November 11, 2024
Business groups brace for intense ‘lame-duck’ session
Sick time, minimum wage bills remain stalled as clock ticks on Democrats’ majority
By David Eggert
LANSING — Republicans upended Democrats’ power in the state Capitol as a result of the Nov. 5 election, ensuring Dems can no longer govern without support from the other side of the aisle — starting in January.
Until then, Democrats still fully control
the Legislature and, with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have the “lame-duck” post-election period in which to pass laws.
It has business groups worried that bills that had stalled or new ones could gain traction in the closing weeks of the twoyear session. If that happens, they are concerned it could divert attention from their top priorities: for broad business organiza-
tions, changing the Earned Sick Time Act before it takes effect on Feb. 21; and for the hospitality industry, stopping a pending increase in a lower hourly minimum wage that also goes into effect on that date.
It is uncertain if the House and Senate will tackle those issues before 2025, when
See LEGISLATURE on Page 31
Cosm, a live sports video venue, is coming to downtown Detroit
By Anna Fifelski
Dan Gilbert’s real estate portfolio Bedrock LLC has found a major tenant for its Cadillac Square development in downtown Detroit.
Cosm, a Los Angeles-headquartered entertainment company, will be bringing a live sports video dome and entertainment venue to Bedrock’s vacant 3.66-acre site that flanks the Rocket Companies Inc.
headquarters and Campus Martius and Cadillac Square parks.
The 65,000-square-foot space will feature a 87-foot 12K+ LED dome and an adjacent high-resolution LED wall. The space will anchor a broader development at Cadillac Square, Bedrock CEO Kofi Bonner told Crain’s in an email, which includes a variety of housing, dining and retail options.
See VENUE on Page 32
Newly elected officials vow to block plan for megasite
By Kurt Nagl
A massive $55 billion semiconductor project in Genesee County could be imperiled by newly elected township officials promising to block development of Michigan’s marquee megasite.
Jennifer Arrand Stainton, 52, a Republican running on an “anti-megasite” platform, won about 53% of the vote for Mundy Township supervisor to defeat incumbent Tonya Ketzler, a Democrat and proponent of the development, according to unofficial election results.
Additionally, two Republicans also opposed to the project were newly elected as township trustees, turning the majority of the township board “anti-megasite,” Stainton said.
“I think the people came out and they spoke in volumes this time around,” Stainton said in an interview with Crain’s on Nov. 6. “We’ve been in front of the board several times on several different occasions, and at all times we were just shot down, no matter what it was. The board did not listen to the people.”
A tract of farmland near the I-69/I-75 juncture is in the mix for a mammoth 10,000jobs microchip factory that would be among the largest economic development projects in state history if it comes to fruition. Many in the small community are opposed, including Stainton, who said her top priority is stopping the development.
“Our goal was to take over that board, to get people in that are for the residents,” said Stainton, who lives one lot away from the megasite periphery.
“I just got a message from (Mundy Township Manager) Chad Young, wanting to meet with me Monday because there are issues that are going to be coming to the forefront and they need me to get on board. I’m going to
See MEGASITE on Page 31
CONVERSATION
Arthur Jemison returns to Detroit with ideas for city’s housing
The Michigan Capitol in Lansing | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
Jennifer Arrand Stainton
A rendering shows the planned Cosm live sports video dome and entertainment venue set for downtown Detroit. | CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS
UM spinout ONL Therapeutics nets $65M in funding round
By Anna Fifelski
ONL erapeutics Inc. is a classic case of a University of Michigan spinout. e Ann Arbor biotechnology startup netted the largest VC deal in the state in the third quarter, closing an oversubscribed $65 million Series D fund on Sept. 14. e round was led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, the investment arm of New Jersey-headquartered Johnson & Johnson medical devices and pharmaceutical company. With the funding, the company plans to continue growing its Southeast Michigan footprint.
ONL erapeutics is another spinout of UM’s research community, founded in 2011 by David Zacks, Raili Kerppola and Je rey Jamison. e company is focused on developing novel therapies for protecting the vision of patients with retinal disease. It was also backed by a consortium of investors that included Fort Worth, Texas-headquartered Bios Partners, Cambridge, Mass.-based Novartis Venture Fund, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Visionary Ventures and more.
ONL stands for Outer Nuclear Layer, which is a layer in the retina in the back of the eye and for which the company’s drug, ONL1204, was initially formulated. e company has 10 full-time
employees at the headquarters in Ann Arbor, with plans to continue expanding to 18 employees, supported by the closing of its recent funding round.
ONL1204, which is administered through injection to the eye, received an orphan-drug designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2016. e status is granted to a drug that treats a rare disease or condition that a ects fewer than 200,000 people in the United States.
CEO David Esposito joined ONL in 2019 as the company began its rst clinical trial with humans testing for the treatment of retinal detachment.
Each phase of ONL’s human trials undergo three indicators: retinal detachment, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma for its small peptide treatment, ONL1204. Because ONL is still undergoing its human trial phases, it doesn’t sell a product or generate revenue and is fully supported by its nancing.
According to the FDA, approximately 70% of drugs move to the second phase while only 33% of drugs made it to the third phase. Each phase requires dozens to hundreds of volunteers with the condition, which can extend the length of the study, Esposito said. ONL erapeutics began its rst round of nancing in 2017, and before that it heavily relied on angel investors, Esposito said. In the eight years since, the company has raised around $140 million total in tradi-
tional nancing.
“Companies like ours don’t get a start without risk capital,” Esposito told Crain’s. “Angel investors put money into the start of a company that gave birth to the company and here we are, now a decade plus, raising a lot of money. And it’s those Michigan angels and the support of the University of Michigan that really forms a great foundation for innovation.”
Last year, ONL began its phase two study in retinal detachment, which was funded by its Series Cnancing round of $15 million that closed in 2023.
With its recent $65 million round, the company will begin the second stage of its phase two human trials, which focus on age-related macular degeneration. e cost of a study can vary, Esposito said, and each study takes approximately four years to complete.
Once a biomedical company successfully completes its second phase of human trials, it is poised to be acquired by a larger pharmaceutical company before beginning the third phase of trials.
“In the next three to four years, we want to successfully run this phase two study in age-related macular degeneration, and successfully enter a phase two study in glaucoma, and then we’ll let the data drive where the company goes,” Esposito said.
The ONL Therapeutics team at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting in Chicago in September. ONL THERAPEUTICS
Public, private college enrollment steady, despite FAFSA glitches
By Sherri Welch
Fall enrollment numbers for Michigan’s colleges and universities are still coming in, but leaders believe the institutions dodged the large drop-offs feared after issues with the rollout of the updated federal financial aid form.
The state’s public universities reported a slight collective uptick in enrollment, although first-time student numbers dropped slightly.
Final data isn’t yet available for the private colleges, but early analysis is showing a small enrollment increase for them as well as a larger number of freshman entering this fall. And if Michigan’s community colleges follow the
national trends, as they usually do, their collective enrollment will also be up when the final numbers are in, leaders said.
The heads of the state associations for Michigan’s colleges and universities credit the state-funded Michigan Achievement Scholarship — now in its second year — and the state’s community college guarantee, which rolled out this fall, along with the concerted push to get more students to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form before the fall 2024 semester began.
“I know confidently that we are a top state for FAFSA completion for the cycle that just concluded. And that is a huge achievement
and a prideful one for all of those individuals, K-12, higher ed professionals, students, parents (and) community organizations,” said Dan Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association of State Universities.
Problems with and delays in rolling out the U.S. Department of Education’s new FAFSA form hampered students’ abilities to fill it out by deadlines, which were extended, and higher education institutions’ abilities to offer financial aid packages in time for decision-making.
FAFSA issues were impacting enrollment, especially for minorities, first-generation college-going students and low-income students who were having a difficult
time navigating and recovering from the delays and the complications that were created along the way, B. Donta Truss, vice president for Enrollment Development and Educational Outreach at Grand Valley State University told Crain’s in July.
Public universities
Michigan’s 15 public universities collectively saw total enrollment and total undergraduate enrollment increase a half-percent for the fall 2024 semester, according to data collected by MASU. Twothirds, or 10, of the universities
Black Tech Saturdays awarded $1.25 million grant
By Anna Fifelski
Black Tech Saturdays is receiving a $1.25 million grant from Dan Gilbert’s philanthropic organization, the Gilbert Family Foundation.
The grant funds will be dispersed over a two-year period and will support an expansion of Black Tech Saturdays’ services, Johnnie Turnage, co-founder of the nonprofit, told Crain’s. Turnage co-founded Black Tech Saturdays with his wife, Alexa Turnage, in March 2023. Since then, the networking event has drawn more than 15,000 attendees and generated an estimated $30 million in economic impact through increased business revenue, new investments, grants and tech job salaries, according to the Gilbert Family Foundation.
The Turnages host Black Tech Saturdays twice a month at Newlab at Michigan Central in Detroit. The programming is designed to inform and connect Black founders, entrepreneurs
and tech-curious individuals in the Detroit area. Its events feature a variety of activities, including panel discussions, small group classes and pitch competitions.
The boom in the organization’s attention comes entirely from social media and word of mouth.
With the funding, Johnnie Turnage said Black Tech Saturdays will be able to expand its team by six people to support additional programming in Detroit.
“We’ve had some great success with the things that we’re doing, but I think many hands will make
Deal would create 3rdlargest statebased bank
By Mark Sanchez
Shareholders at ChoiceOne Financial Services Inc. and Fentura Financial Inc. will vote in December on whether to approve the $180.4 million merger of the two institutions that came about from an on-again, off-again discussion dating back more than 14 months.
In fact, early merger talks between Sparta-based ChoiceOne and Fenton-based Fentura Financial ground to a temporary halt a year ago before resuming in early 2024. If approved, the deal would create the third-largest bank headquartered in Michigan.
ChoiceOne (Nasdaq: COFS) and Fentura Financial (OTCQX: FETM) had started “preliminary discussions about a potential strategic combination” in August 2023. At the time, Fentura Financial directors were considering two separate merger opportunities, one of which was with ChoiceOne.
Directors “ultimately determined that a merger with ChoiceOne created the best opportunity to meet Fentura’s long-term objectives based on the two institution’s similar cultures, strong markets, and the strengths created by combining board and management teams,” according to a proxy statement on the deal filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
The situation changed that fall as ChoiceOne’s share price fell during the third quarter. By late October 2023, directors at Fentura Financial concluded that the corporation should cease discussions about a potential merger, “largely based on the recent volatility in ChoiceOne’s stock price and resulting transaction valuation concerns,” according to the proxy, which outlines how the deal eventually came together.
At the same time, Fentura’s directors also started due diligence about a possible merger with another potential suitor that had been brought forward by an investment banking firm. On Nov. 1, 2023, ChoiceOne and Fentura “formally agreed to cease any further preliminary discussions about a potential strategic combination of the two companies,” according to the proxy.
The pause lasted just a few months.
the work even go further,” Johnnie Turnage said. That includes bringing in outside experts who can speak to founders through personalized coaching opportunities.
The Gilbert Family Foundation
ChoiceOne’s share price eventually rebounded by late January 2024, when executives from the two banks and representatives from their investment banks met at a banking conference “to provide each an update on their respective bank’s operations, strategic direction and market trends.” About a month later after talks with investment bank Hovde Group LLC to consider its options, Fentura’s board unanimously decided “that it was in the best
Two-thirds of Michigan’s public universities reported enrollment increases, led by the University of Michigan-Flint. UNIverSITY oF mICHIGAN-FLINT See COLLEGE on Page 33
Inauguration Day platform to be built by Michigan rm
Now that the presidential election is over, a Lansing-based general contractor has work to do.
Christman Co. is, for the fth consecutive presidential election, responsible for building the presidential inaugural platform on which Donald Trump will take the oath of o ce on Jan. 20, 2025, in front of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
It’s not been easy to get that information.
e Architect of the Capitol, which is responsible for coordinating construction of the platform and hiring contractors, has not responded to repeated inquiries over the last several months about which contractor was tapped to build the inaugural stands. Similarly, repeated messages left with the o ce of U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota Democrat who
is the chair of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, went unreturned in September. e committee coordinates the ceremonies.
But alas, an executive with the company did con rm that Christman workers could be seen during the so-called First Nail Ceremony held in September. Images and video of the ceremony shows them to the left of a podium.
“For each incoming president, the Inaugural Platform is built anew to symbolize new beginnings,” U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican, said in a statement at the time of the ceremony.
“In this remarkable ceremony, Republicans and Democrats place the rst nails together to show support for our peaceful transfer of power, a sacred tradition we should never take for granted. It’s a great honor to participate, and I look forward to the 2025 inauguration.”
e contract amount is not known, although in previous years it’s been between $2.3 million and close to $3 million.
Christman, which has a large ofce in the Fisher Building in Detroit’s New Center area, has had its hands in some noteworthy inaugural platforms.
e company built the platform on which Barack Obama took his 2009 oath of o ce as the rst Black man to become President of the United States.
In addition, the company constructed the 2021 inaugural platform that was damaged during the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol. J. Brett Blanton, the architect of the Capitol at the time, described the platform as “wrecked.”
According to the Joint Congres-
sional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies website, next year’s platform is expected to be more than 10,000 square feet with seating capacity for more than 1,600 people from all three branches of government, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris; the President- and Vice President-elect; members of Congress; justices of the U.S. Supreme Court; diplomats; cabinet members and nominees for cabinet posts; former presidents; and others. Bleachers above the platform can hold an additional 1,000 or so. e platform will have more than
Coldwell Banker
Charles
1,350 sheets of plywood; 110,000 linear feet of lumber; more than 350 cinder blocks; and more than 20,000 pounds of grout and mortar, per the Architect of the Capitol. e 2021 platform took 17,900 construction man-hours and 5,600 man-hours to dismantle. Among other projects steeped in history that Christman has been involved in, the company has been doing work on George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate and was heavily involved in the redevelopment of Michigan Central Station in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood west of downtown.
brokerage buys another in deal that could net $2 billion in sales
By Nick Manes
One Southeast Michigan residential brokerage is growing with the acquisition of another.
Lapeer-based HRC Realty LLC, which does business as Coldwell Banker Professionals, announced Nov. 4 that it had acquired the corporate-owned Coldwell Banker Realty Michigan brokerage in a “strategic acquisition” that could grow the combined company to nearly $2 billion in annual sales volume.
“ is particular merger, it wouldn’t matter if it was rain or shine, this is the perfect marriage for us in terms of our culture, our footprint,” HRC Realty CEO Chris Hendrix told Crain’s.
Hendrix, who declined to share the terms of the deal, was on Crain’s list of Notable Real Estate Executives in 2021.
e combined company, which should be fully integrated in the next three to six months, will have two dozen o ces and more than 800 agents. e anticipated sales volume from the acquisition would put Coldwell Banker Professionals near the top of the re-
gion’s largest residential brokerages, according to 2023 Crain’s data. With elevated interest rates and limited housing inventory, the residential market has slowed in recent years, both in Michigan and nationally, at least compared with 2020 and early 2021 when transactions occurred at a breakneck pace.
