SiteOhio is marking 10 years of helping Ohio communities and companies find the right fit. JobsOhio’s best-in-class site readiness program evaluates a site’s potential, closes infrastructure gaps, and connects the right community partners so projects can move forward successfully.
Part 1 of 4: InSite Consulting
Ten years ago, when Tonya Crist and Rob Cornwell first sat down with JobsOhio, they got a blunt admission from the other side of the table: Ohio had no real inventory of its industrial sites, no consistent way to evaluate them, and no way to confidently tell a company what a property could deliver.
They said, ‘We’re broken. We don’t have any idea what kind of sites we have,’ ” Crist recalls.
JobsOhio’s honest admission — humility paired with real urgency — set the standard for the many hard conversations to come. It’s what Crist says set the foundation for building a top-flight program from the ground up that demanded full transparency for its site inventory.
Kristi Clouse was JobsOhio’s operations director during those early conversations. She recognized the dire need for Ohio to improve and was determined to make it happen.
In the beginning, we realized we couldn’t identify truly ready sites, and to win in site selection, we needed to consult experts who do this for a living,” Clouse said. “The process wasn’t easy. It required tough, truthful conversations that exposed our shortcomings. But communities that accepted the feedback, embraced the coaching, and delivered concise, factual information quickly began to see real success.
The end result: SiteOhio, a unique model that puts commercial properties through a rigorous, comprehensive analysis that confirms all utilities are in place with adequate capacity, that due diligence studies have been completed, and that all state and federal entities have provided concurrence with the studies.
JobsOhio colleagues credit Clouse’s persistence and insight, while working arm in arm with Crist and Cornwell, in guiding SiteOhio’s path to excellence. Ten years later, Clouse is proud that the program was built to last.
SiteOhio turned a blind selection process into a winning strategy. By having candid conversations and exposing our readiness gaps, we gave local communities a clear roadmap and coaching to improve,” Clouse said. “Over the past decade, SiteOhio has done exactly what it set out to do — bring stakeholders together and position Ohio communities for major economic wins.
Building the Toolbox
Crist and Cornwell founded InSite Consulting more than 20 years ago. They worked on both sides of economic development: for companies seeking a site location, and for communities trying to attract them. That dual perspective became the core of SiteOhio’s authentication process — and, from the start, a willingness to say things JobsOhio itself couldn’t always say directly.
We coach communities to create answers, not excuses,” Crist said. “If you can’t answer the questions about your site, nobody can.
Cornwell explained that states can struggle to conduct these reviews on their own because internal staffers must remain politically cautious and manage their relationships carefully. An outside consultant may not feel the same restrictions.
You can't go into a community with a wealthy landowner and tell them their baby’s ugly, that they’ve got a site with real potential, but it has a long way to go,” Cornwell said. “A third party can.
That directness extends to the program’s structure. Unlike states that sort sites into gold, silver, and bronze tiers, SiteOhio draws a clear line: a site is either authenticated, or it isn’t.
We will not water this program down with tiers,” Crist said. “We don’t coach or play to lose.
According to Crist, SiteOhio’s success is testimony to this standard: high expectations produce better sites, stronger communities, and a real competitive advantage.
A Decade of Progress
Few stories capture what the SiteOhio process can do better than South Afton Industrial Park in Clermont County.
When Crist and Cornwell first evaluated the site, they told the community something simple but pointed: a non-descript site buried at the bottom of an internet search wasn’t going to get found. The community listened. They rebranded the park, its web domain, and even the local development organization.
South Afton was authenticated by SiteOhio in 2018 as “ready for development.” Clermont County says the upfront work included fully documenting utility data, expanding infrastructure capacities, and constructing a 2,000-foot access road — preparation specifically identified as “key to marketing and attracting buyers to the site.”
Not long after, Nestlé Purina PetCare selected the site as part of the company’s plans to build a $550 million, 1.2 million-square-foot pet food plant, bringing 300 jobs to the area.
Purina officials pointed to Clermont County’s authenticated site, distribution opportunities, a workforce with great potential, and strong community values as reasons for choosing South Afton Industrial Park. According to Andy Kuchta, who led economic development for Clermont County at the time, identifying the right site was vital.
Going through the entire site development process, of which the SiteOhio Authentication was a crucial part, was invaluable in so many ways,” said Kuchta, who believes the Authenticated designation was also critical to the county receiving $60 million to eliminate traffic signals on State Route 32. “What JobsOhio is doing with site readiness is helping many Ohio communities be much more prepared to help their communities grow and prosper.
According to Crist and Cornwell, companies operating on sites that participated in SiteOhio (including those that weren’t authenticated but improved their standing during the process) have generated over $16 billion in capital investment and 9,500 new jobs. And the work continues: Roughly 90 sites across the state are currently moving through the next “wave” of SiteOhio evaluation — proof, Cornwell said, that the program’s core vision has held strong.
We see a lot of programs and a lot of sites, but this is the best program in the country,” he said. “It hasn’t happened overnight, but JobsOhio has stayed the course. And now there’s nobody else doing it better.
SiteOhio By the Numbers (2016-2026)
Participating Sites: 1,000+
On-site evaluations: 150+
Authenticated sites: 34
Authenticated acres: 4,000+
Learn more at www.jobsohio.com/site-selection
