Eric is a proven technology and business leader. He has founded businesses, including a current successful cabin rental business, and is the former Assistant State Chief Technology Officer for the State of Ohio. Prior to joining the state of Ohio, Eric was Co-Founder and President of iBeam Solutions LLC, a technology company in Central Ohio that sold in 2007. iBeam was finalist for many business and technology awards including TopCAT awards, Business of the Year Award and he was a two time finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in the central Ohio region. Eric has also been a member of the Central Ohio CIO Leadership Forum since 1998, having been its fifth member when it was founded. He was formerly the Chief Information Officer at Bricker & Eckler LLP for over 7 years. Eric's work and the firm were the subject of multiple case studies published by Microsoft. Eric won the Network Night Community Service Award in 1999 for his efforts in Y2K Education and public speaking on the topic. Eric was also IT Director for the College of Humanities at The Ohio State University.
Eric is a United States Marines Corps veteran. He and his wife Brenda have four daughters and a son along with a growing number of grandchildren. They live in the Hocking Hills on a 67 acre farm where they raise cattle and grow blueberries and chestnuts among other things. Eric graduated from Berne Union High School and raised farm animals on their family property while he was growing up. Eric enjoys farming and jumped at the opportunity to return to the region in the early 2000s. He and his wife have been building their farm ever since. Having built their first cabin with the help of the Amish that they lived in for many years, they decided to give it a more modern look and turn it in to a rental cabin after building a new home elsewhere on the property. The Cabin on the Hill opened in 2017 and has nearly 200 5-star reviews. The Cabin by the Pond opened in 2022 for guests and is also capturing dozens of 5-star reviews so far.
Eric became interested in hemp after hearing about the benefits of CBD from a TV series on CNN. He has research for many years, and then his wife Brenda began using it during her recovery from a medical issue. He encouraged is mother to use it during her battle with cancer and saw its benefits. They decided that they would like to farm hemp and produce high quality CBD to help others. The Hocking Hills is a uniquely beautiful area. Their farm is a long established farm in the area and it creates a one of a kind place to grow hemp and to also create an extraction facility to process hemp for themselves and other farmers, a much needed service in the industry. It creates a place where Eric can combine his childhood passion for farming with his love and expertise in technology and business and his desire to help others.
Eric is a past president of Main Street Canal Winchester, past president of the Canal Winchester Chamber of Commerce and has held many positions on boards of organizations and companies and has extensive public speaking experience. Eric enjoys hunting, fishing, being outdoors, antique cars, astronomy, learning new things and loves classic rock and roll!
Brenda is the co-founder of Hocking Hills CBD LLC is an experienced business professional and farmer and enjoys creating original crafts. Her background provides insight into what it takes to form a company and put tools in place to operate and manage a company from its inception through day-to-day operations. She has held several administrative and technology positions in a prominent law firm in Columbus, Ohio, and has held positions in other companies including technology, administration, human resources, tax, real estate, property management and others that give her insight in to the inner-workings of business operations.
Brenda has used her knowledge and skills to help launch and operate several successful businesses over her career, from a technology company, to a real estate management company, to assisting with the startup up a franchise brokerage firm, to the venture at the heart of this new experience, an Ohio agritourism business which operates a farm and successful cabin rental business right here on our farm in the Hocking Hills of Ohio.
Brenda has her own personal story with using CBD to manage pain during her physical therapy post-cervical spine surgery and has now also been able to successfully transition away from prescription arthritis medication with the use of CBD. She also introduce the benefits of CBD to many others seeking pain and anxiety relief, among others.
Brenda is a graduate of Franklin Heights High School in Columbus, Ohio and attended Columbus State Community College. She is the proud mother of two daughters, two stepdaughters, a stepson and especially loves being grandma to a growing number of grandchildren.
She loves working on the farm. When time permits, she loves the outdoors and especially likes to fish, hike and harvest wild edibles, including wild berries and morel mushrooms. Brenda enjoys working with stained glass and likes to design new and unique things. She enjoys repurposing materials and using natural materials from her environment in her projects. She is an avid researcher and likes to find different and natural ways of tackling ordinary issues.
She and her husband Eric have been married for 20+ years and love being together on their farm in the Hocking Hills, whether they are building new structures to support the agritourism business, working in the flower and berry gardens, or dreaming about the day when they have time to restore the old barn structures.
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