September 16th | DAY TWO – Session
| Sept 16th Schedule: |
| 8:00am-8:30am Continental Breakfast |
| 8:30am-9:30am Keynote Speakers: Nic Barlage, REG, Chris Ronayne, Cuyahoga County, and Pat Rios, Cleveland Clinic |
| 9:30am-9:55am Summary of Tuesday’s Sessions, Audience Interaction, Takeaways |
| 10:10am-11:00am A conversation with Baiju Shah, Greater Cleveland Partnership |
| 11:00am-11:50am Jeff Appelbaum |
| 12:00pm-1:50pm Lunch, Awards, Chapter Presidents |
| 1:50pm-2:00pm Cogence Call to Action |
| Close of Town Hall and transition to Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame Project Tour starting at 2:45pm |
8:30am – 9:30am
Delivering Impact Greater Than the Build
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Nic Barlage | Rock Entertainment Group
Chris Ronayne | Cuyahoga County Executive
Pat Rios | Cleveland Clinic
Public priorities meet private investment: a keynote conversation on delivering economic impact greater than the cost of construction — and why the Cogence Way is what makes it last.
Brief Summary of Discussion Focus: When public priorities and private investment align, projects do more than get built — they change a region’s trajectory. This keynote panel brings together Chris Ronayne (Cuyahoga County Executive), Nic Barlage (CEO, Rock Entertainment Group), and Pat Rios (VP, Buildings + Design, Cleveland Clinic) for a conversation on what it actually takes to deliver economic impact greater than the cost of construction.
From infrastructure investment to workforce development and the push for regional and national competitiveness, the panel explores where public-sector priorities and private-sector capital meet — and where they collide. Moderated by Pam Neckar, Founding President of Cogence Alliance, the discussion is grounded in the Cogence Way: the shared values of integrity, commitment, inspired collaboration, pursuit of excellence, and giving trust that turn one-off project wins into lasting regional success.
Nic Barlage, Chief Executive Officer of Rock Entertainment Group (REG), leads the organization as part of Chairman Dan Gilbert’s Rock Family of Companies. REG encompasses the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cleveland WNBA 2028 Expansion Team, the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, the NBA G League’s Cleveland Charge, Rock Entertainment Sports Network (RESN), and the PGA Tour’s Rocket Classic (Detroit). REG also manages operations of key venues such as Cleveland Clinic Courts and Rocket Arena, the epicenter of sports and entertainment in Northeast Ohio and the largest driver of economic impact in Cuyahoga County.
Since becoming CEO in 2021, Barlage has led REG’s transformation into a global force in sports and entertainment. Under his leadership, REG has been recognized twice by Sports Business Journal as a “Best Place to Work in Sports” and has driven significant community impact, investing more than $48 million and contributing over 52,000 volunteer hours to education, youth development, food security, and other critical initiatives.
Barlage is also shaping the future of Cleveland through major city-building projects, including the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center (opening 2027), the Rock Block entertainment district featuring Cosm’s cutting-edge immersive reality experience, and the revitalization of Cleveland Public Hall. In addition, he is now guiding Bedrock, the city’s leading real estate developer, in its strategic direction to help redefine Cleveland’s urban core, cementing REG’s role as both a cultural anchor and an engine of urban growth.
Previously, Barlage held senior leadership roles with the Phoenix Suns and Charlotte Bobcats and earlier within the Cavaliers organization. A graduate of Saint John’s University (Minn.), he serves on multiple boards, including Cosm, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Boys & Girls Club of Northeast Ohio.
Chris Ronayne, Cuyahoga County Executive has served in this position since January 2023, leading a vision for a healthier, more equitable county while overseeing services for more than 1.2 million residents and a $2 billion budget.
A longtime public servant and community leader, he has held key roles in Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland and spent 16 years as President of University Circle Inc., where he helped drive significant neighborhood, education, and economic development initiatives.
Chris is a lifelong Cuyahoga County resident and lives in Cleveland with his wife and two children.
Pat Rios, VP of Buildings + Design, Cleveland Clinic, joined Cleveland Clinic in 2017 as Senior Director of Program Management, overseeing the Clinic’s infrastructure, construction, and engineering programs and ensuring every facility met its exacting standards for patient care. He came to Cleveland Clinic from Siemens Government Technologies, where as Senior Program Director, International Project Implementation, he led development and construction of financed energy projects for U.S. Government clients across Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia.
Pat brings 30 years of service in the United States Navy to his work, retiring as a Captain in the Civil Engineer Corps. He held three major commands, including two overseeing the facilities, construction, environmental, and real estate needs of Navy and Marine Corps forces across the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic regions, based in Seattle and Norfolk respectively. His third command was a battalion of Naval Construction Force “Seabees,” which he led through several deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa.
Pat was named Vice President in 2024. In this expanded role, he retains oversight of his original teams while also leading Facilities Engineering, Environmental Services, Media, Real Estate Planning & Design, Space, Sustainability, and Art across the Cleveland Clinic System — a portfolio of more than 39 million square feet across more than 200 buildings in three states and four countries.
