Ohio is Best in the Midwest for Best Places to Live in America

Today’s executives are challenged to find a perfect balance between growing a successful business and finding access to the time required to also enjoy an enriching personal life. Living a more balanced life is becoming the new definition of the “American Dream.” According to a 2009 study commissioned by Northwestern Mutual, balance rated as more important than career, money and material possession. Participants said spending quality time with family, being a good parent and living a healthy life were among the top attributes for their definition of success.

One key element to achieve a balanced life is access to time; time to devote to family, to personal passions, to building a personal legacy.

Due to its low cost of living and low-cost, low-stress commutes, Ohio offers a work-life balance for executives, their employees and their families available nowhere else. Money magazine recently recognized five Ohio small towns on their list of “Best Places to Live,” making Ohio the best among Midwest states. Ohio cities ranked in the Top 50 are; Solon (3), Mason (24), Highland Heights (30), Twinsburg (32) and Springboro (42).

Money magazine based the rankings on statistics from data services company Onboard Informatics for U.S. towns with populations between 8,500 and 50,000. Other Midwest states with small towns ranked in the top 50 are Minnesota (three cities), Indiana (two cities), Wisconsin (1 city) and Illinois (1 city).

These Ohio small towns offer executives, their families and the employees they lead many unique qualities that contribute to access to more time and personal balance, ultimately, optimal business performance. Company executives invest in the state because Ohio offers a perfect balance between work and life unlike anywhere else.

Read today's press release to find out more.

Executive shares her Ohio story every day

Margy Judd understands what makes Ohio truly unique. She believes Ohio is the State of Perfect Balance and works every day sharing the Ohio story with business executives and their employees looking to relocate to the Northeast Ohio region.

Executive Arrangements, Inc., is a recruitment, relocation and events and meeting planning firm located in Cleveland, Ohio. The staff offers "high touch" to the recruitment process by providing candidates with area information personalized for their families, including a customized tour of the city and its suburbs to help them make an educated decision about a potential move. In addition, Executive Arrangements can conceptualize, plan and staff any event from beginning to end.

Margy joined Executive Arrangements in 1991 and purchased the firm from its founding owner in the spring of 2004. With more than 20 years of event planning and relocation assistance, Margy leads a staff of 30 through hundreds of projects a year.

Dedicated to improving her community, Margy volunteers on a variety of boards and committees. She is a board member of the Cleveland Leadership Center, Playhouse Square Foundation, John Carroll University Entrepreneurs Association, and Cleveland Bridge Builders. She serves on committees for the Tremont Trek Home Tour, Leadership Cleveland, and Positively Cleveland. She also is a member of the Cleveland Society for Human Resource Management and In Counsel with Women.

Read my interview with Margy and find out the top three things she believes Ohio uniquely offers that have helped make her business successful.

Three Ohio Cities Recognized by Forbes as “America’s Most Affordable Cities”

In Ohio, you can achieve your personal and professional dreams, without having to compromise. Ohio is the State of Perfect Balance, where world-class companies and those who aspire to be don’t have to sacrifice professional or personal satisfaction in pursuit of their ambitions.

The same goes for Ohio executives' families and the employees they lead. Work-life balance means opportunity - the opportunity to achieve professional success and still have personal happiness, to grow a successful business and still have time to put dinner on the table or to achieve optimal business performance. Ohio delivers a fulfilling life with friends and family.

Top-level executives who have a true work:life balance will perform better at their jobs and the company will only achieve greater success. Ohio offers low-cost, low stress communities in a combination of micropolitan and metropolitan cities. This diversity provides executives the resources and time to make any ambition achievable.

Forbes recently recognized three Ohio cities on their list of 15 metros offering residents the most affordable combinations of home prices, living costs and salaries for college graduates: Cincinnati ranked number 5, Cleveland ranked number 8 and Columbus ranked number 12.

Many successful companies and executives have found their state of perfect balance in Ohio. Find out why they call Ohio home.

Linda Abraham-Silver left L.A.’s hustle for better balance in Ohio.

Linda Abraham-Silver was all California. Born in San Francisco, she lived and worked in L.A. for 17 years before joining the Great Lakes Science Center in 2004. She's all Ohio now.

Professionally, Ohio's contagious cooperative spirit has helped Linda accomplish a lot at the Great Lakes Science Center in a short time. Projects to add a wind turbine and solar panels were completed much faster than they could be in L.A. thanks to the incredible collaboration among Ohio corporations, foundations and the city of Cleveland.

Personally, Linda and her family love Ohio's low-stress lifestyle and the extra time they have to spend together, taking advantage of cultural opportunities like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that are incredibly diverse and often spectacular. Still, her greatest thrill has been simply walking her kids to school in clean, safe neighborhoods.

When Linda left California, she never looked back. She found her perfect balance in Ohio.

Read more stories of executives who have found their perfect work/life balance in Ohio.

Director of NASA Glenn Research Center Shares Insights on Future of Space Flight

The NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland develops critical systems technologies and capabilities that address national priorities in partnership with U.S. industry, universities, and other government institutions. World-class research, technology, and capability development efforts are keys to advancing space exploration of the solar system and beyond, while maintaining global leadership in aeronautics. NASA Glenn is distinguished by its unique blend of aeronautics and space flight expertise and experience. The Center’s work is focused on technological advancements in space flight systems development, aeropropulsion, space propulsion, power systems, nuclear systems, communications, and human-related systems.

hiVelocity, an online magazine highlighting the people and businesses that are helping to transition Ohio’s economy for future generations, recently interviewed the director of NASA's Glenn, Ray Lugo. Ray has been around America's space program since he was a kid -- and now he could be at the epicenter of changes within the space agency as President Obama has proposed a redirection of NASA priorities. That shift in focus could propel the Glenn Center to the top of the agency's research centers, leading the development of new technologies that will be the foundation of future space flight, and feeding millions of science and technology dollars into Ohio's economy.

Ohio’s complete spectrum of aerospace, aviation and advanced propulsion technologies - both military and commercial – make the state attractive to businesses and executives in the aerospace industry. Ohio is home to 24 astronauts including Neil Armstrong, one of the three members of the Apollo 11 crew. Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon. Ohioan Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took the first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969.

Click here to read hiVelocity's interview with Ray.