Sitting in Ohio City's Bonbon Pastry & Cafe, Cleveland councilman Joe Cimperman whips his arm around pointing in various directions as he lists projects he's facilitated. But after more than 17 years on council, he's taking over as Global Cleveland's third president in five years. The nonprofit works with businesses and universities to attract and connect newcomers to resources and is a perfect fit for Cimperman. The son of a Slovenian immigrant mother and a first-generation Slovenian father, he has visited Greece to meet refugees and pushed Cleveland to be more inclusive. We caught up with him to get his take on his new job, leadership and immigrants.
On Global Cleveland: It is our job to be the educators, facilitators and bridge builders for how people in Northeast Ohio become ambassadors of our region to the world.
On leadership stability: When organizations start, they are often different in their second and third year than in their fourth and fifth year. You need different leaders. You need the person who can assemble the first policy manual, the person who sets the trajectory of the mission, the person who starts raising money. Then you need the person who takes it to the next level.
On the strength of immigrants: There's a struggle that [immigrants] go through. Why is it that so many people who start new businesses happen to be born in other countries? If you can get here, you can do anything.
On incentives: Incentives don't have to mean the creation of new capital. Incentives could be the people who are here, and the culture we've already cultivated. We've got jobs unfilled, acres of land to develop, relationships to foment. I hope to make the landing in Cleveland easier. There's a power in "welcome."
On the Cleveland Cultural Gardens: I was on this trip to Greece, and I was talking with a member of the Serbian Parliament. He said, "Tell me one thing I should come to Cleveland for other than LeBron." I said, "Have you heard about our cultural gardens?" He was fascinated that the Serbian cultural garden is across the street from the Albanian cultural garden, [which] is down the hill from the Slovenian cultural garden, [which] is across from the Croatian cultural garden. This is a place where war ends and peace and prosperity can start. We are unique in that.
