CLIENT SERVICES «
NEWS AND EVENTS «
COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, AND PARTNERSHIPS «
BUSINESS ADVISERS OF CLEVELAND MEMBERSHIP «
FUNDING AND DONORS «
MEMBER SECTION «
‹ Return to News and Events section...
Business Advisers of Cleveland:
Celebrating 50 years of service to our community.
Fifty years ago a far-sighted man named Jay Iglauer convened a meeting of 22 retired businessmen and professionals to discuss ways that they could combine their experience and talents to benefit the community. Mr. Iglauer had been Vice-President and Treasurer of Halle Brothers Company. Those in attendance were men who had occupied important positions in their business or professional careers and wanted to pass on their experience to assist the community and others who were on lower rungs of the achievement ladder. Retirement in 1956 was perhaps more intimidating than it is today. Medicare did not yet exist, and surely there were fewer investment specialists to telephone the recently retired person with "infallible" ways to keep or grow his estate.
The original group expanded to 70 or more for a second meeting later in 1956 and they created the Cleveland Senior Council. The word "senior", of course, referred to the relatively advanced age of the members, although many in the group were not fully retired which permitted the retired members to share in current business and professional developments. From the beginning the Council concentrated on business advice and counseling to public and private organizations.
The times 50 years ago must have cried out for business advice. Income taxes were high. America and Cleveland were still adjusting to a peace time economy after the back-to-back crises of the depression and wartime.
Cleveland was a "heavy industry" manufacturing economy. It was among America's leading producers of steel, automotive parts and machine tools. Times have changed! Outsourcing and globalization had yet to become part of our national lexicon. (Little did the founders know that the victims of those two features of the next half-century would be among the principal beneficiaries of their efforts).
In the early years, the Council worked closely with many charitable organizations. Members advised many of Cleveland’s principal charities including Eliza Jennings Home, The Cleveland Society for the Blind and the Cleveland Welfare Federation. The Council also worked with Ernst and Ernst on a seven-month-long study of the salary structure of the Cleveland School System.
In the more recent past, we have concentrated on counseling small businesses and start-ups. In recent years we have counseled close to 300 clients every year. Many of the clients are hopeful dreamers, but a good percentage of them have good ideas and real potential. We do our best to quietly discourage the former and enthusiastically support and help the latter.
In 1996 the name was changed to Business Advisers of Cleveland to better reflect what we really do and to avoid the confusion sometimes created by the word "senior" in our title.
BAC is blessed with a number of generous financial supporters. We thank them. We could not carry on our activities without them. However, the members themselves meet the bulk of our financial needs. Our annual membership contribution is $250, but many members make additional donations.
The organization has been housed in several office buildings, including the Hanna Building and our current location in the Prospect Park Building at 4614 Prospect Avenue. A great feature of this location is the free parking across the street. (Some of our clients found the parking fees associated with the Hanna Building location to be a problem).
Our activities are not confined to counseling. For many years we provided speakers to various Cleveland area libraries for business-oriented programs. For the past 10 years we have put on the Brown Bag Lunch programs at the main Cleveland Public Library. The Brown Bag sessions consist of a series of classes on various business topics ranging from "So You Think You Have a Good Idea?" to the nuts and bolts of obtaining financing for a business. We have also worked with COSE and WECO and the Department of Veterans Affairs by participating in business programs. We are currently conferring with Tri-C Corporate College on a project in which BAC members would teach a number of basic business courses.
We believe that our record of service to the community refutes the "ROMEO" (retired old men eating out) image, but, in fact, we do hold monthly luncheon meetings from September through May. At most of these luncheons we have an educational speaker who informs the members and their guests about a current business or community activity. Some of the luncheons are entirely devoted to helping us do a better job of counseling by teaching us how better to relate to entrepreneurs and those struggling with start-up business problems. Annually we honor clients who have achieved success with their business. Typically we give out Pinnacle Awards to those who have "made it" and "On the Road to Success" Awards to those who are making excellent progress.
Surprisingly, counseling business prospects appears to be a growth activity. In the past few years our field has seen the addition of many organizations that purport to do the same thing we do. We do not resent the competition. We applaud the efforts of all organizations that help the fledging entrepreneurs among us. The country and the Cleveland area look to the dynamism and enthusiasm of the men and women who have dreams and ambitions. We will continue to do all that we can to help them realize their aspirations.
