NILES, Ohio – Based on the amount of acreage that Kimberly-Clark Corp. has acquired in Trumbull County, there’s potential for the consumer paper products manufacturer to “really, really grow,” a company official predicted Wednesday.
The 1 million-plus-square-foot manufacturing plant now under construction on 560 acres Kimberly-Clark owns in the city of Warren and Howland and Warren townships was among the economic development wins touted at Wednesday’s annual meeting for Lake to River Economic Development, the new JobsOhio partner announced just over two years ago. Lake to River was spun off from the existing Team NEO to serve Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.
“Our vision is to build a region where businesses grow, talent thrives and communities flourish,” Dani Robbins, Lake to River CEO since last December, said at the luncheon meeting, which was held at Eastwood Event Centre.
During 2025, Lake to River “knocked it out of the park” in terms of its goals, exceeding the primary indicators by multiples, she said. Capital investment exceeded $860 million; 685 new jobs were created; and new payroll attached to the projects announced is projected to surpass $62.7 million.
“These projects are projected to generate over $104 million in total tax revenue,” she added. “That includes more than $10 million at the local level, about $20 million at the state level and $73 million at the federal level.”
J.P. Nauseef, president and CEO of JobsOhio, also hailed the economic performance of the four Lake to River counties during his remarks. Comparing economic metrics from the 2019-2025 period to the six years before, the number of projects has increased 54%; new jobs are up 14%; and new payroll rose 65%.
Statewide, the number of projects during the past six years is up 59% from the six years before; new jobs are up 8%; and new payroll is up 35%. “We’re punching above our weight class,” Nauseef remarked.
He also pointed out that Ohio now is the top state in the Midwest for gross domestic product, with higher GDP than Kentucky and Indiana combined, though he clarified he did not see it as an “us against them” situation.
“This is us against us,” he said. “This is Ohio achieving its potential. This is Lake to River achieving its potential. And we’re showing them when we work together, we can do great things.”
In the future, JobsOhio is going to capitalize on what Nauseef referred to as “super sectors,” focusing on how the 10 competitive industry sectors intersect with one another “and where they intersect, provide trillion-dollar market opportunities where Ohio has the right to win and to lead. And we intend to do just that,” he said.
“We’re going to capture the opportunity provided by the silicon heartland. That not only means the production of wafers and semiconductors, it means all the infrastructure and supply chain and resources and use cases for those semiconductors,” he continued. “We are going to incorporate the opportunity for [artificial intelligence] both as a separate sector and as an enabling sector across all the other sectors. We are going to make sure we have the workforce that these companies need today and that they are going to require tomorrow.”
During the meeting, Lake to River presented Alexa Sweeney Blackann, who served as its interim CEO, with its inaugural Catalyst for Change Award.
“When Alexis stepped in as interim CEO, Lake to River was an idea with a mandate, but not much else. She inherited a blank page,” Robbins said.
“What she built in the 18 months that followed is remarkable: a credible organization, a high-performing team, trust earned across all four counties and more than $1.1 billion – that’s billion with a ‘B’ – in new capital investment announced on her watch, including the Kimberly-Clark project,” said Chuck George, chairman of Lake to River’s board.
George also is managing partner of Sapientia Ventures LLC, which owns The Business Journal.
“What she left behind was an organization with a team, a reputation, a project pipeline and a Kimberly-Clark announcement that put this region on the map in a way most communities never experience,” Robbins affirmed.
“None of that happened because of one person,” Blackann, who was unable to attend Wednesday’s event, deflected in a video message played at the meeting. “It happened because a lot of committed people decided that collaboration was worth more than competition.”
The $800 million plant announced by Kimberly-Clark last May represents the vast majority of the local investment touted at Wednesday’s luncheon, during which company officials shared an update on construction and hinted at other potential plans for the site.
“The site’s mission will be to address growth in our personal care products categories,” said Branch Sinkule, senior director, government relations. It is Kimberly-Clark’s first plant built in the United States since the 1990s.
The plant, which started construction last year, is expected to serve 117 million consumers and create just under 500 jobs. Between 60% and 70% of the construction labor is being sourced from the Mahoning Valley, and the company expects to have more than 150 hourly employees ready to work by the end of the year, he said.
Completion of the site’s Phase 1 building is anticipated by year-end, when the company is expected to provide an update on a $160 million regional distribution center that is under consideration.
“We see this as the beginning of this partnership. We would not acquire that amount of acreage if we didn’t think that this could be a long-term opportunity to grow our company here in this community,” he said. “There’s a lot of great business climate ingredients there that make the site very investable for the future.”
During what was billed as a fireside chat, which took place at the end of the luncheon, Sinkule said factors that made the local site stand out included the opportunity to acquire 560 acres of industrial property in close proximity to 117 consumers in the regional consumer market, coupled with utilities, road infrastructure and a “manufacturing-minded workforce.”
The investments in technology and automation being made at the plant will position it as a “truly modern facility” that will be accompanied by investment in the plant’s workforce, which will operate under a “high-performance work system,” said Trey Simpson, plant manager.
“It’s really about creating a culture of ownership,” he said. “We’re looking at individuals who think first and foremost about the safety, not only of themselves but those around them, have the ability to recognize different hazards throughout the site and not just recognize them, but also have the ability to take action to make sure that no one else gets hurt around them.”
Also during the fireside chat, interviewer Michael McGiffin, vice president of engagement and investor relations for Lake to River, sought to elicit some personal insights from the two Kimberly-Clark officials. Asked where each preferred to order pizza from, Simpson identified Warren’s Sunrise Inn, while Sinkule named Youngstown’s Avalon Downtown.
Sinkule and Simpson were saved by the bell – actually a fire alarm – which rang as McGiffin posed his final question to the pair, whether they preferred the Cleveland Browns or the Pittsburgh Steelers. McGiffin concluded the meeting before they answered.
Pictured at top: Branch Sinkule, senior director, government relations at Kimberly-Clark.