The Gorilla Group

January Gorilla Group

shakergeek — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 17:56:50 +0000

Where: The Market Ave Wine Bar

When: Tuesday January 10th at 6:00 PM

Register Now!

W. Allan Eva, III “Allan” or “Woody” as he is nicknamed after his antique wooden motor yacht, grew up in the Cleveland area. Shaker Schools, Tufts University in Massachusetts then Case Western Reserve Univ School of Law where he made Law Review. After stints with Calfee, Halter and Baker & Hostetler during law school, Allan went into entrepreneuring. First was an exterior restoration business with his brother, then eventually his current business, Jet Dock Systems, Inc. which began in 1993. In its 18 years, Jet Dock has placed 6 times on the Weatherhead 100 listing, finalists for the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year, EDI Innovation Award, and has earned 9 United States, Canadian and International Patents for watercraft drive-on docking inventions. With no private capitalization, bank financing or personal wealth, Allan and his partner David Faber have grown the business into building a 3 acre facility in Sweet Valley, an office/warehouse in Fort Lauderdale, and currently service consumer, marina and military customers throughout the world. Allan is an avid boater and conducts over 20 charity and networking mixers per summer with his antique and modern motor yachts. He is married to Janice, a KeyBank EVP, and is the proud father of 7 year old boy/girl twins.

December Gorilla Group

shakergeek — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 20:24:54 +0000

Due Diligence – Entrepreneurs Managing Risk

Where: The Market Ave Wine Bar

When: Tuesday December 6th at 6:00 PM

Guest Drinker

Laura Bennett, Founder and CEO of Embrace Pet Insurance

Laura is a Former HOT Seat at The Gorilla Group. Back in 2004 she joined the group with plans to build a business. Now she is the Guest Drinker. Some of her other accolades include: MBA Graduate of Wharton School of Business; Palmer and Siebel Scholars, Chairperson of the North American Pet Health Insurance Association, and misplaced, rather, displaced Brit!! But she is best known as a Gorilla Group Alum!

Please join us in also welcoming

The British American Chamber of Commerce

November Gorilla Group

shakergeek — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 20:20:41 +0000

Join us for our next meeting:

Where: The Market Ave Wine Bar

When: November 1st at 6:00 pm

Guest Drinker

Rocco A. Di Lillo is a serial entrepreneur, he founded his first company, City Visitor Inc. in 1980 with the mission of serving travelers and businesses that serve them. City Visitor publishes visitor guides and hard bound travel books along with specialty publications for major attractions including Cedar Fair, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Pro Football Hall of Fame, Six Flags and Sea World.

Rocco is the former founder and CEO of Corporate Lodgings and founder of Bridgestreet Accommodations, which provides fully furnished housing for travelers in over 130 markets around the world. In addition, he is the former CEO of Cooperative Resource Services, the third largest relocation company in America which was sold to Allied Worldwide. Rocco was the founder and chairman of Porchlight Rental Services which was sold to Equity Properties.

As Chairman of PCX Corporation, the largest manufacturer of off-site electrical and mechanical gear for the construction industry, he has reduced operating costs of large scale start-up construction projects for such companies as Wal-Mart, Target, Nordstrom and Walgreens. He is also Chairman of PCX Energy Services which assists companies improve their energy efficiencies.

Rocco serves as Chairman of Advanced Hydro Solutions, a developer of hydroelectric facilities in the eastern portion of the U.S. and serves as a board member of the following associations: AMCO Worldwide, GMA Partners, Algon Capital, Britton-Gallagher & Associates, West Park Direct, Main Street Gourmet, The Entrepreneurs EDGE and the M.A.C. Foundation Tee Off on Leukemia.

Hot Seat:

Scott Colosimo is the founder of Cleveland Cyclewerks, a manufacturer of motorcycles. His plans are for a global business with a supply chain through Asia and sales in the US, Europe.

