LOCAL BUSINESS
Ad executive honored
Jack DeLeo, the longtime head of Akron marketing agency Hitchcock Fleming & Associates, has been inducted into the American Advertising Federation Cleveland Chapter Hall of Fame.
The hall of fame recognizes people who have made “outstanding contributions” to the area’s advertising industry, said the Cleveland chapter’s executive director, Dan Leibundgut. The award honors those who have helped to further industry standards and been involved in areas of “social concern,” Leibundgut said. The induction was part of the Cleveland chapter’s annual awards luncheon last week.
DeLeo joined Hitchcock Fleming & Associates, which goes by the name hfa, in 1973, after graduating from college.
He became president of the agency in 1993 and CEO in 1997.
The agency employs about 90; major clients include Akron’s Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. The agency has been involved with volunteer activities at the Rape Crisis Center of Medina and Summit Counties, Akron Rotary Camp and Akron Symphony, among other nonprofits.
Last year, the 70-plus-year-old advertising agency invested in a major renovation and expansion of its offices at 500 Wolf Ledges Parkway. The expansion of the brick building — a former warehouse adjacent to railroad tracks — brought the building to more than 19,000 square feet.
Two others long involved in the area’s advertising industry were inducted into the hall of fame. They were King Hill, senior vice president and digital strategist at Marcus Thomas LLC of Warrensville Heights, and Keith Berr of Keith Berr Productions Inc. of Cleveland.
— Katie Byard
Accountants volunteer
An Akron group of certified public accountants will spend Friday as a volunteer service day. The Ohio Society of CPAs said it is the organization’s first Day of Service campaign.
Eleven projects in seven cities are included. In Akron, the group will do work at Haven of Rest Ministries.
Contract announced
Saint-Gobain Aerospace’s Ravenna plant will make nose radomes for the new Bell Helicopter “Bell 525 Relentless” aircraft. Details of the contract were not disclosed
Nose radomes cover and protect radar antennas on aircraft.
Saint-Gobain said it has a long-term contract to supply the nose radomes for Fort Worth, Texas-based Bell Helicopter.
Timken, college open center
Timken Co. and Stark State College officially opened their collaborative $14 million Technology and Test Center at the college’s campus near Akron-Canton Airport.
The 18,000-square-foot center, which tests ultra-large bearings up to 13 feet in diameter, is the first testing facility of its kind built in the Americas and will be used as a classroom/laboratory for Stark State students.
The center’s systems can simulate harsh operating conditions similar to those found in large multi-megawatt wind turbines. The test facility is expected to shorten development cycles and make such things as wind turbine systems more reliable. The center can also test other large, rotating equipment for industries including off-shore oil rigs, mine trucks, electric mining shovels, steel rolling mills, cement vertical mills and hydraulic roll presses.
Timken invested about $6 million in the project. Other funding included $2.1 million from Ohio’s Third Frontier Commission and a $1.5 million loan from a state job stimulus program. Stark State spent $3 million on land acquisition, site preparation, building construction and academic furnishings, supported by a gift from the Timken Foundation.
ENTERTAINMENT
New Netflix shows
Streaming video service Netflix is going to start running original television series from Dreamworks Animation. Financial terms were not disclosed. Netflix Inc. says the multi-year agreement is its biggest deal ever for original first-run content and includes more than 300 hours of new programming. For Dreamworks, the transaction is part of a major initiative to expand its television production and distribution worldwide.
Netflix has been adding original programming to its roster of movies, and debuted the original series House of Cards on Feb. 1. It has also increased its focus on children’s programming in a move seen as taking a different tack than traditional premium pay TV channels such as HBO, Starz and Showtime, whose original shows are tailored more to adults.
In December, Netflix announced it will offer Disney movies, starting with films released in 2016. It declined to make a similar deal for the rights to Sony movies starting in 2016, which was kept by Starz.
Compiled from staff and wire reports