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Civic Innovation Lab Names New Mentors

After funding 13 projects and providing more than $300,000 in grants, the Civic Innovation Lab, an organization that provides mentorship and funds for creative ideas that will grow Cleveland, has selected three new mentors. Mentors are engaged leaders committed to offering their expertise and networks to new social entrepreneurs and working one-on-one to guide them toward achieving their goals.

With two of the mentors, the Lab is adding a new partner, TeamNEO, ensuring that the Lab is prepared to assist champions with business attraction and retention initiatives. TeamNEO is a private, nonprofit organization designed to stimulate economic and business development in Northeast Ohio.

Jennifer Thomas, the Lab's director, says, "Adding new mentors and a partner allows the Lab to further support diverse ideas that will positively impact the community."

The three newest members of the mentorship panel for 2005 - 2006 are Chris Carmody, Charlene Hyle and Patrick Gammons.

Chris Carmody founded the Greater Cleveland Film Commission and has served as its president since 1998. The Film Commission has brought more than $32 million dollars to Northeast Ohio's economy through the promotion of the region as a business location for film, television, video and still photography production. The Commission has attracted and supported several hundred productions, including "Against the Ropes" with Meg Ryan, Oscar(TM) nominated "American Splendor," Denzel Washington's "Antwone Fisher" and George Clooney's "Welcome to Collinwood." Carmody served as Mayor Michael R. White's special assistant for education from 1990-1993, and as co-director of the Mayor's Office on Competitiveness from 1993-1995. In both capacities, Carmody performed strategic planning for Mayor White and advised him on key policy issues.

Charlene Hyle has been working with TeamNEO since her arrival in Cleveland. She brings to TeamNEO a unique combination of entrepreneurial and corporate experience in international markets, including developing and managing IT-based business-to-business products and services, and researching and educating global businesses in the trends that change market demand.

Ms. Hyle moved to northeast Ohio in 2004, after more than 20 years as managing principal and founder of KCP Associates, a firm dedicated to providing product management consulting and education to financial service and related firms with global customer bases. KCP's long-term clients included Citicorp, JPMorgan Chase and Barclays Bank PLC. Ms. Hyle's experience also includes working for US west coast and east coast banks, where she led international and domestic corporate product management groups as well as technology teams responsible for payments and information network applications.

Patrick Gammons is the manufacturing industry lead for TeamNEO, responsible for developing and delivering projects and initiatives that mitigate operating issues and enable growth and expansion for manufacturing firms in Northeast Ohio. He brings to TeamNEO more than 15 years of experience in business strategy consulting, operations improvement and real estate development. Prior to joining TeamNEO, Gammons was a senior manager in the Strategy & Operations practice for Deloitte Consulting. While at Deloitte, he led projects involving corporate strategy, supply chain improvement and site selection for multiple international corporations. Additionally, he led economic development strategy projects for Cleveland State University, Georgia Power and the states of Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

To learn more about the Civic Innovation Lab, visit www.civiclab.org.

About The Cleveland Foundation

The Cleveland Foundation is a public charity dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in Greater Cleveland. It is the oldest and second-largest community foundation in the nation. Its establishment in 1914 is cited as one of 10 events that most heavily influenced the development of the nonprofit sector in the 20th Century and it continues to be a leader in its field. The Foundation has assets of approximately $1.63 billion and in 2004 awarded more than $86 million in grants and low-cost loans to Cleveland area nonprofit organizations. Since its inception, it has provided more than $1 billion to nonprofit organizations and causes.

For more information, visit www.clevelandfoundation.org.

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