Crain's Detroit Business, October 17, 2022, issue

LEAR CEO LOOKS

GLOBALLY

The boss of Michigan’s largest auto supplier works to nd opportunity in a world shifting quickly

BY| KURT NAGL

For the past two years, Lear Corp. has been stuck between the unpredictable production schedules of automakers and the volatility and demands for pricing relief from its own suppliers.

To call the ongoing supply chain pressures a challenge for the tier-one automotive seating supplier would be an understatement, but President and CEO Ray Scott prefers the term “opportunity.”

In a wide-ranging conversation with Crain's at Lear’s global headquarters in South eld, the 57-year-old detailed how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the company’s approach, including the localization of its supply chain and opening new manufacturing plants in North America, including a new e-systems factory pegged for Michigan. e company launched production in mid-September at its new just-in-time seating plant in Detroit on the old Cadillac Stamping site. Scott also discussed how executives are balancing their time tackling nearterm issues, including contract negotiations with customers and policy related to remote vs. in-person work, with long-term considerations such as the

—Ray Scott, CEO, Lear Corp.

Bank sues

‘tyrannical’ shareholder

Sterling Bank les lawsuit seeking to oust its founder in unusual stockholder ght

BY NICK MANES

A new lawsuit brought by a troubled metro Detroit-based bank seeks to oust its founder and controlling shareholder — a partial owner of the San Francisco Giants professional baseball team — who is accused of “improperly” enriching himself by more than $100 million.

e lawsuit, led Oct. 7 in federal court in Detroit, was brought by South eld-based Sterling Bank and Trust FSB and its holding company Sterling Bancorp Inc. against Scott Seligman, purported to be a California resident and the bank’s founder

and controlling shareholder, as well as a liated trusts, foundations and companies.

e lawsuit accuses Seligman of having “developed and directed a multibillion dollar loan program that enriched Seligman but left Sterling in the crosshairs of government regulators, enforcement agents, criminal investigators, class action plainti s, and shareholders,” all to the tune of about $100 million.

A message sent by Crain’s to Seligman’s family o ce seeking comment on the lawsuit was not returned.

Judson Center plans $16 million expansion

Agency starts campaign for Royal Oak campus

BY SHERRI WELCH

Judson Center is planning a $16 million expansion and recon guration of the Royal Oak campus it has occupied for nearly 100 years.

e human services agency has launched its rst capital campaign to fund phase I and is in the early planning stages for the project.

President and CEO Lenora Hardy-Foster projects work will begin at

MARKET TEST Orleans Landing apartment complex goes up for sale.

the 13 Mile and Green eld roads campus in 2024, its centennial year.

“ is is an overhaul of the existing campus that will allow us to serve more children, adults and families,” Hardy-Foster said.

Not everyone in the community is pleased with the plan and there was pushback from residents at a recent planning commission meeting.

BANKRUPTCY

Auto suppliers are using Chapter 11 as a stick in negotiations.

“I TRIED TO MAKE IT VERY SIMPLE: LET’S FOCUS ON PEOPLE. LET’S FOCUS ON THE THINGS THAT WE CAN CONTROL.”

Ray Scott

NEED TO KNOW

THE WEEK IN REVIEW, WITH AN EYE ON WHAT’S NEXT

 MSU PRESIDENT STANLEY RESIGNS

THE NEWS: Michigan State University

President Samuel Stanley Jr. announced his resignation ursday, e ective Jan. 11, citing a lack of condence in the current board of trustees. His announcement came after the eight-member board in late August hired a law rm to conduct an outside review of his administration’s decision to demote business school dean Sanjay Gupta for not personally reporting a subordinate’s alleged sexual misconduct and failing to responsibly lead when the incident came to his attention. Stanley’s tenure will conclude roughly one-anda-half years before the end of his contract.

WHY IT MATTERS: Stanley is the school’s fourth full, interim or acting president since 2018, when Lou Anna Simon resigned amid the Larry Nassar scandal.

 GUCCI’S FIRST MEN’S STORE OPENS IN METRO DETROIT

THE NEWS: A Gucci Men’s store is now open on the south side of Somerset Collection in Troy, o ering clothing, shoes, luggage, small leather goods, belts, jewelry, watches and eyewear. at follows the Wednesday opening of French-founded, Italian luxury brand Moncler in the mall. Moncler,

a 70-year-old company headquartered in Milan, Italy, specializes in raincoats, windbreakers, knitwear, leather goods, footwear, fragrances and other accessories.

WHY IT MATTERS: e Gucci Men’s store is the rst in the U.S. for the brand, which is also headquartered in Milan.

 KROGER TO BUY RIVAL GROCERY CHAIN FOR $24.6B

THE NEWS: Supermarket chain Kroger Co. said Friday morning that it will buy smaller rival Albertsons Companies Inc. in a $24.6 billion deal that would join the two largest U.S. operators of traditional supermarkets. e merger would bring together more than 2,700 Kroger stores and more than 2,200 Albertsons locations across the United States. Cincinnati-based Kroger has 120 stores in Michigan.

WHY IT MATTERS: If completed, the tieup would give rise to a grocery giant with increased buying power and an opportunity to save on costs as brickand-mortar retailers invest heavily to enhance their online o erings.

 JUDGE UPHOLDS WHITMER’S PREVAILING WAGE POLICY

THE NEWS: A judge denied a lawsuit seeking to block the prevailing wage policy that was set by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration a year ago, saying the Legislature could have restricted the state’s ability to do so but did not. Court of Claims Judge Douglas Shapiro issued the decision Monday. It came after Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan, a group of non-union contractors, sued in June.

WHY IT MATTERS: Last October, the Democratic governor announced that Michigan will pay higher “prevailing” wages on state construction projects, three years after Republican legislators repealed a longstanding prevailing wage law that required better pay. Whitmer said the cancellation of the law did not preclude the Michigan Department of Technology, Management & Budget from implementing a prevailing wage policy, which requires paying the local wage and bene t rate — usually union scale — on projects costing at least $50,000.

CRAIN’S EVENT

Tackling top issues at Crain’s Health Care Leadership Summit

 e health care industry has never been more precarious.

e COVID-19 pandemic illuminated ssures in the system.

Costs for care are up, pro t margins are down, and the future of how we’ll pay for health care, and the ever-more-expensive labor needed to provide quality care, is uncertain. Join us ursday as Crain’s and industry experts come together to tackle the challenges straining the industry and discuss best practices and the way forward.

Tickets for the Crain’s Health Care Leadership Summit are on sale through Tuesday at crainsdetroit.com/HCLS22.

Programming includes:

contain those costs.



A keynote address by Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, vice president and chief health equity o cer at CVS Health and former chief medical o cer for the state of Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic.



A panel discussion of experts led by Demmy McBride, who leads U.S. health and welfare bene ts for Ford Motor Co., will look at future models of payment for health care as costs rise, and what can be done to

 Breakout sessions will look at health care policy issues on the legislative agenda in Lansing (and those that should be), solutions to the health care workforce crisis and rising labor expenses in health care, and how technology in health care can be used correctly to improve e ciency and safety.

e Health Care Leadership Summit will run 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ursday, Oct. 20, at e Henry hotel at 300 Town Center Drive in Dearborn. Tickets are $150.

Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, vice president and chief health equity o cer at CVS Health.

Dallas rm acquires Fairlane Town Center space leased by Ford

Former Lord & Taylor store could get new tenant

A Dallas-based real estate compa ny that earlier this year purchased a portion of the Fairlane Town Center mall in Dearborn has acquired the balance of the space.

A top Centennial Real Estate exec utive said the company purchased the former Lord & Taylor department store, currently leased by Ford Motor Co., from Miami Beach, Fla.-based Starwood Capital Group for an un disclosed price in August. e Dear born-based automaker has not occu pied the space, or a similar-size space

it leases outside of the department store in the mall, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Centennial Chief Investment O cer Carl Tash said.

at ultimately could result in a new user, Tash said.

“We are retaining the services of a local o ce and medical o ce broker to see if they can nd a new tenant for the space,” Tash said. “In the mean time, Ford continues to fully meet its obligations under the lease on both the mall space and the L&T box.”

A Ford spokesperson said in a statement to Crain's: “As Ford contin

ues to invest in its Dearborn campus to modernize workspaces including the development of the new state-ofthe-art central campus building, Ford Land continues to optimize its portfolio for the future and adjust space needs as necessary."

Crain’s reported in April 2016 that Ford was leasing the former Lord & Taylor store, which is about 120,000 square feet, plus another 100,000 square feet in the mall itself for a nearly 220,000-square-foot foot print.

Assessment study shows landlords often bene t

Tool can be used by Detroit homeowners

ARIELLE KASS

A recent study of property assess ments for single-family homes in De troit showed landlords tend to bene t from inconsistent assessments more than homeowners, while they are also less likely than homeowners to be up to date on their property taxes.

e ndings come from the De troit Assessment Gauge, a project that seeks to give homeowners a tool to determine if their property assess ment is substantially di erent from assessments of other similar proper ties nearby. e tool, released Wednesday, can be used by home owners questioning whether to ap peal their assessments. Knowing that their assessments are out of line with neighbors’ might spur them to take action, possibly saving them money in property taxes. e gauge will be updated when 2023 assessments go out next year.

HIGH-STAKES MANEUVERING

Auto suppliers’ latest tool in renegotiating contracts: bankruptcy

KURT NAGL

With hopes of achieving better contract terms, more automotive suppliers are resorting to bank ruptcy — or at least threatening it — in what has become in some cases a high-stakes game of chick en with customers.

Suppliers have so far been large ly successful in obtaining pricing relief from automakers, according to attorneys and consultants in volved in the discussions. But as suppliers intensify their e orts for price increases, and OEMs face a bleaker economic outlook and major supplier-related nancial losses, it’s less of a guarantee who blinks rst at the negotiation table.

e situation is not nearly as dire as the Great Recession of 2007-09, but suppliers across the tiers continue bearing the brunt of supply chain pain, and they are not afraid of pulling the bankrupt cy card, according to Max New man, attorney at Detroit-based Butzel Long who specializes in Chapter 11 proceedings.

led for bankruptcy while others have moved to close plants in Michigan as supply chain volatility and in ation bloat the cost of do ing business.

For now, the citywide single-fami ly residential data shows where a home’s assessed value per square foot appears to be di erent from Census tract averages. e tool indi cates that properties that appear to be under-assessed as compared to the average are more likely to belong to landlords, while those that are over-assessed as compared to the av erage are more likely to belong to homeowners.

“ e bene t is disproportionately landing on the landlords’ side,” said Alex Alsup, the vice president of re search and development for the par cel data rm Regrid, who conducted the research.

“

ere have been threats of bankruptcy in connection with price increases, and there’s sort of an implicit threat of bankruptcy whenever a supplier is seeking a price increase because an OEM doesn’t just hand them out to any body,” Newman said.

In the past few months, at least ve automotive suppliers have

In many instances, suppliers are locked into contracts entered be fore the COVID-19 pandemic and supply crisis ipped the industry on its head. When suppliers can not reach a deal to pass costs through to customers, they turn to legal options, and bankruptcy is the granddaddy of legal threats in such cases, said Dennis Loughlin, partner at Warner Norcross + Judd LLP, whose practice focuses on corporate restructuring.

He said the study didn’t look at whether assessments were inequita ble — just inconsistent — and that there could be reasons for some in consistencies, including the upkeep of a property, the existence of a swimming pool or other improve ments or errors in the record.

Automakers are seeing pushback on pricing and other contract terms as suppliers continue to bear the brunt of supply chain pain and labor shortages. | GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCKPHOTO

A Dallas-based real estate company that earlier this year purchased a portion of the Fairlane Town Center shopping mall in Dearborn has acquired the balance of the space from that owner.| COSTAR GROUP INC.

“...THERE’S SORT OF AN IMPLICIT THREAT OF BANKRUPTCY WHENEVER A SUPPLIER IS SEEKING A PRICE INCREASE BECAUSE AN OEM DOESN’T JUST HAND THEM OUT TO ANYBODY.” —Max Newman, attorney, Butzel Long

In a test of the market, Orleans Landing for sale

Kirk PINHO

One of Detroit’s newest ground-up apartment build ings has been list ed for sale in what multifamily devel opers and inves tors will watch closely as a test of the market.

Orleans Land ing, which has 278 units on the east Detroit riverfront, opened about ve years ago after a roughly year-and-a-half-long con struction process by St. Louis-based McCormack Baron Salazar Develop ment Inc., which is run by Detroit na tive Richard Baron.

It’s not often that newly built, large and stabilized apartment develop ments in and around the downtown core go up for sale.

Whether Baron and his team can fetch a number that satis es both his company, its investors and lenders — such as Invest Detroit, Goldman Sachs and others — will give a snap shot into second-generation owner demand for new construction in the city, which has seen several groundup apartment developments go up in recent years. Among those: e Scott at Brush Park, Woodward West, City Club Apartments Downtown Detroit, the Freelon at Sugar Hill and 28Grand. Many more are currently under con struction.

“We have, we think, a stable and healthy tenant group there, a number of people who have been there from the beginning,” Baron told me in a phone interview. “We had been get ting inquiries from various rms in the Detroit area about the property, and we thought it might be a good idea at this point to test the market and see who was really serious and whether we could get an o er that would work for all the other partners involved in the transaction.”

Marketing materials prepared by Dallas-based CBRE Inc. say the sale

includes assumption of a 3.79-percent interest rate loan (some 2.5 percent age points lower than current rates) with a 40-year amortization period. Tax abatements and TIF are currently in place.

e materials also say that new lease rates are growing at 8 percent per year while renewals are growing at 6 percent in the 98-percent occupied complex.

Data from CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, shows that Orle

ans Landing has four CMBS loans with a current balance of about $8.14 million; the original balance was $8.84 million. ey were originated in No vember 2018 and mature in Septem ber 2057.

According to CoStar, Orleans Land ing has 212 one-bedroom units aver aging 695 square feet and renting for an average of $1,553 per month, and 66 two-bedroom units averaging 1,237 square feet and renting for an average of $2,535 per month.

Of course, whether Orleans Land

ing actually trades hands is not fait accompli.

“We really don’t know” what will happen with the sale process, Baron said. “ ere have been some sales in Detroit but not enough to really in form us. It’s kind of a boutique prop erty in the sense that we were really one of the rst ones in over there, be yond what Stroh had done.”

And if it doesn’t sell, it wouldn’t be the rst example in recent memory of a new multifamily building hitting the market so its owners could cash out,

only to not generate the sale price they wanted.

e listing comes several years after e Scott at Brush Park, also a new ground-up apartment complex in the greater downtown Detroit area, failed to sell when its owner put it on the market.

Baron said that if they can’t get the price they want, they will sit tight and continue to ride the market.

Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB

Detroit Regional Partnership pushes portal of potential industrial properties

e Detroit Regional Partnership has put together a one-stop shop tar geting site selectors looking for large swaths of land.

e Veri ed Industrial Properties web portal — in the works for about a year — is a repository for detailed in formation on sites in the economic development organization’s 11-coun ty focus area, including Wayne, Oak land, Macomb, Washtenaw and Liv ingston counties, plus others.

In a market where new speculative and build-to-suit industrial and ware house development has been ram pant, with millions of square feet ris ing in the last several years — but also when the region was essentially a non-factor in selection for a pair of Ford Motor Co. electric and autono mous vehicle plants totaling more than $11 billion that ultimately ended up in the South — the partnership views the new clearinghouse as a way to eliminate legwork and make im portant metro Detroit site information more easily accessible to those calling the shots.

Nine sites have been vetted by civil

engineers on things like zoning, to pography, geological conditions, transportation, wetlands, oodplain and environmental and utility issues — all involved in determining where projects get built. ere are another 15 currently under evaluation and ve more slated to begin evaluation short ly.

Property owners pay to have their sites listed in the portal; it’s approxi

mately $3,000 for the owner and $10,000 for the partnership, although grant support could be available.

Among the sites in the process of being included are some of the largest and most prominent around: e for mer Summit Place Mall property in Waterford Township, straddling the border with Pontiac; and more than 500 acres of Lyon Township land owned by Detroit-based contractor

Walbridge Group.

While some of those larger sites are more prominent in the region, the partnership says it has properties ranging from 10 acres on up in the hopper — urban, suburban and rural.

Maureen Donohue Krauss, presi dent and CEO of the Detroit Regional Partnership, said Ford Motor Co.’s se lection of Kentucky and Tennessee for the plants last year helped put into perspective the region’s ability to re spond to the needs of large users.

“In order to operate as fast as the customer, we needed more accurate information on the site,” Donohue Krauss said. “It was an obstacle to re sponding to the customer and then winning deals.”

And Justin Robinson, senior vice president of business development for the partnership, said the organiza tion talks with 100 or so site selectors and approximately 2,000 companies per year about what their plans are for the U.S. market.

“What the site selectors have direct ly told us is, ‘Look, if there’s no region al platform where we can go to look at sites and really understand the status of that site, you guys are often o the

list,’” Robinson said.

A host of prominent properties in the region have been picked o in re cent years for new uses.

e Pontiac Silverdome site is now an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse. e former Pinnacle Race Course in Hu ron Township — also Amazon, as is the former Michigan state fairgrounds property in Detroit.

e Cadillac Stamping Plant in De troit has been razed for a new specula tive building that ultimately went to Lear Corp. and another unknown user. e former American Motors Corp. property on Detroit’s west side is being torn down and replaced with a new building that is expected to be taken over by General Motors Co.

And as $350 million sits ready to grab for site preparation through the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Re serve Fund — or SOAR, in shorthand — the partnership hopes the portal greases the skids for new uses for sites around the region.

e program is formally being launched Oct. 22.

Orleans Landing, which has 278 units on the east Detroit riverfront, opened about ve years ago after a roughly year-and-a-half-long construction process by St. Louis-based McCormack Baron Salazar Development Inc., which is run by Detroit native Richard Baron. ORLEANS LANDING

KIRK

Summit

MSU mess will make next hire even harder

Aweek of votes of “no-con dence” and months of turmoil at Michigan State University culminated ursday in the resignation of President Samuel Stanley, who said he was quitting because he had no con dence in the school’s board of trustees.

us, MSU and its board, whose main duty is hiring a president, again must nd a new chief executive as various university factions squabble. Good luck.

It will take good luck because board mem bers decided they would meddle in day-today issues that are right ly the president’s responsibility. Finding a top-tier candidate with the con dence to work in this situation is going to be di cult, to say the least.

Board members look ing to oust Stanley ap parently didn’t have the votes to re him out right, so instead waged a media campaign and harassed him over pro cedural issues until he felt he could no long ef fectively function.

Setting all this in mo tion was Stanley’s demotion of business school Dean Sanjay Gupta, tied to alleged violation of the university’s rules regarding reporting sexual harassment allegations. e board’s criticism of Stanley himself was ostensibly about procedural violations tied to Title IX regulations regarding report ing of sexual misconduct as well. Color us skeptical. So ultimately, the same rules that Stanley was trying to enforce in demoting Gupta were used as a cudgel against him by

trustees who were trying to push him from his post for demoting Gupta.

MSU’s handling of sexual o enses is seri ous business and has major importance at MSU after the horri c abuse visited by Dr. Larry Nassar while he was on the university’s faculty. But the attacks on Stanley, who was working to enforce compliance with his de motion of Gupta, strike us as disingenuous.

It would take an amendment to the state Constitution to accomplish it, but Michigan needs to seriously look at eliminating public ly elected boards for the University of Michi gan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University. e elected roles attract party loyalists, boosters and former athletes with name recognition rather than the mix of nancial and operational skills needed to ef fectively oversee a massive university.

Michigan’s 12 other public four-year uni versities all have boards appointed by the governor with terms staggered to reduce the impact a single governor can have. ey’re hardly free from controversy — no university can be — but they also don’t make headlines nearly as often for this kind of dysfunction.

Elected boards are unusual nationwide. Michigan is the only state that selects them through a statewide vote. A few states elect them by districts. e vast majority of state university boards are appointed by state gov ernors.

It’s time for Michigan to join the crowd on this and nd a way to build better boards.

Proposal 2 would weaken election safeguards

Proposal 2 would weaken election integrity in our state. Despite false promises in its ads, this proposal would actual ly prohibit ever requir ing photo-ID from vot ers.

The Michigan Senate last year passed legisla tion to strengthen pho to ID requirements for voting, while also pro viding free state per sonal identification cards to those who need them. However, it was vetoed by the gov ernor and now Proposal 2, if approved, would prevent any future laws to strengthen photo ID requirements for voting. This ignores the will of nearly 80 percent of Michigan registered voters who support strong photo ID require ments to protect integrity.

Proposal 2 would also allow ballots to be counted even if they are received after Election Day from voters living overseas. This could serve to delay results in close races and would lack the safeguards cur rently in place for ballots processed on Election Day.

Perhaps one of the most troubling as pects of Proposal 2 is that it would instruct local clerks to mail BALLOTS (not applica tions) to absentee voters every election without a request each year. This means that each election tens or hundreds of thousands of ballots will be mailed to in

dividuals who have moved or died. This creates a new and massive opportunity for fraud.

This proposal would also allow non-government, third-parties to provide funding for our elections. How can our elections be truly impartial when they are being paid for by special interests?

Other provisions that might seem good are already the law. Eligible individuals al ready have a right to vote without harass ment. Election officials already conduct post-election audits (I started them when I was secretary of state).

Don’t believe the misleading advertise ments, Proposal 2 would hurt election in tegrity. Please vote No!

Editor

Paul W. Smith

Write us: Crain’s welcomes

or clarity. Send letters to Crain’s Detroit Business, 1155

include

MI

Sound o : Crain’s considers longer opinion pieces from guest writers on issues of interest to business readers. Email ideas to Managing Editor Michael Lee at malee@crain.com.

