October 16, 2026
Closing Deals For the Deal Doctor
- Date: October 16, 2026
- Time: 7:30 AM - 9:00 AM
- Where: Cleveland Racquet Club, 29825 Chagrin Boulevard
Join us for the next Center for Free Enterprise (CFE) event on Friday, October 16th, for an exclusive session featuring serial entrepreneur, long-time M&A attorney, and “recovering attorney” Lance B Johnson.
Hosted by Center for Free Enterprise founder Benjamin Calkins, this session will dive deep into the art and strategy of closing deals, navigating corporate transactions, and building thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems from the ground up. Beyond the results, you can look forward to learning how we did the deals (see Park Corp. for a preview of the scale).
Whether you are scaling a startup, managing acquisitions, or looking to sharpen your deal-making acumen, you won’t want to miss the insights from the Deal Doctor himself.
About Lance B. Johnson
From the back woods of Maine, through 7 years at BU (History, Economics and Law) to Arter & Hadden in 1969. After a couple of years of mandatory trial work, Lance represented Arnold Palmer, Archie Manning and many other IMG clients. One day Ray Park walked into Arter & Hadden and needed a lawyer to close a deal. That started a 50-year journey of closing over 100 deals for Mr. Park and himself.
With two wives, 5 children, 8 grandchildren and one great grandchild, Lance had his share of ups and downs. Today, Lance is owner of Chandler Park a 750,000 sf, 17 acre mixed use development in Cleveland.
Get Your Ticket Today!
About
About Center for Free Enterprise
What started as a casual speaker series is now expanding to a larger calendar of business-casual events with the goal of bringing together some of northeast Ohio’s most active and ambitious business leaders.
The Center for Free Enterprise seeks to bring together Ohio business leaders interested in middle market mergers & acquisitions, new venture formation and growth, and other business issues that present challenges and opportunities to us as individuals and to our region as a whole.
Our Sponsors
Where to Meet
Cleveland Racquet Club 29825 Chagrin Boulevard Cleveland, OH 44124 United States
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What's Included
Networking
Breakfast & Coffee
Business Insights