Dealmakers Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

Jane Grote Abell is the Executive Chairwoman and Chief Purpose Officer of Donatos Pizza. Jane is a founding family member of Donatos Pizza, and over the last four decades, Jane has held a variety of positions with the brand. She was a major catalyst behind the decision to purchase Donatos back from McDonald’s and assisted with the expansion of the company since the purchase was made. Jane is also a strong community leader, is involved with many charities and social services in the Columbus area, and authored The Missing Piece: Doing Business the Donatos Way.

Based on the power of positive thinking and the Golden Rule, Jim Grote founded Donatos Pizza in 1963 in Columbus, Ohio. Knowing that there must be a better way, after years of applying sliced pepperoni by hand in the pizza shop, he went on to invent and patent the Pepp-a-matic, a machine to slice and apply pepperoni directly to pizza. He founded The JE Grote Company on this invention in 1972, which manufactures food processing equipment globally. Grote recently founded the Edge Innovation Hub, a center for creativity, where forward thinking companies can innovate at the edge of possibility.

Grote’s moonshot is to instill unconditional love into artificial intelligence, countering the apocalyptic predictions surrounding AI.

After growing up in the Catholic tradition, Grote began his search for a deeper understanding of the golden rule, loving your neighbor as you love yourself. He learned about the Christian traditions of unconditional love, eastern traditions of yoga philosophy, meditation, and the teaching of Buddhism on loving kindness and compassion.

Jim’s massive transformative purpose is to help evolve the American capitalist system to a profitable model based on the power of love and the Golden Rule, which he calls Agápe Capitalism.

Bill Baumel is a seasoned venture capitalist who spent more than 20 years investing in Silicon Valley before returning to his home state to found the Ohio Innovation Fund in 2016. 

His investment areas include SaaS, big data, cybersecurity, and medtech, and his past investments have resulted in five IPOs and 15 major acquisitions by Dell, SAP, Medtronic, Intuit, Stryker, and others. Bill has been recognized as one of the Venture 100 Top VCs based on exits.

Notable Ohio Innovation Fund investments include Stirling Ultracold/Biolife (Nasdaq:BLFS), Aware, Immuta, Enable Injections, eFuse, Scriptdrop, and Alviere which have all grown from seven figure initial valuations to nine/ten figure valuations/exits. Bill and his team are also working with the next wave of OIF investmentssuch as Invirsa, Clarametyx, Complion, Genetesis, DataAnchor, and more to drive continued success.

Bill received his undergraduate degree in business, summa cum laude from Ohio State University and his MBA with high distinction from the University of Michigan.  

Brent Crawford is the Principal and Founder of Crawford Hoying, one of the largest real estate firms in Ohio. He personally oversees many aspects of the business, including managing the company’s private equity relationships and securing debt financing, as well as monitoring new acquisitions, dispositions, and more than $2.5 billion in ground-up development. Crawford Hoying is active in the multi-family, hospitality, office, retail, mixed-use, condominium and industrial markets.

Michael J. Endres is a senior advisor of Stonehenge Partners, a private equity investment firm that he co-founded in August 1999.

Prior to joining Stonehenge, Mr. Endres was vice chairman of Banc One Capital Holdings Corporation and chairman of Banc One Capital Partners. Prior to his tenure at Bank One, he was a principal engaged in investment and merchant banking with Meuse, Rinker, Chapman, Endres & Brooks and a senior vice president and director of Rotan Mosle, Inc. He began his investment-banking career in 1971 at The Ohio Company.

Previously was chairman and CEO of BOCHC, the holding company for Bank One Corp. In 1981 founded regional investment banking firm Meuse, Rinker, Chapman, Endres & Brooks, which was aquired by Bank One in 1990. Formerly was vice chairman of McDonald & Co. Also is a director of Diamond Hill Investment Group Inc., Bluestone Corp., and Bopp-Busch Manufacturing Co.

Recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential Women in Advertising History,” Nancy Kramer has spent a lifetime as an entrepreneur in marketing and technology.

She launched her business, Resource in 1981 with Apple Computer as her first client. Kramer has been featured in CNN, CNBC, Fortune, Time, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, USA Today, Advertising Age, Fast Company.

In 2016, IBM acquired her 350-person, multi-office business, where Kramer serves as Chief Evangelist.

John Lowe is CEO of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, which has grown to 37 scoop shops and gone national, with its pints sold in more than 3,000 retailers. It is the nation’s largest direct-to-consumer ice cream business. Prior to Jeni's, he served as general counsel of General Electric's Business & General Aviation startup and of its Aviation Services Global Operations, and as an officer of GE Honda Aero Engine LLC.

Cindy Monroe, an experienced CEO and Entrepreneur who built the direct to consumer accessories company, Thirty-One. From launch to several hundred million dollars, she navigated both dramatic growth and significant decline while maintaining profitability and cash flow. In 2020, Cindy successfully negotiated the sale of a majority interest in the business and currently serving in an advisory, founder capacity.

Award-winning architectural designer, Curtis J. Moody, FAIA, has had a prosperous 48-year career. While founding his firm in 1982, Curtis J. Moody, FAIA decided to build it on a foundation of diversity of thought. Curtis has continuously challenged what once was the status quo and has created a corporate environment that is both inclusive and equitable. Moody Nolan is the largest African American architectural firm in the country and the firm’s designs have received more than 330 awards, more than any other minority architectural firm in the United States.

Ron Pizzuti is the founder of the Pizzuti Companies, a national real estate development company with headquarters in Columbus and offices in Chicago and Nashville.  He now serves as Chaiman Emeritis.  Pizzuti has developed over $3 billion of industrial, office, residential and hospitality projects in over 20 American cities since 1976.  in addition, Ron serves as CEO of HAYSTACKart.com, an on-line marketer of contemporary limited edition prints, photos as well as other art forms.

Rhett Ricart is CEO of Ricart Automotive Group, in Columbus, Ohio. Ricart Ford was founded in June 1953, by his father, Paul Ricart Sr. In 1982, Rhett and his brother, Fred, assumed ownership of the dealership. Today, they employ over 700 and annually sell approximately 15,000 new and used vehicles across 10 new product lines.

Robert H. Schottenstein is Chairman and CEO of M/I Homes, Inc., one of the largest homebuilders in the United States. Mr. Schottenstein has been active in a number of business and charitable organizations. He is Vice Chair of The Policy Advisory Board of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, is a member of the Pelotonia Board, a member of The Columbus Partnership, a member of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Board and The Ohio State University Foundation Board and a member of the board of JewishColumbus. Previously, Mr. Schottenstein served as a Trustee of The Ohio State University and was Chairman of The Ohio State University Board, served as a member of the Board of LBrands, BBW, Inc., Installed Building Products, Inc. and Huntington Bancshares, Inc. He is married to Jeri Block, has four children, five grandchildren and resides in Jefferson Township, Franklin County, Ohio.

Kara Trott founded Quantum Health as the first consumer healthcare navigation company over 20 years ago. Her previous work designing customer intercept strategies for consumer brands allowed her to see that healthcare should be more personal. Kara has since helped self-insured companies deliver compassionate and effective healthcare experiences for millions of employees, and consistent benefits cost savings for employers.

Scott founded IGS in 1989 with his dad, Marv, and his sister, Cathy. Under his leadership, IGS has grown from a three-person startup natural gas company, to a company with hundreds of employees who proudly serve more than one million residential and commercial customers throughout the country. As a long term thinker, Scott believes that Business can be a force for good and is a member of both the Tugboat Institute and the Conscious Capitalism community.