While speci c data on real estate brokerage M&A is not readily available, such conditions have
led to consolidation, including locally.
For instance, South eld-based Real Estate One — the state’s largest brokerage — earlier this year acquired a West Bloom eld brokerage, with principals citing market conditions as a key driver. And in February, Birmingham-based @Properties Christie’s International Real Estate grew with the acquisition of o ces in Ann Arbor and Petoskey.
Kirk Pinho
Christman Co. workers can be seen in the background during the so-called First Nail Ceremony Sept. 18 for the construction of the 2025 presidential inaugural platform. | PRESS OFFICE OF SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR, D-MINN.
The acquisition would put Coldwell Banker Professionals near the top of the region’s largest residential brokerages. | COLDWELL BANKER PROFESSIONALS
Robert Naftaly, former Blue Cross exec who chaired UAW retiree trust, dies
By Dustin Walsh
Robert Naftaly, former Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan executive and prominent civic leader who chaired the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust and was considered a mentor by many, died Nov. 3. He was 86.
Naftaly had a long career in health care as CEO of Blue Care Network, CFO of BCBSM and as an independent CPA before retiring in 2001.
But in 2008, Naftaly was chosen by former UAW President Ron Gettelfinger to be an independent chairman on the newly formed 11-member board of the UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, which was charged with maintaining retiree health benefits following the automaker bankruptcies. The board, which includes six independent trustees and five UAW appointees, voted Naftaly to be chairman.
The trust was responsible at its inception for providing health care benefits to 875,000 UAW retirees of Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC and the retirees’ dependents.
With an annual budget at the time of nearly $5 billion, the
board had to create from scratch a system by which the trust could govern, manage and invest three separate trusts with assets of more than $50 billion. The trust continues to cover 580,000 members to the tune of $4 billion a year as of its most recent annual report.
The UAW credits Naftaly for helping more than 1 million UAW retirees, it said in a statement.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our chairperson Bob Naftaly. Bob’s long tenured service to the trust from its inception was invaluable, and he will be dearly missed,” Jessica Gubing, current CEO of the trust, said in the statement. “Working alongside of him I appreciated his witty sense of humor, unparalleled attention to detail, sound advice and insights which were always anchored to the best interests of the trust and our retiree members. His many contributions can be seen in the trust’s strength and success, leaving a tremendous legacy for which he will always be remembered. Bob continuously upheld the mission of the trust — to provide every member with health benefits and the opportunity to achieve their best quality
of life. We are especially grateful for the passion he carried in his heart for our members and commitment to the long-term viability of the trust. The trust extends its sympathies and gratitude to Bob’s family for his invaluable service to the trust.”
Naftaly’s skills with numbers — and spotting talent — led to his 2012 honor of the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Crain’s CFO awards. He was also on Crain’s Most Connected list.
Naftaly was the director of the Michigan Department of Management and Budget in the 1980s and worked for Geller, Naftaly, Herbach & Shapiro accounting firm and DTE Energy Co.
The Detroit native earned his bachelor’s degree from Walsh College in Troy.
Throughout his wide-ranging career, Naftaly also served on the boards of Talmer Bancorp, Sun Communities, Detroit Investment Fund, Walsh College, Meadowbrook Insurance Group, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maryland and City Year Detroit. He also served on the Wayne State University board of governors.
Naftaly was a prominent leader
in the local Jewish community, serving as a past president of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and past chair of its executive committee.
He was also a mentor to many well-known leaders in the community, including Mark Davidoff, former managing partner of Deloitte LLP and president and CEO of The Fisher Group, the family office of the descendants of industrialist and philanthropist Max Fisher.
“Bob Naftaly led with his heart and worked tirelessly to protect the interests of others,” Davidoff
said in a statement to Crain’s. “He was a ‘CPA first responder’ and was the one to call when there was a crisis in confidence or a problem that needed attention. Personally, Bob was my guardian angel and from the first time he called me when I was just a young professional, Bob was there for me at every inflection point of my career.”
Naftaly is survived by his wife of 33 years, Anita Naftaly; daughters Lisa Brown and Beth Naftaly Kirshner; two sons, Dr. Bruce Millman and Dr. Alan Millman; and six grandchildren.
Robert Naftaly was chairman of the trust that provides health care benefits to 875,000 UAW retirees. “We started with a blank piece of paper and first had to develop a process,” he said of taking on the position in 2008. | GLeNN TrIeST
Boathouse plan shows prospects for a revitalized Belle Isle
Ten years after the state took over management of Belle Isle, it has a fitting anniversary gift to the people of Detroit in the development proposal that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has selected for the Boathouse.
The proposal from the local firm Stuart Pitman, obtained by Crain’s Detroit Business Senior Reporter Sherri Welch via a Freedom of Information Act request, lays out a grand plan to bring the Belle Isle Boathouse back from the brink of demolition and transform it into a new welcome center with restaurants, event space and a public marina.
Importantly, the plan would open up the building to the public after it operated for more than 100 years as a private club — with a slate of amenities to draw people in like water taxis, canoe and kayak rentals, a sailboat pond and space for programs for rowing and sailing.
Investing in public spaces is critical for Detroit’s growth and future success.
The Boathouse — in a state of severe disrepair — is one of the last parts of the 985acre island that has gone untouched since the DNR signed a 30-year lease with the city to manage the park in 2014. The deal — born out of the city’s darkest hour as it restructured its finances through bankruptcy court — has resulted in much-needed infrastructure fixes. The island is now better for it: bathrooms are fixed; the fountain flows again; the giant slide has reopened
COMMENTARY
(twice); a new world-class garden designed by Piet Oudolf has sprouted and the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory is about to reopen after a renovation.
Ask anyone what they enjoy about a city. High-quality transit surely rises to the forefront — and we have a long way to go in that regard — but public spaces are always at the top of the list. Which is why as Detroit rebuilds itself, public space and green space in particular — needs to be at the top of the list. Green spaces are a critical component to improving the quality of life in Detroit — and have proven benefits for mental and physical health.
Efforts so far – the Dequindre Cut, the Joe Louis Greenway and the expansion of the Detroit Riverwalk — have focused on connections and access; building new routes for pedestrians and cyclists to bypass streets and traffic. The under-construction Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Centennial Park on the Southwest Detroit riverfront will be a transformative addition to the green spaces in the city; promising to bring joy and fun to a formerly industrial space.
Long the city’s crown jewel — though one that has too often suffered from neglect — Belle Isle deserves to truly shine.
The DNR has much to consider with the proposal for the Belle Isle Boathouse; principally; how to pay for the $30 million to $35 million plan. Early indications are that the project could take $6 million-$7
million in investor equity, $9 million-$10 million in donations and grants and $16 million-$18 million in conventional financing; as well as brownfield tax credits, tax abatements and other grants and loans from public bodies.
While use of tax abatements for large-
scale skyscrapers and redevelopments has been met with criticism in other parts of the city, for the Belle Isle Boathouse project, the investment is worth it and is a huge step toward making Belle Isle the world-class urban park a city of Detroit’s caliber deserves.
What we learned about repurposing urban space on our trip to Detroit
When the High Line Network convened in October in Detroit for our biennial symposium, we knew that the Motor City would not only provide a vibrant backdrop for the largest gathering of professionals in the field of urban infrastructure reuse, but also serve as a teaching laboratory for our network, who represent 46 projects across the country and the people who are leading the movement to transform underutilized infrastructure into public green spaces in their neighborhoods. Detroit did not disappoint.
Alan Van Capelle is executive director of the New York-based Friends of the High Line, a nonprofit that operates the High Line Mark in Manhattan, and Scott Kratz is director of the 11th Street Bridge Park, a Washington, D.C., project to repurpose an obsolete bridge into a park.
This year’s symposium, Rooted, was focused on exploring what it means to authentically and successfully center community in the creation of spaces, and on the Community First Toolkit, a best-practices resource the High Line Network developed to guide communities engaged in infrastructure reuse. Over three perfect
autumn days, our host partners — the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy and the Joe Louis Greenway Partnership — provided us with a literal roadmap to what community-powered investment looks like in action, and showed us a city shimmering with energy and optimism.
As colleagues in the field of public placemaking, we arrived in Detroit from very different coordinates.
One of us is the executive director of the High Line, a New York City public park built upon an elevated rail track that has been operating for 15 years, sees 7 million visitors a year, and runs the High Line Network; one of us is the director of the 11th Street Bridge Park in Washington, D.C., a Network project just beginning construction, that will transform a decommissioned bridge spanning the Anacostia River into an elevated community park.
Yet we found that the lessons offered by Detroit were so profoundly elemental and instructional, it didn’t matter if you were a long-term park practitioner or a community activist at the beginning of your journey. The takeaways from Detroit were universal for any and all of us engaged in this work. If You Build it, They Will Come; If They Build it, They Will Stay. We adopted this mantra from Dreamtroit — Detroit’s artist colony and community gathering and entertainment space. Everywhere we went, everyone we spoke with was excited about the investment happening in Detroit, and aware of the community organizing behind it. They felt a part of it, and saw their futures in the future of their city. Involving communities in public placemaking produces a positive cycle of pride, identity, belonging and ownership. History matters. Detroit has a remarkable history, steeped in the diverse cultures that have called the city home. The buildings and structures that contain this history hold deep meaning for Detroiters. By not only repurposing or preserving these structures, but incorporating that history into the new uses, Detroit creates anchors for deep, multigenerational community connection.
Use-based Inclusivity. From hours of operation, to permitted activities, to programming, to unique accessibility needs, Detroit offered case studies in how public spaces must understand the community it intends to serve, and align with how that community thinks about, needs, and will use a public space.
Listening and language: Detroit is leading an emerging conversation about the use of words like “resilience” or “revitalization” in talking about efforts to right the wrongs in communities that have been subject to systemic disinvestment, injustice and inequities. Listen to how residents talk about investment and development in their community, and let that be your guide.
What Detroit illuminates overall is that repurposing disused infrastructure is about more than bringing green space into urban neighborhoods. By reimagining neglected spaces into community assets across the city, Detroiters are transforming trauma into vehicles for connection and growth. At its roots, this is why the High Line Network exists, and we will be encouraging anyone who wants to observe these ideas in successful action to visit the extraordinary city of Detroit.
A rendering from a proposal to renovate and redevelop the decrepit Belle Isle Boathouse | ARCHIBIm INC.
Michigan launches $11M climate investment fund, hub in Newlab
By Anna Fifelski
e state of Michigan announced Nov. 1 it would be launching a new business accelerator targeting clean energy projects and scaling up green lending.
e Michigan Climate Investment Accelerator is designed to assist community lenders like community development nance institutions, credit unions and green banks across the state secure funding from the federal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
e accelerator includes the launch of the Michigan Climate Investment Fund and the Michigan Climate Investment Hub, which will be located within Newlab at Michigan Central.
Green lending focuses on reducing climate change by nancing climate friendly and renewable energy projects, Chanell Scott Contreras, CEO of Michigan Saves told Crain’s in July. Michigan Saves is Michigan’s rst and only nonpro t green bank. Michigan Saves expects to receive around $95 million in grant funding from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which the institution plans to use to expand its Home Energy and Access Energy loan programs.
e Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund was created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Biden Administration’s In ation Reduction Act.
MCIF is an $11 million fund to support community lenders in securing federal funds and e ectively deploying this capital in Michigan communities. e fund will provide $10 million in matching grants for community lenders and $1 million in technical assistance to help community lenders build capacity to apply for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, according to a news release.
e Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy O ce of climate and Energy will lead the Michigan Climate Investment Accelerator, in partnership with the Michigan Credit Union League and the Michigan CDFI Coalition.
“To win the ght against climate change, we need as many tools as possible at our disposal,” said EGLE Director Phil Roos in a release. “ e Michigan Climate Investment Accelerator adds another tool to Michigan’s tool kit … is initiative will help Michigan’s community lenders become green lenders, support the creation of good-paying clean energy jobs, lower energy costs, and help us achieve the bold goals of the MI Healthy Climate Plan.”
e Michigan Climate Investment Hub was created through philanthropic support from e Kresge Foundation. It is a public-private partnership that will foster partnerships among the State of Michigan, Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund awardees, private investors, commercial lenders, community lenders, community organizations, philan-
thropic organizations and local governments.
Earlier this year, the EPA awarded ve national nonpro t organizations a total of $6 billion under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: Opportunity Finance Network, Inclusiv, Justice Climate Fund, Appalachian Community Capital and Native CDFI Network.
Community lenders in Michigan, including credit unions, community development nancial institutions and minority depository institutions, will be able to apply to
receive funding and technical assistance from the nonpro ts, which will then make green loans available for Michigan households and businesses. Loan recipients will be able to use the funds for energy efciency improvements, renewable energy technologies, electric heat pumps, electric vehicle charging equipment, and more.
“Workers across Michigan are rolling up their sleeves and helping us invest in the future by expanding Michigan’s clean energy leadership,” Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II
said in the release. “ e Michigan Climate Investment Accelerator will help us continue that work, investing $11 million and unlocking billions more … to nance clean
energy technologies, lower energy costs, and build on Michigan’s momentum as a climate leader. Let’s keep working hard to invest in Michigan’s future.”
Inside the Book Depository building where Newlab is housed SYLVIA JARRUS
Michigan lab gains steam on mission to turn plastic waste into food
By Tom Henderson
Stephen Techtmann, a microbiologist at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, and his research team have come up with an extremely tiny partial solution to a massive problem.
The tiny part? Microbes found in soil.
The massive part? How in the world to get rid of at least some of the plastics that have become ubiquitous in the environment, including the Great Lakes, and how to deal with traditional plastic waste, as well.
His team’s solution? Have the tiny microbes get fat by eating plastic waste, then kill the microbes and turn them into a carbohydrate- and protein-rich powder that smells like nutritional yeast and can be a food source.
The project to eat tiny microbes carries a non-tiny title — Biological Plastic Reuse by Olefin and Ester Transforming Engineered Isolates and Natural Consortia, or BioPROTEIN for short.
“It felt a lot more like science fiction than really something that would work,” said Techtmann, an associate professor of biological sciences at the school and associate director of Michigan Tech’s prestigious Great Lakes Research Center.
But it works. It is science supported by $8 million over three rounds of funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as the team hit required milestones.
Techtmann said they haven’t received or sought any equity investing, yet, “but it’s something we’ll look at at some point. The Innovation and Commercialization Office at Tech will help with that.”
In 2019, DARPA, which funds early-stage, high-risk, high-reward projects to discover viable ways to solve big military problems, issued a call for research to find ways to deal with the copious amount of plastic waste generated when troops are sent into the field or by the production of military gear and weaponry.
Much of it is now burned in hazardous burn pits, a health threat to military personnel and civilians either working for the military or living nearby.
It’s far more than just a military problem, of course. According to the United Nations Environment Program, the world creates about 440 million tons of plastic
waste a year, most of it for single-use items like water bottles, and much of it ends up in landfills, rivers, lakes and oceans.
Research into edible microorganisms dates back at least 60 years, but the body of evidence is small and published research rare.