He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering. Pat holds a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from The George Washington University and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from The Citadel, and he completed the Executive Program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
9:00 am – 9:55am
Session Summaries from Day One (September 15th)
What Did Everyone Else Learn? Our Track Leaders will provide a recap of the Day 1 | 3 Tracks – 9 Sessions, Audience Interaction and Takeaways.
10:10 am – 11:00 am
Downtown Cleveland’s Comeback…and Moving Forward
Brief Summary: Downtown Cleveland’s revitalization is the result of decades of alignment and execution. And the work is never done. A conversation on priorities, policies, and partnerships and sustaining momentum across decades.
Baiju Shah | President & CEO, Greater Cleveland Partnership
Baiju R. Shah is the President & CEO of Greater Cleveland Partnership, the region’s leading economic development organization and with over 12,000 members, the nation’s largest metropolitan chamber of commerce. Guided by a board of CEOs, GCP focuses on accelerating growth and prosperity through strategic initiatives, business services, real estate development, and advocacy.
Previously, Shah was CEO of BioMotiv, CEO of BioEnterprise, and a Senior Fellow of the Cleveland Foundation. Throughout his career, he has developed strategic alliances with pharmaceutical companies, health institutions, universities, and foundations, and raised significant funds for health ventures. He also served on the Boards of Invacare and Athersys, and as a Senior Advisor of Faster Cures. Shah began his career at McKinsey.
Mr. Shah serves on numerous civic boards and is recognized as one of Cleveland’s most influential leaders. He received a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA from Yale University.
11:00 am – 11:50am
Forward, Together ?
Is the Industry Keeping Pace?
Brief Summary: Over the past fifteen years, the construction industry has made remarkable progress in collaborative project delivery. Ohio’s construction reform, the evolution of alternative delivery methods, advances in technology, and increasingly sophisticated project teams have fundamentally changed how successful projects are planned and delivered.
The next challenge, however, is not simply continuing to improve projects. It is ensuring that the institutions surrounding our industry—our laws, procurement systems, insurance products, technology, workforce, and public policies—keep pace with the way successful projects are now delivered.
This presentation will examine six issues that are likely to shape the next decade of our industry and will invite discussion about the role COGENCE can play in continuing to advance collaborative project delivery.
Jeff Appelbaum | Managing Partner, Thompson Hine / Project Management Consultants
Jeff Appelbaum is the Managing Partner for Thompson Hine and for 40 years, he has served the construction industry in the varying roles of trial and transactional attorney, project counsel, project management consultant, owner’s representative, mediator and partnering facilitator. Jeff has provided distinguished service to public and private owners, design professionals, construction managers, and contractors on important projects throughout the United States and Canada.
Jeff has served as project counsel or owner’s representative for more than 100 projects involving billions of dollars of construction, including more than 30 major league sports facilities and other community impact projects throughout North America. He has facilitated over 300 complex partnering sessions and conducted more than 500 complex construction mediations.
Jeff was appointed by the governor of Ohio to serve as facilitator for the Ohio Construction Reform Panel (2008-2009) and was involved in creating the final legislation that became effective in January 2012 and dramatically modified public procurement in Ohio. Jeff is one of only 13 construction lawyers listed by The Legal 500 in its national Hall of Fame, and in 2012 Jeff became one of only six “Star” rated construction lawyers in Chambers USA’s national rankings. Also in 2012, Jeff became the first lawyer inducted into the Cleveland Engineering Society Hall of Fame.
Jeff also formed, and serves as managing director of, Project Management Consultants LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Thompson Hine that provides ancillary construction project support services throughout Ohio and North America.
Noon – 1:50pm
Lunch | Chapter Presidents updates | Walter Jones Drive Award Presentations
- We will hear updates from each of our Chapter Presidents.
- Award presentations in the following categories:
- Emerging Leader / Rising Star Award
- Individual Award
- Small Project (Construction Costs Under $15M)
- Mid-Size Project (Construction Costs $15M-$30M)
- Large Project (Construction Costs $30M-$350M)
- Extreme Project (Construction Costs over $350M)
1:50pm – 2:00pm
Call to Action
2:00pm – 2:45pm
Tour attendees transition to Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame
2:45 pm – 4:30 pm
Project Tour | Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame Expansion
Tour sign-up on-line at registration page and sheets will be available during registration on Day 1.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Addition project is highlighted by a 50,000 square-foot addition to the existing pyramid structure that was originally designed by architect I.M. Pei and completed in 1995. The new addition on the west side of the building will allow for more programming spaces which can be used for the following:
- Multipurpose spaces for indoor performances, community gatherings and private rentals
- Open space for event & education programming
- A new entrance lobby that will improve the flow of visitors
- Relocation of the administrative offices from the lower level to 2nd floor of the Addition
- Renovation work creates an additional 7,500 square feet for large-scale traveling exhibits
- Renovation of Cafe and new Howley Family Student Center