Believing that the unique insights and experiences of business leaders should be well represented in discussions of state education and workforce policies, a concept that grew to become Ohio Excels was born in 2018. Leading that effort were former Greater Cleveland Partnership CEO Joseph Roman, Ohio Business Roundtable President and CEO Patrick Tiberi, Cincinnati Business Committee CEO Gary Lindgren, and Columbus Partnership CEO Alex Fischer. Assembling an initially small group of business leaders, they created a non-partisan coalition committed to keeping the business community’s voice at the forefront of policy discussions of education and workforce issues. Their goal: ensuring that Ohio maintains the highest expectations for preparing students to live and succeed in the Knowledge Economy.
Ohio Excels’ initial coalition began by assembling a diverse board of business leaders from across the state, developing core principles to guide their work and attracting a growing number of others from Ohio business community to join their cause. With this strong foundation, Ohio Excels was formally launched in March 2019 and the organization has quickly emerged as a leading voice at the Statehouse, bringing an informed business perspective to improve and transform Ohio’s education system.