Go Where the Energy Is: Remembering Tony Iriti

Former Findlay Mayor and former Alliance Economic Development Director Tony Iriti passed away on May 6, 2026. Ahead of his celebration of life on Friday, June 26 at 5:30 p.m. at Dorney Plaza in Findlay, Chamber Amplified is taking time to remember his impact on Findlay and Hancock County.

This episode features three shorter conversations with Jody Combs of RooBarb Studios, former economic development directory Tim Mayle, and Lydia Mihalik, former Findlay mayor and current director of the Ohio Department of Development. Together, they reflect on Tony’s humor, compassion, leadership style, love for Findlay, and ability to bring people together.

From his work in local government and economic development to his mentorship, friendships, and unforgettable stories, Tony’s influence can still be felt across the community. This episode is not a complete retelling of his life, but a collection of memories from people who knew him, worked with him, and learned from him.

Topics include Tony Iriti’s leadership in Findlay, his role in economic development, the “go where the energy is” philosophy, flood mitigation efforts, mentorship, community building, and the relationships that helped shape Findlay and Hancock County.

Music and sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com

Transcript

Why We’re Remembering Tony

Doug Jenkins 0:04

Hello everyone and welcome back to Chamber Amplified, brought to you by the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce. I'm your host, Doug Jacket. We tweak your off the podcast for talking about the things that matter the most to local businesses and organizations, whether that's workforce and leadership development, marketing, IT issues, just really the everyday realities of running something that serves our community. Speaking of serving our community, that's really where we're focusing today. This episode is going to be a little bit different. As you know, former Finlay mayor and former Alliance Economic Development Director Tony Iriddy passed away on May 6th in a celebration of life coming up here in Finley at Dorney Plaza on this Friday at 5.30. We wanted to take a few minutes to remember the person behind those titles. Now, this isn't an episode that's going to capture every story or every part of Tony's impact in the community. I don't know that we have enough server time to get to everybody who would want to say something for that. This is really capturing just a snapshot of that. So to do that, we had conversations with Jody Combs, who you know from Rhubarb Studio in downtown Finlay. She, of course, used to work here at The Alliance as well and knew Tony as a friend. Tim Maley worked with Tony for years and then eventually took over economic development when Tony moved to Kentucky. And Lydia Mihalik, who was the former mayor of Finlay and currently the director of development for the state of Ohio, she learned a lot of lessons along the way with Tony. And we get three different perspectives on a guy who really helped shape a lot of modern Finlay history. And probably most importantly, let's face it, he made a lot of us laugh along the way, and we focus on that as well. So if you enjoy the podcast, don't forget to leave us a rating and review. Really, more important than that with this episode, just share it with others. Uh, it's certainly a way to uh reflect on Tony and uh tell some of his fun stories. Now, let's get into it.

Jody On Humor And Compassion

Doug Jenkins 1:57

And welcoming into the Chamber Amplified Podcast, Jody Combs of Rhubarb Studios. But uh Jody, once upon a time, you were an Alliance employee here.

Jody Combs 2:07

Yes.

Doug Jenkins 2:09

And uh during that time, got to know Tony Iriti pretty well. Uh what uh what are your some of your favorite memories of Tony?

Jody Combs 2:18

Oh gosh, you know, Tony, Tony was so such a uh multifaceted personality. Um, you know, I I got to see him um on on the business side and and then on the personal side, the the funny, fun side. And um I I was amazed at his um intelligence and and how well he could work with all different types of people. And um also I I loved his um compassion for whatever cause he was working for. And um Finlay, the city of Finlay was his number one, his number one passion, I think. But I the the funny thing about him is that uh when he when he tells a joke or he he would tell something funny, it was twice as funny because he would get so tickled when he was telling it. And he so it was you would sort of laugh at his corny joke, but you were really laughing more because he was so tickled at his corny joke.

The Cheerleader For Small Business

Doug Jenkins 3:26

I do remember that, uh and that was always fun. Uh Jody, for you obviously you have uh an entrepreneurial spirit and uh and moved on into your own business and everything when uh when you left the alliance here. Uh, but I have to imagine Tony was probably one of your biggest cheerleaders when you decided to do that. What was what was that like and and when you started to tell him what you wanted to do? How did uh how did he kind of play into it?

Jody Combs 3:53

Well, you know, it was really hard to leave um the alliance because I really loved it there. And um I was kind of torn um between you know doing rhubarb. Um rhubarb grew uh very fast and it wasn't anything that we had really planned. Um, you know, we just wanted it to be sort of a working studio, and then it, you know, Finley had a different idea for it. But Tony was Tony was just behind me a hundred percent. And um, you know, if I had any questions about uh anything as far as you know setting up the business, um, he was right there, you know, answering, telling me to think about things that of course I'd never even thought about. So, you know, just you're right, he was just the number one cheerleader for us.

