Cincinnati entrepreneur Cynthia Booth is one of four Ohio honorees for the 2020 EY Entrepreneur of the Year awards in the East Central U.S.

 

Booth is CEO and owner of COBCO Enterprises, a privately held company that owns and operates McDonald’s franchises throughout Greater Cincinnati. Prior to starting COBCO Enterprises in 2000, she was one of the highest-ranking female executives at Firstar Bank (now part of U.S. Bank) and the first African American serving at the executive level.

 

In addition to TriHealth, she also serves on several local boards, including First Financial Bancorp and Greater Cincinnati Regional Chamber of Commerce. In 2019, she was vice chair of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati's $50 million fundraising campaign.

 

Four other Ohioans are among the eight honorees in the East Central region, which also includes western Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia. Those honorees are:

• Fred Ode of Foundation Software LLC/ Payroll4Construction.com (Strongsville, Ohio)

• Jody Richards of Process Technology (Willoughby, Ohio)

• Alex Timm of Root Insurance (Columbus, Ohio)

• Bill Cosgrove of Union Home Mortgage (Strongsville, Ohio)

 

Regional winners go on to the national competition in November, and the winner of that competes with winners from 59 other countries for the global award. They're judged on criteria including overcoming adversity, financial performance, societal impact, establishing strong corporate values, innovation and talent management.

 

Last year, Molly North, president and CEO of Al Neyer, won 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year for Real Estate, Hospitality & Construction on the national level.

 

Ernst & Young LLP started the business executive competition in 1986. Judges include past winners, investors and other business leaders.

 

Wishing Cynthia the best of luck from all of us at TriHealth!