The May meeting of the Ohio Venture Association at Lockkeepers featured presentations by two entrepreneurs seeking capital and the innovative story of Summa Enterprise Group.

OVA Board President Ben Calkins brought the meeting to order at Lockkeepers and allowed each person in attendance to introduce him or herself, following OVA's usual custom.

There were two Five-Minute Forum presentations. These speakers typically represent companies that are looking for start-up or expansion capital.

Sherry Aronson is president of Cure Systems, a company that provides enterprise software for hospitals that improves the quality of health care while enhancing cost efficiencies. Her company uses predictive analytics to anticipate and mitigate the risks in acute care environments. The result is a ten-fold return for its hospital clients and better outcomes for patients. The company has a partnership with the Cleveland Clinic Health System. They are looking for additional capital to complete product development and intellectual property protection.

Sherry Aronson

Cure Systems

(886) 298-9868

info [at] prhcs [dot] com

The second speaker was Grant Holmes, President of DigiWonder. Digiwonder provides encrypted spam-free global delivery and management of digital information. Through proprietary software that sits on a computer user's desktop, DigiWonder insures that email reaches its destination and provides verification to the sender. The requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act can be handled by this system. The company is in the process of completing a private placement and would like to identify potential partners, such as a law firm, that could use the software.

Grant Holmes

DigiWonder

(330) 478-1065

gholmes [at] digiwonder [dot] com

The featured speaker, Michael Wojno [pronounced Why-Know], is the president of Summa Enterprise Group, a wholly owned for-profit subsidiary of the Summa Health Care System. The entity was formed to provide additional revenue to help offset the cost of about $70 million in charity care that the hospital system does in its three urban hospitals. His goal was to bring fresh thinking to an industry in which people typically “play not to lose money” rather than the entrepreneur's discipline of "playing to win."  Their objective as the enterprise group is to commercialize non-acute health care service, scale it, fund it, and return cash to the healthcare system.

Michael Wojno originally joined the Summa Health Care System as the board chairman of its finance committee, bringing with him experience in running a successful local brick and block business and in doing real estate development.

With the assistance and encouragement of Stu Giller, and talented hires such as Ilene Shapiro, they have been successful. Of three business ventures they started, one has been a home run. They started Cornerstone Medical Services, a durable medical equipment company that competes in a complex industry. The business has grown to the point that its value would be about $20 million by valuation standards for the industry.

The real estate division that he started as part of Summa Enterprise Group currently has about $50 million in development pending that did not require any investment by the parent hospital. It was all accomplished through collaboration and the use of partnerships with developers and other health care institutions. He attributes their success of the Summa Enterprise Group to the ability of his team to take business opportunities, add value, and grow them to a larger scale.

Summa Enterprise Group provides a dynamic example of how talented people with entrepreneurial thinking can succeed in industries that face difficult market conditions.

For more information on the work of the Mike Wojno and the Summa Enterprise Group, visit these sites:

http://www.summahealth.org/common/templates/article.asp?ID=3553

http://www.bioenterprise.com/news/2004/04summa.html

http://www.allbusiness.com/periodicals/article/1087507-1.html