But with DARPA funding available, Techtmann decided to take up the challenge and his proposal was accepted for phase one of funding in the fall of 2020.
As is the process with DARPA grants, once viability is shown, researchers turn to other sources of federal funding to advance the research and scale up.
Techtmann said he is seeking funding from the U.S. Army, the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation and is optimistic that substantial funding will come, based on the success of the DARPA-funded research, early next year to help ramp up small lab-scale production into much larger, commercial-scale production.
Techtmann initially thought he would need to go to a highly contaminated environment to find bacteria capable of breaking down plastic, bacteria with the Latin names of rhodococcus, paracoccus and pseudomonas.
But some research had shown that bacteria from compost piles can work, too, likely because plastic has a similar molecular structure to some plant compounds bacteria find tasty.
Techtmann said a friend of his has a sheep farm just north of Hancock, Houghton’s sister city on the Portage Canal, and has a compost pile for his garden, which turned out to be teeming with the microbes he needed.
“We felt very lucky to get the microbes we needed. Later, one of my grad students took some students out to other compost piles and found the right microbes at those, too. Apparently there’s something about compost piles that is an interesting environment for these microbes to grow in.”
The Tech system starts with a mechanical shredder for turning plastic into small bits, and then they go into a reactor, soaking in ammonium hydroxide under high heat.
Some plastics, like that in water bottles, break down at this point. Others, like in food packaging, go into another reactor where they are subject to much higher heat before becoming liquified. The
liquid is moved to another reactor, where it is consumed by the huge colony of microbes.
“Our goal is to go from disbelief, like, ‘You’re kidding me. You want to do what?’ to ‘You know, that might be actually feasible,’” Leonard Tender, a program manager at DARPA who oversaw the plastic waste projects, said in a news account shortly after the program was launched.
While DARPA solicited grants that could turn plastic into human food and Techtmann’s team can do that, he said they have no intention of creating anything but food for animals.
For one thing, “using it as food for humans has an ick factor,” Techtmann said, one that might be impossible to overcome. “It has nothing to do with the safety of food but the perception. People are like ‘I don’t want to eat plastic.’ “
For another, Techtmann thinks he can get federal approval to sell microbe powder to feed animals in a year or two. Getting approval to sell it to humans would take much longer and much more money.
Techtmann said preliminary toxicity tests show the microbe powder is safe. He said his team generally has 10-12 people, including grad students, undergrads, other professors at Tech and even some at other schools.
Joshua Pearce is an electrical engineer at Western University in Ontario who as part of Techtmann’s research team did the ini-
tial toxicology screening, comparing the microbe powder to known toxins, with clean results. He also fed the microbes to roundworms without apparent ill effects, and subsequent tests of rodents went well, too.
Techtmann said they have written a draft of the results to be published in a scientific journal, and after publication, results will be submitted late this year or early next to the U.S Food and Drug Administration for review and, he hopes, its GRAS designation, an acronym for “generally recognized as safe.” That designation would make it easier to get funding from potential investors in a spin-off company and get approval from the FDA to sell microbe power to animal food manufacturers.
The lab has a track record of successful research and spinoff companies.
Ting Lu, a professor in bio engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is also on the Tech team.
Subsequent to the start of DARPA funding, in 2021, Techtmann and Lu won the 1 million Euro Future Insight Prize from Merck KGaA of Darmstadt, Germany, equal to about $1.1 million.
Another member of the team was David Shonnard, a research professor in chemical engineering with the title of the Robbins Chair in Sustainable Use of Materials. His focus was on how to use microbes to convert plastics into fuel.
In April, the Michigan Tech Enterprise Zone, one of 21 Smart Zones in the state supported by the Michigan Economic Development Corp., announced Shonnard’s work had been spun off into a private company, Resurgent Innovations Inc., and joined a startup boot camp at the Smart Zone’s incubator.
In July, Resurgent and the other four Tech spinoffs in the camp pitched at a demo day that MTEC hosted at Newlab at Michigan Central in Detroit.
Techtmann first got interested in bacteria as solutions for problems after the Deepwater Horizon disaster spewed 210 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, a year after he got his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland.
“I wanted to see what nature has developed and how to use it to combat industrial waste,” he said.
He studied whether and how much oil-eating bacteria could clean up fouled water and determined that bacteria can be used as a biomarker to assess an ecosystem’s health. That got him introduced to the folks at DARPA, who were trying to figure out how to track where ships at sea had gone without relying on tracking technology.
Techtmann proposed using bacteria, and as a result of his work, in 2016, a year after he joined Michigan Tech, DARPA awarded him its Young Faculty Award, something meant to link young researchers to potential future government funders.
The future for Techtmann arrived in 2020.
While his focus is on feeding microbes to animals, a few companies are known to be in various stages of commercializing edible microbes for humans.
Solar Foods, a Finnish startup, has created a powder that has been approved for use in Singapore, and the company has applied for approval in the United Kingdom and the European Union.
After the bacteria digest the plastic and grow, they are dried into flakes (left) and then ground into a protein-rich, edible powder (right). | mICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIvERSITY
Microbiologist Stephen Techtmann heads up research that he hopes eventually converts plastic waste into food, using bacteria. mICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIvERSITY
Thank you for joining us at Samaritas' 90th Anniversary "Ripples" Homecoming Gala on October 25! It was an incredible evening, made special by your presence and support.
We are thrilled to share that, together, we raised $232,935 to help the most vulnerable in Southeast Michigan!
From the mesmerizing Bosnian Cultural Center Behar Dancers to exciting auctions and live music from Soundproof, the night was filled with celebration, connection, and purpose.
2 homes with ties to Tobocman name hit the market
By Nick Manes
Sometimes residential real estate reporting makes for a bit of a whodunit. For proof of that, look no further than two mid-century modern-style houses listed for sale in Michigan.
e homes — one in Farmington Hills and the other in Battle Creek — each date back more than 50 years and the listings for both note them as “Tobocman” designs. Modernism enthusiasts in Michigan may very well know that name and tie it to Irving Tobocman, a renowned architect known for his modernist styles and who died in 2017.
Irving Tobocman’s homes abound in Oakland County, particularly in the Bloom eld Hills area.
In this case, the two homes on the market were designed and built by Irving’s younger brother, Al, a trained architect whose career has been more as a builder, frequently on homes that Irving Tobocman was commissioned to draw.
To be sure, the two homes on the market share similar aesthetics: ranch-style with at roofs and numerous original touches, albeit with some modern upgrades.
While Irving Tobocman’s name rings out to enthusiasts of the style, brother Al’s work tends to y more under the radar, despite that they have nearly identical styles, according to Steve Tobocman, Al’s son.
“I deeply admire his work — and, of course, that of my uncle — but my dad’s work is essentially unheralded, although every bit worthy of the Tobocman name that his brother so brilliantly established,” Steve Tobocman wrote in an email to Crain’s about his father, who is still alive at 86 years old.
Exactly which Tobocman designed the two homes — both of which went on the market in the last month — has been something of a mystery, even to the current owners.
In the case of the Farmington Hills home, current owner Brandon Stephens said his understanding was that Irving Tobocman had designed the home for Al and his family as a personal residence.
But that’s not quite right. In fact, Al Tobocman designed and built the house as a personal residence in the late 1960s and about a decade later went through a divorce that resulted in his ex-wife getting the house, according to Steve Tobocman. Irving Tobocman was later hired to do a small addition to the home.
Located within the Holly Hill Farms subdivision in Farmington Hills — which features a host of mid-century homes — the Al Tobocman house there dates back to 1968.
An “iconic ranch where recent updates preserve the nostalgic mid-century modern decor,” according to the listing, the house measures 4,100 square feet with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. It is priced at $850,000.
Stephens, the chief diversity o cer at Toledo-based manufacturing company Owens Corning, purchased the home just a few months ago but decided the daily commute was too long and wants to be closer to work.
“It’s kind of my loss, but somebody else’s gain,” Stephens said of the decision to sell the home. e home is essentially “turnkey,” said listing agent LaTina Lyle with EXP Realty in Royal Oak. e somewhat “museum feel” also makes it ideal for someone with an art collection, she added.
Meanwhile, 110 miles to the west near Battle Creek, Barbara Conklin and her husband Darren are selling their Al Tobocman-designed home, built just two years later than the Farmington Hills house. e home was originally built for Nils and Karen Strand. Owned for about ve years by the Conklins, the couple is selling the home to move to the Traverse City area.
“It’s the best house I’ve ever lived in … it’s a piece of history,” Barbara Conklin said.
Like the Farmington Hills house, the Conklin residence has three bedrooms and three bathrooms, but measures considerably smaller, just over 3,000 square feet. It also comes with a much lower asking price of $357,000.
“It’s a steal of a deal,” listing agent Noelle Pelton with Epique Realty in Battle Creek said.
Al Tobocman designed and built this house in Farmington Hills as a personal residence in the late 1960s. | JANNA COUMOUNDOUROS
A special section in partnership with MichiganCIO
The annual Michigan ORBIE® Awards honors chief information officers who have demonstrated excellence in technology leadership. Winners in the Super Global, Global, Large Enterprise, Enterprise & Corporate categories will be announced November 15 at The Henry.
CONGRATULATIONS 2024 MICHIGAN ORBIE NOMINEES
KATRINA AGUSTI Carhartt
MARY JO ALLEN Angels Place
AMJED AL-ZOUBI Amerisure Insurance
MICHAEL AMEND Ford Motor Company
ANDY ANDERSON The Shyft Group
THOMAS BARTOL Volkswagen
SCOTT BENDLE Rigaku Americas Holdings, Inc
SCOTT BENNETT Lear Corporation
TYLER BEST Tenneco
MICHAEL BISHOP Kalitta Air
STACY BOGATAJ LYNETT General Motors
JASON BRESSLER United Wholesale Mortgage
JIM BUJAKI Central Michigan University
RJ BUSSONE FordDirect
MIKE BUTMAN Forgotten Harvest
TIM CASTER Kongsberg Automotive
SPENCER CREMERS Ally
DAVID DECKER Universal Logistics
JODI DINES Real Estate One
ALAN DOUVILLE Stryker
TODD EARLS OIA Global
TAMARA FABER-DOTY CMS Energy and Consumers Energy
SAMIR FONOVIC OWL Services
JOE GARZIA Galco
CHET BROWN Tecumseh Products Company
PAUL BROWNE Henry Ford Health System
MARK BUIKEMA BISSELL Homecare, Inc.
CRAIG HARDTKE Honigman Business Law Firm
MIKE HICKS Jackson National Life Insurance Company
JIM HIGGINS Sun Communities
CLARISSA HULLEZA Easterseals
GANESH IYER Martinrea International
KEVIN JOHNSON Clarience Technologies
MATT JONES Ford Motor Company
MIKE KENNEDY Gordon Food Service
KERRY KEOWN NAI Global
KELLY KNEPLEY DexKo Global
BHAVANI KONERU Oakland University
LAURA LEFIEF Taubman Company
PAT RINALDO Ally Financial, Inc.
RYAN TALBOTT BorgWarner
STAN MAC Pet Supplies Plus
HEIDI MATTISON Cabinetworks Group
RAMAN MEHTA Johnson Electric
LESLIE RISSLER National Science Foundation
MIKE ROGERS Nexteer Automotive
DANIEL ROGGENBUCH PKC Group
SUDARSAN THATTAI Lineage Logistics
ART THOMPSON City of Detroit
ROB THOMPSON Wayne State University
BRUCE MITCHELL Comerica
DAVE NEHRA MotorCity Casino Hotel
EARL NEWSOME Cummins Inc.
JAMES SEEVERS TGNA - Toyoda Gosei North America
DR. BORIS SHULKIN Magna International
STEPHANIE TICE US Army TACOM
STEVE TUOHY Trinity Health
JOSEPH SIMPSON Edward Rose & Sons
SANGY VATSA HTC Global Services
AARON NILSSON Jet’s Pizza
RAHUL SINGH Ford Pro Global
JEFF VETOR NSK Americas Inc
RYAN OLIVIER American Axle & Manufacturing
KETAN PALICHA AGC Automotive Americas
RYAN KRAFT United Road Services
STEVE GAURA Blue Chip Talent, Inc
CRAIG LABOVITZ Nokia
AURA GREENBERG Crown Castle
TERRY LEDBETTER Meijer
MARK GUTHRIE AM General
CAROL LEE La-Z-Boy
BERNARD PICCIONE Great Expressions Dental Centers
SAURABH RAISINGHANI Ford Credit
BILL REX WK Kellogg Co
RAJ SINGH Visteon
ANDREA SIUDARA Dana Inc
DEE SLATER Wolverine Worldwide
NOHA WHITE Detroit Diesel Company/DTNA
GERALD WINKLER Haworth
BRIAN WOODRING Rocket Companies
JEFF SPIRES BeneSys, Inc.
STEVE YORK Hansons
SULABH SRIVASTAVA Acrisure
JOSH ZOOK Rocket Mortgage
Connected Leaders Move Faster
Great CIOs know technology moves fast, and connected leaders move faster.
MichiganCIO brings together the preeminent CIOs from Michigan's largest organizations to enhance leadership e ectiveness, create value, mitigate risks, and share successes. Member-led, non-commercial programs foster meaningful professional relationships, enabling collaboration on shared challenges to gain leadership advantage.
ere is no textbook for how to be a great CIO. Leaders sharpen professional acumen through peer collaboration with others facing similar challenges. While industries and organizations vary in MichiganCIO, successful leadership approaches are universal.
Members understand the "superpower" of trusted relationships. In any gathering of CIOs, the answer is in the room.
rough regular member-led events and interactions, the collective power of executives working together generates immense value. Everyone wins when ideas,
experiences, and best practices are shared in a collaborative and secure group.
MichiganCIO connects CIOs to nearly 1,600 lifelong learners across over 40 chapters in the
"Members understand the 'superpower' of trusted relationships. In any gathering of CIOs, the answer is in the room."
Inspire Leadership Network. From public and private companies to government, education, healthcare, and nonpro ts, we exist to help members succeed in one of the most demanding C-suite executive roles.
e principles serving CIOs for over 25 years are now available to CISOs as the Inspire Leadership Network expands, with six chapters
exclusively for CISOs launching in 2024.
e leadership of CIOs transforming organizations in Michigan is recognized through the ORBIE® Awards. On behalf of MichiganCIO, I congratulate all the nominees and nalists for their remarkable achievements. A special thank you to the sponsors, underwriters, and sta for making the Michigan ORBIE® Awards possible.
Sincerely,
Melanie
Kalmar 2024 Chair, MichiganCIO Corporate VP, CIO & CDO, Dow
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MELANIE KALMAR
2024 Leadership Award Recipient
Think Big
A conversation with ORBIE Leadership Award Recipient Mamatha Chamarthi, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Ofcer, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
MAMATHA CHAMARTHI
Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Of cer
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
"Technology is not just a way to automate processes but a way to rethink the business.”
Mamatha Chamarthi has a visionary mindset. As the chief digital o cer (CDO) at Goodyear, she is leveraging technology to transform every aspect of the iconic 126-year-old company to boost the bottom line and grow top line revenue, building a customer centric organization.
