Mike Hart, CEO of Hart

Mike Hart is CEO of Hart, one of Ohio’s largest independent, full-service marketing firms, with offices in Toledo and Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. Started as one-man shop by his father in 1965, today Mike guides a team of more than 80 strategic professionals, spanning seven marketing-communications disciplines. The agency grew by 65% each year from 2020 to 2022, and has an adjusted gross income of $13 million. Notable milestones include being named a Top Workplaces Winner by the Toledo Blade in 2023, the 2022 acquisition of MDB Communications, a full-service media-neutral agency based in Washington, D.C., and Hart I MDB being named Washington Business Journal’s 24th Fastest Growing Companies for 2022. Mike was inducted into the Paul J. Hooker Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership 2022 Hall of Fame at BGSU, and was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® in the Multimedia, Marketing and Communications category for the Central Great Lakes Region in 2005. He also has served on the boards of the Press Club of Toledo, The University of Toledo’s Center for Family Business, the Toledo Area Small Business Association and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northwest Ohio.