She had been an accounting manager for NCR and eventually was offered a job with the company in Georgia. Kreill, however, didn’t want to uproot her family — husband Todd and their three children, ages 3 to 8.
WebCore Technologies in Miami Twp., a company nurtured by financial support from the Third Frontier program, offered her a job as controller and she accepted.
“I received this great opportunity,” said Kreill, 39, of Centerville.
The Third Frontier is focused on developing new technologies and products, but a key goal also is to make Ohio and the Dayton area an attractive place to settle down and raise families, which Kreill and her husband plan to do.
She was one of several WebCore employees singled out by company chairman Dan Hutcheson during a visit by Gov. Ted Strickland to the firm to campaign for renewal of the Third Frontier on the May 4 ballot.
Voters will be asked to approve issuing $700 million in bonds to keep the program going. It doesn’t expire until 2012, but backers want to renew it to keep momentum going.
Strickland, a Democrat, hailed former Republican Gov. Bob Taft as the founder of a program that state officials credit with retaining or creating 55,000 jobs since 2002.
Voters in 2005 approved a bond issue that included $500 million for the Third Frontier. With money from other sources, the commitment to the program reached $1.6 million, but some non-bond money was diverted and the total declined to about $1.35 billion.
More than $130 million has been awarded to Dayton-area universities and companies, including WebCore, for a wide range of products and processes including fuel cells, lasers, unmanned aerial vehicles and developing new high performance material for defense and commercial applications.
Recently, GE Aviation said a $7.6 million Third Frontier grant helped make possible the plans for a new electric power systems research and development center near Dayton.
A majority of the Third Frontier programs require the winners to chip in from 50 cents on the dollar to as much as $2 for every dollar awarded, according to state officials.
“The bottom line is the Third Frontier is the most effective job creation tool we have available to our state,” Strickland said.
Earlier in a meeting with the Dayton Daily News editorial board, Strickland stressed the bipartisan support for the initiative and backing from both business and labor.
The campaign is being led by former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, who served as co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, and David Wilhelm, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee now living in suburban Columbus.
While Strickland said there appears to be no organized opposition to the ballot initiative, he said he was concerned that groups such as the Tea Party could campaign against it.
Rob Scott, president of the Dayton Tea Party, said that while a majority in the Tea Party probably oppose the issue, the group has higher priorities, such as the effort to nullify the recently enacted federal health care overhaul.
Strickland urged the 50 people gathered at WebCore to campaign for passage.
“It will keep Ohio on the cutting edge,” the governor said.
Added Chris Howard, vice president, entrepreneurial development for the Dayton Development Coalition: “It’s made a monumental difference in our community, It is our future.”
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