RUTH JOHNSON

State Sen. Ruth Johnson, R-Holly, is chair of the Michigan Senate Elections Committee and former Michigan secretary of state.

MSU President Samuel Stanley announced Thursday that he would resign

NIC ANTAYA/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Let’s work to ensure success of women entrepreneurs

BY HANA ABBOUD

my is key to serving the needs of our small business community.

A

 Let’s modernize access to SBA programs, eliminating cumbersome and redundant paperwork.

start, including high bonding requirements and the cost in time and money of preparing voluminous responses to federal requests for proposals.

Hana Abboud is founder and creative director of L’amour Bridal in Dearborn.

s we celebrate National Women’s Small Business Month, I’d like to share some truly good news: Over the past 40 years, the number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. has exploded, growing from just 5 percent of all businesses to more than 42 percent, edging ever closer to parity with our male counterparts.

Translated into pure numbers, four decades ago there were around 400,000 women-owned businesses nationally; today we are 13 million-plus strong — mostly small businesses — generating nearly $2 trillion in revenue. Here in Michigan, where I’m the founder and president of L’amour Bridal in Dearborn, the number of women-owned small businesses has expanded to more than 330,000, and we employ nearly 30,000 fellow Michiganders.

But even with our growing numbers and increasing financial impact on the communities where we live and work, the sustained success of women-owned small businesses remains much more fragile than that of our male counterparts.

We are more likely than men to struggle to retain our employees, meet our revenue goals and compete with big business.

Why this gender gap persists is, of course, complicated, and often affects women entrepreneurs differently. Working mothers still shoulder much of family caregiving responsibilities, and the pandemic has stretched us and the already-tenuous network of child care options to the breaking point.

We can’t sustain our businesses if our communities lack affordable, high-quality child care options, both for women entrepreneurs and the working mothers they employ. That is a national dilemma that deserves a coordinated national response. There are, however, other areas in which specific steps can be taken immediately to help female entrepreneurs thrive.

A recent Goldman Sachs survey of small business owners across the U.S. found that half of women small business owners face significant challenges finding and retaining employees, compared with 44 percent of men. Women are also more likely than men to say they are hindered by having to compete for workers with big businesses that can offer more generous retirement and health insurance benefits.

My fellow women entrepreneurs and I are taking the opportunity presented by National Women’s Small Business Month to call on our policymakers to address these stubborn disparities by reauthorizing and modernizing the Small Business Administration for the rst time in more than two decades. Bringing the SBA into the modern era, with a contemporary sensibility about what tools and resources women entrepreneurs need to survive and thrive in our ever-changing econo-



Let’s streamline and bring into this century SBA program application processes — Step 1: Eliminate requirements that documents be faxed.

 Let’s make sure the SBA expands access to capital for small businesses by lling the current gaps in the credit market, especially for women-owned small businesses unable to nd credit elsewhere.

are historically underused because they are di cult to nd and navigate.”

small businesses.



Let’s create an information system that better informs small business owners of important programs that



And let’s hold the SBA accountable for meeting its own goal of awarding 5 percent of federal contracting dollars to women-owned

e SBA has consistently failed to hit that goal. In fact, federal contracts awarded to women-owned small businesses actually dropped from 2020 to 2021. Let’s reduce obstacles that block us out before we even

As I said at the start, we have made great strides since the days not so long ago when women were required to have a male relative co-sign for a business loan. (Fact check: true.) But as we celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit of America’s women small business owners, let’s support our women small business owners by taking strong, measurable, sensible steps that re ect the realities of what it takes to succeed in our modern and ever-evolving economy.

On top of finding us the perfect home, the Crain Homes team went over and beyond to help us settle into a new city we weren't familiar with. Even after the sale was complete, they made sure we had everything that we needed to be comfortable in our new home and new city!

JARED G. | Buyer DETROIT LIONS

The Crain Homes did everything we hoped and more. They went the extra mile to make us feel special and very well taken care of.

JONNY & EVELINA E. | Seller DETROIT RED WINGS

Ashley, Jill and Kate are an amazing team. They made a potentially stressful situation easy and stress free. I would absolutely use them again.

DR. TRACY B. | Seller LOCAL TEACHING PROFESSIONAL CRAIN-HOMES.COM

TO LEARN MORE, VISIT

Independent furniture retailers are doing ‘whatever it takes’ to survive

5th Avenue Furniture President Ray Zerki negotiates with customers and takes as much as $500 o an item. “We take a hit on the revenue but we move volume at a higher rate.”

e landscape is changing for independently-run furniture retailers. Competition has heated up as e-commerce retailers like Wayfair continue to increase in popularity while more big-box retailers are boosting their furniture inventory.

ose changes and more are forcing those smaller retailers to get creative to survive and thrive, while leaning on some age-old advice to stay viable.

Zerki is referencing the 2020 bankruptcy and closure of Warren-based Art Van Furniture, which had been in business since 1959. Art Van said at the time that the move came due to “a challenging retail environment.”

Crain’s reported in March 2020 that the closure was a product of heavy debt and a disrupted furniture and mattress retail landscape following the sale of Art Van in 2017 to a private equity firm.

Two months after Art Van’s closing was announced, a Dallas-based firm bought it out of bankruptcy and turned more than two dozen locations into Loves Furniture stores. Loves filed for bankruptcy less than a year later and the stores closed again.

“I think what happened (to Art Van and Loves) is those companies kind of got away from what made them great, particularly Art Van,” said Zerki, president of 5th

Avenue Furniture. “Customers want to have an experience when they come into a store. They want to be greeted with smiling faces — and they want to leave with something.”

What happened with Art Van and Loves are examples of what some see as the impending death of the independently owned furniture retailer.

Forbes in March 2021 published a detailed story on how small furniture retailers will be left behind by large retailers and those with a strong e-commerce presence. Bill Napier, a consultant on home retail for more than two decades who also serves as a columnist for Furniture World, early last year predicted that at least 25 percent of independent furniture retailers would be closed in five years.

at includes Ray Zerki, part of the family that opened 5th Avenue Furniture in Detroit in 2003. e business now takes up half a block on Livernois Avenue between Fenkell Avenue and the Lodge Freeway. e Zerki family previously operated a Dollar-A-Rama store on the same site for six years. “We’re going to be ne. We’ve seen a lot of changes recently with a lot of locally owned stores closing, but there were reasons those places went out of business,” Zerki said. “If you as a furniture store owner didn’t learn from that, then you’re probably going to have the same fate.”

STAY IN THE GAME

Tips to assist independent furniture retailers in competing with big-box stores:

O er competitive pricing: O er prices in line with your location and the demographic you’re targeting. Prices set too low or too high will make you less competitive.

A little goes a long way: By streamlining operations and o ering only basics, independents can bring down prices and o er discounts. By o ering special services, such as personalized attention to the customer, in-home design service or customization, you can charge somewhat higher prices. Be sure that there is a need for any such service within your target market rst.

Customer service is key: People feel nameless and faceless at large chain stores. Build relationships with customers to create an environment of trust and loyalty. This can help generate more sales.

JAY DAVIS/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

“THERE NEEDS TO BE SOME AMOUNT OF MARGIN IN THE SALE TO PAY FOR THE LIGHTS AND PEOPLE.” —Ken Smith, partner, Smith Leonard.

Jay DAVIS

DISCOVER NEW POSSIBILITIES FOR YOUR BUSINESS.

No matter what stage your business is in, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation is here to help you succeed. By connecting you to the resources your business needs, granting access to necessary capital and introducing you to the right partners, the MEDC helps your business reach new potential.

Find out how we can help propel your business forward with customized support at michiganbusiness.org/pure-partnership

“

Large online retailers are seen as a major reason why. Boston-based Wayfair (NYSE: W) reported reve nue increased every year from 2012 to 2020, when the company brought in $14.154 billion.

Its revenue dipped slightly in 2021, to $13.7 billion.

“I know people buy a lot of furni ture online, but when it gets to their house and they see it in a room, they hate it,” Zerki said. “Online shopping works for a lot of things. I don’t think furniture is one of them.”

Let’s make a deal

5th Avenue Furniture has grown from an 8,000-square-foot store to 22,000 square feet. e ceilings are high. e store is well lit and there’s wall-to-wall inventory.

at inventory doesn’t stay on the oor or in the store’s 7,000-squarefoot storage area for long. at’s be cause Zerki said he and his sta give customers options when they come in, including negotiating prices. Zer ki said he sometimes takes as much as $500 o a listed price to make a sale.

“We’re basically saying, ‘What’s it gonna take?’ I don’t want any cus tomer to leave here and go some where else,” Zerki said. “We’re not a chain of stores, so we do what we have to do to make sales and keep customers happy. If they know we’re willing to negotiate, they’ll come back. ey’ll tell 10 people, and the cycle will continue.”

at tactic has seemed to work for the Zerki family. In 2018, 5th Avenue put $1.5 million into the business to create the additional space. Zerki plans to make the Livernois space a showroom and open a warehouse at another location to house more in ventory.

Zerki admits negotiating can lead to a loss of revenue, which he would not disclose. Moving the inventory in a timely manner makes up for that, he said.

“You don’t want to hold on to that inventory too long. at’s a big rea son some other stores have gone out of business,” he said. “I’ll take a hit on the price as long as I can keep the inventory moving because you don’t want to get backed up with your dis tributors.”

Discounting items is a dou ble-edged sword, according to Ken Smith, partner at High Point, N.C.based accounting and consulting rm Smith Leonard.

Smith, whose independent rm provides counsel and data on the furniture industry from the manu facturing and distribution sides, said discounting is generally not a solid idea.

dated closure, sales have doubled each year, he said.

where else.”

on the season,” he said. “ e indus try has changed. It feels like they’re trying to get rid of the small guy, but not purposefully. ere’s just a lot of big names getting into the furniture business. I think we’re immune to the threat of closure like what hap pened with Toys R Us, Sears.

“Furniture is tough. Amazon, which is basically the biggest retail er around, can’t deliver a 250-pound piece of furniture in two days because 95 percent of the stuff is coming from overseas. It’s touched so much through the pro cess that it’s going to get damaged. The Wayfairs of the world, Amazon, they can try their hand at furniture, but delivery is just one aspect of it. The customer likes to see, touch and feel the piece, the color, before it’s in their house.”

Uncertain times

While Zerki and Charara say busi ness is thriving, the retail furniture industry as a whole may be going the other way.

e industry is struggling right now, Smith said. Across the U.S., new orders are down 29 percent through July from last year, accord ing to Smith. at comes after new orders were up 39 percent through July 2021 over July 2020, when many furniture outlets reopened following extended pandemic-related shut downs.

Charara agrees with Smith’s as sessment, adding that most retailers are sitting on warehouses full of in ventory. Prices are coming down, he said, and manufacturers are giving incentives to entice retailers to buy products.

“Everybody who wanted furniture during the pandemic has it,” Charara said. “ ere’s a serious lack of de mand, and supply chain still isn’t back to 100 percent. I think it’ll be a year before things are back to nor mal.”

Detroit Furniture and 5th Avenue also o er customers purchasing op tions. Financing is available at both stores, along with a no-credit, essen tially rent-to-own option. ose op tions, along with credit card pay ments, are utilized most often at those stores now, while cash was used most frequently during the height of the pandemic.

“We o er long-term nancing, even for customers with no credit,” Charara said. “If people have trouble paying, we’re not responsible for that. Banks are giving customers op tions. Everybody’s happy.”

Despite orders being down, reve nue for the U.S. furniture market is set to hit $229.9 billion this year and expected to grow by 4.5 percent an nually through 2026, according to a Statista report.

Some businesses won’t see that growth.

Locally, Bejnar’s Fine Furniture in Shelby Township announced in July that it would close after 118 years in business. e four-generation, fami ly-owned store is having a liquida tion sale ahead of the closure. Shan non Bejnar has served as company owner since 2019, when her husband Mark passed away. Store representa tives did not respond to requests for comment.

“

ere needs to be some amount of margin in the sale to pay for the lights and people,” Smith said, refer encing operating costs and payroll.

e reality is that sometimes it makes sense to create cash; there fore selling even below cost can be appropriate. But that all depends on the stability of the company, so you can’t paint it with a broad brush.”

Zerki insists 5th Avenue is on sol id footing. e company has 25 em ployees, up from a pre-pandemic sta of 20. Closing for eight weeks at the start of the pandemic cost 5th Avenue about $300,000, Zerki said. Since reopening following the man

“I think whatever business sur vived the pandemic is honestly blessed because none of us should have survived,” Zerki said. “ ere was no income coming in. Your creditors, lenders and suppliers all want their money because they’re having the same domino e ect.”

O ering something ‘di erent’

Hussain Charara doesn’t negoti ate with customers. He cuts them o at the pass.

“I’m always on our competitors’ websites checking prices and I set ours to beat them so the customer knows they’re getting a deal when they walk in the door,” said Charara, the 36-year-old manager of Detroit Furniture in Dearborn. “We don’t negotiate. We challenge (customers) to nd what we have cheaper some

Charara’s parents Imad and Oula opened Detroit Furniture in 2006. Imad had worked in the furniture industry for more than 20 years. e founders are semi-retired, leaving Hussain and his brothers, Ahmad and Hassan, to handle day-to-day operations.

ose operations, according to Charara, include purchasing the same pieces carried by chains in cluding Gardner-White and Value City Furniture. Lower overhead al lows Detroit Furniture to o er lower prices than the competitors, Char ara said. e Detroit Furniture sta is small, he said, and the company’s advertising is done through social media platforms. e family owns its space at 6200 Miller Road, which it bought in July 2017. Charara de clined to disclose the purchase price.

“We don’t pay rent to a landlord and our sta is 10 people depending

Operating in Dearborn gives De troit Furniture a diverse clientele, with the city’s large Arabic popula tion and the store’s proximity to the various cultures in Detroit and Hamtramck. It serves those clients by o ering “ethnic” pieces stores like Bob’s Furniture and others may not put on display. at gives De troit Furniture a bump, too.

ose bumps have been plentiful. Detroit Furniture each year has seen a double-digit increase in sales, though Charara declined to provide details, and it’s plowing those pro ts into expansion. e business is working on a 20,000-square-foot ex pansion of its current 7,000-squarefoot showroom — a project with a seven- gure budget, according to Charara. It has a 29,000-square-foot warehouse just on the other side of the parking lot.

Like Zerki, Charara said business has increased during the pandemic — a period he refers to as a “free for all” as customers made cash pur chases with pandemic aid. Times are changing, though.

“When you get into a business like that that’s been around for so long, it could just be one of those things where nobody wants to run it any more,” Charara said. “In 20 years, if my kids don’t want to run the busi ness, I don’t know what I’ll do, but we’re in it for the long haul now.”

Charara believes stores like Detroit Furniture and 5th Avenue Furniture will be around for that long haul. He also believes news of the demise of the independent furniture retailer is greatly exaggerated.

“ e bigger stores see you just as a sale,” Charara said. “ ey don’t care if you walk out and don’t come back. We don’t want that. We want you, your whole family, to be customers for life. Just like people will drive a good distance to get a good burger from that little bar they like, people will bypass a bigger furniture store to get to the store where the sta smiles and calls them by their rst name. at’s never gonna change.”

Hassan Charara, left, Hussain Charara and Ahmad Charara handle day-to-day operations at Dearborn’s Detroit Furniture. The family-owned, independent retailer researches its competition, including Gardner-White and Value City Furniture, to o er customers the best-possible price. | HUSSAIN CHARARA

Detroit Furniture is building a 20,000 square-foot showroom across the parking lot from its current 7,000 square-foot showroom. The current showroom takes up a portion of the business’ 29,000 square-foot warehouse. | JAY DAVIS/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Public

As business leaders and policymakers from across the state gather for this year’s Crain’s Health Care Leadership Summit, we are reminded of the important role employers play in shaping sound public policy. ere is no better example of this than the recent enactment of Public Act 119 of 2022 whi illustrated the power of sharing public policy ideas and solutions to improve Mi igan’s health care market for employers and consumers.

the least competitive

from their current carrier.

is is all about to ange, thanks to overwhelming bipartisan support for public policy that employers demanded and many health insurers welcomed. e new law signed by Gov. Gret en Whitmer allows employers to request con dential information on claim and utilization data from their current insurer so they can be more informed when shopping for future coverage for their respective employees.

By Dominick Pallone, Executive Director,

Increasing competition and expanding oices for employers when shopping for a ordable health care coverage has long been a discussion point at past summits. e resounding feedba from employers continues to re ect a desire to lower costs through increased competition. ese discussions led to the introduction of Senate Bill 447 – now Public Act 119 of 2022 – whi allows employers access to their sponsored health care claims and utilization data to seek additional health care options for their employees.

Seems somewhat simple, right? It’s their healthcare policy, to begin with, and they’re paying for it. However, the ability for employers to get aggregated non-identi able customer claims and utilization numbers wasn’t always easy when large insurers would prefer their customers not to shop around for better prices and coverage.

is year, the American Medical Association (AMA) ranked Mi igan as the second least competitive state in the nation for health insurance. BlueCross BlueShield of Mi igan (BCBSM) has a whopping 77 percent of the commercial market share.

e la of competition in our state has contributed to employers having higher health insurance premiums.

According to e Commonwealth Fund, from 2010 to 2019 the average increase in annual premium costs for Mi igan employers providing health care coverage for their employees exceeded the national average.

To make matters worse, those health insurers attempting to compete in Mi igan were unable to quote nearly half of the bid opportunities they received because employers did not have enough information about their prior claims and utilization

Previously, when employers were shopping for health insurance, they weren’t shopping e ectively because they weren’t armed with the data. Today, they’re empowered to shop with information that allows them to compare plans and make informed decisions to receive a ordable coverage for their employees.

As public policy discussions continue, we are certain that more ideas will be put on the table to address Mi igan’s uncompetitive marketplace. News last month about Mi igan’s largest health insurer, BlueCross BlueShield, settling a $2.67 billion federal antitrust settlement over their anticompetitive behaviors will hopefully force these conversations among policymakers into the foreseeable future. is is why events like Crain’s Health Care Leadership Summit are so important, where leaders can share ideas with policymakers to help increase competition, control healthcare costs, and improve the quality of healthcare.

GM establishes new unit to help connect EVs with power grid

lowing an EV to draw power from an electrical service or send excess power back to utilities and perhaps receive compensation.

“If you’re a customer and allow GM Energy to access, say, 10 per cent of your battery on an as-need ed basis we can move that energy around,” Hester said.

Bond with utilities

One of the largest looming ques tions about the mass adoption of electric vehicles is whether the power grid can keep up with in creased demand.

General Motors Co. wants to pro vide an answer — and perhaps some power — to ensure reliability for utility operators and motorists.

The Detroit-based automaker (NYSE:GM) unveiled a new busi ness unit Tuesday called GM Ener gy that houses EV-related products and services for residential and commercial customers.

GM Energy is comprised of the new Ultium Home and Ultium Commercial lines, which share branding with the company’s sig nature battery platform, and it in cludes the pre-existing Ultium Charge offering that aims to pro vide more seamless on-the-go charging experiences, which GM started in 2021.

Combined, the automaker envi sions a portfolio of products and services that provide reliability and flexibility at a time when the trans

portation and energy sectors are increasingly intertwined.

“This all allows us to move into a new white space that’s being creat ed by energy management,” Travis Hester, vice president of GM EV growth operations, said.

The availability of all GM Energy components is expected by the end

of 2023, Hester said. The initial roll out started in August and will occur in stages, he said.

Charging, storage

Ultium Home and Commercial will offer products and services that enable bi-directional charging, al

In addition, GM Energy will pro vide solar and stationary energy storage products, and be compati ble with fuel cells. The hardware is supported by software and man agement tools that are part of GM’s Energy Services Cloud, according to GM.

The company says it has already enrolled EV customers in charging programs through its Energy Ser vices Cloud, the result of work with multiple utility companies in four U.S. states. Several firms already have been working with GM Energy or agreed to work with the business unit.

Solar technology and energy pro vider SunPower is one of them. The two companies have agreed to offer customers home energy systems that consist of integrated EV and batteries, solar panels and home energy storage. SunPower will be a preferred installer of the home en ergy system. The home energy sys tem will be available alongside the retail launch of the 2024 Chevy Sil verado EV, GM said.

GM is further working with utility companies such as Con Edison, Gran iterock and New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. A separate initiative in volved a pilot project between GM Energy and Paci c Gas and Electric which allowed customers to use com patible EVs for backup power during outages.

e intent is for these solutions to ease the burden on utilities as EV adoption grows and strengthen the grid when power is needed, Hester said.

“GM has been pretty overt in saying that we think we’re going to have a mil lion customers driving EVs by 2025,” he said. e Chevrolet Silverado will have a 200-kilowatt battery. “You multiply that by a million units and that’s more capacity than anybody would need at any given time,” Hester said.

On the receiving end, GM Energy’s storage devices will allow EV owners to purchase energy when it is less expen sive and save it.

“When there’s a local blackout and you can’t run your business or your home, the stationary storage devices can supplement and run them,” Hester said.

“ at’s when utilities can lean on us,” he said. “We can take percentag es of all of those battery assets, aggre gate it and push power back to the utilities.”

UNWAVERING COMMITMENT.

POWERFUL RESULTS.

Oral health isn’t an isolated issue.

It’s connected to public health, education and economic development, and it’s why Delta Dental is doing more to support healthy, smart, vibrant communities for all.