Doug Jenkins 4:46

It feels like everybody in town uh knew Tony in in some way, shape, or form. But for those who who didn't, what is one thing you that you would want them to know about him and uh and kind of his legacy here?

Jody Combs 4:59

Well, uh uh Tony Tony loved his family uh so much, and he was so proud of everyone in his family, and and it was very obvious that you know he he was truly a family man. And um the other thing is he was never afraid to uh tell his friends that he loved them. Um you know, he he was um a loyal friend, um, someone that you could always count on for, you know, if if you uh had questions about anything or concerns or you know, just needed to talk. Um, you know, when I first got sick, um Tony was one of the first people to call. And, you know, we sort of had something in common there. We would share, you know, our treatment stories and and things. And um, you know, he he he's just he was very kind, compassionate, and fun, funny, fun.

Doug Jenkins 6:01

Well, certainly will be missed. Jody, we uh we really appreciate you hopping on here just to share a little bit about uh Tony Iretti with us.

Jody Combs 6:09

Thank you.

Tim On Tony’s People-First Style

Doug Jenkins 6:11

Joined on the podcast now by frequent chamber amplified contributor Tim Miley. Uh Tim, thanks for joining us.

Tim Mayle 6:17

Hey, happy to be here, Doug.

Doug Jenkins 6:19

So uh happy to be here, I know, but uh none of us are real thrilled about the topic we have to talk about. Although talking about Tony memories, I think brings a smile to uh all of our faces. So uh let's just start there. What made Tony Tony to you?

Tim Mayle 6:36

Tony put everything into anybody he was around. I mean, he just he just made you feel like you're the most important thing, whatever whatever was happening there. I know you experienced it with them, and everybody did, and and that's what made him successful. I mean, I was I was thinking about all the stuff that we did together, and um, it was all because of his ability to bring people together in a very positive way, too, very intentionally, and uh and it was just a ton of fun. And um, but yeah, he had you know, first time I know you're a sports guy. Yeah, uh, before I started working with him, he said, I gotta ask you one question. I said, What's that? He goes, I know you're from Fremont. Did you go to Ross or St. Joe? And I said, I went to St. Joe. He says, Good, you're hired, because if you went to Ross, you weren't gonna be you weren't gonna be hired. You know how he loved uh Finlay sports.

Doug Jenkins 7:26

That's I I was talking about it in the intro a little bit. It's like I don't really have one great Tony story, and I think you kind of touched on it there. It's I think we all just have conversations that were just so much fun to have with him, and it wasn't like you had to seek him out, he was gonna find you in the room and have a conversation with you about whatever was going on, and it wasn't always business, it could have been sports, but uh it was always it was always fun. You always had a good time talking with him.

Tim Mayle 7:51

Oh, it you know, we great time talking, you know. Think about traveling, and you know, if he were one time we're in Japan, I think we're in Tokyo going down an escalator, and he he stumbled a little bit and he'd always say, I'm an athlete, I'm an athlete, and you know, he had everybody laughing where he almost knocked over 500 people in Tokyo Station, and but he he always recovered.

Doug Jenkins 8:12

What about his love of Finlay and Hancock County stood out to you because it, like you said, he was it was just kind of all in and always kind of uh a positive guy about whatever he was moving toward.

Tim Mayle 8:23

Right. Yeah, you think about his career, you know, when he when he came to Finlay, got on city council right away, and then was county auditor for four terms and and then mayor and then did flood mitigation. But everything that he did was focused around Finlay Hancock County. So either his day job or his kids with with sports or not-for-profits and you know, bringing businesses to the community. It was it was all it was all focused on he wanted to make the community a better place, and and the way he knew how to do that was is you've heard us talk about a thousand times, is this Finley formula. But for him, it was just bringing people to the table. And um, you know, he had all kinds of sayings of go where the energy is and and all these different pieces that he would talk about, but it was the philosophy that he lived by and what what the result was is a better community.

Doug Jenkins 9:14

What is one thing that he mentored you on that you kind of have carried forward with you to this day?

Tim Mayle 9:23

Man, it it's hard to it's hard to pick one, but I think it was simply his leadership style of bringing people to the table. So, you know, when we if you remember, we did all the stuff with Columbus, Indiana and Collective Impact, and the whole the whole purpose of that was identify what you're trying to solve, the quote grand challenge, and then how do you get the right people in the room? And you not only need to get the people in the room, you have to build trust. And you cannot go forward without trust. Whatever, whatever you're trying to solve. And there's plenty of things that we tried to solve in in Finlay over the years together. And that that's one thing that's always stuck with me uh when when I after I left economic development and you know went to the Center of Advanced Manufacturing and kind of starting that organization and everything. It was that I could I could always lean on Tony's leadership style. I could always call him and say, Hey, what do you think about this? And he was always a good listener for that. But if if I had to pick one, it was it was the way that he led.

