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FIRM MARKS ANNIVERSARY: The D5 Group, a Warren-based minority-owned integrated marketing firm, is marking its 10th anniversary.
Established in February 2014 by DeShawn Scott, the company provides strategic and creative marketing solutions, serving clients across business-to-consumer sectors, nonprofits, K-12 institutions, government entities and municipalities.
To mark the milestone, the company is launching multiple initiatives to promote diversity and support young aspiring entrepreneurs, startups and established businesses, including an audio series celebrating National Entrepreneurship Week featuring local business leaders in the Mahoning Valley.
The company also operates Sound United Podcast Studio, a turnkey podcasting solution for professionals, businesses and nonprofits.
AREA SURGEON NAMED TO BOARD: Mercy Health breast surgeon and Co-Medical Director of the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center, Dr. Nancy Gantt, was recently named first vice-president-elect of the American College of Surgeons. The term begins in October.
The American College of Surgeons is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. It has about 90,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world.
Gantt has been in practice for more than 30 years and has held several leadership positions in the organization, in addition to her distinction as a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.
She also serves as Chair of the AWS Foundation, which is dedicated to advancing women's careers in surgery and addressing gender disparities amongst surgeons.
YSU STUDENTS DO WELL ON TEST: Youngstown State University students in the Williamson College of Business Administration, collectively, placed third in the state on the fall 2023 Microsoft Excel Associate certification exam. In total, 74 WCBA students successfully passed the exam, administered by Certiport.
Students Madison Angelo, Aiden Exline, David Shannon and Jacob Stanko earned a perfect score of 1,000 points. Taylor Berry, Lauren Canter, Katherine Jacobson, Scott Johnson, Aaron Leekins, Nathaniel Huynh, Zackary Shumaker, Cassandra Snopik and Devin Zerjav scored within the range of 900-999.
Leekins, Huynh, Shumaker, Snopik, Stanko and Emily Flannery earned the Microsoft Office Specialist Excel Expert certification.
TURNPIKE HITS MILESTONE: The Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission achieved a major milestone in January when the number of electric vehicles charged on the 241-mile toll road surpassed more than 100,000 charging sessions.
The turnpike's EV charging infrastructure, which was established through a public-private partnership, offers 16 Electrify America charging units and 64 Tesla Supercharger units at eight service plazas.
A Tesla Supercharger unit is located at two service plazas in New Springfield, at the westbound Mahoning Valley plaza and the eastbound Glacier Hills plaza.
EGCC STUDENTS EARN GOOD MARKS: Students pursuing an associate degree of nursing at Eastern Gateway Community College recently outperformed the state and national average for passage rates for first-time applicants taking the National Council Licensure Examination.
The pass rate was 90 percent for first-time applicants enrolled in the program at Eastern Gateway compared to 86.73 percent for the state and 88.56 percent nationally.
VIRTUAL FINANCIAL WORKSHOP AVAILABLE: Credit Union of Ohio will offer a free budgeting for the holidays virtual workshop 7 p.m. Thursday.
Attendees will learn tips to help positively impact their holiday spending habits, including ways to save ahead of time, tips to create a holiday budget and ways to use a credit card for holiday shopping.
Those interested in attending should register at cuofohio.org.
FOOD COMPANY REBRANDS: OH Donut Company recently rebranded as ODC Cafe, which, according to the company, is more representative of its new dining experience.
In business for five years, the company expanded its menu in 2022 to include lunch sandwiches, wraps, soups, fresh fruit and salads. The cafe is at 101 S. Main St., Poland.
FIRM PARTNERS WITH FOREIGN COMPANY: Canfield-based iSynergy, a digital marketing and search engine optimization agency, launched a new website for TecEx, global trade compliance specialists based in South Africa.
The rehaul included custom programming to pull in the importing and exporting requirements of more than 200 countries, with the goal for TecEx to improve its search engine optimization ranking.
TecEx provides technology hardware customs compliance across international markets. iSynergy and TecEx worked together on designing the new website to improve user experience and boost search engine rankings.
FIRST ENERGY EMPLOYEES LEND A HAND: FirstEnergy employees recently came together to help children in need across northeast Ohio by donating shoes and collecting funds for the Soles of Luv organization, which travels to schools across greater Youngstown to deliver free shoes and socks to underprivileged students.
Since its inception in 2010, Soles of Luv has provided thousands of shoes, socks, book bags and other items to schoolchildren throughout the Mahoning Valley. A team of volunteers travels to local schools to fit children for new athletic shoes.
Soles of Luv was founded by Youngstown-area resident Cathy Crawford.
BOARDMAN SUBARU RECOGNIZED: Boardman Subaru has earned the honor of being a CARFAX 5X top-rated dealer.
The program honors dealerships around the U.S. for their service based on verified customer reviews. The top-rated dealers received an average of at least 4.7 stars out of a possible 5.
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DOCTOR JOINS HOSPITAL: Dr. Kathleen Schwabenbauer has joined Akron Children's as a neonatologist at the Akron Children's NICU at St. Elizabeth's and Beeghly Special Care Nursery.
Previously, she served as the clinical director, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UPMC Magee Women's Hospital. She also served as an assistant professor of pediatrics and attending physician at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
She is board certified in pediatrics and neonatal-perinatal medicine and is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
PEDIATRIC CARDIOLOGIST NEW TO HOSPITAL: Dr. Timotheus Watson is a new pediatric cardiologist at Akron Children's Hospital. He will see patients at Akron Children's Mahoning Valley campus in Boardman, as well as at its health centers in Warren, Beachwood and North Canton.
He comes to Akron Children's from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, where he served as a pediatric cardiologist and chief medical information officer for the heart center. He was also an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine.
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