Delta Dental of Michigan

The charging port for a 2024 Chevrolet Silverado EV RST all-electric pickup truck. |

JEENAH MOON/BLOOMBERG

Beaumont-Spectrum merger nally has new name: Corewell Health

BY DUSTIN WALSH

Michigan’s largest in-state health system nally has a permanent name: Corewell Health.

e announcement comes more than 8 months after the merger of Grand Rapids’ Spectrum Health and South eld’s Beaumont Health. e two systems merged on Feb. 1 after announcing the intent to merge more than a year ago. e two entities previously operated under the BHSH parent company while maintaining the Spectrum and Beaumont names on hospitals.

e nonpro t operates a $12 billion, 22-hospital health system with its own health insurer in Priority Health and roughly 60,000 employees.

e new name will be re ected across all of the hospital names, the system said in a press release on its new site, corewellhealth.org. e Spectrum name is being eliminated entirely, but the new signage will retain the Beaumont name on some of the locations.

Tina Freese-Decker, president and CEO of Corewell, told Crain’s they maintained the legacy Beaumont name on some hospitals because of the name’s recognition and importance in those communities.

“It’s important we recognize the rich history of all of our organizations,” Freese-Decker said. “We went to our board and internal teams and asked them how would they would like to be referred. We thought it important to honor the legacy names, Blodgett and William Beaumont.”

Freese-Decker said the name change will remain internal for 2022 and the signage will begin to change in 2023 along with a more robust marketing campaign.

e system hired San Francisco-based brand strategy rm Prophet to come up with the Corewell name and logo.

Freese-Decker said the name change will aid in the integration process as the entire 22-hospital system is now under one brand.

“It’s really exciting to have one name to call ourselves,” Freese-Decker said. “It’s a name that’s much better than the previous BHSH name. Having this Corewell name, we can talk about ourselves and what we’re doing collectively — our core values and what we’re trying to accomplish. Also, it helps with further fostering and advancing our culture.”

Alex Calderone, managing director of Calderone Advisory Group, which consults in the health care space, said the name change is underwhelming but unlikely to make a material impact.

“I don’t think it’s particularly catchy and I’m sure both sides of the state will mourn the elimination of the legacy branding,” Calderone told Crain’s. “With that said, this is simply a name change and isn’t likely to meaningfully impact operations or demand or care.”

e name change comes on the heels of nancial struggles from the Beaumont side of the company. Between Feb. 1 and June 30, Beaumont lost $96.3 million, or a negative 5 percent margin, well below the $20.2 million operating margin projected by the organization, accord-

Hospital names

Charles

Charles is the highest ranked Fee-Only Advisor on Forbes’ list of America’s Top Wealth Advisors**

www.zhang nancial.com



Corewell Health Beaumont Grosse Pointe Hospital (formerly Beaumont Hospital Grosse Pointe)

Corewell Health Beaumont Troy Hospital (formerly Beaumont Hospital Troy)

Corewell Health Big Rapids Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Big Rapids Hospital)

Corewell Health Blodgett Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital)

Corewell Health Butterworth Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital)

Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital (formerly Beaumont Hospital Dearborn)

Corewell Health Farmington Hills Hospital (formerly Beaumont Hospital Farmington Hills)

Corewell Health Gerber Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Gerber Memorial Hospital)

Corewell Health Greenville Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health United Hospital)

Corewell Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital)

Corewell Health Kelsey Hospital

ing to the rst consolidated nancial statement published by the merged system.

Beaumont’s metrics plummeted following COVID-19 surges throughout the pandemic. Its admissions rate, patient days (the billable days patients are in beds) and per-patient revenue all dropped after the merger, compared to the same time frame before the merger.

e system attributed much of the losses to labor costs, which are higher in Southeast Michigan due to far more competition than the west side of the state.

Beaumont, and its eight hospitals, had higher expenses than Spectrum’s 11 West Michigan hospitals. Between Feb. 1 and June 30, Beaumont spent $1.21 billion on wages and bene ts, compared to $980 million for Spec-

(formerly Spectrum Health Kelsey Hospital)

Corewell Health Lakeland Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Lakeland Medical Center)

Corewell Health Ludington Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Ludington Hospital)

Corewell Health Niles Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Lakeland Niles Hospital)

Corewell Health Pennock Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Pennock)

Corewell Health Reed City Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Reed City Hospital)

Corewell Health Taylor Hospital (formerly Beaumont Hospital Taylor)

Corewell Health Trenton Hospital (formerly Beaumont Hospital Trenton)

Corewell Health Watervliet Hospital (formerly Spectrum Health Lakeland Watervliet Hospital)

Corewell Health Wayne Hospital (formerly Beaumont Hospital Wayne)

Corewell Health William Beaumont University Hospital (formerly Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak)

Corewell Health Zeeland Hospital (Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital)

trum West Michigan during the rst six months of the year.

But Beaumont’s losses were o set by the strong nancial performance of BHSH’s Southwest Michigan operations and its integrated insurance arm Priority Health. Spectrum Southwest Michigan reported an operating income of $139.7 million on revenue of $1.92 billion and Priority reported income of $91.4 million on revenue of $3.11 billion during the rst six months of the year, respectively.

As a result, then-named BHSH announced last month it would cut 400 positions as part of a cost-reduction plan alluded to in the consolidated nancial report.

Contact: dwalsh@crain.com; (313) 446-6042; @dustinpwalsh

Michigan’s largest in-state health system, which includes the Beaumont hospitals, will be renamed Corewell Health LARRY PEPLIN/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

City seeks nonpro t help in getting unemployed Detroiters into workforce

MINNAH ARSHAD

The city of Detroit is seeking community organizations to sup port long-term unemployed resi dents and shrink the labor gap.

The city opened applications last week for JumpStart, a new program that offers financial incentives to organizations that advance Detroi ters in a city that faces more than 11,000 unfilled jobs, Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference.

Up to 50 organizations will be se lected to find residents who have been unemployed for at least six months and connect them to edu cation opportunities, workforce training and other services to help prepare them for employment.

Organizations will be paid monthly as program participants reach milestones, such as literacy tests and workforce programs. The organization will receive up to $8,800 per participant, depending on how many programs are com pleted.

“Whether it’s ensuring Detroiters are counted in the Census, ending poverty or preventing violence in the neighborhoods, these organiza tions are best positioned and are

the trusted voices to meet the peo ple where they are, and deliver tan gible results for them,” said council President Mary Sheffield, one of the program’s co-sponsors, along with council members at-large Mary Waters and Coleman Young II.

The program will cost $36 million in American Rescue Plan Act dol lars and aims to serve 1,500-2,000 Detroiters over the next few years, Duggan said.

In addition to filling job vacan cies, JumpStart is intended to work as a preventative measure to vio lence and works to get dollars to grassroots organizations that have historically been excluded from city funding, Sheffield said.

“We want to be able to take a sto ry to funders, to other levels of gov ernment … but we’ve got to see whether it works first,” said Ni cole-Sherard Freeman, the city’s group executive of jobs, economy and Detroit At Work. “So, once we prove out our theory, then we’ll ex plore other funding opportunities.”

To apply, an organization must demonstrate at least two years of experience in services listed in No tice of Funding Availability, provide at least three active program refer

rals and demonstrate experience with nonprofits, community-based organizations and Detroiters.

“You have to show that you actu ally have a track record in reaching out and helping individuals who have been poor or long-term unem ployed,” Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference last Monday.

The city will host informational sessions in the coming days to an swer questions about the JumpStart program and assist with the appli cation process, a city spokesperson said. The sessions will be an nounced via the city’s website and social media accounts.

The application window closes Nov. 7. City Council plans to ap prove the organizations by the end of November and start public en rollment early 2023.

“Let’s get that application in, and let’s go in every corner of the city and show people because you’re in Detroit, these scholarships are there for you,” Duggan said. “We will help you succeed long-term.”

Interested organizations can ap ply online.

Contact: minnah.arshad@crain.com (313) 446-0416; @minnaharshad

Ford Airport and partners award

GRAND RAPIDS — A nascent grant and incubator program based in Grand Rapids has doled out $145,500 to ve startups piloting technology for airport settings.

e Michigan Economic Develop ment Corporation and Gerald R. Ford International Airport Authority last month chose the second round of companies to receive a total of $145,500 in MEDC grants through the Ford Launchpad for Innovative Tech nologies and Entrepreneurship or FLITE program based at the Grand Rapids airport.

Tech jobs training targeting low-income workers coming to Detroit

JAY DAVIS

Metro Detroiters looking for a boost in their career prospects have a new potential pathway.

Charlotte, N.C.-based Stiegler Ed Tech, which o ers “upskilling” and technology training at no cost for undereducated and low-income adults, on Monday announced plans to bring one of its programs to Detroit. Stiegler will o er its Career Technology Apprenticeship Cohort or CTAC program in the city. e hy brid course will be o ered at the outset to 20 students, with plans to grow the number of spots, according to founding partner and COO Pasha Maher.

Over the course of the 24-week program, students learn computer programming and are prepared for the rigors of the workplace in areas such as time management.

Students receive a $17,500 sti pend while in the program, along with need-based resources such as child care, housing, laptops and hardware, as well as access to men toring from the program’s 159 grad uates, according to Maher.

Four sessions of the CTAC course have been completed, all in Char lotte, over the past three years.

Stiegler guarantees job placement with one of its 14 corporate spon sors, which also fund the program.

ose sponsors include De troit-based Ally Financial, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Truist, Ernst & Young, Lowe’s, Coca Cola Co., U.S. Bank and Stiegler itself.

Ally partnered with Stiegler Ed Tech in 2017. Since then, dozens of program graduates have joined the bank and contributed immediately,

according to Dan Lemont, Ally’s ex ecutive director of tech strategy.

e Detroit CTAC program will open up another critical talent pipe line for Ally, Lemont told Crain’s in an email, while helping the compa ny further its mission to support workforce development and pro mote upward mobility at a grass roots level.

e Detroit program is scheduled to begin March 6. e deadline to apply for the March course is Jan. 9.

Between 5 percent and 10 percent of applicants are accepted into the program, according to Maher. About 90 percent of those admitted into the program graduate. e most-re cent CTAC cohort graduated 46 stu dents.

“CTAC’s longer-term goal is to one day serve hundreds of gradu ates each year similar to the growth and success we’ve seen in Char lotte,” Maher told Crain’s. “ e ex pectation is that these candidates will be based in Detroit. We’ve seen several CTAC graduates either tran sition to a virtual role or be later re located by their company based on a number of factors.”

Maher estimated Stiegler in 2023 will invest about $2 million in De troit. at includes student stipends, assistance with the need-based re sources and setting up shop in a still-to-be-determined location to support the in-person component of its hybrid model.

Armand Brown, Stiegler EdTech founding partner and director of marketing, declined to disclose the program’s total investment into each student.

Contact: jason.davis@crain.com (313) 446-1612; @JayDavis_1981

to mobility startups

which launched in January 2022, provides grants and testing op portunities to companies focused on bringing air travel solutions to market in the areas of automation and analyt ics, safety and security, enhanced guest experience, sustainability and more.

e latest ve recipients include:

Aircraft Data Fusion, based in Apple Valley, Minn.: A web-based cloud solutions provider of real-time pas senger forecasting.

Dataspeed, based in Rochester Hills: Maker of autonomous service vehi cles such as parking shuttles and se curity vehicles to monitor roadways.

based in Syracuse, N.Y.: Drone baggage delivery solutions provider.

Renu Robotics, based in San Anto nio, Texas: Vegetation management using autonomous lawn mowers.

Spotter ID, based in Grand Rapids: App and sensor technology that pair to help travelers nd open parking spots.

Tory Richardson, president and CEO of Ford Airport Authority, said in a news release, “With thousands of passengers traveling through our air port every day, we can introduce start up companies to a global market, pro viding them with a vibrant workspace

scale their air travel technology

to further enhance the guest experience.”

e airport enlisted Southwest Air lines to be a guinea pig on which the startups could test the applications for their technology. And it recruited Stantec GenerationAV to provide guidance and evaluation of the start ups’ technology applications via an advisory board.

Applications for the FLITE program are accepted on a rolling basis and re viewed every three months. Compa nies can apply online.

Mayor Mike Duggan speaks at a news conference announcing the workforce development program. | MINNAH ARSHAD/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Stiegler EdTech co-founder Pasha Maher leads a Career Technology Apprenticeship Cohort class. | STIEGLER EDTECH

CIO

YEAR

The annual Michigan CIO of the Year® ORBIE® Awards program honors chief information of cers who have demonstrated excellence in technology leadership. Winners in the Super Global, Global, Large Enterprise, Enterprise, Corporate, & Healthcare categories will be announced October 21 at The Henry.

DR. RAVI PENDSE of the University of Michigan talks about the relationship between leadership and learning, as well as the value of bringing diverse talent to the information technology and business communities.

ALSO INSIDE: Success stories from Michigan CIO of the Year Award Finalists.

Special Section in Partnership with MichiganCIO

SHOHREH ABEDI

The Auto Club Group (AAA)

AMJED AL-ZOUBI Amerisure Companies

ANDY ANDERSON

The Shyft Group

GIL GUR ARIE Ford Motor Company

TOM BARTOL Volkswagen

SCOTT BENNETT Lear Corporation

JOHN BENNETT Meritor

TYLER BEST Adient

STACY BOGATAJ General Motors

ANDY BOLIN North American Bancard

TOM BRES Sparrow Health System

JASON BRESSLER United Wholesale Mortgage

PAUL BROWNE Henry Ford Health System

MICHAEL BUTMAN Forgotten Harvest

SPENCER CREMERS

Ally

CATHLEEN CURLEY

University of Michigan - College of Literature, Science and the Arts

ARIF DAR SpartanNash

TONY DEAN Auto Owners Insurance

DARYL DELLINGER Continental Automotive Systems

TAMARA FABER-DOTY CMS Energy and Consumers Energy

TOM FARRINGTON Perrigo Company

DEV GANGULY Jackson Financial Inc.

KELLY GARCIA Domino’s

ASH GOEL Bronson Healthcare

TONY GREY Hagerty

MARVIN GRITTERS Universal Forest Products

MARK GUTHRIE AM General

RON HINSLEY ITC Holdings Corp

RICHARD HOOK Penske Automotive Group

MIKE KENNEDY Gordon Food Service

FRED KILLEEN General Motors

JEFF KURBURSKI MillerKnoll

TERRY LEDBETTER Meijer

MATT LOGAR Gentherm

SAM MAHALINGAM Altair

STEVEN MILLER Steelcase

MICHAEL PAULIN Accident Fund Group

CHRISTOPHER PODGES Munson Healthcare

PAT QUINT Mastronardi Produce

ARVY RAJASEKARAN Ally

PAT RINALDO Ally Financial

MIKE ROGERS Nexteer Automotive

VIJAY SANKARAN Johnson Controls

MATT SCULLY AAA Life Insurance

LAURA CLARK State of Michigan

STEVE COLLINS

Great Expressions Dental Centers

DEE SLATER Wolverine Worldwide

RYAN SPENCER Yazaki

SULABH SRIVASTAVA Acrisure

RYAN TALBOTT BorgWarner

DARLENE TAYLOR Epitec

MILOS TOPIC Grand Valley State University

SANGY VATSA FIS

SOMA VENKAT Cooper Standard

DANIEL WALTZ MyMichigan Health

JIM WEEKLEY GTB

DEREK WHITE SmithGroup

JOSHUA WILDA University of Michigan HealthWest

CHUCK WILLIAMS Penske Corporation

JERRY WINKLER Haworth

MELISSA WOO Michigan State University

ROGER JOHNSON Dart Container

JASON JOSEPH BHSH System

MARCUS SHIPLEY Trinity Health

CARRIE SHUMAKER University of MichiganDearborn

BRIAN WOODRING Rocket Companies

TECHNOLOGY LEADERS ARE THE X-FACTOR

Technology is at the center of modern business transformation and leadership is the X-factor between surviving and thriving in today’s digital economy.

MichiganCIO brings together leading CIOs of Michigan’s largest organizations to help CIOs create value, reduce risks, and share their success. Through member-led, non-commercial programs, CIOs build meaningful professional relationships with colleagues facing similar challenges, solving problems, and avoiding pitfalls.

MichiganCIO members collaborate locally and nationally with CIOs across industries because successful CIOs understand the ‘superpower’ of trusted relationships. We also understand that the diversity of leadership among CIOs — and how we each apply empathy, serve as mentors and teachers to their teams, and understand the power of gratitude — is our strength.

RAVI PENDSE, PH.D.

2022 Chair, MichiganCIO Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Of cer, University of Michigan

In any gathering of CIOs, we learn from and collaborate with each other. The challenge one CIO is facing has likely been solved by another CIO. Every leader’s perspective is valuable and contributes to the conversation, and everyone wins when leaders engage, share ideas, experiences, and best practices. There is a teacher in each person we have the opportunity to interact with, as there is so much we can learn from each other.

For over twenty years, InspireCIO has helped CIOs succeed

in today’s most challenging C-suite executive role. By joining MichiganCIO, technology executives take their leadership to the next level through year-round, member-led programs and interaction. The power of CIOs working together – across public and private business, government, education, healthcare, and nonpro t organizations – creates enormous value for everyone.

Every business is a digital business. If this was not clear before the pandemic, the challenges we faced in 2020 not only con rmed that, but reinforced our commitment to this view. Together, we are transforming our economy using technology and enriching our region and our world.

On behalf of MichiganCIO, congratulations to the nominees and nalists on their accomplishments and thank you to the sponsors, underwriters, and staff who make the ORBIE Awards possible.

Sincerely,

Ravi Pendse, Ph.D.

ADVISORY BOARD OFFICERS

ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

MICHIGANCIO MEMBERS

CHAIR

Ravi Pendse University of Michigan

MEMBERSHIP CO-CHAIR

Darlene Taylor Epitec (fmr.)

MEMBERSHIP CHAIR Melanie Kalmar Dow

VICE CHAIR Anita Klopfenstein Little Caesars Enterprises and Ilitch Owned Companies

FOUNDING CHAIR Mamatha Chamarthi Stellantis

PROGRAMS CHAIR Paul Blowers Plante Moran

AWARDS CO-CHAIR Steve Ambrose DTE Energy

AWARDS CHAIR Bill Fandrich Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

PROGRAMS CO-CHAIR Carrie Shumaker University of MichiganDearborn

Mark Baughman Delta Dental of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana

KATRINA

ANDY

DANIELLE

CATHY

College of

Science and

DEV GANGULY Jackson National

BHAVANI

Oakland University

ANNETTE MARCATH HAP

PATHIK MODY Trion

DANIEL WALTZ MidMichigan Health

Stacy Carron Stout

Jen Charters Flagstar Bank

Andy Frey OneMagnify

Michael Hicks AF Group

Jason Joseph BHSH System

Elizabeth Klee Urban Science

Rob Sayre Amrock Inc

Ryan Talbott BorgWarner Milos Topic Grand Valley State University

AWARDS

GLOBAL FINALISTS

SHOHREH ABEDI EVP, Chief Operations & Technology Of cerMember Experience, The Auto Club Group - AAA

revenue & multi-national operations

Shohreh Abedi leads the Member Experience, Technology and Operations organizations for The Auto Club Group, and is responsible and accountable for all member, customer and eld support functions. These include membership, direct operations, automotive services, customer satisfaction, marketing, information technology, cybersecurity, research and analytics, and travel product and services. With more than 25 years of experience, Shohreh has been privileged to work for and with companies across the nancial services, healthcare, retail, defense, technology and management consulting industries.

Abedi’s passion is to execute on the corporate vision through transformational and innovative strategies targeting pro table growth and operational effectiveness, as well as building and developing the talent that delivers results. She holds positions on multiple association committees and serves as a Board of Director for the AAA Safety Foundation and the Midwest Auto Clubs (MAC). In addition, over her career, she has been published and recognized across multiple industries as one of the top women leaders in operational effectiveness and technology transformations, with awards from such organizations as Celent, Women in Insurance, and NASSCOM.

SUCCESS STORY

The past ve years has been an amazing ride as the leader of ACG’s transformation journey. We’ve accomplished a lot together: digital, cloud, data lake, omni-channel, MI PIP reform, MDM, WFH, cyber and print to digital transformations, naming a few. I’m thankful to our board of directors, our CEO and my peers for their support and con dence, but most of all this honor belongs to my team, for believing and achieving. I am nothing without them: my respect, pride and all recognition goes to them for setting AAA’s course for continued relevance in the next 100 years to come. #GreatestTeam!

SCOTT BENNETT CIO, Lear Corp.

Scott Bennett is responsible for the company’s global IT strategy and IT assets. In this role, he manages all aspects of the company’s IT, including global applications, global infrastructure, information security, technology transformations and advanced automation technologies.

Bennett has over 25 years of prior IT leadership experience with a variety of automotive and technology companies. Prior to joining Lear, Bennett served as the CIO for IAC Automotive, a global Tier 1 automotive manufacturer. Before that, he worked as the North American CIO for Constellium, a global automotive and aerospace company. In addition, Bennett had Executive IT leadership positions across Kaydon Corporation, BorgWarner, Edcor Data Services and Handleman Company.

Bennett earned both a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an MBA from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. He also earned a Master of Science in information technology and project management from Boston University.

SUCCESS STORY

Lear IT has focused on rebuilding the infrastructure, while executing business transformations. Rebuilding the IT Infrastructure has revived the legacy environment at reduced cost allowing growth. The legacy IT debt was in excess of 20 years. This included leaping multiple generations of IT Security and Infrastructure to execute a cost-effective and scalable method. The IT Team provides technology tool sets for large-scale transformations across: Finance, HR, Product Development and Industry 4.0. Advanced technologies have leveraged best practices that are across the Global Enterprise. These tools have provided a competitive advantage of accelerating time to market, engagement, and lower manufacturing costs.

SANGY VATSA EVP & Technology Of cer, FIS

As a seasoned professional with 32 years of multifunctional experience, Sangy Vatsa has held chief information, chief technology, chief digital, and operations of cer roles at Fortune companies like FIS, American Express, Ford Motor Co. and Comerica Bank. He is seen as a strong partner to the C-Suite, board, regulators and industry experts.

