Ohio Third Frontier Saves and Creates 21st Century Jobs

The Ohio Third Frontier is providing Ohio workers, businesses and organizations with funding and development tools needed to create the 21st century jobs that will launch Ohio’s economy into the next generation. Since its inception, the Ohio Third Frontier has created or commercialized more-than 500 companies and has attracted $3.5 billion in private investment to Ohio, a 9:1 return on investment.

This commitment is the reason one Ohio worker was able to transition into a new high-tech job after being laid off from an automotive manufacturing facility.

After Shannon Swift, a father of five from Moraine, Ohio, lost his job at the General Motors DMAX plant, he wasn’t sure how he would transition his manufacturing skills into a new line of work. At the same time, Ohio Third Frontier was helping Dayton-area Renegade Materials Corporation complete construction of a $5 million facility to bring the next generation of advanced materials for the aerospace and defense industries to market.

Ohio Third Frontier provided the bridge needed to bring Renegade Materials and Shannon Swift together. Working through a State of Ohio Workforce Development Specialist, Renegade tapped into the pool of displaced workers from the DMAX plant, including Shannon Swift. Ohio Third Frontier has been with Renegade at each step: from support for its initial research and development, to help from the Innovation Ohio Loan Fund to build this state-of-the-art facility, as well as business advice from the Dayton Development Coalition’s Entrepreneurial Signature Program, which is also funded in part by Ohio Third Frontier. Shannon Swift received on-the-job training and is now working for Renegade’s high temperature polymer business.

To read more about Shannon Swift’s story, click here.

Why Ohio? Aerospace, Bioscience, Polymers

Over the next three posts you’re going to hear from two members of the Ohio Business Development team about the aerospace, bioscience and polymers industries in Ohio – Marlon Cheatham and Kristi Tanner.

A Cincinnati native, Marlon has held brand management positions at Abbott Nutrition in Columbus, Ohio, and Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati. As brand manager for the Ohio Business Development Coalition, Marlon works with the advanced energy, aerospace, automotive, financial & insurance services, logistics and professional services.

Raised in Portsmouth, Ohio, Kristi was the assistant deputy director of the Economic Development Division within the Ohio Department of Development prior to joining the Ohio Business Development Coalition. She works with the agribusiness, bioscience, manufacturing and polymers industries.

Their posts will explore what Ohio has to offer in the aerospace, bioscience and polymers industries. And how, in Ohio, industry leaders are not only reaping professional success, but also experiencing the one-of-a-kind work:life balance that only Ohio can provide.