Women Of Influence

Schoedinger Funeral and Cremation Service like other businesses has had to adjust to operating under the shutdown in place about to slow the spread of Covid-19. With the ban on large gatherings and the guidelines on social distancing, many families are opting for small, private ceremonies or are postponing commemorations until the restrictions are lifted, said Randy Schoedinger, CEO of the sixth-generation company, which has 15 locations around Central Ohio...

Early on in the coronavirus pandemic, Joanna Pinkerton and her team and her team at COTA realized they had a problem. At a time when public health officials were encouraging people to keep their distance, entering a bus and paying a fare required passing within 6 feet of a driver. The COTA team quickly realized they needed to pivot, asking passengers to enter in the rear of the bus – where there aren't machines available to accept fares. The solution? All COTA rides are now free...

Early in her career, Kim Zavislak thought the best way to succeed was to keep her head down and work hard. But after a little more than a decade with KPMG, Zavislak realized there was something else she needed to do: make her voice heard. "You do have to advocate for yourself," Zavislak said, when asked to offer her best advice for young women entering the workforce...

There's an irony about decision-making during times of crisis, Pelotonia CEO Doug Ulman says."You have to make tons of decisions with imperfect information," Ulman told Columbus Business First in the latest episode of our Crisis Management podcast. "That can be really challenging, but the opposite of that is paralyzation." Ulman is in charge of the annual Pelotonia bike race that attracts thousands, and raises millions for cancer research...

Dublin-based Updox LLC added video chat to its secure physician communications network last year, but adoption was middling, about 220 telehealth visits per day. In the coronavirus pandemic, it's soared to 45,000 a day. The health IT company signed on 10,000 clinician users in the space of just three weeks."We did feel fortunate, but not so much just straight to business opportunity, but more: If we’re sincere about this, that we have been able to help," CEO Michael Morgan said...

Lisa Arledge Powell started to journal at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to track her learnings and leadership at this trying time. She ended up with quite a story. The president of MediaSource, a Columbus-based communications agency, didn’t just have to figure out how to best serve the company’s clients, she had to do so while having the coronavirus herself. Both Arledge Powell and her son were diagnosed in March...

Faced with pandemic-related restrictions that make its traditional direct-sales model unworkable, Dublin-based IGS Energy opted to retrain its employees for different roles rather than laying them off. "Our first concern was for our employees and heir safety and our customers," CEO Scott White said. Check out the latest episode of our Crisis Management podcast to hear more from White on how he's managing a sales-oriented company in the midst of a global pandemic.

Remember the days before Covid-19, when traveling for business was a common occurrence? Now most of us aren't even traveling to the office, let alone to another part of the country. Still, even it takes several months – or maybe years – there will likely come a day when people like Kim Zavislak, a partner in KPMG's audit practice, once again find themselves on the road (or in the air) quite frequently for client meetings that just must happen in person...

It didn't take the coronavirus pandemic for Christie Angel to become aware of racial disparities in public health. Angel and her team at YWCA Columbus were already studying the ways that racism is considered a public health crisis in itself. So the racial disparities playing out in the coronavirus pandemic – which looks to be "infecting and killing black people in the United States at disproportionately high rates," according to The New York Times – don't surprise her...

How can customers experience a treasure hunt when they can leave their house to go hunting? That’s the quandary that face The Book Loft, the historic German Village book shop known for its 32 rooms filled with potential finds for voracious readers...