In his role as the Global Chief Technology and Digital Of cer at FIS, Vatsa and his team have delivered major business capabilities in technology and operations, while leading a team of about 11,500 people and budget of over $1 billion. Prior to joining FIS, Vatsa served as the EVP, CIO of Comerica Bank. He also previously held roles with The American Express Company and Ford Motor Company.

Vatsa earned his MBA from Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He also holds a master’s degree in computer and information systems and a bachelor’s degree in electronics and telecommunications engineering. Vatsa is actively engaged in the industry across private equity, technology, and non-pro t rms. He founded the Digital Lakes organization, serves on the national board of NPower, and is an advisor to several startup rms.

SUCCESS STORY

One of the major accomplishments was to implement modernization and automation of our business processes. The primary goal was to create customer and colleague delight while driving cost optimization and revenue growth. The program exceeded the major targets while automating one million process hours in the rst year. We had great sponsorship from our chairman and CEO. I express sincere gratitude to my FIS colleagues who co-shaped and codelivered signi cant business outcomes for our clients and colleagues. I am honored to have led a fantastic global team of highly skilled and engaged leaders who made our vision a reality.

world

AWARDS

GLOBAL FINALISTS

MATT LOGAR

CIO, Gentherm

Matt Logar is Chief Information Of cer of Gentherm, a global market leader and developer of innovative thermal management technologies.

As the CIO, Logar leads a team of 90 employees in eight countries, where he is responsible for Gentherm’s enterprise-wide IT strategy and operations. Logar has led a global transformation of IT at Gentherm integrating its Business Process Integration and Information Technology organizations into one global function with a sense of common purpose.

Previously, Logar was an IT vice president at GE where he led cloud infrastructure, enterprise resource planning and digital operations for the GE Healthcare business.

Logar began his career at GE in 1998 as a member of the GE Industrial Systems IT leadership program. While at GE, he had 21 years of experience holding several executive IT leadership roles with increasing responsibility.

Logar holds a bachelor’s degree in business with honors from Indiana University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Steve Miller is responsible for leading the digital transformation efforts at Steelcase Inc. and exploring the intersection between technology and business strategy, along with day-to-day oversight of the information technology organization.

Previously, Miller held the title of Chief Information Of cer. As CIO, Miller had general responsibility for the Steelcase Global Information Technology organization, which has been recognized with numerous awards for innovation in technology and data analytics.

SUCCESS STORY

I joined Gentherm to lead a comprehensive IT transformation. I restructured from a distributed, regional model to build one global effective, and ef cient IT team. Critical to the transformation was to align IT business partners with each function. Delivering a “One Team” concept where IT was connected throughout Gentherm took our digital journey to the next level. My teams have partnered to accelerate new product offerings, manage through and provide visibility in current supply chain challenges and embrace cloud capabilities. I received Gentherm’s “Build Capability” CEO award in September 2020 for inspiring my team and creating a “customer”focused organization.

STEVE MILLER CTO, Steelcase Inc.

Since joining Steelcase in 1999 as a programmer, Miller has served in numerous other roles, including Director of both Technology Services and Operations and the Steelcase Innovation Management Of ce. His work across the company has included a range of responsibilities, including digitizing our technical support teams, serving as Director, Asia Paci c Information Technology on the Asian Paci c Leadership team in Hong Kong, launching the company’s shared service centers, leading the technology innovation of ce and having general responsibility for Steelcase’s technology infrastructure and support teams.

Miller is a graduate of Michigan State University, where he studied Chemical Engineering and Biochemistry and worked in the Biochemistry research lab.

Pat Quint is an IT Executive with 28 years of information technology experience in two Fortune 100 companies, a top FinTech company, and at the largest greenhouse-growing produce company. He worked at Ford Motor Co. for 21 years, Johnson Controls for three years, and TD Ameritrade for two years, prior to taking on the CIO role at Mastronardi.

He’s led global IT organizations implementing transformational initiatives that are focused on achieving business results. At Mastronardi, he’s built up the team’s overall IT skill level, completed an extensive data center migration, and signi cantly improved the software delivery process resulting in improved business capability and productivity. He has extensive global experience including three years living overseas as an ex-pat in Shanghai, China. Quint enjoys learning about the business, building strong partnerships across the company, and leveraging technology to enable the business objectives and growth plans.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems from Indiana University, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from Wayne State University. Outside of work, Quint enjoys various outdoor activities and especially watching his sons’ sporting events.

Dr. Soma Venkat inspires innovation, establishes strategy and enables execution of Technology, Digital and Data globally for Cooper Standard, based at the Company’s world headquarters in Northville, Mich. He is a member of the global executive leadership team and oversees cyber security, risk management and sustainability.

Leading a highly diverse workforce across 4 continents, he sets the vision and is accountable for accelerating the value of Digital investments. Venkat is also on the board of a startup Liveline Technologies (Spinoff of CooperStandard), leveraging the power of AI/ML in manufacturing IIOT.

Prior to joining Cooper Standard, Venkat served as Chief Information Of cer for IXS (Innovative Xcessories and Services), a provider of vehicle uplift services and coating solutions.

Before that, he was the co-founder and chief operating of cer at the technology startup, InfoShuk, and held IT leadership roles at Meritor, Masco Corp., and ProQuest. He started his career as a senior consultant at Oracle Corp.

Venkat holds a master’s in computational mathematics and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Windsor in Canada.

SUCCESS STORY

My greatest accomplishment is helping Steelcase, one of the world’s most well-known of ce furniture makers, navigate the “perfect storm”. We were faced with people changing where and how they worked practically overnight. That meant rapidly creating a digital toolset to meet these changing needs, buying behavior, and purchasing channel, while adapting products to enable the hybrid work model. Then nation-state-sponsored cyber criminals targeted our business. After we fought them off, global supply chain disruptions hit. But Steelcase is alive and thriving today, and as CIO, I played a keep part in making that happen.

SUCCESS STORY

During my time as CIO, we’ve been able to accomplish several key initiatives that have provided signi cant value to the business and increased our company’s resiliency. The three primary accomplishments have been with transforming our data centers, bolstering our IT team capability by adding critical skillsets and experience, and providing development opportunities across the entire team. These accomplishments are focused around optimizing teamwork, motivating people to do their best, and aligning everyone’s efforts to our company goals. It’s a privilege to be part of the Mastronardi IT team.

SUCCESS STORY

It is a great time to be in the automotive industry. Driverdriven to self-driven; internal-combustion to electric; the rate of change is rapid and only those who are agile will survive. Most companies are betting more on technology and many technology companies are entering automotive industry. Having established a digital twin and master data/ integration ecosystem, developed an AI-based closed-loop process to manage over 500 extrusion and nishing cells, reducing scrap and increasing productivity threefold. The interest in this product from outside made us establish a separate company (Liveline.tech) to be able to take that commercialize the technology.

PAT QUINT

VP of IT & CIO, Mastronardi Produce Inc.

SOMA VENKAT

SVP & CIO, Cooper Standard

Over $1 billion annual revenue & multi-national operations

Play it safe or be legendary?

AWARDS

FINALISTS

With more than 24 years of IT experience in the mortgage banking industry, Jason Bressler excels in application development and enterprise implementation, speci cally at mortgage companies that have started smaller and truly taken the leap into the stratosphere of the industry utilizing technology and practices that Jason brings to the table. Bressler is constantly developing intuitive technology platforms that help independent mortgage brokers grow their businesses.

Under Bressler’s leadership, UWM has set the tone for the entire mortgage industry by reacting to clients quickly, ef ciently, and with scale. Jason currently leads a team of more than 850 IT members focused on delivering stellar client service through cutting-edge proprietary tools.

Over $3 billion annual revenue

JASON BRESSLER EVP & CTO, United Wholesale Mortgage

Dev Ganguly is executive vice president and chief operating of cer of Jackson Financial Inc. In this role, he has strategic oversight of Jackson’s operations, enterprise technology, digital, data and information security functions. He also serves as an executive sponsor of the company’s diversity and inclusion program.

Ganguly previously served as CIO at Jackson, a role he held from July 2018 until assuming his present role in February 2021. In this position, he directed all aspects of application development, infrastructure engineering, IT service management and enterprise architecture. He also led the company’s digital transformation and was responsible for its overall technology strategy.

SUCCESS STORY

We had 135 strong IT team members when I took on this role six years ago, with few processes or SDLC. Since then, I have built a true top-tier IT organization, with over 1,200 team members, while building our own software platforms, migrating to cloud infrastructure, and maintaining it all. This accomplishment is signi cant, because we started as a small IT team working inside of a mortgage company. Now, not only are we an IT team working at the largest wholesale mortgage company, but we have become a true innovative IT organization as well.

DEV GANGULY

EVP, COO & CIO, Jackson Financial Inc.

Previously, Ganguly served as vice president of Jackson’s Systems Innovation Group since 2013 and, before that, he held a variety of roles in the IT group, including director and assistant vice president. Ganguly joined Jackson in April 2000 from global software rm Infosys, where he was responsible for leading major technical initiatives for Nordstrom. He earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering, electronics and power from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology in India.

SUCCESS STORY

As head of operations and technology at Jackson, a leading retirement services rm and Fortune 500 company, Dev Ganguly is leading Jackson through a holistic digital transformation enabling the company to thrive in the Insurtech and wealth management ecosystem. Through these efforts, Jackson is primed to harness emerging business operating models by leveraging the Jackson Digital Platform both internally and externally and is better equipped to meet the needs of nancial professionals and their clients more effectively and at lower cost, while realizing new streams of business at faster pace.

PAT RINALDO CIO, Dealer Financial Services, Ally Financial Inc.

Pat Rinaldo was named chief information of cer for Ally Financial Inc.’s Dealer Financial Services business unit in October 2018. In this role, Rinaldo is responsible for technology innovation and delivery for Ally’s industry-leading auto nance franchise. He is based in Ally’s Detroit Center and reports to Sathish Muthukrishnan, Ally’s chief information, data, and digital of cer.

Rinaldo has over 27 years of technology experience within the auto nance and insurance industries. He has held leadership and technology delivery roles in various areas, including auto servicing, credit operations, collections, and dealer engagement.

He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and is a lifelong resident of Michigan.

SUCCESS STORY

When Covid struck, we rapidly launched an all-digital payment deferral program to help our customers. Within one month, over a million customers had put their payments on pause. This program was the genesis of our digital self-help journeys. Since that launch, we’ve continued to expand our industry-leading digital relief solutions, including online payment extensions, self-service modi cations, and customizable catch-up plans. As a result, 70%+ of consumer auto collections have a digital touchpoint, allowing our customers to get help on their terms and ensuring that we achieve our mission of doing it right for them when they need it the most.

SRIVASTAVA CIO, Acrisure

Sulabh Srivastava has been a member of Acrisure leadership team since 2019 where he oversees all aspects of technology, cybersecurity and IT systems for Acrisure and its Agency Partners. In this role, Srivastava focuses on digital innovation and new technologies to help Acrisure transform how it delivers best-in-class strategic solutions for its Agency Partners and clients.

Srivastava is an expert in leading change and creating technology innovations that improve customer experience. Most recently, he was vice president of information yechnology and innovation at Indiana University Health Systems.

Prior to that, he served as chief technology of cer of Sparrow Health System, the premier healthcare provider in mid-Michigan. At Sparrow, he spearheaded the technology transformation to electronic medical records that won the hospital the HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence, which recognizes the thoughtful application of health information and technology to substantially improve clinical care delivery, patient outcomes and population health.

Srivastava holds an MBA from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Nagpur University, India.

SUCCESS STORY

In 2019, I joined Acrisure with a charter to build a technology function for a rapidly growing ntech business. Over 30 months, I have built a world class technology delivery and management function that provides agility to the business to sustain industry de ning growth. Services provided include cybersecurity, technology infrastructure, business applications, data analytics, intelligent automation and more. My goal is to differentiate Acrisure through world class technology and provide its partners access to leading products, platforms and services necessary for growth and transformation of their businesses, while ensuring resilience from productivity loss caused by technology disruptions or cyberattacks.

SULABH

AWARDS ENTERPRISE FINALISTS

Andy Anderson has direct oversight of the Infrastructure, Security, Applications, Development, and User Support functions across The Shyft Group the North American leader in specialty vehicle manufacturing, assembly, and up t for the commercial, retail, and service specialty vehicle markets. He was appointed to the role in November of 2019, during the initial phases of divesting the legacy emergency response (ER) business unit, and was integral to the key business decision prior to rebranding the organization in 2020 as The Shyft Group.

Over $1 billion annual revenue

ANDY ANDERSON VP & CIO, The Shyft Group

Anderson has more than 20 years of global automotive technology leadership experience. He joined the Company from Stant Corp., where he was CIO. Prior to Stant, Anderson served in multiple global technology senior leadership positions at Visteon, and worked in multiple business roles at Ford Motor Company.

Anderson engages with students of all ages to encourage an interest in STEM and technology. He is a strong supporter of the Midwest Council of Women in Technology.

He holds an MBA from Lawrence Technological University and a bachelor’s from Michigan State University.

Cathleen A. Curley is responsible for the college technology strategy and leading the Technology Services organization. Under Curley’s leadership, the technology services organization simpli ed and modernized support; launched a digital research and scholarship service; upgraded over 280 classrooms with lecture capture and streaming, among other accomplishments.

She represents the University as a board member for the Specify Consortium and participates in several higher education technology collaboration committees and organizations.

SUCCESS STORY

After divesting one of our legacy business units, we pivoted from on-premise servers and applications to cloud-based infrastructure and software as a service, ultimately paving the way for a more nimble, secure IT environment. We acquired and integrated two businesses, reduced our contracts and costs, and implemented controls and policies to ensure the security of both the Shyft Group as well as its employees. This includes multi-factor-authentication, network and rewall protection, network penetration testing, training for employees, and successfully partnered with a managed security services provider to assist with detecting, responding, and remediating advanced cyber threats.

CATHLEEN CURLEY

CIO, University of Michigan - College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Prior, Curley was the Executive Director of Strategy and Planning in Information Technology Services at the University of Michigan. She serves as chair of the Michigan IT Steering Committee to enable and support innovation across 2700+ technology staff at U-M.

Curley started her career as an IT solutions consultant with james martin + co (Headstrong), and was Senior Project Manager for Giant Step (Arc Worldwide). Prior to joining the University of Michigan, Curley was the VP of Product Management at Katabat Corp. (Dominion Enterprises), a SaaS start-up focused on real estate.

She has a bachelor’s in Business Administration and Psychology from Alma College.

Paulin leads the information technology strategy and IT Delivery for AF Group and their family of companies. Under his leadership, Paulin has led several infrastructure modernizations and enterprise application initiatives that have enabled his organizations to quickly respond to market challenges and deliver best-in-class client service. Paulin has created mentorship programs, taught team certi cation courses and championed change through efforts such as the introduction of Scaled Agile for his technology and solutions teams.

Prior to AF Group, he worked with H.W. Kaufman Group, Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Donegal Insurance Group and Michigan Insurance Company. His non-insurance experience includes Dean Foods Company, Cummins Engine Company and Meijer, Inc.

SUCCESS STORY

Our greatest accomplishment was enabling the shift from a residential campus experience to remote and hybrid teaching, learning and research. We expanded lecture capture and video streaming services to 260+ classrooms to support 4,000+ classes taken by 20,000+ students. We provided new software, training, templates, and assessment alternatives for 3,300+ faculty, lecturers and graduate instructors. We developed applications to manage return to campus planning, student roll call, research lab restart, course guide changes, self-service study space reservation system, virtual orientation, online chat, virtual appointments and virtual commencement.

MICHAEL S. PAULIN Managing Director - Divisional CIO, AF Group

Paulin earned a bachelor’s business administration and MBA from Grand Valley State University, and a master’s in Information Systems from the University of Michigan.

Melissa Woo, Ph.D., is the executive vice president for administration, providing leadership for enterprise-wide administrative services including university infrastructure planning and facilities, human resources, procurement and logistics, university stores, campus mail services, sustainability, and real estate. Additionally, Woo serves as MSU’s chief information of cer and president of the MSU Foundation.

She joined MSU in 2019 as senior vice president for information technology and chief information of cer. Prior, Woo served as senior vice president for information technology and enterprise CIO for Stony Brook University. She has also held IT leadership roles at the University of Oregon, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where she earned her doctorate in biophysics. Woo received her bachelor’s in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.

CIO, Michigan State University

Woo was named to EdTech Magazine’s 2020 Dean’s List: 30 Higher ED IT In uencers Worth a Follow. In 2019, she won the inaugural EDUCAUSE DEI Leadership Award, as well as the 2012 EDUCAUSE Rising Star Award. She serves as chair of the Merit Network board of directors, co-chair of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE).

SUCCESS STORY

Our initiative to utilize Agile, including SAFe, has become a catalyst that is transforming how technology supports the creation of value for AF Group, and it’s positively in uencing culture across the enterprise. Introducing agile has advanced several critical programs such as the modernization of core applications, centralization of enterprise data warehouses, expansion of portals and the introduction of RPA. As we’ve executed on these programs, conversations with our stakeholders have changed, and together we’re identifying new approaches that deliver functionality earlier. These conversations are also enabling prioritization that focuses on the needs and value anticipated by our business operations.

SUCCESS STORY

I am proud to serve as co-principal investigator on a grant, named MOON-Light, awarded this year for middle mile broadband expansion in Michigan. MOON-Light is a $10.5M award from the NTIA in partnership with Merit Network and MSU’s Quello Center. The pandemic demonstrated that affordable, high-speed internet is not a luxury; it is a requirement for ensuring that people have the access they need to health care, employment, and educational services. As a public university, this grant and partnership demonstrate our commitment to Michigan residents, our support for state economic development, and MSU’s position as a public good.

MELISSA WOO

AWARDS

FINALISTS

A passionate advocate of leveraging technology to create competitive advantages for the business, Bolin brings nearly 30 years of experience ranging from executive leadership to consulting and integration services to his role. Prior, he served in a number of key leadership roles focused on the rapid integration of complex business acquisitions, and the delivery of IT services including collaboration technologies, information security, project management, cloud, network infrastructure, system engineering, and strategic sourcing both domestically and internationally.

Up to $1 billion annual revenue

SUCCESS STORY

ANDREW BOLIN CIO, North American Bancard

Currently, he is responsible for all aspects of Infrastructure Services from traditional Systems & Network Administration, Telecom, and Service Desk to Operations Support Services, InfoSec/Cyber Security & Compliance, and Technology Procurement with a strategic focus on leveraging technology to drive business growth and continuously improving our customer and merchant experience.

Michael Butman is an experienced executive IT leader and master technology architect who specializes in transforming the digital enterprise through his technology vision, strategy, architecture, development, and deployment. His hands-on experience spans all areas of IT including infrastructure, data, ERP systems, digital marketing, web/e-comm, software development, PM, agile and cyber security. Butman is a frequent speaker and CIO roundtable facilitator and is an advisor to several IT Boards and Councils.

My career’s focus has consistently been to leverage technology to drive business performance, increase revenue, and delight the customer. I have done this by developing a deep talent pool of skilled and motivated professionals who share a common sense of urgency and belief in excellence. Together we have achieved amazing results and shared successes in the consolidation of processing platforms, cloud migrations of critical business applications, and deployment of environmentally friendly and highly secure technologies to our end users. These achievements have provided for enormous nancial savings, rapid ROI, highly ef cient operations, and most importantly enabled our business to continuously delight customers.

SUCCESS STORY

MICHAEL BUTMAN CIO, Forgotten Harvest Inc.

Butman has worked in nonpro t and for-pro t industries as well as consulted in the public and private sectors for 35+ years. Brands include Forgotten Harvest, Bechtel, Deloitte, The Henry Ford, McNaughton-McKay, BDO, Plante Moran, Walsh College, BCBSM, and Cranbrook Educational Community.

In his current role at Forgotten Harvest, Butman drives digital transformation, while aligning to the mission of eliminating food waste and addressing food insecurity in Southeastern Michigan.

Carrie Shumaker is the Chief Information Of cer for the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She has more than 20 years of experience as a technologist, technical manager, and director at the University of Michigan.

In her prior roles, she was Assistant Director for HCM and Student Applications and Assistant Director for Application Technology and Architecture at UM-Ann Arbor. In these and other roles, she has developed signi cant expertise in application development, analytics, strategy, project management, customer relationships, and cybersecurity. She is passionate about developing teams, championing change, and deploying technology in practical ways to support the University’s strategic goals.

CARRIE SHUMAKER

Chief Information and Strategy Of cer, University of Michigan-Dearborn

Shumaker has a bachelor’s degree from Hope College and an MBA from the University of Michigan-Flint, as well as a CISSP certi cation.

She is a faculty member for the Educause Institutes.

Darlene Taylor has a strong legacy of enterprise IT leadership with a drive for delivering solutions that transform the business and focus on end-user experience.

Success in digital transformation at Forgotten Harvest can only be accomplished through and with the people around me. I consider my greater team to be my technology staff, colleagues, vendors, partners, advisors, and the entire staff and leadership of our mission-based organization. Only through their insights, help and perseverance could we accomplish a 100% technology reset in my rst year as CIO and create a truly collaborative digital experience. We are now better poised to utilize data intelligence and digital automation to accomplish our mission, to rescue food and address food insecurity in Southeast Michigan!

SUCCESS STORY

In the past ve years, my team has worked with our colleagues to develop data governance and data analysis capabilities that have taken us from data deprived to data rich. We can ask and answer key strategic questions, consult data to make operational decisions, and create dashboards with key metrics for leaders. Data has been foundational to our strategic planning process, both in current state analysis as well as setting and measuring key performance indicators. I’m so proud of the UM-Dearborn team for committing to this work.