October Gorilla Group

shakergeek — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:22:32 +0000

Join us for our next meeting:

Where: The Market Ave Wine Bar
When: October 4thth at 6:00 pm

Register Now!

Guest Drinker

Buffy G. Filippell

Over 40,000 men and women have a job in sports through Buffy G. Filippell – either through her executive search practice, TeamWork Consulting, or through her online executive recruiting software system, TeamWork Online. Buffy Filippell is the President of TeamWork Online and TeamWork Consulting. In 1987, Buffy launched a first-of-its-kind business, a retained executive search firm specifically geared towards recruiting middle to senior level executives for the sports industry. An Indiana University graduate, Ms. Filippell started her career with Wilson Sporting Goods and later worked as an agent at IMG. Buffy resides in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Started in 1999 mirroring her executive search process in a digital format, Buffy started TeamWork Online. It is the recruiting software of choice for over 750+ sports organizations. TeamWork Online is the recruiting system of choice for the majority of teams in the NFL, NBA, MLB, and the NHL, as well as International Speedway Corporation, IMG, Major League Soccer and 20+ National Governing Bodies, plus many minor league sports leagues. TeamWork Online is the #1 (non-sponsored) link on Google for “sports jobs.” Over 8,000 online candidates have been hired through TeamWork’s network in 2011 (www.teamworkonline.com), representing an increase of 60% over last year, with only an increase of 20% new clients this year and 2 leagues in lock-out. The number of online hires this year represents 25% of the total number of people hired online in 12 years. The sports business has been hiring and all of the sports recruiting is being routed through Ohio!

Hot Seat

Mike Belsito

Mike Belsito is the Founder of eFuneral.com a startup in the Death Care space. His company does not provide virtual funerals. Rather he like to call it Angie’s List meets Lending Tree. He will explain more at the meeting.

Mike admits this is not the most common industry for a 20 something to jump into. He spent the Summer in Columbus as part of the State’s incubator program. He is getting closer to launch and will be with us Tuesday night.

September Gorilla Group

shakergeek — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 17:12:33 +0000

Join us for our next meeting:

Where: The Market Ave Wine Bar
When: September 13th at 6:00 pm

Register Now!

Guest Drinkers

Bill and Michelle Myers

The Gorilla Group presents a tandem of Guest Drinkers for September. Bill and Michele Tyers are the owners of Moving Solutions. It is a local moving company? Not really. It is a storage company? Not exactly, since they hold corporate documents, do retrieval and supply customers with their own information. Perhaps it is full service logistics company. The business has evolved substantially over the last 21 years since Bill bought the company. It was a pure moving business at the time and he was head of sales. Since then there has been great growth, plenty of diversification and more than one near death experience. Not too bad for a guy who thought he was going to drive a truck his whole life.

Hot Seat

Teddy Clemmens

Teddy Clements started Barcode Connections last year. The company provides advanced social media and QR code marketing services. The platform allows any business or organization to track, analyze, and evaluate both print media and internet marketing efforts. He specializes in designing data-driven marketing campaigns that integrate old media, new media, social media, and custom QR code applications.

July Gorilla Group

Gorilla Group — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:02:05 +0000

In the Guest Drinkers Chair is Bill King. Bill is an Electrical Engineer from Lehigh University and got his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh. He has over thirty years experience in electronics companies, including operations, product development, marketing and general management functional areas. He has brought more than 50 new products to market with a cumulative value of over $275 million.

He is the President and owner of Essential Research, and two spin off companies: ER Semiconductor and ER Microsensor; running all daily operations and providing strategic direction, creating sales growth, generating cash flow, and making marketing and product development decisions. His companies produce optical semiconductors and microsensors.

He is a single malt scotch enthusiast and and coaches about entrepreneurship. What could more qualify him to be a Guest Drinker at The Gorilla Group?

On the Hot Seat is Paige Cramer. She is starting a company called RexiGen which is developing new treatments for Alzheimers.

