COSE Thirty Year Anniversary Timeline
COSE's 30th Anniversary Timeline
1970
- Cleveland was a Fortune 500 Mecca, overshadowing the needs of the small business owners
- Truck strike paralyzes small businesses
- 200 small business owners gather at Cleveland City Hall, later named the “March on City Hall” to pressure the mayor into doing something about the truck strike
- The Industrial Action Group (IAG) forms to speak out about small business issues. First ad headlines read “Does Cleveland Business Need Another Voice? We Say Yes! Read Why.” Dues were $100
1971
- IAG interest fades
- Growth Association encouraged to form small business group to increase membership
- First brochure to attract small business read Grow With Us in the G.C.G.A. – Growth by Association
1972
- The Small Business Council is formed, which is eventually named COSE, the Council of Smaller Enterprises
- The compact disk is developed by RCA; Philips Co. introduces the video disk
- Electronic mail is introduced. Queen Elizabeth II sends her first e-mail in 1976
- M*A*S*H premieres on CBS
1973
- Health care plans offered
- First full-time executive director, Michael Benz hired
- First COSE educational seminar offered
- First COSE newsletter published
- First small business presentation to Congress
- Cease-fire marks end of America’s involvement in Vietnam War
- Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is designed
- Jazz master Duke Ellington publishes autobiography “Music is My Mistress”
1974
- Management Assistance Program established, providing one-on-one assistance for small business owners
- Membership jumps from 491 to 785 in one month
- Patty Hearst is kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army
- President Richard M. Nixon resigns
- “People” magazine debuts with Mia Farrow on the cover
1975
- CEO roundtables begin
- First presentation to Ohio General Assembly
- Pol Pot and Khmer Rouge take over Cambodia
- Unemployment is 5.6 percent
- Edward Albee’s “Seascape” wins the Pulitzer Prize for drama
- “Saturday Night Live” premieres with George Carlin as host
1976
- Creation of the first small business agenda resulting in the first small business presentation in Columbus
- United States celebrates its Bicentennial
- Paul Simon’s “Still Crazy After All These Years” wins the Grammy Award for Album of the Year
- “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” wins the Academy Award for Best Picture
1977
- COSE Programs for growth start
- Unemployment hits 7.7 percent
- “Roots” premieres on TV; “Star Wars” and “Saturday Night Fever” hit theaters; and Elvis dies at Graceland at the age of 42
- The neutron bomb is developed
- Space shuttle Enterprise makes its first test glide from the back of a Boeing 747
1978
- Kaiser Permanente added to COSE health plan
- Membership stands at 2,500
- Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat sign “Framework for Peace” in the Middle East at a conference held at Camp David led by President Jimmy Carter
- The first test-tube baby is born in London
- Balloon angioplasty is developed to treat coronary artery disease
1979
- COSE Strategic Planning Course offered to members
- The Shah leaves Iran and the Ayatollah Khomeini takes over; Iranian militants seize U.S. Embassy in Teheran, holding hostages
- Soviet invasion of Afghanistan stirs world protests
- Three Mile Island nuclear reactor overheats
1980
- COSE plays major role in first “modern” White House Conference on Small Business
- Ronald Reagan elected president in a Republican sweep
- Median household income is $17,710
- “Do you believe in miracles?” The U.S. Olympic hockey team defeats the Soviets in Lake Placid, New York
- Beatle John Lennon is shot in New York City
- Ted Turner launches CNN
1981
- Business planning seminars begin
- U.S. air traffic controllers strike, disrupting flights worldwide
- President Reagan wounded by John Hinckley Jr.
- MTV goes on air
- IBM introduces its first personal computer running DOS
- The FDA approves the use of artificial sweetener Nutrasweet
1982
- Mary Jane Fabish, first woman chair of COSE, elected
- COSE celebrates 10th anniversary
- Membership grows to 4,700
- Equal Rights Amendment fails ratification
- Space shuttle Columbia makes its first mission
1983
- Participants in COSE’s Entrepreneurship Conference go on to start 50 businesses
- 237 U.S. Marines killed in terrorist attack in Beirut
- Sally Ride is the first U.S. woman astronaut in space aboard Challenger
- The FCC authorizes Motorola to begin testing cellular phone service in Chicago
1984
- Health insurance plan renovated with 3,000 companies and more than 20,000 subscribers
- COSE named one of six Small Business Development Centers (SBDC) in the region to handle administration of COSE health insurance program
- COSE Group Services Inc. formed
- Ma Bell System is broken up
- The U.S. Supreme Court rules that taping TV shows at home on VCRs does not violate copyright laws
- Playwright David Mamet wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for “Glengarry Glen Ross”
- Apple introduces the user-friendly Macintosh personal computer
1985
- First COSE Strategic Plan written
- COSE works to stop “Right to Know” legislation
- Tom Peters speaks at Annual Meeting
- Membership grows to 6,500
- Mikhail Gorbachev is named leader of Soviet Union
- Desktop publishing becomes commonly used
- British scientists report a large hole in the earth’s ozone layer over Antarctica
- Coca-Cola monkeys with its 99-year-old formula by launching “New” Coke
1986
- COSE officially designated as Small Business Development Center by U.S. Small Business Administration and Ohio Department of Development
- Space shuttle Challenger explodes after launch, killing all seven on board
- U.S. House of Representatives rejects Reagan administration’s “Star Wars” policy
- “Oprah” hits national television audiences
- Barry Diller creates the Fox Network
- Academic American Encyclopedia is available on CD-ROM
1987
- Inner Harbor Project begins
- Membership grows to 7,500
- Iran-Contra scandal explodes
- Eli Lilly & Co. releases Prozac for use
- Montreal International Treaty calls for 50 percent reduction in the use of chloroflouro-carbons by the year 2000
