BBB Torch Awards Honor Marketplace Ethics

POLAND, Ohio – Doing what’s right demands more than knowing what’s right or preaching what’s right, the recipient of the BBB Torch Award for Civic Leadership, Scott R. Schulick, said Friday at the awards ceremony.

“Doing what’s right requires time and sacrifice,” Schulick said in accepting his award, “in a society that values them less and less.”

Schulick, a vice president for investments in the Canfield office of Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., has served on several civic boards, including Youngstown Rotary and the Youngstown State University Board of Trustees during his 20-year career.

The Better Business Bureau of Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull Counties held its first Torch Awards for Marketplace Trust in a decade Friday at the Lake Club. Honored for high ethical standards in business were Baird Brothers Sawmill, Canfield, the Vienna Township office of Millwood Inc. and Gettemy Drain Service, also of Canfield. Akron Children’s Hospital received a Torch Award for its work in the nonprofit sector.

In serving on boards, Schulick said, one sometimes has to stand up and push back against those who have no qualms about putting their interests or their group’s narrow interests above the civic good. “My parents and my 90-year-old grandmother instilled in me a sense of right and wrong,” Schulick said, of not sitting to the side and acquiescing to others having their way.

Themes of the luncheon were “integrity, trust, honesty and going out of your way to treat customers and employees fairly,” said Carol Potter, president of the BBB.

As John Moore, director of corporate marketing at Millwood, said in accepting a Torch Award for his company, “Trust consists of always doing what’s right regardless of the difficulty. … Integrity is one of the four pillars of our company.”

The owner of Gettemy Drain, Jay Gettemy, was in Columbus to watch his daughter, Michelle, graduate at The Ohio State University. So his close friend, Bill Mumaw, accepted the award on his behalf. Mumaw said that 80% of Gettemy’s customers are repeat customers, noting, “Even if it takes more trips back to the customer’s site, we’ll do it.

Commitment to customer satisfaction, said Eric Ryan, BBB treasurer and emcee, means Gettemy is open for business six days a week and by appointment on Sunday.

The commitment of Akron Children’s Hospital to all children, said Sharon Hrina, its vice president for the Mahoning Valley, is “to turn no child away for any reason.” To that end, in the eight years Akron Children has served the Valley, it has “invested $64 million” in its growth from eight beds to service and expansion into northern Columbiana County and, more recently, into Trumbull County.

Treating children encompasses serving their families as well, “working outside of [hospital] walls, in schools.” Her own spirit has been “energized by seeing [Akron Children’s staff] put service above self” to attain these ends.

Also recognized during the event were the BBB TrustBuilders, six area banks highlighted in a video to begin the luncheon. Senior officers of the banks underscored the importance of trust in the marketplace and how their lenders work to sustain that trust. They included Ted Schmidt, Mahoning Valley president of PNC Bank; William Shivers, Valley president of Huntington Bank; Kevin Helmick, president and CEO of Farmers Bank; Gary Small and Frank Hierro, president and executive vice president respectively, of The Home Savings and Loan Co.; Mark Wenick, head of Talmer Bank and Trust in the Valley; and Bryan Ignazio and Carrie Stackhouse at Cortland Banks.

Teri Storey, BBB chairwoman and president of Masonry Materials Plus, and Alexa Sweeney Blackann, BBB vice chairwoman and with Sweeney Auto Group, presented $1,000 scholarships to five seniors graduating from area high schools:

Emily Partika, Lowellville High School; Natalie Larich and Rachel Rafoth, both Canfield High School; Alyssa Kidd, Austintown Fitch High School; and Zachary Sperling, Howland High School.

Pictured: Scott R. Schulick receives the BBB Torch Award for Civic Leadership from Carol Potter, president of the Better Business Bureau.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.