Region Info

BNI Ohio, better known as Team Ohio, was founded in May 1993 by Executive Directors Kevin Carmony and John Meyer. Kevin and John began developing chapters throughout Northwest Ohio, using their Toledo location as home base. Currently, there are over 20 Chapters in Northwest Ohio and almost 500 members.

Recognizing the potential to help businesses throughout the State of Ohio, they researched the opportunity to establish chapters in other Ohio cities. The first territory they expanded to was Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky. Following several months of six-hour round trips on I-75, the first chapter of the Southwest Ohio/Northern Kentucky region was kicked off in September 1995. In January 1998, after 5 more chapters were opened, the first Team Ohio Director, Geof Scanlon, was brought on board to oversee and develop the growing Southwest Ohio/Northern Kentucky Region. To date, Geof and his son and now our Partner, Brennan Scanlon have over 50 Chapters and over 1000 members.

In August of 2009, Jim Weghorst joined Team Ohio, to further develop the Miami Valley (Dayton and surrounding areas) Region whose first chapter, the South Dayton Chapter, had kicked off in March 1998. Currently, Jim and his team of Directors manage almost 20 chapters in the Miami Valley Region with 350 members.

In September 1998, we kicked off the first chapter in Northeast Ohio. The Greater Cleveland Chapter and Team Ohio began to grow the Northeast Ohio (Cleveland and surrounding areas) Region. In July of 2000, with 2 chapters in place, Robert Willis joined the “Team”. He then became an Executive Director in 2007 overseeing the Northeast region and the Eastern region, (Akron, Canton & Youngstown) and currently has over 50 chapters in his 2 regions and more than 1,000 members.

In January 2004, Natalie Paz-Storey partnered with Meyer and Carmony. They recognized an opportunity in the middle of the State. There were 3 chapters in Columbus, the State Capital. They started to put the word out that BNI was growing in the Central Ohio market and the phone has not stopped ringing. Hungry and successful business professionals are lining up to get involved with BNI in Columbus. Natalie and her team are closing in on 15 chapters and currently have 225 members.

“Team Ohio” has received numerous awards from BNI Corporate for Outstanding Performance as Directors and also for coming up with innovative presentations and programs for their members.

John is also the United States National Director-East. In this capacity, John coaches and assists Executive Directors for the Eastern half of the United States.

Currently, Team Ohio has over 150 chapters throughout the state with more than 3,100 members! In 2009 alone, BNI members in Ohio passed an estimated 110,000 referrals for an estimated total of almost $80 million in closed business!.

We are always looking for more great networkers!