As the 2024 ORBIE Leadership Award recipient, Chamarthi recently shared her thoughts on the role of the CDO and how technology impacts every aspect of the business.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Chamarthi: I’m a passionate advocate for leveraging technology to drive business growth. My rst role in the U.S. was as a programmer at Chrysler Corporation (later DaimlerChrysler and now Stellantis). at’s where I fell in love with cars and the auto industry. Over the years, my focus has been on aligning insights and technology with strategic goals, inspiring others with a clear vision, and delivering results at speed. As a lifelong learner, I love exploring new ways to disrupt. Now at Goodyear, I’ve moved from selling cars to selling tires, where the rubber meets the road.
How did you get interested in information technology?
Chamarthi: Before I immigrated from India, I built the rst so ware program for a market research rm using Visual Basic and Oracle. When I came to the U.S., I saw a lot of opportunity in information technology. My rst job at Chrysler Corporation was working with the government a airs department to automate tax incentives that the company received from the government. In 1996, with the technologies available at the time, I made all of their processes paperless.
How has your perspective on technology evolved?
Chamarthi: Over the last 15 years, I’ve been focused on how technology can transform business models. Technology should generate not just bottom-line e ciency but also revenue growth. I created a so ware business unit at Stellantis that by 2030 will contribute 20 billion Euro in revenue to the bottom line. It makes me super excited about the impact technology can have.
How are you transforming the business model at Goodyear?
Chamarthi: Technology is at the core of our strategy. We're integrating technology into every aspect of our businessdesigning, building and selling tires - to drive e ciencies and contribute to the top line. is includes intelligent products, services and enterprise to transform into a customer centric company that goes a er lifetime value and sticky experiences for our B2B or B2C customers. But as we innovate, we are committed to transforming with integrity and protecting our good name. We have an iconic, respected brand, and we want to match that recognition with innovation that wins in the marketplace.
"Recognize the true value of your seat at the table. It’s not just about managing data and technology—it’s about driving business growth."
What is your leadership style?
Chamarthi: My leadership style is centered on disruption, collaboration, clarity and speed—but most importantly, in leading with heart. I thrive on big challenges because they inspire me to aim for exponential success, not just incremental wins. I prioritize building genuine empathy for our business by visiting as many plants and retail centers as possible. is rsthand understanding helps me see how our team can harness technology to boost e ciency and agility.
But it’s not just about the numbers; it’s critical that everyone feels connected to and excited about our mission and values. Many of the companies that I have worked for have been 100+ years old. As a leader, I focus on tapping into the inherent strengths of the deeply rooted company culture and people to create a platform for change. I believe that leading with heart means inspiring people to be part of something bigger, and that requires being a compelling storyteller. When your vision is clear and resonates with people, it becomes easier to bring everyone together to reach shared goals.
How has the role of CDO changed?
Chamarthi: When I assumed my rst position as a chief digital o cer in 2016, it was a brand-new role focused on e ciency. But the playbook has been rede ned. e role of the CDO is to create the right products that generate lifetime value for the customer. How do we rethink products and services? Do we have the right workplace culture to attract the right talent? Do we have the right business processes?
What is your advice for CDOs and other information of cers?
Chamarthi: Recognize the true value of your seat at the table. It’s not just about managing data and technology—it’s about driving business growth. Cra and communicate an inspiring vision that aligns the team around a shared purpose. Drive strategy planning and execution with speed to achieve results, ensuring that your initiatives aren’t just e ective, but impactful.
What philanthropic work are you most proud of?
What are your goals?
Chamarthi: My goals for Goodyear are very simple. Every quarter we must have tangible revenue and market share growth.
How big is your team?
Chamarthi: When people ask how big my team is, I like to say it's as big as Goodyear itself. at’s because we’re all working toward a common goal of transforming the company. Success isn’t just about individual departments; it’s about collaborating as one team to reach our goals together. Everyone at Goodyear is part of that journey.
Chamarthi: I’m particularly proud of T200, a community initiative that I co-founded to inspire, educate, celebrate and advance women’s leadership in technology. By investing in opportunities for women to lead in tech, we can support diversity of thought, which drives better business outcomes and a more dynamic industry. It’s important to me to li the next generation of technologists – especially women in tech –into positions of power to drive exponential results in the age of AI, which is the most signi cant transformation since the Industrial Revolution. It’s inspiring to see talented women in our program gain con dence, break down barriers and rede ne what’s possible, and being part of their journey gives me a deep sense of purpose and ful llment.
What does the ORBIE Leadership Award mean to you?
Chamarthi: e ORBIE Leadership Award is more than just recognition—it's an acknowledgment from my peers. Being nominated and recognized by colleagues who see and value my e orts makes this honor incredibly meaningful. It’s one thing to receive an award, but when it comes from people who share the same challenges and know the dedication required, it holds a deeper signi cance.
SUPER GLOBAL FINALISTS over
EARL NEWSOME CIO
Cummins Inc.
Earl Newsome is the CIO at Cummins. With a storied career spanning 10 yrs in the military, over 10 yrs in consulting and 20 yrs in senior leadership, Earl is one of a kind. He has held VP & CIO roles at Estee Lauder, Linde PLC, & TE Connectivity. He has garnered a reputation for being innovative and caring.
Saurabh Raisinghani is Global CIO & EVP at Ford Credit. He is responsible for managing global technology and operations. He is driving the transformation of Ford Credit to become a top FinTech organization. Saurabh started his career journey with Hewlett Packard and IBM Software Labs as a Software Engineer, grew overtime as a VP Engineering, lead Digital Transformation at Publicis Sapient, and nally led Marriott Digital as a Global Vice President of Engineering at Marriott International.
ANDREA SIUDARA SVP & Global CIO Dana Inc
Andrea is SVP and CIO at Dana Inc, a Fortune 300 manufacturer of drivetrain and e-propulsion systems for light vehicle, commercial vehicle, and off-highway markets. Andrea leads Dana’s digital strategy as well all aspects of information technology. She is a permanent management representative to the Board of Directors to provide Technology and Audit committee updates on digital and cybersecurity. Andrea also serves on the Board of Directors for Bocar Group, a $1.2B global automotive supplier.
From his varied career journey, to the results delivered, Earl Newsome’s appetite and aptitude for executing big, have been pivotal to his success. He combines business, industry, emotional and technical intelligence to make decisions as a leader, and as a human. Earl is energized by solving complex challenges and empowering teams to widen their horizons of what is possible. He is passionate about innovation and future-forward transformations that embrace emerging technologies. This chapter of Earl’s life is centered on giving of his time, insights, treasures, and experiences to build future generations of leaders and contribute to a more equitable world.
At Ford Credit, our mission is “To be the reason for our customers to choose and be with Ford.” With the rapidly changing auto-captive landscape with EVs, digitization and regulation, we are re-imagining our products and services with customer centricity, digital, and data at core. I am driving the modernization of our technology eco-system from legacy mainframe-based eco-system to a cloud-native FinTech platform, digital, AI and data eco-system. Earlier this year we launched our rst native mobile app with 4.8 stars rating. We are transforming the culture of the engineering, with depth in technology and product mindset.
Our IT team has played a crucial role in architecting and deploying a new strategic foundation for net new green technology business. The systems we implemented enabled seamless connectivity and ef cient management of various machinery and new highly connected plant oor and engineering devices in record time. Some key highlights include modernized and secure network and wireless network for automated vehicles, advanced and centralized system for monitoring and managing machinery and warehouse operations, tools for tracking performance and generating reports, integration with other systems for smooth operations and data sharing, and cloud-based Data-lake connectivity to the customer.
RYAN TALBOTT VP & Global CIO BorgWarner
Ryan is a leader, strategist, and relationship & talent developer who delivers business outcomes through the application of technology. Ryan was appointed VP & Global CIO for BorgWarner in 2020, and is responsible for all IT resources, programs and operations. Previously Ryan was Chief Transformation Of cer for Altimetrik and VP & CIO North America & Asia-Paci c for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Ryan holds an MBA through Michigan State University and a B.S. in Business from the University of Illinois.
Through the teams’ amazing work, IT is a value-added partner enabling us to deliver our business objectives. Our focus on high-performance results has guided us to bring business innovations, streamlined operations, unwavering quality, and individual growth to all levels of our organization. We march towards our business-aligned strategy every day as the guidepost on our decisions and work. Over past years we have integrated ~$4B of external acquisitions to enable harmonized business operations, completed full divestiture of ~$3.5B business unit in under 18 months, and have brought advanced cloud, IoT, data, and infrastructure technologies into our businesses.
When everything works perfectly, no one seems to notice the IT teams responsible for the innovative technology and complex, secure systems required to support modern business and commerce...until now.
GLOBAL FINALISTS
KEVIN JOHNSON VP & CIO
As Vice President and Chief Information Of cer at Clarience Technologies, Kevin leads the Global Corporate IT function, managing all aspects of Information Technology. With 34 years of IT experience in various industries including consulting, manufacturing, consumer goods, and nancial services, Kevin is a dedicated leader and mentor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in management information systems and an MBA in nance and entrepreneurial management, both with Beta Gamma Sigma honors from Wayne State University.
Clarience Technologies is dedicated to safeguarding lives and livelihoods through advanced visibility and safety technologies for transportation. Since I assumed the role of CIO 4 ½ years ago, our growth has been remarkable. It’s truly rewarding to be part of an organization making a global impact. We’ve put a lot of points on the board in IT, enhancing corporate capabilities in cybersecurity and establishing a world-class BI Analytics and systems integration practice that creates enterprise-wide datadriven insights. We’ve successfully integrated ve acquisitions. However, my greatest achievement is building a versatile team that excels across multiple disciplines, consistently delivering innovative solutions.
Raj has over 28 years of within executive leadership, strategy, transformation, delivery experience, and advising. Raj is an effective communicator who leverages true passion and an unwavering commitment to excellence to build and lead high performing teams, consistently delivering positive business results in challenging and time-critical situations. A known digital transformation leader who believes in leading from the front and always by example.
Since joining Acrisure, a rapidly growing, global ntech business, Sulabh has built a world class delivery and management function that provides agility to the business to sustain industry de ning growth. Services include cybersecurity, technology infrastructure, business applications, data analytics, intelligent automation and more. Sulabh’s goal is to continue to differentiate Acrisure by providing colleagues access to leading products and services necessary for growth, while ensuring protection from technology disruptions or cyberattacks.
A proven track record of success with achievement of massive IT Transformation in last 28 years. Changing the way business looks at IT and partnering with them to measure IT impact by looking at the business outcomes and business values. A great believer of creation of a great Culture of Trust, Teamwork and Transparency. We are in business to move business, PERIOD. We work hard every day to improve and transform the business to make it better than we found it.
With Acrisure’s ambitious goals of transforming the company and bringing more than 9,000 colleagues together under the Acrisure name, we needed strong, strategic and exceptional IT talent. As a result, I’ve grown the IT team from 35 fulltime employees to 392 in just under four years. Not only have we grown exponentially, we have also promoted from within, gained incredible leaders and continued to be a valued technology partner within Acrisure. The IT Team has supported the company’s rebranding efforts by ensuring the tech underpinnings needed were in place enabling colleagues to seamlessly continue serving clients without interruption.
SULABH
SANGY VATSA Chief Technology & Digital Of cer
HTC Global Services
Sangy Vatsa is the former Chief Technology and Digital Of cer of HTC Global Services, a global technology solutions and services company. Previously, he has held technology executive leadership roles at Fortune companies like American Express, FIS, Comerica Bank, and Ford Motor Company. Sangy earned his MBA from Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. He also holds MCIS and BE degrees. He is actively engaged in the industry as a board member and an advisor.
JEFF VETOR
Senior Manager Information Security & Infrastructure NSK Americas, Inc.
Jeff Vetor is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience in business coordination and logistics, currently serving as Senior Manager IS & Infrastructure at NSK Americas, Inc. Previous roles include North American Logistics Senior Manager, Project Manager for JSOX compliance and Manager of IT where he directed a multinational team in formulating global information technology infrastructure strategy across North & Latin America. Vetor holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Michigan State University's Eli Broad College of Business.
One of the major accomplishments was to develop modern capabilities and focusing our effort in the areas that were deemed important by customers, especially, Data, AI, Digital and Cloud, while maintaining support for other critical areas. For e.g., our AI platform is continuing to grow rapidly and enabling modern solutions across industries. I am very grateful and owe this recognition to my leader, the President and CEO of HTC, and a highly skilled team of global associates for partnering with me and co-creating several capabilities to serve our customers.
INSPIRE LEADERSHIP
NETWORK is the preeminent executive peer leadership organization of chief information officers and chief information security officers. The heart of Inspire is membership in a local chapter, building relationships in your community, and access to thought leaders across the United States and Canada.
Our diverse team across the US, Mexico, and Brazil, stands as a testament to the power of collaboration. United as one, we have transformed our organization by building a robust security and infrastructure framework. Through extensive modernization of security tools and infrastructure systems, we have optimized our cloud technology use and forged partnerships across the business to enhance customer experience. As a small geographically dispersed team, our success is bolstered by partnerships and collaborations that have also been crucial in achieving success over the years. Every opportunity is met with a proactive mindset, as we embrace challenges like transitioning call centers to the cloud, adopting cutting-edge technologies, and ensuring all locations are interconnected.
LARGE ENTERPRISE FINALISTS over
DAVID DECKER VP, IT & CIO
Universal Logistics Holdings, LLC
David is the CIO at Universal Logistics. Previous positions included IT Director at American Axle, CIO at Johnson Controls, CIO at Automotive Components Holdings, and several leadership positions in IT at Ford. He holds a BS in Computer Engineering and an MBA, both from the University of Michigan. David supports the Michigan Council of Women in Technology, is a member of SIM, and serves on the Technology Advisory Board for Forgotten Harvest.
I joined Universal Logistics as CIO in April 2023. There was a good team in place, but they lacked strong leadership and a clear strategy. I drove alignment across the Business and IT leaders, working as one team focused on the key business goals. A year later, the IT team delivered on major accomplishments that had been languishing for years. We transformed our Transportation Management System, introduced Enterprise Architecture, adopted Service Desk metrics, and won $250M of new business with our improved Warehouse Management system. I’m very proud of what the team has accomplished. More importantly, so are they.
ENTERPRISE FINALISTS
Todd Earls has dedicated more than 27 years to delivering IT solutions for enterprise organizations. Known for his transformative leadership, Todd has earned recognition for driving successful outcomes in complex environments.
At OIA Global, he focuses on building collaborative teams and seamless digital experiences for customers and employees. He holds a Bachelor’s in Computer Science from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Michigan State University.
At OIA Global, we are building a culture of innovation, propelling us toward our goal of digital differentiation in the supply chain industry by 2027. In our journey to transform talent, culture, and technology, we have increased employee satisfaction by 20%, reduced regrettable attrition by 92%, and reduced costs by 13%. Our focus on empowering high performing and collaborative teams while delivering signi cant ROI and stabilizing IT costs, has created a solid foundation for digital technology deployments. We now have a clear path toward innovation, digitization, and automation, positioning OIA Global for long-term success.
