Cool Cleveland's CIO gets some answers, has more questions

George Nemeth: As I looked out of the window of the Thompson Hine conference room, Cathy Panzica explained the Five Pillars of the Red Room Revolution to me. Red Room isn't a reference to The Shining or Twin Peaks. It's a room in Cleveland's City Hall. The Red Room Revolution is an organization set up to launch and accelerate progressive economic growth in greater Cleveland through information technology transformation.

Cathy Panzica: "Pillars One and Two [titled WOW Makeover and There's No Place Like Home] came out of two Red Room Dialogs we had with 50 NEO tech executives. The Third and Fourth pillars [called Go 4 It and Welcome Mat respectively] I developed after reading 2000 pages of research on Atlanta, Research Triangle Park, Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley for Joe Frolick's show on WVIZ."

G: In June of 2005, Panzica appeared as a panelist in the Quiet Crisis episode Immigration and Inward Investment Needed for Cleveland's Transformation. Panzica is an attorney in Thompson Hine's Corporate Transactions & Securities group, specializing in technology transactions. She did a year's worth of pro bono work for the OneCleveland project. The view out of the conference room looks out over the Browns Stadium, the Great Lakes Science Center and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

G: "Explain the Fifth pillar, Grass with Roots?"

CP: "It's a ladder effect for local Clevelanders. It starts with CLIMB [Computer Learning In My Backyard]. Then up the ladder to working in advance tech centers, learning programming skills. I've talked to Margo Copeland of the Key Foundation about developing programs for the training centers they have in place."

G: "Have you developed a visual to market that too?"

CP: We just developed that and it should be included on the website as soon as it launches. Probably next week."

G: The website has launched. Get more info on the Red Room Revolution here.

G: "The First and Second Pillars came from Red Room Dialogs, you developed the Third and Fourth. Where did the Fifth come from?"

CP: "Because I'm an ordained Episcopal priest I'm concerned with the community's wholeness and wellness. I developed it with input from Margo Copeland, Mayor Campbell, and ministers in area African American churches."

G: "Did the Red Room Revolution resonate with Mayor Campbell because her mother is a minister also?"

CP: "She's very faithful. Cleveland feels safe in the church enviroment. It's trusted."

G: "Churches are about technology?"

CP: "I want to use Bush funding for faith-based initiatives to get technology into the faith community. It addresses one group, but not the only group that needs it. We can reach others thru the Key Foundation centers. We're leveraging existing community resources."

G: The marketing material produced for the Red Room Revolution list several "community resources" that have floated around the zeitgeist for years: training "ambassadors" to talk Cleveland up, getting buyers to purchase locally produced goods and services, mentoring programs, branding the city with a cool image, getting Clevelanders to sing from the same hymn sheet. I pushed the church metaphor.

G: "Are the Red Room Rocks like 'Upon this rock I will build my church...'"?

CP: "No. The Rocks are like 'My mom rocks.' They're the 20 CEOs of tech companies that helped form the vision. I asked them, "Will you help?" They're the tech stakeholders of the region. Its not an exclusive club, but we want people with a financial interest. Their passion is their survival."

G: "How are you building support?"

CP: "A couple weeks ago I handed out the press packs at a tech meeting. Lots of people were interested and we added a number of new members. I've been meeting with major not-for-profit. Jim Cookinham is a rock. Dorothy Baunach is a rock. She builds the landscape and I dig the dirt. We're trying to create the right environment."

G: Creating the right environment has something to do with working closely with working closely with the City of Cleveland. The evening before our meeting on the 39th floor of Key Tower, Panzica sat next to the Mayor while she was being interviewed for Meet The Bloggers. During that interview, Mayor Campbell vaguely eluded to a place where business could set up shop in 24 hours. When pressed, Campbell acknowledged she was talking about the Charter One Global Enterprise Center at 737 Bolivar Road. Tenats at that address read like a Who's Who in Cleveland Tech: NorTech, JumpStart, TeamNEO, OneCleveland/OneNEO, and the World Trade Center Cleveland. Panzica fills in details about the "trade mission" the mayor spoke about the night before.

CP: "To leverage the Intel Digital City moniker, Thompson Hine, the City of Cleveland, OneCleveland, and TeamNEO are inviting 30 to 50 international firms to compete for shop positions along the Euclid Corridor by writing smart applications that can run on OneCleveland's ultra-broadband network. The smart apps developed will be utilized by customers of OneCleveland. Intel rolls these solutions out to 600 cities globally through its Digital Cities Initiative. It was an opportunity to recreate Cleveland if we didn't wait. I just did it. We had to move, so we did. Atlanta attracted 70 new businesses in 3 years by building a business accelerator."

G: Now that Cathy Panzica has answered a number of questions, filling in more details about this tech initiative called the Red Room Revolution, I'd like to offer a few more questions for all of us to think about. Other than packaging all these pre-existing initiatives under one logo, what's revolutionary about this strategy? What does following the best practices of other cities or companies make you besides a follower? If you don't have a financial interest in a tech company but think this is an important initiative, how do you get involved? Given the chance, what would you like to discuss in a future Red Room Dialog?

Please add your questions, comments, and answers on the Cool Cleveland blog here.

Photo and Interview by Cool Cleveland CIO George Nemeth (:divend:)