Albuquerque.

“It was really based on the interest of those who said, ‘Yes, we want to be a part of this activity” Kuuttila said.

Perry said that the two main goals of Lobo Rainforest, in his eyes, are to not only have residents living there, “also to get some academic programs and businesses down there to try and get as many uses as possible in this first project.”

Innovate ABQ’s next step will be renovating the area near the corner of Central Ave. and Broadway Blvd., Kuuttila said.

“A number of people in the startup ecosystem want to be located there. That will definitely be the next phase,” she said.

There will also be an open house and ribbon cutting ceremony with UNM and city officials on Aug. 25.

Read the original article on DailyLobo.com.