Tech Czar Alert: Senator Sherrod Brown to Hold Town Hall Meeting with Tech Companies
Cleveland, OH—Senator Sherrod Brown will hold a Town Hall meeting with representatives from local technology companies on Monday, March 24 at 2:00pm in the 2nd floor conference room of the Idea Center Building at 1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115.
FIT Technologies, one of the many companies who will join the meeting on Monday, moved to the Playhouse Square area of Downtown Cleveland two years ago. “There are clearly opportunities for collaboration within the tech district that is evolving here in at Playhouse Square,” stated Micki Tubbs, President of FIT Technologies. “Having Senator Brown convene a group of people to get ideas on how to assist in growing the tech sector in Cleveland will prove to be very beneficial.”
During the past four years over 35 technology-based companies have moved into the City of Cleveland – these companies now employ over 1,000 people. Topics for the meeting may include ways in which his office can stimulate growth, support collaborative efforts between business and education, and create job opportunities in the Cleveland market.
Members of the general public are welcome to attend the meeting.
One of the great underreported and underappreciated stories in the Cleveland tech community has been the extraordinary growth of SchoolOne. (I have to disclose, however, that after my tenure at the City of Cleveland, I did join the SchoolOne family as part of the company’s management team. So one can I say I am very proud of SchoolOne.) And the Company has a great story, too. SchoolOne was founded in 1999 by Micki Tubbs and Michelle Tomallo, the Company’s CEO and Vice President, respectively. The original technology of the company was a web-based student information system – but has quickly morphed into a full-service IT company (offering so many things to its client base – network solutions, application development, managed IT services, telecommunications) for the K – 12 marketplace. What makes this story all the more special are the two principals involved – Micki and Michelle – they are just tremendous people and we really do have a family atmosphere at the company.
Here is a great company that has experienced tremendous growth (over 300% during the past four years) and has grown from 3 employees to over 120. SchoolOne is a great success story. And now we are about to write another chapter in the company’s history. On January 28th, SchoolOne formally becomes FIT Technologies (although SchoolOne will remain as the go-to-market name for our education division). FIT best represents the new direction of the company – a direction that will move into the corporate IT space and offer an impressive technology menu to companies in the small to middle-market arena. Everyone at FIT is thrilled. Our growth plan is aggressive and, I believe, we have the management team and better yet, the staff to get us over the mountain.
I don’t know of another company that had so many trials and tribulations over the years, but has always persevered. That is a sign of good leadership. I hope you will join us during our celebration this week, please feel welcome to call me and ask for a tour of our facility – I can be contacted at 216.583.5049 or at mdealoia@fittechnologies.net (or hit the website, man, www.fittechnologies.net) – and a chance to meet good people. Having been on the front lines of tech industry here in Cleveland for over eight-years, I can tell you the industry is replete with good people doing great things. And that is true at the new FIT, as well.