AURA GREENBERG SVP, Data & Digital (fmr.) Crown Castle
Aura Greenberg is a technology executive with 22 years of experience in product innovation and digital transformation at Google, Qualcomm, General Motors, and Crown Castle. Career highlights include contributing to Android, Pixel, General Motor’s OnStar, and Qualcomm’s mobile video technology. At General Motors and Crown Castle, she led digital transformations scaling arti cial intelligence. Aura holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA from the University of California, Berkeley.
As Chief Information Of cer for Jackson, Michael (Mike) Hicks leads the company’s information technology strategy, including the design and development of innovative systems, data and AI, enterprise architecture, digital transformation, and portfolio planning and management. He also collaborates with business units to create operational ef ciencies, enhance client experiences, and expand market reach. Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from Boston University and an MBA in global business and leadership from Northeastern University.
In 2019, I joined Crown Castle to accelerate the company’s strategy with a vision of an AI and data- rst transformation. During my time there, the Data & Digital team transformed into a strategic technology development team that is delivering a company-wide transformation and is catalyzing a culture of innovation. In partnership with company leaders, we have accelerated business value through an orchestrated transformation of people, processes, data, and AI/cloud rst technology. It has been my privilege to have had the opportunity to lead this team and to have been part of Crown Castle.
As a retirement solutions company, Jackson doesn’t manufacture physical products and instead manufactures trust through helping Americans achieve nancial freedom for life. Our talented technology team is at the forefront of innovation by enabling an industry-leading cost structure, best-inclass customer service, and top-rated products. Our digital platforms and straight through processing have resulted in signi cant digitization of our business and have contributed to award winning service and consistent year-over-year sales growth and diversi cation. We are now further innovating through our new AI-powered solutions to enhance associate productivity, drive personalized experiences, and enable sales growth to strengthen our market position.
Highly accomplished transformational and results-driven IT Executive adept at executing technology strategies, possessing demonstrated experience working effectively with executives to promote IT business value as an enabling capability to support business growth. Robust functional and technology background with excellent problem-solving skills and expertise to ensure resiliency of services, emphasizing rst time quality and awless execution. Proven record of effective personnel management and team development, successfully leading, directing, and in uencing teams of skilled professionals.
Nilsson is the CIO of Jets Pizza. Since 2019 he has used his skill set to build Jet’s Pizza’s digital experiences for customers and in-store operations. Under his leadership Jets saw more than a 400% increase in digital sales in his rst 5 years. He launched some of the most innovative digital products in the category. Nilsson was previously associated with brands such as Carhartt, Domino’s, and General Motors.
IS&S delivered signi cant business value with shop oor innovation providing real-time vehicle assembly information to operators in each workstation and integrates with torque tool, uid ll, quality defect management, and AGV platforms. This solution is a key component of our 2024 JLTV Production Launch. Also compelling is 2022’s introduction of SAP Customer Experience (CX) capabilities to enable Aftermarket business expansion, doubling 2023 revenue from prior year with sustained performance in 2024 and revenue growth in following years. Finally, everyone contributes to critical cybersecurity initiatives - NIST compliance, vulnerability management, CMMC preparation - ensuring AMG’s continuing ability to compete and win defense contracts.
We quadrupled digital sales in 5 years, largely by levering Arti cial Intelligence tools to allow texting of pizza orders, and by redesigning customer experiences. We helped customers understand our products on a deeper level with incredible HD video that lets you virtually feel the cheese pull and sense the steam rising off the fresh baked crust. We saved countless stores from having to close when the labor shortage was at its worst by implementing phone-based AI tools that took kept our valuable employees on the pizza make line instead of answering phones, which now, never had a busy signal.
MIKE HICKS SVP & CIO Jackson National Life Insurance Company
Aaron
TODD EARLS CIO OIA Global
MARK GUTHRIE Sr.
AARON NILSSON CIO Jet’s Pizza
HEIDI MATTISON CTO Cabinetworks Group
Heidi Mattison is currently the Chief Technology Of cer at Cabinetworks Group. Previously, Heidi held Chief Information Of cer and various leadership roles in engineering, supply chain and technology at Superior Industries, ZF Group, TRW Automotive, Accenture, Starbucks, Robert Bosch and Mercedes Benz. Heidi holds a B.S. in Engineering from Michigan State University.
RINALDO CIO Auto Finance & Insurance Ally Financial, Inc.
Pat Rinaldo, Chief Information Of cer for Ally Financial’s Dealer Financial Services, leads technology innovation for Ally’s auto businesses. With 30+ years of experience in auto nance and insurance, he has held leadership roles in auto servicing, credit operations, and collections. Rinaldo serves on the Board of Directors at RouteOne and is a passionate United Way Tech United Advisory Board member. He is a lifelong Michigan resident with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.
As the Chief Technology Of cer at Cabinetworks Group, I have the honor of leading the team on a journey of transformation and innovation. The team has revolutionized the industry and set the standard for ease of doing business and customer service with a scalable, cloud native, custom developed application. We continue to enhance end user experience and collaboration with innovative technology in our new 90,000 sq ft headquarters and keep a keen focus on operational technology with AI and digitalization on the shop oor to provide best in class safety for our employees and quality for our customers.
Ally Financial, the nation’s largest digital-only bank, recently achieved a signi cant milestone by sunsetting its 30-year-old mainframe, a challenging task for any bank. This complex, multi-phased modernization effort replaced core applications essential for auto servicing, wholesale oorplan management, and collections. Our success was rooted in strong business and technology alignment, clear boundaries, and empowered cross-functional teams. Over 100 systems were integrated, migrating nearly $120 billion in portfolios, all within schedule and budget. This transformation has created a modern, scalable platform that positions us better to serve customers and dealers in a rapidly changing market.
CIO
Edward Rose & Sons
Joseph J. Simpson is a solutionsfocused Chief Information Of cer with over 30 years of experience in technology leadership. At his current role with Edward Rose & Sons, he excels in driving strategic IT initiatives, enhancing digital transformation, cybersecurity, and mentoring new IT leaders. He served in the United States Marine Corps and was honorably discharged, graduated from Oakland University with a B.S. in Management Information Systems, and continues to improve his knowledge of technology frequently.
Starting in shortly after high school, Art fell into IT to put himself through college. Working in emergency services doing tech support and learning the ropes. Moving into the role of IT Manager for Detroit’s Public Safety team, he worked his way over years to gain respect of his peers and superiors. Quickly he took over a Director role and started to oversee Cyber Security. Then after the pandemic led to become CIO and CISO.
“Great CIOs know technology moves fast, and connected leaders move faster, which makes the ORBIE® Awards signi cant.”
- Melanie Kalmar, MichiganCIO Chair
Our greatest accomplishment, over the past 12 years, is the digital transformation of a 100+ year old company that relied on manual and paper driven processes, and 30 years behind in technology debt. The IT Team has grown from 3 people to 40 technology focused professionals. We have integrated the Company’s entire portfolio on to standardized, cloud-based technology stack and infrastructure. The IT Teams efforts have empowered our workforce to securely access company resources from anywhere and work. This could not have been accomplished without the smart and hard work of the IT Team and the support of the CEO.
It had been two weeks in the role of Public Safety, Mobile IT Manager in 2016 when Art’s team received a new priority project from Mayor Mike Duggan. The City Council had just approved over $5M for a pilot program to equip police with body cameras. Art and his team led the successful deployment of 1,500 body cameras, that ultimately led to additional grant funding and a sustained program that continues today. In 2021, Mayor Duggan appointed Art Thompson as the City’s next CIO and CISO, making him the youngest CIO and rst CISO in Detroit’s history.
The ORBIE Awards is a premier technology executive recognition program in the United States. Since inception in 1998, over 500 ORBIE winners have received the prestigious ORBIE Award.
PAT
JOSEPH SIMPSON
ART THOMPSON CIO City of Detroit
CORPORATE FINALISTS up to $550 million annual revenue
RJ BUSSONE CIO
FordDirect
RJ is a versatile technology and business executive, husband and girl dad, driven by solving unique challenges. I love building teams, companies, software (and homes!), and I particularly relish solving problems with technology in innovative ways. Making visible, forward progress ful lls and drives me. Helping my family, team and colleagues grow and expand their experience, skills and capabilities and seeing them succeed are the best rewards!
Two team accomplishments that I’m especially proud of are: One, being awarded Detroit Free Press Top Workplace two years in a row. It re ects years of work on our culture and captured opportunities by expertly managing through the pandemic and provided great care and exibility (and services!) for our employees. Second, is our establishment, sustainment and expansion over three+ years of our SOC 2 Type II program. This was the ultimate team sport and requires great on-going rigor to process, execution as well as continual improvement.
MIKE
A native Detroiter, Mike brings his multi decade career in technology consulting and executive IT leadership in not-for-pro t and for-pro t entities to ght food insecurity in Southeastern Michigan as the CIO and an Of cer of Forgotten Harvest. Mike is known as a collaborative digital transformation leader, innovator, speaker and CIO roundtable facilitator. His vision is to create a nonpro t innovation roadmap locally and give it back to the national food security industry, Feeding America.
Jodi Dines, CIO and EVP at Real Estate One Family of Companies, drives innovation in IT and Marketing. With 23 years of leadership, she enhances productivity through cutting-edge solutions aligned with business needs. Known for her collaborative approach and dedication to continuous improvement, Jodi fosters a dynamic work environment and remains engaged with industry trends.
It is a privilege and an honor to serve Forgotten Harvest in the ght against food insecurity in Metro Detroit, the urban community where I was raised. I nd great purpose alignment in using my personal experiences and gifts in a role that requires perpetual digital and business transformation, measured in human impact. It has been a joy to collaborate with IT professionals, staff, leadership and great minds in our tech industry to stretch beyond the improbable and imagine and innovate a better future. I extend an invitation to IT and business leaders to join our cause and nd purpose.
Our small yet formidable technology team prioritizes a business- rst approach. Amid signi cant industry changes this year, we’ve adapted by introducing ef ciencies, rapidly developing websites, creating new data sets and work ows, and building integrations for streamlined information ow. These efforts have kept our company agile during this transformative period. By having a seat at the table, IT stays in tune with business challenges and opportunities, enabling rapid problem-solving. Our approach and mindset have contributed to maintaining one of the highest agent retention rates and productivity levels in the industry.
We’re inspired by the leadership, insight, integrity and innovative thinking that you bring to our organization every day.
BHAVANI KONERU CIO
Oakland University
I am an IT executive with over 25 years of experience, specializing in digital transformation and strategic IT planning. As the Chief Information Of cer at Oakland University, I lead a team that delivers secure and innovative technology solutions. Previously, I served as CIO at Ferris State University and held senior IT roles at Wayne State University. I hold an MS in Computer Science and an MBA, with expertise in application development, cybersecurity and data analytics.
DAVID NEHRA CIO
MotorCity Casino Hotel
David is the Chief Information Of cer at MotorCity Casino Hotel; with over 28 years in IT, Nehra has overseen all aspects of technology at MotorCity. He leads a team that adopted many technological rsts, making MotorCity a pioneer in the industry. Nehra’s hospitality career began in March 1999, when he designed and implemented the casino’s technology and continues to play a critical role in daily operations.
STEPHANIE TICE CIO
US Army TACOM
Ms. Stephanie Tice is the Tankautomotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) CIO responsible for IT execution and digital transformation across the Command. Prior to her appointment as the CIO, Ms. Tice served in several leadership and technical positions within the TACOM CIO/G-6, including: Software Development Supervisor, Enterprise Architect, and Application Hosting Services Team Lead. Ms. Tice holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Michigan Technological University and a M.S. in Project Management from George Washington University.
Our university faced signi cant challenges with siloed data across disparate systems, limiting access and hindering effective performance monitoring. To address this, I led the development of a comprehensive data strategy and the creation of a centralized data repository, consolidating data from various sources. We implemented analytical platforms with self-service capabilities, enabling departments and functions to independently build and monitor their KPIs. This initiative enabled the campus community to access and analyze data, fostering a culture of data-driven decisionmaking. The centralized system enhanced collaboration, improved operational ef ciency, and empowered departments to track and achieve their performance goals effectively.
I’ve assembled a skilled team to develop customer—and employee-facing applications, enhancing MotorCity’s customer experience by strategically implementing their feedback. Our technology focuses on user needs, not just technical aspects. MotorCity has led the industry with innovations like the original form of Cashless Technology (Wager Account Transfer) and self-service food kiosks that accept multiple payment methods (including cash, credit, comp, and room charges). I’m proud of our team’s commitment to supporting customers, delivering creative solutions, and maintaining a fun work environment.
Stephanie Tice, US Army TACOM CIO, led her team and command through two cloud migrations during the past four years. The rst migration was the rst large-scale cloud migration for the Army Materiel Command, a four-star Army command with hundreds of thousands of employees across the world. The second migration, to the Army’s Microsoft Azure environment, was completed in a short, six-month, timeframe due to the sudden closure of the rst cloud environment. Stephanie and her team worked tirelessly ensure that mission critical applications remained available throughout both migrations to support the execution of the TACOM mission.
SCAN TO LEARN MORE
ADVISORY BOARD OFFICERS
MELANIE KALMAR Dow CHAIR
PROGRAMS CHAIR
CARRIE SHUMAKER University of Michigan –Dearborn
PAUL BLOWERS Plante Moran
BHAVANI KONERU Oakland University
KATRINA AGUSTI Carhartt
RUSS AHLERS BDO
STEVE AMBROSE DTE Energy
ANDY ANDERSON The Shyft Group
MARK BAUGHMAN Indiana
ANDY BOLIN North American Bancard
JASON JOSEPH Corewell Health VICE CHAIR
DARLENE TAYLOR Superior Industries International Inc. CHAIR
ART THOMPSON City of Detroit CHAIR
MICHAEL HICKS Jackson National
AWARDS CHAIR
DANI BROWN Whirlpool Corporation
ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
PATRICK HOELSCHER GT Independence
RYAN TALBOTT BorgWarner
MICHAEL BUTMAN Forgotten Harvest
JEN CHARTERS Flagstar Bank (fmr)
MILOS TOPIC Grand Valley State University
MICHIGANCIO MEMBERS
PATHIK MODY Trion
DAVID NEHRA MotorCity Casino Hotel
DAVID DECKER Universal Logistics Holdings
TODD EARLS OIA Global
BILL FANDRICH Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
STEVE NEUBECKER HAP
AARON NILSSON Jet’s Pizza
BRIAN PAIGE Calvin College
ELIZABETH KLEE Urban Science
MICHAEL PAULIN AF Group (fmr)
PAT RINALDO Ally Financial
ED RYBICKI Mastronardi Produce
MICHAEL SAAD Munson Healthcare
JOE SIMPSON Edward Rose & Sons
HEIDI MATTISON CabinetWorks CHAIR
AWARDS CO-CHAIR
CATHY CURLEY U-M College of Literature, Science and the Arts
ANITA KLOPFENSTEIN Owned Companies
SOMA VENKAT Cooper Standard
SULABH SRIVASTAVA Acrisure LLC
DANIEL WALTZ MyMichigan Health
JOSHUA WILDA University of Michigan Health-West
RON WOODY Eastern Michigan University
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Coffee roaster wants more Detroiters in on the industry
By Jay Davis
A Highland Park native’s push to integrate more Detroiters into the multi-billion dollar coffee industry is taking off.
