JumpStart: IdeaExchange Blog

Recently, Rich Bendis, the former CEO of InnovationPhiladelphia and nationally renowned TBED (technology-based economic development) expert launched a daily news digest called Innovation Daily. You can find this digest here.

If you are someone who cares about anything related to global and national issues surrounding the topics of invention, commercialization, angel and/or venture capital, and public policy do yourself a favor and subscribe to this free service.

Rich has done an incredible job of aggregating news and stories that are relevant to his readers – I look forward to reading it everyday.

Happy Holidays and I wish you all the best in 2010!

Ray Leach is CEO of JumpStart and brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding five high growth entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial endeavors in the last 20 years. Ray is a Sloan Fellow and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also earned a BA in Finance from the University of Akron.

I do not envy anyone in State leadership today. The tsunami in our national economy which first hit Washington DC has now come to Columbus.

Since the state of Ohio, from a constitutional perspective, cannot have a bi-annual budget deficit, now is the time for some very hard decisions. No matter what the final decisions are, all of us are going to feel real, significant financial pain, or at least real disappointment.

Every decision has significant pro’s and con’s — spending cuts, increased taxes, gambling. The fact is there are no perfect solutions to help Ohio move easily forward.

Press clippings that speak to this challenge include: Columbus Dispatch, Dire costs to fixing budget hole, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Both parties in the state budget debate fear decisions that could leave them vulnerable to campaign attacks, and Akron Beacon Journal, Closing Ohio budget gap would be painful.

Now is the time where government leadership really counts and while the decisions have not been made to date — but will be made by June 30th — I have to say that I have been impressed by the leadership in the State across the board.

Like it or not, these decisions and their impact on Ohio’s future may very well be the most important decisions in our lifetime.

Ray Leach is CEO of JumpStart and brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding five high growth entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial endeavors in the last 20 years. Ray is a Sloan Fellow and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also earned a BA in Finance from the University of Akron.