Doug Jenkins 10:25

Absolutely. Well, Tim, we appreciate you hopping on with us to uh talk a little bit about Tony and and remember him for everything he did for the area and just who he was as a person. I always loved being in the room talking with him. I will miss because he was always at our golf outing, even when he left the area. He was he'd come back to the chat.

Tim Mayle 10:40

He was even good at putting uh he was even good at putting golf teams together.

Doug Jenkins 10:43

He won't like absolutely I will uh I'll miss our conversations at the awards ceremony every year for sure. For sure. Tim, thanks for joining us.

Tim Mayle 10:52

Hey, you're welcome, Doug.

Lydia On Shared Civic Leadership

Doug Jenkins 10:54

And we're joined on the podcast now by Lydia Mihalik, of course, the former mayor here of the city of Finley and now the director of the uh Department of Development in Ohio. Lydia, thanks for joining us.

Lydia Mihalik 11:05

Hey, you're welcome, Doug. Thank you for having me. This is great.

Doug Jenkins 11:08

So it's always good to have you on the podcast, unfortunately, under the circumstances that we uh are having you today, uh in Memorial of Tony Iriti. Um, you know, we're obviously we're we're at a loss for the loss of Tony, but when it comes to Tony, there's plenty of stories to tell. And I would imagine you certainly have some from over the years.

Lydia Mihalik 11:26

Oh, for sure. You know, and I and I think um this is actually the way that he would want us uh to be talking about him uh in you know, happy, um, you know, go lucky stories and and positive impacts that he had uh on our community. Um I know he'd probably be pretty grumpy if if we were all sad. So appreciate uh the opportunity uh to chat with you a little bit.

Doug Jenkins 11:52

That's a good point. So let's talk about your first interactions with Tony because you uh are not from Finley originally. Uh went to the University of Finley. Uh we graduated a long time ago, but we're not gonna talk about our age, Lydia, because that's getting up there. Uh but when you first started to come into community life here uh in the city uh and met Tony, what were the what was maybe the advice that he gave you?

Lydia Mihalik 12:17

Yeah, sure. So great uh great great way to start. So I I actually started at the City of Finley as an intern when I was a junior uh at the university there. And um so I I was around and got to know uh all of the people, the the leaders and the people behind the scenes that were doing all the work um, you know, uh in the offices and stuff, both in the municipal building and also uh over at the courthouse and in the commissioner's office. Um and so I uh, you know, occasionally interacted with Tony back uh when I was an intern, uh, but didn't get the opportunity really uh to work with him more closely, you know, even on, you know, day in and day out until uh he became mayor uh of the city. And uh I know that that was a really exciting time. Uh he had uh you know a really great vision for the city. I loved his energy. Um and you could just tell that he genuinely cared about this community and wanted to see it, you know, continue to be successful and knew that he had uh a really substantial role uh in what that could potentially look like. And and candidly, you know, I'm again not from Findlay, came in 1998, uh studied at the university, but of course met Drew, uh, and then he's a Finley guy, uh, and actually uh grew up uh with the Iriti Boys uh when he was younger. So um there was definitely um you know this connection uh that we had. But I just I just learned uh very quickly from Tony that there was um there was a lot uh that was special about Finlay and Hancock County. Uh and it wasn't just uh you know what we were doing uh in the business world or you know, with business development and and in and in politics, uh it was about all of the little things that were important uh to our community, the support of small businesses, uh the philanthropic uh concentration uh that we had, uh, the schools, youth sports, you know, all of the things that you know we have grown to love uh for a really long time. And, you know, seeing that uh and and kind of like maturing myself uh along the way, uh, Tony had an unbelievably uh incredible impact uh on my development as not only uh a young professional, uh, but also someone who was you know absolutely starting to fall in love uh with the Finley community.

Doug Jenkins 14:53

So about the time I came back to Finlay, you were launching your mayoral bid and Tony was be uh in the process of becoming the economic development director under the the Alliance setup, which we're under now uh as the Chamber of Commerce. Uh eventually you're elected uh to be mayor and he's the economic development director here at the Alliance. What was that relationship like then? Because he had been in your seat, and now you're there, but uh obviously there's there's some some pretty good back and forth between those two sides.