Martell Mason’s The Sepia Coffee Project is set to rehab a 1,000-square-foot building in Highland Park that will serve as a roasting headquarters and espresso bar. The space at 261 Pilgrim St., which Mason bought in late 2023, will allow Sepia to roast seven times as many coffee beans as it does now. A 2,000-square-foot lot near the building will be set up as a seating area and outdoor garden.
A month ago, Mason opened Sepia Coffee House at 2831 E. Grand Blvd. in Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction neighborhood, taking over the space after The Gathering Coffee Co. closed in September. The Gathering, owned by Emily Steffen, had been a wholesale customer of Mason’s.
Mason said he put minimal investment into the new shop as it was already set up as a coffeehouse. Sepia has a staff of about eight. Mason will add a handful of positions once the expanded Highland Park location is up and running. Mason said he aims to hire Detroit residents and people with multidisciplinary skills to fill multiple roles.
Sepia Coffee Project LLC sources organic, specialty coffee beans from Black and Brown farmers in Africa, North and South America and the Indian-Pacific regions for wholesale purposes. Beans come from places including Colombia, Brazil, Indonesia and Ethiopia. Despite the international flavor of the beans, Mason looks to tell some Detroit history through the coffee he sells, calling his three collections Blk Bottom, Harmonie and Paradise — all named after sections of Detroit with rich Black history.
Mason is a former Starbucks Coffee barista who in 2017 opened Arabica Trading House in Istanbul, Turkey, where he imported coffee directly from origin into Turkey. Mason returned to Detroit in 2021 when he established The Sepia Coffee Project, initially working out of a space at 9417 John R St. in Detroit. Now Sepia has 30 wholesale accounts in metro Detroit, including The Congregation, Mongers’ Provisions, Western Market and the Detroit People’s Food Co-op.
“So we have some great coffees from Indonesia. We’re working on some coffees from the Philippines,” Mason said. “A lot of people don’t even know that the Philippines, and Malaysia, and Thailand, produce coffee. So we want to introduce some of these very unique profiles to the market because there’s a gap.”
The Milwaukee Junction coffee shop, where Mason roasts about 150 pounds of beans daily, will serve as roasting headquarters for six-eight months until the Highland Park facility is ready. There it will roast coffee beans Monday-Wednesday and operate an espresso bar Thursday-Sunday.
“... our mission is to ensure that we have a very solid platform within our own community,” Mason said. “If you look at our prices we make sure everyone within the neighborhood has access to quality goods and services. The $2 price for our (cup of) coffee includes tax.”
It uses oat milk in its drinks “because a lot of people in Black and Brown communities are lactose intolerant,” he said. “So we’re really working to make sure everybody has access to great coffee.”
Mason has hustled to get the Sepia expansion off the ground.
Sepia was a finalist in the 2023 Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest by TechTown, in which the winner
won $100,000. As a finalist, Mason was eligible for free consulting and in-kind services from TechTown Detroit. Mason earned $9,600 from the Hatch Detroit Small Business Hub Grant and in November 2023 Sepia was awarded a $10,000 grant from syrup maker Torani Café through its Opportunity Fund.
To kick things up a notch, Sepia established a Wefunder campaign to raise funds for the rehabilitation of the Highland Park space. The effort has raised $165,000, Mason said, including $124,000 from online donations. He intends to repay donors within four years with a 10% share of revenue model. Donors who contribute more than $5,000 would be repaid twice that amount and donations of less than $5,000 would see a return of 1.5 times, Mason said. The Wefunder page cautions that Sepia payout projections are not guaranteed. Mason said 154 people have contributed through the reve-
nue-sharing model so far. He’s also actively raising Regulation D funds for the project.
“It’s not equity,” Mason said.
“Our hope is that in three years’ time, once we’ve paid back all those investors, that we can have some people come in as equity investors. I think that by that point we’ll be scaling to a degree where we’ll have a handful of locations around metro Detroit. The Wefunder was just a great way for us to reach the masses given that we were already on a lot of people’s radar.”
Mason projects more than $700,000 in revenue this year, $420,000 of which will be from wholesale sales.
Sepia is part of the booming coffee industry, which marked a total economic impact in the United States in 2022 of $343.2 billion, a 52.4% increase from 2015, according to the National Coffee Association. Consumers spent nearly $110 billion on coffee in 2022, it
said, and the coffee industry is responsible for more than 2.2 million U.S. jobs and generates more than $100 billion in wages.
Susan Chase is among Sepia’s donors, chipping in more than $5,000.
Chase became aware of Mason and his coffee business during her time as a visiting law professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The New York resident fancies herself as a serious coffee drinker and met Mason by chance while on a walk near the John R spot while Mason was roasting some beans, the smell of which caught Chase’s attention. Chase said she has an interest in sourcing and how it empowers everyone from the growers to the distributors and salespeople. She said Mason’s funding methods didn’t scare her at all.
“I had invested in a co-op rideshare company in New York,” Chase said. “I knew about (Mason’s Wefunder) and was all in. The coffee is great. It didn’t taste like it had any additives. I even sent it to friends. (Mason) educated me almost like a wine sommelier. He has so much knowledge and such an understanding of the industry. I know he wants to be profitable, but you can see his purpose is more than that.
“I’d love to double my money. But I won’t be sad if I don’t. I don’t feel like I’m going to lose it, either.”
Mason doesn’t foresee Chase or any of the other investors losing their money, either.
“I think we have a lot of great potential,” Mason said. “Within three to five years, I think we’ll be doing much more. We definitely want to have a solid hold here in metro Detroit.
“We’re trying to get Black and Brown folks into coffee here in the market, but we’re also highlighting Black and Brown farmers at the origin, which is 98% of production.”
Martell Mason has taken his experience as a coffee roaster and established The Sepia Coffee Project, which has a coffee shop and roasting operation in Detroit. JAY DAvIS
The new Sepia Coffee shop at 2831 E. Grand Blvd. in Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction neighborhood JAY DAvIS
CRAIN’S LIST
LARGEST ENGINEERING COMPANIES IN THE DETROIT AREA
Once-growing diabetes startup files for bankruptcy
By Dustin Walsh
Ann Arbor-based Hygieia Inc. — a company named after the Greek goddess of health — is on life support.
The maker of a digital insulin management software filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy on Oct. 31 after 16 years of trying to commercialize its product.
Eran Bashan, CEO, co-founder and executive chairman of Hygieia, told Crain’s the company had “more creditors than we can support” and that the company struggled to raise new capital coming out of the pandemic.
“In the area of growing companies, you need access to funding,” Bashan said. “In 2020, 2021, most of the entities that would invest in companies like Hygieia lost most of their investments because of what happened to the market (during the COVID-19 pandemic). As a result, in the medical device/ digital health space, there has been a dry out of funding. We ran out of money and ran out of the ability to raise money.”
Bashan declined to reveal how much the company owed creditors, but in its bankruptcy filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit, liabilities were listed in a range between $10 million and $50 million with fewer than $50,000 in assets. Hygieia’s d-Nav system, which is about the size of a cellphone, uses cloud-based software to analyze blood sugar levels, or HbA1c. With the help of health care professionals and primary care doctors, the device recommends to patients how much dosage they should give themselves based on body chemistry. The d-Nav device was approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in February 2019 and is the only one cleared for autonomous delivery of insulin dose recommendations for patients with Type 2 diabetes.
The company ceased operations a few months ago, Bashan said, terminating its roughly 40 employees.
Hygieia had raised $34.25 million since its founding in 2008. It was developed by two University of Michigan researchers.
Flagstar sells mortgage servicing business for $1.3B
Flagstar Bank has completed the sale of its mortgage servicing business, a “significant milestone” for a bank that was once a mortgage powerhouse.
The bank subsidiary — long headquartered in Troy until its 2022 acquisition by New York Community Bank — announced the deal to offload its mortgage servicing business in July.
On Nov. 1, the bank announced it had completed the $1.3 billion deal to sell the mortgage servicing rights — essentially the administrative tasks affiliated with a mortgage loan once it’s closed — to Mr. Cooper Group Inc., based in the Dallas area.
“We are very pleased to announce the successful sale of our mortgage serving business and third-party origination platform to Mr. Cooper,” Flagstar CEO Joseph
Otting said in a news release. “The completion of this sale reflects another significant milestone toward our strategy to simplify our business model and transform Flagstar into a regional bank focused on the core business of Retail Banking, Commercial and Private Banking, and Commercial Real Estate lending.”
Otting, who is also president and chairman, noted Flagstar will still provide residential mortgage services through retail and private banking channels.
In 2021, when the deal for NYCB to acquire Flagstar was announced, Flagstar’s heavy presence in the mortgage sector was a driving factor for the acquisition.
“So by combining these companies, you now take that volatility in the mortgage business, you smooth it out because it becomes much less of the total,” former Flagstar CEO Sandro DiNello said
Most recently, it raised $22 million in Series B venture funding led by Israeli venture firms FirstTime and GlenRock Israel in May 2023, according to data from PitchBook.
Its other investors include: Michigan Life Ventures — the in-
vestment arm for Charles Bisgaier, who founded Esperion Therapeutics and helped create Lipitor and other drugs; California-based Silicom Investors; and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, who supported Hygieia with a $1.52 million venture investment in 2017.
In a statement to Crain’s, BCBSM said patients are still using the d-Nav device.
“Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan worked with Hygieia to support a pilot program that would help people with Type 2 diabetes better manage their glucose and insulin levels through remote monitoring,” the Detroit insurer said in the statement. “The d-NAV device performed as expected for our members and as of this summer we had members still using the device.”
Hygieia believed the use of the d-Nav service could save up to $100 million in pharmacy and other health care costs for diabetic patients in Michigan, as well as provide better care for the more than 8 million people in the U.S. with diabetes taking insulin.
BCBSM said it is not aware how the bankruptcy will impact the patients using the device.
The company had hoped it could expand use of its d-Nav system through partnership deals with specialty physician groups or through an acquisition by a larger entity like CVS and Amazon, its former CEO David Lawrence told Crain’s in 2022. The insulin drug category was a $50 billion market, he said. The company had been in growth mode; in 2022, Metro Detroit Endocrinology Center, one of the largest endocrinology practices in Michigan, incorporated the d-Nav program into a standard protocol for its eligible patients.
But instead, Hygieia will be liquidated. Its only material value is in its eight patents. The bankruptcy trustee will likely try to sell the patents to return some investment back to the creditors.
“I don’t think it’s a unique story,” Bashan said. “Unfortunately, in our world, with growing companies, more often than not it ends this way.”
at the time. “But (the revenue is) still there, still regularly providing good returns. And then when those special opportunities present themselves, you jump on it and you generate just a tremen-
dous amount of capital.”
The mortgage sector is in a very different space today, with more than two years of elevated interest rates serving as a headwind for the industry.
Indeed, Flagstar in recent months cut nearly 200 mortgage jobs, largely from its corporate office in Troy. The job cuts are part of a much larger series of layoffs, as Crain’s has reported.
Flagstar announced it completed a $1.3 billion deal to sell its mortgage servicing rights. | bING GUAN/bLoomberG
Hygieia, a maker of d-Nav insulin dose automation technology software for people with type 2 diabetes, is filing for bankruptcy. | HYGIeIA
By Nick Manes
United Way lowers fundraising goal, cuts employees
By Sherri Welch
United Way for Southeastern Michigan has set a lower fundraising campaign goal for fiscal 2025 after missing its target last year and using layoffs and voluntary employee separations to offset a projected operating deficit.
The cost-cutting moves impacted nearly a quarter of the Detroit-based nonprofit’s workforce.
United Way laid off 18 of its employees in two rounds over the summer, and 30 others from top leadership to middle management and entry-level employees opted into voluntary separation or retirement agreements by a September deadline, President and CEO Darienne Hudson told Crain’s.
The cuts were spread across a variety of departments, with many tied to grants that were ending at the end of United Way’s fiscal 2024 on Sept. 30 or at the end of the calendar year. The organization also cut a handful of other positions and eliminated some vacant positions, leaving it with 170 employees, Hudson said
The cuts impacted employees across United Way’s service area in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties, said Jerome Espy, senior director of communications and media relations. The merger with United Way of Washtenaw County last year did not contribute to the need for layoffs or the voluntary retirement/separation programs that were offered to all staff.
The employee reductions will yield a net operational savings of approximately $3.4 million in fiscal 2025, Espy said.
The need to cut costs was driven by a variety of factors, including the lower campaign proceeds, the spend-down of its $25 million MacKenzie Scott gift and large pandemic-era grants, and a return to restricted grants for specific programs and services vs. general operating support awarded by funders during the pandemic, Hudson said.
Campaign shortfall
Like other United Way affiliates around the country, the local chapter is seeing declines in giving through its annual workplace campaign amid staffing reductions and, in some cases, work stoppages at key large companies taking part in its campaigns. That has a huge impact on the amount it can raise through the campaign that raises the bulk of United Way’s unrestricted dollars to help fund operations, Hudson said.
With the work stoppages at automotive companies spurred by the United Auto Workers strike last year, “several of our largest campaigns actually started six months after their normal start date. So instead of them running fall campaigns, they ran spring campaigns, (and) we’re actually still closing out a couple of them,” she said.
“We know we are below that $45 million (goal), which is why we
wanted to make sure … this year we were a bit more conservative in our estimates for the (next) campaign.”
United Way raises money for its own programs and services, as well as those delivered by other nonprofits in the community, with a focus on health and well-being, education and financial stability.
Beyond its long list of direct services, United Way pushed $162 million into the community over the last three years, Hudson said. It has done that by directing designated gifts to other nonprofits made during its annual workplace giving campaign, through its work with the Ballmer Group for summer school programs and working with Oakland and Macomb counties to distribute American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The agency is working to raise $35 million through its workplace campaign this year for programs in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties, down from a $45 million goal last year.
Instead of doing the traditional public kickoff, United Way opted to launch the campaign in mid-September during a fundraising event at the M1 Concourse in Pontiac, Hudson said. The event raised $140,000 and “just gave us the chance to bring together some of our core supporters and our donors, and build some energy, you know, a different type of energy for the campaign this year,” she said.
United Way followed that event with Tocqueville Toasts & Touchdowns at the University of Michigan’s Michigan Stadium on Oct. 17, a fundraising event for donors who contribute $10,000 or more.
It’s also looking to coordinate 45,000 volunteer hours during this year’s campaign, part of a twoyear effort chaired by Richard
Chang, chief of staff at cybersecurity provider Blumira, and Ralph Gilles, chief design officer at Stellantis. Last year, United Way exceeded the same goal, securing more than 48,000 volunteer hours, Hudson said.
Beyond that, United Way is working to raise money through individual donations and is being “very aggressive” in seeking grants from the state and federal governments as well as private foundations, she said.
