Northeast Ohio - A Great Choice for Manufacturers with Jay Foran

<p><strong>Contact Jay Foran at </strong>jforan@teamneo.org&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Show Transcript:</strong></p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan</strong>: Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to this episode of the Manufacturers' Network Podcast. I'm excited to introduce you to our guest today. Jay Foran. Jay helps businesses discover exciting growth opportunities in the Northeast Ohio region, which is why I chose him because, of course, I'm from northeast Ohio. He works with corporate clients and site consultants to navigate the Regional Economic Development Framework, connecting them with state and local resources and emerging technologies.</p><p>Before joining Team NEO, Jay was vice president of business development for the Lake West Group, a management consulting firm. He also served in a variety of key leadership positions with Procter and Gamble. So Jay. First of all, welcome to the show. It's great to have you here.</p><p><strong>Jay Foran</strong>: Thanks so much; I appreciate the invitation.</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan:</strong>&nbsp;Good. So, share with us a little bit about your journey and what ultimately led you to serve the people of northeast Ohio as well as you do.</p><p><strong>Jay Foran</strong>: Sure. So, as you mentioned in my bio, I had spent a lot of time with Procter and Gamble, 25 years to be exact, and 20 of those years were on the west coast. But I am a native of Cleveland, Ohio area Northeast Ohio and my wife and I were in California for years. So then we started having children and decided we wanted to be closer to family. So we came back to the region.</p><p>&nbsp;In 2000, as you mentioned, I joined a consulting firm but upon re-entry into the region. I connected with two good high school friends and others in key leadership positions in the community. And through that those connections, I found myself getting involved in some of the school rehabilitation programs and the city of Lakewood. They were looking at their school buildings and how they could get those buildings in better shape. More conducive to educa