Founding member leaving JumpStart; Ruhe to join Missouri-based foundation

BYLINE: Mary Vanac, Plain Dealer Reporter

JumpStart Inc., a venture organization in Cleveland, is losing its founding chief marketing officer.

Thom Ruhe will go to work for the Kansas City, Mo.-based Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in mid-July. As director of online initiatives, Ruhe will lead the effort to put the foundation's entrepreneurial programming and research on the Internet. He will remain in Northeast Ohio for a year, working from his Mentor home.

"I'm thrilled for Thom," said Ray Leach, JumpStart's chief executive. "Kauffman is a world leader in the same things that JumpStart passionately cares about." Started in the mid-1960s by the late Ewing Marion Kauffman, an entrepreneur who started a major health care company, the foundation is the 26th largest nationwide with assets of $2 billion.

It focuses its grant-making and operations on advancing entrepreneurship and educating children and youth.

Ruhe's move to Kauffman "is a reflection on JumpStart," Leach said. "I'm very proud of the work he's done here. He's made a tremendous impact on our organization. The fact that he's staying in Cleveland is also exciting."

JumpStart, created by Case Western Reserve University and NorTech in early 2004, invests money and operational know-how in Northeast Ohio companies that promise significant revenue and job growth within seven years.

A January analysis by Cleveland State University pegged JumpStart's economic impact on the region since mid-2004 at $40 million.

Prior to joining JumpStart in May 2004, Ruhe was president of Optiem LLC, an interactive marketing agency in Cleveland. The Cleveland chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators plans to give its Communicator of the Year award to Ruhe on Wednesday.

"My job will be to increase access to the entrepreneurial public of the incredibly valuable work Kauffman does," Ruhe said.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mvanac@plaind.com, 216-999-5302