Rich Iott

Richard Bradley "Rich" Iott (born October 25, 1951) is a President at Braeburn Entertainment, Ltd and was the 2010 Republican nominee for United States Representative for Ohio's 9th District.

A lifelong resident of Ohio, he is a former grocery executive, and is now a film producer and an active investor in a number of small businesses.

Iott is the son of grocers Wallace "Wally" Iott and Jeanette Iott of Toledo, Ohio.

He started out in clerk jobs in 1966 then moved up into management, becoming the President of the corporation in 1989.

He attended parochial grade school and graduated from Sylvania High School (now Northview) in 1969.

Iott wanted to enlist in the military during the Vietnam War era, but was refused due to a heart murmur.

He attended Hillsdale College, but did not graduate.

He worked in the family grocery business, which grew to be the Seaway Food Town regional chain of 75 supermarkets and drug stores.

Beginning in 1982, Iott served in the Ohio Military Reserve (OHMR), a State Defense Force that is trained to provide logistics and resource support during disasters or threats to homeland security.

Iott is a graduate of the United States Marine Corps Command and General Staff College and the United States Air Force Air War College.

He also holds a parachutist rating from both the Israeli Defense Force and the Army of The Netherlands.

"In the last six months, the company's stock has jumped 130 percent, coming off a fiscal year that saw earnings jump 8 percent to $167.3 million. And from 1994 to 1998, earnings catapulted 300 percent on revenues that increased only 14 percent during the same period."

FactCheck.Org goes on to say it was "wrong to blame Iott for "closing our neighborhood stores," and it goes too far in blaming him for "costing 5,000 people their jobs." Although he was a major player in the decision to merge Food Town with Spartan Stores, there is no evidence that he was involved in the decisions to close Food Town stores. In the end, the ad's summary charge — that Iott "doesn't create jobs, he sells them off" — misrepresents what happened to Food Town and its employees, and who was responsible for it."

He was CEO from 1996 until the business was merged with Spartan Stores in 2000.

Since leaving the grocery business, Iott has become involved with start-up companies, ranging from 3D imaging to salsa making.

The article said "the company prospered during the years that Rich Iott served as president and CEO, from 1996 to 2000. In July 1999, the company reported its best ever third-quarter financial results. During the fiscal 1999 third quarter, the company reported that sales increased 8.3 percent to $167.3 million, up from $154.6 million the year before. The company opened three new stores between 1998 and 1999."

In October 1999, the Cleveland Plain Dealer described Seaway Food Town as a "well run" hometown grocery store that would be attractive to larger companies at a time when the industry was consolidating.

Spartan did not close the stores until 2003 - three years after Iott had left the company.

As president of the Iott Foundation, Iott funded the construction of a three-story expansion of St. Ursula's all-girls Catholic high school in 2006; The Iott Center at St. John's Jesuit, an all-boys Catholic high school in 2009, and the Iott Scout Shop at the new Erie Shores Council, B.S.A. headquarters in 2013.

He is also a filmmaker, producing over thirty feature films, mainly as an executive producer, between 2007 and the present, including films for the SyFy Channel, Lifetime Channel, a 3D family film Call of the Wild and the multiple award-winning Beautiful Boy starring Michael Sheen and Maria Bello.

He was co-founder of Toledo's Black Swamp International Film Festival in 2009 and is also a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA).

Iott began his run for Congress as an independent, announcing his candidacy in late January 2010.

Of his lack of political experience, Iott said, "That is exactly my qualification," and, "I am not a politician, never have been, and don't intend to become one."

Following complaints by members of the Tea Party movement that having a conservative independent and a conservative Republican on the November ballot would split the vote, Iott dropped his independent candidacy and ran in the Republican primary against Jack Smith, a retired Toledo police chief and Vietnam veteran.

Iott defeated Smith on May 4, with 12,668 votes to Smith's 4,729.

Iott's opponent in the general election was Democratic nominee Marcy Kaptur; initially Libertarian candidate Jeremy D. Swartz who withdrew so the Libertarian Party of Ohio replaced him by appointing Joseph Michael Jaffe.

Several media outlets described Iott as a Tea Party favorite.

His campaign was largely self-financed, with $823,100 in loan contributions coming from Iott as of June 30, 2010.

As of September 30, Iott had raised and spent $1.5 million, with approximately $1.4 million in candidate self-financing through loans.

Iott lost the election to incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur by 35,822 votes.

He won Ottawa and Lorain counties, split Erie county and lost Lucas county.

This represented a 59%-41% victory.

The Marcy Kaptur Campaign maintained that Iott was unfit for office because he had "run the company into the ground", "took the money and ran", and put "5,000 people out of work".

This was promoted through an intense television, radio, newspaper, and social media campaign, with the assistance of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union local.

Reporters Lara Seligman, Michael Morse and Eugene Kiely of FactCheck.Org released a well researched story on September 17, 2010, which stated that the allegations were all false and misleading.

He retired at the rank of Colonel in April 2016 after more than 32 years of service.

His last assignment was as the Deputy Commander of the OHMR.

Iott is the recipient of the State of Ohio Distinguished Service Medal.

Iott has been on numerous community boards over the years including the Toledo Zoo, the Toledo Chamber of Commerce, St. Ursula Academy, St. John's Jesuit, Erie Shores Council of the Boy Scouts, and St. Luke's Hospital.

He was Chairman of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants.