CEOs You Should Know - Cleveland

Fire-Dex, provides innovative PPE customized to keep firefighters safe. A family-owned company that is committed to the health and safety of first responders. Partnered with their sister company, Gear Wash, the largest Independent Service Provider of PPE care and maintenance in the world, their mission is “to serve those who serve."

Steve Allison took over operational responsibilities for the company worldwide. Allison is a 28-year veteran of the fire service personal protective gear manufacturing and sales marketplace. He joined the company in 2014 to serve as Director of Sales then was promoted to VP of Sales & Marketing in 2016. Fire-Dex continues to grow with a facility expansion finalizing this year.

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India L. Birdsong Terry serves as Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA). She joined RTA in September 2019 and brings over 15 years’ experience working in positions of increasing responsibility in the public transit industry. Birdsong Terry began her career in 2006 when she joined the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), where she served in planning, instruction, control center, operations, and finally as Senior Manager of the central region for Bus Supervision and Instruction. In 2015, she was appointed Chief Operating Officer of WeGo Public Transit in Nashville, where she served until coming to Cleveland.   At RTA, Birdsong Terry oversees more than 2,000 employees at the largest transit system in Ohio, which provides more than 24 million annual rides to customers using the bus, rail, paratransit, trolley, and bus rapid transit system across the county’s 457 square miles. Responsible for managing the Authority’s $292 million operating budget, Birdsong is committed to transparent leadership, management accountability and sound financial oversight.

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Mark Allen Roberts is a senior level sales and marketing leader with over 35 years of experience in driving profitable sales growth in market leading organizations. He has done so at companies like Timken, VMI, Gardner Denver, Mobility Works, and Frito Lay. In 2018, he received the Business Excellence award from NSME and in 2019, The Highspot Sales Enablement Award. He was also recognized by Sales Hacker Inc. in the Sales Enablement Category.

Mark is the founder of OTB Solutions, LLC and the popular business development blog here at https://www.nosmokeandmirrors.com/blog, ranked #1 in fixing sales problems.

Today he is the founder and president of OTB Sales where he helps clients diagnose and improve sales effectiveness and hire and develop their sales talent to improve sales results. Author of Driving Explosive Growth, Voice of Customer, and Branding Backwards, as well as several whitepapers and articles.

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Ted Otero: Ted Otero is a Cleveland native from Independence and now resides in beautiful Auburn Township with his wife and business partner, Kelly, and their two children Isabella and Austin. He is the founder and President of Otero Signature Homes. He holds a civil engineering degree from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Cleveland State University. He has over 25 years of real estate and construction experience both in the commercial and residential arenas.  Ted served as the 2017 President of the Home Builder's Association of Greater Cleveland and is currently a member of a national Builder's 20 group.   Ted Otero is also the managing partner of the Otero Group. Ted strives to offer clients a unique approach to selling their homes in a highly competitive market, which uses his extensive experience in marketing high-end luxury homes.

Kelly Otero: Kelly Otero earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Case Western Reserve University. She used her entrepreneurial and business skills to start Otero Signature Homes in 2004 alongside Ted. Working closely with clients to select all of their custom home finishes, Kelly recognized the need to expand her talents. Clients were so pleased with their experience that they often asked for continued design services to give their home the finishing touch, thus founding Ovation Interior Design in 2013.   Her creative talents and extensive knowledge of residential design give her the edge needed to expand both businesses and create cutting edge offerings in the Cleveland market. Kelly enjoys working alongside her team to provide the best possible experience to their customers and trades.

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Megan graduated from Marquette University with a liberal arts double major in Spanish and English and earned a minor in Philosophy. As an AFS student she attended the University of Sevilla and went on to attend the University of Madrid, Spain her junior year of college. 

Her continuing desire to learn about other cultures and ways of life and to delve in completely through the language lead her to serve in the Peace Corps in Thailand from 1992-1994. During her 2 ½ years of service, Megan traveled to Calcutta, India to work with Mother Teresa. Megan adds, “I have always had a desire to serve, to know and understand others of different walks, backgrounds, and cultures.  When I was young, I had a particular desire within me to give back to others and to learn from them as well.  Mother Teresa was a very big example and role model to me.  My experience observing Mother Teresa and serving the beautiful people in her homes who were either dying, diseased or sick physically and/or mentally had a major impact on my life as well as did the people I served in Thailand.”

Once back in the U.S. Megan was a pioneer on the Internet Team at Progressive Insurance, obtaining 3 patents.