Grants, Scott gift wind down
Pressure on the annual workplace campaign comes amid the winding down of two large grant programs that brought millions of dollars to its budget each year and its drawdown of the final $6.9 million chunk of a $25 million gift from philanthropist Scott it received in fiscal 2021.
The largest piece of the Scott gift, $18 million, went to expand grants to other nonprofit partners, Espy said. The organization also used the gift to launch and pilot its Community Information Exchange, a system enabling data transfer and record-sharing among health and human services providers to improve planning and services to clients.
Scott’s unsolicited gift to United Way also supported diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the organization and community through its 21-Day Equity Challenge efforts. It also invested about $2.5 million to improve internal systems, processes and data infrastructure.
“We have continued to see what we call that recession of the COVID-era surges in philanthropic and government resources. So some of our programs grants were
coming to an end,” Hudson said. Funding for the Early Childhood Support Network, a $3.2 million annual program that provides support to child care providers in Michigan’s Great Start Network, is winding down. The Michigan Department of Lifelong Education Advancement and Potential is ending the current Early Childhood Support Network as the state restructures its early childhood provider supports, Espy said. Those services will continue through local resource centers and other organizations.
So, too, is the grant for the Connect 313 program, which launched in 2020 to help all Detroiters get connected to the Internet by getting them enrolled in the federal payment assistance program and digitally connected through other efforts, including neighborhood technology hubs that provide Internet access and digital training. Partners in the effort include the city of Detroit, Microsoft Corp., Rocket Companies Inc. and United Way for Southeastern Michigan, which administers it.
“We are still partnering closely with Rocket Companies and the city of Detroit, but we have come to the end of the original Connect 313 program, and we’re now seeking other funding opportunities from the federal government to help continue to run our tech hubs,” Hudson said.
Financial picture
United Way is operating on a $40 million budget for fiscal 2025, down just more than $10 million from last year, Hudson said, reflecting revenue drops tied to grants ending, the exhaustion of the Scott gift and lower projected giving through the annual campaign.
Beyond the staffing cuts, most of the reduced expenditures this year are tied to the Early Childhood Support Network grant ending, Espy said. United Way also cut another $2.3 million in other grants and programs and $800,000 through renegotiation or ending professional and contract services and reducing marketing and travel expenditures along with other operational savings.
Financials for fiscal 2024 are not yet complete, but United Way did not end the year with a deficit, Hudson said.
Expenditures outpaced revenue in fiscal 2023 and 2022, according to the organization’s 990 forms and annual report for fiscal 2023. United Way reported $47.87 million in revenue on its fiscal 2023 annual report and $57.04 million in total expenses, yielding, on the face of it, a $9.17 million operating loss. But the apparent loss, as in other years, was a function of spending the Scott gift, Hudson said, noting United Way strategically planned to take disbursements from that gift each year.
“The way that it shows up on the 990 (IRS filing), it looks as if we’ve been running a deficit, but actually we’ve been spending down those MacKenzie Scott dollars annually,” she said.
Other drawdowns from reserves were also planned, with board approval, to offset costs for technology and other efforts, she said. “We didn’t budget more than we knew that we had.”
For its part, United Way of Washtenaw reported $3.84 million in revenue and expenses totaling $3.93 million. It pulled $89,545 from reserves, according to its financial statements for the 15 months ending Sept. 30, 2023.
Through its Tech United initiative, United Way for Southeastern Michigan is working with chief information officers and other IT professionals from a dozen local companies to run an annual STEM program in area schools. | UNITED WAY FOR SOUTHEASTERN mICHIGAN
Italian luxury goods retailer Prada opens first store in Michigan
By Jay Davis
Another globally recognized luxury brand has entered the Michigan market for the first time.
Milan, Italy-based Prada opened a store Nov. 1 inside Somerset Collection in Troy, on the ground level of Somerset South near Neiman Marcus, a Gucci men’s store and a Christian Louboutin shop.
Crain's first reported the retailer was coming to Somerset in June 2023, though an opening date was not disclosed.
Prada, known for its leather handbags, also offers travel accessories, shoes, sunglasses, off-the-
MEGASITE
From Page 1
tell you right now, I will not sign an NDA. You cannot force me. It’s unconstitutional, and that will never happen in our district ever again.”
Local opposition has been a familiar foe to big projects in Michigan in recent years. The reasons range from concerns about environmental hazards and quality of life to general “not in my backyard” sentiment. The secrecy of big deals — including the signing of non-disclosure agreements by state and local leaders — is another major point of contention.
Green Township residents recalled their entire board and supervisor last November due to officials supporting a $2.4 billion battery parts factory by China-based Gotion. The township, led by Republican Jason Kruse, is aiming to reverse project approvals made by the previous board, spurring the company to sue the township.
Kruse won re-election Nov. 5, according to unofficial results.
The same situation played out in Eagle Township, where a planned megasite was scrapped after residents recalled their supervisor and voiced opposition to the industrial development. In Marshall, there has been outcry and litigation over Ford Motor Co.’s planned battery plant, though the project is moving forward, albeit smaller than initially planned.
The Michigan Economic Development Corp. said in a statement to Crain’s that it hopes to work with the newly elected leadership in Mundy Township as it aims to grow private sector jobs.
“The national recognition and excitement around Genesee County over the last several years — whether through Buick City, the (Advanced Manufacturing District), or otherwise — is indicative of a Team Michigan effort toward a common vision, and one which we hope to build upon in partnership with this newly elected leadership,” the MEDC said in the statement. “We appreciate the work of the people at the local, state, and federal level who’ve been part of this resurgence, and
rack clothing and other fashion items.
The Troy store is Prada's second standalone boutique in the Midwest, following a location in downtown Chicago. Prada has more than 50 stores in the U.S. and more than 600 stores in more than 70 countries.
Founded in 1913 by Mario Prada, the company originally sold imported English animal goods. It began selling waterproof nylon fabrics in the 1970s.
Prada Group, which also includes Miu Miu, Church’s, Car Shoe, Marchesi 1824 and Luna Rossa, reported 2023 revenues of about $5.2 billion, a 13% increase
LEGISLATURE
From Page 1
Republicans will take the House gavel and Democrats will continue with their majority in the Senate.
Six leading business organizations wrote a letter to legislative leaders on Nov. 6 again recommending action on the laws. The Michigan Supreme Court in July ordered their reinstatement after declaring that Republicans in 2018 approved the initiated laws before the election and unconstitutionally watered them down after to be more palatable to businesses.
from the previous year, according to its annual report. For the first half of 2024, Prada Group reported a 17% year-over-year increase in revenue, at $2.76 billion.
we are committed to building upon that momentum to continue this good work together.”
The MEDC approved a $250 million grant in May for land assembly and development, and prep work has started at the site in recent weeks. Mundy Township established the megasite as a manufacturing district in 2019, which has allowed the project to move forward.
“I think by nature that you have community buy-in through that process as it were through their elected officials,” Christin Armstrong, senior vice president of business development at the MEDC, said during a call with reporters in April. “Also, this project doesn’t fundamentally change the character of the area. There’s a lot of industrial mixed-use already in this area, so that’s another key factor why you see less opposition to the site.”
Leah Davis, another Republican strongly opposed to the project, was elected as a trustee of the four-member board, amassing the most votes of any trustee candidate with 5,061. Zack Sack, a Republican running on opposition to the megasite, was also newly elected, joining Republican incumbent winner Kyle Ward, who has spoken out against the development, and Democrat incumbent winner Mark Gorton, whose position is unclear.
It remains to be seen what local approvals the project will need to move forward, but the existence of
the advanced manufacturing overlay, plus the millions of state dollars already spent on land acquisition and purchase agreements makes it unlikely for the megasite to be abandoned.
Tyler Rossmaessler, executive director of the Flint & Genesee Economic Alliance, said in a statement to Crain’s that the group is “committed to working with local leaders and elected officials as we prepare the Advanced Manufacturing District (AMD) for an exciting new project that will create thousands of jobs and attract billions in investment to our region.
“An advanced manufacturing project has the potential to create jobs and opportunities for generations to come and we welcome continued collaboration with leaders at the federal, state and local levels,” Rossmaessler added.
Stainton said she has a strategy to block the development but declined to share it before she and the newly elected officials begin their roles. She said her main objective is to do right by the residents.
“The only way our residents will support any project coming into their neighborhood is if they are assured that the type of business that’s coming in there is not using hazardous chemicals in their wastewater,” Stainton said. “I think everybody across the board I spoke with (Nov. 5) at the polls said the same thing. We don’t want our water poisoned, point blank.”
Senate Bills 605-612 would change the “polluter pay” law, which opponents say would make redevelopment of contaminated sites more expensive. Backers say existing laws make it very difficult for the public and even environmental regulators to know what is going on at polluted sites.
SBs 1021-1022 would update the consumer protection law to no longer shield businesses from legal liability for unfair or deceptive practices solely because they are regulated by the government.
The groups — the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, the Michigan Manufacturers Association, the Small Business Association of Michigan, Business Leaders For Michigan, the Detroit Regional Chamber and the Grand Rapids Chamber — also urged “extreme caution” on what they said is not an exhaustive list of worrisome bills "that would make doing business in Michigan unattractive and/or uncompetitive”:
House Bill 4237, which would rescind a 2015 law — the Local Government Labor Regulatory Limitation Act — that bars 1,800plus municipalities from passing minimum wages above the state minimum, generally regulating the relationship between employers and employees including paid or unpaid leave time, and mandating prevailing wages on government construction projects funded locally.
HB 4390 would alter the definition of independent contractors, forcing more employers to classify additional workers as employees — who “may lose income and the flexibility they desire.”
HBs 4399-4406 would, among other things, stiffen penalties for the nonpayment of wages and prohibiting employers from requiring noncompete clauses unless certain conditions are met.
HB 5827, which the House passed in June, would lengthen the maximum duration of unemployment benefits in a year to 26 weeks from 20. Business lobbyists worry the measure could be amended to raise the maximum weekly benefit of $362, leading to higher taxes for businesses. Proponents of a higher benefit say Michigan's is lower than in other Midwestern states.
SB 329 and HB 4681 would create a “bill of rights” for insurance policyholders and require insurers to give all reasonable benefit of the doubt to claimants under a new “bad faith” law.
SB 659 is data privacy legislation that “remains a moving target,” according to the organizations’ leaders.
The Michigan Association for Justice, a trial lawyers group that supports some of the measures, “will continue to fight for Michigan’s consumers and workers no matter what time of the year it is,” Executive Director Stephen Pontini said.
The lame-duck window could be intense.
The last time a party lost part of its trifecta was in 2018 when Republican Gov. Rick Snyder was term-limited, when he signed more than 340 bills after the election before Whitmer took office.
Several measures related to economic development and business attraction are pending and likely will need bipartisan backing to advance.
One of Whitmer's top priorities is legislation that would extend annual funding for Michigan's main incentives account, the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve Fund; restore and revise job-creation tax incentives, and create a research-and-development tax credit.
Democrats want to continue SOAR funding for a decade but halve it to $250 million a year and use the other half for "transformational" public transit projects ($200 million) and housing ($50 million).
Supporters of reviving tax credits for the production of movies, TV shows, commercials and digital content continue to push for a vote.
The new Prada store at Somerset Collection in Troy. | PrADA
Signs protesting a proposed $55 billion development in Genesee County KUrT NAGL
VENUE
From Page 1
Cosm Detroit will be the company’s fourth location. It has two other locations in Los Angeles and Dallas and another venue in production in Atlanta.The venue is focused on creating “shared reality” experiences and is the first Cosm location to offer sports betting, President and CEO Jeb Terry told Crain’s.
“This is not a concessionaire; this is not a theater; this is not an arena — it’s just Cosm,” Terry said.
Cosm has official partnerships with the NBA, UFC, TNT Sports, NBC Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports and the NFL to offer a slate of sports and entertainment programming.
There will be about 500 seats within the dome, with additional capacity for 1,500 people throughout the hall and standing room space. According to the company’s website, tickets for an NFLstreamed event at the Cosm Los Angeles location begin at $22 for general admission. Seating within the dome ranges from $50-$99.
Cosm is a “sportsbook, meets gastropub, meets lounge,” Terry said. It will feature food inspired by the locale but have a similar “scratch-made” menu to the other Cosm locations.
Around 200 employees typically work a Cosm event, though that number can fluctuate depending on the popularity of the programming.
The recent announcement is a significant change to Bedrock’s plans for the development at Cadillac Square, previously called the Monroe Blocks. Officials broke ground on the project in December 2018, but work has halted since then and the site is still empty. City officials recently granted Bedrock an extension to start work on the
project; that deadline is now May 1.
Cosm will be the first phase of the development at the site, which will also include Bedrock’s plans for a multi-level market food hall with sitdown and fast-casual dining options, according to a news release.
Detroit architecture firm Rossetti Inc. will design Cosm Detroit. The firm designed the $500 million Ford Field in downtown Detroit, which opened in 2002, and it handled the $100 million stadium upgrade in 2017. Rossetti was also tapped by Bedrock in 2018 for the
redevelopment of the Brewster-Douglass housing projects site.
Bedrock scraps concert venue plans
Bedrock is pivoting from its previous plans for a 2,000-seat concert and entertainment venue at the site, after news broke in April that the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts was building a $122 million music venue just a few blocks away. In August, Gilbert deputies said they didn’t want
to compete with the project.
Cosm Detroit will replace the previous plan for a concert venue that was to incorporate the National Theater façade on the Development at Cadillac Square site, Bonner confirmed. The façade was saved and preserved after the building was demolished. The company has dedicated significant resources to the meticulous deconstruction, restoration and storage of the façade.
“Bedrock remains committed to identifying the appropriate way to
incorporate the façade and continues to experiment with plans that may complement the historic architecture of Detroit,” Bonner said.
NFL Draft made an impact
Bedrock’s current vision for the entire site includes new buildings with 250-280 residential units, about 400,000 square feet of office space and 90,000 total square feet of retail, restaurant and market hall space, which could include a new downtown grocery store.
The site hosted the main stage of the 2024 NFL Draft earlier this spring. Previous activation efforts by Bedrock, including hosting the Monroe Street Midway, have ended.
Terry said Detroit’s response to the NFL Draft in April reinforced the company’s plans to open a Cosm location in the city. Detroit broke the NFL Draft attendance record handily, drawing 775,000 people over three days.
“As you look at it, the numbers jump off the page. It’s a top 20 city in the U.S.; the history of the city just screams that we need to put a Cosm there, and having an anchor in the Midwest was already always part of our rollout strategy,” Terry said.
Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures venture capital firm invested in Cosm’s most recent funding round of $250 million, which closed July 31.
The Cadillac Square development is one of four Gilbert-backed projects that received a $618.1 million transformational brownfield incentive in May 2018.
Bedrock is set to break ground on its 1.5 million-square-foot Development at Cadillac Square in 2025, which will be completed in a phased approach. Cosm Detroit is looking to open as early as 2026, Terry said.
Fans watch a live-streamed University of Southern California football game at the Cosm Los Angeles, a domed planetarium-like theater featuring a giant video screen with entertainment amenities including food and beverages. | COSm
Work on the site of Bedrock’s development at Cadillac Square, formerly the Monroe Blocks project, in downtown Detroit has been delayed to May 2025. HERNZ LAGUERRE JR.
interests of Fentura shareholders to move forward exclusively with the potential strategic merger combination with ChoiceOne,” according to the proxy statement. Preliminary merger discussions resumed in March.
The two corporations continued talks through the spring, exchanged proposals in early summer, and eventually worked out a deal that was approved by both boards of directors and publicly announced July 25. Under the terms of the deal, Fentura Financial shareholders would receive 1.35 shares of ChoiceOne Financial common stock for each of their shares.
If approved by shareholders and regulators, the merger would create the third-largest bank headquartered in Michigan with 56 offices across the Lower Peninsula. The combined bank would have $4.5 billion in total assets, nearly $3.7 billion in total deposits, and “will result in manageable tangible book value dilution with an expected earn-back period of less than three years,” according to the proxy statement.
Shareholders at Fentura Financial will decide Dec. 12 whether to approve the merger into ChoiceOne Financial Services, the parent corporation for ChoiceOne Bank.
In a separate meeting at the same time in Sparta, ChoiceOne Financial Services shareholders will decide whether to increase the corporation’s authorized common shares from 15 million to 30 million and to approve issuing more than 6 million of the additional shares for the all-stock transaction.
Directors at both corporations recommend “yes” votes on the proposals. ChoiceOne directors believe that the merger “is in the best interests of ChoiceOne and its shareholders,” according to the proxy statement.
BLACK TECH
will continue supporting Black Tech Saturdays throughout the two-year partnership, Linda Nosegbe, director of economic mobility, told Crain’s in an email.
The foundation began working with the Turnages and Black Tech Saturdays last year as part of Venture 313’s Black Tech Series, which aims to highlight Detroit’s talented founders and tech ecosystem.
“BTS has significantly impacted Detroit by fostering a robust community of Black tech entrepreneurs,” Nosegbe said. “This growth has enhanced networking opportunities and garnered national attention, drawing talent, businesses, and investors to the city.”
The capital will also allow BTS to stabilize, Turnage said, and look to begin generating revenue through online content and growing the organization’s platform.
Black Tech Saturdays is already planning its first pitch competition with the funds. It will be hosted Dec. 14 at the organization’s holiday celebration. While the prize is $30,000 for the winner, approxi-
The merger “will allow ChoiceOne to expand its franchise in attractive markets” in central and Southeast Michigan, “none of which ChoiceOne currently operates in and which are adjacent to its current markets in Southeast Michigan.” The merger also would “enhance earnings and profitability beginning in 2025” and “provide greater operating scale,” according to the proxy.
Similarly, Fentura Financial directors view the deal with ChoiceOne as an opportunity to create a combined bank “with additional resources necessary to compete and expand more effectively in Michigan,” according to the proxy statement. Executives and directors at Fentura Financial who hold 10.4% of its common stock have agreed to vote their share in favor of the merger.
ChoiceOne Bank currently operates 35 offices in Kent, Lapeer, Macomb, Muskegon, Newaygo, Ottawa, and St. Clair counties with $2.72 billion in total assets and $2.2 billion in total deposits. The corporation last month reported $7.3 million in net income for the third quarter, or 85 cents per dilut-
mately $100,000 will be allocated to regularly host competitions.
The funding will also make BTS more sustainable, Turnage said.
“We can go from being an event and mostly volunteer organization to an organization with some real meat and potatoes to lean in and expand our program,” he said.
The Turnages have worked to bring Black Tech Saturdays across the country. In December, Baltimore, which received a federal Tech Hub designation, hosted its first Black Tech Saturdays event.
The Turnages have also visited Miami, Houston and Los Angeles for potential Black Tech Saturdays locations. In 2025, their sights are set on the East Lansing and Lansing communities because of the strategy development grant Michigan State University Research Foundation received from the federal government in October 2023.
“All Detroiters deserve the opportunity to participate in and benefit from the city’s growing tech sector,” Laura Grannemann, executive director for the Gilbert Family Foundation, said in a news release.
“Johnnie and Alexa Turnage have built an incredible community through Black Tech Saturdays and
COLLEGE
From Page 3
reported enrollment increases, led by the University of Michigan-Flint, which was up 6.5%.
Lake Superior State University and Eastern Michigan University reported the largest declines in total enrollment at 6% and 5%, respectively.
Nationally, 52% of public institutions reporting as of late September saw a 2.2% increase in undergraduate enrollment and a 2.4% increase in graduate enrollment, according to preliminary data released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.
ed share. Net income through the third quarter totaled $19.5 million, or $2.46 per diluted share.
Fentura Financial, the parent company of the more than 125-year-old The State Bank, has 21 offices in Bay, Genesee, Ingham, Oakland, Saginaw and Shiawassee counties with nearly $1.8 billion in assets and $1.47 billion in total deposits as of Sept. 30. The State Bank will take on the ChoiceOne name after the deal closes, which is expected to happen in the first quarter of 2025.
Last month, Fentura Financial reported $867,000 in quarterly net income, or 19 cents per share. Through the third quarter, net income totaled more than $5.6 million, or $1.26 per share.
In ChoiceOne’s quarterly earnings release, CEO Kelly Potes described The State Bank as “a highly respected community bank in Michigan.”
The deal for Fentura Financial comes more than four years after ChoiceOne acquired Muskegon-based Community Shores Bank Corp. in a $21.9 million deal. In 2019, ChoiceOne acquired Lapeer-based County Bank Corp.
we are proud to work with them to dismantle the systemic barriers that have historically limited opportunity for Black residents.”
The funding will also allow the Turnages to bring Detroit entrepreneurs to tech events across the country. Black Tech Saturdays, in partnership with the Michigan Growth Office, is heading to Houston on Nov. 15 to be featured in AfroTech, an annual network for Black culture and technology.
Johnnie and Alexa Turnage were named Crain’s 2024 40 Under 40 honorees for their work establishing and growing Black Tech Saturdays as Detroit’s hottest event for tech founders.
The Gilbert Family Foundation’s support for Black Tech Saturdays is part of the organization’s $500 million, 10-year commitment — shared with the Rocket Community Fund — to build opportunity in Detroit neighborhoods.
“Looking ahead, if BTS continues to collaborate within this ecosystem, it will unlock even greater capital, training and mentorship opportunities, solidifying Detroit’s position as a national leader in inclusive tech innovation and economic development,” Nosegbe said.
dent retention is going in a positive direction, and that’s what we want to see,” Spencer Cesaro said. Early numbers released by the National Clearinghouse aren’t yet complete, so national comparisons may be skewed, she said. Still, nationally, private nonprofit four-year colleges reporting data to the center so far have seen a collective 1.4 % increase in enrollment for the fall term.
Freshman enrollment declined 5% nationally across the educational sector, with public and private four-year institutions reporting the largest declines, the center said.
Michigan’s public universities fared better on that front. Firsttime student or freshman enrollment dropped a collective 1% across the state’s public universities this fall. That compares to a 3.9% increase in fall 2023, something Hurley attributes to issues with the rollout of the FAFSA that hampered applications and enrollment.
Graduate student enrollment was up less than 1% this fall while new transfer students dropped 1.8%.
“Despite the challenges associated with enrolling a robust cohort of students in our public universities this year, the ultimate numbers were positive, and that portends good things for the state’s future talent pipeline,” Hurley said.
Private institutions
Detailed enrollment data for private colleges and universities won’t be published until the spring, but an early analysis of the data shared by Michigan Independent Colleges & Universities shows slight enrollment increases, as well.
Fall enrollment at 23 of Michigan’s 25 private colleges that have reported data so far was up a collective 0.3%, said MICU Vice President Colby Spencer Cesaro, who is the statewide data coordinator for Michigan’s private colleges and universities for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, the data collection arm of the National Center for Education Statistics.
The increases are not happening across the board, she said. Institutions driving the overall enrollment growth, including: Baker College
Calvin University
Cornerstone University
Davenport University
Great Lakes Christian College
Kettering University
Lawrence Technological University
Northwood University
Siena Heights University
Spring Arbor University
“The fact that we’re up 0.3 percent in total enrollment … it’s a small increase but the fact that there is an increase means stu-
IPEDS data isn’t expected to be publicly available for another six months, Spencer Cesaro said. First-year enrollment for Michigan’s private colleges rose by 650 students, a collective increase of 8.9% of the 7,303 freshmen enrolled at the reporting private schools, Spencer Cesaro said. Fall enrollment “gives a glimpse into the future of how many students are going to get a degree coming out of that,” she said.
Though the total student body across the private schools is relatively small in comparison to the public universities, “We still contribute 20% of the baccalaureates produced in Michigan,” Spencer Cesaro said.
With the challenges associated with the FAFSA rollout, “our institutions worked really hard with families. That commitment, coupled with the availability of the (Michigan) Achievement Scholarship, really was meaningful,” she said.
Community colleges
Michigan’s community colleges don’t expect to have full enrollment data for the fall semester until January, said Erica Orians, vice president of the Michigan Community College Association. Early data released by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center did not break out community colleges on a stateby-state basis, she said.
“Despite a declining number of high school graduates and significant issues with the new FAFSA, we are encouraged to see that enrollment is up over 2% among all Michigan higher education institutions and community colleges across the country saw a 4.6% increase in enrollment,” Orians said.
Late fall-term enrollment continues at community colleges for shorter eight-week and four-week courses, “and these figures suggest that efforts to increase access and retention through investments in financial aid and student success initiatives at community colleges (are) paying off,” she said.
“Like many others, we are concerned that fewer freshmen enrolled in community colleges across the country this fall. We are looking forward to reviewing forthcoming data on uptake of the community college guarantee among 2024 high school graduates.”
Michigan Community College Association President Brandy Johnson said she hasn’t heard from any of its 28 public community college members that enrollment is down.
“I believe the community college guarantee is increasing the number of people who are going to community college as opposed to going nowhere,” she said.
Sparta-based ChoiceOne Financial Services is seeking to merge with Fenton-based Fentura Financial. | CrAIN’S GrAND rAPIDS bUSINeSS FILe
Arthur Jemison returns to Detroit with ideas for the city’s housing
In his return to Detroit, Arthur Jemison is seeking to draw on his experience around the country as part of a mission to create more economically integrated neighborhoods in the city. Jemison returned to the area late in the summer to take on the role of executive director of the Detroit Housing Commission, which owns approximately 4,000 rental housing units around metro Detroit and operates a Housing Choice Voucher Program known as Section 8 through its Assisted Housing Department. The longtime municipal development official has spent three decades working “at the intersection of policy and development,” including stints in Washington, D.C., Boston, the federal government and a previous stint in the administration of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. When Jemison departed Detroit in early 2021, he had been serving as Duggan's group executive for planning, housing and development. He left to take a role as principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He went on to serve as the city of Boston's chief planner before returning to Detroit. Jemison now says his mission is two-fold: working to address long-standing problems and quality issues at the DHC's property portfolio while also better integrating affordable housing into various parts of the city. Specifically, Jemison says he wants to focus on some of the DHC’s existing assets in red-hot neighborhoods such as Midtown and Corktown and redevelop them for the future. By |
How would you describe the function of the Detroit Housing Commission?
Housing commissions are really an essential part of the housing landscape in any city, and it's the same way for Detroit. We’ve got multifamily housing developments that we operate and the subsidies for the residents who live in those developments flow through us.
We also have a Section 8 voucher portfolio that serves not just Detroit, but the whole region. And so we've got an important role to play in making sure people with very low incomes have housing options. And if we are successful, we help the entire (housing) landscape in the city.
Can you explain what you mean by that and what success looks like?
One of the major directional shifts in the way that we deliver housing in the public-private partnership world these days is about mixing incomes and creating neighborhoods that have a full range of populations in them. In part, because of the way these developments have been designed historically, they're separated from the rest of the neighborhood. They’re sort of isolated sometimes, and many of the people who live there have very low incomes. And so what we’ve tried to do in Detroit over the last 10 years or so is make a real effort to create mixed-income development and mixed-income neighborhoods.
What are some examples of this?
So when you go out to Brush Park, you see all the great stuff that’s been done by Bedrock, Dan Gilbert’s (real estate) organization. But then you also see other development, and even within that development, the first thing that broke ground there was an affordable housing development within the Bedrock plan. Whenever we’re building housing in Detroit, we’re building with a mix of incomes in mind. And so what the Housing Authority can do as we
pursue the redevelopment of some of our assets … is to try to better integrate them into the neighborhood, making sure that every neighborhood has every kind of income population living in it now.
I think that’s what you’re going to see, and it’s what we’re hoping to do with the Diggs townhomes (near Midtown), and what we’re hoping to do in other parts of our portfolio as well.
There has been concern expressed about living conditions at much of the commission’s housing portfolio. How are you and the rest of the organization addressing those concerns?
It’s really important to say that in the immediate moment — for the next 12-18 months — all of our focus is going to be on meeting those sort of basic metrics of operations that we need to meet and improving them.
We have the challenge of a number of units that should be available to the community for housing not being available and being offline. We are very focused on bringing new people to those vacant units. We've recently
reopened our waiting list for the first time in several years, so that we can get eligible folks to come forward and occupy those units.
What else is the commission doing?
We've also taken steps to improve the way that these developments are managed by bringing in new property managers at most of the major developments through private management. We've also recently taken action to complement our existing publicly managed public housing units by adding private property managers to better support the work that needs to get done. We've got to focus on — and are very focused right now — on improving both our occupancy level and then making sure that the resident experience is improving. A ways to go, but we're optimistic about the progress we can make over the next 12 months. It's the No. 1 focus for me and the leadership team right now.
The topic of housing broadly, and specifically a shortage of affordable housing, has increasingly been a topic of
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discussion among policymakers at the local, state and federal levels. Is there anything there you’re paying attention to?
I’ve got to manage and capitalize my portfolio of assets, no matter who the president is. One of the things I’ve noticed across my 30 years of working has been that the Choice Neighborhoods program, for example, the Hope VI (grant program) — things that allow you to redevelop public housing — have stayed popular across administrations. So I feel confident that those kinds of programs are going to continue.
I’m also really encouraged by the fact that the (federal) Rental Assistance Demonstration program that is going to be really essential to our future — like every other housing commission authority in the country — has enjoyed, I think, pretty wide support from both parties.
Lastly, what do you see as the opportunity for you personally, given your experience in the housing and development space, to make an impact on the Detroit Housing Commission and the broader community? The opportunity is quite significant. I think that if we're entrepreneurial and detailfocused, we have the chance to really recapitalize and reimagine some of the public housing sites we have in our portfolio in a way that really advances neighborhood change and provides housing … for people who need it.
I’ve worked in other cities and those cities, the redevelopment of public housing into mixedincome communities (has) really changed not only the development and the total living experience of people who are living in public housing, but often it’s created mixedincome neighborhoods where a wide range of people are living together in the same place. It has significantly improved the outlook for other development around it and other neighborhoods around it.
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Arthur Jemison is the executive director of the Detroit Housing Commission. | PRATAAP PATROSE
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