Long-Distance Relationship

Seattle-native Brandon Kroeger didn’t want to leave Cleveland, where he had been living for five years. But his fiancé got a job back in Seattle and so he opted to go with her.

Kroeger, creative director at Broadcast Media Ideas Ltd. (BMI) in Cleveland, was especially upset about leaving a job he loved.

Likewise, BMI, a video and marketing services company, didn’t want to let a good employee slip away.

Instead of training somebody new and losing its investment in Kroeger, BMI, through technology, has been able to keep him on staff.

“I’m very, very thankful for what they’ve done,” Kroeger says.

“He was such a great employee that we didn’t want to lose him,” says Michael Settonni, president and CEO of BMI.

Kroeger works out of his home in Seattle and is able to edit video and direct the creative process of projects for clients through the
Internet.

Settonni sees it as stemming the brain drain. Kroeger might not physically be in Northeast Ohio, but he’s lending his talents to growing a Cleveland-based company.

Kroeger, who moved back to Seattle in January, comes to Cleveland for a few days each month.

“I didn’t want to leave,” he says. “It was a really good opportunity.”