In 2006, Megan’s 6-year-old daughter, Maria, was diagnosed with a deadly brain tumor with no hopeful treatment or cure. Maria was given 10 months to live and succumbed to the disease a year later after finishing her first grade year. Inspired by her daughter’s battle with the disease and the tremendous love that Maria had for her fellow friends suffering from cancer, Megan co-founded the Prayers from Maria Foundation with her husband Ed in 2006 with a mission to put childhood cancer at the forefront of the battle against cancer.

Megan and her husband Ed live in Cleveland, Ohio with Maria’s four brothers- Eddie, Aidan, Blake and Josh.

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Nick Lopez attended Arvada West High School and left Colorado as a wide-eyed first-generation college student to work on a BS in business marketing from Michigan State University. His plan was to walk on to the wrestling team, which would ultimately pay for the cost of tuition and living. The reality was that a scholarship was a couple of years away, so Nick made the tough decision to hang up his wrestling shoes for an entrepreneurial endeavor to support the cost of his education.   At the age of 19, Nick founded his first painting LLC, and every summer thereafter he painted homes to help pay for tuition, books, and cost of living. By doing so, Nick developed a real passion and love for the craft of home improvement. In his third year as the owner of the company, the “light bulb” went off. He realized that those years of painting didn’t have to be his last, and that a future in the home improvement industry he had grown to love, made sense. From that point forward, Nick focused himself on building a business that would set the standard for excellence in painting and home improvement.   Upon graduation, Nick and his soon-to-be wife moved back to Colorado to start their family. Soon after, Nick launched LIME Painting in Denver. He created, developed, and perfected a game-changing business model for consistently delivering exceptionally high-quality home improvement services. High-quality people were the secret to LIME’s early and ongoing success. They have been the key to making LIME the special home service company that customers have been searching for. LIME has perfected a partnership model that appeals to the most talented professional painters within a market and marries them directly to clients for exceptional craftsmanship. Through it all, Nick has retained the passion for excellence that inspired him to build LIME.

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Richard Klaben, CEO of the Klaben Auto Stores   Richard Klaben has been the CEO of the Klaben Auto Stores since 2010, but active in the business since 1974 when he began detailing cars for the founder of the business – his father, Albert Klaben Sr.  Throughout the years, Richard worked in various positions with responsibilities for every facet of the business.  The Klaben Auto Stores currently represent Ford, Lincoln, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram franchises in multiple locations in northeast Ohio with close to 300 employees.

Richard is often heard saying, “titles represent responsibilities, not rank, as every team member, starting with me, is a customer service representative.”  Like his father, he remains committed to a business model recognizing customers & team members (PEOPLE) as the foundation of their success.  Richard is at work every day leading by example and adhering to the core tenets of that business model, hard work, respect, empathy, integrity, and a genuine concern for others.

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The Center for Black Health & Equity is a leading nationally recognized public health entity that provides solutions to issues impacting African American health.



We engage health care organizations, public health officials, faith leaders, and African American communities in health promotion and disease prevention work.Our mission is to facilitate programs and services to benefit communities and people of African descent. We do this by building community capacity, developing community infrastructure, and advocating for equity-centered policies.

We are committed to addressing the social and economic injustices that have marginalized our communities and led to deep health disparities.We apply our proven framework for policy and social change to our work in tobacco control, COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, women’s health, cancer, mental health and other disparities.

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Ilan Sobel has been the CEO of BioHarvest Sciences since July 2020. Ilan has brought the company’s first product, VINIA, to North America, building a direct-to-consumer machine that is now generating significant revenues. VINIA’s go-to-market success has established a template for the company’s near-term product pipeline of nutraceutical plant cell banks. 

In addition to commercial focus and planning, Ilan has scaled production capabilities from R+D up to industrial levels, and is building a biotech company with novel, and even patentable plant-based products that are based on science and backed by clinical trials.. Prior to BioHarvest, Ilan served for 6 years at Weissbeerger, as both Chief Operating Officer and then Chief Commercial Officer. In this capacity, Ilan played a major leadership role in building a disruptive BIG Data, IOT & Software Company servicing major Beverage players which was ultimately purchased by Anheuser Busch InBev. Previously, Ilan served an 18 year stint as an International Employee of The Coca-Cola Company, where he played a pivotal role in key senior leadership positions generating significant revenue and profit growth and improving brand health trends across diverse global markets including the United States, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and South Africa.

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