More than 700 business and community leaders registered for the event

Unity was the word of the day at Greater Cleveland Partnership’s All In Leadership Forum at Playhouse Square’s KeyBank State Theatre. More than 700 regional business and community leaders registered for the event that took the form of intimate conversations on stage.

Speaker after speaker noted the importance and benefit of public and private leaders taking a unified approach to growth and development. And, they all noted great progress has been made in working together.

“It wasn’t always that way,” noted Lt. Governor Jon Husted (Governor DeWine, originally scheduled to attend, was kept away due to matters involving the tragic school bus crash in Tuscarawas.)

Husted, who was interviewed by GCP Board Chair Paul Dolan (pictured above, top), spoke about all regions of the state working together for mutual benefit. He noted that the greatest number of suppliers for the $20 billion Intel chip plant being built in Columbus are from Greater Cleveland. He and Dolan also remarked on our region’s great natural resource – Lake Erie – and ways to leverage our access to water.

GCP President and CEO Baiju Shah followed with a conversation with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb (pictured above) – who opened with a shout out to the Browns and Victory Monday.

The mayor began by noting the region’s past struggles in traded sector jobs, and his administration’s efforts to address this challenge – including site and mega-site identification and readiness.

He too, mentioned the region’s new “unified voice.”

GCP General Counsel and Executive Vice President, Advocacy and Strategy Marty McGann concluded the speaker portion of the evening with a conversation with Shontel Brown (D), Representative of Ohio's Eleventh District, and Max Miller (R), Representative of Ohio's Seventh District (pictured below). Despite being on different sides of the aisle, the two emphasized areas in which they came together, including support for Ohio farmers and funding and autonomy for NASA’s Glenn Research Center.

The evening concluded with a networking party in the festively decorated lobby.