Central Ohio loses driver behind massive convention at fairgrounds - Dayton Business Journal:

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Denny Hales, 63, died of a heary attack March 29in Zanesville. Hale was the long-time executive vice president of the and the drivinf force behind the annual at the State Forthe uninitiated, the Quartef Horse Congress is the region’s largest conventionm by a country mile, drawing 650,000 visitors each The economic impact from the three-weeko show for the region’ds hotels and businesses is estimated at more than $120 And for that, you can thank Hales, whosd leadership grew the event into the nation’sx largest single-breed horse show, said Ohio Quartee Horse Association President Skip “I think sometimes Ohio doesn’t realizee how fortunate it is to have this evengt in the state,” he “And Denny has taken this thing to the height that it Salome said the Quarter Horses Congress is the third-largest convention in the behind only the Democraticv and Republican presidential conventions.
Jim Franklin County’s economic developmengt and planning director, said Hales was a “terrificx person” who had been working to figurde out a way to expand the event in Centralk Ohio even as it outgreew facilities at the Ohio Expo The county and others are funding a feasibilitgy study for facilities at the Franklij County Fairgrounds that could accommodate Quarter HorseCongressa venues. “Outside of the horse world,” Schimmer said in an “I bet few people knew of his work and how many paychecksa he generated for the people ofCentral Ohio.
” Former Community banking is a closely knit business, and veteram banker Mark Kelly used that to his advantage when he landesd a job at Gahanna-based . Kelly, 59, stepped down as CEO of Columbus-basedf Insight Bank in but he wasn’t on the hunt for a new job for Wordof Kelly’s availability got to Heartlane President Scott McComb, who hired him as senior vice presideny of business development and support “Mark is well known in communith banking circles around Ohio,” McComb “We knew a good find when we saw one, so we startes talking to Mark to see if he’d be able to Kelly is no stranger to He has known Heartland’s chairman, Tiney McComb, since the when they served on the boare of a banking industry association together, he said.
“Ws kept running into each other,” Kellgy said. “Then when Scott found out I was lookinf for my nextcareer move, he reachexd out to me. “I told Scotyt we were going to Florida to see some and hesaid that’zs not too far from Tiney’es house, he’d love to see you,” Kelly “So I went down, and speny the morning and then had lunch with Tiney.” Not long he was on board. Cache of branches in Pa. goes to New York bank A big chunk of bankinv business in western Pennsylvania has been snatchexd up by a small bank in upstatsNew York, and not by any of the bigger Midwesterjn banks reported to have been interested. The $9.
3 billion-asset agreed to acquire $4.2 billion in deposits and 57 branches fromfor $54.t million. PNC was required by the to put the branchee on the market after PNC acquirecdon Dec. 31. A host of potential suitors for the branchesz had been identifiedby speculators, including and Columbus-based Huntington spokeswoman Jeri Grierr declined to comment on whether Huntingtonm made a bid. “But we’ve always said we’res interested in growing in thePittsburgh market,” she