1988
- COSE Cellular One service offered
- COSE chosen to produce Inc. 500 conference
- COSE chairman Brad Roller saluted by President Reagan for political activism
- Pan-Am Flight 103 explodes from a terrorist bomb over Lockerbie, Scotland
- United State and Canada reach free trade agreement (NAFTA)
- CDs outsell vinyl records for the first time
1989
- Total health insurance premium volume exceeds $100 million
- COSE members testify before National Bipartisan Commission on Health Care
- Full-time COSE Government Action staff person added
- Tens of thousands of Chinese students take over Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in a rally for democracy. Thousands are killed
- Exxon Valdez sends 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound
- The first World Wide Web server and browser are developed in England
1990
- Membership exceeds 10,000
- 40 COSE members meet with President Bush
- COSE insures nearly 150,000 Greater Clevelanders
- South Africa frees Nelson Mandela from prison after 27 years
- “The Simpson’s” debuts on Fox and “Seinfeld” debuts on NBC
- Movies released include “Dances with Wolves,” “Goodfellas” and “Reversal of Fortune”
- President George Bush signs the Clean Air Act
1991
- COSE Workers’ Comp program starts
- Group Services Inc. expands to include Toledo chamber
- Cease-fire ends Persian Gulf War
- The Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings erupt
- Rock group Nirvana launches grunge movement
- Gopher, the first user-friendly Internet interface, is created at the University of Minnesota
1992
- President Bush calls COSE a national leader in creating “workable solutions to healthcare challenges”
- Membership tops 12,000
- Yugoslav Federation is broken up. United Nations expels Serbian-dominated Yugoslavia
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) signed
- U.S. leads UN effort to guard food for Somalians
- Violence erupts in Los Angeles after police acquitted of beating Rodney King
- Johnny Carson hosts “The Tonight Show” for the last time
- Text-based Web browser is made available to the public
1993
- CBG communication services offered
- 1,200 members attend Stephen Covey seminar
- Branch Davidian standoff with federal agents ends in fiery death in Waco, Texas
- Lorain native Toni Morrison wins the Nobel Prize for Literature
1994
- COSE works to defeat Clinton health plan
- Nelson Mandela is elected President of South Africa in that country’s first interracial national election
- O.J. Simpson is charged with killing his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman
- Major League Baseball players strike; the World Series is cancelled
- “Schindler’s List” wins Oscar for Best Picture
- White House launches Web page and initial commerce sites are launched
1995
- Membership includes 16,226 companies
- Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building is bombed in Oklahoma City
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opens in Cleveland
- Cleveland Indians lose to Atlanta Braves in World Series
1996
- Members save a total of $95 million on health insurance, workers’ comp, long distance, and cellular phone services
- “Mad cow” disease outbreak in Britain
- Broadcasters, television and PC manufacturers agree on a standard for high-definition television
- Approximately 45 million people in the world are using the Internet (30 million of those in North America)
1997
- Workers’ Comp Program enrolls 5,007 companies
- 13,000 members enrolled in health insurance plans
- CBG has 2,800 COSE participants
- AirTouch nets 13,000 members
- Hong Kong returns to Chinese rule
- Indians lose to Florida Marlins in World Series
- Princess Diana; Mother Theresa; Jacques Cousteau; John Denver; Allen Ginsberg; and Jimmy Stewart die
1998
- Monica Lewinsky becomes a household name after President Clinton denies having an affair with the White House intern
- President Clinton outlines first balanced budget in 30 years
- FDA approves Viagra
- 77-year-old Ohio Senator John Glenn returns to space on shuttle Discovery
1999
- Creation of the COSE Customer Service Team to help better serve the membership
-
www.cose.org goes live
- Implementation of the e-strategy campaign within the Growth Association aimed at developing a new Web site and information system for the organization
- COSE’s Retirement Plan introduced
- War erupts in Kosovo
- World prepares for Y2K
- Internet users reach 150 million worldwide, with more than half from the U.S.
2000
- Launch of the “Get the Most Out of COSE” membership e-mail
- COSE adds public relations position
- Introduced online health insurance plan administration
- First local chamber of commerce partnership with the Chagrin Valley Chamber of Commerce
- Launched the “Best 100” Web sites listing on cose.org
- Introduced online learning capability
- Fought “living wage” ordinance
- Helped pass HB 221, Mandated Benefit Review
- COSE members named to Gov. Taft’s Small Business Advisory Council
- COSE Update goes full color
- U.S.S. Cole attacked in port in Yemen
- Cuban Elian Gonzalez is the center of an international custody dispute
- President George W. Bush wins the closest election in decades
- “I love you” virus disrupts computers worldwide
2001
- Creation of a new COSE Strategic Plan
- Successful campaign advocating for Cleveland Hopkins Airport expansion for regional competitiveness
- Launched the COSE Business Plan Challenge awarding more than $100,000 in cash and prizes to Northeast Ohio entrepreneurs
- Reached the membership milestone of 16,700 members
- Introduced the COSE Electric Program
- Introduced the Power Breakfast Panel education series
- Worked with community leaders, members of the Ohio congressional delegation to secure $70 million in funding for NASA Glenn Research Center.
- Launched Capitolgate, an online advocacy resource center that gives state legislators comprehensive information about issues before them
- Launched the COSE Key Resources Program with Baldwin-Wallace College
- Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network launch terror attacks on New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania
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