DARLENE TAYLOR Head of Technology & CIO (fmr), Epitec

She joined Epitec in March 2021 as Head of Technology. Prior to joining, she supported Epitec as Consulting CIO, developing and implementing a technology roadmap including several quick-win projects that enabled the scheduling of eld COVID thermoscreeners at top customer sites and a fully integrated mobile- rst texting experience allowing recruiters to easily contact and communicate with top candidates. As CIO of Novares Group, she led the strategic technology advancement focusing on cyber security and digital solutions. Prior to this role, she spent several years with Ford Motor Co. and Visteon in IT, engineering and operations.

Taylor is a graduate of the University of Michigan and leads several joint Michigan Council of Women in Technology/UM activities.

A catalyst for change who is passionate about people, leadership and innovation, Dr. Milos Topic’s experiences range from startups to Fortune 1000 companies to contributing across multiple universities (both public and private) over the past two decades. Prior to his current role as a Vice President and Chief Digital Of cer, Topic’s most recent positions were that of a Vice President and Chief Information Of cer, Chief Technology Of cer and Director of Technology Services. His responsibilities and experiences have included customer experience; business development and product design; project and portfolio management; information security; network and system engineering and administration, as well as programming and development.

He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science, a master’s in Information Systems, an MBA, and a Ph.D. in Business Administration, where his research was focused on the role of CIOs in leading innovation within higher education.

SUCCESS STORY

I’m honored to have amazing opportunities as a CIO to make a difference in the business in the lives of others from the shop oor to the boardroom and directly with the customers, leveraging the latest technology and delivering solutions to help people. As a “car girl,” I enjoy technology that aids the design-development-manufacturing and delivery of components and vehicles. The people business is equally as rewarding, leveraging tech to innovate workforce solutions. I love the opportunities to support and grow the next generation tech leaders through my roles in T-200 Lift and the Michigan Council of Women in Technology.

SUCCESS STORY

While we have worked on many great initiatives, helping design and form a national learner-designed ecosystem (across six universities), REP4 is the biggest one of them all. During this process, I have worked on the design, strategy and implementation of this important work and was responsible to bring a major global technology company to join us as a founding technology collaborator. After months of work with representatives from Microsoft, I was successful in demonstrating the importance and value of them joining this national alliance as a founding technology collaborator whose capabilities and resources will help many future generations.

AWARDS

ASH GOEL, MD SVP & CIO, Bronson Healthcare

HEALTHCARE FINALISTS Hospitals & healthcare organizations

JASON R. JOSEPH CDO & CIO, BHSH System

Ash Goel, MD, serves as the SVP for information technology and as Chief Information Of cer for Bronson Healthcare; he also manages the system enterprise technology group with oversight of technology strategy, infrastructure, information security, clinical and business applications, analytics, digital innovation and consumer applications.

Goel has been working in the healthcare industry for about 25 years, with 15 of these in leadership roles. His work has been focused on clinical medicine, physician leadership, program development, strategic planning, business partnerships, technology deployment, digitization, value transformation, innovation and healthcare operations. He continues to practice medicine as an inpatient adult hospitalist and is appointed to the faculty at the WMU-Homer Stryker MD School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Informatics. In addition, he is appointed to the Michigan Hospital Association (MHA) Health IT Strategy Committee as its incoming chair, and is a member of the Health Information and Management Systems Society NA (HIMSS) Physician Committee.

He attended medical school at All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, and West Virginia University School of Medicine-Charleston Division. He has a master’s degree in Informatics from Northwestern University and an MBA from University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

SUCCESS STORY

It has been a privilege to take everything that I learned in the medical school, apply it to the knowledge I gained in my technology training, and magnify the impact of my business school education by directly impacting the lives of hundreds — if not thousands and perhaps millions of people — enabling healthcare professionals to reach out and connect to serve the communities and families in the best ways possible. Healthcare as a profession that enriches me everyday; technology creates opportunities to take this to a whole different level and my team makes me feel proud with their accomplishments.

DANIEL WALTZ

VP

Jason R. Joseph is the chief digital and information of cer of the health system formed by Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health in 2022. Joseph leads strategic and operational information services with a primary focus on simplifying and enhancing the health care experience for the system’s patients, health plan members, teams and communities. Through easy-to-use digital platforms, applications, technology and medical devices, Joseph and his team aim to make health more accessible and equitable. Joseph also leads the system’s efforts in cybersecurity, analytics and emergency preparedness.

Before joining Spectrum Health in 2006, Jason served as vice president, information systems and services for IdeaSphere, a manufacturer of health and wellness products. Joseph began his career with Ernst & Young, where he specialized in enterprise software development and integration.

Joseph earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Western Michigan University and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He also holds a certi cate in health care project management from Harvard School of Public Health and is a graduate of Spectrum Health Executive Leadership Institute at University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Joseph is a board member and past board president at Grand Rapids Children’s Museum and serves on the Fifth Third Bank West Michigan board.

Dan Waltz joined the MidMichigan Health team in January 2014. He is responsible for empowering the organization through the use of information technology to advance and achieve its strategy. Waltz has extensive health care information technology experience and comes to MidMichigan Health after 13 years at the University of Michigan Health System, where most recently he was the executive director for applications and was the program director for the Epic EMR implementation.

Prior to UMHS, Dan was the CIO at Chelsea Community Hospital and an IT manager at Saint Joseph Mercy Health Systems in Ann Arbor.

Waltz holds a Master’s Degree in Business from the University of Phoenix and a Bachelor’s Degree in organizational development from Eastern Michigan University.

SUCCESS STORY

Our greatest accomplishment is our relentless focus on being “brilliant at the basics” and the teams that lead us to perform exceptionally well. We’ve implemented more selfservice and digital solutions for support, maintained current version levels on application platforms, and drove ef ciency to allocate more time to innovation and R&D activities. Recently, our teams have not only maintained top-tier performance when benchmarked against our peers, but they have also pushed our organization to the top tier of performance in clinical quality and ef ciency thus creating one of the top performing health care IT and data/analytics organizations in the United States.

JOSHUA WILDA EVP, CDO & CIO, University of Michigan HealthWest

Joshua Wilda has been with University of Michigan Health West for over 15 years, mostly serving in various leadership roles in the Healthcare Information Technology Department, with a brief stint as interim COO. He has been chief digital and information of cer since 2017.

Wilda combines his personal passion statement with the belief that technology can be a vehicle to better life and healthcare to drive organization.

As chief digital and information of cer he is responsible for creating and communicating a digital health strategy with a focus on meeting clinical and business goals and objectives, implementing operational excellence, and enhancing the quality of care through innovative technology solutions.

UMH-West has been recognized as a CHIME Healthcare Most Wired Winner consistently over the past 10 years. The level of dedication, passion and success our HITS department has culminated in UMH-West earning HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 EMRAM and O-EMRAM certi cations in 2019. This is one of the industry’s highest honors.

Wilda holds a bachelor of science degree in Biomedical Sciences from Marquette University and a master’s degree in Public Administration with a Healthcare emphasis from Grand Valley State University.

SUCCESS STORY

Attracting and retaining key staff is one of my greatest accomplishments. The IT department has one of the lowest turnover rates in the hospital system. One indicator of the quality of my team is the number of team members that have taken leadership roles in other areas of the organization. Our CNIO, our Director of HRIS, and our supervisor of patient nancial services all recently came from the IT team. Implementing a world class system is only the beginning. To sustain organization success takes an investment in people and my goal is to make that investment every day.

SUCCESS STORY

We have purposeful culture where our team understands the impact their individual contributions have on the team’s successes. It takes a cross-functional team with diverse backgrounds to serve the complex environment of healthcare. Our teams work with the organization as solution coaches utilizing developed guiding principles bringing intentional and partnered solutions to UMHWest. Our culture allows us to understand and focus on intentional and impactful solutions. UMH-West is a small healthcare system leading the broader industry when it comes to meaningful patient impacting innovations. Our team and department culture is our differentiator and my greatest success as a leader.

CIO

AWARDS

PENDSE

SEEING LIFE AS A LEARNING EXPERIENCE DRIVES UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN VP & CIO

Ravi Pendse credits his colleagues’ ‘amazing work’ for the prestigious award

Although he holds the of ce of the vice president and has many staff members that work with him, Ravi Pendse doesn’t see himself as at the top of the ladder.

Leading with humility, empathy, and gratitude are key elements of his leadership philosophy. “I am a servant leader and I work for them,” Pendse, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Of cer at the University of Michigan, said of his teammates. “They are the ones who make things happen.”

Pendse was recognized for his collaborative approach to leadership with the 2022 Michigan Leadership ORBIE Award, which is given yearly to a current or former CIO who has made a positive impact on the Michigan technology and business environment. He will receive the award October 21 at the annual program.

At Michigan, Pendse is responsible for the university’s entire technology ecosystem. He is also a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

He’s credited with being an innovative leader, and for navigating technology requirements and minimizing business disruption during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

Previously, he served for ve years at Brown University as CIO and vice president for computing and information services. Prior to that, he was rst CIO and then vice president for information technology at Wichita State University, where he also earned his doctorate and a master’s in electrical and computer engineering. He has a bachelor’s in electronics and communication engineering from Osmania University in Hyderabad in India.

He emphasizes that the classroom is truly where he feels most in his element.

“Whenever I get an opportunity, I do love to get back into the classroom because teaching is my passion. I love being in the classroom,” Pendse said.

“In fact, one of the things I do in my leadership that works well for me is that I see a teacher in everyone I interact with. And I encourage my colleagues to take that approach if they’re comfortable with it.

“I always like to say that life is a great teacher, and I’m trying to be a better student every day,” he added.

An unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a collaborative approach to leadership has brought Pendse signi cant recognition, but he steadfastly redirects accolades toward the hard work and team spirit of his business colleagues and extended community.

“I’m very grateful and humbled by this recognition, as it comes from my peers,” he said. “Really, the way I think about it is it’s a re ection of the outstanding work that my staff does. So, this is less about me and more about my colleagues and the fact that my colleagues have done amazing work. I’m just lucky to do what I’m passionate about and what I love and to work with some amazing people. It’s because of their work that I’m getting this recognition.”

Looking to the future, Pendse hopes to continue making strides in bringing more diverse talent to the information technology and business communities. Growing up, his mother would often point out that the hand has ve ngers, all of different sizes and shapes. In order for us to do a task, the ngers have to come together. That is the power of unity and diversity. The point is always do your best to recruit diverse talent. When a talented and diverse team works collaboratively, magic happens. Unity and diversity is not optional, it is essential for success.

“I always like to say that life is a great teacher, and I’m trying to be a better student every day.” Dr. Ravi Pendse

LEADING WHAT’S NEXT

Grand Valley State University congratulates Miloš Topić, vice president for Information Technology and chief digital o cer, for being honored in the Michigan CIO of the Year® Awards from Crain’s Detroit Business

His innovative leadership keeps Grand Valley at the forefront of higher education technology and allows GVSU to empower our students to succeed with in-person and online learning, so that we all reach higher together.

THANK

ORBIE® AWARDS

Everything plus the kitchen sink: Estate has teardown sale

Chari and Gregory Delatore had al ready hit three estate sales by the time they pulled up to a Northville home Friday afternoon.

ey had made a couple purchases: A hand blender, new, that was marked for $10 but that Chari bought for $5. A painting, covered in dust, that was list ed for $25 but that Chari got for $10. She thinks it’s worth about $300. She plans to clean it up to sell.

But at the low-slung brick house at 20172 West Whipple Drive, the trea sures weren’t as easy to nd. is es tate sale was literally the estate.

e home, which sold this spring for more than $500,000, is going to be torn down. e owner is selling the windows, the oors, the doors — ev erything including the kitchen sink — to keep it from the land ll and to re coup some costs.

“We need a banister, but ours are in better shape than that,” Chari said, her hand on the railing. “ e oors are gorgeous, though. Somebody’s going to want it.”

e oors were $1.50 per square foot, and several people who walked through the $800 front door Friday af ternoon commented on their beauty.

“I’d love these oors in my house,” said Jill Bridson, a South Lyon resident who came to see the house with her sister. “If I had the ability to do it, it’s probably a fabulous deal.”

e sisters expected to nd clothes,

kitchenware, art — the normal things you nd at an estate sale. Instead, they found themselves opening cabinets and inspecting the kitchen.

“ ere are some things besides the oors, right?” Bridson said upon learning it was a teardown sale. “I don’t want to rip up the oors.”

Alison Robb, the owner of Alison’s Magni cent Obsession Moving and Estate Sales, said it would be “tragic” to let the home’s pieces go into a Dumpster. e kitchen had been re cently renovated, she said, and there were a lot of salvageable parts.

“Someone else can reap the bene ts and you don’t have to feel bad

about tearing it down,” she said. “( e owner is) under the gun for getting things out. ere’s toilets and pedestal sinks and kitchen cabinetry. ere’s just so much that’s usable.”

At least one $50 toilet sold; the cab inets were still wanting. While the whole kitchen could be had for $10,000, the refrigerator ($350) and dishwasher were quick to be claimed for far less.

Karen Pawlowski and Bruce Kanauf, owners of Second Encore Es tate Sales, were helping Robb out onsite Friday. Pawlowski said she had posted the sale on Facebook Market place and elsewhere, and while there

were a lot of questions, not many peo ple had shown up to buy. On urs day, she said, some people had come with measuring tapes or to take pic tures, waiting to see how the kitchen backsplash (make an o er) or re place ($300), would look in their home.

Pawlowski said online, people start to argue about whether the sale should happen at all.

“‘It’s a beautiful house, why are they tearing it down?’” she said the online discussion went. “People are saying these teardown sales shouldn’t be al lowed.”

If it were up to Chari Delatore, the home would survive.

“I like the old homes, I don’t like the bigfoots,” she said of those that take up more space on the lot. “I’d buy this and just remodel it. I wouldn’t tear it down. It’s such a waste of money. ...

It’s a shame, it’s beautiful.”

Robb said the home, which is a tri-level built in the 1950s, has gone out of style. e owner fell in love with the secluded, quiet lot — “It’s almost like a cabin in the woods,” she said — but the layout didn’t suit him.

“He’s going to build a house for himself that’s good for years and years to come,” she said.

Next door, wild turkeys walked through the lawn of a home more than one-and-a-half times the size of the teardown, and built in 2015. In side, Pawlowski said the oors weren’t as hard to pull up and reinstall as peo

ple thought.

“ e kitchen hurts you to think about being smashed,” she said, as people walked in and then out, ex pecting a di erent kind of sale. “You can’t make people buy it.”

She has her eye on the pendant x tures in the kitchen, three for $60 with Friday’s 25 percent o sale. On Satur day, everything will be half price. e point is to sell.

Jose Lopez, who lives in West Bloom eld, walked in with bad news. He’d thought about buying the front door after a visit ursday, but it wouldn’t t his house. Still, he’d brought his wife. ere were some things they were still considering.

An upstairs window pane door list ed for $100 might be worthwhile, and the curtain rods might be a good pur chase. Lopez said his interior doors needed an update, too. He opened and closed several, looking for scu s and trying to remember which rooms in his house opened to the left and which to the right.

In the end, he spent $90 on two doors and a garbage disposal, and planned to come back to pick them up — and maybe shop some more — on Saturday.

“It’s a good opportunity for people like us, who would like to save some money and get really good products,” Lopez said.

Contact: arielle.kass@crain.com; (313) 446-6774; @ArielleKassCDB

ARIELLE KASS

A list of prices is taped to a wall at a Northville home as the owner seeks to recoup some money and salvage bits of the home like ooring, counters and steps before it is torn down.

ARIELLE KASS / CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Dealer known for ‘car vending machine’ suspended for alleged vehicle code violations

Carvana asks Michigan consumers to sign petition BY C.J. MOORE

Carvana Co. launched a petition asking for support from consumers in Michigan after the company’s license to operate in the state was suspended Oct. 7.

In an email sent out Wednesday, the online used-vehicle retailer asked consumers to sign the petition “to support keeping Carvana and online, hassle-free car buying available without interruption in Michigan.”

Michigan’s Department of State said Oct. 7 that it was suspending Carvana’s license for a multitude of alleged violations of the Michigan Vehicle Code, including repeated infractions pertaining to titles, registrations and odometers. ose were discovered during an investigation of several no-title complaints from consumers, the state said.

“We believe Carvana is being singled out in order to protect antiquated paperwork and legal requirements that we don’t feel are in the best interest of customers,” Carvana said in the email.

e company issued a similar request to Illinois consumers in late July following a period of continued scrutiny from Illinois regulators. More than 6,000 people responded in support of allowing Carvana to keep operating in

the state, according to Carvana.

Carvana is likely to mount a legal challenge to the Michigan Department of State’s suspension of its license. e company chose to take that route in Illinois in July, after the Illinois secretary

of state reinstated an earlier suspension of its license.

Carvana led for a temporary restraining order against the agency, which was later granted by a judge in Illinois’ DuPage County.

Why Michigan suspended Carvana dealership

Carvana, the Oakland County vehicle dealer known for its “car vending machine” delivery, has had its license suspended by the state for “imminent harm” to the public.

The Michigan Department of State on Friday said that the license for Carvana LLC, owned by Carvana’s general counsel Paul W. Breaux and located at 26890 Adell Center Drive in Novi, has been summarily suspended for several alleged violations of the Michigan Vehicle Code. The violations were discovered during an investigation of multiple no-title complaints from consumers, the state said in a news release.

The state said the violations include:



documents pertaining to the sale of three vehicles that were sold to customers and Carvana took the vehicles back.

 Failing to maintain odometer records.

 Improperly issuing temporary registrations.

Failing to have records available for inspection during reasonable or established business hours.



Possessing improper odometer disclosure records on which the odometer disclosure had been signed on behalf of the purchaser.

 Violating terms of a probation agreement 127 times.

SPONSORED BY LIBERTY CENTER ONE – ONE CLOUD SERVICES

Disasters in the IT space can come in many forms; ransomware, hardware failure, data corruption, sabotage, re and ood, to name a few. Proper data protection is a “layer cake” of so ware and infrastructure designed to prevent, mitigate, and potentially recover from business disasters. ese layers are all part of a comprehensive plan to protect the business and ensure that operations run with minimal disruption should one of these events occur.

e rst and possibly most important part of Data Protection is to create a detailed plan of possible failure points and the steps necessary to recover the a ected system. e rst line of defense is proper user training and education around strong passwords and multifactor authentication.

been a

role as a

next-generation IPS/ IDS, hardware appliance or client-based so ware to e ectively detect and mitigate incoming exploits and attacks as they occur in real-time on endpoints and servers. is is epically critical on client machines and/or laptops that may be brought into the organization (BYOD).

will protect against natural disasters, regional disasters and hardware failure.

Approximately 80% of hacking-related breaches happen due to simple passwords and miscon guration of access rights.

e second layer consists of a strong

plays a

e third layer is comprised of a data protection plan for the data itself, which is a modern company’s most important asset, i.e., a backup plan. A backup plan should consist of backups taken at regular intervals according to the organization’s acceptable RPO in an immutable form to ensure recoverability and prevent tampering.

e fourth layer builds upon the backup plan and extends to a DR copy of the data being sent to a location other than the primary data center at regular intervals according to the organization’s RPO requirements while remaining rapidly recoverable. is

At One Cloud Services, we consider this to be the gold standard of data protection, and we ensure that all customers have these measures in place. One Cloud’s o erings are built around this type of data protection strategy adding automation to eliminate human error and remove the responsibility of backup and DR from IT Managers, allowing them to focus on their business and sleep well at night. Having these measures in place as part of a comprehensive cloud o ering along with compliance-driven features - like mandatory data encryption at restallows our clients to achieve their data protection and compliance goals rapidly.

For most organizations, it’s not a matter of “if” an attack will occur, it’s a matter of WHEN. ese four layers form a simple platform for you to evaluate your data protection strategy. Does your plan address each layer?

To learn more about how a data protection strategy can assist your organization, contact Liberty Center One at info@libertycenterone.com.



Failing to make application for title and registration within 15 days of delivery for 112 customers since agreeing to an earlier probation extension.

 Committing fraudulent acts in connection with selling or otherwise dealing in vehicles where Carvana employees admitted to destroying title applications and all applicable

“These continued violations create an ongoing imminent threat to the public health, safety or welfare of the public, requiring emergency action,” MDOS said in the release.

Consumers who have a complaint against Carvana, or who have purchased a vehicle from that dealer and have had problems obtaining the title, can call the Office of Investigative Services automotive complaint line at (517) 335-1410.

