A Toledo-area businessman is establishing some serious presidential connections. Will Lucas, founder and CEO of Creadio, was recently named a co-chair of the Ohio Small Business Owners for Obama committee, part of the Obama for America campaign.
The committee supports President Barack Obama for his role in promoting small businesses. Obama cut taxes for small business owners 18 times and encouraged them to hire by signing into law $200 billion in tax relief, according to a news release. The president also allowed businesses to write off 100 percent of new investment costs for equipment in 2011.
Will Lucas
“Our president understands that America prospers when we’re all in it together, when hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded, when everyone from Main Street business owners like myself to those on Wall Street do their fair share and play by the same rules,” Lucas said in a release.
A few years ago, the entrepreneur founded Creadio, which offers customized radio and television stations for businesses to promote their products in-house. For example, if a McDonald’s location had Creadio, restaurant patrons would only hear McDonald’s commercials (no Burger King ads here) along with the music on the radio.
Lucas also founded thankyouaga.in, a mobile app and website where users are encouraged to share positive aspects of their lives. It’s also a way of saying thank you — again.
“It’s meant to be the second thank you after you’ve thought about it, the one that means something,” Lucas has said.
The businessman’s counterparts on the committee include Stephen
Hightower, the president and CEO of Hightowers Petroleum in Middletown, Liz Lessner, CEO and president of Columbus Food League, Donna Staffilino, co-owner of Staffilino Chevrolet in Southeast Ohio and Ariane Kirkpatrick, owner of AKA Construction in Cleveland.
Lucas also said of Mitt Romney, Obama’s rival in the race for the presidential seat and the former CEO of Bain Capital, “Mitt Romney made his fortune by sending American jobs overseas, not growing them here at home. That kind of economic philosophy is bad for business and bad for American innovators and entrepreneurs. We need an economy built to last, not one that inhibits the growth of the small businesses that keep our economy running.”
