Supporters Rally for State Issue 1

The Rally for Issue 1 held in Central Ohio earlier this week brought together more than a hundred supporters of the issue which would extend the Ohio Third Frontier program.  Keynote speaker E. Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University, told the crowd the reason he came back to Ohio was because he did not believe this is a “rust bucket” state, but one with a bright economic future --  a future which the Ohio Third Frontier program will help to secure. 

“This is Ohio’s defining moment,” said Gee of the May 4th primary when voters will decide the fate of the Ohio Third Frontier, “and it will define the state for the next 10-15 years.” 

All major broadcast and print media were on-hand to report the impact of the Ohio Third Frontier, and to learn more from the entrepreneurs who have been directly affected by the program. 

Ray Shealy, former CEO of HTP, Inc., shared his story of how the Ohio Third Frontier helped his healthcare information technology company grow from $3 to $8 million dollars in three years through support from Third Frontier programs such as the Innovation Ohio Loan Fund.  HTP, Inc. was acquired in 2008 by RelayHealth, a division of McKesson, one the world’s largest healthcare related companies.  The company retained its Columbus headquarters at Polaris and currently employs over 70 Central Ohio programmers, developers and account managers.  Shealy credits the Ohio Third Frontier for helping grow HTP in such a way as to make the company an attractive acquisition target for McKesson. 

“The Ohio Third Frontier has not only supported individual companies like ours, but has also helped solidify Central Ohio as one of the top regions with expertise in the increasingly important field of healthcare information technology,” says Shealy. 

The Rally for Issue 1 was held Monday April 12 at TechColumbus.

For more details, see the story in The Columbus Dispatch