“when.”

at stake,

a multi-layered,

SPONSORED CONTENT

Steve

Carvana’s car vending machine in Novi. | TERRY KOSDROSKY/AUTOMOTIVE NEWS

BROOKS KUSHMANPC

1000 Town Center, 22nd Floor 222, South eld48075 248-358-4400; BrooksKushman.com

2 HARNESS IP (HARNESS, DICKEY & PIERCE PLC)

2

5445 Corporate Drive, Suite 200, Troy48098 248-641-1600; harnessip.com

DICKINSON WRIGHT PLLC

500 Woodward Ave., Suite 4000, Detroit48226 313-223-3500; dickinsonwright.com

HONIGMANLLP

First National Building, 660 Woodward Ave., Detroit48226-3506 313-465-7000; honigman.com

WARNER NORCROSS + JUDDLLP

5

Woodward Ave. Suite 300, Detroit48201-3030 313-546-6000; wnj.com

5 HOWARD & HOWARD ATTORNEYS PLLC

7

W 4th St, Royal Oak48067 248-645-1483; howardandhoward.com

YOUNG BASILE HANLON & MACFARLANEPC

W. Big Beaver Road, Suite 624, Troy48084 248-649-3333; youngbasile.com

BODMANPLC

St. Antoine St., 6th Floor at Ford Field, Detroit48226 313-393-7564; bodmanlaw.com

9 MILLER, CANFIELD, PADDOCK AND STONEPLC 150 W. Je erson, Suite 2500, Detroit48226 313-963-6420; millercan eld.com

9 CARLSON, GASKEY & OLDSPC 400 W. Maple Road, Suite 350, Birmingham48009 248-988-8360; cgolaw.com

11 QUINN IP LAW (QUINN LAW GROUP PLLC) 21500 Haggerty Road, Suite 300, Northville48167 248-380-9300; quinniplaw.com

11 FISHMAN STEWART PLLC 800 Tower Drive, Suite 610, Troy48098 248-594-0600; shstewip.com

13 REISING ETHINGTONPC 755 W. Big Beaver Road, Suite 1850, Troy48084 248-689-3500; reising.com

13 DARROW MUSTAFAPC 41860 Six Mile Road, Northville48168 248-864-5959; darrowmustafa.com

15 VIVACQUA CRANELAW 3101 E Eisenhower Pkwy, Ann Arbor48108 734-418-3142; vivacqualaw.com

THE DOBRUSIN LAW FIRMPC 29 W. Lawrence St., Pontiac48342-2813 248-292-2920; patentco.com

16 BEJIN BIENEMANPLC 2000 Town Center, Suite 800, South eld48075 313-528-4882; b2iplaw.com

DINSMORE & SHOHLLLP

Wilshire Drive, Suite 300, Troy48084 248-647-6000; dinsmore.com

BUTZEL LONGPC

W. Je erson Ave., Suite 100, Detroit48226 313-225-7000; butzel.com

SECREST, WARDLE, LYNCH, HAMPTON, TRUEX AND MORLEYPC

Troy Center Drive, P.O. Box 5025, Troy48007-5025

secrestwardle.com

LAW GROUPPLC

Francis,CharlesBieneman

Developer plans $44 million hotel conversion of downtown Detroit building

BY KIRK PINHO

A Detroit-based developer plans a 135-unit hotel in a largely vacant building it bought earlier this year.

Method Development LLC is proposing a redevelopment of the Merchants Building, located at 206 E. Grand River Ave. at Broadway Street, consisting of the hotel space — a ag is not yet known — plus food and beverage and event space and a rooftop bar.

Detroit-based Kraemer Design Group is the architect of record on the project.

It would be among the bevy of hotels at varying stages of development ranging from under construction to recently revealed in and around downtown. Among them are a $190.5 million plan by New York City-based Related Cos. and the Ilitch family’s Olympia Development of Michigan to build a 290-room hotel south of Little Caesars Arena and the under-construction Godfrey Hotel with 227 rooms in Corktown. Others include the AC Hotel by Detroit-based e Roxbury Group, which hasn’t yet started construction; the Edition Hotel that’s part of Dan Gilbert’s Hudson’s site development; and the Cambria Hotel by Detroit-based e Means Group, which is nearing completion. ere are also discussions for perhaps two large hotels on the former site of Joe Louis Arena, which is currently under construction with a large apartment tower by Detroit-based Sterling Group.

e total investment on Method Development’s hotel comes in at $44 million, and includes the $5.9 million building acquisition cost, plus $21.5 million in hard costs and $16.6 million in soft costs, according to a Detroit City Council analysis of the project.

It is being nanced with $16.7 million in equity plus $27.3 million in debt, the analysis says.

e development rm run by Amelia Patt Zamir and Rakesh “Rocky” Lala is seeking a 12-year Obsolete Property Rehabilitation Act, or OPRA, city tax abatement valued at $1.13 million, according to a Detroit City Council brie ng memo.

Others impacted include Wayne County ($270,423); the Detroit Public Schools Community District ($438,779); the Downtown Development Authority ($31,339); Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency, or RESA ($184,017); Wayne County Community College ($109,283); the Wayne County portion of the Detroit Zoological Society levy ($3,365) and the Detroit Institute of Arts ($6,734), according to the memo.

e total value of the abatement is $2.18 million.

On ursday morning, Patt Zamir said Method was not able to disclose a hotel ag or operator.

In a letter to the council, Lala said the Merchants Building requires new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems; a new roof and windows; a facade restoration; new elevators; new re and life safety systems; and a total renovation of the interior after being largely vacant for years.

e project would begin in December and take approximately two years to complete, the memo says.

e Merchants Building was built in 1922 by Otto Misch Co. and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

An entity called Broadway Merchants LLC bought it in 1996, according to Wayne County land records.

at entity is registered to Joan Primo in Bloom eld Hills. Method acquired it in June.

In 2014, Curbed Detroit reported the owners put the building up for sale for $4 million, but it never traded hands.

446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB

State nes, suspends license of Detroit cannabis dispensary

BY NICK MANES

e state regulatory agency tasked with overseeing cannabis businesses has temporarily suspended the license of a retail store in northwest Detroit.

Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency on Oct. 10 announced the 30-day license suspension of e House of Mary Jane, a medical dispensary near Seven Mile Road and the John Lodge freeway, and slapped the business with a $75,000 ne, according to a news release from the CRA.

e ne and suspension for the House of Mary Jane comes as the state’s legal marijuana industry has been quietly pushing for more of a crackdown on any illicit parts of the market, as Crain’s has previously reported.

e allegations leading to the announcement — which were treated as true in a consent order signed by representatives of the business — include:

 e CRA conducted an unannounced compliance visit at the business and observed multiple bags, backpacks and du el bags of suspected marijuana products that did not have the tracking identi cation numbers assigned by the statewide monitoring system attached.  Respondent was advised not to sell or destroy the untagged products until the investigation was completed and until guidance was given by the CRA. e agency also requested that the business provide 30 days of video surveillance coverage required by administrative rule.

e business failed to provide the 30 days of video surveillance as requested by the CRA.

 e CRA returned to the House of Mary Jane and inquired about the untagged marijuana products. Executives then claimed to have destroyed the remaining untagged marijuana products. Video surveillance recordings of the product destruction were requested but not provided, according to the CRA news release.

“ e Cannabis Regulatory Agency has a legal responsibility to protect the health, safety, and welfare of

the public,” CRA spokesman David Harns said in the release. “Our licensees must follow all of the rules and laws that govern the cannabis industry. Untagged marijuana products and the inability to provide video footage is simply unacceptable.”

A statement from the dispensary, sent by its attorney at the Dickinson Wright law rm reads: “We look forward to reopening and serving our community and loyal clientèle.”

Contact: nmanes@crain.com; (313) 446-1626; @nickrmanes

Financial challenges? We’re here for you!

The House of Mary Jane in northwest Detroit. | GOOGLE STREET VIEW

The

Fintech company raises $4M to expand credit card debt tool

NICK MANES

In March 2020, Joseph Gracia was in the San Francisco Bay area fund raising for a new nancial technology startup focused on providing relief for those with student loan debt.

Within days, however, the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and the federal government paused stu dent loan debt payments. More than 2 1/2 years later, they have not resumed.

For Gracia and his burgeoning company, that meant the need for a “quintessential pandemic pivot.”

e retooled company, Ann Ar bor-based Nickels Inc., recently closed on a $4 million venture capital seed funding round and has a soft ware product being rolled out to banks and credit unions to help cus tomers nd a solution for third-party credit card debt.

“We were one of those companies that was negatively impacted by the

pandemic, not one of those com panies that ended up seeing their business blow up in a good way be cause of the pan demic,” Gracia told Crain’s.

“I like to say we fortunately didn’t go bankrupt, didn’t lose anyone’s money and scratched and clawed our way through the pivot. And so even though we’ve been around for a few years, we’re really in our less than sec ond year (and) really focusing on building out and launching with cred it unions and banks.”

Gracia said Nickels’ software is be ing used by ve lenders, including East Lansing-based Michigan State University Federal Credit Union and Brighton-based Lake Trust Credit Union.

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Ancora

Ancora is happy to announce that Noah Nicholl, CPA has joined Ancora as an Assistant Vice President, Equity Analyst based out of Ancora’s Bloom eld Hills of ce. Noah will provide research and in-depth analysis for the Ancora/Thelen strategy team. Prior to joining Ancora, he worked as an analyst for Donnelly Penman & Partners. Noah earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Accounting from Oakland University. He is a Certi ed Public Accountant and has passed Level I of the CFA Program.

Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP)

REAL ESTATE

Cushman & Wake eld

RETAIL

Birmingham Shopping District

e idea behind the company and its growth-potential is two-fold, ac cording to Gracia and his investors: Nickels can help consumers strug gling with credit card debt nd a new path with re nancing options and assist with broader nancial lit eracy, while creating a tighter rela tionship between consumers and their banks.

e company’s Credit Card Coach software is a white-label web applica tion that allows consumers to link their third-party credit cards and then receive personalized advice about managing payments, controlling spending and improving credit scores, according to a news release.

at third-party card data is then “fed back to the institution to continu ally identify consumers who would bene t from re nancing their third-party credit card debt into the institutions’ own loan products,” ac cording to the release.

Of the overall market opportunity, Gracia said the vast majority of the more than $850 billion credit card debt market is largely controlled by the handful of large banks. e soft ware being rolled out by Nickels aims to provide an entry point to the thou sands of smaller banks around the country.

LAW

Mike Morse Law Firm

Mike Morse Law Firm (855mikewins.com) has welcomed veteran attorney Lisa Screen to its talented team of trial lawyers. Screen brings decades of experience to Michigan’s largest personal injury rm and has tried more than 250 cases. Screen recently pivoted from representing auto insurance companies to assisting accident victims. As a senior attorney, she will lead a team of several attorneys at the rm and bring her extensive trial experience and knowledge to the forefront of her leadership.

The Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP) named Talitha Johnson as its director of communications. In this role, she will lead the organization’s external communication initiatives. Previously, she served as the marketing manager for the Detroit Regional Partnership, where she helped lead branding efforts to attract businesses to scale in the 11-county Detroit Region. The DDP named Anjana Schroeder as its director of marketing. Schroeder, who has been with the DDP since 2017 in a variety of roles with increasing responsibility will now lead all DDP marketing initiatives, including the organization’s visual brand, design, publications, reports and email marketing efforts. Schroeder is a former multimedia producer with Crain’s Detroit Business.

NEW GIG?

Cushman & Wake eld is pleased to announce the addition of Craig Herschel, Director to its industrial real estate team. With over 18 years’ experience, Craig specializes in manufacturing, distribution, transportation, and high-tech facilities in secondary and tertiary markets in Michigan and Ohio. “Craig is an exceptional addition to our team,” said Garrett Keais, Managing Principal. “He brings a combination of deal-making experience and fresh perspective which will be a huge asset to our team.”

The Birmingham Shopping District Board of Directors recently announced the appointment of a new Executive Director, Cristina SheppardDecius, CMSM. SheppardDecius has 20+ years of downtown management, economic development and marketing experience.

Recognized for her success in Ferndale and one of Crain’s 40 Under 40 in 2009. She currently provides executive management and consulting services to the Dearborn DDA and Michigan downtowns, and is the Chairwoman of the Michigan Downtown Association.

Terms of the venture capital fund ing were not disclosed, but the $4 mil lion seed round will be used to expand the company’s product capabilities, add to Nickels’ four-person sta and accelerate partnerships with banks and credit unions.

e round was led by Flyover Capi tal headquartered near Kansas City and Reseda Group, the investment arm of MSUFCU. Detroit Venture Partners and Michigan Rise partici pated in the round.

e attraction to the software from smaller lenders like MSUFCU largely stems from the ability to access sub stantial credit card data that would otherwise be di cult to obtain, ac cording to Ben Maxim, CTO at Reseda Group.

“So we thought that that was a real ly great way for credit unions and oth er institutions that don’t necessarily have their own data analytics depart ment ... to gure out that kind of infor mation,” Maxim said.

REAL ESTATE

Friedman Real Estate Friedman Real Estate is pleased to announce that Bruce A. Morrison has joined as Senior Vice President, Investment Sales. Bruce has been exclusively involved in investment real estate debt and equity nationwide since 1985. He has sold, nanced and asset-managed $3.1 billion of of ce, industrial, retail, apartment, self-storage, marinas, parking decks, hotels, billboards, manufactured housing, and notes in 12 states involving 800 investors and assets as large as $75 million.

SERVICES

Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP)

The Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP) recently announced Michael A. Bruggeman, CPP, as chief safety and security of cer. Bruggeman draws on more than 40 years of law enforcement and security experience in both the public and private sectors. He joins the DDP as an employee, after leading its safety efforts in a consultant role for the past ve years. In his role, Bruggeman will continue to re ne and execute an overall safety and security strategy for DDP, DDP Parks and

e company’s product and focus is broadly re ective of the role that Gracia said nancial institutions should be playing in society, and speaks to the sometimes tense rela tionship between legacy banks and startup nancial technology compa nies like his.

“But it seems as though if they’re going to continue to have a material impact on the nancial system, they need to get better at developing digital services and products to support their customers beyond ‘we hold your money in a checking account,’” Gracia said.

“Whereas over the past (several) years, ntechs have become tremen dously successful, with Venmo or Dig it or any number of new ways to help you manage your money, move things around and provide additional ser vices on top of that,” the CEO said.

“ e big opportunity that I see is building out tools and products and systems to enable those types of capa bilities through the banks and credit unions that customers are already working with.”

Schroeder

Gracia

Nickels

New formal plan for Detroit city airport unveiled after FAA approval

BY MINNAH ARSHAD

e city of Detroit con rmed de velopment plans for the Coleman A. Young International Airport follow ing federal approval of its Airport Layout Plan for the rst time in about 30 years.

e Federal Aviation Administra tion’s green light for the city ALP is expected to garner about $100 mil lion for airport development over the next 10 years, Mayor Mike Duggan said at a news conference ursday morning. e funds will be used to build a “ rst-class corporate and general aviation airport.”

“I know people are attached to the idea of having commercial service at this airport, but the fact is you need a

10,000-foot runway for passenger planes,” Duggan said. “We have about 5,400 feet, and there was no way it was viable. And city airport was stuck in limbo for a long time, because the city of Detroit was pushing something the FAA knew was not viable.”

e grants will be used to add new hangars, a control tower and taxi ways, as well as increase safety stan dards for the existing runway. It will also fund plans to bring the Davis Aerospace Technical High School back to the city airport, which was moved out about 10 years ago by emergency management to cut costs.

e FAA approved Detroit’s ALP earlier this year but required that the city clear an appropriate safety zone around the airport, dubbed the

French Road Mini-Take. Duggan said 17 families remain in the zone.

Detroit City Councilmember Scott Benson, who presides over the dis trict in which the city airport is locat ed, said at the conference, “You’re nally seeing the vision come to fruition.”

e new plan shows how the city can turn the airport into an “eco nomic development revenue genera tor,” Benson said, and get it o the city’s general fund, which it currently operates from. e city previously re ceived $111,000 in state and federal grants to fund plans for the airport, including the ALP.

Contact: minnah.arshad@crain.com (313) 446-0416; @minnaharshad

‘Road diet’ will add bike lanes on part of Woodward in Oakland County

ARSHAD

After years of debate about safety concerns along the Woodward corri dor, two communities will have start ed construction that will transform a two-mile stretch of the iconic street into a pedestrian- and biker-friendly roadway.

Construction on Woodward Ave nue between Eight Mile and Interstate 696 began Monday. Woodward Moves, a joint venture between Fern dale, Pleasant Ridge and the Michigan Department of Transportation, will reduce one lane in each direction, add a nine-foot parking-protected bike lane, where the parking lane puts a barrier between cars and bicyclists, a three-foot bu er, and about 900 delin eators to ensure cars don’t cross into the bike lane, Ferndale Downtown Development Authority’s Executive Director Lena Stevens told Crain’s. e project also includes repaving up to the northern Ferndale bound ary. Pleasant Ridge’s portion of the roadway has already been repaved. e city has received some push back from residents and businesses who express concern about the year long construction project obstructing roadways, and the reduction of car lanes increasing tra c density in an already busy area. Lawn signs protest ing the “road diet” have been a visible presence in local neighborhoods.

e $9 million undertaking is re ceiving major state dollars. MDOT is putting in $5.6 million, Ferndale May or Melanie Piana said. e project is also being funded by $2 million in grants split between MDOT and the Southeast Michigan Council of Gov ernments. Ferndale is footing nearly $1.2 million, and Pleasant Ridge is paying $139,500. Ferndale’s match comes from its Act 51 transportation tax revenue allocation from the state.

Safety concerns about Woodward have oated higher and higher on the priority list in Ferndale’s community meetings over the last couple de cades, Piana said.

One of the main safety concerns the project seeks to address is that vehi cles seeking to turn right onto Wood ward have to pull onto the sidewalk to be far enough to see tra c and safely turn. In the new design, most of the intersections with tra c lights will be

able to accommodate a car safely pulling past the crosswalk and bike lane, Stevens said. e project also adds protection for nonvehicular trav elers and reduces the length of the crosswalk distance for pedestrians on Woodward, which Stevens said is cur rently a race to the other side.

e team has also drawn inspira tion from the National Association of City Transportation plans and general global trends.

“It’s just the way the world is going,” Stevens said. “I’m excited to see Fern dale doing that, especially with Wood ward, which is a very iconic road, so

it’s not a small thing to try something like this here.”

Ferndale was also the rst city to put down white stripes for biking lanes, the mayor said.

“We’re not the only city having these issues along the Woodward cor ridor, but we are the rst to attempt to bring some real safety,” Piana said.

Backers cite data that say the road can handle reduction in vehicle lanes. SEMCOG’s 2013 and 2015 annual av erage daily tra c, or ADT, estimates compiled by the city of Ferndale re port that the northbound segment of Woodward Avenue saw 15,000 to

17,900 vehicles a day, and the south bound segment, excluding underpass and overpass portions, saw 13,500 to 23,000 vehicles a day.

e Federal Highway Administra tion estimates that four-lane roads with an ADT of 20,000 or less are good candidates for road diets and won’t signi cantly a ect motor vehicles while improving conditions for other modes of transportation.

“ is is about modernizing Wood ward, so that we’re responding to

community needs as they are today,” Piana told Crain’s.

Stevens said the estimated comple tion deadline is late fall 2023. e bulk of the work will commence next spring, but through mid-November, or as weather permits, the city will fo cus on the middle lanes. Troy-based Ajax Paving Industries Inc. was award ed the prime bid for the project, Fern dale Department of Public Works di rector Dan Antosik told Crain’s, and Merlo Construction Inc. in Milford is aiding with much of the concrete work.

e emphasis on nonvehicular travel paths in this redesign is about moving the community into where the world is headed, Piana said, add ing that businesses and residents come to Ferndale for the walkability.

“When you design a community for all types of getting around, then your community is meeting everybody where they’re at, and for all vulnerable users,” Piana said.

e mayor said she expects there to be a third phase of the project after construction concludes: education. Relearning how to use and share the roadway with bicyclists, roller skaters, scooters and pedestrians will take a few months to adjust to.

“It’s not a road diet — it’s a lifestyle change,” Stevens said.

The Coleman A. Young International Airport in Detroit is classi ed as a general aviation airport, which accommodates small recreational aircraft all the way up to large business aircraft. | QUINN BANKS/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

The plan to add bike lanes on Woodward Avenue has prompted protest from some residents and businesses. MATTHEW POLLOCK/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Woodward Avenue through Ferndale will get dedicated bike lanes and other changes with work scheduled to start Monday. | MATTHEW POLLOCK/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

Detroit assessments lean hard on virtual appraisals

ARIELLE KASS

Until 2017, the city of Detroit had gone 60 years without nishing a comprehensive reappraisal of prop erty values in the city, a recent audit said. Now, with the reassessment completed, the assessor’s o ce has the task of keeping current with a state requirement that 20 percent of properties be reassessed each year.

To do that, the city has turned to desktop appraisals, a system that looks at aerial photos and informa tion gathered from parcel maps, deeds and permits to determine the value of a property — but doesn’t ac tually go to look at it in person.

e desktop appraisals can be done more quickly, allowing the city to keep up with about 71,000 resi dential parcels it’s tasked with valu ing each year. In 2021, the depart ment made heavy use of the system, visiting just 20 percent of the proper ties that were reappraised that year and looking at 80 percent on a com puter.

e city says use of aerial technol ogy is necessary to keep up with the vast number of homes in the city of about 140 square miles. But critics say an over-dependence on aerial imagery can dig a deeper hole for owners of low-value properties who are already over-assessed as com pared to residents of high-value properties.

Over-assessment has been a con sistent problem in the city, research ers have said, and legal remedies have been sought both to help those who paid too much in property taxes and to reimburse others who lost

e o ce, which should have 12 full-time residential appraisers, is in the process of hiring seven people to ll vacant positions. e audit agged understa ng as an issue for the department.

“We’re trying to pull back from that,” Horhn said of the 80-20 bal ance. “None of this is a perfect sys tem, but I think it works pretty well.”

Detroit has about 355,000 residen tial parcels that must be assessed over a ve-year period; Horhn said about a third of the parcels are va cant land.

An appraiser who can look at one home on a eld inspection can look at four on a computer in the same time period, Horhn said. e aerial photos, which are taken every other year, make it easy to see if there’s been an addition built on to a house and to measure the property. Build ing permits and other data help ll in the picture for the mass appraisal process.

But the desktop appraisal system has one major aw, Horhn said: It’s di cult, from above, to determine the condition of a house. In a city where the average home was built in 1939, the condition of a home makes a huge di erence in its value. And the condition of a home can change rapidly in the city, even on the same street, as some properties are re habbed and others deteriorate fur ther without intervention.

“ e condition of a property is a key determinant of value,” the audi tor, Ray Roth, a director at Stout, told Detroit’s Budget, Audit and Finance committee in July. “Aerial does not always provide the ability to make that determination.”

Roth declined to speak about the audit, saying he couldn’t comment on on going work.

for not using the technology.”

e city’s mass appraisal system is what determines property values for residents, and therefore how much they pay in taxes on their homes. Re search has shown that low-value homes tend to be over-assessed, meaning residents whose homes are worth less pay a greater percentage in property taxes than those whose homes are worth more. Marie Shee han, the director of the property tax appeals project at the Coalition for Property Tax Justice, put it succinct ly: “If you’re over-assessed, you’re overtaxed.”

