London Stock Exchange Group’s Elite Initiative Announces Cleveland, Ohio as the Future Site of Elite Americas Headquarters

The move represents a significant commitment to the U.S. market by ELITE, LSEG’s international business support initiative

(LONDON)-Today, ELITE, in collaboration with Ohio Lt. Governor Jon Husted and JobsOhio, announced that Cleveland, Ohio will serve as the home of its Americas headquarters. ELITE is London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) international business support initiative for ambitious, private, small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The Cleveland headquarters will provide mid-market companies in the Americas with access to the skills and networks to help them scale-up and reach the next stage of growth.

It was also revealed at today’s second annual ELITE Day that Cleveland will host Global ELITE Day 2020. This will be the first time ELITE’s international conference of companies and advisors will take place outside of Europe. The event today also marked the graduation of the first cohort of ELITE U.S.A. companies, all of which are from Ohio.

Currently, there are over 1,200 businesses and 400 advisors and investors from across 43 countries and 34 sectors in the ELITE network. In aggregate, they employ over 500,000 people and generate more than $95 billion in revenues. Companies in the ELITE program historically have experienced seven times the growth and created four times more jobs than their industry peers.

“We’re proud of the partnership Ohio has formed with the ELITE program and look forward to the growth opportunities this collaboration opens up for businesses,” said Lt. Governor Husted. “Governor DeWine and I are excited to have Cleveland be the host of the ELITE Program’s first ever American headquarters, which will create Ohio jobs and further solidify our already strong relationship.”

The ELITE Americas headquarters — expected to open its doors Q1 2020 — will support the state’s ambitious mid-market companies through providing access to the skills and networks to accelerate their growth, creating new jobs and ultimately driving economic prosperity.

“Building on ELITE’s collaboration with JobsOhio, we are delighted to announce that ELITE will establish its Americas headquarters in Cleveland,” said Luca Peyrano, CEO of ELITE. “Cleveland is the ideal location for ELITE with its long-standing history of institutional investment, concentration of SMEs, strong educational institutions, and supportive and welcoming business community. We warmly congratulate the nine Ohio companies and the City of Athens, who are the first U.S. companies to graduate from ELITE’s training program.”

“As a G-20 endorsed global business, ELITE could have chosen anywhere in the United States for its Americas headquarters, and it chose Cleveland,” said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and chief investment officer. “This investment decision builds on a partnership established when ELITE first entered the Americas market through Ohio in 2018, and demonstrates the positive experience it had in Cleveland, with its long standing institutional investment history, one of the largest concentration of private small and midmarket companies in the country, and a supportive and welcoming business community.”

JobsOhio supports economic growth in Ohio through its innovative and agile approach. Last December, nine Ohio companies and the city of Athens, Ohio, were selected to join the first U.S. cohort of the ELITE initiative. Together, ELITE and JobsOhio selected companies from Ohio, through a year-long program, to provide their management teams with a unique network of support to help them scale up.