A local leader says Toledo isn’t lacking effort — it’s focused on the wrong industries. New data and global interest could change the region’s future.

TOLEDO, Ohio — For decades, people in northwest Ohio have asked the same question: Why does it feel like Toledo is falling behind?

On this week’s Leading Edge, a new answer emerged — and it may change how the region thinks about its future.

“It’s not effort. It’s structure,” said Darren Moore, a global logistics CEO and Ottawa Hills Village Council member.



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That idea — simple but striking — is at the center of a new push to rethink how Toledo grows its economy.


A region losing ground

Host Jeff Smith opened the conversation with a stark reality.

“When I started back here in my hometown, Toledo had a Nielsen market number of 68,” Smith said. “Do you know what we were last year? We were 81st.”

That drop reflects a loss of as many as 130,000 households — nearly half the region’s reach. Some of that can be attributed to Monroe County no longer being included in the Toledo market; it now belongs to Detroit.

“So are we dealing with a multi-decade ebb and flow,” Smith asked during this week’s taping, “or are we at the precipice of a major course correction?”

Moore says it’s the latter — and time is running out.

“If there’s not liftoff in multiples… we’re simply just going to continue to fall behind to a point we can’t recover,” he said.


The real problem: where the economy is focused

Moore says the issue isn’t a lack of talent or effort.

Instead, it’s where the region’s economy is concentrated.

“Seventy-five percent of our economy… is in sectors that are either shrinking, quite literally, or flat,” he said.

Even the strongest sector — healthcare — is barely growing.

“When you adjust for inflation… it’s only growing 1% per year, and everything goes down from there,” Moore said.

That means most of the region’s economic activity is not building long-term growth.


A surprising twist: Toledo is still competitive

Despite that, new details revealed on the show suggest Toledo may be more competitive than many think.

Moore said his team compared northwest Ohio to major growth markets across the country — including Texas and Florida.

“We outperformed on 24 of 26,” he said, citing factors like labor costs, talent, and infrastructure.

That raises a key question:

If Toledo is competitive, why isn’t it growing faster?

New opportunity: global companies looking at Toledo

One answer may lie in industries the region has not fully embraced yet.

During the interview, Moore revealed new details about international companies — including some from Ukraine — exploring northwest Ohio.

“These companies… are proven technology,” he said. “They have dual use applications.”

He pointed to one example that highlights the scale of opportunity.

“They do 5,000 drones a day,” Moore said. “The entire United States does 50,000 in a year.”

Those companies are now considering U.S. expansion — and Toledo is on their list.

“We have other companies lined up from Europe, from Ukraine, from Israel… that are going to look at Northwest Ohio,” he said.


A pivot — not a restart

Moore says the solution is not to rebuild the region’s economy from scratch. Instead, it’s about shifting what already exists.

“Our manufacturing can start doing soft pivots into these high-growth sectors,” he said.

That includes industries like:

“If our manufacturing base can serve that infrastructure, we get the profit off that,” he said.


The warning: time is limited

The stakes, Moore says, are clear.

“If we keep doing what we’re doing… you simply can’t hit these numbers,” he said, referencing population growth goals. During Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz’s most recent State of the City address, he set a goal of 300,000 in Toledo by the year 2045 (a benchmark linked to Toledo hosting the Men’s US Open at Inverness)  

But if the region pivots?

“You’re going to have that multiple growth,” he said. “It’s like your bank account — compounding interest is much better than simple interest.”

Moore says this moment is not about another study or plan.

“We need to aggressively target these industries,” he said. “All things are not equal… some things grow faster than others.”

He also called for faster approvals and incentives tied to high-growth sectors.

“We should use speed as a weapon,” he said. 

Leading Edge airs Sundays at 8:30 a.m. on WTOL 11. You can find this episode and others on WTOL 11+ and the WTOL YouTube page. You can also find and follow the Leading Edge podcast on Apple and Spotify.