ike Mallett knows a thing or two about building a successful business. Over the past 20 years, he has built two companies that have been ranked among the INC 500 Fastest Growing Companies. His latest venture, Liveshopper Sassie, is ranked 5th in the country with a staggering three-year growth rate of 37,386%.
A software company in the market research space, Liveshopper Sassie is experiencing exponential growth, and Mallett says he chose to build this company in the small town of Findlay, Ohio, by design.
“I graduated from the University of Findlay and then went to Washington, D.C.,” says Mallett, founder and CEO of Liveshopper Sassie. “Five or six years later, I realized Findlay was a great town, so I sold my first business and moved back to Findlay. Findlay is a safe environment. The school systems are good. People are good. It's a friendly city. It's like a Rockwell painting. It's just a really cool place.”
What Mallett says about Findlay is true of many communities in the Midwest, but most other cities in that part of the country don't share Findlay's economic strength. Site Selection magazine has ranked Findlay as the No. 1 top performing micro-metropolitan area in the US in corporate facility investment projects for each of the past nine years.
This Northwest Ohio community of 40,000 people about 100 miles south of Detroit sits on Interstate 75, a highway that for decades has carried many Midwesterners seeking greener economic pastures in the Sunbelt.
Findlay, however, is winning the battle against the Midwest brain drain, providing gainful employment for companies large and small, from juggernauts like Marathon Petroleum and Cooper Tire to industry shakers like Liveshopper Sassie.
To see just how irrational Findlay is in the American Heartland, consider a recent study of financial performance by FinanceBuzz. In an Oct. 26 report titled “The Fastest Growing and Declining Cities in the U.S.,” FinanceBuzz researchers ranked every city of 200,000 or more on eight measures of economic growth, from population and job growth to new businesses and construction of new homes, from 2019 to 2022.
Only three Midwestern cities ranked in the top half of the 117 U.S. cities studied: Grand Rapids (24th); Toledo (46th) and Indianapolis (49th).
In contrast, five Midwestern cities ranked among the top 25 US cities with the largest declines: Detroit (5th); Chicago (6th); St. Louis (11th); Wichita (16th); Saint Paul (20th); and Minneapolis (25th).
Following the Findlay Formula
Mallett says it's instructive for people to understand why he chose to build his company — one that powers market research at Hilton Hotels and most of the Fortune 500 — in Findlay. “The cost of living is better here than in Washington,” he says. “The lifestyle of being able to walk to work is great. You can reach anywhere in the city in 10 minutes. There is a large talent pool in Findlay. I have hired very good people for Liveshopper Sassie here. I buy my own buildings and open them for my team. A huge, five-story building stood there in the center of the city for 100 years. I bought it and restored it. It now serves as an excellent headquarters for my company. Findlay has great leadership to make this happen.”
“There is a great talent pool in Findlay. I've hired really good people for Liveshopper Sassie here.”
– Mike Mallett, Founder and CEO, Liveshopper Sassie
Forget the brain drain, says Mallett. It's more like brain gain. “I've recruited people from Valparaiso, Findlay, Ivy League schools and the Carolinas,” he says. “They wanted to go home. I hired 40% of my staff this way. They found me and wanted to go home. We have also recruited alumni from Ball State, Bowling Green, Toledo and other area schools. I have people who retired early from Marathon and wanted to work here.”
Mallett says other Midwestern communities can learn a lot from Findlay. “Findlay has been doing it right for a long time,” he says. “It has the amenities, the schools and the proximity to professional sports teams in Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus and Cincinnati. We are only 90 minutes from Detroit International Airport. And you cannot overestimate the importance of the Marathon. We bring a lot of new people to our city. Our restaurants are locally owned. and the Hancock Hotel is a five-star hotel built by Marathon. If you want to get to where Findlay is today, look at places like Lima and Tiffin. People are investing in these Northwest Ohio communities as well.”
Dan Sheaffer, Findlay-Hancock County economic development director, says Findlay is successful because it's a regional jobs engine. “About 56% of our workforce comes into the city every day,” he says. “We are increasing investments in various sectors of our economy. We have invested in our city and county with crosswalks, landscaping, parks and bike lanes. These amenities make the difference.”
Having companies that pay competitive wages also makes a difference. “We often rank in the top five locations in terms of average wages statewide — right up there with places like Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo,” Sheaffer says. “And we're constantly improving our affordable housing stock, child care offerings and our workforce development programs. This is how you grow your economy organically.”
Madison leads the way in tech talent
Others would say it all depends on how you choose to measure economic progress. Another recent study, this one conducted by CommercialCafe in September, ranked the Midwest's top 20 metro areas for tech growth across nine separate metrics for tech and technology job growth. Madison, Wisconsin ranked No. 1 in the Midwest, while Ann Arbor, Michigan ranked No. 2 and Chicago ranked No. 3.
Minneapolis ranked fourth and Columbus fifth, according to CommercialCafe. The rest of the top 10 metros in the Midwest were Detroit (6), Columbia, Missouri (7), Des Moines (8), Kansas City (9) and Indianapolis (10).
According to CommercialCafe, Madison leads all Midwest states with the highest ratio of tech job opportunities. Other Midwest communities ranked high in tech job density, according to the study, are Des Moines, Ann Arbor, Minneapolis-St.-Paul and Rochester, Minnesota. Chicago scored the highest in the region in wages and patent awards.
Mayo Clinic is planning a $5 billion expansion of its campus in Rochester, Minnesota, with a big focus on technology.
Renderings courtesy of Mayo Clinic
In the survey's quality of life index, which factors in cost of living, education level, unemployment rate and overall quality of life, Columbia ranks No. 1, followed by Fargo, North Dakota. Lincoln, Nebraska; Rochester? and Madison.
Melissa Hughes, president and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., says Wisconsin is winning the battle against the brain drain because of the ubiquitous University of Wisconsin system and its continued effort to recruit tech companies.
“Wisconsin won the Microsoft data center campus in Mount Pleasant and the Haribo confectionery factory in Kenosha because of our ability to attract, retain and develop talent,” says Hughes. “Microsoft has acquired Area 2 and Area 3 of the Foxconn site to develop large-scale data centers in Racine County. Haribo originally chose Wisconsin in 2017 after a North American site search that ended up in Illinois and Wisconsin. They needed an extremely talented workforce in the food manufacturing industry, and they found it in Kenosha.”
While it's tempting to think Madison is the most extreme in the battle against the brain drain, Hughes says the entire UW campus system across the state “does a fantastic job of developing and retaining talent.”
UW-Stevens Point, for example, found that 95% of its graduates stayed in Wisconsin for five or more years after graduation to pursue their chosen careers.
“UW-Madison and UW-Eau Claire have also excelled at this,” Hughes says. “At Wisconsin, we aim to attract, develop and retain talent. That's why you see so many companies, like Johnson Controls in Glendale, choosing to expand here.”