Lydia Mihalik 15:23

Sure. You know, what I appreciated uh about Tony and that economic development role uh was that he knew how important it was uh to not have any daylight uh between the mayor's office and economic development. And our uh great relationship uh really helped foster a lot of great, wonderful things for not just Finley, but Hancock County and the region as a whole. And um, you know, I think that that's just so incredibly uh important uh to have uh, you know, the shared vision of for what the community wants to be, to understand the role uh that business plays uh in not only the economic climate, but economic development. Uh and uh I think uh, you know, we started having some really great years. Um, you know, in fact, uh, you know, our first year as as number one uh micropolitan uh in the in the country uh was when I was mayor and Tony was economic development director. So that was something that we shared uh and really enjoyed uh having uh together uh with with the Finlay and Hancock County community.

Doug Jenkins 16:32

Of course, those are all kind of the professional interactions. I mean, we're talking about Tony here. Uh we all had uh we all were able to run into him socially and and uh and have a good time that way and always have a good conversation with him. And uh as I've talked with uh other people on this podcast today, you know, the one thing you always knew is you ran into him, he had something to talk about with you. You always were gonna have a fun conversation with him. What are some that stood out with

Music, Tonyisms, And Joy

Doug Jenkins 16:58

you?

Lydia Mihalik 16:58

You know, I gotta tell you that uh my most uh favorite memories of Tony were when uh you know there was music involved. Um I just uh really enjoyed uh hearing his stories uh about you know being in the band and and and growing up and and traveling around. Uh I also uh you know got to sing quite a bit with him uh in in certain moments. And uh, you know, we uh had a lot of fun together. And it was a very it was a great relationship. Um I just admired and respected him so much. Uh and really a lot of the things that um that I continue to to preach today, uh, you know, they're they're Tonyisms, like um, you know, go where the energy is. Uh and why would a community why would a business invest in a community that wasn't willing to invest in itself? Uh and I guess uh what I learned from him was how to not only work hard uh and do great things uh for you know for our families and communities, uh, but uh, you know, you have to be able to enjoy it. Um, you know, work hard, play hard. Uh and uh certainly uh Tony was always a lot of fun uh to be around. Uh and you're right, he definitely had a lot of really good stories, some that are appropriate for sharing and some that are not.

Doug Jenkins 18:28

Maybe not on an official chamber visit, yes.

Lydia Mihalik 18:30

Perhaps yeah, I'm I'm actually um looking forward to getting together uh with family and friends uh this week uh to be able to celebrate uh his legacy. Uh and now he wouldn't want it to be called a legacy, uh, but for sure um he had such a tremendous impact on multiple generations uh in our community. And, you know, god darn it, uh we're so much better off for it.

Doug Jenkins 18:55

You know, you are the uh not the first person to mention the go where the energy is mantra. I think Tim talked about that uh in in our conversation as well. Uh and if that isn't uh something that I think sticks with everybody about what Tony said, I'm I'm that might be the number one lesson I think everybody had took away from Tony.

Lydia Mihalik 19:14

Yeah, absolutely. I think you know you you figured out real quick. Uh, and of course he had, you know, a little bit uh more years of experience uh than I had uh under my belt um when I first uh started as mayor. But um, you know, you it's sometimes you just gotta go uh you know where where you know everybody wants to be, as opposed to just constantly fighting uh against uh against

Flood Mitigation And Lasting Impact

Lydia Mihalik 19:42

the flow. So and and look, the the guy uh you know was uh so instrumental in our flood mitigation strategy. Um when the business community looked to him uh to help us get out of uh that you know those horrible floods uh that we had, particularly in in 2007, um, you know, that that was uh a game changer for us as a community. And without Tony's leadership, um we we wouldn't be where we are today.

Doug Jenkins 20:12

Well, Lydia, I appreciate you taking some time out of your schedule to talk about uh Tony here on the podcast. And we'll see you at the uh at the memorial on Friday. And uh much for taking time.

Lydia Mihalik 20:23

Yep, you got it, Doug. Thank you so much.

Celebration Of Life Details

Doug Jenkins 20:25

Again, a big thanks to Jody, Tim, and Lydia for helping us remember Tony. And what stood out in all of those conversations is even though they had different stories, there's some recurring themes, it all really comes back to the same person, someone who really loved the Finley and Hancock County community. He made people feel important, brought people to the table, and usually found a way to make us laugh while doing it. Again, Tony's Celebration of Life going to be held Friday, June 26th. That's at 5 30 in the afternoon at Dorney Plaza in Finlay. If you knew Tony, I hope this episode brings back some good memories. And if you didn't, I hope it gives you a sense of why so many people in Finlay and Hancock County are going to miss him so dearly. Thanks again for tuning in, and we'll see you next time on Chamber Amplified from the Finlay Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.