We are meeting at The Market Ave Wine bar Tuesday July 12th.

The July Meeting is Tuesday the 12th @

The Market Avenue Wine Bar

2521 Market Ave.,

Cleveland, OH 44113

Registration is here.

June Gorilla Group

Gorilla Group — Sat, 14 May 2011 15:39:14 +0000

The Indians have the best record in the Major Leagues, there has been no sign of snow for two weeks and the sailboats are back on Lake Erie. This is the type of activity to make your creative juices flow. In the Guest Drinkers chair is Mark Filippell, the founder of Western Reserve Partners. They specialize in Investment Banking Solutions for Mid Market Companies. After a few jobs at some of the larger public firms around Cleveland, Mark’s entreprenurial spirit led him to start his own investment bank. That is not too shabby of a way to get out from under the thumb of The Man.

On the Hot Seat this month is Nora Egger. In the midst of the recession, Nora decided to pursue her
first entrepreneurial venture in Cleveland (her first venture was investing in,
renovating and renting real estate in Budapest over the years). Inspired by her
travels and the exotic flavors in libations she encountered, she started her
own company, in January 2009, The Lounging Gourmet, to produce a line of
natural floral cocktail mixers, the ELIXiR. Nora currently resides in Little
Italy and still spends time between Europe and Cleveland and will be at The Gorilla Group on June 7th.

Tuesday June 7th

6:00 PM

The Market Ave Wine Bar

Registration is on line.

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May Gorilla Group

Gorilla Group — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 18:59:41 +0000

The May Meeting is on Tuesday the 3rd. Our Guest Drinker is Ingrid Halpert from Weiss Movers. She has ridden out every recession since Stagflation from the Carter Administration. Furthermore her acquistion has to be one of the most unique stories that The Gorilla Group will have ever heard. She has very strong niche in the North East Ohio market, has bought and lost another company along the way. After 34 years she is still having the time of her life and is coming to The Gorilla Group to tell a great story.

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On the Hot Seat for May is Jeff Meyers. Jeff is on the acquistion hunt. Actually he wants to buy the firm that he is working at today. That can be a tall order but should make Due Diligence a bit easier than most. Come to the May Meeting and hear his plan.

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The Gorilla Group is meeting at:

The Market Ave Wine Bar

2521 Market Ave Cleveland Oh 44113

6:00 PM on Tuesday the 3rd of May

Registration is on line.

April Meeting

Gorilla Group — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 15:09:36 +0000

The April Meeting is Tuesday the 5th at the Market Ave Wine Bar. The Guest Drinker is George Kantzios. He emigrated to the United States as a small child from Greece. His family has had an entrepreneurial angle for multiple generations. Since he was a small kid he worked in the family store which he ended up running after college. However that was not the limit of his ambition. George started a full import firm bringing in food from Europe which he built into a regional distribution business. After 20 years he sold that company and is coming to The Gorilla Group to tell a classic American story.

Registration is On Line

March Meeting

Gorilla Group — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:15:45 +0000

Jerry is the founder of Genvac Aerospace and a true local success story. He is a graduate of Case Western Reserve where he got a PhD in Physics. He is nationally recognized in the diamond community. No not for jewelry. His company has figured out how to put a diamond coating on to other objects. The uses are huge but he really excels in the aerospace and communications field. Genvac produces parts that are going into the Apache Helicopter, the F-18 and the next generations Strike Fighter.

Not to rest on his laurels he has already got another start up firm that promises to revolutionize the world of imaging. Come hear the story of starting in a basement in Slavic Village, raising money, striking the mother lode and then almost losing it all.

Good Food, Good Cheer and Good Business.

Date: Tuesday March 1st

Time: 6:00 PM

Venue: The Market Ave Wine Bar,

2521 Market Ave Cleveland Ohio

See you at the Meeting.

Registration is On Line