[Standing at Podium]

>> Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner- First of all our first award is for the employer of the year, and this is UCB, Inc. UCB is recognized as a market leader in providing intelligent solutions for financial performance in customer relations in Columbus, Toledo and Maumee.  UCB employs 334 collectors serving healthcare, telecommunications, utilities, government and financial services.  Their corporate results rely upon staff with excellent customer service skills. In 2004 UCB began a deliberate initiative to include people with disabilities in the workplace.  It brought on 28 full time employees with various disabilities. UCB has embraced available resources as they accommodate these employees and observe them achieving bonuses and promotions on par with other workers.  For that we will be recognizing UCB as employer of the year.

>> Jeff Horner – Thank you Secretary of State Brunner and Governor’s Counselor on people with disabilities and some special friends that are here with us today and honored guests. And to go about doing that was through an initiative to seek out and employ people with disabilities charged with the challenge of some overall performance improvements in our company to reduce turnover and attrition within the organization to increase performance levels and morale, to drive the bottom line, of course as a private business.  The way we were going to go about doing that was through an initiative to seek out and employ people with disabilities and it has been a very rewarding experience for me personally.  I know for a number of people in our organization that UCB and The Sierra Group are partnering on the convergence of these initiatives, the training program and the consumer assistance referral program is a perfect fit for everyone involved.  I wanted to see if Janet,  you wanted to say a couple of words since it’s  been such a big contributor to our program I thought I would let her say a few words to us.

>> Janet Fiore – Thank you.  I am so pleased to be here today on behalf of United Collection Bureau as a person with a disability, a business owner, and an advocate for the cause. I would like to thank Governor Strickland, Secretary of State Brunner, the Governor’s Council on People with Disabilities and all of you for recognizing United Collection Bureau as the Employer of the Year. Together we will drive up employment for Americans with disabilities.