“ e issue with aerial imaging is so signi cant and under-talked about,” she said. “Aerial imaging, it drives both inequitable assessments and racial issues that are baked in that make this worse.”

While she said the city has been making improvements each year, Sheehan said many lower-value homes continue to be taxed at more than half of their market value, the state cap. She said that’s in part be cause aerial images can’t show whether a foundation is crumbling or siding is coming o a home — it only shows the roof.

tered throughout.

“Our software doesn’t work that well with older properties that hav en’t been well-maintained,” he said.

“ ere are some concerns, legitimate concerns, that we don’t spend enough time looking at properties at the low end of the assessment roll. Seventy percent of our residential eld work is on properties with an assessed value under $20,000. It’s necessary.”

But he said the department doesn’t check to see if a property has been demolished; if it’s told by the city it has been, it believes it.

Mike Twitty, the Pinellas County property appraiser in Florida, said his team agreed that older proper ties were most worthy of eld in spections. His o ce does 60 percent eld inspection and 40 percent desktop appraisals; he said aerial images there are updated annually, and this year, he experimented with doing aerial photos twice in the year. Trees and other barriers can get in the way of having good images, he said.

Additionally, Alsup said, landlords and investors tend to be much more aggressive than homeowners in appealing their assessments. That could help explain why landlords appear to be at an advantage.

He said he didn’t think the ad vantage to landlords was inten tional by the city.

Alvin Horhn, the deputy CFO and assessor for the city of De troit, said he had answered questions for Alsup about the data. He said he would have to take a harder look at the findings and expected to use the tool as a visual check for assessors to see if there are, in fact, inconsisten cies.

“I’ve got a lot of interest in it,” Horhn said. “I’m not afraid of the questions. I think the ques tions are going to come, and I have no question this office can answer them.”

Horhn has repeatedly said that he doesn’t think there are systemic issues with the way the city values property, and he can defend values. At the same time, he said that it can be difficult to accurately value low-value properties.

“If we made a mistake, we’ll fix it,” he said. “I believe this of fice can defend its practices. I know this office can defend its practices.”

Alsup’s analysis uses the exis tence of the principal residence exemption as a proxy for wheth er or not someone owns a home; Margaret Dewar, a professor emerita of urban and regional planning in the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Plan ning, said those can be abused when landlords buy property but don’t switch the exemption, or when a land-contract sale falls through.

—Marie

homes to foreclosure because of tax bills they could not pay, some as a result of too-high assessments. Using aerial images at the expense of in-person property reviews, they say, can exacerbate the problem.

“Eighty percent is high,” said San dra Adomatis, vice president of the Appraisal Institute. “A eld inspec tion typically is the better route. It’s going to be much truer to current condition.”

A shortage of appraisers

Detroit’s assessor and deputy CFO, Alvin Horhn, doesn’t disagree. He’d like to have the balance reduced — two-thirds on a computer and a third in person — but said the coro navirus pandemic and a shortage of sta ers led to the high reliance on desktop appraisals.

But Horhn didn’t dis pute the issue, telling the committee it was a “bal ancing act” between using technology and having people go up and down the street, looking at houses.

“ e biggest challenge is the age of the homes and the condition of them,” he said. “We have to use the technology that’s out there. ... With many of the older homes, that’s not the best way to do it. It’s an imprecise science, I’ll be the rst to say.”

Closing a gap

e total cost of the 2017 reap praisal was $8.375 million, Horhn said, including $6 million spent on remote veri cation. He said the de partment continues to invest in soft ware, saying the department would otherwise need to double the size of its o ce to e ectively do the work.

Without the aerial technology, Horhn said, the appraisals couldn’t get done. Roth, too, told the commit tee he was “certainly not advocating

Christopher Berry, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy and director of the Center for Municipal Finance, has studied the issue in Detroit and elsewhere. He said it’s possible, with street-view images available online, that desktop appraisals can nd is sues with a property’s condition. But he said unless Detroit is investing in better statistical modeling or other improvements, it’s likely that an overreliance on desktop appraisals will increase the regressivity in how it’s applied.

“Detroit is certainly one of the more regressive jurisdictions,” Berry said. “ e problem of regressivity is a big one. Detroit is very bad com pared to the national average. I feel like they have given up on trying to x it.”

Additionally, Berry said, people who own the lowest-value homes are least likely to appeal assessments, meaning the problem is most likely to persist.

Horhn said he’s aware of the issue — a quarter of the homes assessed in the city are valued at less than $22,000, he said, and those are the ones that are most likely to get eld assessments. He said the low-value properties aren’t concentrated in any one area of the city, but are scat

“If you can go in the eld, I always feel like that’s better,” Twitty said. “It’s tough to make quality and con dition calls from an aerial. You’re not necessarily going to see peeling paint.”

Still, Twitty said, there are budgets to work within, and sta limitations. It makes sense to try to gain e cien cies. And Adomatis, vice president of the Appraisal Institute, said while eld inspections are preferable, they don’t mean an assessor is going in side the house as they would for an appraisal for a re nance — they’re looking at homes from the street.

“If you can see it, you can measure it,” said Anthony Meyaard, president of the Michigan Assessors Associa tion and the Michigan Association of Equalization directors.

He said visuals from aerials that show improvements can trigger property visits, improving what as sessors see and know. Desktop re views are becoming increasingly common, he said, and he called De troit’s 80 percent gure “impressive.”

Done right, it can avoid making peo ple go to properties that don’t have any issues.

But, Meyaard said, the deprecia tion piece “you have to gure out.”

“Depreciation is di cult to deter mine from an airplane,” he said.

Contact: arielle.kass@crain.com; (313) 446-6774; @ArielleKassCDB

The result, she said, is that landlords are likely even more favored than Alsup’s analysis shows. He showed that when properties are likely under-as sessed by the widest margin, 69 percent of those properties be long to landlords, but when they’re likely over-assessed by that same margin, just 40 per cent do.

“It’s really interesting, what he’s finding,” Dewar said.

In addition to the assessment advantage they appear to have, the study showed across all cate gories — “likely over-assess ment,” “likely under-assess ment” and “likely properly assessed” — landlords are more likely to be behind on their taxes than homeowners. At least 30 percent of landlords were be hind on property taxes regard less of the category. Nearly 44 percent were behind among those who were most likely to be under-assessed.

“It is worth noting across these two citywide findings re lated to inconsistent assess ments that, across every As sessed Value Variation Range, homeowners are less frequently tax delinquent than landlords despite disproportionately bear ing the brunt of the higher end of inconsistent assessments,” the report said.

While Detroit recently be

A stretch of houses along Fischer Street on Detroit’s east side. | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

“AERIAL IMAGING, IT DRIVES BOTH INEQUITABLE ASSESSMENTS AND RACIAL ISSUES THAT ARE BAKED IN THAT MAKE THIS WORSE.”

of the

Property Tax Justice

Number of homes owned by homeowners vs. landlords

This table shows what regrid is called the “Detroit Assessment Gauge,” which compares a property’s Assessed Value per Square Foot (AV/Sq Ft) to that of other single-family homes in the same census tract of comparable lot size. The data indicates that the more the Detroit Assessment Gauge suggests a home may be overassessed, the more likely it is that home belongs to a homeowner. Conversely, the more “underassessed” a home appears to be, the more likely it is to be owned by a landlord.

JUDSON

Judson has a waiting list for chil dren diagnosed as on the autism spectrum and in need of therapy. And demand for the other services it provides, including behavioral health, foster care and adoption and vocational services for devel opmentally disabled adults, has ris en during the COVID-19 pandemic.

rough the expansion, Judson plans to bring integrated care to the campus, adding primary health care and substance use disorder treatment services not only for its existing clients but the community as a whole. at will help meet in creased demand for those services, while also producing new earned revenue to support and enhance them, Hardy-Foster said.

Judson has established in Warren, she said.

Farmington Hills-based Judson also has an agreement with Core well Health (the post-merger name of Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health), which is referring people to Judson’s substance use disorder program at the Warren site, Har dy-Foster said.

She projects the nonpro t, which is operating on a $30 million budget for scal 2023, will break even for scal 2022, which closed at the end of September, despite being cut as one of the charities bene ting from the charity preview of the Detroit Auto Show after decades of receiv ing contributions from the black-tie event.

things.

Several of those concerns have been addressed through modi ca tions to the initial plan, representa tives from Berkley-based design rm Stantec and Nowak & Fraus Engineers said during the meeting. Others, like water runo , will be ad dressed as project design and plan ning moves forward.

Property assessments vs. delinquency on taxes

On the homeowner side, it is likely that lower valued homes are more frequently the properties where the city’s ~35,000 homeowners in poverty live. For these homeowners, lower assessments may not signi cantly increase their ability to pay. Among likely landlord-owned homes, tax delinquency rates are higher than those among owner-occupants across every range of Assessed Value Variation Scores. For homes with the lowest valuation, it is more likely that landlords will be milking the property.

Assessed value per square foot variation from census tract average ranges

Percent of landlord-owned properties behind on taxes

Percent of homeowner-owned properties behind on taxes

+50 or more 32.3% 36.1%

+25 to+50 30.7% 37%

+10 to+25 30.5% 31.9%

+2.5 to +10 31.3% 26.6%

-2.5 to +2.5 25.3% 25.3%

-10 to -2.5 33% 24.9%

-25 to -10 35.6% 23.3%

-50 to -25 40.1% 22.6%

-50 or less 43.6% 18.4%

came a majority-homeowner city again, Willie Donwell, the adminis trator for the city’s Property As sessment Board of Review, said in vestors have had an advantage for some time.

“The landlords for years have been getting away with not paying taxes,” Donwell said.

Donwell said the research helps show the “entire landscape” of as sessments in Detroit. Now, there’s more of an opportunity to see where changes might need to be made.

“When you don’t know, you can’t fix it,” he said. “There has not been a true, collective effort to connect all the dots.”

Because they have more resourc es and more savvy, Mark Skidmore, a professor of economics at Michi gan State University, said he ex pected landlords would fare better in their assessments.

“It doesn’t surprise me that land lords have the upper hand here,” he said.

But the tool, which shows the listed owner of each property as well as how over- or under-as sessed it likely is, can help put pres sure on policymakers to rethink the system, Skidmore said. He said it can be “really useful” in helping to create a more level playing field be tween both landlords and owners and has the potential to help a lot of people who have been assessed incorrectly.

Especially because there is a power differential between the two

groups, Skidmore said the research can help homeowners who may have had questions about their as sessments, but weren’t sure what to do with those questions.

“I’m a big fan of transparency,” he said. “Access to information em powers people.”

Eric Dueweke, the president of the MorningSide Community Or ganization, said he wasn’t sur prised by Alsup’s findings. But he said the granular research helps shine a light on the “broken prop erty tax system that we have in De troit.”

He advocated for a system that would value property differently than improvements, or buildings, on the property. It’s called a splitrate tax system, and Alsup also said in his paper that taxing land more than the buildings on it could help improve consistency in the system.

“Landlords, they have the re sources to do the appeal,” Dueweke said. “They have access to the Mul tiple Listing Service and what other properties are selling for. They get the taxes lowered and they keep them lowered.”

Dueweke said it was a “head scratcher” that similar properties on the same street could be valued so differently.

“It really is kind of mystifying,” he said. “If houses are being sold for way more than they’re assessed at, why aren’t they being corrected?”

Contact: arielle.kass@crain.com; (313) 446-6774; @ArielleKassCDB

e new and renovated buildings on the 8-acre campus will enable Judson to double the 900 individu als and clients it serves from the site currently, to enhance and raise visi bility of its services and help ensure it will be around for another centu ry to serve them, Hardy-Foster said.

“You’re always faced with chal lenges,” she said. “If we can serve more people, we’re generating more money to cover those ser vices, and it’s helping us to sustain and enhance our operations.”

What is to come

Plans for the rst phase of con struction include:  Renovation of the main, pin wheel-shaped building on the cam pus and a 1,500-square-foot addi tion that would add visitation rooms for children and families in the foster care program.  Closure of a driveway to Springer Avenue, a residential area.  Expansion of a parking lot and construction of a new ring drive around the perimeter of the campus.  A new garden and play area.  Renovation of two former group homes for children to create a ca reer center for developmentally dis abled adults and a behavioral and primary health clinic.

“ is is going to allow us to o er health care services and (substance use disorder treatment) to the com munity as well as current clients of Judson,” Hardy-Foster said.

It has yet to choose a primary health provider but plans to ap proach Medical Network One, the partner on an integrated care site

e second phase of Judson’s Royal Oak expansion will include demolition of two buildings on the campus and construction of a 25,000-square-foot life skills training center for children and young adults, with an indoor practice bank, prac tice apartment and practice café to help them learn how to function in the world, plan ners said. It will also include an indoor multi-pur pose space to give the kids room to play when they can’t go outside and o ce space and meeting space that Judson plans to make available to the community, Hardy-Foster said.

e planning commission ap proved the site plan at the meeting and Judson Center is seeking vari ances for the parking and driveway width for an existing entry on Green eld. But the approval is con tingent on Judson securing those variances and inclusion of other things, including a six-foot masonry wall along the residential border, landscaping screening, lighting modi cations to reduce light spill age into the neighborhood and the relocation of a generator to reduce noise into the neighborhood.

Judson, a nalist in Crain’s Best-Managed Nonpro t Contest last year, launched a campaign to

“THIS IS GOING TO ALLOW US TO OFFER HEALTH CARE SERVICES AND (SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER TREATMENT) TO THE COMMUNITY AS WELL AS CURRENT CLIENTS OF JUDSON.” —Lenora Hardy-Foster

A second entry from Green eld Road, an additional fenced play ground, sensory garden and pavil ion and a new drop-o area and parking lot are also planned as part of the latter phase.

Residents object

Under Royal Oak zoning ordi nances, the project would need 225 o -street parking spaces. Judson’s proposal, which is 48 short of that number, drew pushback from neighbors in the area, for that and other facets of the project as initial ly proposed.

Area residents who attended a Sept. 13 Royal Oak Planning Com mission meeting opposed the proj ect due to increased tra c on Springer Avenue — which borders the residential area and the east side of the Judson Center campus — noise, dust/grass clippings, light ing and water runo from the non pro t’s campus, among other

raise $6.5 million-$7 million last year to fund the initial phase. So far, it’s raised $2.3 million in its rst capital campaign, with $1.3 million from the board and executive lead ership and $1 million from an anonymous donor, Hardy-Foster said. Judson’s capital projects in the past were funded by grants and fundraising events.

A second, $10 million campaign to fund the second phase will fol low, with a projected construction start for that work in 2026, she said.

People have long driven by Jud son’s Royal Oak campus and won dered what it does, Hardy-Foster said. Is it a doctor’s o ce or a school?

Beyond enabling expanded and new services, the expansion project will raise the visibility of the cam pus through the new building front ing Green eld and enhanced elec tronic signs that will make it clear “who we are and what we do,” she said.

Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch

electri cation of the automotive in dustry.

“For every one challenge, there could be something in turn that be comes a positive,” Scott said. “So that's why you just have to keep focused on the things that you can control because there's a lot of moving parts here.”

A Flint native and Lear “lifer,” Scott started with the company as an in tern in 1988 and ascended to the helm in 2018. His leadership style is in uenced by his Michigan roots and an appreciation for manufacturing excellence, as well as stints working for Lear in Sweden, Germany and France. He said those experiences helped him better understand what it means to operate a company of $19 billion in revenue per year with more than 250 plants across 38 countries.

“ is isn't South eld centric. is is the world,” Scott said of his man agement style. “ is is our global 180,000 employees. We have to rep resent all the voices.”

e following conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.

 Take me through the rise from intern to CEO.

Yeah, I started in 1988 as an intern, and it was at the lowest level, bills and material, and really worked my way up through the organization, and the company was a relatively young company at that time. … e growth trajectory was accelerating, and so opportunities were present ing themselves, and like I always talk about, some of the biggest challenges become your biggest opportunities.

Some of those challenges meant even moving over to Sweden. ere was a business that we had in Swe den that wasn't doing that well, and my family picked up and we moved. I was fortunate enough to really turn that business around, and then I moved to Germany and took on an expanded role.

At the time, it just seemed like, what did I do? What am I doing here? Did I mess up? You know, it didn't seem like the things that I was learning at the time would help me develop into the person I am today, because you really don't recognize those things. And so, I look back at those times and realize I learned so much in Sweden around the development of people and ap preciating diversity of culture, diversi ty of individuals, and really, how to retain and attract talent.

Without those opportunities earli er on in my career, it would have been very challenging to really ap preciate what we're being faced with and making very direct decisions moving forward.

to focus on, and giving the team clear direction and keeping it very simple.

sions. So I think the uncertainty in re spect to other challenges around a po tential recession or other issues relative to labor or in ationary costs are becoming more challenging…I think it's always been a conversation you have to bring in ... at the right level with the customer or with the suppli ers and then have alternative solu tions… ere's things that the supplier can do. We can derate plants, we can optimize di erent value chains, we have productivity discussions that should in some respect o set in a tionary costs. … So there's a number of levers that you can pull and negotiate.

DEALS & DETAILS

 CONTRACTS



PureForge Braking Systems Inc., Pontiac, manufacturer of braking systems, has a joint development agreement with Hyundai Motor Co., Seoul, South Korea, an auto maker, to develop products for fu ture generations of Hyundai vehi cles. Websites: pureforge.com, hyundaiusa.com/us/en

 NOTA Laboratories, Ann Arbor, a development stage company fo cused on nitric oxide delivery sys tems to treat respiratory and in am matory illnesses, has a joint development agreement with NGK Spark Plugs, Nagoya, Japan, suppli er of spark plugs, ceramic, and med ical products. NGK owns Caire Inc., supplier of oxygen concentrators for home, clinic, and hospital use. Websites: notalabs.com, ngkspark plugs.com/en



365 Retail Markets, Troy, provider of self-service retail technology, has a partnership with Custom Data Solutions Inc., Sterling Heights, a data collection, processing and re porting company, to collaborate on data analytics. Website: 365retail markets.com, custdata.com

 EXPANSIONS

 Ross Mortgage Corp., Troy, a resi dential mortgage lender, opened an o ce in Nashville, Tenn. Website: rossmortgage.com





What would you identify as the biggest challenge for you right now?

It's been amazing over the last two years as the industry has been chal lenged with all kinds of things — chip shortage, labor crisis, transportation, in ationary costs … As we look for ward, a potential recession or worse. When we went through the COVID situation, I tried to make it very sim ple: Let's focus on people. Let's focus on the things that we can control, the balance sheet, the liquidity, what we're doing internally at the compa ny, and let's keep a very close eye on strategy. Where’s the world going?

As I look forward, I think that still remains the focus, and the challenges are not getting distracted (by) things that you can't really control and look ing within your own four walls and saying, here's the things that we have

On my way up to your o ce, I was surprised by the level of activity on the campus. Are employees back in the o ce now? What’s the policy on that?



So we've been back in a three day (in), two day remote situation since June 15, 2020 (except for during the omicron variant outbreak). One thing that I talked about was remaining very exible and remaining focused on the voice of our employees, and that rang es, I mean, really picking up where everybody was at… I said, what I need the team to do from an employee standpoint is focus on what is equita ble for all because we had people that are full time back in the plants … We had o ces open in China or India or other parts of the world, and we had di erent structures within Munich or UK and then we had South eld. And I said, whatever we do, I want this to be a global approach to how we're going to treat all employees.

 Can you see productivity levels change when people are back in the o ce versus working remotely?

ere's no question that when a pro gram manager and an engineer and an account manager are sitting together, working through problems as a team, they're much more e cient. I mean, even my management team, there's a lot of work that's done in between leav ing a meeting or entering a meeting that would not get done on a call … I think there is an e ciency gain.

And I think that's the exibility, when we brought individuals back to campus, we didn't have to make it about sitting in a particular area or cube or o ce, but more collaborative environments where you feel it's more friendly and more inviting … I think one reason we were so success

ful during COVID was the networking of the teams, that we can lean on each other, and we can't lose that. When you're remote, you really start to lose that personal aspect of knowing someone's family or knowing who they are and having that ability to pick up that phone and reach out and get something done more e ectively.



Do you think it’ll ever be manda tory ve days in the o ce again?

No, I don't think we'll ever see ve days here. is is working for us, and at this stage, unless the employees start to really talk about di erent things that we can create more exibility, I'm real ly happy with where we're at.



What’s the state of discussion with customers and suppliers about contracts and pricing relief?

It's been a discussion and negotia tion with our customers for the last year and a half. And I think in respect to the chip situation, there seems to be more clarity, not that we're by any stretch out of the woods. I think that's still going to be a problem for the fore seeable future. I don't think that's go ing to get cleaned up quickly. However, I think our customers are much more sophisticated and much more aligned with allocation and capacity. So I think even though there's still going to be bumps along the road relative to chips, there does seem to be a much more so phisticated communication network between the OEs, the suppliers and the manufacturers of the chips. And so it's a little bit cleaner, and I think the sup ply base as a whole isn't as fractured.



I’ve heard from some other suppliers that the conversations about pricing relief are getting tougher. Are you seeing that?

e environment is getting more challenging, which then in turn puts more pressure on those type of discus

What changes is the company mak ing in response to the supply chain issues of the past couple years or a potential economic downturn?



What we've seen over the last two years is a signi cant shift to more local manufacturing and exibility where the supply base was really focused on in some respects a footprint that would supply globally. And so you'd have one location that would supply multiple re gions. I think given the number of is sues that we’re being faced with, and some of the changes that are occurring not just with Europe but with North America and with Asia, is… suppliers that have the ultimate exibility where they can ex product in and out of dif ferent plants are going to have a com petitive advantage. And so, there's a restructuring element to what we're trying to do to be much more e cient.

