Why I Built My Business in Northern Kentucky
Learn from a local entrepreneur why the Northern Kentucky region is the perfect place to start a business.
With excellent quality-of-life amenities, low utility rates, convenient transportation options and a thriving economy — Northern Kentucky is a prime destination for people to live, play and run a successful business.
Timothy Schroeder
Co-founder CTI
Timothy Schroeder co-founded CTI, a full-service contract research organization that provides therapeutic expertise to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, in Cincinnati in 1999. This once-small business now has locations around the world, and in 2016, Schroeder relocated the company’s headquarters to Covington.
One, we had outgrown the facility that we were in, and two, our workforce was increasingly young, and they really wanted to be in the center city, so they drove the search. Thinking in terms of the former headquarters (in Blue Ash, Ohio), which had lasted us about a dozen years, we were looking for the next headquarters that would accommodate the next 15 years or so…(and) be both a place that would allow us to attract a talented workforce but also retain the ones that we had, so that was really the driving force.
I attribute the initial introduction (to Covington) to Chuck Scheper (a former mayor of the city). Even before we started our search, he said, ‘Why don’t you move the company for its next stage of growth here to Northern Kentucky,’ and I kind of chuckled at the time because we weren’t even really thinking that way, and certainly, we hadn’t started to put a process in place. Once we did put the process in place, I would say that whether it was the governor at the time, whether it was the county commissioner, whether it was the mayor, whether it was the economic development groups…they all made us feel very, very welcome.
“I would say that whether it was the governor at the time, whether it was the county commissioner, whether it was the mayor, whether it was the economic development groups…they all made us feel very, very welcome.”
Timothy Schroeder, co-founder of CTI
I would say that the attributes for us in the service organization are always about people. We get a very well-educated workforce that is extremely loyal. We have a relatively low cost of doing business here…I think all the dynamics that you would look for in a people-based business you find here.
No. 1, follow your dream. No. 2, make sure you have a passion for what you’re trying to accomplish. No. 3, don’t be afraid to fail, and I think I would just surround yourself with people who you trust and people who believe in the dream that you are trying to put forward.
Want to learn more about living and working in the Northern Kentucky region? Check out the latest edition of Livability Northern Kentucky.
