PERRYSBURG — Emcee Jerry Anderson was quick with the quips, and Poggemeyer Design Group was named
Corporate Citizen of the Year at Wednesday’s annual dinner meeting of the Wood County Economic
Development Commission.
WCEDC Executive Director Wade Gottschalk said Poggemeyer has done much for local communities and has been
an excellent corporate citizen long before it was chosen for the award this year. The company has also
greatly expanded its reach, now with offices in 11 states and a western headquarters in Las Vegas.
Founded in 1968 by Lester Poggemeyer in downtown Bowling Green, the company has been a leader in not just
designing construction and road projects, but pursuing grants and other funding for such projects.
Lester Poggemeyer sold his company to four top employees in 1987 and the company named as its chairman
Jack Jones, who accepted the Wood County award Wednesday.
“This is where we live and where we work,” Jones said of Poggemeyer’s desire to have a role in shaping
Wood County.
“We enjoy doing projects in our community,” he said after showing a map of Ohio outlining recent projects
across the state.
Poggemeyer’s presence in the region is nearly immeasurable — the company has worked on everything from
intersection redesigns to multi-million dollar buildings, including the Wood County Justice Center,
Bowling Green Municipal Court, Bowling Green Community Center and the Huntington Center in Toledo.
“That small, one-man engineering and surveying office evolved into a building with 90 employees offering
a multitude of services in engineering, architecture and community planning,” said Jim Carter, president
of the Wood County Board of Commissioners, in announcing Poggemeyer for the award.
Commissioner Doris Herringshaw thanked two outgoing members of the WCEDC executive committee, Tim Pedro
and Jerry Miller, for their roles in forming public-private partnerships in support of economic
development.
In board organization Wednesday, two new members were named in Jack Jones of Poggemeyer, and Doug Miller,
who replaces Pedro as vice president. The board president will be Lane Williamson, a former at-large
member who replaces Rex Huffman.
Huffman, who has served on the economic development commission for seven years, including four as
president, was also honored Wednesday. Describing Huffman as a man who wears many hats, Gottschalk gave
him caps with the logos of some of the projects he helped bring to Wood County, including FedEx, CSX,
Owens-Illinois and Bass Pro Shops.
“The board wanted to do something special for Rex knowing that he’s really gone above and beyond on a lot
of these projects,” Gottschalk said.
Anderson, a Wood County native, completed his 20th year as master of ceremonies, taking friendly jabs at
officials including Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins and Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn, whom he
chided about Level 3 snow emergencies.
“I learned in this brutal winter that Sheriff Wasylyshyn relies, from what I can see, more on temperature
than actual snow totals to declare emergencies,” Anderson said. “Here’s why I said that. One day I asked
him: ‘Sheriff, how do you do it?’ He said: ‘Simple — it’s a cold day in hell before I issue a Level 3.’
That’s temperature based.”