 Can you provide some examples of the company localizing manufacturing?

ere’s some parts that are out of China for some of our European cus tomers that we've moved to European facilities. … en within Mexico, it's a consolidation of di erent manufac turing capabilities… so we can share footprint and optimize and scale those plants much more e ciently. I believe we will be hopefully opening up additional plants in Michigan where we can actually localize prod uct close to our customers. We’re tar geting a plant in the near future in Michigan … it’d be in e-systems.

Athletico Physical erapy, Oak Brook, Ill., an orthopedic rehabilita tion chain, has opened a new loca tion at 1093 S. Lapeer Road, Lake Orion. Phone: 248-690-5577. Web site: athletico.com/LakeOrion

 Ziebart International Corp., Troy, franchisor of Ziebart automotive stores, signed franchise agree ments in seven countries, includ ing e Netherlands, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kuwait, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Greece. Website: ziebart.com

 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

 Rehmann, Troy, a professional ad visory rm, merged with Vestal & Wiler, Orlando, Fla., a CPA rm. Website: rehmann.com





Three years ago, would you have envisioned that you’d ever build an e-systems plant in Michigan?

No. I think that's been one of the big changes … to a much more direct, lo cal, exible, manufacturing footprint.

Contact: knagl@crain.com; (313) 446-0337; @kurt_nagl

Envoy Solutions, Glenview, Ill., a specialized distributor, is acquiring seven Michigan-based companies from the Enterprises Group: KSS Enterprises, Sideline Sports, BBC Distributing, Energyst Solutions, Rapid Supply & Sales, EMack Man ufacturing, and Star Flooring. KSS Enterprises is a distributor of janito rial supplies, packaging and clean ing equipment. Sideline Sports in spects, repairs, and maintains indoor and outdoor bleachers. BBC Distributing distributes com postable products, smallwares, restaurant equipment, beverage dispensing systems and cleaning supplies. Energyst Solutions is a dis tributor of wood oor nishes, equipment and products for sports, commercial, and residential mar kets. Rapid Supply and Sales is a dis tributor of ooring, tools, materials and accessories. EMack Manufac turing manufactures equipment and tools used in the ooring indus try. Star Flooring installs wood sports ooring and wood stages, and maintains, repairs and re nish es existing oors. Website: the-en terprises.com, envoysolutions.com

Lear Corp.’s South eld headquarters. | PHOTOS BY NIC ANTAYA/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS

STERLING

e investigations and govern ment regulators mentioned by Ster ling’s attorneys in the lawsuit refers largely to the bank’s former Advan tage Loan Program, a mortgage prod uct previously o ered by Sterling that was rife with fraud and has led to ad missions of guilt by at least three for mer bank executives.

Sterling, late last month, entered into a $6 million civil settlement agreement with the federal O ce of the Comptroller of the Currency, but remains under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Com mission.

Tom O’Brien, Sterling Bank’s chairman, president and CEO, told Crain’s on Oct. 9 that the action against Seligman was brought “(f)ol lowing a long independent investiga tion undertaken by the Board of Di rectors.” He declined further comment, writing in a text message that the lawsuit “very plainly speaks for itself.”

e lawsuit led Oct. 7 accuses Se ligman of having “tyrannical” control over all aspects of bank operations during his time as consulting director to the bank’s board and as vice presi dent of the holding company. Selig man was CEO of the bank until 1999, then took on the consulting role for the next 20 years.

e lawsuit also says Seligman knew “about red ags of fraud associ ated with the origination of Advan tage Loans, including having knowl edge of and encouraging (bank executives) to falsify documents and

SUPPLIERS

From Page 3

“One of the most powerful tools that any Chapter 11 debtor has is the ability to reject executory contracts, which in the context of auto supply would be unfavorable purchase or ders,” Loughlin said. “It gives them the opportunity if they just want to exit that unpro table business, they can just at out exit, or they can use it as a tool to renegotiate pricing with their customer.”

e tactic has been used recently by several local suppliers that stopped short of ling for bankruptcy after reaching deals in the 11th hour, according to attorneys and consul tants who were involved in such cas es and are barred from disclosing names of clients.

Newman said some companies will broach the idea of bankruptcy to speed up conversations about pric ing relief.

“I think the threat is considered much more real because there are many more instances of people being caught in contracts that are highly unpro table,” he said.

Why Subchapter V?

Of the ve automotive suppliers to le for Chapter 11 bankruptcy pro tection since the summer, four have been led under Subchapter V, a rel atively new option popular among small businesses.

 Instaset Plastics Co. LLC, led for Subchapter V on Oct. 5. Major cus tomers include GM and Ford.

 Erin Industries Inc., led for Sub chapter V on Sept. 20. Major custom ers include GM, Ford and Stellantis.

 Hauser Inc., led for Subchapter V

material information about borrow ers’ quali cations for the ALP,” ac cording to the lawsuit.

“And to conceal material infor mation about borrowers from the Bank’s Underwriting Department, in order to increase the volume of loans originated under the ALP, which, in turn, increased the Bank’s revenue for a period of time.”

ree former employees pleaded guilty in cases last year, saying they originated roughly 2,500 Advantage loans totaling more than $876 mil lion in credit extended by the bank, and “that the overwhelming majori ty of these loans were based on one or more fraudulent actions,” accord ing to a Justice Department news release, which said that the three former bankers earned collective

commissions of nearly $6 million.

Between 2011 and 2019, the bank originated at least $5 billion in Ad vantage Loans, the lawsuit says, be fore the program was permanently suspended due to compliance is sues.

“In sum, Seligman enriched him self greatly through his stock owner ship in, and control of, Sterling,” reads the bank’s lawsuit. “He could not have done had it not been for his dishonest and reckless design of and control over the ALP that sig ni cantly in ated Sterling’s pro ceeds and valuation but later caused Sterling to become the target of law enforcement, regulatory authori ties, and others.”

Sterling Bank, meanwhile, has been under new management and

was the best bet of survival for Erin Industries, a Walled Lakebased supplier of tube assemblies and transmis sion parts who is represented by Newman.

on a restructuring path for the last two years.

e lawsuit asks the court to force Seligman to give up pro ts he made from the alleged scheme, as well as return stock dividend pro ts and other payments made to a liated entities.

e lawsuit also seeks to have shares held by Seligman or a liated entities transferred to an “indepen dent trustee who would vote those shares in accordance with the votes of the minority shareholders so that Sterling is no longer subject to Selig man’s control and which new trust would serve as a source of nancial strength for Sterling.”

Contact: nmanes@crain.com; (313) 446-1626; @nickrmanes

Global Services — to pull it through bankruptcy until completion of a sale its assets under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

Bankruptcy is typically the last re sort for supplier and customer, but in some cases it is the best outcome, especially if the customer still wants to buy the supplier’s parts but has lost con dence in its management.

FAIRLANE

Centennial, along with partners New York City-based Waterfall As set Management LLC and fellow Dallas-based real estate company Cawley Partners, bought the finan cially struggling mall in May.

Centennial specializes in mall and open-air shopping center own ership and redevelopment. Tash told Crain’s in May that plans are still being made for Fairlane, but that the mall has a lot of parking space that could be redeveloped into multifamily housing, such as traditional apartments, senior housing or student units.

Tash said in an email Friday that plans have not yet been finalized.

“We are still in the early planning stages for turning Fairlane into a mixed-use development,” he wrote.

“While we are not ready to make any announcements about what that might entail just yet, it is our goal to enhance the center in ways that fully reflect the needs of the community at large as well as the adjacent property owners — in cluding the city, Ford, and the near by universities/colleges and medi cal facilities.”

Both Fairlane Town Center — in cluding the Lord & Taylor space — and two other malls had been owned by Starwood Capital Group before the company fell behind on a $161 million commercial mort gage-backed securities loan and were sent into receivership.

Contact: kpinho@crain.com; (313) 446-0412; @kirkpinhoCDB

About Subchapter V

Subchapter V, created in 2019 through the Small Business Reorganization Act, allows smaller companies bankruptcy protection at a fraction of the cost and in half the time of a traditional Chapter 11.

 Cammand Machining LLC, led for Subchapter V on Aug. 16  Gissing North America LLC, led for Chapter 11 on Aug. 8. Major customers are GM, Ford, Stellantis and Toyota.

Subchapter V, created in 2019 through the Small Business Reorga nization Act, is essentially a hybrid between Chapter 11 bankruptcy and an individual bankruptcy. It allows smaller companies bankruptcy pro tection at a fraction of the cost and in half the time of a traditional Chapter 11, Loughlin said.

e two major di erences in a Subchapter V ling are a streamlined con rmation process and the ab sence of an unsecured creditors committee, whose expenses would be paid by the debtor in a traditional Chapter 11 case.

“If you don’t have a committee, you just reduced the potential ex pense to the debtor dramatically,” Loughlin said. “ at’s one of the rea sons traditional Chapter 11s were not led. ey were just too expensive for a small company.”

e pace of Subchapter V lings in creased this summer likely because of Congress passing a bill to increase the debt limit from $3 million to $7.5 mil lion for companies to qualify.

Bankruptcy as leverage

Filing to restructure under Sub chapter V of Chapter 11 bankruptcy

“Chapter 11 gives us some leverage to renew our contracts and try to get some of these (price) increases through,” Steven Atwell, company owner and president, said in a recent inter view.

Bankruptcy will also allow it to shed a contract with Nova Steel USA Inc. that turned into a “disaster” of a deal, Atwell said.

Sometimes customers will sup port the bankruptcy of their suppli er, as is the case with Bingham Farms-based Gissing North Ameri ca LLC. e company led for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in August with up to $100 million in liabilities. Its customers — Tesla, General Motors, Toyota and BMW — agreed to fund the company’s projected liquidity shortfall of more than $14 million to keep operations going until its assets were sold.

“If the supplier is critical, the OEM will have to step up and pro vide some level of support,” said Steve Wybo, senior restructuring and management consultant at Bir mingham-based Riveron who is handling the Gissing case.

Supply chain woes and the in ability to achieve pricing relief were the primary factors that put General Motors supplier Instaset Plastics into Subchapter V of Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Similar to Gissing, In staset secured nancing — an $800,000 loan from creditor WGS

“You want to have a well-orches trated bankruptcy going in,” Wybo said. “You want the customers to be part of the solution. You want to have a consensual arrangement.” reatening bankruptcy in a bid for better contract terms, without a plan to emerge from restructuring, can be nuclear warfare, he said.

“Often times, suppliers underes timate OEs’ or tier ones’ ability to resource,” he said. “If you’re shut ting the lines down, they’re going to nd a way to resource. ere’s al ways another guy in town that can take the business.”

After enjoying record pro ts and unprecedented demand, the impact of cost pass-throughs is catching up with automakers. Ford Motor Co. said it plans to take a $1 billion hit from extra supplier costs in the third quarter, and other automakers are expecting a similar impact.

GM and Stellantis declined to comment for this story. Ford did not return a request for comment.

Lear Corp. President and CEO Ray Scott said contract discussions with automakers have become more di cult with the backdrop of a potential economic downturn, but the key is to be quick and collabora tive.

“ e environment is getting more challenging, which then in turn puts more pressure on those type of discussions,” Scott said during an interview with Crain’s this week. “I

Subchapter V bene ts include the absence of an unsecured creditors committee, which means debtors are not on the hook to pay the attorney and consultant fees of their creditors.

The path to petition con rmation is also far less time consuming, saving the debtor drawn-out legal fees.

think that’s the key is communicat ing and solving it quickly because we do see that if these issues are pushed long term, suppliers could go into nancial risk, or a shortage of parts will continue to happen.”

Brose North America President Wilm Uhlenbecker echoed those thoughts and said the e ectiveness of negotiations has varied customer to customer.

“We as an industry have to collab orate more on those issues,” Uhlen becker said in a recent interview with Crain’s. “We understand that the OEMs don’t want to just give money to the supply base, but if you can prove what additional costs you have and it’s not manageable by you immediately or not at all, then I think there has to be a win-win at the end.”

Wybo said a threatening attitude by suppliers and hardline approach by customers is a bad recipe.

“It never does a supplier any good to ght with their customer,” he said. “ at usually ends bad.”

Contact: knagl@crain.com; (313) 446-0337; @kurt_nagl

Loughlin Wybo Scott

A Sterling Bank branch in San Francisco. | COSTAR GROUP INC.

Alicia Ramon on building equitable business ecosystems in Detroit

From being the rst in her family to graduate college to leading community service organizations across Southwest Detroit, Alicia Ramon continues to look for ways to grow and contribute. She currently serves as the interim president and CEO of the Southwest Detroit Business Association. Prior to joining SDBA, Ramon led Latino Family Services, a Detroit nonpro t, for nine years before joining the Wayne Metropolitan Community Action Agency, where she climbed the ranks to chief administrative o cer. Ramon graduated from Western Michigan University Cooley Law School last year. She also has a master of public administration degree from the University of MichiganDearborn and a bachelor of business administration degree from Davenport University. Ramon previously served as chair of the Out-Wayne Homeless Services Continuum of Care and vice chair of the Detroit Homeless Services Continuum of Care Board. This Conversation has been edited for length.

BY| MINNAH ARSHAD

 What led you to your current role?

I came to SDBA last year as a consultant to do executive leadership transition and assessment and to provide that interim executive leadership while the organization put some pieces in order and did some longer-term planning. I was born in the Midwest, raised in Mexico then came to Southwest Detroit.

I’ve been a part of this community for a very long time. I have three core values: family, faith and service. My mission is to build a more equitable, inclusive and sustainable ecosystem that supports nonpro ts, small businesses. If you have those three parts, then communities thrive.

 What are some of SDBA’s key accomplishments?

The organization has been around for a little over 65 years and has a long and strong history of building businesses and advocating for businesses. We know that BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) organizations and small businesses tend to have less access to capital, so building their capacity and building their relationship with the banks and the lending institutions to bring those resources to Southwest Detroit. There’s been many major accomplishments, one of them the Business Improvement

District. Creating that board so that businesses can advocate, grow and also be able to navigate and really understand their economic impact. Another thing that SDBA does very well is looking at equity and ensuring that the developments that are coming to Southwest Detroit are for the community, by the community and create that sense of a thriving community.

When you look at the La Joya Gardens, we were able to create a business and create a ordable housing within the business. Those are innovative ways to help build the capacity for our local business owners but also help preserve housing for Southwest Detroiters, especially when the market rates can be unattainable. I think SDBA has that unique platform to be able to bring people from di erent sectors together.



How did you get into nonpro ts?

As a child, I always wanted to be a lawyer, and I was going to work in corporate America, but life has a way of happening. I know what it’s like to have the grit, that determination, that sense of wanting more, not just for myself, but for my family and for my community. I think it’s what drove me into this division. I got introduced at Wayne State University. I was hired in one of their departments and quickly became part

of the Latino issues conference. I was also a part of their Latin studies group. It was an opportunity for students to learn about their heritage but also to help provide them with resources for college. Although my background is business administration — I have a master’s degree in public administration and now a law degree with a concentration in business law — it’s always been used to help others.

 What do you envision for the future of SDBA and the Southwest Detroit business community?

I know the future is bright. We’ve worked this year on systems work and organization capacity. I see them continue to thrive and advocate, continuing to bring resources for their businesses. I see a Southwest Detroit that’s inclusive, that celebrates traditions that have historically been a part of the community, while inviting others.

 What’s your favorite restaurant in Southwest Detroit?

I love tamales, and I’m going to give you one place that’s closest to my mother’s tamales: Tamaleria Nuevo Leon. That’s the region I’m from; I was raised in Mexico in Nuevo Leon.

crainsdetroit.com

Publisher and CEO KC Crain

Group Publisher Jim Kirk, (312) 397-5503 or jkirk@crain.com

Associate Publisher Lisa Rudy, (313) 446-6032 or lrudy@crain.com

Managing Editor Michael Lee, (313) 446-1630 or malee@crain.com

Director of Audience and Engagement Elizabeth Couch, (313) 446-0419 or elizabeth.couch@crain.com

Audience Engagement Editor Matthew Pollock, matthew.pollock@crain.com

Creative Director Thomas J. Linden, tlinden@crain.com

Digital Portfolio Manager Tim Simpson, (313) 446-6788 or tsimpson@crain.com

Assistant Managing Editor Beth Reeber Valone, (313) 446-5875 or bvalone@crain.com

Assistant Managing Editor Lauren Abdel-Razzaq, (313) 446-5800 or lauren.razzaq@crain.com

Projects Editor Stacy Sominski, stacy.sominski@crain.com

Associate Creative Director Karen Freese Zane, kfreese@crain.com

Art Director Kayla Byler, kayla.byler@crain.com

Design and Copy Editor Beth Jachman, (313) 446-0356 or bjachman@crain.com

Research and Data Editor Sonya Hill, (313) 446-0402 or shill@crain.com

Newsroom (313) 446-0329, FAX (313) 446-1687

TIP LINE (313) 446-6766

REPORTERS

Minnah Arshad, city of Detroit, (313) 446-0416 or minnah.arshad@crain.com

Jason Davis, small and emerging businesses. (313) 446-1612 or Jason.davis@crain.com

David Eggert senior reporter (313) 446-1654 or david.eggert@crain.com

Arielle Kass, residential real estate. (313) 446-6774 or arielle.kass@crain.com

Nick Manes nance and technology. (313) 446-1626 or nmanes@crain.com

Kurt Nagl manufacturing. (313) 446-0337 or knagl@crain.com

Kirk Pinho, senior reporter, real estate. (313) 446-0412 or kpinho@crain.com

Dustin Walsh, senior reporter, health care. (313) 446-6042 or dwalsh@crain.com

Rachel Watson, West Michigan, (989) 533-9685 or rachel.watson@crain.com

Sherri Welch, senior reporter, nonpro ts and philanthropy. (313) 446-1694 or swelch@crain.com

MEMBERSHIPS

CLASSIC $169/yr. (Can/Mex: $210, International: $340), ENHANCED $399/yr. (Can/Mex: $499, International: $799), PREMIER $1,299/yr. (Can/Mex/International: $1,299).

To become a member visit www.crainsdetroit.com/ membership or call (877) 824-9374

Group and Corporate Membership Sales Deb Harper, (313) 446-1623 or dharper@crain.com

ADVERTISING/MARKETING

Sales Inquiries (313) 446-6032; FAX (313) 393-0997

RUMBLINGS

Arson suspected in August house re next to Little Caesars Arena

AN EARLY MORNING FIRE in August that destroyed a house next to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit is suspected to be the result of arson.

James Harris, public information o cer for the Detroit Fire Department, con rmed the department believes the blaze at 2712 Cass Ave. and Sproat Street was intentionally set.

“ at’s what it looks like,” Harris told Crain’s, adding that he had no additional details on cause.

A message to a real estate broker who, at the time of the re two months ago, had the property listed for sale for $2.5 million was not returned.

City land records show the Scheherazade Love trust owns the property.

e home at varying points in time over the years had been listed for nearly $5 million, a holdout property owner seeking to cash in on the dilapidated property’s proximity to the $862.9 million Little Caesars Arena that opened a little more than ve years ago.

e house had, in the months prior to the re, been listed at half that price, according to records at the time from CoStar Group Inc., a

Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service.

It has been widely anticipated that if someone ever bought it, it would be demolished.

e home was about 3,400 square feet sitting on a wedge of land measuring about 0.111 acres, according to CoStar data.

It had managed to survive city threats of demolition in recent years, according to reports from 2019.

Detroit property records reviewed in early August showed that no fewer than 67 blight tickets were issued at that address since 2009.

Mediterranean comes to Greektown

A family that has made its mark on the Greektown section of Detroit has opened its newest restaurant.

Symposia is now open inside the Atheneum Suite Hotel and Conference Center. The restaurant is a Mediterranean-inspired, fine dining eatery, according to a news release. Symposia is a venture from the Papas family, which also owns and operates Greektown’s A Bar and Pegasus Taverna. The family also owned the now-closed Mosaic and Santorini Estiatorio in Greektown.St. Clair Shores-based Olon Interior designed the space, which has seating for 65 guests, the release states.

The menu, curated by Executive Chef Elliot Patti, features dishes inspired by Greece, Italy and Spain. Signature offerings include roasted beet with whipped feta, pickled strawberry and green harissa; Spanish octopus with romesco tomato sauce, potatoes and chorizo; prawn bucatini with Greek olive oil, garlic, blistered tomato, confit lemon, Kalamata olives and fried parsley.

Patti joined Symposia after working in establishments in Los Angeles, Spain, France and England.

Symposia is open 5-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and 5-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday.

Senior Vice President of Sales Susan Jacobs, (312) 649-5492 susan.jacobs@crain.com

Director of Events and Program Content Kristin Bull, (313) 446-1608 or kbull@crain.com

Events Director Samantha Flowers

Senior Account Executives Maria Marcantonio, John Petty, Sharon Mulroy

Advertising Sales Ainsley Burgess

Content Marketing Specialist Allie Jacobs

People on the Move Manager Debora Stein, (917) 226-5470, dstein@crain.com Media Services Manager Nicole Spell (212) 210-0230 or nspell@crain.com

Classi ed Sales and Sales Support Suzanne Janik

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Single copy purchases, publication information, or membership inquiries: (877) 824-9374 or customerservice@crainsdetroit.com Reprints: Laura Picariello (732) 723-0569 or lpicariello@crain.com

Crain’s Detroit Business is published by

Crain Communications Inc.

Chairman, Editor Emeritus

The house at 2712 Cass Ave. in the shadow of Little Caesars Arena and the Eddystone in Detroit smolders the morning after it was destroyed in an overnight re in August.

Alicia Ramon is interim president and CEO at Southwest Detroit Business Association