In downtown Dayton, business happens everywhere. “At 11:30, I can shoot someone an e-mail to meet me in Courthouse Square for lunch or at the Racquet Club for breakfast and it’s very easy for everybody ― that convenience facilitates more quality interactions,” said Sean Geehan, Founder and CEO of Geehan Group, a consulting firm that provides advisory boards and executive summits for companies that allow them to stay in touch with their customers and focus on strategic planning. It has been located in the Kettering Tower since Geehan founded the company in 2001.

“In consulting, you’ve got to stay in touch with the market, and there are a lot of brilliant people down here who give you that access,” Geehan said. “The dialogue keeps you in touch and keeps you sharp ― and that’s where the edge comes in. It makes it easy to stay connected.”

Indeed, Geehan Group has experienced continued growth. Geehan recently signed a three-year lease renewal, with an option to expand the company’s Kettering Tower office space, and hired two new employees. For the past five years, his business has grown by an average of 40 percent year over year, and the company is on track to exceed that this year. Today, Geehan counts among clients served almost every major software company in the world ― including Microsoft, Intel and Oracle ― and most of his clients are companies with $2 billion to $50 billion in annual sales. He is adamant that his business’ downtown address has been one of the keys to its success.

Geehan Group has landed clients simply by being present in the region’s core business district. For example, Geehan said he signed on a big client through repeated interaction as they ran into each other in the Kettering Tower. Another time, Geehan was able to help a client by meeting an attorney friend at Courthouse Square over lunch to pick his brain.

“You can grab a hot dog or sesame chicken and sit out there and hammer it out,” he said. “As the leader of the company, it’s my job to set the vision and bring in great people. I’ve got to be out there and be connected, and that’s why downtown is so great because it facilitates interaction at a greater frequency and higher level of convenience.”

Downtown also is an impressive address when courting large companies. Some of Geehan Group’s clients recently visited Dayton, staying downtown and dining at such local eateries as Thai 9 in the Oregon Arts District and the Racquet Club in the Kettering Tower.

“They felt good about our company and where we’re doing business,” Geehan said. “The visit gave them a lot of confidence in our firm. Being downtown allows us to project that stable image that bigger companies need in order to do business with a smaller company. It proves to them we’re serious, which is an important ingredient. That’s why we take a lot of pride in being here.

“We’re considered the world leader in advisory boards and executive customer programs, so our company could be located anywhere in the country,” he added. “We chose to be here. We’re doing it from Dayton, Ohio.”

Learn more about the Geehan Group by visiting their Web site.