Bearcats for Life: Emma Off's path as a lifelong learner

Emma Scharfenberger Off never saw the fork in the road until it was right in front of her. She was flourishing as a mergers and acquisitions attorney at Thompson Hine, one of the region's largest law firms. She loved her work, loved her colleagues and - not yet 40 years old - had been named one of the top M&A lawyers in Ohio. A major acquisition that she co-led had been featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Off was not looking for another job when she received an unexpected phone call from a board member of CincyTech, a venture capital firm that was seeking a replacement for its departing president & CEO. The board member encouraged Off to apply for the job. "We think you could be a really good fit," he told her.

"That was a big fork in the road," Off says, reflecting. "This was not to be the general counsel of CincyTech. This was to lead the organization."

Off was intrigued. Since its founding in 2007, CincyTech has invested early funding in 90 technologies sparked by entrepreneurs, researchers and inventors across Ohio. Technologies have ranged from data management and infrastructure to precision medicine and gene therapy. CincyTech has helped create and retain more than 1,600 jobs in the State of Ohio. Its $92 million in direct investments - nearly half of them in Cincinnati-based companies - have resulted in more than $1.9 billion in additional co-investments.

Emma Off, Law '11

Off grew up in Cincinnati and says she had a calling from a young age to go to law school.

She was profoundly influenced by her grandfather, the late John Keefe, a judge in the Hamilton County Court of Appeals.

"I was very close to him," Off says. "We had Sunday night dinners together, and we frequently talked about politics and law. He was a very reasoned man. When you talk to people about my grandfather, they always say he was fair, he was respectful of other people's opinions. I saw that in him, and I always looked up to that. He was a wonderful person. We had a very special connection."

Off earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Kentucky, where she built the foundation for her law career with summer internships in Washington and at the Kentucky Statehouse in Frankfort. UC was her first choice for law school.

"I've always been very engaged in our region, and I love Cincinnati," Off says. "My family's here, and the city has afforded me opportunities. UC is the premier law school in the region, and I thought I would be able to develop valuable connections that would allow me post-graduate to start my legal career in a good place."

Landing a position after law school required Off to prove herself early. Prior to the Great Recession, law school students typically had a position lined up going into their third and final year. But in 2010, the recession was in full swing, and law firms were holding back on making offers and even rescinding them.

Off says she was fortunate that the networking opportunities she had developed paid off. A prominent contact and an internship at Fifth Third Bancorp during law school helped her secure an internship following graduation with Graydon Head & Ritchey, a firm now known as Bricker Graydon.

"I worked every day of the summer leading up to the bar examination," Off says. "Most people take that summer off to study for the bar. But I was given the opportunity to work and prove myself, which I did. I was honestly so fortunate to have an opportunity, and then I ended up getting the job. I am so grateful to the people who stuck their necks out for me to help me land my first post-law school job."

Off spent three years at the firm, becoming one of the few attorneys in the region being trained in corporate merger and acquisition during that recessionary period. "That really set me up," Off says. "Companies were very challenged, and law firms were not as productive in that field. So as an M&A specialist, I really stood out in the region because there weren't many of us from my class."

In 2014, Off moved to Thompson Hine, which handles cases nationwide. Successes followed quickly. In 2020, she became a partner and co-led the sale of Capital Brands (makers of Nutribullet personal blenders) to the De'Longhi Group, a European conglomerate. Professional honors flowed in like waves upon the shore. Most recently she was named to the Cincinnati Business Courier's Forty under 40 class of 2025, a coveted honor bestowed on rising young professionals.

Emma Off, Law '11

As if her days with "negative zero hours" aren't sufficiently packed, Off has become a sought-after board member. She is a past board chair of Artworks and currently serves on the boards and executive committees of Ohio Life Sciences and ArtsWave. She also serves on the board of the Association for Corporate Growth, Cincinnati Chapter, and numerous portfolio companies. She is also a wife, a mother to school-age twins and an accomplished runner who last November qualified for the Boston Marathon. She is racing her first world major in Chicago this month.

Her engagement with UC continues, both professionally and as a volunteer with Bearcat Ventures, the student-led venture capital initiative. "I've really enjoyed connecting with the students," says Off, an advisor to a student-run investment fund. "The students are investing with companies connected to UC alumni or a UC technology. I'm so impressed with the students who are engaged in this organization. It's great to see our future through these students, who are so smart and talented and hard-working."

When Off considers her accomplishments, she finds they pale in comparison to something more elemental.

Featured image at top: Emma Off, Law '11, with family, including mom, Ruthie Keefe, CECH '81, at a previous UC Homecoming. Photo/provided by Emma Off.

Lauren Briede

Director of Integrated Marketing, UC Alumni Association

513-556-6138

[email protected]

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