Airline strikes, embattled baseball teams, corporate bankruptcies, consumer rip-offs and investment scams — the stories of 2001 wouldn't have been the same without the people of 2001.

        Major newsmakers in the Greater Cincinnati business community were:

        • A.G. Lafley: Signs of Mr. Lafley's style were all over Procter & Gamble Co. in 2001. The soft-spoken chief executive made P&G a friendlier place, but also imposed tough standards that led to the company jettisoning brands such as Jif, Crisco and Comet. He also extended a cost-cutting program by 10,000 new job cuts, including about 1,900 in Greater Cincinnati.

        • Carl Lindner: Mr. Lindner's main impact in 2001 was what he did not say. Despite the outcry of Cincinnati Reds fans all over the region, the owner never tried to explain his strategy for the franchise, even as it suffered through a 96-loss season. A battle with colitis put Mr. Lindner in a local hospital for nearly a month. His businesses took just as big a beating, with Chiquita Brands International's bankruptcy and the insurance industry's comeback halted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

        • David Siebenburgen: The president of Delta Connection Inc., who had previously served as president of Erlanger-based regional airline Comair, was a key player in this spring's 89-day pilot strike. As head of Delta Air Lines' regional network Delta Connection, Mr. Siebenburgen served as one of the company's most public figures during the strike. In November, he retired from that position, and the Delta Connection headquarters was moved to Atlanta to coordinate better with Delta.

        • J.C. Lawson III: As chairman of the Comair branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, Mr. Lawson headed the Comair pilots' union, which took the company to the verge of extinction with an 89-day strike — and oversaw negotiations that eventually led to the settlement. He is still in his current capacity as chairman, but he has also resumed flying more regularly for the airline.

        • Stephen G. Donahue: Mr. Donahue was best known as the founder of one of the dominant financial planning and brokerage networks in Greater Cincinnati — until the government accused him last spring of stealing more than $6 million from his clients. Although court documents say Mr. Donahue disclosed the scheme to federal authorities in February, no federal criminal charges have been filed against Mr. Donahue. Because of U.S Securities and Exchange Commission civil charges, his businesses have been liquidated, and authorities continue to work on repaying his clients what they thought they had invested in bogus accounts.

        • Terry Jacobs: Aggressive growth is one mantra of Mr. Jacobs, chief executive at Regent Communications, a Covington-based holding company that owns and operates 61 radio stations in 12 markets in eight states. In early 1998, the company founded a year before by Mr. Jacobs and president William Stakelin owned just one station.

        • Ross Love: Though best known this year for co-chairing race relations task force Cincinnati Community Action Now (CAN), the longtime area businessman also made headlines in August when his Blue Chip Broadcasting merged with Radio One Inc., the nation's seventh-largest radio company. The deal created the nation's largest media company that targets African-American radio listeners. Also, it culminated Mr. Love's five-year growth strategy to build Blue Chip into an urban music powerhouse.

        • Harry Hocks Jr.: A longtime Cincinnati auto dealer, Mr. Hocks died of a fall in December, throwing into limbo a civil dispute between banks, car buyers and himself over a what was alleged to be an auto-retailing fraud.

        • Mike Wilson: Mr. Wilson resigned in October, ending a 30-year career with the Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau. Mr. Wilson came under fire because of the city's struggling convention and tourism business. Also, a plan to expand the convention center has been stuck in neutral for years.

        Mr. Wilson's position as president became tenuous after an organizational audit showed Cincinnati has fallen behind Midwest competitors in hotel occupancy and other convention measures. The bureau also failed to meet its lofty goals.

        Mr. Wilson was replaced by Comair executive Chuck Curran on an interim basis.

        • Karen L. Hendricks: One of the Tristate's highest-profile female executives retired as chairwoman and CEO of Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. just weeks before the 139-year-old Cincinnati piano company sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. She also resigned from the company's board of directors.

        Mrs. Hendricks, who had led Baldwin since 1994, had been under fire for years from Baldwin dealers, employees and investors who accused the former P&G executive of mismanaging the company. The company reported losses of more than $17 million in the prior two years.

Tristate gropes to regain economic footing
Big year for big names
Interest rate cuts unprecedented
Tristate by the numbers
Comair still on comeback
Directions changed for local start-ups in 2001
Two local firms maintain pace
Business Notes
Entrepreneurs
Listings of stocks, mutual funds to expand