Pat Perry

With a career spanning over 40 years, Pat continues to positively impact workplaces, leaders, and individuals relative to professional and personal success. He is the former Chairman and President of ERC. He is credited with leading ERC’s turnaround in 1998 and guiding the organization to national expansion, resulting in 20 straight years of sustained profitability and growth.

Pat is known as an innovator in workplace best practices and is considered a regional thought-leader on hiring and retaining top talent. He is the founder of the nationally acclaimed NorthCoast 99 program, an award that recognizes the best Northeast Ohio workplaces for top talent. In addition, Pat is the co-creator of ERChealth, a highly successful health insurance program for mid-size businesses in Ohio.

Pat was named Northeast Ohio’s “Best Boss” by Inside Business magazine. During his career, his leadership style was characterized as non-traditional and unconventional. He is an outspoken workplace equality advocate and promotes prioritizing employees and their families over profits.

Prior to ERC, he held a variety of human resource and leadership positions with KPMG, University Hospitals/ Mednet, and Spherion/AIM Executive. As a writer, Pat has published over 400 business, HR, and leadership articles. He is the HR and business columnist for Community Leader magazine and The News-Herald. Pat has authored two books: Re-Shape Re-Define Re-Imagine and, Business Lessons Learned Along the Way. Pat is also the host of the national Success Wave podcast.

He has served as a board member for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Lake/Geauga SHRM, Leadership Lake County Alumni Association, and Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce. Pat has also chaired the Northeast Ohio Human Resource Conference (NOHRC). He is a graduate of the Leadership Lake County program and was recognized as Member of the Year by the Cleveland and Lake/Geauga SHRM chapters.

In November 2018 Pat was inducted into the Northeast Ohio Business Hall of Fame and in 2021 named to the Cleveland 500, recognizing the region’s most influential leaders.

Pat received a BSBA from the University of Dayton and an MBA from Bowling Green State University. He earned his SPHR certification from the Society for Human Resource Management and served as an adjunct faculty member at Lakeland Community College, Cleveland State University, and Baldwin-Wallace University. Pat is a frequent motivational speaker and leadership facilitator.